Disappointment in hardware synths

[vurt]

you'll want this then for him to come back in...

https://youtu.be/jW1SOZQ_J8k

WTF did I just watch?

awesomeness of the highest order.

[Distorted Horizon]

I'm not sure starting with a Volca (modular or not) is really the best way to get a feel for the hardware experience. Microbrute, 0-Coast, Neutron, Crave, DFAM etc. all seem like better choices.

I thought the Volca Modular was a neat toy, but it would never have gotten me to appreciate hardware the way some time with a Microbrute did.

True in a way, but it's the cheapest option

*edit*
The Crave is the cheapest option.. And maybe the best

[roman.i]

And there it is. Money was plentiful.

I have all the time and no budget.

Then you can start building an Afrorack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTY6Lo2eb-s

[Jace-BeOS]

money.

Start with something easy.. Volca bass or keys. If it's not for you, you'll only lose maybe 30€ while selling it forward. Unless you buy a used one, you can sell it again at the same price.

Those tiny units just don’t appeal to me. They seem so clumsy.

But the fun is there. Keys is pretty much wysiwyg to operate and if you don't have fun with it, I can almost say that don't bother with anything more expensive.

I don’t see those little sticks-as-knobs to be fun for tweaking. Also, there’s no modularity.

Then grab volca modular.. But the point is, you can't tell if you don't try.

Maybe you missed the bit where I said I don’t consider those little sticks to be knobs...

[Distorted Horizon]

Start with something easy.. Volca bass or keys. If it's not for you, you'll only lose maybe 30€ while selling it forward. Unless you buy a used one, you can sell it again at the same price.

Those tiny units just don’t appeal to me. They seem so clumsy.

But the fun is there. Keys is pretty much wysiwyg to operate and if you don't have fun with it, I can almost say that don't bother with anything more expensive.

I don’t see those little sticks-as-knobs to be fun for tweaking. Also, there’s no modularity.

Then grab volca modular.. But the point is, you can't tell if you don't try.

Maybe you missed the bit where I said I don’t consider those little sticks to be knobs...

Did you give'em a try?

[vurt]

Those tiny units just don’t appeal to me. They seem so clumsy.

But the fun is there. Keys is pretty much wysiwyg to operate and if you don't have fun with it, I can almost say that don't bother with anything more expensive.

I don’t see those little sticks-as-knobs to be fun for tweaking. Also, there’s no modularity.

Then grab volca modular.. But the point is, you can't tell if you don't try.

Maybe you missed the bit where I said I don’t consider those little sticks to be knobs...

Did you give'em a try?

not everyone is as happy with a tiny knob as you are with yours.

[Distorted Horizon]

But the fun is there. Keys is pretty much wysiwyg to operate and if you don't have fun with it, I can almost say that don't bother with anything more expensive.

I don’t see those little sticks-as-knobs to be fun for tweaking. Also, there’s no modularity.

Then grab volca modular.. But the point is, you can't tell if you don't try.

Maybe you missed the bit where I said I don’t consider those little sticks to be knobs...

Did you give'em a try?

not everyone is as happy with a tiny knob as you are with yours.

Every knob is a right sized knob It's just that you need to focus more with smaller knobs. With big knob (like bs2 cutoff) it's easy to be careless, twist it like a beast and spit acid on your face like alien queen on Ripleys.

[VariKusBrainZ]

I bought a car recently and feel totally duped.
Turns out its completely manual and I need to use my hands, feet and even my eyes (all at the same time)!!
I was under the impression that all cars are self driving these days so whats with this outdated technology, I feel totally conned.
Not only that but it doesnt even know where I want to go.

I have to admit I didnt test drive any cars or read any reviews, I just ordered one off the internet thing but thats not the point.

[VariKusBrainZ]

The horror doesnt end there!

I bought a navigational device AI machine and after hours of randomly pressing the screen trying to get it to work I have to listen to some b***c with a stupid accent pronouncing everything completely wrong, not only does it not know where I want to go it doesnt have presets and I have to program in the details, with my finger.

And I cant even watch porn on it.
WTF!

I saw the other mentions of cars and we all know nothing beats an automobile / Synth comparison at KVR but I felt it needed to be taken to the logical conclusion.

This is a pure drunken self indulgent post, Ill regret it tomorrow

[vurt]

I was under the impression that all cars are self driving these days .

a totally reasonable assumption!!

[Forgotten]

I was under the impression that all cars are self driving these days .

a totally reasonable assumption!!

