# Favorite Synths and Drum Machines



## synthpunk (Sep 9, 2015)

These days, its pretty minimal.

Virus Ti Mk1 usb to Mac Pro

Elektron Rytm Drum Machine, Analog Four both w/ Overbridge

MFB Dominion Analog Synthesizer

Moog Minitaur

Kilpatrick Audio Phenol Modular, Mutable Instruments Eurorack.

Just sold the Juno 60, use Uno62LX now.


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## IFM (Sep 9, 2015)

Well I I just recently got a Pittsburgh Modular System 10+ and that is pretty sweet. My MS20 Mini and MicroBrute are both cool too but I think the winner for fun factor right now is the System 10+.


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## charlieclouser (Sep 9, 2015)

Large EuroRack system (8x 6-space boxes and growing). 
Dave Smith Pro-2 (excellent little synth, very warm but can be very aggro too).
Waldorf MicroWave IIxtk (I've had it forever and it's pretty wicked).
Prophet VS and VS Rack (traditional NIN synths).
Oberheim Xpander (also a traditional NIN machine).
MiniMoog Voyager.
Roland V-Synth and V-Synth XT (amazing machines, like Alchemy in hardware).
Korg MS-20 and MS-50 originals, MS-20 kit reissue.
Arp Solus (my first synth bought for $200 out of the back of the Village Voice in 1984).
Nord Lead 1 rack (a hard working synth for sure. It's been on more tracks than most in my rig).
Roland MKS-80 with MPG-80 programmer (The original super-saw. Just huge sounding).
Moog System-10 modular from the late 1960's. (beat up and scratchy but beefy).
Haken Continuum (used mostly as a controller, but the internal sounds are like nothing else. So expressive).
Roland VG-99 guitar synth brain (Does this count? Fantastic with the Moog Guitar, Moog Lap Steel, and Parker Adrian Belew model, all of which have Roland 13-pin pickups. Just amazing stuff).


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## ThomasL (Sep 9, 2015)

Well, right now I'm getting a lot of fun out of my little blofeld, had it for little over 6 months but been using it more and more lately. Other than that I just keep getting back to my old beat up Korg MS2000R, can't get enough of it's "grit" 

And, of course, the Virus Indigo gets its fair share of use every day and I just the other day added a novation KS rack. Like the layout and the interface a lot but the sound hasn't gotten me, yet. I find the modulation capabilities quite limited, especially compared to the blofeld (which is a modulation monster).

There is also an Akai S3000XL (love the filter), a Roland R-8M (can't beat the jazz brush expansion!), a Korg M3R, a Wavestation SR and a Roland JV-2080 in the rack and they are also used but the stuff with the most knobs wins in my world.

I'd like to add a Kawai K5000 and a Casio VZ-10M to my little collection and my 80's nostalgia vein can rest in peace


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## IFM (Sep 9, 2015)

You've got some serious analog Charlie. Thumbs up!


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## gsilbers (Sep 9, 2015)

anyone have the matasonix synth?

http://www.metasonix.com/v3/index.php/s-2000-synthesizer

tv tubes dist sounds interesting.


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## gsilbers (Sep 9, 2015)

aesthete said:


> These days, its pretty minimal.
> 
> Virus Ti Mk1 usb to Mac Pro
> 
> ...



how is the overbridge compared to the virus ti integration?


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## charlieclouser (Sep 9, 2015)

Dragonwind said:


> You've got some serious analog Charlie. Thumbs up!



Oh, there's more than that in the spare room - I can't even remember half of it! 

gsilbers - I've almost bought the Metasonix S-1000 "Wretch Machine" and the S-2000 a couple of times, but they really are crude and ugly beasts. They do make a nasty sound for sure, but they're kind of a one-trick pony - sort of like the Swarmatron. Neat-o, but then you say to yourself, "When, what, and how much could I actually use this on?" My friend Alec Empire has the older Wretch Machine, and it definitely does what it says on the tin, but ONLY that... fun to fiddle with, fun to record it for an afternoon and get a gigabyte of nasty noise that you can pilfer through later and try to splice into a project, but... Their EuroRack modules are another story - more useful in that context I think. There's also a neat stereo tube distortion / vca from TrogoTronic that I just got for EuroRack that I quite like - CV control of drive amount, individually for the left and right channels, and that can make a dirty pulsating rhythm out of just about any drone. Good stuff.


