The best sounding analog synth of all time?

[Ex Machina]

I owned an Omega 8, with 8 ARP and CS80 filters for a short period of time a long time ago.
I dunno, while it sounded thick, creamy and wide, I found it rather colourless and clean.
Very strange mixture indeed

The envelopes were pretty slow as well.

here is a demo of mine I did at the time

Wow, that sounds fantastic. I'm surprised you found the Omega 8 to sound colorless and overly clean. To me the Omega 8 has an inherent subtle saturation regardless of the filter used. That saturation is what gives it its massive analog tone, IMO. I can't think of any other analog poly that sounds that good except for maybe the new Oberheim OB-X8 which is much more limited.

Plus, the resonance on all of the different Omega 8 filters sounds incredible. That's where synth plugin emulations fall apart for me. Their resonance sounds totally artificial and often gratingly digital.

I have so many hardware synths (analog, hybrid, and digital) that it's hard to justify spending that much money on an Omega 8. But that synth would be a keeper for me. I. would use it on everything for the rest of my life.

[Ex Machina]

Holy shynth, that sounds glorious! Funny, I’ve watched those videos more times than I can remember over the past 10 years or so and they reignite my GAS every time. I’m aware of the slow-ish envelopes on the CODE/Omega, but they’d be fine for the poly sounds I’d want/use it for. OTOH, the slow envelopes in the SE-1 really limited its potential, but they fixed that with the SE-1X Nova and SE-3X.

Yeah, I don't think the "slow" envelopes would bother me either. I wouldn't be using the Omega 8 for snappy Trance plucks and sounds like that.

Incidentally, people also complain endlessly about the "slow" envelopes on the Roland MKS-70. But again, for the types of sounds I use it for I don't notice it at all. I can even program snappy basses on it and they sound great. The envelopes are definitely not as tight as the envelopes on my MKS-80s. But they aren't unusable on the MKS-70. In fact, I think this whole so-called issue has taken on a life of its own and people who have never even heard an actual MKS-70 claim that it has "slow envelopes."

My biggest complaint with the MKS-70 is that it doesn't include Pulse Width Modulation. So I'm thinking of purchasing and installing the Vecoven mod which adds PWM, a couple of additional faster envelopes, and a whole host of other enhancements. A Vecoven modded MKS-70 will be a monster synth.

Here's a demo of a stock MKS-70 by Synthetic Machines. That guy (Keen K) is a genius. He could make a sample of a kazoo sound incredible.

[christian f.]

Oberheim OB-1.
Kind of a mono version of the OBX on steroids.
It can sound very vintage but also very very modern .. nothing I've ever used comes even close sonically.
I could never find a good (youtube) demo of it though.

[CoolColJ]

I owned an Omega 8, with 8 ARP and CS80 filters for a short period of time a long time ago.
I dunno, while it sounded thick, creamy and wide, I found it rather colourless and clean.
Very strange mixture indeed

The envelopes were pretty slow as well.

here is a demo of mine I did at the time

Wow, that sounds fantastic. I'm surprised you found the Omega 8 to sound colorless and overly clean. To me the Omega 8 has an inherent subtle saturation regardless of the filter used. That saturation is what gives it its massive analog tone, IMO. I can't think of any other analog poly that sounds that good except for maybe the new Oberheim OB-X8 which is much more limited.

Plus, the resonance on all of the different Omega 8 filters sounds incredible. That's where synth plugin emulations fall apart for me. Their resonance sounds totally artificial and often gratingly digital.

I have so many hardware synths (analog, hybrid, and digital) that it's hard to justify spending that much money on an Omega 8. But that synth would be a keeper for me. I. would use it on everything for the rest of my life.

Notice how I had all the waveforms and sometimes, sub-ocillator turned on, that is the key to making the Omega 8 saturate and get more colour.
Otherwise it has a "white" and smooth tone.
The filters it has don't really sound like the synths they come from. I supposed the different VCOs it's been fed into them are one part of the sound.

Keep in mind I had a Minimoog, andromeda, mks-80 and jupiter 8 at the time, all of which are much more characterful and coloured sounding.

Although it has some of the most musical sounding and feeling glide/portamento I've ever heard/played.

Here are more sound demos I did at the time

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/se-code ... al_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/se-code ... al_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/se-code ... al_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/studio- ... al_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/se-code ... al_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/studio- ... al_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/studio- ... al_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/code8-c ... al_sharing

[Ex Machina]

Keep in mind I had a Minimoog, andromeda, mks-80 and jupiter 8 at the time, all of which are much more characterful and coloured sounding.

I guess the Minimoog is a "characterful" synth. But it's been used to death and just doesn't sound that exciting to me any more. However, the Studio Electronics MIDIMINI V30 sounds phenomenal. If it only had patch storage I would buy one of those in a heartbeat.

