Post-Meta_Horizon: FIXED ARCHITECTURE SYNTH GENERAL

[$harkToootth]

'

Everything Korg makes is low key excellent.

What is this colloquialism "low key"? The kids say it and I don't get it cause I'm old now (just bantering here )
Seriously, can we appreciate it's a SMALL self contained unit with a bunch of usable effects that are weird and it's a synth with sequencing? This is like the Evangelion Unit 6 of the monotribe series! Watch out fourth impact!

[crochambeau]

So, several months back I was hunting for a line level sub-mix solution to the synth closet, and I pulled out a Kawai MX-8BR 2u mixer to test and plugged the admittedly ailing Kawai SX-240 into it (because why the fuck not relish in a moment of brand linearity). The result was a terribly anemic sound. I was able to get an okay signal when I grabbed a patch lead and plugged the CZ-101 in, so I figured the SX-240 had finally passed into hard project mode.

I mean, it was pretty deep into project mode to begin with: many function LEDs are locked "on", the display is about 33% garbled hash, the PSU caps get warmer than I would like, and it needs a firmware update - but it sounded good, at least, it did...

I then dropped the project to wire sound into the closet that day because I have a bunch of other shit going on, and because the Kawai mixer was also not delivering a wide enough sound stage, itself sounding "off" or out of sorts. So, wind sucked from sails, so to speak.

Fast forward to today. I need to sort out some additional channels, and expecting the Kawai MX unit to sound like shit, I simply used it as a platform to set up a Simmons SPM 8:2. I'm fully aware that the Simmons mixers (I have two of the fucking things) are noisy & fidgety things, but I'm hoping I can dial in a sweet spot, so I unplug the pair of TRS cables I had plugged into the Kawai mixer outputs and on into my main trunk mixer.

This is where it gets complicated. See, my main mixer is an Autogram AC-8 radio station console. It is essentially eight stereo channels, each with a single volume control and a destination switch, about as dead simple as a mixer gets. I have each channel set up with input transformers, which makes driving a channel directly somewhat challenging for certain pieces of gear, hence my hanging line mixers on the input channels. Anyway,the actual input to the Autogram is via a patchbay that I have wired and connected to the input blocks. Everything on the Autogram side is balanced, since I have it set up with transformer inputs on all channels - BUT, I neglected to remember that while the "A" channel inputs that are wired to XLR are balanced, I opted to use an UNbalanced 1/4" patchbay for the "B" channel inputs (there is a selector for each channel on what source you want to route).

So, long story shorter, the Simmons sounded like shit UNLESS there was only one side active. Mid point panning sounded as if it was suffering from phase cancellation. I checked the other one to determine where the fault was (Simmons or Autogram), and the issue remained.

Then a flash bulb went off, temporarily blinding me, but casting enough doubt on the cables to swap them out. I grab unbalanced cables.

Tons of level. The Simmons works fine, but holy shit, what a noise floor. I plug the Kawai mixer in, it sounds good too...

..and finally, I plug the fucking SX-240 in, and it sounds good as well. That's why I posted. The fixed architecture synth I had thought was another deep project is only a surface project. Probably some latched logic, but playable.

So the synth closet is climbing the to-do list. Not to the top yet, but fewer fun draining obstacles in mind.

I guess the moral of the story is that there are more failure modes than the Boolean WORKS/BORKEN

[D.o.S.]

'

Everything Korg makes is low key excellent.

What is this colloquialism "low key"? The kids say it and I don't get it cause I'm old now (just bantering here )
Seriously, can we appreciate it's a SMALL self contained unit with a bunch of usable effects that are weird and it's a synth with sequencing? This is like the Evangelion Unit 6 of the monotribe series! Watch out fourth impact!

They're glorious.

CBS and I were making music this weekend and we both kind of realised that, without meaning to, we'd accumulated a handful of great Korg gear and were casually interested in/slightly stoked on most of the stuff they've been making.

At the same time, I'd never peg them as a company to watch?

[codetocontra]

'

Everything Korg makes is low key excellent.

What is this colloquialism "low key"? The kids say it and I don't get it cause I'm old now (just bantering here )
Seriously, can we appreciate it's a SMALL self contained unit with a bunch of usable effects that are weird and it's a synth with sequencing? This is like the Evangelion Unit 6 of the monotribe series! Watch out fourth impact!

They're glorious.

CBS and I were making music this weekend and we both kind of realised that, without meaning to, we'd accumulated a handful of great Korg gear and were casually interested in/slightly stoked on most of the stuff they've been making.

At the same time, I'd never peg them as a company to watch?

