What’s the most FUN hardware synth of the moment?

u0421793

@SpookyZoo said:
Honestly, if FUN is the prime factor I'd have to say Circuit Tracks. It has all the fun of the OG Circuit along with the new Probability, Mutate, Pattern settings features and all of the Sequencer stuff.

The Circuit isn't for everybody. Some don't like the fact it has no screen or that the 8 Macro knobs could be assigned to any different number of Synth Parameters with only experimentation revealing what those are.

And that's probably the biggest reason the Circuit is so much fun.

I am starting to think that’s what I’ve never liked about my Circuit – that I can’t fully monitor everything about it due to lack of visibility of everything. That’s really a management attitude. Maybe I should just surrender and stop being in command, and just have fun. I’m going to try it again, as a fun machine.

[Deleted User]

Amiga with Noisetracker and sampler attachment when I was 13

SpookyZoo

@u0421793 said:

@SpookyZoo said:
Honestly, if FUN is the prime factor I'd have to say Circuit Tracks. It has all the fun of the OG Circuit along with the new Probability, Mutate, Pattern settings features and all of the Sequencer stuff.

The Circuit isn't for everybody. Some don't like the fact it has no screen or that the 8 Macro knobs could be assigned to any different number of Synth Parameters with only experimentation revealing what those are.

And that's probably the biggest reason the Circuit is so much fun.

I am starting to think that’s what I’ve never liked about my Circuit – that I can’t fully monitor everything about it due to lack of visibility of everything. That’s really a management attitude. Maybe I should just surrender and stop being in command, and just have fun. I’m going to try it again, as a fun machine.

I do understand that though. It's a similar thinking to why I suspect I would dislike the OP-Z. While I'm happy enough to experiment and allow for happy accidents with the sound aspect of the Circuit, everything to do with the actual Sequence is very clearly laid out on the Circuit. You have dedicated pages to view the notes, gate length, Micro-Steps, pattern-settings etc. No mystery there at all.

I know a lot of peeps love their OP-Z, but that lack of transparency for the actual sequencing would probably drive me mad.

Tarekith

OP-Z definitely takes a certain mindset to get into, just like the Circuit. Once you get to know it pretty well though, it's not hard to know roughly what you have going on in your sequences, or at least how to quickly check.

I hear you though, it was this sort of transparency issue that led me to sell the OP-Z the first time around. For some reason I'm really bonding with it more on the second go, and don't find those sorts of things as annoying as I did. Brand new video about this on my YouTube channel if people are curious about the OP-Z.

AudioGus

@u0421793 said:

@SpookyZoo said:
Honestly, if FUN is the prime factor I'd have to say Circuit Tracks. It has all the fun of the OG Circuit along with the new Probability, Mutate, Pattern settings features and all of the Sequencer stuff.

The Circuit isn't for everybody. Some don't like the fact it has no screen or that the 8 Macro knobs could be assigned to any different number of Synth Parameters with only experimentation revealing what those are.

And that's probably the biggest reason the Circuit is so much fun.

I am starting to think that’s what I’ve never liked about my Circuit – that I can’t fully monitor everything about it due to lack of visibility of everything. That’s really a management attitude. Maybe I should just surrender and stop being in command, and just have fun. I’m going to try it again, as a fun machine.

Woah, you still have one?

u0421793

@AudioGus said:

@u0421793 said:

@SpookyZoo said:
Honestly, if FUN is the prime factor I'd have to say Circuit Tracks. It has all the fun of the OG Circuit along with the new Probability, Mutate, Pattern settings features and all of the Sequencer stuff.

The Circuit isn't for everybody. Some don't like the fact it has no screen or that the 8 Macro knobs could be assigned to any different number of Synth Parameters with only experimentation revealing what those are.

And that's probably the biggest reason the Circuit is so much fun.

I am starting to think that’s what I’ve never liked about my Circuit – that I can’t fully monitor everything about it due to lack of visibility of everything. That’s really a management attitude. Maybe I should just surrender and stop being in command, and just have fun. I’m going to try it again, as a fun machine.

Woah, you still have one?

