Cherry Audio Releases Mercury-4 Compuphonic Synthesizer!

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Mercury-4 Polyphonic Synthesizer

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Synth Master Jedi wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:37 am
MartyK wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:22 am
Are all the sounds in this test from the Mercury-4?
No, they are most definitely not. Only the ARP is from the Mercury-4. I will clarify exactly what the sounds are:

(1) Drums = samples
(2) ARP = Mercury-4
(3) Bass + Guitar = stems

I thought that it would be obvious, but that's my mistake and the next time I post an audio example, I will clarify better.
Hm ok. Then I'm not so pleasantly surprised, because the arpeggio sound sounds pretty simple and can certainly also be made with another synth from Cherry. Still, I found your test interesting.

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MartyK wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:46 am Hm ok. Then I'm not so pleasantly surprised, because the arpeggio sound sounds pretty simple and can certainly also be made with another synth from Cherry. Still, I found your test interesting.
The particular sound itself is probably nothing super complicated and can surely be made or gotten very close to on many other synths, but if I'm not mistaken, you wouldn't have gotten the same pattern on those other synths, even if you might've gotten a similar sound.

This is just based off of what I've read, and if it's wrong, then somebody is welcome to come and set the record straight, but I believe that the random arp inside the Jupiter-4 is not random at all and that's what makes it special.

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Synth Master Jedi wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:37 am(1) Drums = samples
(2) ARP = Mercury-4
(3) Bass + Guitar = stems
Your guitar sounds way better than Duran Duran's ever did. OTOH, the arp is less convincing.

I'd forgotten how old the J4 was - it looks more like my SH1000 than a Jupiter 8. I almost bought one about 30 years ago but couldn't see the point at the time. It was probably only a couple of hundred back then because it was already pretty old and no-one wanted them. If the Cherry one can sound like this, I might be interested -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soj_bD0_N88

Both examples have a really nice grittiness to them.
NOVAkILL : Asus RoG Flow Z13, Core i9, 16GB RAM, Win11 | EVO 16 | Studio One | bx_oberhausen, GR-8, JP6K, Union, Hexeract, Olga, TRK-01, SEM, BA-1, Thorn, Prestige, Spire, Legend-HZ, ANA-2, VG Iron 2 | Uno Pro, Rocket.

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BONES wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:08 am
Synth Master Jedi wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:37 am(1) Drums = samples
(2) ARP = Mercury-4
(3) Bass + Guitar = stems
Your guitar sounds way better than Duran Duran's ever did. OTOH, the arp is less convincing.

I'd forgotten how old the J4 was - it looks more like my SH1000 than a Jupiter 8. I almost bought one about 30 years ago but couldn't see the point at the time. It was probably only a couple of hundred back then because it was already pretty old and no-one wanted them. If the Cherry one can sound like this, I might be interested -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soj_bD0_N88

Both examples have a really nice grittiness to them.
My guitar is the same as their guitar, because it's the stems from the original track.

I agree that my synth arp sound still needs some work. Their synth sounds have a lot of external processing going on too very often, so to nail the sound, you need to nail both the synth sound and you also need to nail exactly the same effects that were used on the sound. Often some kind of combination of old school flangers/phasers/delays/reverbs etc.

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Is it just me, or are all the Cherry synths starting to sound the same?

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tony10000 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:09 am Is it just me, or are all the Cherry synths starting to sound the same?
It's no surprise really.... when so many synths are released so close together its likely there is a lot of code recycling

Best to regard them as 'inspired by' rather than accurate emulations...

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I think this has defo got that late 70,s 80,s electropop thing going on.

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Maybe it's because all synths pretty much do sound the same? Cherry's synths probably all sound the same because they get the same people to do their preset banks. I do that all the time - come up with a preset in one synth I think will be perfect for a part in a particular song, only to discover it sounds exactly like the synth that was already doing it.
Synth Master Jedi wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:15 amMy guitar is the same as their guitar, because it's the stems from the original track.
It sounds a lot harder, they must have screwed with it in the mix (or maybe you've just made it louder). How do you get hold of stems of things like that?
I agree that my synth arp sound still needs some work. Their synth sounds have a lot of external processing going on too very often, so to nail the sound, you need to nail both the synth sound and you also need to nail exactly the same effects that were used on the sound. Often some kind of combination of old school flangers/phasers/delays/reverbs etc.
Sure but what's the f**king point? When I do a cover, I never listen to the original until I've finished my version. It's all how I think it sounded, which is sometimes close enough to the original but usually miles away (but hopefully still good). I don't like to screw around too much with covers but neither do I want them to be K-Tel versions. Ultimately, I want it to sound like me doing that song, not some loser trying to sound like the original artist.
NOVAkILL : Asus RoG Flow Z13, Core i9, 16GB RAM, Win11 | EVO 16 | Studio One | bx_oberhausen, GR-8, JP6K, Union, Hexeract, Olga, TRK-01, SEM, BA-1, Thorn, Prestige, Spire, Legend-HZ, ANA-2, VG Iron 2 | Uno Pro, Rocket.

