Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
VoodooXT
Feb 24, 2006
I want Tong Po! Give me Tong Po!

Flipperwaldt posted:

JV-2080/JD-990 stuff

Thanks for the info. The parameters for each oscillator seems incredibly interesting but, as you say, frustrating, not to mention the whole sysex and not cc business. I'm gonna have to think about this some more. I mean, I love the sounds you can get from the JD-990 but going through that much trouble just to patch would frustrate the hell out of me.

quote:

Also, for the newcomers to this thread: if you can get a Blofeld with properly working encoders for cheap, there's no reason not to. It's a fun and easy decent polyphonic (and "eh" multitimbral) virtual analog. Workflow is really nice and barely ever makes you feel like there's not enough knobs on the thing. Which is more than can be said for some of the other options. There's a reasonable range of sounds it does well.

Seconded; the Blofeld is a wonderful synth and you shouldn't dismiss it just because it's a digital/VA. But holy hell, get rid of the majority of presets because the legends are true: they suck. First time I went through the presets, I thought they sounded incredibly sterile and lifeless and almost dismissed the Blofeld as a stereotypical digital/sterile synth. But then I started programming my own patches... :circlefap:

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Radiapathy
Dec 3, 2011

Snooping as usual, I see.
So, YEAH Dubz is 100% a goon, right?

Pop Tart box MIDI controller tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh4Vfoon6s4

Sound like Skrillex in 30 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vt0kQ7G4pg

Sound like Will.I.Am in 30 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsGAU0K9VGw

Since he can't not be a goon, the only real question is which one of you is he?

Radiapathy fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Mar 19, 2014

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007

Startyde posted:

Good! No Ensoniqs in OP? Awful.

I mentioned that some digital polysynths that can be had for cheap and are considered good, I was referring to the ESQ ones. Someone who has had one/played with one should do a write up.

Scatterfold
Nov 4, 2008


Oldstench posted:

~turns Scatter knob violently~

Ouch. That hurt. :cry:

On another note: my TR606 is getting very crackly/loose-connectiony on its main out. Bearing in mind I've used a solder iron only once (but successfully) and that I've never opened up an analogue synth before, how easy would it be to clean that kind of thing up?

Are there any materials or techniques I should be aware of, or do I need to simply open the thing up and blast some compressed air around...?

Rotten Cookies
Nov 11, 2008

gosh! i like both the islanders and the rangers!!! :^)

Scatterfold posted:

Ouch. That hurt. :cry:

On another note: my TR606 is getting very crackly/loose-connectiony on its main out. Bearing in mind I've used a solder iron only once (but successfully) and that I've never opened up an analogue synth before, how easy would it be to clean that kind of thing up?

Are there any materials or techniques I should be aware of, or do I need to simply open the thing up and blast some compressed air around...?

It might be as simple as spraying some DeOxit or other contact cleaner onto the jack contacts. Open it up and see what it looks like. Soldering a connection to a an jack is fairly simple stuff, but you might not even have to go that far.

Dotcom Jillionaire
Jul 19, 2006

Social distortion
If soldering turns out to be necessary the fix might be as simple as reflowing the solder point, that is, touching the point with the soldering iron and letting the solder warm up for a few seconds to flow into any cracks that may have formed. If the jack needs to be replaced that is a little more of an intermediate project, but also not that challenging if you have the right component and don't mind snipping the broken piece off your precious hardware.

I'd try the deox-it thing first though!

Scatterfold
Nov 4, 2008


Alright, thanks - will open it up and take a look tonight. Might post a pic (and a studio pic b/c why not) for an objective opinion...

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007

Radiapathy posted:

So, YEAH Dubz is 100% a goon, right?

I just love that he not only made a video called "Fausage Sattner" but he actually released the Reaktor plugin from the video.

Flipperwaldt
Nov 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?



