Let's see your KEYS/SYNTHS!

[spacelordmother]

There's a couple software programmers out there that are supposed to help at least with the UI, but yeah -- programming FM is a pain in the ass.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

i kinda like it in that "happy accidents // i have no idea what i'm doing" kinda way. less thinking, more just pressing buttons and moving the data slider around.

got me thinking about lil FM drone / ambient boxes...do anyone make those?

[nevada]

DX7 stock patches are all pretty harmonically rich and unfiltered. I think they pair well with gainy pedals.

[darthbatman]

Here's my newb question for all you synth dudes.
Is it more cost effective nowadays to just get a midi controller and soft synths on like an ipad?
If that is the case, are there realistic ways to get a wide range of decent sounds?
I guess what I'm wanting is a Mini- keyboard with as many different cool sounds possible.
Almost all the mini key synths out there are only 3 octaves. Korg makes one with 61 keys but it's like an "arranger" or something?
I *think* I wanna just grab an ipad and load it up with bad ass 60s organ sounds as well as useful synth toans.

[nevada]

What are you looking to accomplish, sound-wise?

[spacelordmother]

What are you looking to accomplish, sound-wise?

This, and do you just want to have cool sounds, or do you want to learn synthesis?

[D.o.S.]

If you've already got a tablet that looks like a pretty hard option to beat.

[darthbatman]

Hey dudes,
So full disclosure, it's pretty much for my girl to use to learn how to play and jam, and for me to just occasionally fuck with.
Sound-wise I'd ideally want a good piano sound and close approximations of popular electric piano & organ sounds (b3 wurlitzer rhodes vox farfisa etc)
And to boot I'd like personally to get into learning synthesis beyond just cheesy patches.. So I'm thinking soft-synth midi controller there.
I guess what I'd really like is something that has the functionality of Hammond SK1 but in a mini-key package, preferably with more than 3 octaves.
And for half the price I was kind of looking at the roland vr-09. Pretty much perfect, just wish it had tiny keys for my dainty gal

[modernage]

A quick edit of the recording of my last patch.

Only effects applied in Pro Tools were:
- compression on the drum bus and master bus
- a panning effect on the drone bit
- a crappy fuzz wah plugin on the snare (would never use it on guitar, but it makes the snare sound more awesomer)
- parallel processed a slight amount of Sans Amp on the melodic track (panned to the left. can hardly hear it)

Other than that all the sounds were created with the eurorack.

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/unknowncitizen/eurosnax150318[/soundcloud]

[spacelordmother]

Hey dudes,
So full disclosure, it's pretty much for my girl to use to learn how to play and jam, and for me to just occasionally fuck with.
Sound-wise I'd ideally want a good piano sound and close approximations of popular electric piano & organ sounds (b3 wurlitzer rhodes vox farfisa etc)
And to boot I'd like personally to get into learning synthesis beyond just cheesy patches.. So I'm thinking soft-synth midi controller there.
I guess what I'd really like is something that has the functionality of Hammond SK1 but in a mini-key package, preferably with more than 3 octaves.
And for half the price I was kind of looking at the roland vr-09. Pretty much perfect, just wish it had tiny keys for my dainty gal

Minikeys and lots of octaves is tough to find! There is the korg microkey 61, but it has no mappable knobs which are great when you're playing with synths.

:edit: but it does have usb ins so you could add a nanokontrol and/or nanopad, and it comes with Korg Legacy software which actually looks pretty awesome...

I only looked briefly, but the VR-09 seems overkill if you're just looking for a controller. Are you ok with being tied to a computer for your sounds? Maybe look around you used for some older ROMplers that have midi out so you can have sounds to play unthethered when you don't want the hassle of setup?

As for soft instruments -- tons more out there and KVR is your friend!

A few good FREE pianos: http://bigcatinstruments.blogspot.com/2014/03/bigcat-piano-collection.html (Iowa Piano is amazing)
Really amazing FREE subtractive synth that sounds great and is also great for learning: http://www.kvraudio.com/product/synth1-by-ichiro-toda

[darthbatman]

Wow thanks dude I will definitely check these out.

[Forrrest]

at practice

and at home

[D.o.S.]

It's not safe for me to look at. You have a ton of nice gear brah.

[tjlong]

[D.o.S.]

A quick edit of the recording of my last patch.

Only effects applied in Pro Tools were:
- compression on the drum bus and master bus
- a panning effect on the drone bit
- a crappy fuzz wah plugin on the snare (would never use it on guitar, but it makes the snare sound more awesomer)
- parallel processed a slight amount of Sans Amp on the melodic track (panned to the left. can hardly hear it)

Other than that all the sounds were created with the eurorack.

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/unknowncitizen/eurosnax150318[/soundcloud]

That snare sound is killer. Metal squawking ftw.