I am appreciatively envious of those of us who have hardware analogue synths to play with. Softsynths are nice, but there is nothing like 'hands on'. Although I do have a few electric guitars and a cupboard full of pedals to twiddle with.
I have been reading about early women pioneers in electronic music composition, and what is really interesting is how much they had in common with each other. None of them found conventional acoustic instruments rewarding, and often went through quite considerable social and financial hardship before saving enough money to get the synth of their dreams, and when they did, it was a working relationship, often described as organic or spiritual, that would last for decades. The secret was perseverance ......
My difficulty is far too many softsynths to choose from to work with effectively.
Bill ...... It doesn't really matter about what you think about your own musical ability, just get stuck and enjoy what happens.
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About 7 years or so of guitar lessons as a kid made me a decent guitar player, but I never really learned the "music theory" behind the music. At the time it seemed like useless noise....just show me how to play this song, OK?
When I started playing with tape recorders and other pitch altering instruments, and later synths, I started wondering why and how to put notes together. Still that theory stuff sucked.
Today you can find decent books and online information to be able to create sounds that sound good. Putting those sounds together in sequence is what makes music. Modern computer technology makes it possible to write and perform music without being able to actually PLAY it. This is both good, and bad.
It allows someone like me who's playing skills have degraded to "less than good" to make music. I can poke out an attempt at a keyboard song, then fix my mistakes on the PC. It's possible to fix bad guitar playing, but not very easy.
It also allows people whose best instrument skill is "playing the turntable" to have extremely successful music careers. Many of the performers found on the stage of a large festival today in front of 100,000 fans wouldn't know which end of a guitar to hold, and there are NO conventional instruments on stage.
Unfortunately the modern DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software packages have grown in complexity to become complete recording studios in a box. Many include a dozen or more soft synths, complete MIDI and audio editing packages, mixing and mastering consoles, and often hooks for video, lighting, code creation, and other features. Good stuff, but the initial "how do I get started" shock is a formidable obstacle to overcome.
Fortunately I started down this road back when the DAW didn't exist. There were simple MIDI editors like Cakewalk which couldn't do much, but could be mastered in a few days without reading the manual. This was 30 or so years ago.
There are scaled down versions of many DAWs included free with a hardware purchase. I recently picked up a 49 note MIDI keyboard for $69 that came with a free copy of Ableton Live starter edition. It's actually cheaper than buying the software itself. This is especially true when Amazon is blowing out last years trendy hardware cheap when the new stuff comes out.
There are simple MIDI keyboards available with the necessary interfaces installed for USB MIDI, 5 pin MIDI, and analog CV outputs for driving an analog synth. The Arturia Keystep can plug into a PC to work with a DAW, has a built in sequencer to play notes in order with proper timing, and the CV outputs to drive an analog synth. It's the one box solution to hooking this stuff up. There are others too.
Ableton Live and FL Studio seem to be geared toward the DJ / live performance player, and thus easier to conquer by a person with zero or limited music knowledge. I have both. Cakewalk's successor, Sonar was killed off unexpectedly by Gibson, leaving a lot of us without a DAW, so I started from scratch with Ableton Live. There are dozens of tutorials on Youtube, some directly from Ableton.
The remains of Cakewalk have been acquired by Bandlab, and is now a FREE download, so it is another option. When this first happened the soft synths didn't work, and some of my old work would not load. Now a year later, I hear that this has all been fixed, but I have not tried it yet. Again, tutorials are available on Youtube.
SB, it looks like, after lots of talk & rumors, the Behringer 2600 clone is indeed happening.
I'm still gonna go with the TTSH V4 though (sent a deposit last night). Just the thought of building a 2600, my all-time hero synth, from a kit(!) has got me feeling like I'm back in high school again. And after all these years, I'm now really glad I kept the old Aries stuff too (especially the keyboard)!
Struggling with myself and my various projects, I have glanced a lot on the Behringer's apparatuses as they instantly ease a lot of my pain. Besides they are cheap.
I was once eyeing up a Moog/RadioShack Concertmate that that was just an empty PCB and some keys for USD300. Was offered the PCB only for a few bucks less. For a little more I could get a Behringer ...
I was once eyeing up a Moog/RadioShack Concertmate that that was just an empty PCB and some keys for USD300. Was offered the PCB only for a few bucks less. For a little more I could get a Behringer ...
Do you plan on getting the full kit?
The idea of building a 2600 is tempting, but I am adverse to spending that much money. I think that I will wait until the BOM is released to see how much I could build it for piecemeal. The slide pots are the real hang up. If you don't get exactly the right part, it won't fit the board / panel.