At the very least you would think that if I drove it to the supermarket once that it would be able to get there without my help the next time, but no...rip off!

[vurt]

I was under the impression that all cars are self driving these days .

a totally reasonable assumption!!

At the very least you would think that if I drove it to the supermarket once that it would be able to get there without my help the next time, but no...rip off!

i would write to the king!

[Forgotten]

I was under the impression that all cars are self driving these days .

a totally reasonable assumption!!

At the very least you would think that if I drove it to the supermarket once that it would be able to get there without my help the next time, but no...rip off!

i would write to the king!

Uh-huh. Than’you very much.

[BONES]

REPLIES - Page 1

Become a muscian and all will be revealed

What a load of absolute f**king bollocks! A real musician would hate the limitations of these shitboxes. No feel, no nuance, just banging away at the keys to get the same sound over and over again. It's only we non-musicians who put up with it.

Yeah . I don't know if calling them a toy is a fair.

I think it is completely fair in 2020. There is just no reason to accept it today. If IK Multimedia can build a proper 2 oscillator analogue synth with patch memory for $200, there is no excuse for anyone else. It doesn't have to be one thing or another, it can be both, and if a synth has MIDI there is no reason it can't have a patch memory, except that manufacturers are worried about upsetting the purists who would prefer to live in the past. Even something like Waldorf's Rocket has, which dumps MIDI data for every control (except two, annoyingly) so you can record it at the start of a song in your sequencer, would be acceptable but to have no way to instantly recall a sound definitely makes it a toy. Even back in the old days, having to burn through studio time trying to painstakingly recreate a patch from a diagram got very expensive, very quickly.

Some people do the slightest amount of basic research before throwing hundreds of dollars at new things.

Yeah, and if your research included this place, you'd be convinced that a lack of patch memory wasn't a problem, that your music would be so much better with real analogue synths that you wouldn't even care about a lack of patch memory.

Go listen to Switched-On Bach, or better yet, any of Isao Tomita's works from 1974-1982 and you'll hear what "a toy" can do.

Is that meant to convince anyone? It sure as hell doesn't convince me because that stuff sounds shithouse by today's standards. Even in it's day, Switched on Bach was just a novelty, like Tiny Tim's Tiptoe Through the Tulips or Joe Dolce's Shaddup You Face.

To me, presets are like putting training wheels on a tricycle.

That would make you someone who plays with toys because a working musician needs to be able to recall all the sounds he/she has used in all the songs they have ever written or performed so they can do it again without boring an audience to tears.

For those of us for whom synthesisers are nothing more than a means to an end, patch memory is simply not negotiable. If that doesn't apply to you, that's fine, but to pretend that it somehow makes you better than people who earn a living from music, or attempt to, just makes you look pathetically insecure.

[BONES]

REPLIES - Pages 2-4

To me, nothing beats the 'organic feel' that is given by turning and tweaking real knobs. It's remarkably different from the 'bookkeeping'-style of music that often comes out of pure sequencer work.

So buy a MIDI controller with lots of knobs you can map to your VST plugins. Personally, I prefer using a mouse.

The price you pay for that is the lack of 'total recall'.

That's bullshit. There are plenty of synths around with "knob per function" front panels that also have patch memory. e.g. All the Roland Boutique synths, including the analogue SE-02. Then there are the classics like Prophet 5, Jupiter 8 and OB-X line. Back then, companies put in a patch memory as soon as they worked out how to do it because people who bought and used synths needed it.

... a pure analog synth is more a toy than a workhorse device.

You just listed, why analog devices are so good

He sure did, the little kiddies love 'em!

Though I made this with only one monosynth and a hint of creativity...
https://m.soundcloud.com/forestspiritof ... rit-spring

And very little actual production. It sounds kinda cluttered, for want of a better word, don't you think? It seems to be in the reverb to my ears but it definitely isn't going to sell too many people on what you're peddling. The one after it, Frozen, sounds way better/cleaner. But I reckon you could do it all way, way better with DUNE or Hive.

Song made with just a Neutron:
Another one, just Neutron + reverb + looper:

Now go and compare that to the stuff you get from the One Synth Challenge here and you'll understand why nobody is impressed by these.

No point in complaining about the synths you bought here if you haven't done research on the features you need in a synth.. Just buy some Elektrons and be done

I didn't see any complaining from him, just reasonable conclusions being drawn from actual, first-hand experience.