Poly synth suggestions

SB-SIX · 2013-07-08T13:08:38.000Z

Some other suggestions with hands-on controls and quite affordable and awesome sounding:
Analog: polysix (love those ssm filters), mono/poly, juno 106, kawai sx240, akai ax60
Hybrid: DW8000, kawai k3
VA: virus, nord lead, waldorf XTk, waldorf Q

These are my favorites in the 300 - 1000 pricerange. Of course masterpieces as the jupiter 8 and yamaha cs80 would be cool, but they are alot more expensive and i’ve never seen/had one

Daisuk · 2013-07-08T13:48:35.000Z

""nightfade"":

[quote=“Daisuk”]I’m very happy with my Alpha Juno-1. Great warm analog sound, feels good to play, and they go dirt cheap these days. Coupled with a MIDI-controller to control parametres with, it’s excellent value for money. Or just get a Juno-106 or Juno-60. The sound of the Junos are just balsam for your soul.

From reading elektron-users I get the impression that you are quite the Alpha Juno lover In terms of editing does it require real time sysex messages? If so, how responsive are the controls?

Thanks for the suggestion deHaan, the NL3 has always been on my radar and it would certainly cover different ground to the A4.

My basic criteria is 6 or more voices, good control and Midi implementation, and an ability to be warm, lush and abstract.[/quote]

Hehe, yes, indeed! I got it in a trade just a little while back, didn’t really expect anything of it, but I’ve found myself playing and programming the Alpha Juno more than any of my other synths for the past couple of months. It’s just got a great sound, in my opinion, and for that price I think it’s unbeatable as an analog poly synth.

Yeah, it’s real time sysex, as far as I know, but it’s really responsive. I control it with a Novation Sl MK controller, with a template for it I got from Anselmi on the old forum, and it works just beautifully. Bargain gear buy of the year for me, no doubt.

biologik · 2013-07-08T14:02:22.000Z

I could never recommend a Virus enough to anyone. It’s a beaut of a VA synth.

nightfade · 2013-07-09T09:40:51.000Z

Thanks Daisuk, some synths lock hard with realtime sysex editing (that’s why my TX81Z was shown the door).

Nice suggestions SB-SIX and biologik, I appreciate everyone’s input as some of the options I had either not considered or ruled out prematurely.

boboter · 2013-07-09T09:50:33.000Z

Check out the Ambika from Mutable Instruments. It’s insanely versatile, has a great sound and can be set-up with the kind of filters you like best - or a mix of them. Also, there are many people who will build one for you, so no need to solder.

Fuseball · 2013-07-09T09:54:44.000Z

After playing with a Prophet 12 yesterday, I think I would take it over any other poly synth regardless of price. Without doubt the best synth interface I have ever seen, particularly for something so complex, and it sounded stunning.

boboter · 2013-07-09T10:08:49.000Z

""Fuseball"":

After playing with a Prophet 12 yesterday, I think I would take it over any other poly synth regardless of price. Without doubt the best synth interface I have ever seen, particularly for something so complex, and it sounded stunning.

Nice. I’m a big DSI fan, even though they don’t have the best reputation on this board. I was thinking about selling my P08 to fund a P12. But wasn’t sure because of the digital OSCs. I don’t mind digital at all but it’s still a change of route for DSI. Do you have experiences with some of their other synths and can compare the sound?

antonborisov · 2013-07-09T10:48:36.000Z

I think Prophet 12 module will be released soon, hopefully without big sacrifice in knob number and also a bit cheaper.

nedavine · 2013-07-09T13:09:09.000Z

How about something old and simple? I have a Juno 106 and I love it (although i wasnt to keen at first). Its a very basic synth, but its cheap and huge. 6 voice analog for $260, you can’t complain.

The P08 is nice the P12 looks amazing. If money isn’t an option theres always a poly evolver, but I’d go classic and cheap first.

nightfade · 2013-07-09T13:11:36.000Z

If a desktop module gets released I will be all over that!

Whats your impression of the Prophet 08 boboter? Can you make any comparisons with the A4?

Thanks nedavine, seems that love for the Juno is a universal thing.

void · 2013-07-09T14:01:21.000Z

I’ve just been playing with the A4 as polysynth for a couple hours straight, this is quite addictive!

What I did was write a little app which

[ul]
[li]mirrors knob turns on any synth tracks back to all tracks[/li]
[li]handles note channel routing from a connected MIDI keyboard[/li]
[/ul]

I’m not a keyboard player, so I found that 4 voices are plenty for me…

Last time I’ve tried to use the A4 polyphonically, I thought it just didn’t sound very good in this way, but the problem was simply that the sounds from all 4 channels were independent, so that it was a chore to have them match up in a nice poly kit.

But with this app, the A4 feels like a full polyphonic synth, as the voices are unified. And it sounds really nice. If you’re interested I could record a demo (be warned though, i suck at keys).

What doesn’t work well yet is recording polyphonic phrases into patterns, as the A4 only records on the active track (? i think it works this way…)
But keyboard noodling, while tweaking the kit, is super fun.

Until now, the Analog Four to me was mostly this compact Elektron techno box…
but with a full size keyboard (probably helps that it’s old and heavy), it feels like something much bigger and way more epic.

So yeah, 2 A4s would give a pretty impressive poly synth for the money imho…

boboter · 2013-07-09T14:25:04.000Z

""nightfade"":

If a desktop module gets released I will be all over that!

Whats your impression of the Prophet 08 boboter? Can you make any comparisons with the A4?

Thanks nedavine, seems that love for the Juno is a universal thing.