It’s just here next to me now. I’ve no real idea how to use it, and I’ve never read the manual. I still won’t read the manual, but I’ll have a go at using it ‘just for fun’ (it wouldn’t be fun if I have to read a manual). If I can’t figure it out without having to read a manual about it (which has been the case in the past 5 years I’ve owned it) then anything not immediately apparent about it is probably not important. I don’t need every single hidden or cryptic feature if it’s to be a fun machine, all I need is the bare surface-level affordances that don’t take remembering or knowing about – just reading the labels, that’s all.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

SpookyZoo

@Tarekith said:
OP-Z definitely takes a certain mindset to get into, just like the Circuit. Once you get to know it pretty well though, it's not hard to know roughly what you have going on in your sequences, or at least how to quickly check.

I hear you though, it was this sort of transparency issue that led me to sell the OP-Z the first time around. For some reason I'm really bonding with it more on the second go, and don't find those sorts of things as annoying as I did. Brand new video about this on my YouTube channel if people are curious about the OP-Z.

Cool. Already Subscribed to your channel so I'll give that a watch tonight.

u0421793

@u0421793 said:

@AudioGus said:

@u0421793 said:

@SpookyZoo said:
Honestly, if FUN is the prime factor I'd have to say Circuit Tracks. It has all the fun of the OG Circuit along with the new Probability, Mutate, Pattern settings features and all of the Sequencer stuff.

The Circuit isn't for everybody. Some don't like the fact it has no screen or that the 8 Macro knobs could be assigned to any different number of Synth Parameters with only experimentation revealing what those are.

And that's probably the biggest reason the Circuit is so much fun.

I am starting to think that’s what I’ve never liked about my Circuit – that I can’t fully monitor everything about it due to lack of visibility of everything. That’s really a management attitude. Maybe I should just surrender and stop being in command, and just have fun. I’m going to try it again, as a fun machine.

Woah, you still have one?

It’s just here next to me now. I’ve no real idea how to use it, and I’ve never read the manual. I still won’t read the manual, but I’ll have a go at using it ‘just for fun’ (it wouldn’t be fun if I have to read a manual). If I can’t figure it out without having to read a manual about it (which has been the case in the past 5 years I’ve owned it) then anything not immediately apparent about it is probably not important. I don’t need every single hidden or cryptic feature if it’s to be a fun machine, all I need is the bare surface-level affordances that don’t take remembering or knowing about – just reading the labels, that’s all.

Okay, just had a bit of fun with the Circuit, probably not very advanced, nor exercising it to it’s full potential, but it worked and a bar of actual music was made, and it was fun. I could get to like it.

AudioGus

@u0421793 said:

@u0421793 said:

@AudioGus said:

@u0421793 said:

@SpookyZoo said:
Honestly, if FUN is the prime factor I'd have to say Circuit Tracks. It has all the fun of the OG Circuit along with the new Probability, Mutate, Pattern settings features and all of the Sequencer stuff.

The Circuit isn't for everybody. Some don't like the fact it has no screen or that the 8 Macro knobs could be assigned to any different number of Synth Parameters with only experimentation revealing what those are.

And that's probably the biggest reason the Circuit is so much fun.

I am starting to think that’s what I’ve never liked about my Circuit – that I can’t fully monitor everything about it due to lack of visibility of everything. That’s really a management attitude. Maybe I should just surrender and stop being in command, and just have fun. I’m going to try it again, as a fun machine.

Woah, you still have one?

It’s just here next to me now. I’ve no real idea how to use it, and I’ve never read the manual. I still won’t read the manual, but I’ll have a go at using it ‘just for fun’ (it wouldn’t be fun if I have to read a manual). If I can’t figure it out without having to read a manual about it (which has been the case in the past 5 years I’ve owned it) then anything not immediately apparent about it is probably not important. I don’t need every single hidden or cryptic feature if it’s to be a fun machine, all I need is the bare surface-level affordances that don’t take remembering or knowing about – just reading the labels, that’s all.

Okay, just had a bit of fun with the Circuit, probably not very advanced, nor exercising it to it’s full potential, but it worked and a bar of actual music was made, and it was fun. I could get to like it.