VoodooXT posted:

Thanks for the info. The parameters for each oscillator seems incredibly interesting but, as you say, frustrating, not to mention the whole sysex and not cc business. I'm gonna have to think about this some more. I mean, I love the sounds you can get from the JD-990 but going through that much trouble just to patch would frustrate the hell out of me.
Leafing through the manual just now, I'm reminded that you can choose different preset routings in the JV-2080 (some pretty weird) and that you don't have to be stuck with the "everything is strictly in parallel" voice structure. But the point I mostly wanted to get across is that it is not at all a simple VA thing, but rather a completely different paradigm that you'd have to learn, much like you'd only be able to transplant a small bit of your understanding and most of the vocabulary when going to an FM synth.

It opens up a lot of possibilities, but some otherwise simple things just become needlessly complicated.

Anyway, I'm talking about the JV-2080 and I'm just assuming a lot about the JD-990. Best thing you can do is find a pdf of the manual and read through it and see where on the "neat vs. gently caress that" scale it falls for you. This is recommended procedure for anyone ever buying a synth in my opinion.

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007
I'm writing up a relatively large post later tonight for the second post place on major synth manufacturers and some of the offsite resources like Muffwiggler and Gearslutz (:vomit:). I'm also going to mention the Facebook group for anyone who starts posting here regularly, but thinking about that gave me an idea would anyone have an interest in doing kind of a synth nerd night sometime on something like skype? The ability to route audio at a whim from our audio out to the skype line could mean we could mainly chat without having to hear what everyone is working on all at once unless they had a specific question, and it could be a good motivator for some of us who get dangerously close to that gearslutz hoard-gear-never-produce line (:buddy:).

Even with those of you in Europe we could probably make this work at a time for all of us, assuming those of us in the far west wanted to be up around noon for it.

Das MicroKorg
Sep 18, 2005

Vintage Analog Synthesizer

WAFFLEHOUND posted:

I'm writing up a relatively large post later tonight for the second post place on major synth manufacturers and some of the offsite resources like Muffwiggler and Gearslutz (:vomit:). I'm also going to mention the Facebook group for anyone who starts posting here regularly, but thinking about that gave me an idea would anyone have an interest in doing kind of a synth nerd night sometime on something like skype? The ability to route audio at a whim from our audio out to the skype line could mean we could mainly chat without having to hear what everyone is working on all at once unless they had a specific question, and it could be a good motivator for some of us who get dangerously close to that gearslutz hoard-gear-never-produce line (:buddy:).

Even with those of you in Europe we could probably make this work at a time for all of us, assuming those of us in the far west wanted to be up around noon for it.

That's a good idea. Isn't there some kind of IRC-like audio/video chat platform that we could get a permanently running room on? Like this we wouldn't need to do the whole connection thing with Skype every time.

ziasquinn
Jan 1, 2006

Fallen Rib
I found a patch on the blofeld that my headphones can't hear cause it's so fuckin' bassy. I don't remember making it, but maybe I did?

The only notes I can hear on my keyboard are the last three... ON THE RIGHT. Sounds like my cans are gonna shake apart.

Sick. :getin:

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007

FLX posted:

That's a good idea. Isn't there some kind of IRC-like audio/video chat platform that we could get a permanently running room on? Like this we wouldn't need to do the whole connection thing with Skype every time.

If there is this would be really fun, though there's a small enough number of us that I think organizing some times would still be useful. Actually making stuff can be boringly detached at times, so having some people to talk to/bounce stuff off would be fun. And as far as I know only one of the regulars from this thread hates fun and socializing so we'd probably have a pretty decent group.

Ghosts n Gopniks
Nov 2, 2004

Imagine how much more sad and lonely we would be if not for the hard work of lowtax. Here's $12.95 to his aid.
no no no I'm getting the Alesis Vortex because it saves space, honest


Your Dead Gay Son posted:

I found a patch on the blofeld that my headphones can't hear cause it's so fuckin' bassy. I don't remember making it, but maybe I did?

The only notes I can hear on my keyboard are the last three... ON THE RIGHT. Sounds like my cans are gonna shake apart.

Sick. :getin:

Get a subwoofer for those times. Just mind your neighbours and times of day.

Tan Dumplord
Mar 9, 2005

by FactsAreUseless

Startyde posted:

oh, oh, oh. It expects a (from pre-coffee memory) cv from the ref given on the jack, -9V on tip, wiper is ring, ground is sleeve.

ynohtna posted:

Off the top of my head, the BC1 eats -9V on the tip of the stereo plug, and returns it voltage divided on the ring.

