To accompany a Syntakt

Elektron Gear Syntakt
102

Fair enough. I was just questioning whether “now I have those DT MIDI channels” is a good reason to buy additional synths. I also have too much and often it starts with reasoning like this.

“What’s my ST missing” is a better reason to get something else, but I thought DT already was your answer. S-1 isn’t imo, it’s still a simple mono synth at its core and ST’s analog tracks can get quite close to 101. Something like a Nymphes or DN might be a better poly, but you mentioned you already have some subtractive synths, maybe there’s already a poly in there?

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103

Roland S1 has 4 note polyphony.

104

I know, so does SH 01a, and it clearly feels like a mono synth that wasn’t meant to be used as a poly. If you’re looking for a poly, 101 clones aren’t ideal imo. I’d look at Juno clones then.

105

I’m not sure what that means exactly, but the SH-01a doesn’t have chorus/reverb/delay.

The S1 does, and can make much more Juno-type sounds.

In many ways S1 is better than both Juno and SH101.

Better than the Juno because it has SH101-style mixers for the waveforms, not just on/off switches. The sub has more variations, too.

Better than the SH101 because of polyphony and it has chorus/delay/reverb built-in.

(…and that’s without going into all the extra draw-your-own-waveform functions of the S1, which neither can do)

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106

SH01 just never really works well if I try to do sounds with it that I would play on a poly synth, like pads. I don’t find the envelopes to be well suited for that, for example, since the attack phase has a rather narrow range that’s fantastic for plucky basses and leads, but not for long, evolving pads. It also just sounds too full most of the time because the voices are rather beefy, like you’d expect from a mono synth. So even if I use external effects that the boutique doesn’t have, it’s not to my taste, so I just prefer to only use it as a mono, where it always sounds great no matter what. But that’s just me, cool if S1 works as a poly for you, I misread you and thought you didn’t own one yet and thought about buying it for poly duties.

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107

When i have to answer best poly on fair price question to my students , it’s whiothout an hesitation : Korg Minilogue XD (module i had personnaly) …
Sonically it’s a beeast and super versatyle …with the third osc … and for those complaining about not enougth modulation , you could use your daw or elektron boxe to modulatioon what ever needed !!
Filer drive , 3fx , built in sequencer , 4 lanes per step modution (same CC for the whole lane) ect … even if you give me a take 5 or teo 5 i would hesitate :wink:

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108

Good suggestion!

109

I just timed it.

The longest attack on the S1 is about 3.5 seconds.

The longest attack on a JU-06A is about 4.5 seconds.

Make of that what you will.

The JD-08 is the one to go for if you’re really into long evolving envelopes… :wink:

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110

What about the SH4D , this is imho the best roland offering Price / features/ sound ratio

111

I was curious about why you disagreed too, but your explanation makes sense.

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112

I’m not alone on this one, many people in the SH 01-a thread felt the same. And to be clear, I have that one and a Syntakt and think it makes sense to own both (mainly for the hands on nature and playability of 101). But if the question is which synth to get that adds something that ST can’t bring on its own, any 101 clone wouldn’t be my first answer, especially not if what you want to add is a poly synth.

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113

Yeah!
Then my vote is still Opsix or the Polyend Synth, because that’s what I do!
I like the Minilogue suggestion too.

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115

If people need synths with syntakt , the other question is what do you use syntkat for the most , because in essence , synatkt is like having 11 mono synths at once !!! crazy if ya think about it … 3 of them being analog …

Also , i still think my best production were in my early to itermediate journey of production and i played only melodies ; having zero knoledge of chords (which i still sucks at lol) … so it depends of people in fact …

Personnlay i asked myself the same question , i sold the minilogue and was thinking going digitone 2 straight , but then i remembereed that you have 16 voices shared for all tracks , meaning that if i make two long pads , this can be all … i can play polyphonically at some point , not a deal breakeer , then i said ok , why not a Kyra (Waldorf) , you will have multimpbralitry , enougth voices and soundesign capcities that you kinda missed with the minilogue and everything bewteen … Came the IRdium Core and bingo !!! This thing is a sound designer dream , for real and liteeraly a GAS killer … each time i see a new synth …

I can matches any Analaog synth , but i can go placed they will not dream of …

The digitone 2 strenth is imho it’s composition side , creating a perf , but the irdium sound design capacities are endless and the sequencer is super solid …

It comes with gold baby samples lol , i can layer drum beat also lol (i mapped samples and use the sequencer , samples being on each corresponding picth sequenced in sequencer lol)

It’s a question of budget … hence my suggestion , for me a minilogue XD desktop is so good that i had (after considering everything … from hydrasynth to peak , to seq Rev2 ect …) to go straight to the top (imho) with the irdium to get really a feeling of upgrade .