Ahh right on! I had great fun sampling it into BM3 (nudge).

oat_phipps

@syrupcore said:
Any synth + dirt simple hardware looper always makes me smile. Until I wish I could save it.

Fun is relative but Matriarch is winning hard for me these days. Can be complex or simple and it has what feels like an infinite number of 'sweet' spots.

DFAM + MicroFreak sounds like a really fun combo.

So does the Matriarch use the same oscillators as the Grandmother? I’ve been considering trading in the GM to trade up for the M, but that’s mostly because I wasn’t too thrilled with the GM oscillators compared to even an old Moog Rogue. Some great fun to be had on the pulse wave, but the saws were pretty woodsy and not creamy or screaming with the oscillator overloaded.

Will

@oat_phipps said:

@syrupcore said:
Any synth + dirt simple hardware looper always makes me smile. Until I wish I could save it.

Fun is relative but Matriarch is winning hard for me these days. Can be complex or simple and it has what feels like an infinite number of 'sweet' spots.

DFAM + MicroFreak sounds like a really fun combo.

So does the Matriarch use the same oscillators as the Grandmother? I’ve been considering trading in the GM to trade up for the M, but that’s mostly because I wasn’t too thrilled with the GM oscillators compared to even an old Moog Rogue. Some great fun to be had on the pulse wave, but the saws were pretty woodsy and not creamy or screaming with the oscillator overloaded.

Sorry, I'm not sure.

gdog

Hi,

My most fun hw synths: Yamaha Reface CS. Roland SE-02 (definitely has its own unique sound, better than software imo), whenever I fire up the SE-02 I always have fun & time flies. Also, agree that the OP-Z can be v.fun. Any of the Behringer DeepMinds are extremely fun (again much better sounding than software imo, they have a noisey output, but can be cleaned up). Also, the Synthstrom Deluge is v.fun too 👍

Cheers! 👌🎛🚀

aleyas

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:
Pulsar 23 is super fun to play. Hard to imagine anything more fun than that one. Mine’s for sale, if I can figure out how to get it shipped without having to walk into a shop.

Damnnn, that’s my dream drum machine. If I still lived in the US I would so take you up on that sale.

GovernorSilver

@oat_phipps said:
So does the Matriarch use the same oscillators as the Grandmother? I’ve been considering trading in the GM to trade up for the M, but that’s mostly because I wasn’t too thrilled with the GM oscillators compared to even an old Moog Rogue. Some great fun to be had on the pulse wave, but the saws were pretty woodsy and not creamy or screaming with the oscillator overloaded.

I don't know but according to the engineers, it has the same oscillators as the Voyager.

Funny thing is, I owned a Voyager for a few years and I don't remember the Voyager sounding like the Matriarch. Just goes to show how much influence other pieces have on the overall sound - particularly the mixer which is based on the Moog Modular CP-3 Mixer which seems to saturate easily.

Oh yeah, i find my Matriarch to be tons o fun

Gaia.Tree

For me it’s the OP-1 all day, with the Deluge a close second. Jamming with the OP is super fun and the happy accidents you get from recording a few twinkly arps and then slowing down -12 is something else

eross

@u0421793 said:

“Which one of you is Funn?”

haha what movie was this from?

u0421793

@eross said:

@u0421793 said:

“Which one of you is Funn?”

haha what movie was this from?

Silent Movie (1976)

It’s an actual silent movie, in colour, but nobody speaks aloud, you see their dialogue intertitle cards. Well, only one person in the whole film actually speaks so that you hear him – Marcel Marceau.

The above scene is when Mel Funn, a film producer (played by Mel Brooks, a film producer) and his two colleagues go to a restaurant, but performer Vilma Kaplan (Bernadette Peters) is sent to subvert his project, so after her dance she goes over to their table and asks “Which one of you is Funn?”

TheOriginalPaulB

I think it’d have to be this one, but it’s currently in need of repair...

u0421793

@TheOriginalPaulB said:
I think it’d have to be this one, but it’s currently in need of repair...

