Members Jeebus Posted September 29, 2004 Members Share Posted September 29, 2004 Best non-current RA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members clusterchord Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 uh-uh, this question goes right into heavy guessing teritory, unless you limit the answers on ones we had direct experience with, no matter how small. otherwise you'll get lot of minimoogs and moog modulars - based on listening to records, hype, "what other people said" etc kinda answers. just a thought. so i'll do both - the top four of what i 'think' are the best, and top four that i played/tried/owned etc 1.Moog Modular, but even better if combined with some 'modern' modules from MOTM and others.. 2.Yamaha CS80 3.Jupiter 8 4.Oberheim Eight-Voice 1.Oberheim OB-Xa 2.Prophet5 Rev2 3.Memorymoog 4.Super Jupiter (CEM) you said non-current, otherwise Andromeda is always present company on lists like this. in addition, here's a similar thread done some time ago on Keyboard Corner: your favorite analog synth , i did change my list a bit since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeebus Posted September 30, 2004 Author Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 Originally posted by Umbra There are very few current real RA's. Most that people think are RA's are really hybrids of some sort with digital LFO's or digital envelopes, etc. Well, the Andromeda certainly fits that definition. I don't know of ANY 100% true RA's, other than some boutique rack and modular stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members clusterchord Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 There are very few current real RA's. Most that people think are RA's are really hybrids of some sort with digital LFO's or digital envelopes, etc. well who cares, as long as the signal path is pure analog. then you have subdivisions like on discrete, chip-based synths, hardware/softweare envs, lfos etc. in my book, that's quite good and practical definition of RA, instead of the purist definition - we're not nuclear physicists, we're all musicians here.. of course, real analog LFOs sound much smoother than digital - i know this from A6 lfo's and env's, but still, when i look at what digital control has brought to Andy's mod matrix and env flexibility, making it a monster semi-modular actually, i find it is an acceptable compromise. i have more reservations about digital control of oscillators - DCOs. One thing is sure; altough still an analog oscillator , the digital control imparts somewhat stale and dry/thin character, lack of organic fluctuation and drift. One exception are DCOs in JX series that, altough partly suffer from these problems, have somehow managed to sustain reasonable ammount of 'liveliness' and 'juice'. result: they sound GREAT and musical, but still different from typical vintage VCO synth (discrete and chip-based). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Jeebus Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 clusterchord, what would you say are the weakest points of the Andromeda? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members U&I Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 Handsdown 1.Tassman 4.0 (modular modelling / hybrid physical/analog modelling modular) - Sounds smooth as butter too. 2.Virsyn Cube - complex but the best implementation of additive I've yet to come across. 3.Neuron VS - softaware neuronal synthesis. Already on order this end and awaiting arrival. 4.NI Kontakt - softsampling at it's best IMHO. Lets just say those 4 on a powerful system will give you some major synthesis options. Also must mention Superwave 8 , GreenOak Crystal , PolyIBlit , Synth 1 and Motion 2.8 because really freeware just doesn't get any better IMHO and these clutch are le' bomb You did say non RA so I'm assuming other synthesis methods are to be explored here ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members U&I Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 OOOPPPPS NON CURRENT I'll learn to read properly next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members clusterchord Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 Originally posted by The Jeebus clusterchord, what would you say are the weakest points of the Andromeda? depends if u look at it strictly as a device emulating sound of vintage late 70s/early 80s synths, or an original (powerul) flavor of analog. If the former is the case and i turn-on the "neat-picking" section of my brain: - it lacks some smoothness and the low-mid fatness of early OBs and moogs. but kills with low end and top end.- LFOs, PWM are grindy. No Roland creamy PWM. - altough fairly fast, i'd like envelopes to be even faster and snappier. -basic sound of open sawtooth wave isn't as smooth , bit raspy and agressive - kepping pre-filt VCO levels low gets you in moog terr, still 'Jupiter' kind of smoothness is unobtainable.. overall A6:- closer to SEM, Moog than to CEM. not as "dry" oscillators. juicier. this paired with fantastic dual filters and powerfull arhitecture lends it "unique" sound.-Moog sound- can make great bass, 24dB is fantastic, but osc, altough modelled after 900 series, not as clean and rich.-envelopes - slower than ultra snappy minimoog, faster than most other-SEM sound - unbelievable filter. behaves quite like state variable filter. Can do OB style fuzzy/overdriving pads. Whistly reso.-SSM sound - can do all P5 sync stuff very good, can be ultra agressive. and can do creamy pads if not exactly the same.. and, finally, some gripes about OS: synchronisation of sequencer/arpeggiator to your midi DAW clock is complicated and quite a hit-n-miss thing. You have to start daw seq several times until A6 cathes up. makes use of arp/seq within daw enviroment quite frustrating. another thing - its analog seq is absolutely fantastic - it drives a single voice and slide its pitch and filter etc - this is way different sound than doing it with polyphonic synth via midi with the same notes. but, i think they should've provided means to record all this movement of three rows, as some kind of midi data. this would allow you to edit it further on a seq, and avoid synchronisation issues. there are workarrounds - i'm still experimenting with mono channel, separate control of triggering envelopes via midi.. - sysex bank loading - i've never encountered a synth more resisiting to this simple operation. sensititive to exact buffer sizes, software. it crashes when you send it a bank - A6 'sees' it as screwed up if config isnt perfect. They screwed up. Luckily 2mb card saves the day.- bugs - PWM is at perfect square at 52% not 50%. tricky to set filter selfosc to track pitch perfectly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric CRAPton Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 The T.O.N.T.O. system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted September 30, 2004 Members Share Posted September 30, 2004 For price, useability, features, sound, and reliability--Roland Jupiter 6 IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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