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Keyboard / Synth Thread


limeloaf
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I haven't been in the market for MIDI pedals in a long time. From a quick search, in addition to the McMillen, there are more traditional Taurus-like pedal controllers made by Crumar and Studiologic. They're not super inexpensive, though to put current prices in perspective, I remember paying $400 in 1989 for a set of used Fast Foward Designs MIDI Step pedals (which is more like $800 in today's money - which, in hindsight, sounds a bit much for what they were, really).

 

As far as keyboards go, it really depends on the max budget and what kinds of sounds you're looking for - just synth sounds, just traditional sounds like pianos and organs, or a combination of the two? For the latter two situations, if you want a self-contained, all-in-one unit, I'll assume for now the budget is under $1G and suggest you could probably do a lot worse than to get something like a Roland Juno DS. In the lower price tiers, anything that offers a wide range of sounds is apt to be a jack of all trades and not necessarily a master of any of them (bear in mind any synth sounds on offer in a sample-based synth like a Juno DS would be derived from samples run through digital filter emulations, so it's not going to be just like working with a real analog synth, for example). But something like that would be good enough to get your feet wet and perfectly usable to cover a variety of sounds for gigging.

 

If it's just synth sounds you want, there's a lot of narrowing down to do in terms of what kinds of synth sounds.

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Looks like this thread has been silent a while, eh?

 

In an attempt to wake it up for a minute, for those who don't follow the synth world very closely, there's been a fair bit of action regarding remakes of classic synths in recent times. One of the cooler ones, IMO, is the Behringer Poly D that is supposed to be available in early 2020. They basically took their Model D module that's been out for a couple of years now and blew it up into a full-sized keyboard with several extra features not found on the original Minimoog or the Moog reissue. I'd be tempted to snag one if I didn't already have the module. For most practical purposes, it's more or less a Minimoog+ at less than 1/5th what it now costs to get hold of the original or a reissue.

 

(Sorry for not embedding, but I can't get that to work right now - wondering if perhaps some posting privileges are limited until one reaches a minimum post count, which I know is standard on many forums.)

 

http://www.youtube....h?v=_lx-9mLB1V0

 

Anyone else using any of the new Behringer synths? I've been getting good results from the D, Neutron and Odyssey. Looking forward to the eventual release of the UB-Xa (their Oberheim OB-Xa remake), though there's no timetable on when that will be completed right now.

 

Yes I have a Behringer Deepmind 12 and can recreate alot of the older Rush synth tones pretty convincingly. We are adding The Spirit of Radio to the setlist in my classic rock cover and, and I recreated the sequenced part. Came out great. I followed a short youtube video I found of Geddy programming the sound onstage at soundcheck during the PW's tour for the sound more than the album. I also created several others on the Deepmind...Subdivisions brass (which came out great too), Losing It sequence, The Trees lead and bass, Tom Sawyer growl and solo, Camera Eye sample and hold and a couple more. The Deepmind can do that stuff very well with some work. And Im a bass player more than a keyboardist.

 

Live I use my macbook pro, Keith McMillen 12 step midi pedals and Apple Mainstage for the sounds. Ive been playing off and on with some guys who want to start a Rush tribute and for that I use all software sounds. Either built in sounds that I tweak in Mainstage, or something like OPX for the Oberheim stuff.

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The Deepmind is a pretty cool synth from what I've heard of it, especially the third-party patch banks from Analog Audio and Geosynths on youtube that show it off much better than earlier demos did. With the programming depth and extensive effects, in some ways it almost puts me in mind of an analog version of a pre-TI Access Virus. For a flexible analog poly that can cover a broad range of sounds, it's undoubtedly the biggest bang-for-buck out there. Glad to hear you're getting on so well with yours!

 

If I was playing live, I might go the laptop route as well. Although I use some hardware synths for recording, the majority of my sounds come from software. Really hard to beat the sonic range you can cover at a reasonable cost with softsynths and sample libraries. Anytime I want the classic Moog Taurus droning bass sound, for example, it's a few clicks away in a Kontakt library I bought a decade ago for $20. (Most synths aren't as readily replaced by sample libraries, of course, but since I knew 90% of what I'd likely use Taurus pedals for would be that one bass sound, the sample library made more sense in that case.)

