Is iM1 the best overall sound palette available?

realdawei

@SimonSomeone said:
Are the sounds the same as the original M1 hardware? If so, NO. unless your idea of a piano is the 90s dance music piano, etc. Very limited sample memory was available at that time. That's not to say the sounds are bad, but they are representative of the tech of the time. If you like that kind of sound, sure. But not as a general purpose soundset outside of the late 80s/90s vibe.

I had an M1 back then by the way... If the software version has greater capabilities, take my comments with a grain of salt.
Here's some of the demo tracks from the hardware.

Software one sounds better to me, especially the expansions. However Korg never had good pianos, (or demos) that didn’t change lol. The pianos in module pro are not bad though

GeorgeL909

Not to derail the convo, but does im1/darwin run well in gadget?

I do love the sounds and can imagine them being crunchy with some saturation, but I'd love to stack and layer Darwin's.

I imagine because it's (maybe) sample based it would be super light on cpu? I actually have no idea how the app works as software.

It seems very versatile for bread and butter and filler sounds, which could be very useful if it's light running.

uncledave

Hi @GeorgeL909 . You can edit your wrong post down to a dot, if you like. Just tap the gear in the header to edit.

GeorgeL909

@uncledave said:
Hi @GeorgeL909 . You can edit your wrong post down to a dot, if you like. Just tap the gear in the header to edit.

Thank you so much.

Also to add to the convo,

I stumbled across this video from LFO store, and I was blown away by the sounds of the hardware m1. Really changed what I thought the m1 could do. Apparently it was all done without additional or custom soundcards too, using the internal pcm waveforms with envelopes, layering, and internal effects. If the iM1/Darwin incarnation can pull this off, it could definitely be one of my more used synths!

R_2

@GeorgeL909 Darwin runs ‘light’ in Gadget.
Real editing needs to be done in the standalone but those will then be available in Darwin too.
That LFO store demo is good example of how these old romplers don’t have to sound cheesy.

It’s got the DWGS waves and it goes way beyond the original M1 since waves from all cards can be combined. The 2 fx provide weird sound design options.
I think iM1 with iAP is a must for anyone using Gadget.

Samu

iM1 also has something the original never had...
...resonant filters

LinearLineman

@seonnthaproducer said:

@joegrant413 said:

@seonnthaproducer said:
@Samu I’ve never used a real world Triton, but one of my friends swears by it. I did briefly test out a Yamaha Montage

This… I have wanted to see the word “Montage”on this forum for a long time. It feels like the pinnacle for sound palettes and we secretly yearn for on iOS.

Would you agree?

It's tough to say. From a musician's standpoint, I'll say the Montage is an insane piece of hardware. Being able to layer sections, and the wealth of Yamaha's sound library in making acoustic and synthesized sounds are amazing. Flute, strings, acoustic instruments, keyboards, bells, and a lot of orchestral elements are well within Yamaha's dominance.

It was part of the reason I travelled almost 2 hours to get the Yamaha FM Essentials application app unlocked.

If I break it down from the perspective of an Engineer, it's a wealth of multi-sampled velocity instruments played, combined with a ton of layer controls, and scene selection, all controlled via a small UI screen.

Two apps that come to mind to pull this off...MK Extreme, and/or Drambo to control the instruments. Apps like Pure Synth, Korg Module, and more. Audiolayer to "borrow" some sounds off my favorite instruments on the montage, Keyscape, and more. But that's me theory-crafting.

Regarding the Montage, I had a blast with it. Is it the pinnacle of sound palletes? I'm uncertain. Keyscape, made by Spectrasonics who also made Omnisphere, seems to currently be what's used by a lot of desktop, and even pure hardware enthusiasts. Korg has a ton of great and legendary synths, bass sounds, and electric guitars.

Won't deny the power of the Montage. It's a phenomenal machine.

I like the player very much, but the sounds… well, they’re Yamaha, aren’t they? The strings are plastic and the flute, which he says is the best on any keyboard… well, SWAM puts it to shame, IMO. we need ensembles from @audiomodeling, don’t we. And that flashing knob… I’m sure you can disable it, right? The guitar does sound very good.

Gravitas

@LinearLineman said:

Won't deny the power of the Montage. It's a phenomenal machine.

I like the player very much, but the sounds… well, they’re Yamaha, aren’t they? The strings are plastic and the flute, which he says is the best on any keyboard… well, SWAM puts it to shame, IMO. we need ensembles from @audiomodeling, don’t we. And that flashing knob… I’m sure you can disable it, right? The guitar does sound very good.

Agreed, I like the player as well.
He's U.K. based, I'll keep an eye out for him.

