Desktop mono synth recommendations

The Lounge Other Gear
#43

Received the SH-01a today. Very happy with the compact size and build quality. Sound wise I feel like everything that comes out is usable if not extremely pleasing.

I think it will keep me happy for a few years until I’m not traveling anymore and can give a Pro 2 a try

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#44

Good luck even finding a pro 2

#45

Seen quite a few for decent prices in Germany lately.

But yeah might be harder in 18 months

#46

I have the SH01a,
Sold the AS-1 to buy its 6 voiced version, The Prophet 6.
I also have the Bass Station 2. (which is a lovely synth especially the AFX mode!)

^ i love all these mono synths

You should consider, though, the Xenophone Hypersynth. its a giant sweet spot with some very interesting filter/envelope options. The onboard fx are nice and the oscillator section is quite beefy.

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#47

For monosynth / bass duties I think a Moog made synth for “that sound” is always a good option.

Personally I really like Dreadbox synths. I own an Erebus v2 and I love it for bass, it’s my best sounding synth for that and can rattle the whole building. The filter is a 12db LP filter and at higher resonances can sound wild (in a good way) not sure if that’s acceptable for OP. The Erebus is knob-per-function but doesn’t do presets.

Lots of good options out there and lots of great recommendations on here. If you give us an example of the sort of bass sounds you’re looking for, we could probably narrow down the recommendations to something more specific.

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#48

Alright, I couldnt decide what I needed from a desktop monosynth for my live setup, so I got four (well, three and a Tetra) and compared them:

Minitaur is what I’ve been using for the last year.

  • It’s amazing for bass and I loooove moog filters, but as others have noted the sound design possibilities for arps and leads isn’t great due to the limited note range and few parameters.
  • The simplicity is a benefit - it’s very knob per function and I’m very quick to sound design in a live setting with it - I don’t even save presets! Sits in the mix super well below my Digitone and can do some nice pure-toned arps and a bit of acid when called for. A keeper for literally just bass.

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SE-02 I figured could give me the moog sound with more versatility in a smallish package.

  • Fun and intuitive to sound design on with a ton of options. As it’s so hands on its amazing for continuous sound design, getting lost experimenting with a patch to transform it into something else again and again. The sequencer is kinda fun (Elektron still doesn’t have random or pingpong playback, argh!)
  • Sound fantastic - definitely minimoog-y, very ‘old-school analog’ tone, really snappy envelopes. Covers the ground that I like from the Minitaur but does so much more. (Still will probably keep the minitaur for sentimental reasons!)
  • edit: worth mentioning the delay is very usable as a sound design tool, and can do phasey/reverby things.
  • I don’t mind that the knobs are small as I don’t have big hands, but they are kind of wobbly and fiddly, and the interface I imagine would be difficult even with muscle memory in a club or booth.
  • As I didn’t have a sound-designy mono yet, I may ironically keep this as a studio unit rather than a live one, and may replace the knobs with some makenoise ones that are easier to read.

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AS-1 is like the inverse of the SE-02 from a UI philosophy:

  • Built like a tank, but just 11 knobs and half of them make no sense being chosen over other parameters they could have for the UI.
  • It really does sound goddamn incredible - like ‘i can’t get it to sound bad’ incredible, like ‘i want to build a track out of this preset patch sequence’ incredible. I make a lot of berlin-school melodic house/techno stuff which it does well.
  • I find it doesn’t get the kind of ‘rock solid low end bass’ that the Moog excels at, but it gets close enough with the sub osc to get the job done in a mix.
  • Effects are more than usable - you can definitely base entire patches around them. Maybe an order of magnitude fewer options, effects slots, modulation, etc than the Typhon, but … I don’t like the core Typhon sound so much… (unpopular opinion i know!)
  • It kills me that the midi implementation is so crappy - sub level, but no noise level? Glide on/off, but no glide rate? I have a midifighter twister and don’t want to invest in a faderfox just for NRPNing literally two super commonly tweaked parameters.
  • Using this live vs the SE-02 would be a lot more about pre-designing patches and a lot less about sound design and experimentation live, so I could imagine keeping them both and deciding based on the kind of set I’d want to play.

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Tetra unfortunately is out.

  • It sounds objectively “good”, is versatile, and I love the idea of a 4-voice, multitimbral polyphonic ‘module’ with individual outs - but I somehow still don’t like it. It’s not even the UI, it’s the sound.
  • Maybe it’s psychological, but I feel I can hear the difference in the filters between it and the AS-1. @Lauli mentioned it’s pretty brassy sounding, which some people may like, but it just stuck out like a sore thumb when I played it alongside my DN.
  • Also, I don’t really need the polyphony as my Digitone covers pads and keys well, even subtractive ones.

.
Verdict: Reselling the Tetra, keeping the Se-02, AS-1, and Minitaur. Seriously considering the AS-1 as top contender for the live set in place of the Minitaur.

While it might seem like overkill to keep three desktop monos, they cover pretty different territory, and added up all three cost 1000€ - still less than I’d pay for a flagship mono like the Matriarch or Pro 3, and wayyy more portable…

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What's your latest purchase & what are your intentions with it? [pics ftw] (Part 2)
#49

Hijacking this thread to see if anyone knows of a compact desktop mono synth similar to the Sequential Pro3. 3 oscillators, 2 variable waveshape analog, 1 digital / Wavetable, and a noise source? The dominion club is the only one I know of that gets close. (Maybe a minilogue xd could be considered a candidate)

Any alternatives?

(I’ve dabbled with running an NTS-1 into a Sirin, but I’m not loving the NTS-1 UI and I’d prefer to have everything integrated.)

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#50

The Minilogue is a Polysynth, do you want suggestions for Polysynths too?

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#51

No… I was just thinking I could use it in mono mode.

  • though, I suppose I’d be open to other compact solutions that happen to be Poly.
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#52

This is not my definition of compact (Sirin would be). So, you’re willing to go that big?

#53

Its not fully knobby but DSI evolver is 2 analog 2 digital osc with analog filter/vca but I don’t think the analog oscillators are variable waveshape. There is always the option to build a little eurorack mono synth too. I think you listed the 2 I can think of with minilogue XD and Dominion club and I don’t think either one will sound much like a Pro3. For whatever reason I would say maybe look at the norand mono also even though it doesn’t have a 3rd digital oscillator its FM sounds go places.

Out of curiosity what is the goal with having the specific oscillator set up?

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#54

The Motas-6 is the leftfield alternative I’ve seen suggested for that kind of feature set. Doesn’t have the digital/wavetable oscillator though, but is desktop and has some impressive modulation capabilities (I don’t have one, but they look really interesting, I think there are people on here who do own them)

#55

Yeah, the XD is actually a little bigger than I’d like. But I know I might need to be a little flexible.

#56

Thank you for suggesting the Motas, I didn’t know about this synth.

#57

There’s a thread about it on here, and another one on Gearspace which is good too. There’s very few good demos of it online which is why I think it’s not that well known. Does seem to have a very engaged small community, and the synth’s designer seems engaged and issuing updates frequently

#58

I suppose I really would love a compact / desktop Pro3. I don’t have a lot of space, but I find that synth’s design very appealing. Trying to avoid going modular.

  • I have really been curious about the Norand Mono. It looks really interesting.
#59

It’s not fully analog, and it’s poly not mono… but maybe the Prophet 12 module?

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#60

Korg Monologue! I will die on this hill for it being the best dang synth ever. D:

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#61

Only if you got it in red.

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#62

Fixed.

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