Any thoughts on this device? One popped up locally for $900 and I happen to have some money to spare, (and almost time for a birthday gift to myself)…worth it?
I have one. Good god they are difficult to learn, but the sound is beyond awesome. That’s an ok price and I’d buy it for that but I’d also try and talk them down 50 or 100.
Yes they are hard to learn but partly because of the manual, well it’s really more a guide. But once you work it out it really isn’t that difficult.
The synth is really nice with lots of feedback options between filters and 4osc’s.
Definately buy this if you have time. There’s plenty of help on the old forum, if it’s still there?
Oh and I have the RT Accelerator va synth. It’s also hard to understand but not as bad as specy. It sounds really nice imo. Never see them come up.
What features on the Specy attract you most? There maybe alternatives. I was very interested in the Specy at one point and read quite a lot on the forum - a lot of frustrated users, but also some very dedicated users.
I just looked up the Spectralis to see what it is – it has a great sound, really snappy and punchy, kinda hard and tight. A cool machine!
I’m going to pick it up next week for $850… Should be easy to sell for the same price if I don’t get along with it
Yeah I’ve been perusing the manual and I’ve definitely been picking that up. Reminds me a bit of Waldorf’s documentation (I’m a manual nerd) except it gets pretty vague in certain parts… maybe it’s a German thing…
It is a nice sounding machine though. I think what interests me the most is the fact that it’s a “groovebox” but still a tweakable and in depth device. I like things that are challenging to learn and have lots of complexities. I don’t mind menu diving it can be pretty fun to me to find new features that way. I’ve always wanted an A4 for this reason but I don’t want to but all my eggs in the elektron basket (as much as I love the sequencer, having Rytm and Octatrack as my main setup, I want, but don’t want an A4 if that makes sense). So this seems like a pretty cool alternative.
Does anyone know more about the drum machine capabilities? It talks about a drum grid, drum grooves, selecting drum sounds etc. Does this work off the 32 voice DSP synth? Or is there a separate sample playback architecture for drums?
It’s a pretty cool machine but definitely has its quirks. I can definitely tell it’s by a boutique manufacturer, the software is a bit rough around the edges. It’s fun and interesting, I love trying new gear so I don’t regret, but I think I’m going to pass it on to grab something else…
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Check Midera on youtube
He has the best spekky vids online and is a great musician
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Speccy takes a while to get used to…
the most confusing part is the ‘analog engine’, just because it has SO many pages in the menu, with little sub-menus off of them (mainly for modulation) - but after a while you get used to them, and how you can often short cut some of them.
the audio routing is a bit wierd at first, but only in the same way as a modular (ie. you don’t get sound because you forgot to open up a vca)
then finally the fact there are two different types of sequencing , which are kind of xox and modulation lanes… then other modes
it does have its quirks, and the SEQ lines are fantastic, but you wish they had more destinations.
(modulating the filterbank is awesome fun - probably my fav thing to do on the Spectralis)
I think this things combined, make it feel hard to learn - as they seem a bit disjointed…
but after a while you do get used to it - you just need to persevere.
Its also a weighty/heavy beast by todays standards 
just to reflect on this. (for future readers)
you have
- 11 ‘percussion tracks’ (mono)
- 1 analog synth track (aka asynth)
- 3 sampler tracks (aka synth) (polyphonic… can’t remember polyphony :))
then the fixed filter bank.
you can also have midi outputs (hmm, forgotten if these are on the above tracks… I think so iirc…)
overall, its powerful … you can easily make full tracks on it. and its not quite as intimidating as it first seems.
yes, it has some odd limitations and the odd bug… but, Id say not much different to (e.g. ) the octatrack - some of the user complaints are as much about expectation (features that never go delivered, and are tantalising in the UI) .
I don’t think Ive ever had it crash, or do something odd… rather id wish I could do X or Y, or something not working as I expected it too.
indeed Midera provide excellent tutorials and musical examples of the Spectralis.
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At the time I had Spektralis (mk1 and later mk2 as well) I stumbled up on the coolest architecture image of any device but it was low resolution. So I reached the author via his e-mail and asked for higher res version and he kindly shared it with me. I hope he doesn’t mind that I’ll pass it further to community. All credits go to Cary Paulson.
