Dreadbox/Polyend - Medusa

[mlt]

I have the Medusa for a few months now and I have focused mostly on the playability/expressiveness I could get from the grid plus try to make warm and mellow sounds, deep bass etc. So I ended up making a video to demonstrate all that by covering a classic track by Vangelis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnsF8CBYdHM

Some more details:

The Grid for the lead sound is setup so that the X-Axis goes one semitone up so on the X-Target I have the value of 10. With this setup it may be quite difficult to play always on tune so if you look at the video I always tend to touch the pads from the left side. This way doing the slides is also easier. I treat them somewhat like guitar frets. For the Y target I just have some filter cutoff. And for z-target a tiny bit of FM.
The pad and the drone are double tracked and panned left-right.
For the bass in order to fatten it up a little I have used the filter resonance.
The bell sound is just self resonating filter. The tuning here was a bit tricky, so I ended up doing some extra tuning later.
Generally the sounds are left without any significant post editing except of course the addition of effects and some basic mixing/mastering at the end. I have used Softube Tsar mainly on the lead sound to make it sound "bigger" as this reverb blends nicely with the sources, and for the long reverbs I have used NI/Softube RC 24. For the "shimmer" effect that is audible mostly at the outro I have added the Pitch shifter from NI Replika XT before the RC 24. There is also a little bit of Clouds at the pluck sound from VCV rack

[tewii]

Wow, awesome cover! This synth has been super appealing to me since it first came out. Based on what others have said and the cover above, it seems like all the hate it gets comes from people who haven't taken the time to fully learn and understand it. PS always love a Trident mixer

[sinkmusic]

Very nice cover indeed, congratulations !

[mlt]

Hey, thanks! Glad you liked it!

[rob_lee]

Wow! This is fantastic

[UncleAge]

That was a real nice cover

Just got my Medusa in the mail yesterday. One of the reasons I bought it was because it didn't sound like other Dreadbox stuff. I'm sure one or two of their other synths will find their way into my setup soon enough. I only have one gripe and that it doesn't have any built in fx. However, I bought for what it can do, not for what it doesn't.

[UncleAge]

I need a little input. I knew going into this purchase that I would end up adding FX after the synth to spruce things up a bit. What would you all advise? Did you go the "just reverb" route or did you go multi-FX right off the bat? Also, do you think it be more beneficial in the long run to address the FX in a modular rack versus standalone units/stomp-boxes?

[vurt]

I need a little input. I knew going into this purchase that I would end up adding FX after the synth to spruce things up a bit. What would you all advise? Did you go the "just reverb" route or did you go multi-FX right off the bat? Also, do you think it be more beneficial in the long run to address the FX in a modular rack versus standalone units/stomp-boxes?

do you use a lot of modulation on fx in the box?are there any fx you would like to modulate, along with some youd be less likely too (think comps/dirt?

tbh, both options can be a glorious momey pit to fall in to
but both can work together to, simple enough to not only drop pedals before or after the modular, but there are modules to drop them in the patch wherever you fancy too.
so a bit of both might be worth looking at

id personally avoid a multifx and choose individual pedals i liked and build a decent pedalboard.
then its a case of deciding which fx you want, then there will be plenty of suggestions for the different types

[foosnark]

I have the Medusa for a few months now and I have focused mostly on the playability/expressiveness I could get from the grid plus try to make warm and mellow sounds, deep bass etc. So I ended up making a video to demonstrate all that by covering a classic track by Vangelis.

I was just admiring some of your other videos this morning (especially the FM+Drones one). It seems like an especially strong synth for drones, modulation and expressive playing

I agree with the general consensus that a lot of the Medusa demo videos out there are just kind of dull -- but it seems to be a synth that rewards more sound design effort and musicianship, including using external effects. Whereas the other Dreadbox synths seem more like "100% sweet spot" types and the built-in reverb or delay certainly contributes to their characteristic sound.

I was thinking about getting a Quadrantid Swarm for drones and darkness and doom, because I like its character in nearly every demo I've heard. But I'm starting to lean more toward a Medusa at this point because of its potential...

[UncleAge]

I need a little input. I knew going into this purchase that I would end up adding FX after the synth to spruce things up a bit. What would you all advise? Did you go the "just reverb" route or did you go multi-FX right off the bat? Also, do you think it be more beneficial in the long run to address the FX in a modular rack versus standalone units/stomp-boxes?

do you use a lot of modulation on fx in the box?are there any fx you would like to modulate, along with some youd be less likely too (think comps/dirt?

tbh, both options can be a glorious momey pit to fall in to
but both can work together to, simple enough to not only drop pedals before or after the modular, but there are modules to drop them in the patch wherever you fancy too.
so a bit of both might be worth looking at

id personally avoid a multifx and choose individual pedals i liked and build a decent pedalboard.
then its a case of deciding which fx you want, then there will be plenty of suggestions for the different types

Thanks vurt. Sorry for the late reply. I had a few surgeries and was out of commission for a while. I ended up selling the Medusa because I wasn't having fun with it. I think if it had more in the filter area, or ways to patch out to a modular setup or even attention from the company going forward then I would have kept it. I am still going to invest in the modular side of things but to start off with I am going to use my Hydrasynth as a sound source. That way I can ease into it without breaking the bank right away. I enjoy programming the Hydrasynth a lot more than the Medusa. It was a good synth but just not my cup-of-tea.

[vurt]

I need a little input. I knew going into this purchase that I would end up adding FX after the synth to spruce things up a bit. What would you all advise? Did you go the "just reverb" route or did you go multi-FX right off the bat? Also, do you think it be more beneficial in the long run to address the FX in a modular rack versus standalone units/stomp-boxes?

do you use a lot of modulation on fx in the box?are there any fx you would like to modulate, along with some youd be less likely too (think comps/dirt?

tbh, both options can be a glorious momey pit to fall in to
but both can work together to, simple enough to not only drop pedals before or after the modular, but there are modules to drop them in the patch wherever you fancy too.
so a bit of both might be worth looking at

id personally avoid a multifx and choose individual pedals i liked and build a decent pedalboard.
then its a case of deciding which fx you want, then there will be plenty of suggestions for the different types

Thanks vurt. Sorry for the late reply. I had a few surgeries and was out of commission for a while. .

no problem, hope youre feeling better now

as to the synths, good that youve found one thst fits if the medusa wasn't doing it for you, no point keeping it.

when youre ready to start the modular, open a new thread, youll get plenty of assistance with that enough to give your bank manager nightmares!

[foosnark]

I traded my Lyra-8 for a Medusa, which arrived today after some postal delays. I like it quite a lot so far.

Just as with the Intellijel Shapeshifter, the best thing one can do to start is learn how to get it into a basic default patch and then save that as the first preset.

The synth architecture reminds me of the Commodore SID chip -- not specifically in terms of character, but just as a 3-osc, one filter analog synth. Except with 3 extra oscillators, and FM instead of ringmod. And though both the SID and Medusa have filters that don't have a strong character, I do like the Medusa one better.

The grid is what makes it magical. I've never messed with Elektron gear, and only a little with a Volca Modular, but the parameter lock stuff is great fun. It works nicely with the analog exponential FM, since it gives you the opportunity to tune the amount as needed to compensate for tracking differences between the oscillators.