Dreadbox Abyss and Elektron kit

Elektron Gear
#21

If I had to choose one synth that would make sounds appropriate for Pink Floyd meets Daft Punk, it would be the Vermona Perfourmer MKII. That said, I wouldn’t feel safe having a perfourmer as my ONLY synth. It’s something that would be best if you’re planning on owning more than 2-3 synths. It’s also fairly expensive, but well within your budget.

If you don’t want to go that route, then I suggest you buy an A4 MK1 + another synth that will fit within your budget. I think going for an A4 + a nice mono synth is a great combo that just about anyone would enjoy.

My top mono synths to combine with an A4 right now would be:

MFB Dominion Club
Dreadbox Nyx (paraphonic)
Dreadbox Erebus
Vermona Mono Lancet/module
Moog Mother 32

But honestly, there are so many great mono synths nowadays that you have many MANY choices.

Of course, if you want to stick to just a single poly synth, then the list becomes much shorter. If you just want to look at poly synths, then the Abyss is definitely towards the top of the current options imo. It’s an extremely beautiful and musical synth and the only reason it isn’t more popular is because of the price. That said, it will never be known for having lots of features. If you buy the Abyss, it’s mostly for the pure sound of it (especially the raw oscillators–yum!).

When it comes down to it, we each must find our balance between sound/features. I tend to prefer sound over features since I’m a musician. A lot of the dudes giving advice on online forums are gearheads that simply buy/sell/buy/sell gear endlessly and talk specs all the time. If you are a musician, don’t make the mistake of listening to those guys–they will focus on specs and features to the exclusion of musicality/tone/workflow.

The Vermona Perfourmer MK2 and the Dreadbox Abyss sound better than all the other synths mentioned in this thread in my opinion. But they both lack in features which may/may not be important to you.

A4 is the jack of all trades so it’s hard to go wrong with one. Most people agree that it sounds great and it has tons of features, some of them quite amazing. If you decide to go that route, you’ll have money left over for another synth to pair up with it. MFB Dominion club is almost ridiculously powerful for the price (though it is a mono synth) and sounds amazing. But it’s definitely more on the Daft Punk, rather than Pink Floyd side of things. I think the Mother 32 sounds very good with the A4, and several of my professional musician friends use that combo for live performance. To me, the Mother 32 is more on the Pink Floyd than Daft Punk side of things (though I’m sure Daft Punk would enjoy it as well).

Good luck and remember to trust yourself more than anyone else–this is YOUR studio you’re building, after all. :slight_smile:

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#22

Thanks 42. Some great advice there I think I agree with it all. That’s why I’ve found it difficult making decisions. I will now look into the Perfourmance as I haven’t so far and the dominion. I also do like the sound of the Nyx and I’m intrigued by the forthcoming Medusa but that’s for next year.

Thanks again for everyone’s thoughts and advice. A great forum.

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#23

Maybe relevant, maybe not, but Dreadbox just posted this video of Abyss sounds. Of particular interest is that they use a classic Monomachine SFX-6 as midi keyboard and sequencer for a good chunk of the video.

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#24

I saw it and it sounds really good. However that sequencer is way too expensive to justify as a sequencer.

#25

The classic keyboard Monomachine or the Polyend SEQ?

That damn classic Monomachine is so sexy that I could justify it as a sequencer. I could justify it as a rare “look but don’t touch” box :slight_smile:

Dreadbox probably got a good deal on the Polyend SEQ since they’re working together. The upcoming Dreadbox Medusa has a Polyend designed sequencer built in. But at the SEQ’s price, I’d rather have a Cirklon.

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#26

Yeah I meant the SEQ. I’m also intrigued on the Dreadbox Medusa. Given the other Dreadbox kit produces such great musical sound.

#27

Well, I had NOT seen this particular Abyss video yet, so thanks for posting! The plucked sounds were the highlight for me, since they sounded fantastic and I don’t recall hearing anyone else doing sounds like that in other videos.

Also, thanks for reminding me about the Medusa, @jshell and @Popefloyd. I forgot all about that one with all the synth/gear news over the last few months. I wish there was more info available on it (specifically what kind of envelopes they’re going to have).

If the Medusa has fast snappy envelopes like a 101, it will be my Christmas gift to myself this year. Given the envelopes that Dreadbox has used in the past, I have my doubts about the Medusa envelopes being as snappy and tight as a 101, but it would be an absolute killer if they pulled it off.

#28

Hi all, I spoke to a music shop yesterday about my setup and a poly / mono synth combo and they suggested a dreadbox Abysss with a Mother 32 as a mono. What do people think of this combo?

#29

Both great sounding synths, something to bear in mind is that they’re both single oscillator synths so you may be missing out on a certain area of synthesis / sound design - e.g. the classic ‘beating’ sound of two oscillators slightly out of tune, or 5th/7th interval tunings, etc - might not be an issue though.

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#30

That’s a very good point. I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe that’s where the analog four is a better option.

