Mastodawn

Shadowbait Aug 14, 2023

Synth & Music Enthusiasts Discord Server

Synth & Music Enthusiasts Discord Server - waveform.social

Since this community is going away and at least one other person sounded interested in a Discord server, I’ve gone ahead and created one: https://discord.gg/CsGN9zzC [https://discord.gg/CsGN9zzC] I’ve created channels for synthesizers and music production so far, but I’m very open to adding other channels depending on interest. If this doesn’t get any traction in the next week or so it will probably be abandoned, so please drop in soon if you’re at all interested. (I’m “Thoughtquake” on Discord.)

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Shadowbait Jun 26, 2023

Maybe I should call this a “Weekly” discussion instead of a specific day of the week. It always felt odd to me to post in the “Friday hangout” after Friday, but I know some people did.

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Shadowbait Jun 26, 2023

I decided to keep the SH-4D, mostly for drum/percussion sounds.

I’ve ripped out all the percussion tracks from most of my music of the past few years after hearing that Splice allegedly doesn’t vet their samples properly, and confirming that their terms of service include a “use at your own risk” clause to avoid any responsibility on their end.

I do have other trustworthy sources of samples, but redoing so much is a daunting task and I wanted something portable and fun to help me get through it. The SH-4D’s interface isn’t my favorite, but it’s got a good amount of hands-on tweakability and I honestly can’t find a better drum machine for the price, even if that’s not its primary purpose. I’m sure I’ll make use of the synth parts too eventually.

Shadowbait Jun 26, 2023

Sunday Discussion Lounge (6/25/2023)

https://waveform.social/post/61314

Sunday Discussion Lounge (6/25/2023) - waveform.social

I think one of the things that helped keep r/synthesizers active was the automatic creation of weekly threads like “Friday Hangout”, where you could leave casual thoughts that might not feel worthy of a top-level post. So, why not try something similar here? Consider this a trial run. If people like it, maybe we’ll make it a weekly thing. I welcome suggestions for a better title.

Shadowbait Jun 12, 2023

Synth battlestation + thoughts on each synth

https://waveform.social/post/1254

Synth battlestation + thoughts on each synth - waveform.social

I have a bit of a hardware synth addiction and spend way too much time talking about them… but we’re trying to get a new community started so I felt the urge to jump in and talk about them some more. The two Nords are my favorites. The Wave 2 is great for beautiful layered soundscapes, while the Lead 4 can quickly go into unusual and striking FM sounds. I love both for how easy it is to dial in performance controls affecting as many parameters as you want in different amounts. In the middle between them, I’m experimenting with Nina. It has so much potential and so many clever ideas, but first impressions were not good with buggy firmware. I had to put it aside to actually get work done, but I’m about to give it another chance. I’ll probably be posting more about it later. I only keep 3 synths fully connected and ready to use at a time, mostly because I don’t want to buy an audio interface with more inputs right now, but it also reduces option paralysis a bit. Everything to the right is basically on standby to be swapped out with the 3 on the left from time to time. The Prophet 12 probably gets the most use out of everything on the right. It’s quirky and a little hard to find interesting sweet spots, but the few good sounds I’ve made on it (and even a few factory presets) keep me coming back. It’s probably the most unique-sounding synth I own. The Peak is my go-to for anything I can’t do on the Nords, if I’m not specifically looking for the unusual character of the Prophet 12. It’s deep/flexible enough for most things I’d want to do, without being too menu divey. I really want to upgrade to a Summit some day. The Modwave is the deepest synth I own, but I kind of hate the interface. Some basic things like unison are buried several pages deep in menu, and it’s the only synth here I don’t feel like I fully understand yet. I’ll have to find time to reread the manual again soon. The SH-4D is the newest addition, and I’ve got mixed feelings about it. Multi-purpose buttons make it really easy to accidentally lose work, the mod matrix is missing a lot of destinations I hoped for, and “D-Motion” is probably the most pointless feature I’ve ever seen on a synth. Who in the world actually wants to pick up a synth and tilt it in the air while cables are hanging off it during a performance? However, it’s pretty easy to dial in some really solid bass and pad sounds, and the drum kits are pretty good too. I saved the Korg Prologue for last because I’m probably going to sell it. It’s a pleasure to use and sounds great, but it’s pretty limited without 3rd party oscillators and I haven’t had a lot of luck with those so far. I also don’t like waiting for warm up and tuning when every other synth I own is ready to go in seconds. Aaand I probably spent way too long rambling about all those, but I hope it was interesting to someone.