I'll dig the CS-01/BC1's service manual schematics off a different laptop later if you want.

Thank you both, and yeah I'd like to see that service manual if it's not too much bother.

A Winner is Jew
Feb 14, 2008

by exmarx

WAFFLEHOUND posted:

I'm writing up a relatively large post later tonight for the second post place on major synth manufacturers and some of the offsite resources like Muffwiggler and Gearslutz (:vomit:).

I think there might be one other person here that uses Kurzweil here, but if you're putting off-site resources for major synth manufactures in a post then I'd recommend this site for anyone with a K2xx or PCx series synth.

The really in depth stuff is behind a $5/year pay wall that I haven't gotten yet, but just from browsing the stuff on the gernal forums I've learned a ton and it's really lessened the learning curve for me with V.A.S.T.

a loathsome bird
Aug 15, 2004

ynohtna posted:

Off the top of my head, the BC1 eats -9V on the tip of the stereo plug, and returns it voltage divided on the ring.

I'll dig the CS-01/BC1's service manual schematics off a different laptop later if you want.

Edit: and on such subjects, don't forget, all you Ensoniq DP4 owners, that it's expression pedal input also accepts CVs.

So does this mean I'm safe to use a Eurorack LFO to modulate the BC1 jack on my DX7? Eurorack is +-5v standard, I can probably offset/gain to get a -9v-0 range- being able to sync DX7 modulation with the modular would be huge.

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007
I was more going to do a general write up on synth manufacturers then a little bit on the popular forums and sites for synthesis. I mean Gearslutz can be a good resource if you just chant "Analogue doesn't mean better" constantly as you read it. I'm convinced those guys determine a synths usefulness in terms of how much it cost.

Also I bought Sausage Fattener, am I a bad person? I figure that if something can help me stop loving with processing each sound then I'll be happier and make more music, and it seems pretty well liked even if it is a bit of a cop out.

net work error
Feb 26, 2011

FLX posted:

That's a good idea. Isn't there some kind of IRC-like audio/video chat platform that we could get a permanently running room on? Like this we wouldn't need to do the whole connection thing with Skype every time.

I think what you're aiming for is two parts, IRC to chat and a shoutcast/icecast server to stream audio to/from? Anyone have a spare server to setup shoutcast/icecast? We can use synirc for the channel seeing as how most goon chats go there.

e: Those of you with Bank of America credit cards should check your deals, they have a 10% cash back or something like that for Monoprice if you need to re-up cables.

net work error fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Mar 19, 2014

david mammoth
Oct 15, 2012
Talking of Blofelds, my desktop's developed a super wobbly/loose patch select knob (the super-wobble knob is distinct from the Scatter button). I don't know if I bumped it off something or whatever but there's a lot of forward/backward play now. It still tracks just fine so it's not a big problem but do any of you know if there's a nut in there somewhere I can tighten? It's long out of warranty so if need be I guess I can try my hand at soldering/burning my house down.

Sjoewe
Nov 30, 2008
I would switch to VST's if they came up with one my cat could sleep on, but until then I'm stuck with hardware.

long-ass nips Diane
Dec 13, 2010

Breathe.

I'm looking for a new midi keyboard since the M-Audio Keystation I have blows, the keys feel terrible and I hate it. Does anyone have recommendations for anything in the $150 range?

I don't need knobs or pads on it because I have a Maschine, so I'm really just looking for something with nice keys, pitch/mod wheels and either 25 or 49 keys since space is at a premium for me.

edit: basically just stop me from buying a microbrute.

Radiapathy
Dec 3, 2011

Snooping as usual, I see.

WAFFLEHOUND posted:

Also I bought Sausage Fattener, am I a bad person? I figure that if something can help me stop loving with processing each sound then I'll be happier and make more music, and it seems pretty well liked even if it is a bit of a cop out.
Strap it across a drum bus some time. I'm still trying to figure out what it does (it does NOT turn your waveforms into a greasy sausage) but it seems to do something magic on drum buses. I've used it for exclusively that purpose on 5 or 6 tracks. I'm actually planning to do some more detailed analysis of this in the next couple of weeks, to see if it's more than just a placebo effect. I THINK it's awesome? But I'm not sure I can trust my ears on this one.

