Busy, Busy, Busy Open Thread...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
I’m swamped this week, so don’t expect much in the way of pithy commentary for the early part of the week. For the last few days I’ve split the day evenly between mixing the Micronaut EP and working on DronestationX (the separate version of Dronestation for the iPad.) The former is nearing completion, and the latter is coming along nicely. I have the UI nearly done, and I should be able to just lay in the synth stuff once I have that, and submit it for approval.
Also too, I’m going to the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention in Vegas tomorrow. You should get a nice update on Thursday with some hyper digital hyper expensive eye candy, at least as it relates to our world. Obviously, there aren’t any Euro module makers there, or cute boutique synths and guitar pedals, but the heavies come out to play, and I plan to spend some quality time in the booths of Nagra, Eventide, Lexicon, et al. while pointedly avoiding the black hole of suck that is Avid Land.
That’s it for now. I may have a screenshot of DronestationX later in the day; we’ll see if I get it in a state where I’m happy with it. This is an open thread. First commenter picks the subject!
10 comments
be sure to check out my work's live 3d demo in booth SU6321
And that Avid blackhole of suck just keeps getting bigger.
Just bought my first, er, "vintage" synth the other day - an SH-101. Loving it so far. I love that it has a simple interface and a sound engine I can almost get my head around. The lack of patch memory is actually a plus- I can't get lazy and use presets when there are not any, so it's a great learning tool (I'm rubbish at programming sounds). I also always know exactly what the settings are at any moment since the knobs and sliders always match the setting!
It is not the most versatile synth but it's sort of like many AD plugins- it focuses on doing a few things well.
And FWIW I have been using the TAL Bassline plugin in tracks recently and the plugin doesn't sound remotely like the real thing, esp. the filter. I don't have an expert ear or anything but it was unbelievably different. I realize the TAL Bassline is not a serious emulation, but it does make me wonder how much of the hype is true about emulations vs. true analog. The real SH-101 is just so much more inspiring of a sound.
Here begins the slippery slope...
There are some very good emulations out there (the Arturia stuff, for instance, and UA's various plugs) but on the whole, there's a world of difference between a piece of analog hardware and its plug-in counterpart.
This isn't to say that any given plug-in is "worse" than the analog it emulates; just different. Also, the act of recording an analog synth brings in to play the various external variables (mic pre, etc.) that can _greatly_ affect the sound.
I find the immediacy and sonic qualities outweigh the convenience. When I'm writing, I use Massive and ACE almost exclusively, but once I've got the basic melody idea and song structure, I almost always replace all the softsynth instances with analog stuff. (Not always, though.) In this way, I'm able to take advantage of the convenience of plug-ins when it matters most, and that's when the melodic juices are flowing, but once I'm in the mixing stage, and I'm paying more attention to individual elements, I'm able to utilize the somewhat more focused sonic palette that a hardware synth provides.
Best of both worlds, I guess.
-CR
That's interesting. Do you store the melodies as MIDI, initially composing on a soft synth then trigger hardware with the same MIDI track after the structure is in place and you have time to tweek, or just perform the line in real time again on the hardware?
I need to try that method. I have recently decided to start selling off all of my hardware, except rack gear, because of space limitations, and the fact I hardly ever use it. I used to find inspiration in programing new sounds in my hardware synths. Whole songs could come out of a pad programming session. I guess I'm just too lazy and plug-ins are so damn convenient now.
Maybe I'll keep a couple synths around to use for final sounds.
@Eric: yeah, I just use the same MIDI clip, and usually the same track. In Live, I've made Instrument Racks for each of my quirky analogs so they're in line with how the soft synths react to things. I just swap out the instrument plug-in with the appropriate Instrument Rack, which contains whatever pitch alteration is needed for that particular synth, an External Instrument object with the appropriate ports, and a tuner.
I almost always record with external compression of some sort, and I generally don't bother to gate the noise, unless it's really oppressively annoying.
-CR
I've owned an SH-101 for decades now, and whilst the TAL emulation is definitely not exactly the same, I think it's a very fine 'similarity'...
The 101 is one of my favorite synths. It's almost impossible to make a bad sound with it. Small, portable, great sequencer and arp. Ballsy as hell. Not sure why no one has taken the initiative to make something similar. Shouldn't be too difficult, and i'm sure it would sell well.
For those into softyware, look out for D16's Shioitor, looks to be a killer plug that will take the 101 concept to the next level.
The d-16 shitter, right up there with the boomchik in vaporland.
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