One Polysynth Module. But which?!

The Lounge Other Gear
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Greetings and salutations Elektronauts.

I am considering replacing my Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard, Waldorf Pulse 2 and Arturia Microbrute with one polysynth module! This will go alongside my DT, DN & Eurorack to complete my setup.

I’m not too well informed about what’s out there polysynth wise, so any suggestions would be great.

Requirements

  • at least 6 voice, 8 + is better
  • NO KEYBOARD desktop version only
  • Very hands on interface
  • Highly capable of analogue style monosynth patches
  • Versatile and fast to build patches

Off the top of my head, Novation Peak, Waldorf Kyra, and the new MFB 8 Voice spring to mind. Not sure about the Waldorf though as the price is extremely high…

Thanks!

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The Blofeld sounds better than the Kyra to me :man_shrugging:t2:

I’ve heard good things about the Peak, but haven’t heard due to not being able to afford it

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Can’t go wrong with an OB6 or prophet 6. Go to the store and play with it

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Yeah I love the Blofeld but I’m so tired of the interface.

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I would add the Deepmind 12D and Prophet 08 Desktop to that list

Edit: And also the Nord Rack 2X

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Yes play the Deepmind. It is a sleeper when it comes to low budget poly synths

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Eurorack and polyphony don’t go together unfortunately.

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You could with something like Matriarch but for 6+ voices its more manageable in non-eurorack imo. Well it depends what you want to do but I think for playing things like chords it would take a while to patch something together in modular

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Two Korg Minilogue XD Modules polychained.

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yeah also a great option which stays under the price of many 8 voice VCO’s. Im personally hoping Korg announces a Prologue module.

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Yeah, with the two XDs you can use them as an eight voice and the polychaining system figures out which of the eight voices to use, or quickly switch it around to two four voice synths.

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MIDI control surface solves this well for me.

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vermona perfourmer, 4 voices at the price of 8 or more, no patch memory but a sound to die for …as hands on as it gets
prophet6 otherwise

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Which control surface would you recommend for the Blofeld? It’s a shame it doesn’t have a Midi out

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i use Novation ReMOTE Zero SL. they are discontinued, but occasionally available here and there.
the advantage of Blofeld is that it uses only CCs to sontrol parameters (no NRPNs & SysEx’s), so any controller with knobs will work.

but mainboard has the place for respective socket montage.
i have to replace faulty power switch soon, so will try to solder MIDI Out socket at once and see whether it works.

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I can vouch for Peak’s ability to do analogue mono sounds. It has all the stuff you need, a good 24db resonant filter, 3 osc + noise, loads of wave shapes, easy PWM, mono and unison modes, glide/legato, a lot of drive into the filter, and plenty of bass.

Check that you like the sound of the filter. It’s similar to the Bass Station II, it’s maybe not as sweet as a P6 or OB6 but it has plenty of punch. I really like how a bit of white noise in the signal sounds through it.

Rev2 also worth a look at a similar price point.

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I see. So you map the blofelds parameters using CC on to the Novation. I’m a simpleton when it comes to that sort of thing. Is it easy to set that up? Are those CC values predetermined for certain parameters and just programmed in to the novation’s knobs and buttons?

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Wow, so would simply soldering on a Midi out DIN docket give the unit midi out capabilities? It doesn’t need any firmware changes?

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the list of Blofeld CCs is in the manual appendix, page 113.
you have to map them to Novation’s knobs & sliders, either using Windows application or directly from Novation menu interface.

i strongly suspect so.
the firmware for keyboard Blofeld (which has MIDI Out socket) and desktop Blofeld (which doesn’t) is the same.

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Agreee, the sound of the Blo is amazing, but the lack of extra outs for separating the multi timbral parts, the skippy encoders and the terrible interface where u can only access one section at a time, made me give up of it…

Sounds beautiful though…

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