GeorgeL909

@R_2 said:
@GeorgeL909 Darwin runs ‘light’ in Gadget.
Real editing needs to be done in the standalone but those will then be available in Darwin too.
That LFO store demo is good example of how these old romplers don’t have to sound cheesy.

It’s got the DWGS waves and it goes way beyond the original M1 since waves from all cards can be combined. The 2 fx provide weird sound design options.
I think iM1 with iAP is a must for anyone using Gadget.

Thank you, I ended up getting it with the IAPs. Didn't realize you could transfer editwd patches over from standalone to Darwin! I'm all in I guess 😉.

I didn't have anything quite like iM1 except for digital d1 (which crashes for me all the time for some reason), but I've been really feeling pcm sounds as of late, especially with the jd-08 tempting me around the corner. I'm almost glad that thing won't release by the holidays, cause I most definitely would have gotten one. Still might one day because I'm crazy about tiny absurd looking hardware...

seonnthaproducer

@Gravitas said:

@LinearLineman said:

Won't deny the power of the Montage. It's a phenomenal machine.

I like the player very much, but the sounds… well, they’re Yamaha, aren’t they? The strings are plastic and the flute, which he says is the best on any keyboard… well, SWAM puts it to shame, IMO. we need ensembles from @audiomodeling, don’t we. And that flashing knob… I’m sure you can disable it, right? The guitar does sound very good.

Agreed, I like the player as well.
He's U.K. based, I'll keep an eye out for him.

Yeah, I get what you mean about the sounds. Compared with a lot of software options, there’s a lot of competition. That’s why I’m theory crafting on using an app like MK Extreme and/or Drambo to replicate a workstation.

Yeah, Mike Patrick is awesome. There’s another video on the channel where he performed a blindfold test on the sounds, and Keyscape (the desktop app) outclassed a lot of other keyboard sounds.

Super thankful for this thread. Didn’t realize how much features I was missing in iM1. Got it in Italy for the Gadget unlock, but didn’t dive into it.

Gravitas

@seonnthaproducer said:

Yeah, I get what you mean about the sounds. Compared with a lot of software options, there’s a lot of competition. That’s why I’m theory crafting on using an app like MK Extreme and/or Drambo to replicate a workstation.

Workstation strings almost became obsolete when software choices turned up.
Personally speaking I've yet to come across a workstation with really nice string sounds
which is no fault on the manufacturers part, it's simple capacity and design choices.

For that workstation sound? agreed MK Extreme and
Pure Synth Platinum would be the ones to get for sure.

Ailerom

All this talk about the M1 encouraged me to buy it. Had one from new back in the day (over AU$3000 I'm sure). Glad I grabbed it as I forgot how classy everything sounds. One thing it has really triggered is how I just accepted, this was my string sound, that was my EP etc. These days I will search and search for a sound but back then I just accepted what I had and made music. Although there were other synths but the same concept stands. Limitations were not even thought of as limitations.

joegrant413

Is "faffing" roughly equivalent to "futzing"?

richardyot

@joegrant413 said:
Is "faffing" roughly equivalent to "futzing"?

Similar, but not exactly the same.

IMO faffing (English idiom) implies slightly aimless messing around, whereas futzing (American idiom) has more of a clumsy quality to it.

Tickletiger

@richardyot said:

@joegrant413 said:
Is "faffing" roughly equivalent to "futzing"?

Similar, but not exactly the same.

IMO faffing (English idiom) implies slightly aimless messing around, whereas futzing (American idiom) has more of a clumsy quality to it.

IMO If something is ‘too much of a faff’ it’s too much trouble, if you are ‘faffing around’ you’re engaged in redundant activity which is not achieving the end goal

richardyot

@Tickletiger said:

@richardyot said:

@joegrant413 said:
Is "faffing" roughly equivalent to "futzing"?

Similar, but not exactly the same.

IMO faffing (English idiom) implies slightly aimless messing around, whereas futzing (American idiom) has more of a clumsy quality to it.

IMO If something is ‘too much of a faff’ it’s too much trouble, if you are ‘faffing around’ you’re engaged in redundant activity which is not achieving the end goal

Yeah I would say that's on the nose.

jonmoore

@richardyot said:

@joegrant413 said:
Is "faffing" roughly equivalent to "futzing"?

Similar, but not exactly the same.

IMO faffing (English idiom) implies slightly aimless messing around, whereas futzing (American idiom) has more of a clumsy quality to it.

@richardyot said:

@joegrant413 said:
Is "faffing" roughly equivalent to "futzing"?

Similar, but not exactly the same.

IMO faffing (English idiom) implies slightly aimless messing around, whereas futzing (American idiom) has more of a clumsy quality to it.

Onomatopoeia innit... 🖋️