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Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile thing ?

 
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magname



Joined: 21 Aug 2019
Posts: 43
Location: France

PostPosted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 1:17 pm    Post subject: Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile thing ? Reply with quote

Hello,
Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile / engeneer toy thing ?

Sorry. This is not a troll but the question is there for me that get back in keyboards thirty years later.
Was to get a kronos and watched some prologue nice demos.
Would like to know if the people who get the prologue more choose it for the ergonomy, aestheticism than the sound patch they can get.
Thank you.
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Hussar_303



Joined: 25 Aug 2019
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You'll get a better sound purity with the most modern kit you can afford, but if you use an analog synthetiser, you're going to have that good old sound from back when people used them as a standard. Laughing
So, yeah, it's more of an audiophile thing. Mostly because much of what we've listened to in our lives has been recorded with analog synths!
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synthpeter
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Joined: 25 Jun 2019
Posts: 96
Location: Netherlands

PostPosted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:01 am    Post subject: Re: Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile thing ? Reply with quote

magname wrote:
Hello,
Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile / engeneer toy thing ?

In my case, it's nostalgia. Saw a documentary on TV on synthesizers in music. That brought back memories of the sounds of the 70s and 80s, and I just had to recreate those..
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magname



Joined: 21 Aug 2019
Posts: 43
Location: France

PostPosted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:24 am    Post subject: Re: Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile thing ? Reply with quote

synthpeter wrote:
magname wrote:
Hello,
Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile / engeneer toy thing ?

In my case, it's nostalgia. Saw a documentary on TV on synthesizers in music. That brought back memories of the sounds of the 70s and 80s, and I just had to recreate those..


Hello.
Nostalgia is certainly a criteria.
Single keyboard ?
How do you "exclude" any workstation like the kronos ?
Was is easy to choose the prologue in place or a rev2 for instance or any other one ?
How do you accompany him rhythmically ?
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megamarkd
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Joined: 15 Aug 2017
Posts: 634
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes and no. Yes as in there are some who swear that the purest sound comes from electronically generated waves which are then shaved down using filters and amplifiers. I've met many a young muso who worships the 70's and 80's and think that the synths from those times are the only 'real' synths and digital synth or plug-ins will never have the sonic quality that a CS-80 or a Prophet-5 had. A statement I think is quite flawed as it discounts the creative abilities of the player and the composer as part of what makes a piece of music great.

Using raw waveforms is only really relevant if the creator wishes to use subtractive synthesis (but in sayng that, subtractive is the most accessable and popular form). Analogue waveforms are touted to be pure in that they are 'stepless' in their creation. But that is not so true some much as it was in the early days and does come down to how the digital waveform is generated. Novation's NCO's create some very convincing digital waveforms. And even the quality of sample single cycle waves is arguably better than a waveform generated by discrete components, when manipulated well of course.

With regards to analogue filters though, there is a very different quality to their sound which digital filter come close to but don't quite obtain. And amps, I can only say that analogue amps are sloppy and slow and that is their drawcard when it comes to using them in synthesis. Their warm sounding overdrive is a plus also but that is something which is more an element when using them as compressors than as a block in a signal chain used for synthesis (unless you are using a compressor as your amp block in a synth, which is a f-ton of fun. When all is said and done, a VCA is what a compressor is with a few more options than a VCA block in a synth, so for that warm overdrive you really don't want to be using digital amps except for mastering!).

Digital synths changed the game in terms of emulation of 'real' instruments. PCM based 'romplers' also became so prolific that they became passé amongst synth players who wanted odd and non-emulation sounds. I felt "stuck" with an M1 and an MS-20 in the early 90's until I fused the two together, then the fun began all over again! Feeding an output from the M1 in to the MS-20 and then the rest of them plus the MS-20 output into a mixer, I had myself essentially a hybrid digital/analogue synth.
One for the most lauded digital synths of that time was the Wavestation, which employed a form of synthesis so deep many player could not get their head around it. As a evolution of Dave Smith's work with Sequential and the Prophet line, the vector synthesis worked more in a way that it used sounds that were lacking harmonics and mixed them to create a sound that gained harmonics. In some regards, this is the synth-phile synthesiser as (successful) programmer, in theory, can emulate any analogue created sound by mixing the right base waves. In practise it is not as simple Surprised

Which brings us to the Prologue. It is a hybrid synth and is for the sound designer who is looking to experiment. A blend of analogue and digital waves for your sculpting starting points and analogue filters and VCA's to carve out the final sound. The programmer can start with some sonically lacking wave form such as a couple of triangle waves from the analogue generators and then a custom wave from the Multi Engine and have a go at creating a vector synth-like sound, but then if it's not quite what they want to use, can play around with the filters to beef it up a bit.

