Hello, I have a little more than 1000e in my pocket. What would you recommend as equipment for drone/dark ambient stuff?
Only hardware no software please
Thanks in advance !
Check out the Syntakt I think it would fit the bill.
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For that money you can probably get a Lyra 8 and a Behringer 2600. Might have to stretch a bit or go second hand, but you’ll have drones for days with that pair.
Or a Lyra and a MK1 A4.
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I like them and you can always add pedal/rack effect later to add another flavour but using the Syntakt standalone at the moment you just have the stereo outs.
I wish I could make pads too
what effects do you recommend for dark mood?
Strega is my own favorite.
Lyra is good too.
Eventide Space is a good reverb for such kind of music.
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Effects wise you can use anything that works but like plugging in reverb and delay pedals
Here’s something with just the analog tracks from the Syntakt from the person that made the Tone and Drum Spells sound packs for the Syntakt plus there are lots of other Youtube videos you could check out.
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Forget about a thousand Euros. Let’s do it for a hundred. One PO20 Arcade, one Monotron Delay, one cheap reverb pedal. All secondhand. Off to the races.
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I love the Analog Keys for drones and get lost all the time exploring the sounds on this machine. The joystick and hold button are very useful for this kind of music. It can sound very lush and sweet but also very dark and metlallic. I bought mine for 600 bucks. So much synthesizer for so little money.
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Guerilla droning.
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Then, bring them all on vacation with the money left.
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Exactly.
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I’ve had a lot of fun with the Circuit Tracks and that can hook up to external gear as well but not used it for about a year.
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Hydrasynth with its ton of Modulations would be a good choice (you’ll cover your Pads too).
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Take a look at some of the devices from Electro-Faustus, such as the Drone Thing, Blackfly, or Death Whistle.
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A used A4 mk1 would be a good solution.
It can do almost anything one might need for that type of music and those are quite cheap and deep too.
Or digitone. Those are incredible for droning.
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In my opinion - true dark ambient and drone generally avoided synthesizers. They are possible, but not necessary. Especially rompler sounds of ambient of 90’s… did not age well to me.
General approach is to take field sound recordings, organic, textural and mangle them into the dronings (or creepy unceirtan sounds).
Investment to looper/sampler & good reverb sounds reasonable. Or second-hand Octatrack can give you good results in this area (not better but quite different from the DAW)
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