AudioThing SX1000 - Vintage Analogue Synth

[paramita123]

Just looking at the guy's face playing wicked lines in the intro video made me very happy he was having a musical org4sm haha
Ignore those who complain about price (49 is fair) or its retro style, as long as you can make enough people happy it is worth it (and it sounds great to me)

Side note I like emulations that go beyond, adding cool new features (not FX as we have lots of these) and a preset browser like the U-HE ones.

[muki]

Awesome, I'm curious to know how it compares to your unit?

hehe
yeah, me too
just need to get the little kid out of the pile of other stuff lying on it
long time no play...

iirc, i always loved the PWM of the sx
considered it to be of the better ones
alongside system100 and micromoog
(both also physically here - therefore 1st-hand comparison)

Oh I need to check, it might be just a silly bug.

btw,
i forgot to mention:
on my side that is AU format on an older logic 10.5.1 under mojave (just fyi)

[audiothing]

Sounds like you nailed the sound of the saw wave, very impressive.
It'd be nice to also hear the square wave, the envelope and filter self oscillation comparison.

Yes, we'll do more comparisons in the following days!

[mholloway]

or anyone looking for that "boards of canada" sound

Was that the “secret weapon”?

No mention of BOC ever using the SX1000 that I've ever seen, so -- No, it wasn't.

Per the WARP press release for Tomorrow's Harvest, the "secret weapon" was the Yamaha CS-60. But people still debate it, years later, and likely will forever...so it goes.

[audiothing]

I'm always happy to see a new addition to the freeware line up.

Wait, what? It's $49 ? For a single Osc synth in 2025? For an emulation of a synth that was a joke when it was new and has been outdated for 45+ years?

Bwuahahahah

(drops grenade in the thread and walks away laughing knowing the masses be on it like a pack of Piranhas on a fresh side of beef). (I can already hear some ivory colored fingers banging away at a qwerty keyboard)

But seriously no offense to Audiothing because I'm sure there are enough retrograde customers who will buy it to justify the project. However, every minute spent emulating that sadsynth© is a minute not spent on something that pushes synthesis forward into the future instead of a handful of decades into the past.

As someone who lived and owned hardware through those decades, the desire to have every bottom level hunk of obscure and rusting hardware from the period makes no sense to me given the incredible power we have at our fingertips with modern software based synths in 2025.

It's like wanting to watch your favorite movie on a VHS deck that has tracking issues instead of your 4K Blu-Ray copy. (8K softsynths are coming if R&D efforts are pointed forward).

But hey to each their own.

Good luck with the SX1000 project. I hope you sell millions of them.

Let's go make some music..........

It's actually more than just a single oscillator synth when you take a look at everything we've included to make it stand out. The price reflects that. If you are after the "4K/8K" synths, that’s fine. However, I'd appreciate it if you didn't characterize our customers in a dismissive way simply because they value our product.

Every minute spent emulating this synth was instead well invested for us. It was my first analog synth, and after over 20 years, I still reach for it more often than my vintage '78 Minimoog. We built in all the features I always wished it had, and the beta testing with my team was a blast.

At the end of the day, I'm in a position to invest time and money in what makes me happy and proud. Whether we sell 1 copy or 100 doesn't matter. For now, I'm focused on preserving what I have in my studio. They might not always be fancy synths or effects, but if they're here, they carry a charm and value that I believe is truly worth having.

And who knows? If a new modern approach catches my eye in the future, we'll go there too.

[seafire]

Ok, so I haven't tried it, and I'm not going to, so my view can be described as 'limited/unworthy '

But why would I. I know this synth, from the hardware, and it was dull, basic and bland.

Seems to me, these days, some devs have moved away from 'classic' analogues, that were quite basic and dull anyway (Juno anyone?) and are emulating stuff that is rarer but , well awful.

Jen never made a decent synth, and if you think rolling a turd in glitter makes it worth a single cent, you are delusional.

