Thinking about buying an analog poly, but unsure if it’s worth doing..

[kvotchin]

I mean, there’s the various - very freaking good - VA softsynths I own and use. And besides, all analog gear shall be summarily digitised upon doing damn near anything at all, let alone recording it. Been that way for many a year now.

So, with those factors in mind, is it actually worth the considerable monies - and selection stress - to make this happen?

[Jim Roseberry]

That's a well thought-out question.

The answer isn't clearcut/concise or universal.

Analog synths are a luxury.
They're certainly not the most practical for live use.
By today's standards of do-all be-all, it can be a hard choice to spend thousands on an instrument with limited feature-set.
That said, the experience of using a great analog synth (with all the hands-on control) is something you just don't get with virtual-instruments. Even with MIDI controllers, the integration (at least to this point) just isn't the same.

I'd ask myself if there's an analog synth compelling enough (to you) to warrant the expense and logistics (size/weight/etc).

Did a session this past Sunday (for a client - recorded at a large studio).
For this track, I wanted an Industrial type vibe (kind of a Stabbing Westward/NIN thing).
Fired up PolyBrute 12 and Moog Muse. Neither were really working for me (in this context).
Turned on the Kronos 3, auditioned a few "Rhythmic" type presets... and found two that fit perfectly. Tweaked them... adjusted them to fit the song tempo... and they worked beautifully.
Ironically, the parts sounded fairly analog.
Kronos is what, 14 year-old technology? The UI isn't amazing, but it delivered.
Working on that track gave me a renewed appreciation for the Kronos.

[Uncle E]

SoundForce SFC-OB together with GForce OB-X will give you a near hardware experience. I used to control OB-X with an OB-X8 and it was pretty amazing how close they sounded, but the hardware control was an important part of making that happen.

OTOH, there are still synths out there that haven't been matched by plugins, such as the Jupiter-8 and Juno-60. A JN-80 would probably be a good choice if you want that sound and it costs only a little more than an SFC-OB.

[bmanic]

I'd put it like this:

If you want to play harmonically rich very high notes without any audible aliasing, your only option is analogue. If you want to do audio rate modulation of any sort and play the melody or chords moderately high up the octave while avoiding aliasing, your only option is analogue.. and if you want to put all of this through multiple stages of saturation in series, your only option is analogue.

These are the only absolutes in my experience when it comes to the advantages of analogue. Everything else, sound exploration wise, can be done in the digital domain with plugins or well made digital synthesizers (Waldorf, Korg, Yamaha, Roland etc).


I completely disagree with Uncle E's post here above. It doesn't get much more boring than Junos, Jupiters, Minimogues etc. All those basic vanilla sounds (unless you do cross modulation / ringmodulation / audio rate stuff) when lowpass filtered are so bog standard that within a mix context, it doesn't matter at all if you used the real deal or a plugin.

However, if you just want an analogue synth "to play" and enjoy, then you may be able to sit down and actually enjoy the nuance differences. But I'm increasingly skeptical about this ability in people. You will however have a very nice tactile experience where you sort of "connect" with the synthesizer while exploring it's possibilities (even if they are limited).. but sound wise, in a modern mixing context? Nope. Complete waste of money in my opinion.

If you do want to explore it, I would recommend starting out with something super cheap. A used Behringer DM12 or Behringer UB-Xa are good inexpensive starting points that are usually easy to get rid of and not loose a lot of money on them. Both are capable enough to let you explore more complex sounds (DM12 being a lot more capable than for instance the recently released JN-80). Another option is a Korg Prologue.. you sometimes find those for dirt cheap.

But for the love of everything that is holy, do NOT go all in and purchase some stupidly expensive thing unless you have silly amounts of extra money to throw around.

[Seafire Mk2]

I mean, there’s the various - very freaking good - VA softsynths I own and use. And besides, all analog gear shall be summarily digitised upon doing damn near anything at all, let alone recording it. Been that way for many a year now.

So, with those factors in mind, is it actually worth the considerable monies - and selection stress - to make this happen?

 

No

[wintoid]

I've been selling up my analog polysynths lately, I don't see the point unless they give me something I can't otherwise achieve ITB. I've got a small modular and THAT I would keep because it's such fun. Having said that, I am going to keep one analog poly.

[Constructed Identity]

I mean, there’s the various - very freaking good - VA softsynths I own and use. And besides, all analog gear shall be summarily digitised upon doing damn near anything at all, let alone recording it. Been that way for many a year now.

So, with those factors in mind, is it actually worth the considerable monies - and selection stress - to make this happen?

DON'T DO IT!
You will turn in to Smeegle and go around about "My Precious" all the time. Your possessions will possess you!

[D-Fusion]

I mean, there’s the various - very freaking good - VA softsynths I own and use. And besides, all analog gear shall be summarily digitised upon doing damn near anything at all, let alone recording it. Been that way for many a year now.

So, with those factors in mind, is it actually worth the considerable monies - and selection stress - to make this happen?

It was not worth it for me.
I like my Digital Hardware synths combined with todays excellent vst's more because they have more options and polyphony and they give me the sounds i want at a much lower cost.