EDIT:

Swagger Dagger posted:

I'm looking for a new midi keyboard since the M-Audio Keystation I have blows, the keys feel terrible and I hate it. Does anyone have recommendations for anything in the $150 range?

I don't need knobs or pads on it because I have a Maschine, so I'm really just looking for something with nice keys, pitch/mod wheels and either 25 or 49 keys since space is at a premium for me
I have and love the Roland A-49. It's close to your price range, it's super small and light, and it feels great. I was apprehensive about the combo mod/pitch stick, but I actually really like it. Some folks don't like it because the mod returns to zero when you release. I actually prefer that behavior, but it's an issue for some.

Also:

Radiapathy fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Mar 19, 2014

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007

Sjoewe posted:

I would switch to VST's if they came up with one my cat could sleep on, but until then I'm stuck with hardware.

Your cat can't sleep on your computer?

Swagger Dagger posted:

I'm looking for a new midi keyboard since the M-Audio Keystation I have blows, the keys feel terrible and I hate it. Does anyone have recommendations for anything in the $150 range?

For that much plus shipping I'd give you my Wavestation. :buddy:

Radiapathy posted:

Strap it across a drum bus some time. I'm still trying to figure out what it does (it does NOT turn your waveforms into a greasy sausage) but it seems to do something magic on drum buses. I've used it for exclusively that purpose on 5 or 6 tracks. I'm actually planning to do some more detailed analysis of this in the next couple of weeks, to see if it's more than just a placebo effect.

The impression I've got is a mix of multiband compression and EQing to a small degree, which would make sense for drums sounding good with it. Basically I did some digging around at what people were doing on the kind of sound I've been after and it looked like two things: Sausage Fattener and a transient shaper, or a shitfuckload of Waves plugins. I went with the $30 option. I'll feel guilty about cheating later.

Dotcom Jillionaire
Jul 19, 2006

Social distortion
Can anyone recommend a nifty desktop mixer (8-16 channels) for quick plugging and jamming with my machines? I'd prefer something more compact with a good feature set, effects routing, and some funky characteristics. I came across the KORG Zero8 mixer the other day and like the look and design (I'm a sucker for one-off unique things) but I can't imagine it's a great mixer. Budget would be $200-$400 or so.

Allen and Heath? Another Mackie?

Flipperwaldt
Nov 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?



Swagger Dagger posted:

I'm looking for a new midi keyboard since the M-Audio Keystation I have blows, the keys feel terrible and I hate it. Does anyone have recommendations for anything in the $150 range?

I don't need knobs or pads on it because I have a Maschine, so I'm really just looking for something with nice keys, pitch/mod wheels and either 25 or 49 keys since space is at a premium for me.
Roland A-49 if you can live with the joystick. Good keys.

Das MicroKorg
Sep 18, 2005

Vintage Analog Synthesizer

net work error posted:

I think what you're aiming for is two parts, IRC to chat and a shoutcast/icecast server to stream audio to/from? Anyone have a spare server to setup shoutcast/icecast? We can use synirc for the channel seeing as how most goon chats go there.

e: Those of you with Bank of America credit cards should check your deals, they have a 10% cash back or something like that for Monoprice if you need to re-up cables.

Hm, I think that spltting it up makes it too complicated. I also like the idea to talk to people, even when it's not constant, but when you're kind of "sitting together" while doing your thing. You can just mute your mic if you don't want to talk or send audio and have the others chatting in the background.

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007

tehschulman posted:

I came across the KORG Zero8

Run like crazy. They're famously prone to getting super noisy, entire panels dropping out, overheating and just all-around dying, the Kaoss pads breaking, and as far as I know very very very few of them made survived more than a couple of years due to their architecture being unable to cope with the heat they put out. Just do a search around, there's a reason Korg stopped selling them so quickly after they came out and there's a reason a relatively recent mixer with its specs is going for $3-400 used when people paid 2k for them new.

