Hi everyone,
I’m a little overwhelmed looking for a new synth to buy.
A friend of mine is travelling to the states and is willing to get me a piece of gear that has a small form factor, and my budget is around 500-600$ max.
I was initially thinking about Moog Minitaur, and Waldorf Blofeld… But I’m finding it a little hard to research their compatibility with my current setup. Some people have horror stories and the others say they work fine.
I basically chose these 2 for their form factor and their power. I was also looking at Minibrute and 0-coast (0-coast is unfriendly in my setup though, but a really nice synth)
I currently work with an A4 mk1 and a digitakt. I use those 2 in my tech/house sort of live set and they work very nicely together. I use the digitakt as a drum sampler only. And I “chain” the sequencers together so when I change a pattern on the A4 it changes on the Digitakt, and this is the most important point for me that I want to maintain.
I want a synth that is capable of playing with these 2 that I can either control with CV from A4 or midi from Digitakt. And the best scenario would be if it’s able to change its sound as I change my patterns. Is there such a thing that isn’t from elektron?
I was looking at the Digitone, but its $150 beyond my budget, and i still worry a little about its note programming method (Digitone/digitakt vs. A4) as in the A4, you just select a trig and a note, and I assumed the digitone is like the takt where you have to select a trig then select the note via encoder. Honestly I would rather just get the digitone since it has the same workflow and I can chain it with the rest of my setup no probs, if it wasn’t for the price and the programming issue.
Any ideas? and thanks 
What kind of timbre do you missing in your set-up, or do you just want another voice? What role shall the new synth play in your set-up? Funky-bass, dark-bass, bright pads, angry leads?
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Then nothing else will do.
Can you sell some other bit of unused consumer product to make up the price difference?
Or look for a used unit here and on other forums, Reverb, eBay.
Or a no interest payment plan at an online retailer?
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The main deal here is that I’m looking for something that is very friendly to the elektron live-performance method I have going on.
I was thinking about the minitaur for its dark powerful bass, which seems to be a little hard to pull off on A4 (though it’s still doable with some tricks). And it seemed like it would enable me to do nicer subs and basses.
And i liked the blofeld because it’s polyphonic and versatile, it can produce things from lush pads, to deep basses, to an angry lead. So that was also nice.
Hmmm… Is there really nothing that will do a patch change on demand in time with elektron boxes?
Btw when I said “workflow” I meant not the elektron workflow itself per se, but the digitone’s ability to sync with the rest of the stuff.
With Minitaur and Blofeld you are on a good way.
It’s true that the Minitaur delivers very deep basses. Moog have provided a particular filter, which does not thin out the low end, if the resonance is raised. If you are looking for a classic, deep, richt, bass, go for the Minitaur.
If you want thick pads, dirty, deep, and gritty basses, angry leads the Blofeld would indeed be a good candidate.
It’s true that some Blofeld units of the past had issues with the knobs - some, not all. Some people dislike the matrix/menu interface and hate it. IMO the Blofeld is very underrated and a most versatile instrument with great sound.
My Blofeld, built in autumn 2017, has not shown any hardware issues. There was a software issue, making one particular knob dead from time to time, but this has been fixed this spring.
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Look for the new Behringer Neutron…
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You should run a quick search on the forum regarding this. There are many topics covering patch/bank select between elektron and non elektron machines.
Almost all MIDI synths that can store patches will be able to be controlled by the Elektron instruments.
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You do sound a little confused, because you have not defined what you want from a synth.
Do you want a monophonic synth or a polyphonic synth?
Do you want a multitimbral synth?
Do you want the synth to have a keyboard?
Do you actually need a synth that can be controlled by CV/Gate?
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Well the most important part, as I stated in my first post, is that I want a synth that plays well with my elektron boxes in terms of pattern/sound change.
I don’t mind much about the rest as a good monophonic bass is nice, and a good polyphonic digital synth like the blofeld is also nice. I’m just looking for good quality synths that follow my main point (sync nicely with elektrons).
I’m trying to avoid the cheaper-sounding synths, and trying to look for good quality and a good bang for buck ratio.
So from what you said in your first post, will a minitaur or blofeld sync nicely and change sounds precisely with the elektrons?
Yes, both the Minitaur and the Blofeld, and any synth that responds to MIDI Program Change messages will do what you want. There are very many of these. That’s why you need to focus on the other aspects of the synth in order to make a good choice.
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Cool! Thanks a lot monsieur Peter. I think i’ll be going with the Blofeld.
So many synths for 600 and a bit under right now.
If I were you I’d save up the $150 and get a Digitone
They sound good/complimentary, it’s quite a bit more voices, it will play really nice.
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hmmmmmm. might do that as well
If you want one, hold out.
If you’re ok with just trying anything else, then do that?
I think that was the point Adam was making.
You might end up trying a bunch of stuff round robin style, loosing money (probably over $150),
and end up with a Digitone in the end saying, I should have got one of these sooner.
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I really like the Blofeld, I actually like the matrix (tho it is not for everyone) & you can make a wide range of sounds. I did have the encoder issue with mine tho. I bought it brand new, 4 months later 1 of the main encoders stopped working (bought it early 2017). I was able to find a replacement encoder, which I now have, just haven’t fixed it yet. I heard it was easy to replace…but since I haven’t fixed it yet I haven’t used it in a year. Argh. I need to get on that.
I agree with JuanSOLO tho… I bought gear because it was cheaper instead of buying what I really wanted… ended up buying what I really wanted in the long run & lost money in the process.
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I was looking a bit into the Digitone, to be honest the major turn off is not having performance controls like the A4 (I didn’t pay attention to this point before). My whole live-set revolves around that, without having the ability to control dynamics thru perf controls, all I would be doing is just switching patterns. I know there’s a CTRL all feature, but honestly it didn’t work well with me, as things go off course in an unpredictable manner, and the only way of going back is by Fn+no. While you could move back and forth smoothly when using perf controls in A4, and you can precisely choose where you want your sound to go beforehand.
It’s a shame that synths with this feature are rare, and it’s also shame that elektron are not including this feature in their smaller boxes, it would make them rock way more than they already do.
Is there a way to achieve a similar thing to perf controls on digitakt/tone? Maybe after overbridge is released? (Connect it with computer/MIDI map parameters with precise values?)
I guess I’ll be going with Minitaur or Blofeld or something similar haha. 
Regarding to what was said about cheapness, I agree, I been through the same as well, I have a Roland JD-XI collecting dust. But the Minitaur and Blofeld seem like powerful synths, just like the microbrute, 0-coast, and many other nice ones.
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Honestly if it’s between the Minitaur & Blofeld, personally I would go with the Blofeld, all tho I’ve been eyeing the Minitaur for a while now.
The reason I say this, is you have the A4 for analog, so a digital synth would add a different flavor. I know the Minitaur sound is different than the A4, but the Blofeld is capable of such a wide range of sounds. & it really does sound beautiful.
Workflow is very important tho, so you might want to look into the matrix & how it works. Even tho I love knobs & sliders, I thought the matrix was really cool & you still have knobs to play with.
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This.
You’ll be able to make an instrument rack with the Digitone Overbridge VST, and map macros.
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