Synth recommendations

[solconnection]

you've already got the synth aril brika uses, nord 2.

my recommendation is the awesome Moog Voyager RME, its the best synth ive ever had.
if you cant afford one of those,

cheapies ; Roland Juno 106, analogue / digital hybrid, but sounds analogue.

3 cheers for the voyager!! rah rah rah best synth ever!!!

love the overdrive trick, and routing channels from ableton into it and overdriving them through its circuits its so expressive, you really feel like your 'playing' something, which goes a huge way towards coming up with unique sounds with character. ive got a TI too which is fantastic for pads and very capable and diverse, but shes just no fun to 'play'.

-Dan

[agodi]

I saw "Totally Wired",a documentary about 'Schneider's Buero' in Berlin, as part of the Dublin's Electonic Arts Festival (DEAF) last weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYOH9ZezmO0

Have a look here for more about Schneider's Buero
http://schneidersladen.com/

[steevio]

And the general consensuss here was that even though analog has alot of advantages, such as being more hands on etc., the technology hasn't really changed since the 1970's, its heavy and expensive and alot of the textures and sounds that are being produced digitally could never be produced using analog. However one of the biggest problems with digital at the moment is that the majority of the programs being produced are emulations of these old 1970's synthesizers!!!!!!!!


Keep an eye on this for digital news, reviews and other useful stuff
http://createdigitalmusic.com/

the reason why the technology hasnt really changed, and the digital synths are emulating the old analogues is that they pretty much got the principle of subtractive synthesis spot on right from the start, its based on rock solid physics that is never going to change.
where digital shines imo is when it isnt trying to emulate subtractive synthesis. additive synthesis is more difficult with analogue because it requires alot of modules to do anything, but in principle it is still possible.
we have to remember that synthesizers were originally intended to mimic the real world sounds, especially of musical instruments, and those are the sounds that we respond to as humans, it's part of our evolution, we fashioned musical instruments through history to make the sounds we like.

digital gives us more flexibility, but not necessarily a much bigger palette, apart from in the realms of experimental music, for me thats where digital comes into its own.
but the majority of people on this planet want to hear musical sounds, and the original synthesizers did a good job of doing just that.

analogue gear is heavy (ish) but its not as expensive as it first appears.
if you add up the costs of all your software and plugins ( if you bought it legitamitally ) decent quality controllers etc. it can start to get pretty expensive.

i dont buy into the argument that analogue is more limiting for sounds and textures, if it has a midi interface and assignable controls, you can do amazing things. the new analogue gear is sophisticated, and bang up to date.

[agodi]

Hi steevio, I had actually edited my post b4 i saw your reply as I meant to write it under another topic where someone had asked what kind of synths do ppl use. But the original post is down below for the benefit of everyone else.

Saw this documentary, "Totally Wired" about 'Schneider's Buero' in Berlin, as part of the Dublin's Electonic Arts Festival (DEAF) last weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYOH9ZezmO0

So to answer your question regarding what do ppl use?? Well it seems alot of ppl like the Junior Boys, Anthony Rother, Ricardo Villalobos, Magda & Marc Houle seem to using alot of stuff that few ppl will have heard of and even fewer will ever manage get their hands on..........

Have a look here for more about Schneider's Buero
http://schneidersladen.com/


But if your a Digital user like me, then don't despair just yet because there were also talks given by digital advocates such as Gavin Burke of FAW [Future Audio Workshop], Peter Kirn [Create Digital Music], Dave Vorhaus & Mark Jenkins [White Noise / BBC Radiophonic Workshop]
And the general consensuss here was that even though analog has alot of advantages, such as being more hands on etc., the technology hasn't really changed since the 1970's, its heavy and expensive and alot of the textures and sounds that are being produced digitally could never be produced using analog. However one of the biggest problems with digital at the moment is that the majority of the programs being produced are emulations of these old 1970's synthesizers!!!!!!!!


Keep an eye on this for digital news, reviews and other useful stuff
http://createdigitalmusic.com/

[nrjizer]

Bumping this thread because I'm about to make the investment (almost a full year after I made this thread, haha) and would like some last minute advice.

It's looking like I'll have between $1500-2000 to spend (selling off some DJ gear). My goal is to get 1 or 2 good, versatile synths, preferrably polyphonics with lots of knobs on which to program. Also, I'd like instruments that will accompany my Nord Lead 2x. Here's what I currently have in mind:

-A used JP-8000 is high up on my list because they're plentiful on ebay at the moment, and I know that they've been used by artists whose sonic palettes I particularly enjoy.

-Virus C is also looking really good, plenty of knobs to turn. Anyone have any input regarding a Virus C vs a JP8000?

-I've taken a long hard look at the Prophet 08, though from a lot of the demos I've heard on youtube and such I feel like the sound might be a bit more raw/gritty than what I'd like to accomplish (I'll post examples of the kind of textures I'd like to achieve at the bottom).

-DSI Evolver is the one monosynth I'm considering, just because of its bang for buck factor. A poly evolver is out of my budget.

-Waldorf Blofeld looks nice for deep house sounds, but menu programming puts me off.

-Roland Alpha Juno's look nice, as do some of the older Ensoniqs, although both are supposedly a pain in the ass to program (relatively).

I'm open to other suggestions, I've just had these particular ones in mind because demo videos are readily available on youtube, and I've been able to get a feel for what they sound like. To give you an idea of the types of sounds I'd like to accomplish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijBhrVaTaMY (fucking love the pads and keys in this one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_SsbMPeTRI

http://mp3.juno.co.uk/MP3/SF1394931-02-01-02.mp3

http://mp3.juno.co.uk/MP3/SF1327923-02-01-03.mp3

http://mp3.juno.co.uk/MP3/SF1407166-02-01-01.mp3

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to rip off any particular artist, nor am I ignorant of the fact that good artists make the most out of what they have. But there are particular sonic timbres that really strike a chord with me (no pun intended), so I'd like to make sure that I'm buying a synth that can best give me the types of sounds I like. Trying to click around VSTs kills my creativity and I'd like to get the absolute most out of whatever synth I ultimately get.

[tone-def]

your listed some very different synths. some warm and some cold. i'll listen to the clips probably tomorrow and give my opinion.

Have you looked at the Tetra? those things look very nice.

[steevio]

to nrjizer;

i'm not sure listening to peoples clips on youtube is the right way to assess a synth. there's no guarantee that the user actually knows the synth that well or even knows anything about programming.

as an example i have 7 banks of my own sounds in my Nord3 and one bank of the original presets which i havent got round to writing over, if you switch randomly between my banks and the presets, it suddenly sounds like theres different synth in the room, theres absolutely no comparison whatsoever between them.

the only way to tell is to audition it yourself.

no matter what it takes, you should somehow get to check out the synth you are thinking of buying in person and even spend an hour or so on it, or you could end up wasting a lot of money.

btw my prophet 08 is probably one of the most naturally gritty synths i have, alot of the grit in VAs is created with distortion.

i always find that the distortion in digital synths is unpleasant, i always use guitar distortion pedals,
my all time favourite the TurboRat
stick any synth through one of these and you get real analogue fat as fk grit ; http://www.ratdistortion.com/turborat.htm