TB-303 Emulation

[ZenPunkHippy]

Can someone please explain more why Phoscyon is so great. I mean more than just saying Phoscyon

With the TB-303 it's not any single element of the synth that makes it sound like it does i.e. it's not the oscillators alone, or the filter, or the envelopes or the sequencer. It's now all of these elements interact to create the acid vibe.

Phosycon does a great job of putting all this together to sound pretty convincing in a mix. It wouldn't fool a TB-303 aficionado, but 99.9999% of your audience don't care about such details.

Anyway ... use the square wave ... turn up the resonance ... adjust the envelope ... program your authentic acid sequence and jam out on the filter cutoff.

Here's a boring video of how to program acid lines:



Peace,
Andy.

[noiseresearch]

/* static noise */

[breakmixer]

I've played a Roland 303 back to back with my Phoscyon, the square wave was so close I couldn't tell which was which, the saw wave failed and I could hear the difference alot.

[todd_r]

Definitely give creakbox a try, very very nice sounding, possibly not the most stable.

[Ch00rD]

Can someone please explain more why Phoscyon is so great. I mean more than just saying Phoscyon

With the TB-303 it's not any single element of the synth that makes it sound like it does i.e. it's not the oscillators alone, or the filter, or the envelopes or the sequencer. It's now all of these elements interact to create the acid vibe.

Phosycon does a great job of putting all this together to sound pretty convincing in a mix. It wouldn't fool a TB-303 aficionado, but 99.9999% of your audience don't care about such details.

Anyway ... use the square wave ... turn up the resonance ... adjust the envelope ... program your authentic acid sequence and jam out on the filter cutoff.
[...]

+1 on everything Andy said. Except one thing: "use the square wave ... turn up the resonance ... adjust the envelope ... program your authentic acid sequence and jam out on the filter cutoff." I typically teach IMPS-certified performance chimps that they don't get any bananas nor groupies if they tweak the leftmost small knob on the top (tuning) or any of the larger knobs during a performance, but all other small knobs are fair game, more tweaking means more bananas and groupies. I also typically prefer the saw wave myself at high resonance, and the square for low resonance, but variation between all possible combinations is better than any fixed combination of parameter settings.

@OP: my 2 cents (as a long time TB-303 aficionado that can't be fooled too easily): ABL2 is the very best emulation (so far, anyway - wink wink, nudge nudge ). Do note that you can already get the exact same DSP quality emulation right out of your pants from technoBox2 for only a fistful of dollars, with additional (sample based) X0X drums and effects. Absolutely nothing comes close enough in terms of bang/buck to even honk and wave hello. If you just need a great TB-303 emulation for a single job, and happen to have a iOS device (or can borrow one... it already ran fine on a first generation iPhone - afaik, it was in fact the very first desktop quality synth app on iOS ever, and at some point its DSP code was even slightly *better* than the desktop version), I'd recommend to just grab that one. You can export audio to your desktop computer for further editing in your DAW or whatever. Strongly recommended for the kids as well.

Phoscyon is a *very* decent runner-up as regards plug-ins. Imho it is slightly less convincing as an emulation, but makes up for that by having additional controls that are not to be found on a (non-modified) TB-303. I actually have and use both myself, ever since they were released. If you have to pick one, it depends on what you value most: authenticity or some extended controls.

Also, I'd use any of the above in favor of a real TB-303 for recording a short piece of digital audio, as they are much less noisy. (Lack of) noise and clicks are by far the greatest difference with the real thing in terms of authenticity.

[todd_r]

ABL2 is the very best emulation (so far, anyway - wink wink, nudge nudge )...

Do tell

[chk071]

Unfortunately I never listen acid tracks and don't are massively interested in the TB303 so I need to get into that acid vibe.

If you want to get into the acid vibe, give Rebirth RB-338 a go, i jammed a bit with it earlier (after a long time not touching it), and it was hilarious.

[Ch00rD]

ABL2 is the very best emulation (so far, anyway - wink wink, nudge nudge )...

Do tell

<cough> uche, uch-he, u(c)-he... <cough>

[todd_r]

ABL2 is the very best emulation (so far, anyway - wink wink, nudge nudge )...

