mono synths...

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 11:50 am

if an SH101 was released now, or something with all the same facilities and sounded that great, it would retail at £1000 easy.

whats with everyones problem with paying half that for a used one ?

i think its still a bargain if you can get a good one thats been serviced, or well looked after.

i think that its a mistake to assume that we should still be buying old analogue synths for peanuts like you could in 1990, some old synths are outrageously expensive, and are just collectors items now, but the SH101 is still just affordable. might not be in 5 years time.

i'm not trying to say dont go down the new monosynth route, far from it, but its worth being careful about what youre actually getting for your money.
i'm with Stomper all the way, i think too many of the new hybrid synths pay too much homage to the world of computers, designed to be integrated in the digital environment, and i think they suffer for that.

after intially liking my Prophet 08, i gradually tired of the interface, the menus, the digital bits, and i've now sold it. while the sound was nice, it just wasnt analogue enough for me, it takes too long to get anything happening. in the time it was taking me to get an interesting patch together i could have written a whole tune on my modular. (honestly)

i think if anyone is thinking of going analogue monosynth, you would be bettter off with one of the new German semi modulars, the MFB or the Dark Energy, but if you can afford it, go fully modular and build your own monosynth with your filter(s) of choice. you can quite literally now buy a fairly accurate copy of almost any filter thats ever been made, Korg MS20, Oberheim Xpander, Moog, Buchla LPG, Prophet 5, Polyvox (that russian synth), EMS synthi, etc etc etc.
if you look on ebay or in http://www.muffwiggler.com (you need to register to see the trading page), theres loads of used Doepfer modules for sale in the £30 - £70 region, you could probably put together a nice monosynth for £600, and you can save loads of money if you can build your own case.

btw, you can buy the Dark energy in modular form (Doepfer module A111.5) for £263.

::BLM:: · Post by **::BLM::** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:54 pm

thing is for me if i go for a newer brand i can try before i buy or at least send back if i dont like. if i go for an sh101 i have no idea how they sound, and i cant try them. all i think about when i think of the 101 is a gritty sound like steve bug. no idea why i think this, but i do.

i want something that can create nice round tones... sine waves, triangle or square ideally as thats what i tend to use the most.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 1:27 pm

::BLM:: wrote:thing is for me if i go for a newer brand i can try before i buy or at least send back if i dont like. if i go for an sh101 i have no idea how they sound, and i cant try them. all i think about when i think of the 101 is a gritty sound like steve bug. no idea why i think this, but i do.

i want something that can create nice round tones... sine waves, triangle or square ideally as thats what i tend to use the most.

an SH101 is capable of producing loads of different sounds.
if you want square waves you've got them, if you want round tones you use the filter.
a sine wave isnt much use on a synthesizer, because you can produce them by LP filtering other wave forms. (and you cant filter them because they have no harmonics to filter)

listen to techno and house produced between 1987 and 1997 and theres a good chance they'll be an SH101 in there somewhere, they were ubiquitous.
i'm not sure where you get the steve bug connection... SH101s have been used by thousands of producers, probably because they made so many of them.

nakoradiomies · Post by **nakoradiomies** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:24 pm

if you have money for sh-101 you can also have korg ms-10 for almost same price..
i think it sounds way better than sh-101

but there is loads of other monos also, old yamaha cs-10/15 for example are also very good sounding.

i think if you are looking for dirty fat monosynth, the end of 1970´s is the word for quality and sound..
but maybe it just me, i like to have my cem chipset in poly not mono:)

::BLM:: · Post by **::BLM::** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:24 pm

a friend has one im going to see if i can borrow it.

steve bug used it on loads of his music and i always hated his sound, so its something that never interested me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1du4JkJ8pc

jobbanaught · Post by **jobbanaught** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:49 pm

Most important in my book:

Stomper wrote:its better to wait and save up and get one piece of gear that you will be satisfied with than 2 or 3 pieces of crap.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:21 pm

::BLM:: wrote:a friend has one im going to see if i can borrow it.

steve bug used it on loads of his music and i always hated his sound, so its something that never interested me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1du4JkJ8pc

i suppose steve bug isnt the first person who springs to mind when i think 101. (i can think of some nice chicago house tunes)
it was such a popular synth, that thats why its emulated so much in software / virtual analogues etc.

if you are borrowing one make sure you borrow a midi-CV converter or you wont be able to do much with it.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:22 pm

nakoradiomies wrote:if you have money for sh-101 you can also have korg ms-10 for almost same price..
i think it sounds way better than sh-101

but there is loads of other monos also, old yamaha cs-10/15 for example are also very good sounding.

i think if you are looking for dirty fat monosynth, the end of 1970´s is the word for quality and sound..
but maybe it just me, i like to have my cem chipset in poly not mono:)

its a matter of taste, the korg filters are quite aggressive, but i do like them.