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One synthesiser
If you had to choose only one synthesiser. Just one synthesiser. Which would it be? Would it be hardware, or software? Would it be analogue or digital? Would it be a massive monster that could do everything, or would it be something compact and neat that you can fully understand and can save patches and be put away at the end of the session? Would it be full of good presets, or have no capability for them whatsoever? Would it look good or be a nightmare to dust and keep tidy? Would it be portable and run on batteries? Would it be vintage, or up to the minute? Would it be unique and esoteric or something that has a lot of community support and shared experience in? Would it be archetypical of a certain genre of music, or would it be as far away from classification as possible? Would it have a keyboard? Would it be multitimbral? Would it be a famous name brand? Would you be satisfied with it in five or ten years time? Would you leave it to your next of kin? Would you ever actually make a song with it?
The reason I ask is because I’ve realised that I’ve sneakily and under the radar changed the way I’ve worked from what I though it was to the way it actually is. My working methodology went behind my back under my very nose and changed everything when I wasn’t looking. Whereas in the ’80s I had a Yamaha CX5m music computer, and in the ’90s a room full of Korg MS/SQ, Roland n0n/SH, Oberheims, bass-station rack, you name it, all into a midi mutable mixer into DAT (or when that broke, a MiniDisc), now things are different.
I realised the other day when I powered up three Oberheim Matrix 1000 units and drove one of my ancient midi compositions into it from LPX anew, that either I need a separate synthesiser all over again for as many tracks as I’m likely to create, or, as I found, I could just send one track at a time to a synthesiser (not even three synthesisers) and record the audio from it. This means I can do this to the iPad 2 and use it as nothing more than a synthesiser itself (if I can find out how to get musicIO to record audio — at the moment all I’m getting is nine tracks of myself and my wife talking with the telly going on in the background, not the audio from the iPad that midi is being successfully sent to). Which means that if I want a real synthesiser, it really only needs to be a singular synthesiser, not a collection. Which should it be? Well, I think I know what I want, but what would you do in the same situation? Just one synthesiser.
Comments
.....sits back, gets comfy, bucket of popcorn....
animoog. Don't think I could ever get tired of it. Always new surprises
Does the Monomachine count as one synth?
If I had to choose one instrument to take to the island, it would be a guitar rather than a bassoon, because that's what I've got the hours on. YMMV.
Similarly, one synth: the one I've got the most hours on: NLog. Nowadays it's not the first, second, third or even fourth synth that I would normally reach for, but it's the one that is closest to an extension of my mind due to my experience(s) with it. YMMV.
I know it actually has nine synths under the hood but it is an all inclusive unit to drool over for sure!
Yamaha Montage. But no sequencer to speak of..
Korg (i)M-1. Traditionalist. I'd miss some others but this would get me through.
I have had a dream of owning an Korg Oasys 88 instead of Kronos...
The Korg Oasys is so fuckin' beautiful!
If I choosed an app it must be Thumbjam or Korg Gadget...
Edited, after reading back the first post: Logic X's Alchemy.
Software. Xfer Serum. Since its wavetable based you can make it sound like.pretty much anything as long as you have the appropriate wavetables.
Probably a Fairlight n I would sample the fuk out of every other hard n soft ware synth before they send me to this mythical desert island hell..
If that's not allowed..then I close my eyes and decide which synth , over the years, has given me the greatest pleasure on first playing..the Wavestation wins hands down...with all of its rom cards and 3rd party patches included..
but I would smuggle me iPad as well....
I reckon it does and this would be my choice too. I need depth. I need flexibility. And I need lots of delays! Oh, and it sounds freaking awesome.
This isn't my real answer. because I don't know that I can decide, and still only have limited experience & equipment, but I can tell you that the Volca Bass is the synth I've spent the most time with so far. Using it as a groovebox, but also bouncing loops to Ableton in real-time for live multi-tracking (a much more awkward process than I expected...). With up to 3 lines of paraphonic goodness and supremely tweaky filter, lfo and envelope parameters I am in hog heaven. Till I find the next great thing of course...
OP-1. Just so immediate and so much fun.
Desert island synth?
Bebot. He may not be the most versatile, but would certainly make an optimistic, plucky, and relentlessly cheerful man Friday. Personality goes along ways when one is marooned...
Roland TB-3 for me- couldn't be without it.
A good sampler could cover all the bases. Not a "synthesizer" but close enough for me.
There’s no island or fictional disaster involved in this, it represents a real and actual change in working such that one lays down one track at a time and grabs the audio (and in the case of a revision, a way of automatically re-rendering the audio on each track) — in which case, why does one need more than one synth?
I’d be happy to do it all with Logic Pro X — it satisfies all my needs except for tactile confirmation. The iPad 2 as a synth goes further when the controls aren’t being contrary and infuriating. Of course, I wouldn’t want a Eurorack modular as I might actually want to write a song.
Full Sampling capabilities, Yes it does that as well.
**> @Tritonman said:
I agree, a Eurorack modular would not do. I'd want a 5U system. Bigger than TONTO.
Matrix Brute
and a MINI MOOG
Moog Sub 37 as I feel that the Korg Kronos would be 'cheating'
I was very close to grabbing a Yamaha Reface DX a few days ago...
Yes, the Kronos is one awesome beast that has a very unfair advantage. It is no doubt much more than a synth. I still want one!
I want a Kronos too
It's dead-easy to connect the iPad to it using CCK and the cool thing is that Kronos acts as a class-compliant midi & audio-device so you can send midi in/out to the iPad and also record the output all in the digital-domain
One very big room full of modular
including all synthesis methods and lots of sequencers. Maybe it's cheating, but really what is 'One' synth?
My workflow is changing to one where I write the song first and then worry about production/sound design later. Ikaossilator is my songwriting sketch pad. There's nothing like it. You just hit record and jam, spam the save button after a good 4 bars. Sort out the sections later, mix and match instruments. Super easy, super fun, half an hour later I have complete song. A good one most of the time. Cause again, I'm just playing, getting into a groove ya dig?
Bebot!
I would have to go with the OP-1. But I am getting a Minilogue, and I bet I will have quite the dilemma before long...