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Hardware Appreciation
Vote for your FAvorite SYNTH!
I'm a sucker for my JP-8080, personally... but I've heard tracks made with Virus, and the only reason I'm not aiming for that breed of synths is because I'm lookng for something "out of the loop" (what the heck is that) for my synthesis needs -- VST or hardware.
To be quite honest I love all the synths... and i will eventually get all of them in my colection. They have their own personalities..and I think when you get down how to use each to its potential you can have some really intresting sounding tracks. But i love all of those synths... especially the virus cuz its my First hardware synth.
Mister Novation looks angry at you, so does former mister Waldorf. Not to mention Yamaha, Oberheim, Korg, .. I've owned a few but I still prefer my yammy an1x above the nova and the microQ. This might change of course this summer with the virus TI.
virus all the way 
imho the best sounding VA out there is the virus, even the B is top notch. the waldorfs are most of the time a bit cold and digital which isn't really the sound which satisfy me.
the jp-80X0 has a great supersaw when used correctly otherwise it doesn't produce a lot of sounds which i use very often.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by thecYrus virus all the way imho the best sounding VA out there is the virus, even the B is top notch. the waldorfs are most of the time a bit cold and digital which isn't really the sound which satisfy me. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DeZmA Mister Novation looks angry at you, so does former mister Waldorf. Not to mention Yamaha, Oberheim, Korg, .. I've owned a few but I still prefer my yammy an1x above the nova and the microQ. This might change of course this summer with the virus TI. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DeZmA Have you ever heard the vengeance soundset on it? It's pretty impressive. The only reason I'm selling it in a month is the lousy programming. I hate that matrix, especially with the synthesis capabilities it has. |
I haven't tried many hardware synths so I can't actually give any comparisons, but I'm completely in love with my Virus TI. The sound is fucking amazing and it's a bloody joy to program. I entertain myself for hours just throwing down a simple 4/4 and turning knobs on the virus while pressing random keys on my keyboard =P
Agreed. The virus is a joy to program. It takes a long time to get used to its quirks but after a while you start to realise why everything is laid out the way it is and why you seem to have jump through mod matrix hoops to get any decent sounds out of it.
Once you have gotten the hang of programming it (and it does take a long time) I consider it to be the most flexible VA ever made. The design of it is absolute genius and the sound shaping possibilities are mind boggling. If you could import user waveshapes and you could set any variable as a source in the mod matrix then it really would have near limitless sound design capabilities...
I didn't vote.
How can you have such a poll and not include ONE real analog synth? Hell, my AFM2 TG-77 can sound more analog than some of those.
Sorry to play the old fart card, but if you want raw sickness (and not FXed up shiny) analog rocks...
That said I have some sick microwave basses that put down practically any thing. Deep, rich, but with digital prescence. Acess are great, but waldorf (rip) pwns them.
VAs are glorified VSTis. Not to knock either, but they're like diet pepsi to coke. Not "the real thing".
When they're not being VAs but VDs (ouch!) Thing like absynth, fm7 and the korg digital legacy rock, and in many cases are BETTER than the original hardware..
Discuss. :-)
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Diginerd but they're like diet pepsi to coke. Not "the real thing". |
I wish i could buy me a virus synth. 
Although Reacktor 5 does the job for be quite gud hey!
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Reactance I wish i could buy me a virus synth. Although Reacktor 5 does the job for be quite gud hey! |
I didn't vote.
How can you have such a poll and not include ONE real analog synth? Hell, my AFM2 TG-77 can sound more analog than some of those.
Sorry to play the old fart card, but if you want raw sickness (and not FXed up shiny) analog rocks...
That said I have some sick microwave basses that put down practically any thing. Deep, rich, but with digital prescence. Acess are great, but waldorf (rip) pwns them.
VAs are glorified VSTis. Not to knock either, but they're like diet pepsi to coke. Not "the real thing".
When they're not being VAs but VDs (ouch!) Thing like absynth, fm7 and the korg digital legacy rock, and in many cases are BETTER than the original hardware..
Discuss. :-)
You cant compare analogue synths and virtual analogue synths though. At one point you could but its beyond that debate now.
There is no analogue synth that has a specification similar to an Access Virus B or a Nord Lead 3. If there was, it would be totally made of discrete circuitry, would consequently cost a fortune, weigh over a tonne and be so big, you would have trouble getting it through your front door.
The great advantage of VAs like an Access Virus is that you can literally model any analogue sound on it fairly closely. And you can create digital sounds and mix between the two of them. You wont be able to exactly recreate analogue behaviour all of the time and sometimes you just come up short anyway. But try getting an alpha juno 2 to sound like a jupiter 6. Not a chance in hell.
An Access Virus? You can fool people into thinking its a Jupiter 6, an Alpha Juno and a Minimoog. It just takes alot of work - a hell load more work that owning all of those aforementioned synths and just letting rip. And you wont be able to clone them all exactly. But you can get close enough to fool anyone that doesnt own a Minimoog. Or a Alpha Juno 2 etc.
Besides - reliability and control are something you have more of with a VA. I cant live without MIDI now so it seriously affects my decision to buy analogue if it doesnt have MIDI capability. I tend to think of VAs as 'work horse' synths. You only need 1 and you can build a gigantic palette of stock sounds out of it. Something which you cant quite do with those classic monos and polys.
And after all that, VAs are cheaper and more versatile. Arguably not as good sounding for making analogue sounds but for the price difference? Give me the extra oscillators, LFOs, mod matrix, polyphony, filters, filter routing and programmability any time over the price of a Voyager.
Dont get me wrong though. If a Voyager turned up on my doorstep free of charge, and compliments of tranceaddict.com, I would quit my job and remix classic moog tracks for the rest of my life.
So then - anyone want to send my a Voyager? My address is...
I voted virus! But the TI stands out by a mile on the rest due to it's interface and user-friendlyness. I'm missing the Alesis Amdromeda to vote for!
i own a Virus C and jp-8080. Love em both but i have to lean more with the virus 
Heh, seems like I was one of the few that voted for the Nord. As much as I love the versatility and sound of the Virus, I just tend to reach for the Nord 3 when I want to quickly program a sound I have in mind. It's just very, very intuitive. The Virus is obviously better for those "big" sounds like certain leads and basses, but the Nord is the synth I reach for the most.
I didnt vote either - because as you say, the Nord Lead is a cracking good synth. I loved playing on a Nord Lead 2X because its just so god damn...playable.
When sound designing you have to program a Virus. With a Nord, its not that complicated - you can literally build sounds on the fly - something you would be hard pressed to do on a Virus.
Has probably the best layout of any VA on the market - theres no sub menus. No flicking through abstract variables in some archaic LCD screen using cheap buttons which go sticky after 6 months use. What you see on the control surface is what you use to make sounds. No phucking about. If the Nord Lead 2X keyboard was better and had aftertouch, it would be even more awesome.
The pitch stick is also a stroke of genius. The best way to simulate real vibrato and 10 times more expressive for this purpose than a pitch wheel.
For this reason, I found playing a Nord to be inspirational at times. You can really get fired up in a way I find much more difficult on a Virus...You just do everything twice as fast and you keep all the momentum you would otherwise lose.
It doesnt matter that you cant create the kind of complex sounds you can with a Virus. The sounds arent as important with Nord in my opinion as the expressiveness of the person playing it. Its almost a completely different instrument.
But I love my Virus B for its amazing complexity...2 different synths though. I dont view them as being comparible in terms of what they each set out to do.
I am all about. The Nord Lead.
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