I love reading posts like these. They give me confidence that I can decide what I really need. That decision is still tough, but it’s nice to know there are other people doing it. I keep debating about whether to slim down to one (well, two probably) machine, but I have been too chicken to actually go through with it. Time is limited, so it makes sense to limit the options to help maintain focus. Do you find that you miss the Heat?
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Do I miss the Heat? Yes. Does that keep me from making beats I’m really happy with? No. The Heat adds some dimension to the sound. If you don’t dial it for each track though, your overall output starts sounding same-y. I use ipad pro for recording, basic mastering and video editing and I’m thinking of investigating further how to live process the DT (if there isn’t too much latency). Also using some synth app for chords.
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Been using my sub phatty primarily but my desk doesn’t easily allow for another synth. I want to do a track with just a single synth. I have a ton of sample’s from my synths to do it from just that. Just got to decide to get on it.
I’ll have to set up my projects for my idea’s like a sketch to come back to on my OT.
Most (all?) of Ronnie Martins LP’s are single synth. I fell in love with the system 100 era tracks, especially :
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Had missed this, (almost) Volca FM only album.
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did not know that about this record, amazing!
Only using MAX is like only using a wall of modular: sure, it’s “single source” in a sense but one capable of everything you’d ever need.
I think a single synth is crying out for a vocal performer over the top.
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That Pitchfork article actually contained pointers to some other good (mostly) single-instrument albums.
EMS Synthi AKS
Moog Model D
Korg Mono-Poly
Korg Poly-800 II
And from the aptly-named One Instrument Records
Yamaha TG33
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I think i’ve just discovered my favourite artist of the last few years. Thankyou for sharing this.
Alessandro Cortini
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Thanks for the links! For some reason I’m really passionate about this kind of strict approaches to creative tasks
Fully agree.
Trent Reznor’s best half in my opinion.
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Funny to read this thread. Nobody would debate about making music with only a guitar or a piano. Synths have a much wider range of possibilities in sound design and we think about how to make music with only one of them.
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His aesthetic is amazing. I recommend checking out some of his BlindOldFreak videos on YouTube, as well as his studio tour with Nick Batt.
I link this all the time, but honestly it deserves more 
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Another one,
FB-01 (two of them)
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Nice discoveries in this thread 
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Very inspiring topic. The lowest I got for longer was Rebirth with 3 types of devices but they somehow do feel like a single tool compared to a battery of virtual synths I pro/regressed to.
was some of the more inspiring times, and I realise the best parts of that experience is what I keep pursuing, currently on two analogs - as opposed to dozens of VST(i)s on ableton and constant ‘research’.
As much as I like the elektronauts forum, I am finding that spending too much time “reading what I have not read yet” spawns urges to compare and assess what’s needed next. The problem is, clearly, in just reading less and doing “more disko”, which I did in this case years ago:
https://mega.nz/file/rYMDGRwL#WNRQKwdWUqAN4fxCOi9L1zAOmZBg7lmTMFHcVF-TXoo
I still miss the environment enabling so much ‘pemissive’ improvisation in a single go. By permissive I mean that in Rebirth, it was so easy to create tunes without getting stuck with loops, and tweaking sound in a counscious way.
As I think of it, this element of a totally unrestrained experimentation with record being on has been the most rewarding, something in the spirit of bitches brew album, which is my fav of Miles’.
The below case is right to the topic because it is a single instance of zebra2 synth and nothing else in a single go, with a modded korg padkontrol, and a mouse.
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I came across this amazing YouTube channel tonight, with all-Rebirth classic tunes:
And another
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not sure if this album is done with the intellijel module, but i’d like to think it is
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I rediscovered this Aelita soviet synthesizer tracks - YouTube
Can download from BC. Some off the tones he gets out of the Aelita are pretty stunning. I like tracks 3 and 5 best, deep and dreamy! I’m no vintage synth buff or expert, but to my ear this thing really has its own sound signature and character, rather than an imitation Moog, though the filter is a 24db ladder filter.