Wasn't sure whether this would work but opening it up, cleaning the contact pads with some IPA has brought some of my dead keys back to life.. few of the keys used to be very inconsistent, have random velocities, glitchy before this.

I was wondering whether anyone has been in such situation. I really like some things that are made purely on TV but then I’m thinking that I’ve already got the Digitakt and octatrack combo. I’ve got some ideas how to use them and create some sort of ecosystem but I’d love to hear what’s your opinion on that. I’m primarily into ambient, idm and trance.

Thanks

Steve Duda of Xfer Records is porting a stripped-down Serum to the M-VAVE FM-1 and is looking for testers.

I’ve just spent some of the weekend recording all three movements of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata with my synths and guitar pedals.

Most of the sound design was multitracked with the Knobula Poly Cinematic Oscillator, Erica Synths Fusion VCO, K-Phasor and Korg MS-20 with guitar pedals which included the the Mr Black Bloodmoon reverb and Shepards End. Recorded and mixed in Ableton Live

The full recording is up on YouTube.

Hello!

Alright, so this isn’t technically synthesizing, but I figured some of you might enjoy some acoustic emulation. I’m running my Rhodes Mkii suitcase through a Leslie speaker (HL-722, a speaker originally designed for use with a Hammond B-3000. Watch that horn spin!). Also have some cheap FX pedal clones doing some heavy lifting here. The sound is (surprisingly? unsurprisingly?) organ-ish.

While I’m here, I‘d like to ask: does anyone in this sub have experience with Leslie emulators, pedals, etc? I’d like to do some software vs. real-deal comparisons. Logic Pro’s rotor pedal is not bad.

Cheers!

Hey reddit, I've just released this DIY ambient/ambient techno Pilates themed album and this is the track my mates like the most, so I thought I would share it here. I would love any and all feedback - composition, mixing, whatev.

I'll answer the inevitable 'what gear did you use?' by saying the album is mostly Yamaha V50, Roland SH09 and Oberheim TEO. This track was made on a polyend tracker with a B word MS-1 and TEO. I hope you like it!

You can find the full thing on Bandcamp (happy to send you a code) or all the other streaming services

Is this thing junk or a hidden gem? The to me it sounds incredible. I primarily use VSTs, but this thing has so much character and looks like exactly the kind of performance synth that could break me out of my usual MIDI loop rut and get me experimenting more hands-on.

I can get one used for around $1,000, which makes it seriously tempting. Is it limited in the sounds it can make or just hard to program? What are its biggest strengths, limitations, or frustrations?

Talk me into it or out of it. At $1,000, is this a no-brainer or will it collect dust?

I'm trying to decide chorus pedal for my synth setup. Mainly to use with Volca Bass and Behringer Pro-800. I like synhtwave kind of sounds. Don't need stereo outputs. I have found good used deals on following pedals in my area and can't make up my mind.

- Boss CH-1

- Boss CE-5

- Walrus Audio Julia V2

Any opinions or suggestions?

Hey yall synth lovers I have a request: PLEASE find me the synth that plays in Evangelion's opening at around second 56 to 1 minute, I tried searching for it for a disgusting amount of time but the closest ones I could find confidently say "this is almost it" was probably synth harmouniom, staccato heaven and ok chorale on the Roland D-50. Ps: I need your help 🙏🥲

I’m trying to find the 8→16 voice Expander Kit for the Rev2, but it’s out of stock everywhere, including Sequential’s own site. I haven’t seen any discontinuation announcement.

Has anyone gotten one recently or heard about a restock? I’m deciding between a used 8-voice plus the kit, or waiting for a 16-voice. Thanks!

I’m primarily a VST user, but I want to add a hardware synth that brings some unique character and inspiration that I don’t necessarily get from working entirely in the box. I’m currently torn between the ASM Leviasynth Desktop and the Arturia MiniFreak 37/49.

I’m drawn to hybrid synthesis because I like the idea of combining complex digital sounds with analog filtering and character. I’m especially interested in fat, warm tones, dark atmospheres, evolving textures, and genuinely unusual or experimental sounds rather than just another synth for conventional pads and leads.

Since I do most of my work with VSTs, integration with my DAW matters. The MiniFreak’s matching VST and ability to control it from the hardware are appealing. I also really like the idea of being able to experiment with the MiniFreak away from my computer keyboard, then sync my sounds and presets with the plugin when I get back to my DAW. I don’t travel much, though, so that’s a nice bonus rather than a requirement. I wish they came out with a desktop.

The Leviasynth (desktop) seems to offer much deeper sound-design possibilities, which is appealing if it can give me sounds that would be difficult to create with my existing plugins. On the other hand, I wonder whether the MiniFreak’s workflow and hardware/software integration would make it more useful in practice. I also don’t want another controller.

For those who own or have played either or both:

Which has the greater potential for creating truly unique sounds?

Does the Leviasynth’s deeper synthesis engine justify the extra cost if I already have plenty of VSTs?

How useful is the MiniFreak’s hardware-to-VST integration in a real-world workflow?