The Andromeda is characterful in that it has that same overdriven, saturated tone similar to the Omega 8. But the saturation is almost too much for me on the Andromeda.

I have Rev 4 and Rev 5 MKS-80s. I think I paid $800 for each of them back in the 90s. They do sound great for the money (especially what I paid for them). There weren't that many semi-affordable rack mount 8 voice VCO synths back then. But as cool and "drifty" as they sound, I don't think they are any match for the Omega 8 in terms of character.

I haven't played a Jupiter 8 in over 30 years. So I can't really comment on its tone. I had a Juno 60 at the time (which I still own) and I actually thought it sounded better, probably because of the awesome chorus in the Juno 6, 60, and 106. I also have an MKS-7 which is basically a rack mount, multitimbral, velocity sensitive Juno 106. It sounds fantastic as well. But the fact that you can't store patches on it means that I always need to use it with an editor/librarian which is a bit of a pain.

Here are more sound demos I did at the time

That Arp2600 filter test sounds rad. I'm not too familiar with the 2600. Is that a 2-pole or 4-pole filter?

[CoolColJ]

I guess the Minimoog is a "characterful" synth. But it's been used to death and just doesn't sound that exciting to me any more. However, the Studio Electronics MIDIMINI V30 sounds phenomenal. If it only had patch storage I would buy one of those in a heartbeat.

The Andromeda is characterful in that it has that same overdriven, saturated tone similar to the Omega 8. But the saturation is almost too much for me on the Andromeda.

I have Rev 4 and Rev 5 MKS-80s. I think I paid $800 for each of them back in the 90s. They do sound great for the money (especially what I paid for them). There weren't that many semi-affordable rack mount 8 voice VCO synths back then. But as cool and "drifty" as they sound, I don't think they are any match for the Omega 8 in terms of character.

I haven't played a Jupiter 8 in over 30 years. So I can't really comment on its tone. I had a Juno 60 at the time (which I still own) and I actually thought it sounded better, probably because of the awesome chorus in the Juno 6, 60, and 106. I also have an MKS-7 which is basically a rack mount, multitimbral, velocity sensitive Juno 106. It sounds fantastic as well. But the fact that you can't store patches on it means that I always need to use it with an editor/librarian which is a bit of a pain.

That Arp2600 filter test sounds rad. I'm not too familiar with the 2600. Is that a 2-pole or 4-pole filter?

The Arp2600 is 4 pole

I had a MidiMini (MidiMoog) for a short time around then, the earlier ones, and it sounded nothing like my Minimoog, an earlier model.
Much less fat, stable, slower envelopes and weaker filter. Different tone and colour.
They sounded like completely different synths
I always thought they were just rackmounted Minimoog boards, but not based on my two units.
I think the Omega 8 sounded better than the MidiMini from then...




slow envelopes can be heard here
https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/studio- ... al_sharing

The Andromeda saturates very easily. Probably a byproduct of all the ASIC chip shrinkage of the circuits.
If you keep the total oscillator levels under 32, and less when using the SEM filter with high resonance, filter mixer total to 50, and Amp envelope level to under 80 the waveforms will be clean , crisper and more punchy.

A lot of the quotes in the A6 Tip and Tricks PDF floating around are from me
I dissected the A6 inside out back then when I bought one from new.
A few months later Mike Peake and the A6 dev team hand built an A6 for me, with custom painted knobs and larger underscreen knobs, as a replacement for mine. Burned in to ensure reliability
Shortly after I received it direct from Alesis, they went bankrupt and I ended up having two A6s
I still have that unit, and it's still working fine and in pristine condition.

The larger underscreen knobs on the upper unit makes it much easier to dial in values


My A6 emulating my Omega Code 8

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/alesis- ... -andromeda

I turned on square, saw and triangle for both oscillators like I did on the Code 8 plus the sub-oscillator set it 27.8 to make that fat sawtooth sound. Both set to around 3.2. to 3.8 on the mixer.
Yes very low in volume, but this way the 12db filter does not saturate too much with the resonance up.
I have red noise routed to oscillator 1's linear FM, at 0.5.
And oscillator 2 has voice key number routed to it's frequency, by 0.02 and with an offset of -0.1 to get that loosing tracking all discrete analog synths have. For a creamier sound

I then have a triangle LFO routed to the sample and hold, with sampled hold on, and then routed this to the voice pan to get mimick the Code8's indvidual voice pan function for nice stereo spreading, if a bit more random in nature

Still something was missing. That thick Code 8 juicey tone. Cranking the filter feedback on to 33 did the trick I think!
Only thing is this causes the12db Band pass filter to self oscillate when I switch to it later in the the clip, but turning it off fixes that

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/alesis- ... -andromeda

[cryophonik]

That Arp2600 filter test sounds rad.

