JA
Still competitive
I'm a hobbyist and I bought this as my only synth to replace a Minilogue XD. It's been an absolute joy to use and it sounds amazing.
This synth is capable of a huge palette of sounds, but its key character is found in distorted and tearing sounds, assisted with the dedicated "Osc 3 Filter Mod" knob and three ways of adjusting analog distortion: pre-filter overdrive, post-filter overdrive (in menu) and distortion.
To get a more analog/vintage sound there are OSC drift and diverge options in the menu. They're not quite on par with the "analog/vintage" settings that some modern synths come with, which affect many other parameters than just the oscillators. You can still achieve a really thick vintage sound by adding some noise to env and filter parameters through the mod matrix. However, that quickly eats up many of the 16 mod slots.
The reverb is amazing, right on par with some expensive pedals. Flanger and phaser-flanger were added as chorus modes in a firmware update. All the digital effects have damping and cutoff settings in the menu so they don't muddy the low-end too much. Being able to get such beautiful effects right out of the box really invites you to jam with it.
When adjusting any knob or slider, the menu displays both the current and the patch's initial value. That has been really helpful when editing a complicated patch or learning how some 3rd party patch has been created.
The keys feel upper mid-range, but unfortunately do not have poly-aftertouch, which the synth itself supports through MIDI-in. As is typical, there's not a lot aftertouch travel.
On the cons side, there is no dedicated "noise/random" mod source so you have to sacrifice one LFO for that. There are only 4 effect mod slots, which is quite a shame considering there are so many effect parameters and modulation sources on this synth. It's quite awkward that Mod Env 1 and 2 are operated through the same physical sliders. The LFO saw tooth only goes down so you cannot quickly change it's direction without adjusting all the mod matrix values it's assigned to. It's also quite easy to accidentally lose all changes by hitting the "next patch" button that sits right next to one of the menu buttons.
One surprising live-play drawback comes from the lack of a sequencer, which also affects how the arpeggiator behaves. Even when using external sync, the arp starts playing immediately when you hit a key and does not wait for the next beat. You have to time it just right.
I was hesitant to buy a synth that was launched 7 years ago, but there are still very few competing synths that manage to offer so much at this price point. It's still a great choice if you want a great sounding general-purpose workhorse and prefer dedicated knobs over screens.
This synth is capable of a huge palette of sounds, but its key character is found in distorted and tearing sounds, assisted with the dedicated "Osc 3 Filter Mod" knob and three ways of adjusting analog distortion: pre-filter overdrive, post-filter overdrive (in menu) and distortion.
To get a more analog/vintage sound there are OSC drift and diverge options in the menu. They're not quite on par with the "analog/vintage" settings that some modern synths come with, which affect many other parameters than just the oscillators. You can still achieve a really thick vintage sound by adding some noise to env and filter parameters through the mod matrix. However, that quickly eats up many of the 16 mod slots.
The reverb is amazing, right on par with some expensive pedals. Flanger and phaser-flanger were added as chorus modes in a firmware update. All the digital effects have damping and cutoff settings in the menu so they don't muddy the low-end too much. Being able to get such beautiful effects right out of the box really invites you to jam with it.
When adjusting any knob or slider, the menu displays both the current and the patch's initial value. That has been really helpful when editing a complicated patch or learning how some 3rd party patch has been created.
The keys feel upper mid-range, but unfortunately do not have poly-aftertouch, which the synth itself supports through MIDI-in. As is typical, there's not a lot aftertouch travel.
On the cons side, there is no dedicated "noise/random" mod source so you have to sacrifice one LFO for that. There are only 4 effect mod slots, which is quite a shame considering there are so many effect parameters and modulation sources on this synth. It's quite awkward that Mod Env 1 and 2 are operated through the same physical sliders. The LFO saw tooth only goes down so you cannot quickly change it's direction without adjusting all the mod matrix values it's assigned to. It's also quite easy to accidentally lose all changes by hitting the "next patch" button that sits right next to one of the menu buttons.
One surprising live-play drawback comes from the lack of a sequencer, which also affects how the arpeggiator behaves. Even when using external sync, the arp starts playing immediately when you hit a key and does not wait for the next beat. You have to time it just right.
I was hesitant to buy a synth that was launched 7 years ago, but there are still very few competing synths that manage to offer so much at this price point. It's still a great choice if you want a great sounding general-purpose workhorse and prefer dedicated knobs over screens.
0
0
Raportoi ongelmasta
J
Pettämätön lippulaiva
Todella huikeasoundinen ja monipuolinen virtual analog / wavetable -syntikka analogisella filtterillä ja OD/distortion -piireillä. Efektivalikoima on pieni, mutta erityisesti reverb on järkyttävän hienon kuuloinen. Iso osa sound designista onnistuu liukujen, nappien ja potikoiden avulla, mutta jonkin verran joutuu myös valikoita plaraamaan erityisesti modulaatioiden reitityksen osalta.
0
0
Raportoi ongelmasta