Synthex and Jupiter 8 <3 -- you should get an Andromeda and ditch the Virus.

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Or just ditch the Virus, be happy with two of the nicest analog polysynths ever made, and put the money into as many spare parts as you can find for them, so you can continue to be happy with them.

quote:

Originally posted by hexadecimal Or just ditch the Virus, be happy with two of the nicest analog polysynths ever made, and put the money into as many spare parts as you can find for them, so you can continue to be happy with them.

quote:

Originally posted by alanzo Synthex and Jupiter 8 <3 -- you should get an Andromeda and ditch the Virus.

What's up with all the virus hatin? I like my TI. Although I do agree that soft synths are catching up with Virus. It's hard to justify keeping the virus if you're not a gigging/live musician when you have so many other synths and soft synths are pretty darn good.

though the thought did cross my mind. however, I always end up getting virus again, as I like it's sound A LOT... and I'm pretty comfortable using it these days.

BTW, I had Andromeda and Matrix 12 before - which I both sold and I'll be honest, I don't really miss them. Andromeda was perhaps the most overrated of all synths I ever owned. And yes, I did not use just presets but it just didn't do anything for me. It took TOOO FUCKING LONG to get it to sound different from everything else. It has the most bland sound and I doubt anyone could ever ID it in a mix. You can hear Virus or Moog or Jupiter or Elka and say - THIS IS such and such synth. With Andromeda it lacked it's own characters and it was perhaps the most digital sounding analog I ever played with.

Speaking of overrated synths, I also had Prophet VS, Prophet 08, DSI MEK, and DSI PEK which I also sold swearing to never purchase another sequential or DSI gear again, Pro 5 included... no offense.. just didn't do anything at all for me.

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My 2 next dream synths are: Hartmann Neuron Kbd and VSC3. Esp. after watching Dark Side of the Moon documentary, I really started to lust after EMS Synthi / VSC3 - that would probably be my first (pseudo)modular.

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quote:

this thread (well not this, but the dj-booth-variant of it) got stickied in the djbooth, should we do the same? its always coming up again anyway?

+1 I agree

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Originally posted by aNYthing What's up with all the virus hatin? I like my TI. Although I do agree that soft synths are catching up with Virus. It's hard to justify keeping the virus if you're not a gigging/live musician when you have so many other synths and soft synths are pretty darn good. though the thought did cross my mind. however, I always end up getting virus again, as I like it's sound A LOT... and I'm pretty comfortable using it these days. BTW, I had Andromeda and Matrix 12 before - which I both sold and I'll be honest, I don't really miss them. Andromeda was perhaps the most overrated of all synths I ever owned. And yes, I did not use just presets but it just didn't do anything for me. It took TOOO FUCKING LONG to get it to sound different from everything else. It has the most bland sound and I doubt anyone could ever ID it in a mix. You can hear Virus or Moog or Jupiter or Elka and say - THIS IS such and such synth. With Andromeda it lacked it's own characters and it was perhaps the most digital sounding analog I ever played with. Speaking of overrated synths, I also had Prophet VS, Prophet 08, DSI MEK, and DSI PEK which I also sold swearing to never purchase another sequential or DSI gear again, Pro 5 included... no offense.. just didn't do anything at all for me.

I enjoyed your insight here.

I sold my TI this past summer after owning it for about three years and designing a sound bank (see my sig). The main reasons:

*Using the Virus|Control is way too buggy and kind of sucked the fun out of owning a hardware instrument. The synth has gotten so damn complicated that you practically *have* to use the software interface to get reasonable access to all its features, but it's buggy and annoying -- always adding little clips and digital artifacts into the track as well as voices randomly cutting out when the CPU load goes up. Then, when you play through the track again, it would either sound perfect or there would be voices cutting out/digital artifacts somewhere else! Inconsistent and very annoying.

*I didn't feel the instrument was capable of anything that my current line up can't do better (Waldorf Q, Waldorf XT, Nord Lead 3, Alesis Andromeda).

*The instruments character is a bit too easy to pick up on. In this genre, I think it to be detrimental if someone can hear that you're using the same damn thing everyone else does. Makes you seem uninspired.