Dotcom Jillionaire
Jul 19, 2006

Social distortion
KiNK demonstrates why you should all just buy hardware for godsakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X4G6oRRpSM

Ghosts n Gopniks
Nov 2, 2004

Imagine how much more sad and lonely we would be if not for the hard work of lowtax. Here's $12.95 to his aid.

tehschulman posted:

Can anyone recommend a nifty desktop mixer (8-16 channels) for quick plugging and jamming with my machines? I'd prefer something more compact with a good feature set, effects routing, and some funky characteristics. I came across the KORG Zero8 mixer the other day and like the look and design (I'm a sucker for one-off unique things) but I can't imagine it's a great mixer. Budget would be $200-$400 or so.

Allen and Heath? Another Mackie?

See if you find an Edirol digital

net work error
Feb 26, 2011

FLX posted:

Hm, I think that spltting it up makes it too complicated. I also like the idea to talk to people, even when it's not constant, but when you're kind of "sitting together" while doing your thing. You can just mute your mic if you don't want to talk or send audio and have the others chatting in the background.

Google Hangouts is an option although that is limited to 10 people at a time. Tinychat is also an option but in my experience for anything besides just talking it blows.

Anyone know of any other suggestions?

Sizone
Sep 13, 2007

by LadyAmbien
Moving to Hawaii? Need a midi controller?

http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/msg/4339782371.html

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007
Hey, so, uhhhh, Sausage Fatterner. Get over your prejudice and burn $30, holy poo poo no wonder this thing is so popular.


Nah but I need someone to talk synths with~

Rotten Cookies
Nov 11, 2008

gosh! i like both the islanders and the rangers!!! :^)

Is there some sort of communal dropbox sort of thing where we could drop .wav files to just do one big collaboration sort of thing? It might be a huge mess, but it'd be neat to just have a repository of poo poo other goons have come up with that we can mess with. Maybe something cool will come of it!

Militant Lesbian
Oct 3, 2002

WAFFLEHOUND posted:

Nah but I need someone to talk synths with~

I don't live there anymore but I do love me some synths :allears:.

(Why did you move there, Hawaii makes Bay Area housing look reasonable but lacks any of the high-paying tech sector jobs that make up for it.)

VoodooXT
Feb 24, 2006
I want Tong Po! Give me Tong Po!

HotCanadianChick posted:

(Why did you move there, Hawaii makes Bay Area housing look reasonable but lacks any of the high-paying tech sector jobs that make up for it.)

As someone who currently lives in the Bay Area, I really hate how the tech sector has had a hand really driving up real estate prices. It's getting to the point where I can't afford to live anywhere in the Bay Area and that I'll have to move somewhere else (though that's getting to be a plus for me).

Back to synth talk... After reading through the JD-990 operator's manual, it seems fairly straight forward. I put in an offer for the module so maybe I'll get it if the guy agrees to the offer. But ugh, I really need a proper DAW setup to record music. I've got an entire album planned out but I'm tired of recording everything through an SM57 going into the unbalanced 3.5mm stereo plug of an old Hercules Gamesurround sound card.

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007

HotCanadianChick posted:

I don't live there anymore but I do love me some synths :allears:.

(Why did you move there, Hawaii makes Bay Area housing look reasonable but lacks any of the high-paying tech sector jobs that make up for it.)

UH, I'm a volcanologist.

HorseHeadBed
May 6, 2009

WAFFLEHOUND posted:

UH, I'm a volcanologist.

Beats, Bass or Keys?

e: But seriously, folks... that's awesome.

HorseHeadBed fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Mar 20, 2014

Your Computer
Oct 3, 2008




Grimey Drawer

HorseHeadBed posted:

Beats, Bass or Keys?

:vince:


I am without words.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

0dB
Jan 3, 2009

VoodooXT posted:

After reading through the JD-990 operator's manual, it seems fairly straight forward.

It really is. Most of the time you use the third configuration with two oscillators mixed into the one filter. That way you get the drive control as well.

Good thing is that every Roland synthesiser from the D50 to the GAIA is some variation of that set up. They hide it on all kinds of ways but you soon notice it's the same 4 oscillators in two pairs.

You must get the Vintage Synth voice card for the JD990. It matters.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply