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One big one, or lots of little ones? What’s your desired hardware synth collection?
Keeping names of actual hardware out of this for a while, let’s pretend there’s a big but significantly expensive synth out there that can do everything you’d ever want, feels superb, makes sense to use, and has nothing lacking at all. Would you save up and get that, or would you be inclined to get lots of smaller more specialised synths, which are inherently cheaper.
I know the inclination is to get them cheaper up front but after several years of collecting them you’ve probably added up enough outlay to have got that one big super-synth and be done with it.
Comments
Big is cumbersome. Small is portable. Long live portable.
I want a Moog One. Everything else is obsolete.
Of course I can't afford it and try to be happy with what I have.😬
Kind of depends what you want to do. A giant super synth could be very cool in a studio or as a single performance instrument, but if you want to be a one person band and play live, a groove box and a table of Volcas is probably more useful.
And there is a third path: modular.
You build up with smaller, less expensive parts to end up with a large, powerful and expensive system, but one that is tailored to your needs and works exactly how you want it to work (e.g. it could be a hybrid of the super synth and the table of Volcas)
Of course, I’m more inclined to just do everything on the iPad since it can travel with me everywhere!
Littles + iPad. Portable/modular and not limited to one type of sound.
Truth to be told, most people will still want other stuff even if they have megasynth.
Can anyone recommend a low cost synth with lots of knobs to twiddle for a 10 year old? (And maybe his Dad lol...)
I was always more for more small synths than one big - different sound colors, different posibilities.. But on other side, let's say DSI Prophet X is pretty much monster
) Interesting is - in most case i always used in my music more simpler synths than complex ones (although i had both those categories in my HW history)
@gusgranite what is "low cost" ? What is your price range you can afford ?
Btw. saw kids aroung 6-8 years which had lot of fun with Novation Circuit
iPad + MIDI controller? Map the knobs in AUM and save as template and then he can record his jamz.
For knobs per function, used Microkorg or Minilogue? And maybe Microfreak.
My dream synth has finally landed, this thing is not a joke @gusgranite
Oscillator with 12 mixed sounds from various waveforms, PWM, Sync and FM
2 Oscillator modulation sources selectable with adjustable intensity
Modulated low-pass filter
2 LFOs with sine and sawtooth waveforms
Modulation envelope with adjustable attack time
Amplifier envelope with adjustable release time
Kick drum and snare drum with adjustable pitch and cooldown
Integrated sequencer with random generator for melodies and beats
Integrated speaker
MIDI input
Powered by batteries (3x AA) or USB power adapter (5V DC)
Audio output: 6.3 mm jack
Dimensions: 335 x 190 x 35 mm
Weight: 678 g
https://www.thomann.de/ie/playtime_engineering_blipblox.htm
Yah, Circuit is great for young and old!
Or Novation Mono Station for a bit more meaningful tweaking and analog sound
Ah, modulars. I should be more interested in ‘the definitive’ synth being a big modular, being an expert synthesist and perfectly at home with everything a modular has to offer, but there’s so much against the idea. The more modules I’d add, the more unusable it becomes. I think the ideal modular is about three of the things that are about the size of, say, between a Mother-32 and a Neutron (or, Behringer’s new K2 announced a few days ago, which is basically an MS-20 module). Three of those, with the patch area to one side, and any more gets less usable than I’d like. However, that’s not enough synth power for me to be a single ultimate one.
As time goes on I’m far more inclined to have one single thing than an assortment of synths. In the 90s I could afford pretty much as many of anything I like in the analogue synth world within reason and so I did, I filled my studio room with synths and had each one go through their own effects chain, and sequenced and mixed live into two track master. It was lovely, it was very hands on, and it was very impressive. I wouldn’t go down that road again. I’d want one thing only, but it’d have to be the ultimate.
I don't think that one would be as fun for young ones. For meaningful tweaking getting an editor for Circuit is huge.
Thanks all. I should probably have started a separate thread. Sorry for hijacking
I would go for smaller and modular over big super synth. Different sound designers interpretations on filters and other dsp etc.
Yep, that first clause of the first sentence of mine up there really worked.
For all the money I’ve spent on various things, I should have just got some very capable modern workstation. I never had the money to get one when I needed it though. Connecting all the tiny synths and things ends up being a huge mess of cables and for what?
yeah.. and to be honest - i had Ciruit, and even random tweaking of 16 macro knobs without initial knowledge how they are mapped surprisingly often ends with very nice sounding happy accidents :-)
definitely inspirative funny toy :-)
Hey, I answered your question eventually! 😉
Well I don't like all in one unless it's a big old modular. Modern polyphonic analog under digital control is shit in my opinion. I don't want it, would prefer to use an iPad.
Vintage mono synths with keyboards all the way for me.
