SOMA RoAT (Rumble of Ancient Times)

It makes all sorts of great sounds for sure. And those great sounds come with shitloads of popping and clicking, of which you can hear plenty in the video above. So it’s a mixed bag. I’m inclined to get rid of mine. It’s on craigslist as we speak but I am going to fiddle with it more and see if my mind can be changed.

Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand the challenge.

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It’s a ‘happy accident’ synth. Not necessarily for the dedicated sound designers or people who want total control. Throw it random MIDI sequences, twist some knobs and make sure you record every second. I bet you’ll get wicked results. You might not keep it forever but you won’t forget your time with it.

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ROAT strikes again for me!

had it and an op-1 in a backpack and found an open mic in Bentonville, AR.

…out here for Floatlife Fest 5 (onewheel festival)

i love a little battery-powered noise set up

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What is the best way for routing ROAT through Elektron boxes? For example, to Digitone:

Option 1 - Mono 3.5mm jack out ROAT to DN Input L /mono (and use input R if needed for another mono synth)?

or

Option 2 - Stereo 3.5mm jack out ROAT to DN L and R. Any advantages here over option 1?

Did you be up selling your RoAT or keeping it?

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i know you didn’t ask me but i will never part with mine. it’s too wacky to not have around

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I did sell it. I found it to be kinda shitty. Lots of poppy clicky junk to contend with. I sampled 72 16 bar loops where I’d let the first four bars go as the basic ‘patch’ and then twiddle and diddle for the next 12 bars. I got plenty of good stuff that will get used in future songs but I don’t think I’ll miss having it.

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Ha I just ordered one based on Plum’s feedback, I’ll probably do the same, tweaking and sampling it, then gift it to my brother’s kids to join their Volcas or sell it for $20 off msrp :sunglasses:

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I bet you’ll have no problem finding plenty of interesting sounds.

That was my move.

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:sweat_smile:

well i hope you get some fun out of it!

i love mine but i play noise sets regularly and it’s a gem in that context

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I got one at the Portland Synth and Pedal Expo this weekend.

This thing is so cool, and easier to figure out than I thought it would be. One good skim through the manuals and about a half hour of playing and I got some basic understanding of how to use it.

The use of LEDs in binary to show pages is absolutely brilliant. Maybe it’s because I’m a software developer and I can easily count to eight in binary, but I think it’s not nearly as confusing as I imagined it would be.

It sounds great and is easy to get some really interesting stuff. After the first hour of playing with it I got a great patch that my wife said sounded like the soundtrack from a 50’s movie. Hit the “Chaos” button a couple of times and she said she’d leave the room if I didn’t stop (she hates noise music).

For the kind of stuff I do, it’s going to be priceless, just like the other SOMA stuff I have.

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Looks like Surgeon has been using one in his live set recently.

Have one of these on the way and really excited for noisy, oddball riffs and chaos.
Going to clock from either Malekko Manther (think that will be a great pair for techno!) or Volca Drum for jams and maybe throw a wee analog delay after it.

Those of you enjoying yours: what context are you using and enjoying it in?

Has anyone sourced a case or wee gig bag for their RoAT that they’d recommend? Ta!

I would love to know how he’s been using it since it’s so difficult to get anything good out of it, unfortunately. Surgeon is the master. Maybe he just presses the Chaos button a few times before a gig to get some good sounds out of it :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

The most fun I had with it so far has been just using it as a 4x sine wave oscillator through Korg Monotron Delay, which isn’t that exciting. I also tried to do some techno jams with it. I especially liked the randomize function that slowly changes the parameters.

It sounded good while I was jamming, but listening to it again, I wasn’t convinced. It definitely needs EQ on its output due to the harsh nature unless that’s what you really want.

It maybe lends itself best to being a drone machine. Maybe with a bit of planning it could also be a four-voice techno SFX box. It’s currently sitting in a drawer, but I’ve been meaning to take it out and give it another chance.

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