Quatschmacher

Cool! Definitely get a hub soon though! I wish I’d got one at the start as I overwrote a few good sounds I’d created. If you get one then I can share some cool presets I’ve made.

What’s that then? Did you get a Manta?

It wasn’t really tracking that was the problem, it was the noise gate that wasn’t great which caused bleed and oversensitivity. They fixed this and updated all the remaining old stock. The paint job was a bit iffy on the old version and they have switched suppliers for the new one. It’s much better.

John Lewis sell the Apple ones. Worth spending the extra to get the one which allows you to connect to the mains at the same time. £30. Often the 3rd party ones don’t work properly with midi so I wouldn’t try to economise in this case as you’ll end up spending more.

It’s here!

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This must’ve automatically updated overnight as I noticed a new icon on my home screen. Connection is via camera connection kit into usb. I’ve got to go to work now but might take a pedal with me to play with in my break.

If you get the Convertor that isn’t too bad, though the full prices are quite high. I bought the old version of the Squaver when it was discounted. What I’m unsure about in this demo with the Minitaur is whether he’s sending the envelope signal from the Squaver to the filter cutoff of the Minitaur. More interesting to me would be to simply send the pitch and gate signals from the Squaver to trigger the Minitaur’s own envelopes. I might get in touch to ask.

This is a better demo: @andybassdoyle

Monophonic synths often have much more in the way of timbral and modulation possibilities, partly due to the fact that you can stack up a bunch of oscillators on one note and it will sound great; if you stack up too many fat voices in poly it gets a bit overwhelming. Monophonic is great for lead and bass sounds. Polyphonic is more for textural or chordal stuff. Polysynths don’t always do bass as well as monosynths.

I just played a CS in a shop for an hour. It is 8 voice poly or mono which is cool. It’s a shame about how you feel about the Nord as it really sounds right up your street. From reading around, even the electro 4 has the sample synth module. There’s a used one on gumtree for £800. Edit - the electro 3 was the first one in this line to include the sample synth. You could probably pick up a 61 key version of that pretty cheaply. A 61 key 4D went for £571.

All correct. I’ve been aware of them for several months now and have had a lengthy email exchange with James Chick with a view to my buying one.

One of the best interfaces I’ve seen which combines presets with WYSIWYG is the Moog Little and Slim Phatty which has LED rings around the knobs which show where the current value is. Each of the four knobs has a few buttons which select which parameter is adjusted and the ring displays the value accordingly. Nord Lead 3 has a similar arrangement but it is one-knob-per-function.

Yep. I’d recommend the Behringer model D, Roland SE-02 or Korg Monologue as good starting points. Plenty to keep you busy with there. (Bad internet connection meant I lost the lengthy reply I just wrote). The gist was, get something simple first. When you find there are modulations you want or sounds you can’t create then look for something more complex.

Just gonna leave this here:

I agree. Other things to look at in that bracket are the Moog Sub(sequent) 37 (£1200) which has two VCOs plus sub and a two slot mod matrix. It’s very hands-on with most stuff immediately to hand. There’s a bit of extra stuff in the menu but it’s easy to navigate. The Arturia Matrixbrute is amazing and presently can be had for £1400 until July 1st, whereupon it will go up by a few hundred. The has 3 oscillators. Two of them have 3 basic wave types which have a shape mod and all types can be played at once, per oscillator! This is incredibly powerful. It’s mainly mono but there’s a paraphonic mode which allows 3 notes to be played at once. The routing possibilities on this are immense (as is the Pro 2) but everything is immediately visible and to hand via the 16x16-button matrix (which also doubles as the preset selector (direct access to 256 presets) and the sequencer. A used Prophet 12 can be had for £1400. Also check out the DSI Rev 2 and Korg Prologue which are poly synths. Check the Marc Doty videos on the Pro 2 and Matrixbrute. For dipping your toe in the synth waters, Korg Monologue, Minilogue and Behringer Model D or Roland SE-02 are all worth considering.

The Pro 2 is a monster digital/analogue hybrid synth.

The 3Leaf Octabvre MKII is the closest to OC-2 that I’ve played (disclaimer - I’ve never played an OC-2, only heard that in direct comparison with the Octabvre (which I own)).

If you have a fast computer there are some really excellent virtual instruments out there from the likes of Synthogy (excellent acoustic pianos which are better than any hardware pianos I’ve played) and Rhodes/Wurlitzer/Clavinet from the likes of Scarbee, Sonic Couture and Keyscape. Actually, if you have an iPad or iPhone I would strongly suggest you get the Moog Minimoog D app (£15). There’s also a Korg ARP Odyssey app for £29. These can be played with any MIDI controller and sound fantastic.

The Yamaha CP sounds great for what it is but if I remember rightly it doesn’t have an acoustic piano sound on it. It is also mini keys and only 3 octaves. There are a lot of two-handed voices which won’t be possible on this without hooking up to a bigger keyboard via midi, which on this is via a proprietary cable. Actually, if you’re interested in this range, the Yamaha Reface CS is quite a nice synth; digital and just one oscillator but really easy to use and capable of some nice sounds. The ARP Odyssey module is good. Quite a large format though and probably wouldn’t sit atop a slim keyboard very well. Worth having a look at the Nord electro, which does acoustic, electric and organs and I think the sample synths too now (need to check). They come in shorter keyboard lengths. The Roland SE-02 is a tiny Moog-like 3-oscillator rack that will easily sit on top of the Nord and has presets as well as panel control. The knobs are a bit fiddly as they are tiny but it sounds brilliant.

Actually, I’ve just re-read and you say you are looking for piano sounds too. Do you mean acoustic piano and Rhodes:Wurlitzer/Clavinet too? If so, something like the Nord Piano (currently on its 4th iteration) might suit; you get a range of electric and acoustic pianos and it has a “sample synth” which will play samples of many, many great synths. This is not the same as having a proper synth where you can tweak every parameter but there are some really good sounds in there.