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Favourite HW monosynth?

I know the synth is a few years old but I decided on the MatrixBrute as this ticks the most boxes from what I've heard (will cross the live performance situation as needed... we've all got to get through this pandemic first).

Thanks @vitocorleone123 and others for your patience and help. :thumbsup:
 
I have two Analog Mono-Synths in my Studio, all of my other synths are Poly.

Moog Minimoog Model D & Moog Little Phatty Stage II, both sound amazing for monophonic synth sounds. (Basses, Leads, Noise, Perc., ...etc.) .
 
Great choice. I had an MB for a couple years - very musical synth, looks and feels gorgeous! You’ll have a blast!
Cheers Ned, I certainly hope to. I know you're rather a synth guru so I'm interested to hear why your MB is no longer with you? Did you just exhaust it's sound? Don't worry, it's too late to change my order now, so I don't mind what you say!
 
I made a big trade for a Waldorf Quantum, and needed to give up some heavy hitters! I miss the Matrixbrute, but it’s no Quantum.
No no no no no. I shouldn't have asked 🙃 I was looking at the Iridium amd was amazed by what I heard. Thankfully, it's way out of my league of knowledge and ability to know what to do with it. I'll leave that one to the experts.
Seriously though Ned, would love to hear how you get on with it.
 
TBH, I'm having more fun with my Hydrasynth (don't tell the Quantum)!
Interesting... I think you commented in another thread about how much you liked the Hydra. The desktop unit seems a cracking deal. Am I sensing a penchant towards a brighter, more wavetable like taste with the HS and Quantum? Or are they fulfilling your analogue needs too?
 
They can both sound analog with some effort, but I have other options in the studio. :cool: And yeah, I have become more interested in hybrid synths, cyberpunksynthwave80s style.
 
Although lacking presets, I would nominate the Vermona Lancet '15 for a warm, vintage sounding true analogue mono-synth module. https://www.vermona.com/en/products/synthesizer/product/mono-lancet-15/

I can dial-in basic sounds very quickly, and it starts to sound good equally as quick. (Not having presets has emerged as a positive - each track feels more personal and bespoke). It's beautifully made as well. Always surprised how little I read about them. I'm now looking at their lovely looking keyboard: https://www.vermona.com/en/products/synthesizer/product/14-analogsynthesizer/

Florens mentions the Trax RetroWave desktop. It's sounds really good (don't let the single VCO put you off), and something I plan to purchase this year.

For context, I also have a Moog Prodigy, Akai AX80, B Pro-1, Waldorf Rocket & Streitchfett, Mutable Ambika, Alesis QSR and Akai MPC Live 2.

The Vermona has become my "go-to" mono (and doing things I used to play on my poly), and love to use the VCF and Vibrato controls in real-time. Example here (28 seconds in to hear the Vermona):

 
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I’ve always used the Solaris, SE-1X and CODE 8 for my live Combo but just couldn’t find a single synth to replace all of them w/o having a keyboard as in a Moog One, or DSI synth, so I waited while packing these racks every week.

Heard a buddy using the Novation Peak and loved the quality of sound and of course it’s 3 oscillators so that’s a big sell for me. Solaris and the SE-1X/SE-02 have 3 and 4 Oscillators so wasn’t expecting the Peak to be as big in sound but was pleasantly surprised to see a single synth that can do various legato/re trigger leads, unison 2/4/8 for poly, and the 24k Wavetables are really high quality. The Filters and Envelopes are also excellent.

What a great live synth. Just got done programming several leads, big fat ones and less abusive ones like the 2 different leads for Micheal Jacksons Rock With You. Yes, I do covers, but do them well, and these leads were simple to re create on the Peak. I can recreate any Moog lead sound with the distortion setting in the filter area too.

This is a great cheap do it all in one package for guys who have a great MIDI Controller.
 
It does have it's downside though. I love the Summit (which as you know is the keyboarded Peak) and because it can sound so beautiful you really can lose a lot of time playing and noodling. Instant gratification...and so easy to tweak. It surprised me.
Losing “track” of time is a good thing. :2thumbs:
 
Not used to playing a synth where I tweak a stock preset and make it sound better so quickly.
The best hardware Filter that I have right now is on the Peak.
My Studio Electronics CS80 Clone on the CODE 8 is very nice, especially the LP, but Peaks BPF/HPF and the resonance are killing it.

Damn Filter is so nice I don’t need resonance on the BP/HP like other Filters I have.

It does a good job of retiring the SE-1X/CODE 8/Solaris synths.
Can’t replace them but this synth is very powerful, and way heavier than it looks.
 
Is there any justification or much duplication having a Moog Grandmother alongside the Matrixbrute? @Stephen Baysted mention his MB does most of his Moog Sub 37 tasks, IIRC. @Ned Bouhalassa, as a Grandmother and former MB user, (I think I read) any thought's on the Grandmother? I just picked up a DFAM (lovely deep tone) and while I'm stearing clear of modular, I don't mind dipping into semimodular hence possible Grandmother/DFAM combo.

I do like the Behringer Poly D though aswell as a possibility for that Moog sound. (I'm aware this is paraphonic and Grandmother mono) But only listening experience is from youtube..

Or maybe I should realise enough is enough 🤔
 
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Is there any justification or much duplication having a Moog Grandmother alongside the Matrixbrute? @Stephen Baysted mention his MB does most of his Moog Sub 37 tasks, IIRC. @Ned Bouhalassa, as a Grandmother and former MB user, (I think I read) any thought's on the Grandmother? I just picked up a DFAM (lovely deep tone) and while I'm stearing clear of modular, I don't mind dipping into semimodular hence possible Grandmother/DFAM combo.

I do like the Behringer Poly D though aswell as a possibility for that Moog sound. (I'm aware this is paraplegic and Grandmother mono) But only listening experience is from youtube..

Or maybe I should realise enough is enough 🤔
It's never enough.

The Grandmother is very much worth getting. The MB can't touch it when it comes to raw sound, the Moog filter (I know the MB has the same type, but it's not quite as Moogy-y), the lovingly-distortable mixer section, the spring reverb, how portable it is (the MB, for eg, weighs a TON). It's also super easy to patch, plays well with modular.
 
It's never enough.
Tell me about it - that's what I'm finding. But this one is going to be the last one for now, atleast.

The Grandmother is very much worth getting. The MB can't touch it when it comes to raw sound, the Moog filter (I know the MB has the same type, but it's not quite as Moogy-y), the lovingly-distortable mixer section, the spring reverb, how portable it is (the MB, for eg, weighs a TON). It's also super easy to patch, plays well with modular.
Thanks @Ned Bouhalassa. That was the conclusion I was coming to, so I appreciate your thoughts.
 
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