Yes. And in a way that even my Wurlitzer ep200 can’t match. It’s close, but despite the Wurly’s late night vibes, still no cigar.
It’s such a joy! However, I think that it’s not just about the key weight. I think two other things play a subtle but significant role:
the vibration of the whole body of the instrument; the key action causes it to vibrate deep within and throughout, which excites the air in a way that feels “whole” and “present” and which speakers never quite achieve
the infinite depths of decaying harmonics gently calling your attention like Sirens on the rocks
(Note, I’m a dreadful keyboard player. I don’t practice scales or learn other peoples’ music. I would noodle my own meandering jams for hours at a time on my parents’ piano, and later got my own Wurley… playing it pretty much the same way, but with more blues)
I have enough gear for ten lifetimes of electronic music, but I more often find myself at the piano or reaching for a guitar. I was visiting family earlier this month and discovered my mother’s childhood clarinet in a closet. It’s now in the shop for an overhaul, and I can’t wait to learn how to play.
For me, there’s no substitute for instruments that create their vibrations through direct physical means. It’s a primal experience. I get that electrons are also physical, but it’s not the same.
Funny that @Fin25 brought up the DX7. If I had to pick one electronic instrument, I’d recommend that one. It’s quite expressive, and I can definitely get lost in it.
Ooh yes that is definetly interesting, but it’s seems more like a noise maker then a note maker… I think the other Soma instrument coming out 22-23 looks more like what I’m looking for…
I think it helps that it’s kind of a set and forget synth, so you’re not constantly twiddling knobs or pushing buttons. When you’re playing it, you’re just playing it.
This is what playing a flute is like. Flute is unique because there’s no reed vibrating between your lungs and the vibrating air column inside the instrument. You resonate along with the instrument, not just externally like other acoustic instruments or internally like vocals, but both. One of the big challenges with flute is getting control over the intoxicating tone you hear and what the audience hears.
What you describe as a spiritual connection, I think of as being in the zone, where time stops and you are fully focused on one thing and one thing alone.
I think any device can get a person in the zone if they can play it without having to think about how to do something.
Right now for me I would say my Machinedrum gets me there because of how well I know it, and so does my Nord electro 6 because it is similar to my piano - load up a nice EP patch, throw on some reverb and just play without thinking any more about it
Nobody can answer this for you though, it’s more about what excites you as well as, for anything electronic, what you can learn well enough that you can turn off your brain and just create
I think I know what you mean. I like anything with immediate feedback and high expressiveness. Volca series, PadKontrol, Nord drum 3p, Nord lead 3, though the keys are not very good.
For me so long as it feels nice and there is no latency I feel like I am connected to the instrument. So if I have an mpk controller and a fun plugin going through a decent audio interface with buffer set to 128 or less and I feel at home.
I can also kinda vouch for digitone keys but the there are few keys and the knobs drive me a little crazy with their smoothing algorithm.
You’re not alone in this quest of yours; we saw many similar threads and many similar will come.
If you find the solution it’d be cool if you could share it with us, because imo it could be useful for other people having similar problems, past and future.
If you’re looking for an electronic instruments to get lost in, anything by Soma Laboratory would be a good shout. Talking about ‘feeling’ electricity definitely sounds like the Pulsar-23 and/or Lyra 8 would be well up your your street. Can’t think of more tactile and personal electronic instruments.
