What do you use your Synths mostly for ?
- Thread starter muziksculp
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Saxer
Senior Member
I found that simple/cheesy music (drone-based, arpeggios, one-chord-world, slow motion lines) often sounds great on synths but sophisticated things (interesting harmonic progressions, independent polyphonic voices, mid to fast tempo melodies) often sound cheap. Is this just me?
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muziksculp
Senior Member
Hi @Saxer,
Your comment tells me you are not a big synth music fan. Sorry but imho. your comment is blanket and wrong generalization of Synth music.
There is synth music I dislike, but there is also synth music that I love, so it all depends on what clicks with you, and what doesn't. You can't generalize.
Maybe you should spend some time listening to more electornic music, hybrid soundtracks, synthwave , Vangelis, Jean Michelle Jarre, Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregsson-Williams, ....etc. and so many more super talented composers/musicians making sophisticated synth music that is very inspirational, and has nothing to do with the word 'Cheap'.
It's like if I was to say, I find Orchestral music that doesn't have a piano melody often sounds cheap.
Cheers,
Muziksculp
The vast majority of synth music is sterile for sure. But then you find an artist like Lorn or Jon Hopkins and you realize that these machines are capable of saying anything thats in the heart of the musician, much like every other acoustic instrument. But synths have only been around for a little while so a lot of artists are just discovering whats possible with them and pushing those boundaries.
antret
Active Member
Hey everyone! I hope you all are staying safe and doing well!
I use synths in pretty much everything I do. The music runs the gamut from gtr/piano driven ‘post rock’-ish things to straight up electronica to more ambient/chill styles.
I do always try to mix in some strings,well, because I like them! Chris Hein solo strings and LASS see a lot of action over here. (I’m a sucker for small, dry string sections).
I don’t always roll my own sounds, but the presets rarely give what I’m looking for, so I do tweak quite a bit. I do like a ton of presets though as I like the ideas they can give me.
I’ve been really finding that the more ‘straightforward’ synths have been fulfilling my needs greatly. Plus, I can’t get some things together fast. In case anyone is interested, here are my recent faves:
Synth master one & synth master
The HY synth
All things TAL
Don’t laugh but I use often:
Ascension from WA Productions
Hybrid 3 from AIR.
Vacuum Pro from AIR
I’ve recently put my Yamaha EX5 back in the role of master controller and realized those 90’s rompers had some magic, so I have been demoing the korg triton Vsti.
I use synths in pretty much everything I do. The music runs the gamut from gtr/piano driven ‘post rock’-ish things to straight up electronica to more ambient/chill styles.
I do always try to mix in some strings,well, because I like them! Chris Hein solo strings and LASS see a lot of action over here. (I’m a sucker for small, dry string sections).
I don’t always roll my own sounds, but the presets rarely give what I’m looking for, so I do tweak quite a bit. I do like a ton of presets though as I like the ideas they can give me.
I’ve been really finding that the more ‘straightforward’ synths have been fulfilling my needs greatly. Plus, I can’t get some things together fast. In case anyone is interested, here are my recent faves:
Synth master one & synth master
The HY synth
All things TAL
Don’t laugh but I use often:
Ascension from WA Productions
Hybrid 3 from AIR.
Vacuum Pro from AIR
I’ve recently put my Yamaha EX5 back in the role of master controller and realized those 90’s rompers had some magic, so I have been demoing the korg triton Vsti.
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muziksculp
Senior Member
This is the first time I hear about HY Synth (I googled it, I saw they have the HY-Poly)
https://hy-plugins.com/
I will check it out.
Thanks for your feedback. Stay safe, and have fun using your synths.
antret
Active Member
Hi!
Yes that's the HY one!
I just got back some drum tracks for this latest tune. It actually uses Ascension as the 'main pluck/chord' sound, HY-Poly for the bass, Hybrid 3 for the pads, one of the TAL freebies (noisemaker?) as the 2nd bass arp in part 2 of the song. What I find interesting about this song is that the main chords/pluck and bass patterns were written on my phone using Korg Gadget. I then exported all the midi to DropBox and loaded it up into Studio One to add the rest. I really have a hard time using my phone to sketch out music ideas (small fiddly screen), but I decided to give a real go (at least giving it more than 30 seconds...). The drums are real. I work with my friend in AZ often, so we share his drum files via Google Drive.
The pad sound could have been made with any synth really as I was thinking it was going to be a 'placeholder sound'. Everyone seemed to like it so it will stay. It doesn't really show off anything that Hybrid 3 can do though.... Anyhow, feel free to give a listen!