Agreed!

IDK, man, I'm hearing tones and colors that I absolutely love from those Omega demos! I guess maybe when you're hearing it next to Jupiters, MiniMoogs, etc., your point of reference is altered, but it sounds so alive and organic to me. Regarding the Andromeda, now THAT's a synth that really doesn't do much for me. Almost every demo I've ever heard (and the few times I've had one in front of me) leaves me thinking "would you like more vanilla with your vanilla?" I almost gave into the hype years ago after it was discontinued and before secondhand prices started climbing toward absurdity, but then I started to really listen to it and landed somewhere around bored and underwhelmed. But, then again, each one of us responds very differently to each instrument, so thank the synth gods for all the choices we have.

[Ex Machina]

I had a MidiMini (MidiMoog) for a short time around then, the earlier ones, and it sounded nothing like my Minimoog, an earlier model.
Much less fat, stable, slower envelopes and weaker filter. Different tone and colour.
They sounded like completely different synths
I always thought they were just rackmounted Minimoog boards, but not based on my two units.
I think the Omega 8 sounded better than the MidiMini from then...

I like the MIDIMINI V30 specifically because it doesn't sound like an exact replica of a Minimoog. It's so much more flexible with a much broader sonic palette. If you're using the MIDIMINI for standard Minimoog-style basses and lead sounds it seems like a bit of a waste. You can save a ton of money by getting a Behringer Model D clone for $300 that gets you 99% of the way toward the sound of a $5,000 Moog Model D reissue.

The MIDIMINI V30 is for much more experimental sounds. I think it sounds better than the Studio Electronics SE-3X which is still a great synth but is just not as rad sounding as the MIDIMINI. I really wish the SE-3X sounded more like the MIDIMINI but in the same 3U case with a display and the ability to save patches.

[CoolColJ]

Andromeda is good for CS80 sounds, and modular style patches.
It's basically 16 mono synths in a box, and 16 part multi
And it's flexible enough to do more complex analog drums sounds, combined with the voice analog outs.
I like to think of it as an analog workstation.

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/alesis- ... rum-sounds

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/alesis-andromeda-baby

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/alesis- ... os-environ

https://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/alesis- ... rgle-beast


I have the CS80 Bladerunner lead thing on mine that makes me smile everytime I play it, pity poly aftertouch
Even if I use my Hydrasynth Explorer or SQ80 to control it, it won't respond to poly aftertouch as a mod source
I'll make a clip of it the next time I fire it up

[zerocrossing]

As it is, I'm quite content with what I have, keyboard wise. A Bass Station II, and a Sledge II (black), and I've been roll-my-own 'modular' focused/obsessed for the better part of a decade. That said...

The last 'analog' keyboard I was really (really) impressed with:


MFB Dominion 1.png

The Dominion 1 is truly a modern classic. I’d put it up against anything from any time.

[christian f.]

The Dominion 1 is truly a modern classic. I’d put it up against anything from any time.

Do you own one ?

[Uncle E]

Andromeda is good for CS80 sounds, and modular style patches.
It's basically 16 mono synths in a box, and 16 part multi

Individual outputs for each voice, too.

[BONES]

I used to own a TB-303 that I bought new with a TR-606 drum machine. Although both items were intended for lounge acts, I always used mine for electronic music. They both sounded great.

Easily the worst sounding synth and drum machine I have ever owned. Absolutely f**king awful.

Holy shynth, that sounds glorious!

Serious question - what sounds so good about that demo? To me it doesn't sound special at all, it's stuff you could probably do with any synth, really. OTOH, after I heard this preset walkthrough, I went out and bought an Analog Keys. It's got such a great bottom end and sounds really "creamy" in some of the quieter patches. The real thing sounds even betterer but I'd still rather use bx_oberhausen or GForce's SEM.

[SLiC]

The Pro3 is the best sounding Analog Mono I have owned (and I have had a few!)
The Novation Summit is probably the best Poly if that is classed as analogue! I think it sounds so much better than the 'old' synths people always refernce...it can do that, but it can do much more.
I also have a Prophet 8 rack which I love, it's my old school vintage vibe but somewhat limited- best 'Tom Sawyer' patch ever though IMO

I am not a massive fan of 'just' 'analogue' (its a bit limiting) but I have a nice analogue stuff in my euro rack, that has a lot of flexibility, I use 3 x Dixie oscillators and a wavefolder and that gives a lot of possibilities with FM and modulation and its nice to have a choice of filters to go through.

[Masterofdisaster]

I'm a sucker for Roland.. I really love how the mc-202 sounds. Also the mks-50 has something special.