Synthesizer Gear Porn ;-)

[TheNefariousHED]

I keep forgetting to dl that Valhalla Supermassive verb!! I have so many, but one more never hurts!

I appreciate Tony Kaye more today than I did when I was a youngling.

The Arturia KeyStep intrigues. I lean towards getting a Native Instruments controller due to the NKS support, but ye olde E-MU XBoard 49 still carries the weight for me.

[Rarebird]

I keep forgetting to dl that Valhalla Supermassive verb!! I have so many, but one more never hurts!

I appreciate Tony Kaye more today than I did when I was a youngling.

The Arturia KeyStep intrigues. I lean towards getting a Native Instruments controller due to the NKS support, but ye olde E-MU XBoard 49 still carries the weight for me.

Nice short piece you had on YouTube.
The Keystep has aftertouch, which is always nice.

[hippypants]

Deckard's Dream--you gotta love that as a name for a keyboard. I assume they took the name from Blade Runner? Just a guess on my part.

Thanks for the input, I'm always curious about synth stuff. I too have seen many use a laptop in their performances, and evidently many use and like that.

[battema]

Yep, the Deckard's Dream is a CS-80 replicant, capable of some pretty incredible sounds in and of itself.

[TheNefariousHED]

Nice short piece you had on YouTube.
The Keystep has aftertouch, which is always nice.

Thanks for checking that out. I'm happy with how the board mix sounded, and the manual sync process was simple since there an obvious beat on the track. The next video for YouTube was slightly more difficult due to the lack of a similar beat.

I love aftertouch. The XBoard has it. My olde Kawai K4 has polyphonic aftertouch, which is fun. I've never used it as a controller though. Hmmmm... I assume it sends it?

[Rarebird]

Thanks for checking that out. I'm happy with how the board mix sounded, and the manual sync process was simple since there an obvious beat on the track. The next video for YouTube was slightly more difficult due to the lack of a similar beat.

I love aftertouch. The XBoard has it. My olde Kawai K4 has polyphonic aftertouch, which is fun. I've never used it as a controller though. Hmmmm... I assume it sends it?

The keystep sends aftertouch, but I don't think polyphonic. Funny if I play saxophone on my sampler, pressing the key to hard can give some anoying sound.

[Gizmotron]

Yep, the Deckard's Dream is a CS-80 replicant, capable of some pretty incredible sounds in and of itself.

Oh, John...that is such a delightful understatement!

It is a killer CS-80-like instrument but does many wonderful things as well if I understand correctly.

[hFx]

Keyboards sending polyphonic aftertouch are pretty rare! Hydrasynth is one of the few of newer date. I got the QNexus minikeys which kyes sends both poly AT and individual "wiggle" (like the small keyboard of the GX-1). But for any normal playing the rubber keys are awful.

However, virtually all software synths and a few hardware synths react to poly AT so a good poly AT controller is very useful once you find one. A Deckard would become the real Dream

[battema]

Right now, the only in production keyboard that has poly aftertouch with a traditional keybed is the ASM Hydrasynth (which is an utterly amazing synth BTW).

There are several unconventional instruments that can do poly AT or MPE (which is poly EVERYTHING): Keith McMillan's KBoard Pro, the Roli Seabords, Linnstrument, Continuum, and a few others. The Expressive E Osmose currently in production will be another entry with a more traditional keyboard but poly AT and MPE capabilities.

It's one of those features that isn't really THAT desirable for most players but for the few who start messing with it, it starts to really become indispensable.

IMHO

[markwoll]

Need Drone?

[battema]

^^ Elta makes quality stuff and are really great to work with. They released the Polivoks-M synth that was all over my last album.

I've had various drone/noisemaker synths before but as a whole I'm not usually "creatively aligned" with what they have to offer. It's not that they're bad or limited (far from it), just that as a pianist I sometimes get stuck in the same territory over and over.

I do have a Soma Lyra-8 which IS pretty cool and fun for generating some pretty gnarly textures. Only beef is that it's mono only (in the video below he doesn't say it outright but he's pumping the Lyra through a giant space reverb plug-in).

[Top Cat]

Hi!

Speaking just for myself I'm a bit laptop-phobic when it comes to my live work. MIDI for all it's faults is pretty solid and while I still sometimes have a computer reboot issue, once I've got that DIN cable in the back of my keyboard (and assuming I plugged it in the RIGHT MIDI jack ), it's reliable and unlikely to throw me for a loop in the middle of a show.

I don't know if anyone else has seen this video of John playing keys live with Ephemeral Sun, but it shows what a great live player he is.
The first time I watched this video I was hooked, not only on the band but John's solo material as well.
Enjoy!

[battema]

^^^ Aw shucks

A few quick notes:

• Yeah...a good example. 4 of the 6 controllers are dummy MIDI controllers with the majority of the actual "sound generators" either in the rack or shared (for example, the Fantom is played directly but also has one of the controllers playing a separate channel/sound. I've only ever had 1 moment when something went sideways technically on stage (where it wasn't operator error that is ).
• Good GAWD I have awkward stage facial expressions.
• I don't even care. This gig was one of THE BEST gigs of my entire life. So much positive energy on both sides of the stage. I still get warm fuzzies every time I remember how it all went down

[Rarebird]

Nice stuff, finally a camera-operator focussing on the keyboardplayer.

[battema]

I didn't even ask him to do it

[dropforge]

For s/he who needs just one more piece o' gear!

synth-top40.jpg

[battema]

Apparently Behringer's Arp 2600 clone is close to being shipworthy:

https://www.gearnews.com/behringer-2...be-determined/

I have to admit being a little interested but it will very much depend on the final MSRP.

[Gizmotron]

Apparently Behringer's Arp 2600 clone is close to being shipworthy:

https://www.gearnews.com/behringer-2...be-determined/

I have to admit being a little interested but it will very much depend on the final MSRP.

Looks very interesting. It was my gateway drug into synths.

My old college roomie just pulled his original out and is checking why it is not operating properly. He has a “Little Brother” unit as well.

[battema]

For a few brief moments I was seriously tempted by the Korg Arp 2600 that came in a very limited release earlier this year (not sure if ever actually made it out the door though!). But it was crazy expensive and fairly large. I'm thinking this one will have a slightly smaller form factor and sans a keyboard and built-in flight case (also, given Behringer's propensity for lower-priced clones), hopefully a significantly more reasonable price point.

[smcfee]

For s/he who needs just one more piece o' gear!

synth-top40.jpg

The Moog Sub-5, $399 at Sweetwater...

[dropforge]

The Moog Sub-5, $399 at Sweetwater...

They better throw in the AC adapter.

[smcfee]

They better throw in the AC adapter.

Powered by two wall-warts.

[battema]

Looks very interesting. It was my gateway drug into synths.

My old college roomie just pulled his original out and is checking why it is not operating properly. He has a “Little Brother” unit as well.

Holy god, the Behringer 2600 clone is going to be just $599. That thing is going to sell like wild.

[Rarebird]

Holy god, the Behringer 2600 clone is going to be just $599. That thing is going to sell like wild.

I would prefer an ARP Odessey or a Roland SH5 clone.

[battema]

I think Korg's already got the Odyssey covered...not sure if anything exists for the SH5 though.

As much as I'm intrigued by the B-2600 I'll likely pass. If I'm honest with myself, I already have a pretty solid modular system that I don't use regularly. Cheap as this may be by comparision to the real deal, it's still $600 for something I probably can already replicate, and won't use heavily.