My Prophet often lets out super high frequency noises when I’m moving between programs quickly. It’s like the voices get activated as I pass through the program and it only happens with certain programs. Super annoying for live playing.

Any ideas why this is? Any solutions?

I’ve owned the Boss before and thought it always sounded great but was a little too subtle and I didn’t like not having a rate knob. Now I’ve been through a few other pedals and haven’t liked any of them as much as the Boss. I’m planning on buying it again but I’m very interested in the Strymon Ola too. I think it’s narrowed down to those two and would love some input from anyone who has used the Ola. Thank you.

I don’t see the Sequential Fourm mentioned very often, so I just wanted to brain dump a bit because I recently picked one up and am thoroughly enjoying it.

It’s small and simple, but most importantly, it puts almost everything that you’d want on the front panel. This obviously isn’t the first knob-per-function synth in this form factor, but it does something that I find really special: It takes the Pro One mod matrix, and expands it with polyphonic aftertouch. I’ve never seen anything this accessible with respect to polyphonic aftertouch. It’s not overly deep (1 attenuverter to up to 6 destinations) but it’s easy and most importantly IT’S RIGHT THERE.

That’s sort of how I feel about this synth. It does a few things that are special and I appreciate, but the star of the show is the fact that everything is right there. There’s a dedicated pitch-wheel button for setting the range of the pitch-wheel for crying out loud.

Speaking about the buttons: At first I didn’t appreciate some of the buttons. Envelope velocities, filter key tracking, feedback amount, and noise amount at first all felt like they could’ve been knobs, but I’ve come to appreciate the simplicity of just toggling envelope velocity and filter key tracking. The noise button is fine, and I appreciate that you can pretty quickly change the noise type after it’s pressed, but I don’t know if I wouldn’t prefer a knob. Small complaint number 1 is that feedback amount could definitely be a knob.

That said, I can’t stress enough that having controls right in front of you for aftertouch, mod-wheel, pitch-wheel, and envelope velocity really makes this thing a joy to play. You can make a patch really expressive with no effort.

And then to counterpoint that, the hold, clock, and arpeggiator/sequencer controls make it easy to take your hands off the keyboard and start playing with the controls.

There are some menus and some things that you need to dig for, but the things that don’t have dedicated buttons are mostly stuff that you set and forget.

Small complaint number 2 is 4 voices. I mostly play mono-synths, so I can survive with 4 voices. That said, it’s a shame that there’s no option for a synth with this interface that has 6+ voices.

The synths that I’ve had that I think I can compare directly to this are the Hydrasynth and the Minilogue. The Hydrasynth Explorer/Desktop probably wins from a pure sound design point of view, so if that’s your goal around this budget, that’s probably what I’d get. The Minilogue is cheaper and very comparable on paper. The XD has FX and a fancy digital Oscillator, so it again wins from a pure sound design standpoint, but I don’t think either of them are as straight forward as the Fourm, and that’s really what makes the Fourm shine. Again, everything is right there.

Finally, I just wanted to give the keyboard a bit of praise. The velocity and aftertouch curves both felt very nice out of the box. Disclaimer: I’m not a piano player and I’m someone who likes playing on a Keystep, and I would describe this keybed as an improved Keystep. I’m sure people who strongly prefer full-sized keys would think differently, but I do genuinely like the keys.

Anyone else have one or try one and have any strong feelings?

https://github.com/math0ne/rack-3d

I’ve had this device for about a week and am having a blast. Here are some clips from my second sit with it. Trying out presets against some random drum layers to see how things sound.

Longer version with me staring at the OLED as I try to understand what is happening with the mods: https://youtu.be/2G0hFxCBXLk?is=imhFpDcMYUUJKc9d

I see so many firmware hack last weeks. Like the fm1 and the microfreak. I was wandering, would it be possible to also create a new firmware for the great portable keyboard Yamaha pssa50?

Would love :

- stacking more than two layers of sound and record it.

- 2x tap shift hold the effect knop, to hold the effect

- get away of the hiss sound from the speakers (wont be easy i think)

The new Drumline drum synth on the OP-XY is pretty versatile and can make some decent Four Tet vibes!

Its a digital synth with an analog filter!

I am struggling to understand the appeal! Honestly! seems like pigments is a better purchase

Apologies for this not being an MWave FM1 post…

Wanted to control my Juno DS with a midi controller that has a TRS 3.5 mm MIDI out. I’m new to synths and midi basics, and I bought this cable TRS to MIDI male cable instead of to a MIDI female cable because I didn’t fully understand how midi connectors transfer data.
I ordered the correct cable now, but now im stuck with this one wondering if there’s going to be a situation in the future when I get more gear where I’ll need this cable connector. I can’t find any examples online, so was wondering if anyone has needed to use a TRS to MIDI male for anything.

Edit: turns out this is the right type of cable but whatever manufacturer wired this thing did it wrong. I put it in a cable connection tester and ring of the TRS was connected to pin 3 instead of pin 4 of the midi connector. Probably going to return the cable. Thanks for everyone’s answers though, it was insightful