I think the Volcas are future classics. For what they pack into a small package, run off batteries, low price point. Never had one, but geez, that whole line seems fun.

[mr. sound boy king]

I agree with the Volcas though have only played the Beats and FM.

The Volca Beats, because I am a snob about drum machines, is not a fantastic sounding drum machine. If I were 16 again and needed a drum machine, though, I would buy it and love it forever. (My 20 years ago set-up was a ZOOM 123 + Electribe EA-1).

That said, the FM proved revelatory to me in the realms of FM synthesis. Since I am not an engineer, I do not understand what is going on "under the hood." I do realize, however, that altering the sounds using the provided interface yields excellent results in terms of fucked up shit that rules and slays face. For a minute, I was sequencing it with an old Tenori-On and making fuck ambient sound clash.

I would like to play with the recently released Volca Drum which strikes me as a mini-Machinedrum. Is my perception correct?

Have I name dropped enough synths in this post? Waldorf Blofeld is the best fixed architecture synth. OK, that's enough...

[$harkToootth]

Have I name dropped enough synths in this post? Waldorf Blofeld is the best fixed architecture synth. OK, that's enough...

[$harkToootth]

These clips and the imagery as of late are beyond obscure... I have no idea where his mind is at. This is clearly a self-contained aesthetic system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LzXQt2_7j0

[$harkToootth]

DiPinto with an Arp Omni. This is way too much money (they restored it and this synth has an insane amount of caps). They replaced some chips and added Midi In. https://reverb.com/p/arp-omni?ended_listing=25540433

I love this synth but, as a vintage synth restorer once told me, NEVER BUY A VINTAGE ARP. This one in particular is legendary for what a pain in the cooter maintenance is.

Also... this legend is back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slBlHOEP68c

[$harkToootth]

Since this was originally the noise synth thread...
mroztronium (the guy who made the horn dogs) seems to be putting out a video synth. Super basic looking (from the visuals)... like a gieskes 3trinsrgb+1c.

[01010111]

'

Everything Korg makes is low key excellent.

What is this colloquialism "low key"? The kids say it and I don't get it cause I'm old now (just bantering here )
Seriously, can we appreciate it's a SMALL self contained unit with a bunch of usable effects that are weird and it's a synth with sequencing? This is like the Evangelion Unit 6 of the monotribe series! Watch out fourth impact!

They're glorious.

CBS and I were making music this weekend and we both kind of realised that, without meaning to, we'd accumulated a handful of great Korg gear and were casually interested in/slightly stoked on most of the stuff they've been making.

At the same time, I'd never peg them as a company to watch?

I think the Volcas are future classics. For what they pack into a small package, run off batteries, low price point. Never had one, but geez, that whole line seems fun.

It seems like the volcas have only recently (in the last few years) been taken seriously as synthesizers, but they really are amazing synthesizers. I think Korg’s success with modern synths mostly has to do with Tatsuya Takahashi
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/tat ... h-designer

[coldbrightsunlight]

Interesting read!

I think the volcas are super excellent. They're not perfect but for the price there's no competition, and even considering more expensive stuff I think it's worth having one or two around in the mix.

[$harkToootth]

Interesting read!

I think the volcas are super excellent. They're not perfect but for the price there's no competition, and even considering more expensive stuff I think it's worth having one or two around in the mix.

Co-signed. People scoff at them but they're cheap, not invasive (space wise), and (I think) they sound good! If you feel inclined... the midi out mod makes them a low profile midi controller!

[coldbrightsunlight]

I kinda want an FM as an additional synth but I would need a separate midi splitter box (booooring)

Are there any cool boxes for weird sounds that have midi thru? I'm currently using a Digitakt to control Mother 32 but I sort of want a second thing. I've got the microkorg which is fun and has midi thru but I want to sell it and it's too big - volca would be perfect lol.

[$harkToootth]

@coldbrightsunlight - I really tried to think this through... I can't think of another box that does what the VOLCA FM does... at that price (used) and that size. I'm stumped! You have an ipad too right? The editors for ipad look really hands on and intuitive (I will explore more). I also found what I think is a $10 midi splitter on Amazon? You're UK so it's different but... I think a used volca fm + midi splitter is a pretty good route without setting yourself back a ton of funds.

EDIT: Referring to this. https://www.amazon.com/SinLoon-Splitter ... B01M3RH5GI
I just bought it. I'll let you know how it goes.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah the midi splitter and FM is almost certainly the way to go. Just complicates things a tiny bit lol.

I do not have an iPad. Seems like there's some cool apps but I have a PC and I have hardware and idk if I need something that's sort of, both?