Note, I have been buying boards, panels and parts from Synthcube for several years with zero issues. They used to operate out of the owner's house, but they recently relocated to a brick and mortar storefront. During the move they were running regular "moving sales" once a month or so, usually 15 to 20% off. The last 20% one expired on 5-24-19. I still have some unfinished modules to build from those sales. Now, if another one of those sales appear, and the code works on the TTSH4.........
The V3 BOM should be close enough to get a reasonable idea of the parts required and their cost. Major items like the slide pots should be exactly the same.
MUFF WIGGLER :: View topic - TTSH Ver.3 (rev.8) General build thread
Take care,
Doug
MUFF WIGGLER :: View topic - TTSH Ver.3 (rev.8) General build thread
Take care,
Doug
i't looks like this project is a non starter. $500 for the PC boards and front panel, $120 or so for the slide pots, and at least $100 to $200 for stuff I don't have like chips and connectors. I would build a case and a completely linear power supply from stuff that I have, and there is probably something else I'm overlooking.
I think for now, that $750+ is probably better spent on finishing out the synthesizer stuff I have now, then we will see.
Last night the Fedex man brought me some parts I need to complete some TSE-II boards......and a bunch of parts for the clone of a clone ladder filter project. First I have to figure out how I'm going to solder something that I need to wear two pair of glasses to see!
My endgame......a vacuum tube synthesizer not unlike this one, but without the $17K price tag.
Knifaudio
I'm in a lucky place right now. My work is very busy, so I have a bit of extra spending money. I treated myself to the full kit with case.
Last night I had a quick look at my old, unfinished Aries main case, with its empty module spaces, and started thinking about what I could build to fill them. I'd really like a voltage-controlled flanger; maybe a sequencer too, they're always fun. Hmm...
My work paid me to leave 5 years ago. Now I get to spend what Tubelab makes. Social Security and a small pension feeds us, the daughter and 4 grandkids.
I don't know if they were all the same, but my Aries had a nice large keyboard that put out 1V/oct.
Most of what I have been building has been Moog compatible. ARP and Moog are both 1V/oct, but the voltage for middle C and the gate / trigger voltages are very different. Easy to fix with a few opamps, but yet another source for error and drift.
here some heavy sound from 2003. i found it on my archive HDD. Probably downloaded via Napster:
Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination
Some tracks are nice some less. But the really good ones make me travel far.
Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination | Releases | Discogs
Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination
Some tracks are nice some less. But the really good ones make me travel far.
Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination | Releases | Discogs
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Thanks for the reminder Scott, I haven't listened to that in ages. It's going on tonight's playlist down at the shop.
Frank used to talk about how he could finally write music for the Synclavier that he couldn't get real musicians to perform correctly, if at all. Listening to this album does seem a bit like peering directly into his mind.
Frank used to talk about how he could finally write music for the Synclavier that he couldn't get real musicians to perform correctly, if at all. Listening to this album does seem a bit like peering directly into his mind.
This is another old-skool shout-out, but Amin Bhatia's Interstellar Suite is one of my old favorites. And the surround-sound version is just dynamite.
Another oldie-but-goodie is Todd Rundgren's "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire," which takes up all of Side 2 of his Initiation album from 1975.
Among its many charms, this album also happened to feature a somewhat rare synth, the RMI Keyboard Computer.
Among its many charms, this album also happened to feature a somewhat rare synth, the RMI Keyboard Computer.
I've always liked the Interstellar Suite. I have the remastered CD version that came out about 15 years ago. There was a lot of talk about it on the old Vintage Synth Explorer forum, so I knew about the fact that it was mostly made with a single Minimoog.
Interestingly, I've never seen this documentary until now. Thanks for posting.
Someone just posted this: YouTubeDragged the Aries keyboard out of the attic tonight. I'd forgotten all about my Moog pitch ribbon mod. How's this for crude!
I had no idea how large the Aries was/is...
The standard system had the keyboard as shown, and one module cabinet that was about the same width as the keyboard. Of course, it was a modular system so the available space and budget were the only real limiting factors.
Most of the early modular systems except for the budget minded PAIA stuff used large format modules although none of the big players made modules of the same size or electrical compatibility. The Aries stuff was about the same size as the Moog modular stuff.
Most of the early modular systems except for the budget minded PAIA stuff used large format modules although none of the big players made modules of the same size or electrical compatibility. The Aries stuff was about the same size as the Moog modular stuff.