#31

I think that everyone should start off with a “bread n butter” synth that is good all-around and can make many different types of sounds well. A4 is a good choice for that, but there are many others of course. Only after you have a good all-around synth should you be looking to expand into synths that do one or two things really well, but not much else.

For example, I think the microbrute is an exceptional synth for the price (I paid $160 for mine). But is it good for lots of different types of sounds? No way! It’s good because of the steiner-parker filter (it’s the only synth I own with a filter like that) which has an input in case I need it for another synth/drum machine/etc. and because it makes nice noisy/grungy bass/lead sounds and surprisingly big fat sub bass clean or dirty. That’s it. I don’t try to get Vangelis out of it because that’s not what it’s good at. It’s also a nice studio tool for ins/outs etc. with the combination of cv/gate/midi. It has helped me as a routing mechanism several times.

I see the Abyss and mother 32 as excellent sounding synths, but they are limited in scope and range. They are both very musical and can be beautiful more easily than many other synths. But as @finalform mentioned, you will be missing out on entire varieties of sounds with that combo.

I’m not a minilogue owner, but it definitely can do lots of different sorts of sounds. I don’t have an opinion on whether it is good/bad because I’ve never owned one, but it is an inexpensive option to fill the gaps of the abyss/mother 32 combo.

I think the most important synth in any studio is the all-rounder that does all the heavy lifting. Choose your main synth carefully because it will be the backbone of your music for the forseeable future. After you’ve got that done and are happy with your choice, synths like the abyss and mother 32 are great additions.

I think the A4 has become a staple in the industry because it is capable of being what you need when you need it and most people like the sound of it. 4 notes is pretty good considering that parameter locks open up many options for getting the most from it. I also know that some people don’t like the workflow of the A4. The only way to discover if you are one of these people is to try an A4.

I appreciate that you’re trying to make a wise decision, and so you’re carefully considering your options. Sometimes it can be better to just buy a couple synths and see what happens. You won’t lose much money from buying the wrong synths a few times and returning them/selling them. We learn far more in life from mistakes than successes. Perhaps it’s time to go out and make some synth buying mistakes, haha!

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#32

Great advice again time to take the plunge I think. Analog four here I come.

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#33

Yeah, good advice @42, agree with all of that.

I really rate the System-1 as a workhorse / all-rounder / first synth. Obviously, some people don’t like it because it’s VA, blah blah. Personally, I think it sounds better than the Minilogue, especially for bass, but the main thing is it’s got a really classic (subtractive), one-knob-per-function layout (except for OSC 2 coarse tune, for some reason) and an enormous sweet spot. It’s very easy to get your head round, and won’t cost much to buy second hand and re-sell in six months if you decide you want something more specialised. Silly keyboard though.

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#34

I second that! Plus the fact you effectively have 2 synths in 1 with the Plug-Out offering a choice of synth engines such as the SH-101 and ProMars. I liked mine so much I bought the System 8.

#35

Interesting I’ve not considered the System 1 so far. Would that be better with Roland only modules to supplement it?

I agree the system 1 looks good as a starter synth.

#36

No, you don’t need to pair it with Roland / Aira gear. The only particular synergy it has is with the MX-1 mixer, which allows you to connect it digitally via USB (“Aira Link”).

It is quite useful to download the librarian software for PC/Mac as that makes saving/transferring and managing (including renaming) your patch memories really easy. The synth has 64 sound slots for the internal engine and 64 for whatever plugout you have loaded. Originally it was 8 but they expanded it with a software update. They also added a bunch of extra waveforms for the native engine in the same update, v1.2 I think it was.

The System-1m is a variant of the System-1 that has the same spec, except that it is Eurorack compatible, fits in 3U rack cases and accepts CV/gate in and out. And it has no keyboard, obviously. The 1m tends to be more expensive so if you don’t need the CV/gate functionality or need the smallest possible footprint you’re probably better off with the standard version.

If you start looking at plug-outs, the SH-2 is maybe my favourite, but they’re all good. The plug-outs are all monophonic though.

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#37

Just seen a video on YouTube where Christopher Kah has hooked up the system 1, Minilogue and drumbrute. Seemingly without a laptop. How would you connect these up into a setup?

#38

This one?

He has them tempo synced via MIDI. The drumbrute is the midi master and it looks like he has midi going into the System-1 and then from the S-1’s thru port into the Minilogue.

The System-1 is playing its internal arpeggiator, latched, and the Minilogue has its internal 16-step sequencer, though it looks like he’s playing it live for most of that performance.

He will have either a mixer or an audio interface off-camera combining the audio signals.

It’s quite a limited setup in terms of what you can do compositionally but, as he does, you can jam out and do a reasonable amount just with tempo sync.

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#39

Yeah that’s the one. Thanks @finalform

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#40

You could easily use a computer (or an Elektron box :slight_smile: ) as the midi master in that setup, and sequence midi notes / cc / program changes to the synths.

Maybe worth pointing out that he has used some quite heavy processing on the final mix. Sounds like a multiband compressor that’s creating a sidechain/ducking effect.