I only have 1 Analog HW synth left (Behringer Pro 800) because it is not worth selling it at the low prices they are going for and 4 Digital Synths and i won't buy any more HW Synths since i can get all the sounds i like and want with The excellent vst plugins we have now and most of my digital HW synths are also released as native vst's now that i also own as a backup.

You must also be prepared to loose a lot of money if you decide to sell your HW later now that the Economy for most people have been trashed worldwide.

[Uncle E]

These are interesting poly synth concepts, although expensive, super non-traditional, and pushing the boundary of what can be called a poly synth. The only software I can think of that can do this stuff is GForce OB-E:

https://www.cymaforma.com/alt
https://genki.is/

[vurt]

mother always told me "if you have to ask for someone else's opinion on a purchase, you already know you don't need it"

[cryophonik]

mother always told me "if you have to ask for someone else's opinion on a purchase, you already know you don't need it"

Yeah, especially when the entire question is prefaced by reasons you think you don’t need it.

[lfm]

These are the only absolutes in my experience when it comes to the advantages of analogue. Everything else, sound exploration wise, can be done in the digital domain with plugins or well made digital synthesizers (Waldorf, Korg, Yamaha, Roland etc).

One thing forgotten about hardware analogs in this thread is knob per function and being tactile in the creation.
- to sit with a mouse again and fiddle one on screen knob at a time?
- would never happen
- there is no comparison how a good analog hardware fuel creativity

So considering the number of voices needed and such I'd look at
- Korg Minilogue, 4 voices
- Sequential Take 5, 5 voices, lack a bit on patch storage IMO, but fair
- Oberheim TEO-5, a bit sparce on storage too IMO
- Behringer DeepMind 6-12 voices, owned a DM6, great synth plenty room to store patches
- Korg Prologue 8-16 voices, had a P8, also great
- Sequential Prophet REV2 8-16 voices, my current desktop-16 and only synth now, cannot praise it enough

These are all fairly compact in size too in most cases, and some give both desktop and keyboard versions.

You just reach for the different knobs and funfactor exceed anything on a screen...just ask yourself the hours you spent on computer screen with soft synths, how much you long for doing that?

Good hardware analogs invites you constantly....

[kritikon]

Good set of recommendations from lfm above.

I only recently got a MinilogueXD and despite it's only 4 voices, it blows me away at how incredibly good it is. It's a huge bonus to have the poly function but it would be a hugely good monosynth in its own right...which brings me onto another aspect.

If you're going to go analogue then (for me at least) you only need 1 big poly. When you think about what you play, it's mostly pads/chords with I guess some other fairly vanilla type sounds. I have an ever-growing collection of monosynths and generally they're the character ones with fat filters, aggro sounds, weird cross-mod/sync tom-foolery, mind-bending modulation options and you're not going to use those sounds for chords/pads. I mean...back in the day I used to hanker after an MS20 that I could play poly, and now it's possible - all of the lovely screaming aggro sounds I use an MS20 for sound fkn awful with chords. And for vanilla pads and fills, there is some difference between synths but not noticably huge. One will do.

Having said that, I have the UBXa with a shit ton of voices, BMonoPoly and MinilogueXD which can do 4 voice poly, and I will def buy a BJupiter when it comes out. I know I won't be able to resist getting a JN80 when it finally arrives at the bottom of the world, so I don't take my own advice .

I absolutely understand getting loads of analogue toys that are mono or limited voices, because yes there is a huge difference between them. But for pads - nah. And it makes sense if you're going to get a big poly to go for a proper big one. Say, a Korg Polylogue, or a Summit or maybe a big Obie (which I think are way overpriced...), possibly even a Polybrute

So sit and think what you actually play, and what you want a poly for. For me if I'm honest with myself - I rarely play any more than 4 note chords on anything so too many 8 or 16 voice polys are wasted on me. Though 16 voice unison sounds can def make me moist ). If you play orchestral megapads then you might want a proper big poly, but I suspect a lot of peeps like me who can be well serviced by a 4-voice poly, which narrows it down a bit and my hotlist would be:

PWM Mantis
Korg Minilogue
Behringer MonoPoly or PolyD (limited in poly mode but make for fancy monosynths as a bonus)
Sequential FourM
And obvs the B Deepmind because it's the same price bracket but more voices than those others

All of these won't break the bank either.

[kritikon]

Oh, before I forget...

As to the age old chestnut from twats who don't even use analogue synths - no, many of them really don't sound the same as software plugins. That's utter nonsense. Not saying they're better, but there are plenty of things analogue does that sw sounds crap at, and plenty of things that sw leaves analogues in the dust for. Yes, you can hear the difference instantly with many of the better analogues and it really is night and day. Yes, a mega VST synth can do all kinds of wonderful things no analogue can do and they sound really very good. Sw is without doubt a whole shitload cheaper and can play a thousand times more notes if that's what you want. There are pros and cons for analogue and sw, but they are NOT the same.

[Uncle E]

Plus, Minilogue XD has the programmable oscillator and can go way beyond traditional analogs.