Quickly a word on what they "hipsters" think is the ultimate in synth: that changes with the weather and I'm pretty sure they're all about the modular right now. But then again they are the ones who managed to get band using ukuleles and basically running choirs for the vocals for some years there. I've always found it best not to worry what the hipsters are doing and focus on what you can use to express yourself best, (or express best what the bandmaster wants Wink )
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Stuff I'm using: Umm right now, well there's a Volca Drum, a Micro Freak, an ADX-1, a Pulse, a Blofeld, a UNO Drum, KeyStep/Beatstep Pro/Keystep Pro (one of each), a Circuit, a LiveTrak L-12 and this nonsense: The Brief-case as it was about a bit over a year ago (the the complete ridiculous GAS monster collection here)and here
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synthpeter
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Joined: 25 Jun 2019
Posts: 96
Location: Netherlands

PostPosted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:15 am    Post subject: Re: Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile thing ? Reply with quote

magname wrote:
synthpeter wrote:
magname wrote:
Hello,
Is analog synth today a hipster/ audiophile / engeneer toy thing ?

In my case, it's nostalgia. Saw a documentary on TV on synthesizers in music. That brought back memories of the sounds of the 70s and 80s, and I just had to recreate those..


Hello.
Nostalgia is certainly a criteria.
Single keyboard ?
How do you "exclude" any workstation like the kronos ?
Was is easy to choose the prologue in place or a rev2 for instance or any other one ?
How do you accompany him rhythmically ?

Given that it's driven by nostalgia and not a real need, I decided to start out on a modest budget to first see whether it's something with staying power or a short lived interest. In my case that meant a Monologue (after checking out some Volcas, which I personally found a little too gritty sounding). Going budget first also allows me to make a better judgment about where to go next instead of immediately throwing serious money at something expensive like a workstation or analog poly synth and then discovering it's not what I want/need. I've given my self a year to learn to get the most out of the Monologue and improve my skills before committing to something else.

What I've found so far, is that the Monologue is extremely flexible; I can lay down a convincing kick/snare sequence and use overdubbing on my recorder to add bass and lead. And on top of that, it is capable of creating those analog sounds that I was after.. So, at this point, I haven't figured out where to go next.
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NickZoll
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Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Posts: 181

PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't know what you are taking about. I am producing dirty ebm with analogue synths, nothing hipster-like in this I see
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Korg R3, EMX1, volca keys, minikp 2, electribe 2, prologue, karp oddy, dns 12, all ios apps.
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jimknopf
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Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Posts: 3374

PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

@magname
Don't buy that silly hipster nonsense from anyone! It always comes from people having no clue at all about analog gear. It's not even an alternative to use EITHER digital or analog gear these days: these are just different concepts working side by side all the time. And in the end, everything is recorded in a digital DAW.

So what?
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Kronos 73 - Moog Voyager RME - Moog LP TE - Behringer Model D - Prophet 6 - Roland Jupiter Xm - Rhodes Stage 73 Mk I - Elektron Analog Rytm MkII - Roland TR-6s - Cubase 12 Pro + Groove Agent 5
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megamarkd
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Joined: 15 Aug 2017
Posts: 634
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jimknopf wrote:
And in the end, everything is recorded in a digital DAW.


Not true. I don't use computers for anything to do with music beyond configuring things that have to be done that way. I record using stand-alone multitrack recorders. I can also master the music in the recorders too, not that I've actually done any of that lately.
_________________
Stuff I'm using: Umm right now, well there's a Volca Drum, a Micro Freak, an ADX-1, a Pulse, a Blofeld, a UNO Drum, KeyStep/Beatstep Pro/Keystep Pro (one of each), a Circuit, a LiveTrak L-12 and this nonsense: The Brief-case as it was about a bit over a year ago (the the complete ridiculous GAS monster collection here)and here
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gauripuri



Joined: 05 Nov 2019
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 5:12 am    Post subject: KORG PROLOGUE Reply with quote

Thanks for the informtaion..
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h.vel
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Joined: 30 Jul 2015
Posts: 104

PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2019 2:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This discussion is useless, sorry. Because: apples are much more tasty than pears. Furthermore OSX is much better than Windows and also Star Wars is better than Star Trek.. Believe me I know the truth! Wink

In other words: take what you like (and what sounds best for you). Analog doesn’t sound better than digital. Both architectures could sound very horrible, or... absolutely great!
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flyweight



Joined: 09 Jan 2020
Posts: 5
Location: Czech Republic

PostPosted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes I agree.

Your question is equal to what tastes better.

It entirely up to you what kind of sound you like.

For my taste I found out that vst's and VA in a way sound thin. Unless multisamples of analog synths are used.
I use both but for example in my latest project I had a bassline from Camel Audio which I fatted up using a layer of a Model D.

Just use your ears and decide what you like.
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