Softube CS-80 ? - Model 77 Dual Layer Synth

[CinningBao]

I'm not sure Mr Bones understand the subtle nuances of expression available to us as humans; I get the impression he's a very "hit the enter key harder to make the point" kind of chap. We all have our limits. Maybe he should try cello for a while.

[thecontrolcentre]

The price of Model 77 is back down to $30 today ... use code: BLACKFRIDAYEXTRA15
https://softube.customer.voyado.com/lin ... c29mdHViZQ

[SebAV]

I'm finding the MODEL 77 hard to resist at $29.00, even tho' I doubt I would have that much use for it, (other than the pure enjoyment of playing around with it.) I already have a great selection of hardware analogs & far more software synths than I will ever need (including most of the other UAD synths).

I think there are a lot of people having exactly the same thought. I did, I then bought it, loaded it up quickly and played a few presets. And thought, perhaps I'll never use this... who the hell knows?

Model 77 has a specific sound which is « hardware feel » but yes given the other synths I’ve already got, I wonder if I’ll ever use it.

[DashOfLime]

I'm reasonably sure I own more guitar music than you do and I've certainly seen more people on stage playing guitars than you have.

Well that settles it then. If I had known you owned more guitar music I never would have pushed back in that manner. Especially if I had known that you had also seen more people on stage playing guitars! I once heard about a guy playing a live guitar in my village but I was busy maintaining the hearth fire and delousing the bedding and garments that night. So I missed it.

Holy crap dude. I was laughing so hard at this my eyes were watering...

[DashOfLime]

I sense a disturbance in The Force. Or just a BONES suspension coming up

[DashOfLime]

I'm reasonably sure I own more guitar music than you do and I've certainly seen more people on stage playing guitars than you have.

"I've smelled more food than you and have certainly been to more restaurants so that makes me a chef"

[Aloysius]

**“Okay, so like, listen up, because apparently grown-ups don’t understand humor (shocker). I was LAUGHING so hard at this I think I just invented a new form of physics . My eyes were literally leaking like I’m single-handedly refilling the oceans , and honestly NASA should call me because clearly I’m generating enough chaos to power a satellite.

Also, my cat was judging me, but like, obviously he’s wrong because cats can’t comprehend GENIUS-level laughter. I fell off my chair, my phone did a sick backflip, and the lamp flickered like it was taking notes for when I run the world someday 🫠.

Honestly, if you’re a grown-up reading this… just know your brains cannot handle my comedic energy. I’m basically a quantum-level meme at this point. Crying? Yes. Ascending? Also yes. Being smarter than everyone in this room? Obviously.”**

[IvyBirds]

I've said this before but I think people who think MPE is great aren't natural synth players, they're not used to using the Mod and Pitch-Bend wheels to add expression to their playing. I like having the freedom to do that stuff with one hand now but sometimes the Mod Wheel still feels like the right way to do things.

I started playing keyboard instruments in the 1970s. Back the it was our families Piano and Organ. Playing the Organ taught me to use an expression pedal and to play the keyboard with my feet

Playing piano taught me to use the Sustain Pedal, the Una Corda Pedal, and the Sostenuto Pedal. That along with all 10 of my fingers enabled me to play expressivity. My Piano Teacher in the late 1970s and early 1980s really emphasized the use of pedals for expressive play. Then she had me stop using them entirely and forced me to just use my hands

I will be forever grateful for that

When I started using Synths I was all over the mod wheel, and the pitchbend wheel. One of things that drew me to the DX7 was a that it has the wheels but also inputs for foot pedals and a breath controller as well as a fantastic keyboard with velocity and after touch

That opened up a entire new world of expressive playing

Why? Because a keyboard playing playing live in stage I would play multiple keyboards at the same time using both my hands. So if I had something going on using the D50 with my right hand, and something else with my left on the DX7, I didn't have a 3rd or 4th hand available to use wheels. So I could use my feet or a breath controller, or use my fingers with velocity and after touch that were already engaged with the keys trigging notes

Modern MPE is for players of all skill levels, it's so nice to not have to move your hands over to a wheel. I only have two hands but I have 10 fingers

Human hands have 27 bones, 27 joints, 34 muscles, and over 100 ligaments and tendons. Around 1/4 of all of the bones in the human body are in the hand. Nearly a quarter of your brain's motor cortex is devoted to hand movement

They are the most complex biological machine on the earth outside of the Human Brain. They offer a level of dexterity and nuance that nothing else on the planet does.