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## synthpunk (Sep 10, 2015)

1.0 seems to work well.

Here is a good overview.
https://ask.audio/articles/review-elektron-overbridge-brings-software-convenience-to-analog-hardware

I will give this it's own thread as well, as I have seen many ask about it the last year on the sample talk forum.



gsilbers said:


> how is the overbridge compared to the virus ti integration?


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## gsilbers (Sep 10, 2015)

interesting stuff x2


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## wst3 (Sep 10, 2015)

I still use some of my dinosaurs...

The ARP 2600 and Avatar (modified to be a keyboard-less Odyssey<G>) are probably my favorites, but I also have a Korg MS-20, and a 360 Systems Spectre (also modified to be keyboard-less) which sound pretty darned cool. But that's it for the pre-MIDI stuff. I had a PAIA beast that I built a long time ago, it works, but it just isn't as sonicly interesting as the others, so it has been retired.

In the racks I have, and still use, a pair of Yamaha TX-81z modules, an Ensoniq ESQ-m, a Korg EX-800 and a Roland MKS-80. Each does some cool thing I just can't seem to replace with software.

Also in the racks, but I'm trying to wean myself off them, are a Yamaha TX-7, an Ensoniq SQ-r, an Oberheim Matrix 1000, and an Emu Proteus I with the In-Vision expansion. Every time I start to retire them I find something cool that they do, and they end up staying for a while longer<G>.

Then there are the samplers... did we really use these things? Yeah, we did, and in fact even they have a few tricks that are unique to them. In the racks are an Ensoniq ASR-10 and Mirage Rack (I grew up in West Chester, PA - there is a lot of Ensoniq gear in my past!), an Akai S1000, and an Oberheim DPX-1. I think I'll end up keeping the DPX-1 just because it amuses me, the Akai libraries imported into Kontakt well, so it needs to find another home, the rest, I don't know!

The only drum machines I kept are an SCI Drumtracks and an OB Prommer. The later gets used as a prom burner more than anything, and the Drumtracks doesn't get used much, but sometimes it is just what I want. Go figure. I did have an Alesis D4 in the racks for a long time, but I just never used it.

Funny part, to me, is that there is very little in the way of hardware that tempts me these days. I would enjoy building a Pittsburgh Modular, and I'd still love to add an Oberheim xPander to the studio, but other than that I'm in good shape I think. The new stuff from Dave Smith and others sounds awesome, but I just don't gravitate towards it like I once did.


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## gsilbers (Sep 10, 2015)

charlieclouser said:


> Oh, there's more than that in the spare room - I can't even remember half of it!
> 
> gsilbers - I've almost bought the Metasonix S-1000 "Wretch Machine" and the S-2000 a couple of times, but they really are crude and ugly beasts. They do make a nasty sound for sure, but they're kind of a one-trick pony - sort of like the Swarmatron. Neat-o, but then you say to yourself, "When, what, and how much could I actually use this on?" My friend Alec Empire has the older Wretch Machine, and it definitely does what it says on the tin, but ONLY that... fun to fiddle with, fun to record it for an afternoon and get a gigabyte of nasty noise that you can pilfer through later and try to splice into a project, but... Their EuroRack modules are another story - more useful in that context I think. There's also a neat stereo tube distortion / vca from TrogoTronic that I just got for EuroRack that I quite like - CV control of drive amount, individually for the left and right channels, and that can make a dirty pulsating rhythm out of just about any drone. Good stuff.



