A lot of older gear is known for imparting a character or a sound into the music people made on them. Whether that be through low bitrates, or a pre-defined EQ curve, it seems that this vibe is something a lot of folks have tried to recapture in software form at least.
I’ve heard multiple comments about modern grooveboxes in the same light. True, lot of modern grooveboxes are built on a digital engine or could be considered a VST in a box, but I assume some decisions are pre-defined, like EQ curves or baked-in compression. Some say they have a sound, others say they don’t.
I thought it might be interesting to capture whether any modern-ish devices have a sound baked into them that producers might consider when picking up newer hardware.
Examples I’ve come across: Digitakt (OG) described as “gritty”. Or Polyend devices described as “dusty”. Or EP-133 as “punchy”.
I’ve got a list here of some to consider:
Korg Electribes
Novation Circuits
Elektron Models
Teenage Engineering EPs
Sonicware Livens
Roland AIRA
Korg Volcas
Elektron Digis
Synthstrom Deluge
TE OP1/XY
Any thoughts on whether any of these boxes have some sort of mojo, either by default or via the software running on them?
Yes all? If its sampling its how the samples get processed. Either sound quality (converters during sampling, limitations in bitdepth/sampling rate), sound processing (used algos for eq, compression, reverb, normalization, etc), workflow (stuff thats easy to do will more often be used, specific sequencing/glitch effects become the ‘sound’)
If its synthesis based its the synth enginejust like any synth.
Then whats gets inclused/excluded on the feature front, that pushes you towards a certain sound.
Model cycles for example, i find it cold but i find FM generally cold.
It having macros as controls for specific machines leads to it having a specific sound.
The volcas are synths with specific quirks and sounds, if you meant the sample i guess its somewhat less hifi.
Octatrack if just used as a mixer or to play stems is transparent, but the moment you use its effects and sequencing it starts to have its sound.
Arturia Drumbrute proves the point really well. That’s not my preference though, I’d go with a Pulsar-23 even if it may not be feature rich enough to be a full groove box. The Germans have produced a bunch of 808 and 909 inspired groove boxes that have character. I’m thinking of Jomox Alpha Base and Tanzbär 2.
Sonicware Liven have a lofi sound, in a good authentic 80’s way, not a faux lofi that just sounds bad way.
For instance the sampler sounds very reminiscent of the Casio RZ1 and similar 80’s era digital gear. The XFM sounds like a cheap FM soundcard from the mid 90’s. Don’t know about the ambient ones as I haven’t used them.
The early electribes sound very punchy, the e2 and e2s also decent and the “shit, in a good way fx”, lend themselves to giving them real user configurable dirt or character, they are let down by dropping voices once you get above 8 tracks though.
At its most raucous, it sounds like an absolute beast, and it’s actually easy to take it over the top.
I don’t think it gets enough credit as a sample processor either, to my ears it makes everything sound better.
Yes, in fact they have many sounds, perfect for DJs and professionals looking to enhance their production experience! Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Fm is cold for sure but cycles being only 4op with some kind of glue compressor and soft clipping in the master chain sounds warm and gooey to my ears. Brittle tones but gooey sound
Maybe the MC303 because it is so lofi and the analog LepLoop because it sounds so odd,
but of the ones listed in the first post i would not be able to pick any correctly in a blind test.
That said, I really would love to have a MKSREC1 or S2400 with full filters on all channels and not just on channel 1 and 2. Which would make it an Emulator II groovebox.
Why are cost saving decisions made in the 80s ported to new machines if they are not cool at all…
started on a korg es1 mk2 the gold one and it still has so many features that got carried forward into the new generation of groovebox stuff - the sound was deffo there quite shrill with character fx
After more than 20 years of using samplers I think that not just old samplers, but every machine (old or new) has a ‘sound’. The old ones generally have a more pronounced sound, but even with similar specs my digitakt sounds very different from the sp404mk or the ableton move. I think this is the result of 3 things:
The converters or sampling engine (with its own samplerate/bitrate) which has a certain character.
The fx, filters and pitch algo of the specific machine.
The workflow which leads you to use the machine in a certain way.
It’s mostly a matter of taste instead of quality. My favorite sounding new samplers with a pronounced sound are the analog rytm (very heavy and warm, sometimes hard to tame) and the s2400 (clean and punchy or aliasing using the sp1200 engine).
All of them have a sound imo though some are more noticeable than others. The combo of the default sound engine, built in fx, and dac are most likely unique for each box
I dont even dislike it. I do struggle to get out of it, and interestingly i managed a waem and ‘analog’ sounding bassline on it.
Overall it starts oit more on the cold side and needs slight tuning to get it warmer, but for FM, its not as cold as one would expect, you got q point there.
I think nowadays mostly all grooveboxes have pretty neutral sound and the actual difference is mostly at the level where pareidolias begin. With the exception of deliberate lo-fi designs.
Volca Sample is excellent in that regard, I sold mine, but like all my jams on it.
It has proper realistic and warm sound and no other Korg box does exactly that. I just love it!
I was even thinking if I could use 32kHz inside DAW in some way, but probably this won’t work.
Dustiness of Polyend. Well, OG Tracker definitely has some flavor of 16bit PCM sound, not sure if it was intentional or not, and so did Boss RC-505.
It’s not so easy to hear it when you only listen to one sound example.
In my experience i need some months using a new machine until i can say what kind of sound it has. Sometimes i listen to all tracks i made over a year or so and only then i can really hear a difference. Sometimes it’s very subtle and other times quite a difference in sound.
