What is coming from Melda? MYYY?

[nichttuntun]

Sorry Vojtech for being so off topic

Well, you mentioned all those names, so that has generated some interest

I have tried them all. They all have interesting sounds here and there. The UI problem in one prevents any further interest. A bit of the same with the Wave* synths and their arps playing w/o hitting a note. A bit of a dismay also that Phonem ships with a series of test speech files, as if it's a toy or something not serious. The pads are interesting though. Yes, he's the creator of PPG Wave, but that does not evaluate what he's doing today. I also tried all of Madrona. Nice UI, not impressed much at all by the sounds which attracts all attention to themselves, eg. must be the center piece to appreciate all nuances and do not blend much with existing music. Which is sometimes a problem with synth sounds developed too much in isolation, or with very light 'background' music.

So I got Blue2 instead.

Cheers.

GUI-problems:
What do you mean? There are none in the mentioned synths. At least for me.

PHONEM:
A toy...

MADRONA LABS:
KAIVO is one of the most interesting granular/ physical modelling hybrid synths out there and it can be said for both parts. But combined in modular synth together you won't find somewhere else. You can use 4 track multi samples in the granulator and you have fantastic possibilities how the players behave over the whole sound spectrum. Of course you can load your own sounds and your own field recordings. The sound quality of the physical modelling part is simply amazing, hence the CPU consumption. This thing is high end soundwise. I made patches with it where you get the impressions that the Einstürzende Neubauten would be life in concert at your studio jamming on their real built constructions. I never heard such sounds from any synth out there. There is nothing in comparison.

BLUE2:
An excellent hybrid synth, especially when you like FM because you can freely route 6 operators via a freely definable routing matrix. Sensational synth for experimentation if you are programming yourself.

Final thoughts:
you wrote you "tried out" the synths. How many time did you invest? Okay, you should be aware that these instruments are so deep and have to be used intensively to learn their potential instead of tried out. I don't want to assume something but I think it takes some more time and experimenting with them to really judge these synths in total. BLUE 2 is a synth too which only begins to shine bright when well learned and much own programming and experimentation is going on. The presets e.g. are not too interesting at all.

I really wish that every synth would come without any presets at all. That would force people to actually really use a synth and of course the user would become more experienced with the growing practice... and there would be a time in the future the listener would be rewarded with more interesting sound design as this all-alike conventional standard fair heard nearly everywhere.

[mevla]

GUI-problems: What do you mean? There are none in the mentioned synths. At least for me.

The problem was described. That's in comparison with all other plugins I run in a similar manner. Deficiency in coding might show more in those circumstances. It does with that synth.

PHONEM: A toy...

First synth I see delivered with test audio files.

Blue2:

An excellent hybrid synth, especially when you like FM because you can freely route 6 operators via a freely definable routing matrix. Sensational synth for experimentation if you are programming yourself.

Sytrus is quite excellent at routing FM, and has the famous IL Line Editor on most parameters which offers infinite possibilities. Importing a drum loop wav file for setting an ADSR curve ?

Final thoughts: you wrote you "tried out" the synths. How many time did you invest? Okay, you should be aware that these instruments are so deep and have to be used intensively to learn their potential instead of tried out. I don't want to assume something but I think it takes some more time and experimenting with them to really judge these synths in total. BLUE 2 is a synth too which only begins to shine bright when well learned and much own programming and experimentation is going on. The presets e.g. are not too interesting at all.

I really wish that every synth would come without any presets at all. That would force people to actually really use a synth and of course the user would become more experienced with the growing practice... and there would be a time in the future the listener would be rewarded with more interesting sound design as this all-alike conventional standard fair heard nearly everywhere.

The following also applies to MPowerSynth. Trying a synth for me means does it find a place in existing production ? If not, does it show potential for finding a place ? Does it show potential for veering off on a production tangent ? Blue2, as well as MPowerSynth offers a fair amount of demo patches which show cases the possibilities very well. On top of trying out many of those patches against existing material, as well as by themselves, getting a quick glimpse of how the synth is structured by modifying a few parameters gives IMHO a good overview. If a synth is not convincing at that stage, then it's either put on the back burner, or forgotten for some time, perhaps until an update.

If I may offer a parallel, I'm fascinated by acoustic guitar construction. The degree of craftsmanship that goes into building a guitar is impressive. The care to the details, the selection and treatment of the wood, the measurements, this is truly an art.

Should I stop playing guitar because the only work I do with wood has to do with table saws, chop saws, 2x4 and 1x6 and that I'm nowhere near being able to build guitar ? I think not. Similarly, should I struggle (as opposed to exercising a good clean effort) to play drums when I barely have any talent for drumming instead of using machines and loops and rhythm processing ? Again I think not.

Same with creating sound on synths. I make music. There are people out there who excel at creating sounds for synths. Synths are delivered with presets, 3rd party soundsets are made. And these provide the basis for synth playing. Knowing how a synth works adds more adaptability capabilities to the music that is produced. But making music solely with sounds created in-house means that 1) much time is pent making sounds than music and 2) it will take a fair amount of time to equate in quality the sounds created by expert sound designers and 3) the music created with those primitive sounds, or far out weird sounds, will be restricted in public scope and ultimately in creative expressiveness. IMHO.

This said, MPowerSynth is definitively on the very short list (only 2 synths with Icarus ) of excellent synths to eventually get and explore more and put into production.

And then, I will spent 1.5 years making music and learning synths here and there in-between.

Because the problem is, when I start spending time learning a synth, or audio plugin, there's always this silly creative impulse that interrupts and there I go away on a sound, on a riff. Yesterday I made improvisation number 373 in 2.5 years on a RayBlaster riff that was produced by tweaking an existing sound.

The 'Escape of the Hopping Rhinos' in the signature below is such an improved that was picked up a bit later and structured and improved. It gathered a lot of listens and likes in a very short time. That is, for the music that I make while I'm still learning how to mix and master. 'Tundra Tango' is also such an improv in which I was immersed at that time, then forgotten, then picked up again 1.5 year later. They all are, after all.

That silly creative impulse always gets in the way !

Cheers.

[nichttuntun]

Haha
Thank you for the deep insights. It was an interesting read for me.

Yes its such a thing with creativity.

I am studying the piano, learning better to sightread besides of free improvizing/ experimenting with new (jazz related) scales just for the joy of it and playing freely in general. I am practicing each day and sometimes I totally get lost in it. Another time I totally get lost in screwing some knobs and sliders of VST- and hardware synths or do stuff with MXXX(Core). Luckily I don´t think much of "making music" or finishing tracks like I did as I was much younger in the early 90th. Now I am just enjoying the process of doing all those things and the pure sound these things produce. Sometimes I just hunt my field recordings thru Glitchmachines PALNINDROME or thru BIOTEK 2 and I get surprised every time of the outcome. It´s awesome for me to got the freedom to just do it without having any particular goals in mind. This freedom is like an enlightment for me. Sometimes the results are so exiting for me that I feel sheer inner joy. 98% of the time I never record or even save presets...and so I start anew the next day/ each day again...with a total fresh beginners mind. Erased everything for the foundation of doing "new" things and not get stucked on "old" things. Thats the process I go for. It´s like in meditation which I also practice for some good years now. I think every individual has its own way of doing things. I think we maybe could learn from one another.

A joyful modulation


Have joy in the things you do and like