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For those who aren't aware but might be interested, the software emulation of the Oberheim OB-Xa from Synapse Audio that had been mentioned as in development on message boards for the past year was finally released earlier this month. Geddy picked up his OB-Xa for Signals and it probably saw some use on Grace Under Pressure as well (maybe a bit on Power Windows, but I really don't know for sure). And of course the Xa was all over other mid-'80s records from Prince, Simple Minds, Gary Numan, The Police, etc. This is a reasonably inexpensive and hassle-free way to get an at least decent recreation of that sound...I know I definitely won't be spending the $8K+ it now takes to lay hands on the original, not to mention the upkeep on something so old and temperamental. (The last '80s VCO poly synth I bought a decade ago developed multiple problems within a fairly short period of time...owning those old relics definitely isn't all just happy nostalgia.)

 

https://www.synapse-audio.com/

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Yes I have a Behringer Deepmind 12 and can recreate alot of the older Rush synth tones pretty convincingly. We are adding The Spirit of Radio to the setlist in my classic rock cover and, and I recreated the sequenced part. Came out great. I followed a short youtube video I found of Geddy programming the sound onstage at soundcheck during the PW's tour for the sound more than the album. I also created several others on the Deepmind...Subdivisions brass (which came out great too), Losing It sequence, The Trees lead and bass, Tom Sawyer growl and solo, Camera Eye sample and hold and a couple more. The Deepmind can do that stuff very well with some work. And Im a bass player more than a keyboardist.

 

Live I use my macbook pro, Keith McMillen 12 step midi pedals and Apple Mainstage for the sounds. Ive been playing off and on with some guys who want to start a Rush tribute and for that I use all software sounds. Either built in sounds that I tweak in Mainstage, or something like OPX for the Oberheim stuff.

 

Have you seen Behringer's publicly-shared PPG Wave remake prototype (the BBG Wave)? I think I might be more interested in this than the UB-Xa. Assuming they get it right, of course, but having Hermann Seib consulting on the project (who probably knows almost as much about how the original PPG Waves work as their creator does) gives some cause for optimism. Who knows when this will hit the market, of course - maybe sometime in 2021?

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/naHkmlY.jpg

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For those who aren't aware but might be interested, the software emulation of the Oberheim OB-Xa from Synapse Audio that had been mentioned as in development on message boards for the past year was finally released earlier this month. Geddy picked up his OB-Xa for Signals and it probably saw some use on Grace Under Pressure as well (maybe a bit on Power Windows, but I really don't know for sure). And of course the Xa was all over other mid-'80s records from Prince, Simple Minds, Gary Numan, The Police, etc. This is a reasonably inexpensive and hassle-free way to get an at least decent recreation of that sound...I know I definitely won't be spending the $8K+ it now takes to lay hands on the original, not to mention the upkeep on something so old and temperamental. (The last '80s VCO poly synth I bought a decade ago developed multiple problems within a fairly short period of time...owning those old relics definitely isn't all just happy nostalgia.)

 

https://www.synapse-audio.com/

 

Oh wow thanks for mentioning it. I've read about it before release and wanted to try, but I forgot about it. Now, I definitely try it.

Edited by stillc
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I think it turned out well - very good softsynth with a distinct Obie flavor and more up-to-date analog modeling than previous OB-inspired synths. And it can do a genuinely good version of a "Tom Sawyer" filter sweep, which has been a strangely elusive thing for most other software synths.

 

Btw, the Behringer hardware remake is a big step closer to production now. A bunch of beta units have been sent out to people who own original OB-Xa's and are able to test/compare remake vs. original. Several pics are making the rounds, like this one with the remake atop the original. The imposing size and spread-out controls of the original are rather nice, but going with a more compact form factor probably makes more sense for those of us who don't have huge recording spaces.

 

Rvf5Rqe.jpg

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Behringer posted that beta testing on the UB-Xa (Oberheim OB-Xa remake) is done. Brief new demo vids are out...

 

 

And the firmware for the Wave (the PPG Wave remake) is almost done, beta testing to follow. They posted a new prototype photo. They really cut down the size on this vs. the original PPG, reducing case depth and going from 5 octaves down to 4.

 

OjJwbPY.jpg

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I had posted about what looks like a forthcoming new Oberheim OB-X (or OB-X-inspired synth), but I think the post was lost when there was a glitch with the board. Another short teaser has come out in the interim. Looks like it may be another project done in tandem with Sequential (like the OB-6 from a few years ago). No word on any specifics or expected release schedule.