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BONES wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:31 am Maybe it's because all synths pretty much do sound the same? Cherry's synths probably all sound the same because they get the same people to do their preset banks. I do that all the time - come up with a preset in one synth I think will be perfect for a part in a particular song, only to discover it sounds exactly like the synth that was already doing it.
Synth Master Jedi wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:15 amMy guitar is the same as their guitar, because it's the stems from the original track.
It sounds a lot harder, they must have screwed with it in the mix (or maybe you've just made it louder). How do you get hold of stems of things like that?
I agree that my synth arp sound still needs some work. Their synth sounds have a lot of external processing going on too very often, so to nail the sound, you need to nail both the synth sound and you also need to nail exactly the same effects that were used on the sound. Often some kind of combination of old school flangers/phasers/delays/reverbs etc.
Sure but what's the f**king point? When I do a cover, I never listen to the original until I've finished my version. It's all how I think it sounded, which is sometimes close enough to the original but usually miles away (but hopefully still good). I don't like to screw around too much with covers but neither do I want them to be K-Tel versions. Ultimately, I want it to sound like me doing that song, not some loser trying to sound like the original artist.
Yes, it's very possible that the guitar was simply higher in volume in my version which made it more prominent sounding. Nothing was eq'ed in my short demo.

As for the stems, there are quite a few that have been floating around the net for ages from all sorts of bands. Most of them come from games, like Rock Band or Guitar Hero I believe.

In order to make those games, the bands or labels provide stems of the songs that are included in the game. And people have simply ripped the stems from the games I believe.

As to the last point about covers, I don't disagree at all. If my intention were to make or release a cover, I'd probably go about it that way, or at least I hope that I would.

But sometimes I find it fun to try and duplicate something as good as I can or see how I close I can get. I see it more as a quick technical exercise and learning experience for me and at the same time I get to better know all of the synths that I have, because their numbers are not decreasing.

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Dude how many synths have they released this year, like 20 or so? :D

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BONES wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:31 am ...but neither do I want them to be K-Tel versions.
Ah, those old vinyl compilation albums? Cut of everything below 120 Hz so they had space for 2 more songs....

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I thought the 8 voice was rather good was not so sure about the others. I like what i am hearing what so far with this one. It,s a bit like my Cs Reface.

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The 8 Voice sounds OK but it's just too hard to work with. They should have just gone for a 2-Voice and added polyphony.
Synth Master Jedi wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:07 amBut sometimes I find it fun to try and duplicate something as good as I can or see how I close I can get. I see it more as a quick technical exercise and learning experience for me and at the same time I get to better know all of the synths that I have, because their numbers are not decreasing.
You and I have very different ideas of fun. I hear you about synth numbers, though, but do you like to use all the synths you have or do you find that new ones tend to replace old ones? If I use a $50 plugin in a couple of songs, I'm usually happy I got my money's worth from it and I don't care if I never use it again. There's probably not a single synth I was using 3 years ago that I still use today, so my plugin folder might be bursting at the seams but I mostly only use the synths in my "Recent" list for the things I'm working on today. e.g. DUNE and Massive are all over our last album but you won't hear either on our next one and that's only a couple of years.

To bring it back on-topic, I've paid for four Cherry Audio plugins but I've never used any of them in a song, so I will spend a good amount of time with this one before I decide if I'm going to pay for it.
NOVAkILL : Asus RoG Flow Z13, Core i9, 16GB RAM, Win11 | EVO 16 | Studio One | bx_oberhausen, GR-8, JP6K, Union, Hexeract, Olga, TRK-01, SEM, BA-1, Thorn, Prestige, Spire, Legend-HZ, ANA-2, VG Iron 2 | Uno Pro, Rocket.

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I try and get as much value as possible if i buy something still using Poly kb great synth so underrated. I buy it if i can see a use. Same way i still use my kawai K1 wavestation and Eps16+. All good stuff still useful today. Amazingly still works today all found in attics and garages. The K1 the guy thought it sounded horrible. The wavestation the owner never really understood it. Same with the Eps 16+ couldn't get past the boot screen. Sat in garages and attics for donkeys years. The Eps is my fav it has an 8 track sequencer with only 2mb of ram with Scsi now i use a usb floppy drive. But it has transwaves and a polyphonic aftertouch keyboard. The usb floppy really opened the eps up. I do remember looking at these in glossy magazines in the 80,s and 90,s and going what if. I was a bass player in those days. Quite happy doing that proficient bass players are hard to come by always had a joab :band2:. But the Mercury 4 i could see a use for :tu:
Last edited by boombaxx on Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:28 am, edited 2 times in total.

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wwjd wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:50 am"couldn't be sharper" ...could not agree more. How could it possibly be sharper?? Are people using potatoes for monitors?
If that were the case everything would look bad... but it doesn't. Look I know you're always a tad evangelical about Cherry Audio and that's fine, but try to understand that just because you don't have an issue it doesn't mean others don't.

This is how it looks compared to Massive X. On the left, small and fuzzy. On the right, larger, clear and distinct. For me the difference is significant.

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