I have an A4mkII+ARmkII which I have used for many years before pre-ordering a Roland Fantom-06 which has become my main instrument. (Currently, I have an Analog Heat MkII on the main output and a Digitone as an auxiliary FM voice along with a Novation Peak.)
Since I might be going into a situation where I’d be short on space, would downsizing to a Syntakt instead of the A4+AR still give me plenty of creative possibilities? (From the videos I’ve seen, the Syntakt alone can create whole tracks.)
Syntakt wouldn’t replace A4. No poly settings, limited machines. An A4 MKI can replace an MKII if you’re short of space…
Concerning AR :
Let my Rytm go and go with Syntakt?
I prefer ST than AR for its versatility, but I prefer AR analog sound with its compressor…and of course you have samples…
Keep in mind, though, that this would be an adjunct to the FANTOM-06 (not my main instrument) and I already have a virtual analog engine in the FANTOM.
Also, I’m trying to obtain the broadest palette in the smallest space.
So many of these comparison threads lately. Is sampling not a desired feature?
My answer is no
I would absolutely not make that change unless I only had space for a single Digi box and nothing else.
…syntakt is a compact and versatile sonic beast…no other digital/analog hybrid like that out there to find…
but if u really wanna downsize ur live rig, u’ll need some one shot sampling and stem playback device like the ot, to be safe no matter what…
aaaaand nothing can replace the truu analog magic of an a4…the better rytm, if u ask me…
so if u wanna downsize…leave ur a4 in the studio for the better creation process in first place…and built one flightcase, containing nothing but a ot and a st…that can rock all stages and can dock on easily, once ur back in ur studio…
Vague question:
Answer: yes.
I’d say, yes downsize. Syntakt will fit nicely (size) with you Digitone and Analog Heat. You will get enough analog poly goodness from the Peak.
It kind of depends on how you’re using the A4? The FANTOM will get you those analog sounds no problem, but I find much harder to do modulation-heavy sounds on.
The Peak can cover a lot of this, but neither it nor the FANTOM have a great story for sequence-based modulation.
Which is, I suppose, what the Syntakt would be covering for. But it doesn’t have the depth of LFOs or ENVs of the A4 or the Peak…
So you could go around there in a frustrating sort of circle if modulated/evolving patches are even a thing in your music. If not, yeah, it’s almost shocking how much ZEN-Core can cover for.
I would say it depends on how you use them. If you don’t do a lot of performance, if you don’t use samples, and if you aren’t very particular about how your chromatics sound, then I’d say it’d be a really good substitute and could give you a ton of freedom.
Personally, I’ve never seen a hardware sampling workflow that actually makes sense to me. They’re almost always convoluted or a right pain in the ass in at least some way, or limited in a way that just kills my creativity. Even on my MPC One, sample manipulation is a bit of a pain so I stick to drum oneshots there, occasionally keygroups I’ve autosampled. If I want to use samples, I’ll use my DAW for that - so samples are a really, really superfluous feature for me that I’d rather not spend money on.
On topic: if you’re okay losing samples and not playing chords properly (I really can’t overstate how much I dislike the Chord engine on ST/MC), condensing to the ST could make some sense.
Getting off topic, but of the samplers I have owned, I think 1010Blackbox is the most immediate. Not exactly a mangler, but great for everything else. But if sampling isn’t your primary focus, I can see the appeal for a Syntakt.
I own a black ARMK2, and the aftertouch + distortion + compression combined are very expressive tools at my disposal.