That last little bit doesn’t actually compute.
Lots of smaller synths.
a) Character
b) Flexibility in spontaneous orchestration
c) Redundancy
I'd like the one big thing, but if it's hardware it's not an audio unit and I need more than 1 instance.... So more smaller ones it is
So long as we can have a lot of little ones, that option gets my vote!
Synths are all about timbre generation and control of said sound. If I can move it mod it tweak it in an un-obscure way I’m happy.
Smaller synths seem to do that better on average than larger ones.
They also tend to be cheaper and are more readily swapped out if desired without scrapping an entire setup.
If I had the money, and the space, I’d buy lots of cheap modular bits and bobs. Second hand, broken, misbehaving gear that can’t be tamed, and spend long evenings coaxing random bleeps and squeals from it.
There’s one or two other ways to go- a big synth that is multi-timbral, so you can sequence several parts together. Another way to go is a midi controller and several rack mount synths.
I do one big synth, that’s multi-timbral, but use the iPad for the “bunch of little ones”. It’s a bigger bunch, and a bigger variety. Easier to recall setups and routing, in the box, rather than complicated, pedalboard-like setups with a table of little synths and pedals and mixers and midi routing. That can be fun, but it can also be a headache to manage it, set up and break down, and remember how everything is plugged in, and how it all interacts- too left brained. The iPad is cool for the new flavor and for science projects, the one big synth is good for sound quality and being hands on with the knobs.
I do kind of like the the collection of toys aspect of the Volcas and such, but i’ve seen people buy like 4 cheap analog synths, that ultimately are very similar, sonically, and they would have been better off buying one deluxe synth. Get a good one, rather than a bunch of so-so ones.
Previously I planned to only save up for higher tier gear — presumably better made/longer lasting, better resell value, enjoyment factor, avoiding the hassle of inevitably upgrading (and the associated GAS), etc ... Behringer has had me ditching this ideal though — now it’s just a matter of whether I’ll have the space to eventually get most of their clones on top of my DM12/Neutron
For grooveboxes, I’m a one “big” device guy — Deluge satisfied gear lust for any similar gear out there. As for synths, I can’t get enough.
I think that there’s another variant to consider in this. Do you want to have many synths running at once, or are you happy to get one synth down on ‘tape’ and play along with it (thus building up a multitrack composition or performance)? Also, are you one person or are you a multiplicity (I think they call those ‘bands’).
In the early 4-track tape days a person would probably get by with a minimum of synths, possibly even one, and just bounce and overdub. A person can generally only tweak/play one synth at a time effectively, so building up one sound at a time works well for one person. If you’re a band and have several synths, several players, you can play live without even needing tape. But that was the early 80s, this is now.
I’m pretty strictly one sound at a time, so in Gadget for example (which is where I spend all my composing time) I do one sound, imagining the remainder, then move on to another, gradually filling it all in with reality. If I were to do it with external synths, I’d probably pick one super-duper synth and stick with it, just using it over and over and over.
Ironically, when I first went digital (with the Yamaha CX5M, then later the SY77) it never occurred to me that I’d need more synths, the multitimbrality meant I only needed one. I didn’t even question it until I went back to analogue and bought (in effect) one synth per track (and was effectively playing live, in my studio). I don’t really have a ‘band’ mentality.
Some very talented people seem to love their Volcas and do some amazing things with them, I just couldn’t get past the cheapish looking build and uncomfortably tiny knobs. — nor the fact that it’s such a relatively small cost jump to Behringer’s line of synths that wouldn’t be out of place in a professional studio sound and UI wise.
I’d still love to eventually get at least one higher tier analog synth, (Probably DSI) and was pretty close to biting the bullet recently, but ended up opting instead for Adam monitors and a good interface.
Small synth rant warning..
Volcas are cool and some people actually use them to create original sounds, however I mostly see videos of everyone doing the same exact things as the last guy, and they have become to trendy and are abused by guys that aren't really that great at making music... Volca /reverb/tape loop... I've heard enough 🤣 again, some guys are doing it right, but I bet if they got a big synth it would sound exactly the same Lolo cuz they only know a few tricks cuz that's really all they, and similar small synths offer... like the op1, I've seen just a little over a handful of people do something with them that isn't the exact same as thousands of other Instagram artists...
This small portable synth craze has kinda gotten annoying imo cuz Almost anyone can afford them and do the same thing with em... those synths are designed to sound good, it's hard to make em sound bad with all the presets available for the volca FM
I dunno I sold all mine cuz of this reason,
My final thought, whatever you choose, just try to be original and do something a little different at least!! It is possible! Not that I'm the king of finishing pieces of work, but cranking out dozens of boring tracks with these doesn't make you good either... Take your time, slow down and make creative sounds!