Take Care,
Anthony
Yes that's the HY one!
I just got back some drum tracks for this latest tune. It actually uses Ascension as the 'main pluck/chord' sound, HY-Poly for the bass, Hybrid 3 for the pads, one of the TAL freebies (noisemaker?) as the 2nd bass arp in part 2 of the song. What I find interesting about this song is that the main chords/pluck and bass patterns were written on my phone using Korg Gadget. I then exported all the midi to DropBox and loaded it up into Studio One to add the rest. I really have a hard time using my phone to sketch out music ideas (small fiddly screen), but I decided to give a real go (at least giving it more than 30 seconds...). The drums are real. I work with my friend in AZ often, so we share his drum files via Google Drive.
The pad sound could have been made with any synth really as I was thinking it was going to be a 'placeholder sound'. Everyone seemed to like it so it will stay.
It doesn't really show off anything that Hybrid 3 can do though.... Anyhow, feel free to give a listen!Take Care,
Anthony
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muziksculp
Senior Member
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muziksculp
Senior Member
Please feel free to share your Synth/Hybrid music tracks on this thread.
But as you say, that's due to a lot of "sterile" artists, not something inherent to synths. In fact, if anything, it's more expressive...you can bend and shape and sculpt synth sounds more than you can "traditional" instruments. PS I'm not saying one is better than the other.
vitocorleone123
Senior Member
That'd sort of be like me saying the vast majority of orchestral music is muddy, or something. Judgmental much and untrue.
You don't have to like it, but just because you don't like it doesn't mean your opinion is The Truth. Listening to orchestral might put me to sleep, but that doesn't make me think that all orchestral is boring and hard to hear.
chillbot
Sock Muppet
You had me at my eyes. Is that your room, woooweee <3 we have a lot of the same stuff. Have you looked at the Sequential Pro 3 SE because man it has knocked my socks off.
Not really. But you're certainly entitled to your opinion.
whinecellar
Jim Daneker
Ha - yes sir! I pinch myself often - walking into my room is the fulfillment of all my teenage dreams. Fun stuff.
I haven’t checked out the Pro 3 yet but the few demos I’ve heard sound fantastic - it’s definitely on my list, along with the Hydrasynth. Really cool stuff!
I love artists like Nils Frahm, Moderat, Boards of Canada, Lorn, Jon Hopkins, Ben Frost, Trent Reznor. They use synths in a completely different way than most artists. They are alive and organic, often vintage analog machines drifting in and out of tune in a beautiful and musical way. These artists stand out for a reason. The vast majority of EDM and synth music is uninspired shit compared to what they do with synths.
doctoremmet
Senior Member
sostenuto
AKA _ doubtingtom37
Shallow Soft-synth chops here, even with several good VSTi for long time. 
Recently, have truly enjoyed Arturia - Analog Lab 4 + Sound Banks !! Choices like: Vangelis Tribute, Floyd Tribute, Tangerine Tribute, Aphex Tribute, Synthwave, Richard Devine's Signature, ...... many more ..... let me go back to cool, earlier times and sounds.
Not so easy to create these from scratch, but tons of fun trying !
Recently, have truly enjoyed Arturia - Analog Lab 4 + Sound Banks !! Choices like: Vangelis Tribute, Floyd Tribute, Tangerine Tribute, Aphex Tribute, Synthwave, Richard Devine's Signature, ...... many more ..... let me go back to cool, earlier times and sounds.
Not so easy to create these from scratch, but tons of fun trying !
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muziksculp
Senior Member
Some of us appreciate, and enjoy a wider range of electronic music, genre, ..etc than others. Just like orchestral music, there are varying degrees of the variety of music we appreciate, relate to, and enjoy in any genre.
i.e. I like some of The Boards of Canada's music, but find some of their music kind of bland, and boring, our taste buds for music vary a lot, no way to generalize. Again, just because one loves a specific artist, or track, doesn't mean someone else will have the same perception to it.
i.e. I like some of The Boards of Canada's music, but find some of their music kind of bland, and boring, our taste buds for music vary a lot, no way to generalize. Again, just because one loves a specific artist, or track, doesn't mean someone else will have the same perception to it.
vitocorleone123
Senior Member
It's good to have opinions and preferences.
One could easily say the vast majority of all art is uninspired shit. One can easily say a lot of things that may not be true, or may not be true for anyone but one's self. I could easily rewrite what you said from my prospective about orchestral music (or many other musical or artistic genres). But I wouldn't assume that my truth was Truth. Hopefully you aren't, as you render judgement from that high horse.