I was checking some videos out for the S-2000

I like how aggressive it is. im into aggressive synths. I have the slim phatty that's about the same size/monophonic
anything else out there with an aggressive edge? I guess distortion units.


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## gsilbers (Sep 10, 2015)

aesthete said:


> 1.0 seems to work well.
> 
> Here is a good overview.
> https://ask.audio/articles/review-elektron-overbridge-brings-software-convenience-to-analog-hardware
> ...


the spec is s little confusing to me. is it also a plugin inside the DAW or its a standalone app which they call vst?

The sound of the analog four is a bit tame imo. just by the demos. those demos are a lot realtime performance and with bleeps and one small seq repeating. its hard to judge. like a nord rack1 would be about the same... just basedon demos.
I love the integration part. having to open a project that's months old and have that patch on the analog hardware is a dream. which is why I have the virus TI (minus the analog of course) and have the moog with the plugin, but that rekon plug ssucks big time.


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## synthpunk (Sep 10, 2015)

It is the same conceptually as the Access Total Control app for the Virus TI series. Allows for direct DAW integration of Elektron gear (audio and editing) Does that help ?

Thats sort of what Elektron does gsilbers. If you want Fat Moog, Elektron is not the way to go. It's vibe is more glitchy, raw, blippy, etc. Perhaps some more interesting sounds here:





gsilbers said:


> the spec is s little confusing to me. is it also a plugin inside the DAW or its a standalone app which they call vst?
> 
> The sound of the analog four is a bit tame imo. just by the demos. those demos are a lot realtime performance and with bleeps and one small seq repeating. its hard to judge. like a nord rack1 would be about the same... just basedon demos.
> I love the integration part. having to open a project that's months old and have that patch on the analog hardware is a dream. which is why I have the virus TI (minus the analog of course) and have the moog with the plugin, but that rekon plug ssucks big time.


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## givemenoughrope (Sep 10, 2015)

I started to get actively into synths a couple years ago. Borrowed some Junos and some other vintage and newer stuff here and there from a couple friends. Although there is so much happening with modular/eurorack and diy "circuit-bent" devices (stuff like the Sleepdrone 5, etc) I feel like I have enough rabbit holes pulling me in and I want to stay away from all that. I realized that I'd really like synths with portability and complete recall be they analog, digital or soft (no problems there of course). And to not go too insane, just focus on a limited number of synths of different types. I have a Bass Station II, DSI Mopho keyboard, Tetra and a Mutable Instruments Ambika is currently being assembled. Other than that, Zebra, Serum (still demoing...why haven't I pulled the trigger?), Halion 5/Mach5/Reaktor/Absynth for granular, stretching, etc.

I also have a Furman Spring Reverb and other various analog guitar delay and reverb devices. Also a Stymon Timeline and Eventide H9. (Everything gets routed into the Motu and controlled with Plogue Bidule and Cubase.)

I'd like everything to fit in a (large) briefcase so although I really like them I may just swap the BSII for a Minitaur and the Mopho Keyboard for a Mopho. Are there any other compact analog or digital synths with full midi control out there that I'm not aware of?


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## TheUnfinished (Sep 23, 2015)

I currently have a Virus TI2 Polar, Juno 106, Elektron Analogue Four, Korg Minibrute and a Roland JP8000. Plus Elektron Machine Drum and Jomox Xbase 09.

Particularly enjoying the Elektron stuff. Not sure I agree with the comparison to the Nord Lead. Recently had one of those and the A4 is capable of much meatier sounds.

Do fancy picking up a Korg MS20 mini and maybe a classic analogue poly of some description. Oh and will probably grab one of those funny Teenage Engineering drum machines.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Sep 23, 2015)

Memorymoog, SH-5, AKS-Synthi, Pro-2, TR-8. I'm happy!


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## chimuelo (Sep 23, 2015)

Waldorf Microwave 1 CEM non SSM.
Studio Electronics SE-1X
Solaris
Yamaha FS1r

Use to have more but my drug habits are expensive.


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