From what I remember Specki had really nice full sound and it left me longing for some of the Radikal Technologies instruments/modules.
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I ve had one many years ago. Looked great on paper but sold it off pretty quickly as i didn t gel with it. Felt like operating a machine, not an instrument. Perhaps i d make better use of it now that i m much more experienced at the synth game.
I had both versions for some years. It really is an amazing machine. I prefer the mk1 desgn but the memory and the “snapshots” on mk2 really make a difference. Don’t make the mistake and use the drum tracks only for drum purposes. The real fun starts when you put some sequencer lines on top of the xox grid. The sequencer is so great. Really a shame that it was so hard to get it work with external gear.
You really have to spend some time (at least as much as with OT).
I had best results when focusing only on the specki. Complete tracks or meditation madness.
Congratulations on your purchase
Mine has just got a new lease of life in more ways than one ….
A couple of encoders had started to skip, so I contacted Jorg, and he kindly sent me some replacements - which I fitted today.
Took the opportunity to give a good clean, inside and out.
Joyous to see her in tip top condition once again.
Finally paired Spectralis with the new Hapax, it’s a really great combo.
Hapax Drum tracks fit perfectly, since we can assign channels.
The Digital synths work great since we have a good poly/chord mode.
The analog synth, well that’s just always great !
So far, I generally have been using the hapax for note sequencing, and then using the Spectralis sequencer for more modulation type duties.
Which seems to work nicely , and not confusing me too much 
It’s really nice to get Speccie back into the main gang.
I’ve always loved the sound, but having to remember the quirks of the sequencer, sometimes put me off using it.
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I’m about to get one and a little nervous about the learning curve and difficulty. I’m a really casual hobbyist. I love grooveboxes and have tried as many as possible. I’ve never tried one of these.
I’m not into recording or making really deep tracks, I just like to mess around on a fairly shallow level. I hope this is good for that and not too cumbersome!
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it’s a deep box for sure
I personally don’t think its that complicated - though it definitely has its quirks.
make sure you check out Midera’s YouTube channel , there you will find lots of good tutorials, and also some nice tips n’ tricks.
the manual is also pretty good, though perhaps not an ‘easy read’… the kind of manual that you quickly read once to get the idea of how to make it tick, then come back to later get the finer details.
finally, you might initially feels like there is a lot of menus (pages of them in the case of ASYN), but later you’ll find that the (many) buttons often select certain pages.
… so although you can page thru all the settings page by page, you can also get to the important pages quickly via a direct button.
this can all take a bit of getting used to, and initially feels just like thousands of menu pages, but once you get to know/recognise them - you’ll see the logic in it all!
I guess the thing is, like many similarly deep instruments, they expect a certain investment of time, to be the centre/important part of your music making, used regularly… explored.
they are instruments and need to be learnt, and will reward that dedication.
even now, I find if I don’t use it for a few months, I’ll get ‘confused’ by something in the first 10-15 minutes, until I get back into it - then again, I sometimes have a similar experience with the octatrack.
of course, when you use it regularly, this is not an issue, you get used to its quirks, and how it works… where its strengths and weaknesses are.
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Thank you for this awesome response!! Much appreciated:)
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Got mine in the other day from @Scot_Solida (great person to do trades with). It certainly is a learning curve, took 4 hours last night and then probably 5 hours this morning to get what I would consider the basics down some stuff is really difficult to track down in the manual due to it being kind of half way between a manual and a tutorial. Now that I am over the initial hump it is really fun.
It is an absolute treat to jam around on once you have your pattern going though, and the unison8 detuned on a chord stab sample I loaded in sounds absolutely massive and then playing with that through the filter bank 
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It’s definitely counter the (old - I haven’t used the newer machines) elektron approach to interfaces. It’s somewhat obtuse when you compare it to that but is ultimately perfectly useable once you figure out the workflow. I’d even say it becomes intuitive, though my past experience with the quasimidi stuff probably helps there.
Anyway, enjoy - as you’ve already found out it’s a wonderful sounding thing, with some pretty unique tricks!
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