Although I have been thinking about getting an original Access Virus. I kind of feel they may have gotten it perfect the first time. All the main features are accessible right from the knobs, no space wasted on FX, and even though it doesn't have the third osc, I always found that to do little or nothing, especially when it already has a dedicated sub osc. While, as I said, its sound can be noticed VERY easily, it's capable of sounding quite unique when used right. And for $350 or so, I figure I'll give it a try. I do love this audio demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrjR02Ju7UE

About the Andromeda, I suppose I can see not owning an Andromeda when you already have a JP8 and a SYnthex. I look at my Andy as the closest I'll ever come to owning a Jupiter 8. Not necessarily I feel it's impossible, but because I don't want to put that much $$ into something that is "old" technology. The Andromeda may not sound quite like a classic analog, but where it lacks there it makes up for it with voices, modulation capabilities, multi-timbrel capabilities, and other various features like having LFOs for every voice. You get all that for about $1750 used. PLUS, there were a lot of these made, so parts or a replacement will be easy to find if ever needed. I've heard lots of people complain about the Andromeda's sound, but I like it. It can definitely sound A LOT like a classic analog but still has a very modern punch and character.

On the DSI side of things, I've owned both a Prophet 08 and a PEK. I wasn't too fond of either and eventually sold. Even after I designed a sound bank for the Prophet 08. Its sound was very gritty and sloppy rather than punchy. Although I kind of like the Tetra since it has multi-timbrel capabilities. I may get one some day if I can find an easy way to get my patches on it. I have been meaning to email DSI about this.

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Last edited by alanzo on Dec-13-2009 at 01:42

quote:

Originally posted by aNYthing My 2 next dream synths are: Hartmann Neuron Kbd and VSC3. Esp. after watching Dark Side of the Moon documentary, I really started to lust after EMS Synthi / VSC3 - that would probably be my first (pseudo)modular.

I'm on the waiting list (for several years now) for a brand new VCS3. They're great synths, and it looks like Robin Wood is finally getting things in order to start building them again.

Having said that, though, I'm not sure I'd suggest it to anyone who didn't already know exactly what they were going to get. They're selling for idiotic amounts of money right now, and it's really not "a lot" of synth for the money. It's rather limited, and mainly just has a following because of how unique it sounds. It also doesn't really have typical CV control inputs and outputs, instead going with some strange custom connection (designed to work with the keyboards made by EMS). Makes it difficult to integrate with the rest of a studio, unless you're just planning to use it as a stand alone modular with no external control.

Prepare a large repair savings account for a Neuron. I know a few people who have them, and all of them have ended up spending at least 2-3k keeping them up and running since they got them. It's a cool synth, but, ehh... Maybe look into the new Acxel for something similar, possibly a bit cheaper (or a lot more expensive, depending on options), and in my opinion, more interesting? http://www.acxel2.com/

The fact that it's new and still supported, already puts it way ahead of the Neuron in my book.

quote:

Originally posted by hexadecimal I'm on the waiting list (for several years now) for a brand new VCS3. They're great synths, and it looks like Robin Wood is finally getting things in order to start building them again. Having said that, though, I'm not sure I'd suggest it to anyone who didn't already know exactly what they were going to get. They're selling for idiotic amounts of money right now, and it's really not "a lot" of synth for the money. It's rather limited, and mainly just has a following because of how unique it sounds. It also doesn't really have typical CV control inputs and outputs, instead going with some strange custom connection (designed to work with the keyboards made by EMS). Makes it difficult to integrate with the rest of a studio, unless you're just planning to use it as a stand alone modular with no external control. Prepare a large repair savings account for a Neuron. I know a few people who have them, and all of them have ended up spending at least 2-3k keeping them up and running since they got them. It's a cool synth, but, ehh... Maybe look into the new Acxel for something similar, possibly a bit cheaper (or a lot more expensive, depending on options), and in my opinion, more interesting? http://www.acxel2.com/ The fact that it's new and still supported, already puts it way ahead of the Neuron in my book.

EMS may be a pipe dream - I think Jupiter and Synthex will be as impractical as I'll get, in terms of overpaying for something. As far as Neuron goes, my understanding was that inside it was nothing more than a PC running a ported version of Linux and "Neuron" app on a hard drive, connected to front panel controllers + keyboard.

How hard would it be to fix a PC?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmann_Neuron

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You guys and your tens of thousands of dollars in synths make me feel so pathetic. My biggest dillema of the last few months is whether or not to spend a few hundred bucks replacing my Prophet 08 with an SE ATC-Xi Quad or SE-1X.

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quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik You guys and your tens of thousands of dollars in synths make me feel so pathetic. My biggest dillema of the last few months is whether or not to spend a few hundred bucks replacing my Prophet 08 with an SE ATC-Xi Quad or SE-1X.

On that note, I've sold my Pulse and am in the process of seling my ATC-1 because mono synths bug the piss out of me. You should get an Alesis Andromeda. My sound bank is almost ready for its first release.

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quote:

Originally posted by alanzo You should get an Alesis Andromeda.

I don't have room for an Andromeda. And, if I did buy one, the wife would probably make me sleep in the box that it came in.

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