Like always i’ll suggest people to try …

Now the only thing missing is a great sampler … ITB i have maschine to go that road kinda … , but i need something OTB and solid … Iridium can do wonders also on samples and has a granular engine …but i wanna keep it for main sounds that requires polyphony …

Another consideration that makes me love eletkron as a new user , is tight integration (Access virus style) , and the ability to have full recall ITB is crazy convenient as well as being able to send to those boxes audio (FX track for syntakt which is crazy like having an analog heat kinda) to give ITB or digital synth some grit , or in case of my option aka digitakt , the ability to sample from the session is simply superb !!and what’s making me lean toward it versus MPC …

I do find elektron digi series 8 steps format kinda disturbing being a 16 step user all my life , 8+8 still doesn’t makes it for me …(i started in late 80’s , understand me here lol)

I would also love elektron to make us a controller tightly integrated based on digitone keyboard version , with quality keys and knobs … a small 32 keys or 37 … that would be greeaaaat

116

Aversions:

Maybe it’s just me but I’ve always hated FM sounds, eg. I can’t stand the DX7.

Short, artificial sounds are OK (eg. a “donk”) but any sort of “FM piano”, “FM strings”, “FM bells”, etc. make my skin crawl.

Also on my “nope” list:

  • Anything that needs to be connected to a PC to edit the sounds inside it (Circuit Tracks, Roland TB3). If I constantly need the PC then why not just use a DAW?

  • Anything that requires constant payments to keep them working (Roland cloud, ).

  • Anything that requires constant little payments for “plugins” to satisfy GAS.

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117

The other missing thing from the Syntakt (and I can’t see in the Digitakt manual) is ability to do things like “Stage piano”.

This is where the MC-101 I just sold would fill in the gap, but the MC-101 just doesn’t work in many other areas that it wasn’t worth keeping just for that,

I’m not a piano player, I don’t want to play Rachmaninoff on it, but a one-octave-range piano sound would be nice every now and again.

This is the main reason I was looking at adding a sampler, the Digitakt should be able to fill in that gap when it arrives.

(goes to check tracking info again)

Hey, it’s here! I just need to go collect it from the pickup point…

118

Yeah, this was a serious consideration, too, but I’m skipping it for now.

I’m not an expert on the SH4D. It seems to combine everything “Roland” into a single box - you get an SH101, a Juno, a JD08, the MC101’s sound engine, all in a single box with a decent amount of knobs. Lots of boxes are ticked.

(I haven’t looked into the MIDI implementation yet, it might fall over there… Roland’s bound to have done something to spoil it. :man_shrugging: )

But… I’m looking for something to complement the Syntakt, not to replace it. At what point does the Syntakt’s MIDI sequencer become the limitation? MIDI sequencing on the Syntakt works, but I’m not sure I want it to be my main activity :thinking:. If I buy the SH4D I think I’d be be constantly looking at things like an Oxi One sequencer instead.

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119

I agree with all these takes about using the Syntakt as the base and primary monosynth sound source because, well, 11 plus a fun cymbal track (yes I like the machine…) is insane on its own. I also love to combo it with other synths though and am glad my favorite little toy the S1 is getting love. Its poly is not a gimmick but I think it’s best used in unison or to switch between poly and unison and mono unison voices because it gives a lot of dynamics that way.

The setup I’m working on right now (from end of audio path to beginning) is:
Digitakt: end of chain compression, keyboard routing, sampling
Syntakt: the beefy monosynths and most drums
Digitone 2: chords, complex arps, leads and sound effects
Livetrak monitors into digitone 2

Into livetrak:
Bento: granular, looping, and resampling (taking both end of chain output and output from the other synths upstream
One bento input: ELZ_1 play with a stereo effects chain
Other bento input: microfreak, S1, or minibrute as needs dictate with another stereo effects chain run through the compressor of cydrums so cydrums also available since I like it a lot as a synth but it also does drums that the others don’t get as easily.

It’s a complicated beast of a setup but it’s all going to fit on one rolling metro shelf turned studio cart, most of the routing will remain static and except for the beginning of chain synths just about everything can be aggregated to one usb interface, I will have crazy flexibility for incorporating loops and sampling/resampling as needed, and I can attain basically any sound this way. Been doing various versions of this running whatever I’m working with into the digi trio (aka my very expensive analog heat+fx) already and it’s limited only by me and mostly by setup time at present so once setup is finished it should be very quick to make big sound.

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120

OK, we’re only arguing of the definition of “poly synth” here.

If you define it as “multiple notes with very long evolutions” then the S1/SH101 aren’t ideal. For chords, and notes that don’t cut off when you start new notes, it works well.

The Juno isn’t a lot better though, even though it’s known for that.

I just tested the longest attack on a Syntakt and it’s 30 seconds. :slightly_smiling_face:

PS: Did somebody say “evolving pads”?

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121

OK, I’m now the owner of an as-new Digitakt. :slightly_smiling_face:

All good so far.

(manufacture date: 2022)

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123

Maybe you ask for help in another thread about MPCs? This thread is about something to accompany ST.