Analog Poly Synths w/ Analog Controls (no presets)

MythMaker · 2023-02-27T18:11:48.524Z

It’s not really about the presets. I’m interested in synths that don’t use digital controls. Analog controls have more of an organic feeling and digital controls can have some dead zones if the resolution isn’t high enough. I want to see what sort of options are out there for pure analog electrical connections with rheostats that directly interact with the audio signal without that digital middle-man.

Rokki21 · 2023-02-27T18:15:54.640Z

silent_k:

I used to have an OB6, which sounded glorious, but I couldn’t get around the interface – going from one preset to another, you have no idea what the knob positions are until you start moving things and stuff jumps around all over the place. Not for me. Kind of wish I still had it, though.

Because that little dot shows on the display when you are at the correct setting Ive always found it easy to get everything lined up.

Feel it really lacking when a synth doesn’t even have that.

maymind_trax · 2023-02-27T18:27:26.517Z

Off topic, but the endless encoders are yet another reason why I love the Cobalt 8(m). No knob jumping, but it still has a very hands on interface.

OP, another poly synth I just remembered without presets but is fully analog- the Korg Delta. I had one for a few years a while back. Sounds great. Always wished it had presets, haha.

Clancy · 2023-02-27T19:18:03.832Z

Timbre Wolf

(no LFO)

yoyz2k · 2023-02-27T19:55:10.528Z

I also had a Delta for years !
My first analog synth.
Sold it when I bought my A4.
I miss it a bit now, it has those old school vibes !

silent_k · 2023-02-27T20:19:36.497Z

Rokki21:

Because that little dot shows on the display when you are at the correct setting Ive always found it easy to get everything lined up.

Feel it really lacking when a synth doesn’t even have that.

I totally forgot about that little dot! But, I guess that’s kind of the argument, in a way – for whatever reason it wasn’t enough for my brain. My BassStation II had two dots to show whether a value was above or below the current knob position, which was more helpful.

For the OP: a quite expensive but perhaps worthwhile possibility to consider is going modular. Doepfer made a series of modules a few years ago for polyphonic use. It’s designed as a four-voice system with modules for oscillators (A-111-4), filters (A-105-4), VCAs (A-132-8) and ASDRs (A141-4), plus a controller module with USB and 5-pin MIDI (A-190-5). If you don’t already have a controller you want to use, you could stick all of those (except the controller, which wouldn’t be necessary) into something like a Cre8audio NiftyKeyz keyboard and you have a very analog polysynth. Xoac Devices also offers modules with multiple, independently controllable envelopes (Zadar) and LFOs (Batumi) that could be integrated into such a system.

trackerjack · 2023-02-27T20:40:56.432Z

Korg PS-3300:

en.wikipedia.org

Korg PS-3300

S/H Price (SOS UK, 2003): £10,000 ($17,000) S/H Price (Ebay US, 2008): $25,000 (£17,000) S/H Price (VEMIA UK, 2014): £23,700 ($38,000) S/H Price (VEMIA UK, 2016): £27,230 ($40,000)

Gleeman Pentaphonic:

https://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/pentaphonic.php

MythMaker · 2023-02-27T20:42:04.175Z

Excellent info. Thanks!

I’ve avoided the world of modular, it’s still a bit over my head. But every year I get closer and closer to entering that world. It’s really an amazing music-making universe. One day it’s gonna happen haha.

HBIII · 2023-02-27T20:57:07.443Z

Vermona perfourmer is entirely analog.

comradecry · 2023-02-27T21:06:49.216Z

eurorack case akin to Cre8audio NiftyKEYZ can probably hold 4 voice amount of poly
its going to be a more expensive version of grandmother, but you can pick and choose pure cv components + have more optons for routings + true poly if you stack filters, envelopes and lfos

but also vermona perfourmer rocks

Microtribe · 2023-02-27T21:13:00.077Z

Korg Mono/Poly. I had one. Enormous monster of a thing.

Blehringer made a version of it.

Bunker · 2023-02-28T08:36:01.342Z

Crumar Stratus or the more generously equipped Trilogy (which had a string section and ‘presets’ as well as the organ and synth sections shared with the Stratus). They were both a bit of an oddity in that they used divide down oscillators which fed into 6 synth voices based around CEM 3310/3320/3330 chips tied to pairs of notes across the keyboard. This was because the synth didn’t have any voice allocation as it didn’t run under digital control (no CPU etc).

Likewise the presets on the Trilogy weren’t stored digitally; each preset accessed a bank of trimmer pots under the hood that mirrored the front panel controls. The good news is that because the oscillators used were divide down you got full 49 note polyphony but the filter allocation meant retriggering of notes occurred if that VCF was already ‘in use’. Osc mod is limited (being TOS based) although there was glide, ‘sync’ and the ability to switch between saw and square waves per key press or by the LFO.

Its big, dated, limited and fairly scarce but it fills your criteria. Similar in many ways to the Korg Delta but with a more comprehensive and better sounding synth section.

Bunker · 2023-02-28T09:12:39.072Z

trackerjack:

Jupiter 4

The JP 4 had 8 user presets as well as the fixed factory presets. The front panel controls were scanned by the CPU and stored in memory so it’s a very early digitally controlled analogue synth

zollenz · 2023-02-28T09:38:54.131Z

Dreadbox Abyss?

trackerjack · 2023-02-28T09:53:35.804Z

I stand corrected.
Thought I read somewhere there were only fixed presets.
Never played one, sadly, nor the Promars.
They’re some of the coolest looking synths imo.

Bunker · 2023-02-28T10:15:27.242Z

Yeah, the Jupiter is an interesting synth with a certain rawness. That said it can do more polished sounds and it’s deffo ‘still relevant’. I love mine dearly

MythMaker · 2023-02-28T15:24:44.806Z

Wow! That’s a very interesting analog design.

MythMaker · 2023-02-28T15:26:05.131Z

Ah yes! The Abyss. Essentially perfectly encapsulates what I’m talking about. Hopefully Dreadbox decides to make something like this again. I didn’t jive with their Nymphes.

Bunker · 2023-02-28T15:37:04.643Z

The Trilogy was one of my first synths, I found it in a second hand shop with various faults. Anyway I got it going and then picked up a second one (masochist I know) in a better cosmetic condition

MythMaker · 2023-03-07T20:24:02.538Z

I think it would be worthwhile to try and figure out how to make a polyphonic modular set up. Does anyone have any resources (blogs, websites, books, videos, etc.) that could help me study making something like this? Paraphonic is acceptable, not sure if getting multiple filters and VCAs to work together is easy or even economically sane. I’d just like to be able to sequence or play chords.

Every time I begin studying modular synthesis, the actual generation of voices and sequences seems to be designed with monophonic music in mind. Not many modular teaching sources that I’ve found mention polyphony. It’s been a real hurdle.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. Am I wrong for trying to do this? Is poly/paraphonic modular a pipe dream?