softsynths and hardware

[pounce]

i gotta say, as some old hardware dinosaur, that logic 8 is finally making me think that selling off my less used keyboards is actually the best thing i could do. the softsynths in logic, or available for logic, are really sounding good. maybe this realization hit other folks earlier, but i wasn't sure that softsynths were a viable replacement for my hardware when i first was messing with them. they were a neat novelty, but seemed very limited. my hardware had them beat. now, the softsynths are quite capable, sound good, and i could imagine using them more than some of the keyboards that i have. freeing up some mixer channels, using less electricity, and taking less space in the room might be good results of moving to softsynths. not totally, though. i still have some cool weird older analog stuff that i'm keeping, no doubt. not a total switch, mind you. but for the first time, after having messed around in logic 8, i had that epiphany. it was the moment that i came to the opinion that softsynths were finally mature enough to be really useful to me. i'm sure there are some logic jockeys here with some favorite softsynths.

a good buddy of mine does major remix work. he uses a lot of logic softsynths, even though his space used to look like mine with all the extra hardware about the room. now he gets as much or more work done in a nice simple room mostly based on logic with almost no external hardware. while i might have begun to protest that move, i heard his results. fan-fucking-tastic. so i shut up.

i'll keep nosing around with logic, but i expect i'll sell maybe 3 or 4 keyboards that i'm using less and turn that money into a new softsynth or something. even if it's only about really new sounds inspiring me more than the older ones i've already heard and used.

so maybe it's logic 8 on an intel mac, maybe it's me, or maybe softsynths really did come of age. but i'm becoming a convert.

[jord]

I sort of discovered Logic's synths in 6. I really got attached to the ES2, coming up with some Moog-like timbres with it to start. When I discovered what the vector panel was all on it, I was totally hooked.

Another one the I've been getting my hooks into lately is Sculpture. That's one synth that has to be taken in piece by piece, but it has a lot in it.

jord

[HOOK]

A downside is that all soft synths are missing out on the sexy knobs.

:grin:


http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/images/roland_system700.jpg



...or one of my favorites:


http://www.digischool.nl/mu/leerlingen/Tijdslijn2/54korg%20700s.jpg




HOOK

[otek]

A downside is that all soft synths are missing out on the sexy knobs.

Well, I suppose stuff like the Arturia stuff and IMPOscar at least display the knobs, but it's sort of like a titty bar.... they're on display but you can't really touch 'em!

:D

otek

[pounce]

i just got a little m-audio ozone to use with my laptop. (i'm just switching my g4 powerbook to an intel macbook pro too). that combo along with logic should get me doing real composition and so forth wherever i am. that's a decent amount of horsepower under the hood. doing that a bit, relying on softsynths entirely when on the macbook pro, i'll know what to do with a few of the lesser used hardware synths. i suspect i'll be making use of the for sale forum for those and looking for more softsynths instead.

[Morph]

One of the new things about logic 8 that pleases me, is the 1ms midi timing, as detailled here:
http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=40101&highlight=
I havent checked it out myself. Havent got 8 yet.
Isnt that back to atari levels? How retro.
Logic external midi has been pretty screwed for a while, so using my old keys is back on the table:Coolio:
Cheers, Morph

[jord]

Well, I suppose stuff like the Arturia stuff and IMPOscar at least display the knobs, but it's sort of like a titty bar.... they're on display but you can't really touch 'em!

And here I thought you were going to say that when you do touch 'em, then don't feel real. :lol:

jord

[pounce]

what softsynths (other than the included ones) are folks using with logic? i've never paid much attention to these lists as i've used the hardware, but now i'm curious. is reason used often by folks here?

[Audio~Geek]

You can check this one out
http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/analog-factory-experience/intro.html

Depending on what you've got I say you keep the hardware.

But I don't use Logic

[pounce]

that looks like a lot of fun.

[otek]

what softsynths (other than the included ones) are folks using with logic?

I don't have it yet..... but I have worked with people using it lately:

The Native Instruments Massive. (http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?massive_us&id=massive&L=0&rdrctd&ftu=9e8c0eb61355633&flash=9)

The name is pretty apt, for sound and CPU requirements alike. :lol:


otek

[jord]

what softsynths (other than the included ones) are folks using with logic? i've never paid much attention to these lists as i've used the hardware, but now i'm curious. is reason used often by folks here?

