Serious Topic here, which I’m sure has been discussed or is on everyone’s minds.
In an age of endless possibilities it’s difficult not to want to dip your toes in everything and thus ending up with way too much gear. But do they all kinda sound the same or generally do the same thing?
Sure you can do a lot in DAW as well, but as a standalone physical synth, something you can take a step away from the screen but still find that it covers all the ground needed.
I wonder, is there a synth out there that can pretty much make any of the sounds all the other synths can make, is there ONE synth no matter the cost that could be your one and only for both physical inspiration and to record any of the sounds all those other synths can create?
This is not meant to be a live performance tool (I know thats a different subject), just a way to get rid of everything at home/studio not being used and just have the ONE.
I keep looking at MOOG ONE or SUPER UDO 6 (even gemini).
For most versatile, I imagine a workstation would be the way, something like a Roland Phantom of sorts.
Another option would be the King Korg, or maybe the new King Korg Neo, those are made to cover a lot of ground.
A groove box like the 707 also covers a lot of ground. And the new Jupiters and Junos, and other Roland synths. They all run the zen core of varying degree’s and seem to have a variety of sounds in them.
Personally, I think the envelopes on some synths are sometimes not snappy enough for drums, and you don’t get all the functionality in one unit, not that I’ve found it yet. However, there are extra oscillators, digital controls, built-in FX, sequencers and even a choice of filter designs in single units that are dream come true I’ll keep looking.
I’m sorry to do that thing where I give an answer that isn’t to the question you asked but I generally am never satisfied with ‘do everything’ anything (synth / sampler / plugin etc). I’d rather have a thing that does what it does VERY VERY good, rather than trying to do everything sorta good.
Arturia’s Pigments was sort of like that for me - it’s excellent, great UI, beautiful sounds, many options…but just left me cold and uninspired. Madrona Labs Aalto though - man, I freaking love that synth because it does the West Coast thing so well.
Anyway, good luck with your search - there are many capable synths out there (UVI Falcon, Halion, Omnisphere all come to mind though I’ve not tried any of these myself).
The closest thing for me would be a Maschine+ with Komplete Kontrol 88 MK2 and a Maschine Jam connected over USB (the integration between all these is superb, so seamless).
And the Maschine+ itself would be connected via USB to an iMac specifically for editing the synth patches (FM8, Reaktor, Kontakt, Massive, etc) then tossing them back into Maschine+ prior to the composition process proper–because editing synth params on Maschine hardware still kind of sucks
In HW: Waldorf Quantum /Iridium - it can sample all you other synth, then you dont need anything else. Ok a sampler so you have more tracks available.
In VST world - well Omnisphere does nearly everything - but mostly i use Vital, as its a capable FM synth with Wavetable support. It comes down to how many different sound sources /Oscillators you have available. Omnisphere has nearly endless Envelopes , that scales up - its really the top pad machine. (Omnisphere has Kalimbas, Guitars, Violin, Human Voices, FX etc.)
I could make just about ANY synth work as my only synth. However, the Syntakt is quite nice on its own. Most of my finished music from the last year has been Syntakt only more or less.
Digitone would also work here (especially the keys).
I’m with @Prof_lofi: I gave up searching for the most polyvalent instrument ever a long time ago for the same reason they said: I prefer 2-3 instruments that do what they do very good, even if it means having less possibilities all in all. The interface immediacy is a corner stone to my enjoyment.
And secondly, precisely because of that -and that’s very personal: more possibilities paralyze my creation. I prefer less, it allows me to stay focus. I prefer containts, they allow me to try to break them. Plus it brings some personal character to your sound.
But if I had to keep the most versatile one I know, I’d vote for the same candidate as @chapelierfou: Nord G2.
EDIT: At some point, I only had a G2 and a Kurzweil K2661. Very powerful set-up, but I ended being tired of programming rather than just playing. Replaced the K with a… Nord Electro.
