Members cada7 Posted October 26, 2007 Members Share Posted October 26, 2007 I'm coming out of the 80's getting back into performing and finding a lot of the music the group wants to do of the guitar variety have these textured arpeggiated analog landscapes running through them - You know what I mean I think. Sure I can program them step-wise for recording, but I need something for performance, and I was thinking the Alesis Ion might be the ticket but it doesn't sound like the arpeggiator is robust and varied enough. Need something relatively cheap - don't care if it has the black and whites with it or is a box - was looking at an Oberheim standalone arpeggiator, etc. to drive my existing synths which in theory would work I *think*??? The textures tend to be of the warmish / etherial mmogish S&H variety in the stuff we are are doing. Also might consider Korg DW-8000 or something. By cheap I mean @ $500 dollars, by easy means I've got to be able to get ideas down fast, recall and sync them quick for live peformance - is there something really available in a performance oriented arena? Do you sync the drummer to a click track or what? Multitimbrality would be nice, too. New or Used, Just reliable. Was wondering about some the Roland SH-505?, etc. Which I kind of like, but wondering if it is easy to use for performance. The Micro-Korgs I don't quite get how to get around, but they might work??? Really kind of frustrating for kind of a straight-ahead player. I'm no syntho-DJ. This is just texture landscaping to make the guitars shimmer in more glory. Any real-world life story solutions out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Umbra Posted October 26, 2007 Members Share Posted October 26, 2007 Roland SH-32. You can get one for almost nothing, below $200, off of ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kittie Rose Posted October 26, 2007 Members Share Posted October 26, 2007 Man, I wouldn't mind one of those too if they weren't so damn heavy. Older synths do make a lot of modern synths and especially MIDI Controllers seem overpriced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cloacal-X Posted October 26, 2007 Members Share Posted October 26, 2007 I think you might be thinking of something else. The SH-32 is fairly diminutive in stature (and only 4.4 Lbs), and not very old either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cada7 Posted October 27, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 27, 2007 This is WHY I LOVE This forum. Thanks for weighing in.I think the SH-32 is exactly the ticket. And I confirmed it has portamento, too. Perhaps it even has some real-time control for the rest of my rig too! But if not no problem I had a chance to pick up one of these actually, when picking up some accessories from a guy who actually used one of these and a more big-daddy newer Roland groove-box to make a couple techno tracks for ESPN to the tune of $4,000. At the time I didn't think I needed it 'cause I was going more soft-synth PC based. Thanks again folks - Now I just need to go shopping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scientist Posted October 27, 2007 Members Share Posted October 27, 2007 i can weigh in on a couple. just got an ion, and while i love almost everything about it...sounds great, the interface (both physical and screen) is one of the best i've seen, two mod wheels with easy assignability...the arp options are completely bizarre. they seem to be geared towards rhythmic sounds rather than melodic, and just seem overall unuseful. don't know, but maybe they've been improved on the micron? i've got a jp8080 as well, and while i don't think it sounds nearly as good (its got a distinct digital grit to it) the arp is way more useable. it covers the basics plus the more rhythmic patterns are much more musical than almost any of the patterns on the ion. the physical interface is the best (i prefer faders to knobs). the software/screen interface is a step down but useable. your typical 'shift-edit-button4-scroll scroll scroll' type of deal. all your patches are accessed via numbered buttons, so no menu scrolling necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shaft9000 Posted October 30, 2007 Members Share Posted October 30, 2007 novation nova or k-station: MIDI-syncable in many ways, nice live playability, got 3 oscillators, brilliant arps & very nice fx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Umbra Posted October 30, 2007 Members Share Posted October 30, 2007 novation nova or k-station: MIDI-syncable in many ways, nice live playability, got 3 oscillators, brilliant arps & very nice fxYou think the k-station has brilliant arps? I think it has very limited arps. I still love that synth engine though, just sounds so good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Superace25 Posted October 30, 2007 Members Share Posted October 30, 2007 You think the k-station has brilliant arps? I think it has very limited arps. I still love that synth engine though, just sounds so good. It's really too bad they took out so much moving to the X-station. So what's up with the SH-32 anyway? I just saw this using it as a drum machine. Roland's SH-32 infopage lists the drum functions as secondary. So what gives? Was it supposed to compete with the Korg Electribe and Yamaha AN-200? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted October 30, 2007 Members Share Posted October 30, 2007 So what's up with the SH-32 anyway? I just saw this video using it as a drum machine. Roland's SH-32 infopage lists the drum functions as secondary. So what gives? Was it supposed to compete with the Korg Electribe and Yamaha AN-200? The SH-32 is neither fish or fowl. It's not a groovebox at all (no sequencer, just a very programmable arpeggiator). It's also not really a VA, they achieved the 32 voice polyphony by using wavetables for the oscillators. That's one reason why when you do hard sync, the polyphony drops to one note and the filter is disabled Anyway, it didn't make a dent with the DJ/dance types who buy grooveboxes and didn't thrill VA fans who disliked the aliasing, zippering, etc. It only took off in the market when Roland discontinued it and the price went from nearly $500 to about $150 overnight. At that price people are a lot less critical of an instrument Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OPEN OCEAN Posted November 1, 2007 Members Share Posted November 1, 2007 i think sh is pretty good for what it does... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mytee2.0 Posted November 1, 2007 Members Share Posted November 1, 2007 sh32 is a cool little under-rated box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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