I love the P08. Can’t compare it to the A4 since I never used that.
The P08 has a very 80s sound, kinda cheesy at times. That is what I’m looking for in an analogue poly synth. The sound is very distinct. I love that specific sound but some people here really don’t. So I guess you should try it out first. It’s the one synth that stayed with me over the years.

The Ambika is kinda new - just a few months - and it can come pretty close to the P08 in some areas. That’s why I was thinking about an P12 upgrade. If there would be a desktop version of the P12, I’d probably go for it as I don’t need the keyboard. But I’m in no hurry.

xmit · 2013-07-09T15:12:36.000Z

I recently realized I needed a really compact polysynth. I wasn’t bothered about ‘real’ analogue, or multitimbral operation, or anything particularly fancy - just a great user interface & sound. I got a great deal on something I’d thought might be the right option for me : a s/h creamware Prodyssey ASB. yeah it’s a VA…but bloody hell does it sound good & the interface is great for a menu diving-refusnik like me. it’s a bit of a weird option - a poly-capable recreation of a classic monosynth! But I’m absolutely in love with it !

chad · 2013-07-09T17:27:01.000Z

""void"":

I’ve just been playing with the A4 as polysynth for a couple hours straight, this is quite addictive!

What I did was write a little app which

[ul]
[li]mirrors knob turns on any synth tracks back to all tracks[/li]
[li]handles note channel routing from a connected MIDI keyboard[/li]
[/ul]

I’m not a keyboard player, so I found that 4 voices are plenty for me…

Last time I’ve tried to use the A4 polyphonically, I thought it just didn’t sound very good in this way, but the problem was simply that the sounds from all 4 channels were independent, so that it was a chore to have them match up in a nice poly kit.

Your app sounds nice! I made a little Max/MSP utility to do the same thing, although I didn’t add controls to sync/mirror all tracks.

One idea if you play around with this more, is add a Spread amount. I’ve found I want almost identical settings between the voices, but some variance of filter freq, and envelopes goes a long way. Especially if you trigger the voices in unison.

void · 2013-07-09T21:35:47.000Z

that’s a cool idea!
haven’t even tried unison yet hehe.
definitely also needs options for voice allocation, so that you can have e.g. a bassline playing undisturbed on one track, with the other three being cycled for poly keyboard stuff.

darenager · 2013-07-10T18:12:21.000Z

""xmit"":

I recently realized I needed a really compact polysynth. I wasn’t bothered about ‘real’ analogue, or multitimbral operation, or anything particularly fancy - just a great user interface & sound. I got a great deal on something I’d thought might be the right option for me : a s/h creamware Prodyssey ASB. yeah it’s a VA…but bloody hell does it sound good & the interface is great for a menu diving-refusnik like me. it’s a bit of a weird option - a poly-capable recreation of a classic monosynth! But I’m absolutely in love with it !

Often quite fancied one of those myself!

xmit · 2013-07-10T19:17:48.000Z

^
It’s great Daren. Really much better sounding than I could have hoped for tbh, as although I’d thought about getting one for ages I’d never actually heard / seen one IRL…& the online vids etc were fairly crappy. So it was a bit of a gamble, well apart I knew I’d more than get my money back if I decided to sell.
But yeah - it sounds ace & the interface is a dream - you can’t help but tweak away. The minimax filter is also really nice on it … Dunno what the other ASBs were like ( Prophet5/Minimoog) but this is really quite lovely … I’d always fancied an Odyssey …& this is both less & more than one I suppose … But for something relatively tiny that sounds huge I don’t think I could have done much better. Highly recommended.

natrixgli · 2013-07-10T19:32:21.000Z

I just got a Waldorf Blofeld and for the price it’s pretty amazing. I am working on acquiring an Octatrack to sequence it, but for the time being just playing it live is a blast. It’s capable of a lot of different kind of sounds, and the interface is pretty good for a grid with only 6 knobs. (not counting volume and the data knob.) Novamusik has several for $499 right now.

tIB · 2013-07-10T21:21:40.000Z

I made the mistake of looking at the prophet 12 today- looks very nice indeed.

Fuseball · 2013-07-10T23:07:01.000Z

""boboter"":

Nice. I’m a big DSI fan, even though they don’t have the best reputation on this board. I was thinking about selling my P08 to fund a P12. But wasn’t sure because of the digital OSCs. I don’t mind digital at all but it’s still a change of route for DSI. Do you have experiences with some of their other synths and can compare the sound?

I’m quite a DSI fan too. The oscillators sounded great. I think they have a high resolution and I didn’t hear any aliasing or artifacts. I too have a P08 and although I couldn’t do a side-by-side test, the sawtooth, pulse and triangle oscillators sounded similar enough for me not to worry about them being digital on the P12. You have considerably more waveshaping options on the P12 as well as FM, AM and the character section. I got the feeling that they went digital for that part of the synth because they could get a lot more tonal flexibility without sacrificing quality.

I still think a high quality VCO will sound better than a DCO (which the P08 has) or digital oscillators, but you won’t see those on a polysynth anyway.

I tried recreating some of my own P08 patches on the P12 and they sounded very close. The filters are the same curtis design for the low pass and behave the same way. I also absolutely loved the resonant high pass, which pushes the sound into places way beyond the P08.

It might be harder to get the P12 to behave like the Evolver, which has the VS waves and an unusual parallel filter configuration though.

Like yourself, I’m considering selling my P08 to put towards the P12. My feeling is there’s nothing the P08 can do that the P12 cannot with a bit of programming, and that’s only scratching the surface of what the P12 can do on top of that.