Sleeper (Woody Allen, 1973) - The Orb

ashen_hand

@u0421793 said:
The Craft synth briefly intrigued me a few weeks ago. Does it feel like somewhat more than “this could’ve just been an app instead” when you’re using it?

Mmm. I kept it around for a year or so as a midi fed “hat” for the microKorg or CircuitMS, in both cases I’d patch the audio from the craft into the controlling synth. Sold it off after realizing that...
1. Although it sounded fun while noodles, often the sounds needed to much space in the mix (ie, complex sound) for my process. 2. KEW is better for my needs.
3. Kickstart $ was 130? with shipping, sold it for $150 and that turned into a NICE delay pedal, which suits me just fine.

Hey, if you’re in the moment and what comes out of it is music, that’s great. The fun part for me is running that through the gauntlet of efx chains (hw/sw) and finding out if it’s possible to use these common tools and stand apart when I release the work.

I_sip_cupps

Hardware is so overrated. Its become a big “who has the bigger wang” contest while guys with thousands invested in synths cant play them for crap and the guy with the Volca keys and Volca Drum makes properly decent music.

Tarekith

ok

kinkujin

My biggest wang synth currently is a Behringer Poly D and it is seriously a blast. I lose myself.

TheOriginalPaulB

@I_sip_cupps said:
Hardware is so overrated. Its become a big “who has the bigger wang” contest while guys with thousands invested in synths cant play them for crap and the guy with the Volca keys and Volca Drum makes properly decent music.

Still waiting for that to happen...

SuperNiCd

Close tie between Hydrasynth and Akai Force.

u0421793

I’m tempted to say (though it would be inaccurate) that for me the first gate of qualification of a truly ‘fun’ synth is that it will be one-knob-per-function.
As soon as there’s a screen or a data knob or menu up/down buttons, it’s no longer fun, it’s actual work, and I’m in the realm of cognitive investment.

I’m also tempted to add that to qualify as a fun synth for me, it’ll have some means of simple sequencing / arpeggiating / note make happening, that makes the thing make sound without my prodding a keyboard all the time. I think that’s a contributory aspect to a synth being fun. But, then, the danger is that the ‘note make happener’ is often too complicated or obtuse to use without actually thinking. If I have to think, it’s not fun. If I have to think, I’ll have to invoice for that, which means it was work.

Krupa

Is anyone having more than just saw squelchy bass fun with korg’s Nubass thing? Those micro tubes look ace and you’d think be quite versatile, but from all the demos I’ve heard it really is just for bass...

OscarSouth

@u0421793 said:
I’m tempted to say (though it would be inaccurate) that for me the first gate of qualification of a truly ‘fun’ synth is that it will be one-knob-per-function.
As soon as there’s a screen or a data knob or menu up/down buttons, it’s no longer fun, it’s actual work, and I’m in the realm of cognitive investment.

I’m also tempted to add that to qualify as a fun synth for me, it’ll have some means of simple sequencing / arpeggiating / note make happening, that makes the thing make sound without my prodding a keyboard all the time. I think that’s a contributory aspect to a synth being fun. But, then, the danger is that the ‘note make happener’ is often too complicated or obtuse to use without actually thinking. If I have to think, it’s not fun. If I have to think, I’ll have to invoice for that, which means it was work.

You’re describing DFAM

u0421793

@OscarSouth said:

@u0421793 said:
I’m tempted to say (though it would be inaccurate) that for me the first gate of qualification of a truly ‘fun’ synth is that it will be one-knob-per-function.
As soon as there’s a screen or a data knob or menu up/down buttons, it’s no longer fun, it’s actual work, and I’m in the realm of cognitive investment.

I’m also tempted to add that to qualify as a fun synth for me, it’ll have some means of simple sequencing / arpeggiating / note make happening, that makes the thing make sound without my prodding a keyboard all the time. I think that’s a contributory aspect to a synth being fun. But, then, the danger is that the ‘note make happener’ is often too complicated or obtuse to use without actually thinking. If I have to think, it’s not fun. If I have to think, I’ll have to invoice for that, which means it was work.

You’re describing DFAM

Subharmonicon