Do tell

<cough> uche, uch-he, u(c)-he... <cough>

Ah, thought so

[nexusdawn]

I really dig D16's Phoscyon, and with it's additional features, distortion, etc one can make it scream without needing to add any distortion / Saturation plugs (well I still would add some )

But in terms of most authentic sounding 303 emulation I would recommend ABL-2.

All depends what one really wants out of such a plug, but both are really top notch quality.

Noticed that since owning the iphone and ipad (or android) I much prefer using touch screen to program 303 tunes, to bad there's no way to export the actual patterns, at least in the 'Bassline' app I use, audio only. But sounds decent and is much more fun/intuitive to use. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but the ims-20 app as well

The 303 has a great, and undoubtedly legendary sound.

But apart from its cool ocs and ever cooler filter, I think what really makes it truly powerful is it's sequencer and the ability to easily program accents and slides.

Sort wish to see this type of sequencer used, but on different synth engines. Could anyone recommend such a plugin in case there happen to be any good ones?With emphasis on the accent - slide ability

p.s. This can of course all be achieved by programming a preset (if needed) and editing/automating midi control values. But this can be very/overly time consuming.

[pdxindy]

Sort wish to see this type of sequencer used, but on different synth engines. Could anyone recommend such a plugin in case there happen to be any good ones?With emphasis on the accent - slide ability

The upcoming Diva update has this sort of sequencer capability... and then some... with good realtime performance control including realtime recording (replace or overdub). A separate arp can play independently, or control the sequencer.

[nexusdawn]

If you asked 3 days ago, I would say audio realism ABL 2... http://www.audiorealism.se/abl/abl2_announcement.htm


But now, I can't wait to get my hands on one of these...
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/ ... r-for-150/

There is a long thread in the hardware forum, definitely worth looking at.

But for now, ABL2 keeps me happy...

Korg Volca Series looks interesting, I think the bass sounds great, and has its own non-303 qualities. Can't say I cared for the Keys Volca, at least not in the demo Korg features on it's site.

What I really appreciate, is the analog components used. Wish more of the leading synth companies would do this (are they?)

I think its really a shame an analog synth like the andromeda a6 is no longer in production. I'm fortunate enough to have one. Top notch VA's do a really awesome, some almost indistinguishable emulation. Be it what it may, there's certain sounds, I just can't replicate in plugins (yes:)) Not to start a debate, I prefer using plugins ergonomically.

All I'm saying is even with todays VA's, analog still very much has it's place for those that can appreciate the subtle differences.

[VariKusBrainZ]

Sort wish to see this type of sequencer used, but on different synth engines. Could anyone recommend such a plugin in case there happen to be any good ones?With emphasis on the accent - slide ability

All the Fruity Loops versions of their VSTs (Generators) take advantage of fruitys built in slide and other features.
Fruity has LOTS of tasty sequencing/midi editing features as well

[cytospur]

I really dig D16's Phoscyon, and with it's additional features, distortion, etc one can make it scream without needing to add any distortion / Saturation plugs (well I still would add some )

But in terms of most authentic sounding 303 emulation I would recommend ABL-2.

All depends what one really wants out of such a plug, but both are really top notch quality.

Noticed that since owning the iphone and ipad (or android) I much prefer using touch screen to program 303 tunes, to bad there's no way to export the actual patterns, at least in the 'Bassline' app I use, audio only. But sounds decent and is much more fun/intuitive to use. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but the ims-20 app as well

The 303 has a great, and undoubtedly legendary sound.

But apart from its cool ocs and ever cooler filter, I think what really makes it truly powerful is it's sequencer and the ability to easily program accents and slides.

Sort wish to see this type of sequencer used, but on different synth engines. Could anyone recommend such a plugin in case there happen to be any good ones?With emphasis on the accent - slide ability

p.s. This can of course all be achieved by programming a preset (if needed) and editing/automating midi control values. But this can be very/overly time consuming.

I recently got Bass Bot TT-303, which is a pretty good hardware clone with MIDI in/out. I've been using it to drive some of my hard and soft synths. It's an absolute blast

[antto]

soundwise a proper built x0xb0x is still the best hardware clone

VB-303 will be released THIS year (unless i get hit by a bus or somethin)
but i think many of you will be a bit dissapointed of it, because it became a bit too "real" in a bad way maybe.. don't know how to explain
if the first beta version was hard to use - this one is harder