Pretty much any mammal on earth, and many birds, insects and fish, even some invertebrates can move a wheel up and down. That takes no skill, dexterity, or nuance

MPE with modern synthesizers allows for expression and sound design and performance options that you simply can not do with any other instrument. It maximizes what 25% or your brain and body have been designed and created to do and use

And the awesome thing is you can still use your mod wheels, foot controllers, breath controllers, and pitchbend wheels as part of it

[BONES]

Yeah. but are you one of these idiots that says that they wont' buy anything unless it supports MPE? I mean, if you were, you wouldn't ever want to use a piano again, would you? But again, you're displaying a lack of understanding of exactly what MPE is. I can get all the expression I need from my controllers without having to use them into MPE mode. i.e. You can get all the cool stuff you're talking about without MPE.

"I've smelled more food than you and have certainly been to more restaurants so that makes me a chef"

You don't need to be a chef to recognise what a dish is or how it is made. You simply need an understanding of the processes involved. It's a good analogy and it goes to my point.

[Cavey Arrgh]

Human hands have 27 bones

And yet, KVR has only one...

[IvyBirds]

But again, you're displaying a lack of understanding of exactly what MPE is. I can get all the expression I need from my controllers without having to use them into MPE mode. i.e. You can get all the cool stuff you're talking about without MPE.

You have a very deep misunderstanding of what MPE is, if you honestly think that. I mean that is just a shockingly bad take

With MPE I can get polyphonic expression across multiple parameters that is continuous

Without it I can't. It's really not that hard unless someone is choosing to be just plain willfully ignorant

But please enlighten all of us how I can get polyphonic expression across multiple parameters without MPE

And please spare us the standard response you like to use how you don't need it so no one does

That isn't going to fly here. That never actually flies anywhere but in this case you specifically stated that I can get all the cool stuff I am talking about without MPE

I can't not by a long shot

[ffx]

I want to edit the modulation at note level, not like an 80s synth at channel level. I also would like to use per-voice-modulators as Bitwig provides it, with the VSTs I use. Repro for example can do this all. From your angry response and ignoring of my question, Bones, I conclude that this synth can't do either of these. So it might sound good, but the underlying tech stack seems to be outdated, even though it was released at 2024/25. So I won't buy it.

[Echoes in the Attic]

But again, you're displaying a lack of understanding of exactly what MPE is. I can get all the expression I need from my controllers without having to use them into MPE mode. i.e. You can get all the cool stuff you're talking about without MPE.

You have a very deep misunderstanding of what MPE is, if you honestly think that. I mean that is just a shockingly bad take

With MPE I can get polyphonic expression across multiple parameters that is continuous

Without it I can't. It's really not that hard unless someone is choosing to be just plain willfully ignorant

But please enlighten all of us how I can get polyphonic expression across multiple parameters without MPE

And please spare us the standard response you like to use how you don't need it so no one does

That isn't going to fly here. That never actually flies anywhere but in this case you specifically stated that I can get all the cool stuff I am talking about without MPE

I can't not by a long shot

You're not thinking the right way. You need to get yourself into the mind of a baby or small toddler.

Why do you buy food in a grocery store or go to eat at restaurants? They aren't useful. Let me explain.

As a small baby, when I am hungry, I scream until a nice lady comes and gives me a something with milk in it until I get full, or sometimes I get some other yummy liquid or a bowl with some mushy stuff. I get everything I need from these and feel all full up.

Why do you go to restaurants when the lady fixes my hunger with the milk or the bowl of mush? I get everything I need from this therefor you don't need to make all this weird stuff from the food at the grocery store or from the fancy restaurants. What even are those weird shapes on those plates? how do you even chew that stuff? I don't have teeth! So you shouldn't need any of this.

Just cry and get the lady to come over and give you something.

No? You don't understand food.

[revvy]

That’s proper disturbing, that is.

Unrelated, there’s nothing worse in a synth than an outdated underlying tech stack.

[DashOfLime]

I want to edit the modulation at note level, not like an 80s synth at channel level. I also would like to use per-voice-modulators as Bitwig provides it, with the VSTs I use. Repro for example can do this all. From your angry response and ignoring of my question, Bones, I conclude that this synth can't do either of these. So it might sound good, but the underlying tech stack seems to be outdated, even though it was released at 2024/25. So I wouldn't buy it even for 10€.

That's a rather large leap in logic to make. The tech stack is outdated because an emulation of a synthesizer from 1977 doesn't do everything you want? Why would it? Softube's instruments stick very closely to the originals. They're not trying to add features on to that.