I like the M-tron and impOSCAR.

jord

[zenpool1]

I'm a Sonar user, vst softsynths-
Absynth 3&4 (great for sound design)
Rob Papen's Albino, Blue
Zeta+
Virsyn Tera
Novation V-Station
Arturia Moogs
GreenOak Crystal (incredible freebee!)
Sytrus
ToxicIII
Protoplasm 2
ImpOSCar
Oddity

Hardware synths-
Roland V-Synth + Vocal card
KARMA+ P.S. Orch. exp
Fantom x-6
JP-8000
Proteus 2000 rack
Rol. XP-60 + orch & Bass Exp. cards
Yamaha Motif 6
Korg N5 (in storage)

My advice is, don't sell your hardware unless
absolutely necessary ($$). Put 'em in storage, (remember
to drain the oil :Wink: ) and in a few years rediscover what
attracted you originally. Softsynths are great, but imo,
lack the sex appeal.

Kirk

[HOOK]

Korg Legacy collection is a lot of fun! But then again is do have hardware (sort of) knobs!!:grin:

http://www.synthtopia.com/news/04_10/images/Korg_Legacy_Collection.jpg






HOOK

[HOOK]

sorry forgot

Korg Trident mkII
Korg Poly 800
Korg PolySix
Roland D-50
Roland Juno106
Roland JV 1080
Roland MT32
Bit99
Kawai GMega
Alesis NanoSynth
DeepBassNine
EMU E4K
Yamaha SK20
Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DX21
Yamaha EX-1
Logan StringMelody II (gonna collect that one, one of these days, oTek!!!:) )
Bontempi ChordOrgan

a couple or 8 modules I cannot remember...


not that any of you wanted to know that...:Roll eyes:



HOOK

[eagan]

Bontempi Chord Organ! Woohoo!

Actually, there was one of those around the house when I was a kid. I don't know whatever happened to it. Church rummage sale, I suspect.

I don't know what to tell you about this, pounce, because this really is kind of personal stuff. Some people like to hang on to every bit of gear they've ever acquired, just because if they thought it was cool and useful once, it will probably be useful sometime again.

Some people can get a little out of hand in that way, though, the pack rat mentality can be a problem.

On the other hand, all of us know, or are one of these people, somebody who has regularly overhauled their inventory of stuff, cleared out some things and replaced them with whatever the fashion of the year was, and regretted it mightily later on.

I used to be skeptical about virtual instrument softsynth stuff myself, although that faded as the computer hardware got to the point where it finally seemed like a reasonable practical idea.

I now use a bunch. However, I don't necessarily see all that as a replacement for actual keyboards. I bought the Minimonsta plugin a couple of years ago, for example, and I dig the shit out of it. I've never owned a Minimoog. If I did own a Minimoog, I don't think I would have unloaded it.

For that matter, I don't even pay much attention to anything about how accurate an emulation is in some software version of some existing instrument. My view is, it is what it is. Do you like the way it sounds and the way it works, or not? If it's, for example, a "virtual Minimoog", I'm not going to bother getting a Minimoog set up alongside and doing side by side lab tests setting up patches on both to see if they are really exactly identical or not. I don't give a fuck. To me that's irrelevant. It is a thing in itself, and I like it or I don't.

I would say, hey, go ahead and get yourself some softsynth instruments. But whether or not you get rid of the existing stuff, that's up to you. I would say get rid of stuff if you look at it and think "shit, I haven't used this since 1992" or something. I wouldn't suggest it would be good to unload it based on the idea that you now have a software plugin version, so it's been replaced and is now redundant.


JLE

[pounce]

yeah, i'll forever have the really cool hardware. there is no doubt of that. but i'm not trying to be a pack rat. if i'm not using something i'm perfectly happy to sell it and use the money to buy things i will use. i try to be as pragmatic as possible. this isn't an overly emotional situation for me. the few least used pieces of mine could be replaced and likely bettered by good softsynths. my analog jewels will remain in the stable, though! i wonder about freeing up mixer inputs, reducing the heat/electricity/space requirements of keeping more things around than i'm using. i'd rather use those mixer channels for something more useful.

