Mike Batt ? Didn’t he write the theme tune for The Wombles ? I think you mean Nick Batt 
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Idk, sounds like The Beatles or The Kinks to me. I don’t think the guy from Sonic State made it.
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I think to me in a sound design synth, interface is just as important as capabilities. Like A4 is plenty capable of going to also sorts of places, especially abusing stuff like parameter slides and feeding one track into the next… but because of the interface I rarely push it in that direction, especially when I have the Pro 2 right next to it where the mod matrix is basically instantaneous to set up all sorts of modulations. But also more minimal stuff will lead you to different interesting sound designs, if the interface is right. Something like a Buchla Easel and a sampler could be pretty genius, mostly because that interface will lead you down new roads.
I think it also really matters what your sound design is for, like if you’re scoring blockbuster films your sound design needs are very different from someone working in music concrete much of the time.
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Respectfully, I flat-out disagree with this.
There are only 12 notes in the western chromatic scale, for instance, and yet we keep making new and inventive music with those notes. By that same measure, there are literally hundreds, even thousands of parameters on some of the synths mentioned in this thread; the sonic possibilities, combinations, and variations of which are virtually endless. And that’s before you apply said sounds to said notes.
Now, that doesn’t mean that the average synth user is going to break new ground every day; but then, neither do writers and composers. Quite the opposite in fact. The truth is that most people are content to copy what they’ve already heard, even when they aspire to invent something of their own, despite the otherwise inspiring tools at hand. That’s just humanity for you. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, we like what we like, and there’s not always a reason to reinvent the wheel per se. Hell, often that just leads to pretentious noise anyway.
However, in the hands of the truly gifted (and that is far fewer people than some of us would like to believe), any one of the more capable synths mentioned above (i.e. Peak, Hydrasynth, Blofeld, Iridium, pick your flagship soft-synth, etc.) could easily deliver compelling new sounds for several consecutive lifetimes. Frankly, the notion that “it’s all been done” is preposterous, and often just serves as an excuse or rationalization for the things we can’t do or don’t have, like talent, vision, or the latest premium gear. 
Cheers!
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I’d advise anyone to go Virus TI. It’s the exact same features and sounds as the TI2, just with slightly reduced DSP power. It has some small shortcomings, but as far as a VA goes, it’s really everything you could ever want. For dawless, you also get 16 channels/patches of whatever you want to program. Plus you also have computer integration, fully assignable inputs and outputs, as well as being use able for all of it’s internal effects which are all really good quality. The cherry on the cake is the app works ace. It honestly kind of blows me away how futuristic this synth was, basically an entire decade ahead of it’s time and it still holds up. Only downsides, is it can run out of DSP if you’re really inefficient and sloppy with your multipatch programming, and I’m also not insanely keen on the filter sounds.
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Can I have some piano flares too? I’m good for the jumper.
Or the combined rowing oar/NAB reel piece of object d’art…
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That’s why the Hydrasynth is so great.
But are you talking about songs/tracks or actual Sound Design. Because for a while now everything we’ve been hearing is very similar. Yes there are new inventive ways of dressing up the ‘synth’ sounds but at the end of the pipeline its hard to distinguish what exactly is the difference.
In regards to Mike Batt i only just discovered he’s actually Nicks older brother 
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Well, I’m talking about both, songs and sound design, which are not mutually exclusive.
Yes, of course, most of what we hear, and most of what we will hear, is derivative. To some extent, it has to be. That said, for thousands of years, people have been convinced, at every turn, that they’ve done it all; simply because they themselves don’t know where to take it next. But, a lack of imagination notwithstanding, with today’s tools at hand, the sound design possibilities are, for all intents and purposes, infinite.
As I said, in another thread, just moments ago, the onus falls squarely on the artist to create something “new”; assuming that’s the objective. Nothing is holding us back or standing in our way. We have more than we need at our disposal to create and invent.
Vision, on the other hand… That’s hard to come by.
Cheers!
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For PURE sound design… I must send you straight to the realm of the modular. Not to say that other synths like the Hydra, Rev2, Pro3 or any other popular synth with plenty of modulation possibilities won’t do. But… If it’s sound design for the sake of truly designing sound, you can’t get better than even a small to mid-sized modular. The bigger the better really, but you can do a metric-eff-ton on a single Serge panel, a 4-space Buchla, or any moderate Euro setup. It’s unbelievable.
Or, there’s software. KarmaFX Modular, Reaktor, etc ir something like Gladiator even,
If you want to design sounds, you probably know which tools you need, and they are absolutely abundant in any modular environment.
Actually, all that said, I’ve had tons of fun, (and lost hours) on the Digitone…
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Mike does have a brother but apparently he’s called Dick not Nick, just read it on his Twitter
Regarding charts Mike wins with the uk number 1 Bright Eyes written by Mike and sang by Art Garfunkel while Nick only got to number 2 with the remix of Suzanne Vega’s Toms Diner
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Haha, I was fascinated by Bright Eyes and its inclusion in the film Watership Down as a 7 year old (and as a 37yo tbf).
omg this reminds me of that sketch in portlandia
THE RABBIT’S PAAAAAAWWWW
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i just watched the sweetwater video on this and i’m left scratching my head…synthesizers just keep getting deeper and deeper, don’t they? that thing is pretty insane
Yea, I could get lost for year just with the granular part of the synth.
This thread inspired me to make some unique sounds on my Rev2 and explore possibilities I havent tried before…staved off a little gas
Can you try them Out in a Store? That Always helped me a lot.
VCV Rack!