 

 

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On 5/3/2022 at 3:43 PM, Vectorman said:

I had posted about what looks like a forthcoming new Oberheim OB-X (or OB-X-inspired synth), but I think the post was lost when there was a glitch with the board. Another short teaser has come out in the interim. Looks like it may be another project done in tandem with Sequential (like the OB-6 from a few years ago). No word on any specifics or expected release schedule.

 

Yes indeed - manufactured by Sequential in partnership with Tom Oberheim. Combines the three classic models - OB-X, OB-Xa, and OB-8 into one 8-voice analog synth and allows the user to switch between the different modes with the turn of a knob while calling up all of the original factory presets. Already available for pre-order online with a retail price of $5,000.

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On 6/2/2022 at 10:40 AM, Vectorman said:

And now that cool and surprising announcement is followed by completely unexpected sad news.

 

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2022/06/01/sequential-founder-father-of-midi-dave-smith-has-died/

 

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I now own my first real keyboard!

 

It’s a Roland Juno-DS88. I’ve been playing it for a few hours already and I love it! Currently trying to learn the intro to Watcher Of The Skies because I found a mellotron patch that sounds great to my ears.

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2 hours ago, Lurkst said:

Yours for 25 bucks....

 

 

(if you're the lucky one in ten thousand).

 

 

 

Is that Geddy’s actual Mini Moog?

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On 2/11/2023 at 2:08 PM, Entre_Perpetuo said:

Is that Geddy’s actual Mini Moog?

I don't believe so...from the description, it sounds like it's a different specimen from 1974 that's been restored.

 

Moog themselves have of course recently reissued the Minimoog Model D for the second time, so you can get a brand-new one with MIDI for a mere $5K.

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On 6/29/2020 at 4:27 PM, Vectorman said:

For those who aren't aware but might be interested, the software emulation of the Oberheim OB-Xa from Synapse Audio that had been mentioned as in development on message boards for the past year was finally released earlier this month. Geddy picked up his OB-Xa for Signals and it probably saw some use on Grace Under Pressure as well (maybe a bit on Power Windows, but I really don't know for sure). And of course the Xa was all over other mid-'80s records from Prince, Simple Minds, Gary Numan, The Police, etc. This is a reasonably inexpensive and hassle-free way to get an at least decent recreation of that sound...I know I definitely won't be spending the $8K+ it now takes to lay hands on the original, not to mention the upkeep on something so old and temperamental. (The last '80s VCO poly synth I bought a decade ago developed multiple problems within a fairly short period of time...owning those old relics definitely isn't all just happy nostalgia.)

 

https://www.synapse-audio.com/

The software emulation (of the Oberheim OB-Xa) is indeed interesting...so much so that these past few years have been spent editing some of the factory presets included with the comparatively inexpensive Arturia OB-Xa V (now referred to as the OP-Xa V), sampling, and sequencing the modified programs to recreate some of the classic sounds heard on Signals, GUP, and POW. For instance, the classic brass synth (or growling bass synth depending on the song) layered with the celestial choir - shimmering pad sound that can be heard throughout Subdivisions and The Analog Kid. Variations of this ethereal choir sound can also be heard on Chemistry and Digital Man and all throughout Grace Under Pressure on The Body Electric, Kid Gloves, Red Lenses, and Between The Wheels along with a heavy dose of OB-Xa (and perhaps Roland Jupiter-8) brass synth layered with the classic PPG Wave organ sound - as heard on Distant Early WarningThe Body Electric, and Red Lenses. The heavily modulated brass synth with delay vibrato effect (rapid LFOs following a certain interval) heard throughout Power Windows on songs such as Marathon and Middletown Dreams sounds to me like an OB-Xa (or Roland Jupiter-8) and doesn't sound too unlike the Van Halen Jump patch aside from slight modifications to the sawtooth waveforms with respect to LFO modulation, filter section, filter and loudness envelopes, effects routing, etc...and is sometimes layered with what sounds like a Yamaha DX7 or PPG Wave synth.

More to follow but in the meantime, enjoy a few of my audio samples from Signals:

 

 

 

Edited by RetroRocker
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Behringer Pro 800, a $399 8-voice VCO analog poly which is a sort-of remake of the Sequential Prophet 600, is getting into some users' hands now. Sounds like it might be a bit yet before it's readily available in the US, though. Pretty much unheard of to get an 8-voice dual-VCO synth for anywhere near this price. I was waiting to make sure it turned out decently before pre-ordering, myself.

 

 

Edited by Vectorman
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