[zenpool1]

I wonder how many wish they hadn't ditched the
Jupiter 8 now, or the old Juno..?

Fashionable sounds tend to cycle, although I
have my doubts about future Trinity lust :grin:

kirk

[pounce]

for the record, i still have both my jupiter and juno and some other cool ones. i love my chroma polaris. and i'll just always have to keep my esq1 and d50.

[otek]

I have my doubts about future Trinity lust


I don't.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/IMAGES/71/039_68986.jpg

:D


otek

[HOOK]

Som sagt schysta rattar!! :grin:

(You can´t translate that, but)....Nice knobs! :Roll eyes:



HOOK

[eagan]

Funny how there is such a life cycle to all this stuff, isn't it?

I mean, stuff comes out. Everybody goes ooh and aah. The latest greatest thing. Later newer stuff comes out. Old stuff seems like stale stinky trash. The mob goes "eeeuuuw! look at this old stuff, how did we ever think that was so cool! get rid of it! gimme dat new stuff!".

A few years pass.

"Oh, man, that old stuff really was cool! It was <insert stuff>! We want that back again!"

But even then, for some reason some stuff doesn't come back. Like, when was the last time you heard somebody with some sudden attack of retro synth lust going nuts over finding, say, an Arp Omni or an Ensoniq VFX?


JLE

[HOOK]

...or a Bontempi ChordOrgan??? :Razz:


some stuff`s best forgotten!






HOOK

[waterboy]

Well, I suppose stuff like the Arturia stuff and IMPOscar at least display the knobs, but it's sort of like a titty bar.... they're on display but you can't really touch 'em!

:D

otek


That's more reason why everybody should follow my lead - and grow their very own Man-Boobs!!! I can touch 'em all day long!

Whoa-momma!!
:lol:

[jord]

That's more reason why everybody should follow my lead - and grow their very own Man-Boobs!!! I can touch 'em all day long!

Whoa-momma!!
:lol:

Do you sample yourself while playing with your knobs? If not, then you're really just wasting your time. :D

jord

[waterboy]

:lol:

[Fulcrum]

Lack of tactile gratification is exactly why I chose a Keystation Pro 88 to control my Logic synths. Eventually I will start tweaking... but Mainstage has made it easy to just go with the presets.

And I love me some Logic synths, boyee. I even get non-musicians fawning over the keyboard timbres, and I haven't even gotten as far past the Hammonds and Yamahahaha pianos.

[waterboy]

Fulcrum: have you had any problems with mapping the controls on the Pro 88?

Are you a piano player?

[Fulcrum]

I play keys, yes.

What maybe didn't get through with my last post was that up to now I haven't actually done very much messing with the mappings at all, and that I intend to. Because I have seen it done, so I know it works... but as to the mechanics of doing it, I'm at a loss for the time being.

[MacGregor]

I play keys, yes.

What maybe didn't get through with my last post was that up to now I haven't actually done very much messing with the mappings at all, and that I intend to. Because I have seen it done, so I know it works... but as to the mechanics of doing it, I'm at a loss for the time being.

The Keystations have a little program included which lets you
configure the cc messages + MIDI channels for each fader/knob.

If your plug-in supports MIDI cc messages and your DAW of choice
forwards those to the plug-ins (I don't use Logic, so I don't know)
it's just a couple of mouse-clicks to get things working.

Mac
.

[waterboy]

Thanks for the input, fellas.

I appreciate it.

[seagate]

Hey pounce,
before you decide to sell or put your hardware into storage, use Autosampler (http://www.redmatica.com/Redmatica/AutoSampler.html) to sample all your favs sounds into the EXS...

You get the best of both worlds that way, all your hardware in a softsynth... :grin:

[chckn8r]

Hey pounce,
before you decide to sell or put your hardware into storage, use Autosampler (http://www.redmatica.com/Redmatica/AutoSampler.html) to sample all your favs sounds into the EXS...

Seagate - this is awesome!

The hoops you have to go through to get patches into an "environment" plus having to record a hardware synth is just painful these days - much easier to just plug in a soft-synth and go for it...

The price is definitely going to be off-set by Craigslist returns me thinks!

- Dave