Hardware bass synths

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lunarodyssey
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by lunarodyssey »

one of the main things why i want to buy analog bass synth is that i don't like do everything with pc..with vst. i want real thing which i can play and feel.. and other reason is for sure - real analog sound.
steevio
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by steevio »

lunarodyssey wrote:one of the main things why i want to buy analog bass synth is that i don't like do everything with pc..with vst. i want real thing which i can play and feel.. and other reason is for sure - real analog sound.
i feel sorry for you mate, all you want is a nice analogue bass synth, and people are trying to get you to do just about anything else instead.

bass is easy, there's so many threads on here about bass and ive given up commenting on them, because i find bass just about the easiest thing to deal with in synthesis, i am quite happy with one envelope, one waveform, one oscillator, keep it simple, i dont find that limiting at all for bass.

the SH101 is great for bass, but you'll need to buy a midi/CV convertor, and there's no velocity sensitivity, which means all your notes will be full velocity. this doesnt matter so much for bass, but sometimes i find i want to drop a note in the bassline down a little to help with the groove. there are ways round this, but it does have a slight limiting effect.

the Minotaur doesnt have pulsewidth control, no good for bass imo. no control over harmonics ? -no good. for me its probably the most important thing for bass.

for the money, i think the Dark Energy is really good value. havent used one though, so i dont know how it sounds in the flesh.

Moog Phatty, you'll get an awesome sound but there's not enough realtime control, where's the knobs ?? whats the point ?

btw i'm a massive fan of Moogs, the sound is amazing, but these two are lacking in controls for me.
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tone-def
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by tone-def »

steevio wrote:the Minotaur doesnt have pulsewidth control, no good for bass imo. no control over harmonics ? -no good. for me its probably the most important thing for bass.
Moog disagrees :)

What I like about the minitaur is you can have the oscillators reset every time you play a note. I think this sounds so much better than free running oscillators when it comes to things like bass and kick drums.
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Rein
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by Rein »

in addition to steevio: there's a poor man's solution for controlling the sh101.... just hook up a jack from your audio interface to the sh101, and play a 1 bar loop filled with 1/16th notes. then tweak the volume / envelope of the input till it works. then you can use the internal sequencer.

however, the midi - cv interface is of course nicer!
...
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Phase Ghost
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by Phase Ghost »

Don't forget the Vermona monolancet. The demo's I listened to were very good. No pulsewidth control on the square though.
steevio
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by steevio »

tone-def wrote:
steevio wrote:the Minotaur doesnt have pulsewidth control, no good for bass imo. no control over harmonics ? -no good. for me its probably the most important thing for bass.
Moog disagrees :)

What I like about the minitaur is you can have the oscillators reset every time you play a note. I think this sounds so much better than free running oscillators when it comes to things like bass and kick drums.
i wonder if Bob Moog himself would have included a PW control ?

synth designers dont always make the right decisions, and that to me was a very bad decision, i would have definitely considered the Minitaur for bass if it had Pulsewaves. how much extra circuitry would have been required ? very little and one knob.
its one of the most basic things in analogue synthesis.

reset is only really useful if you have two oscillators running together, personally i prefer one VCO for bass and kick, so it wouldnt be that useful to me.
lunarodyssey
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by lunarodyssey »

maybe i should wait. this summer come new toy http://www.waldorfmusic.de/en/products/pulse-2.html look like very nice. 3osciliators,pulse with...perfect for bass
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Re: Hardware bass synths

Post by tone-def »

there is always something new around the corner. there is also the SE boomstar that is in the works.
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