I'm sure this company did their best to emulate and improve, but it really is a waste of time
I do wonder about the thinking process of people who choose such projects

[audiothing]

iirc, i always loved the PWM of the sx
considered it to be of the better ones
alongside system100 and micromoog
(both also physically here - therefore 1st-hand comparison)

PWM and also full ADSRs for amp and filter are probably the reasons why I usually reach more for the SX1000 over the Minimoog.

Oh I need to check, it might be just a silly bug.

btw,
i forgot to mention:
on my side that is AU format on an older logic 10.5.1 under mojave (just fyi)

Yep, it's indeed a bug, but easy to fix.

[seafire]

iirc, i always loved the PWM of the sx
considered it to be of the better ones
alongside system100 and micromoog
(both also physically here - therefore 1st-hand comparison)

PWM and also full ADSRs for amp and filter are probably the reasons why I usually reach more for the SX1000 over the Minimoog.

Really? You have both do you?

[El°HYM]

They usually having the originals of what they model including the Hainbach stuff.

[IvyBirds]

It's actually more than just a single oscillator synth when you take a look at everything we've included to make it stand out. The price reflects that. If you are after the "4K/8K" synths, that’s fine. However, I'd appreciate it if you didn't characterize our customers in a dismissive way simply because they value our product.

Every minute spent emulating this synth was instead well invested for us. It was my first analog synth, and after over 20 years, I still reach for it more often than my vintage '78 Minimoog. We built in all the features I always wished it had, and the beta testing with my team was a blast.

At the end of the day, I'm in a position to invest time and money in what makes me happy and proud. Whether we sell 1 copy or 100 doesn't matter. For now, I'm focused on preserving what I have in my studio. They might not always be fancy synths or effects, but if they're here, they carry a charm and value that I believe is truly worth having.

And who knows? If a new modern approach catches my eye in the future, we'll go there too.

It's amazing how threatened they feel about you and what you are doing

It's bizarre really and for what?

So you created a plugin they have no interest in, based on a vintage synth they don't like so what?

It's just weird they are losing their shit over it, let's you know you are doing the right things

[El°HYM]

About BOC and their secret weapon:

[seafire]

Does it? Seems bizzare to turn a negative into a positive just to make someone feel better.

Nothing wrong with people saying something negative in a polite way. It's called being honest. No malice intended (at least on my part)

[audiothing]

Ok, so I haven't tried it, and I'm not going to, so my view can be described as 'limited/unworthy '

But why would I. I know this synth, from the hardware, and it was dull, basic and bland.

Seems to me, these days, some devs have moved away from 'classic' analogues, that were quite basic and dull anyway (Juno anyone?) and are emulating stuff that is rarer but , well awful.

Jen never made a decent synth, and if you think rolling a turd in glitter makes it worth a single cent, you are delusional.

I'm sure this company did their best to emulate and improve, but it really is a waste of time
I do wonder about the thinking process of people who choose such projects

Talking about wasted time and our thinking process, our next synth is going to be a not-fancy, not-classic, probably dull, Organ/Strings machine combo. And yes, the JUNO 60 is in the works too (which is why we added that arpeggiator to the JEN). They should make a pretty good dull pair

[audiothing]

PWM and also full ADSRs for amp and filter are probably the reasons why I usually reach more for the SX1000 over the Minimoog.

Really? You have both do you?

Yes, I do have both. I had the Minimoog for about 5–6 years (and needed to service it twice), while I've owned the SX1000 for over 20 years, modded it myself, and never needed a service. Don't get me wrong, the Minimoog is amazing and I'm very happy to have it. Perhaps is the lack of PWM, the ADSRs, or just the nostalgic feel, but the JEN is always right by my desk, while the Moog usually sits with the rest of my instruments.

[_leras]

Just saying it's a tough market to get into.

But that doesn't sound anything like an SX1000 and let's face it UAD had to sell it at such a deep discount because it's just not very good

My comment was only intended to say it's a tough market.

I regret having made that comment as I was certainly not intending to derail the thread.