I just took this photo!

I spend about two hours per day for about six months to a year on every track and right now I'm three months in to a cover of "always" from Irving Berlin circa 1925.

I posted the solo part a few times from the Moog One when describing the Echo Fix EF-X2 tape delay with a spring reverb tank.

Since then I worked out a beautiful violin intro - a mono instrument - into a layered duo of the Korg MS20m and Arp 2600 (ttsh) over midi from the Korg Oasys.

Today I'm working on linear FM bells on the Moog Voyager RME with the expanders and CP-251, which I plan on sequencing via the Analogue Solutions Oberkorn for some rhythmic accompaniment.

I played my MODX, OB-6, and Sirin today and came up with some new sequences. I also recorded a new song with my MODX that I'm really happy with.

__________________

Jonathan Black.

My Setup: DAW: Ableton Live, Remove Vocals: UnMixIt, Audio-to-MIDI: Digital-Ear

got RM1x lost in my apartment and spent 2 hours to find it

Wavestate Native has been occupying my time too. I’m going to sample some subharmonicon stuff.

Had to do some os updates and recabling, so in parallel, fired off a few notes from the Elements and some Ion sounds into a pair of Soma Cosmos fx and let them mangle and create background while I worked.

Though I didn't do anything with my synths tonight, I did watch some synth YT videos, researching my next synth (which should be coming Monday). Then I have to figure out where to put it!

Moved my MPC One down to the studio to continue working on a song. Added a new track to it from the Minibrute2 and added a scratch vocal.

Why are people posting what they didn't do with their synths?

Post something cool. General chit chat no thanks.

On the road for a few days, but I'll be happy to post a link to the audio when I get home

wiped them down and obsessed over nail scratches/blemishes in the finish.

you just said that to irritate Superwave, didn't you?

This is GS, actually playing our synths would steal precious time from posting!

My behringer synths (cat, k-2, rd-8/9) all came with preinstalled nail scratches and lint in the paint finish. When sun glare hits them at the perfect angle while I wiggle, they just pop and I go bonkers.

It happens with age. I sometimes ponder how I was able to live in such a disgraceful manner, how I treated my snyths and equipment in my youth.

Today I sat in front of my Matrixbrute starring at it and thinking whether to sell it or not. I keep coming to this conclusion but always talk myself out of it.

Don't think I have ever owned a synth I keep toing and froing about. It can sound so unmusical and fugly sometimes, but at other times it can sound just right.

Damn you Matrix cahoot.

Awesome thread idea! Like a mini-blog about synths!

My main project for the last couple of weeks has been to get my Studio B setup going in the dining room. (Just a few months ago in the 2022 plans thread, I said I wouldn't make a Studio B again, and it only took me three and a half months to break that plan!) The techno threads lately have gotten me all excited about grooveboxes again. It's a setup of Model:Samples, Model:Cycles, Electribe 2, Electribe 2S, Liven XFM, Liven 8bit Warps, Ik Uno Synth, IK Uno Drums, a Virus TI2, and an MPC. They're all going into one mixer, but everything is set up in fixed chains so that I can just kick out the jams on little microstations:

• The two Electribes on their own
• The Livens and Unos together
• The Models working in tandem (might chain these to the Livens and Unos; haven't decided)
• The Virus and the MPC, both being sequenced from the computer
• An alternate MIDI line for the Virus and the MPC, but with the MPC acting as sequencer chained to the NDLR sending MIDI to the Virus

The mixer goes into a VS-890 for recording and mastering, and I'm looking at what interface I want to couple with it to capture everything and multitrack vocals and guitars and such. I've run into a couple of setbacks, though:

• The Uno Drums I got dirt cheap was dirt cheap for a reason: It's busted, and it turns out Guitar Center's used instrument return policy is only three days long, which I long exceeded like a dummy because I was waiting for a mixer to plug it into instead of testing it with headphones.
• The mixer finally landed a couple days ago and is in unusable condition (dead channels, mutes randomly triggering, panning issues, etc.) I've put in a bid on and won a replacement, but I'm broke, so the payment won't actually be sent until tomorrow morning and I likely won't receive it until next week.
• In order to use an MPC, I have to actually have one, so I need to pay down some debts so I can afford one. I'm leaning toward the One because using it was identical to the MPC-X I had.

So in the meantime, I've been spending a lot of time jamming with the individual parts to get to know them a bit better. I was a lazy turd last night, but tonight I'm planning on hitting the main studio and doing some cleaning up and sorting. (I've got way too much video gear and it's all over the floor.) At some point, I need to get back to this project I started last year with a buddy of mine where I put together death metal songs for him to sing over. I put a halt on it because I thought what I was coming up with was too generic, but he loved it. This ought to pass the time while I wait for the last few pieces to get Studio B up and running.

Also, not music related, but I finished the first draft of my next book, and I'm trying to revising and editing it on hold so I can come at it with a fresh mind, but it's so hard to want to stop writing right now. I even tried to dissuade myself by working on a short story last weekend, which I never normally do, but I still want to go back to the crazy world I envisioned. As excited as I get about writing, I think I picked the wrong hobby.

Let's see... tonight I made new pad patches on my OB-6 and Take 5. I also created a nice bass on the Neutron and jammed with that.

The other night I also updated the firmware on my MioXL to the latest, and installed the latest Auracle.

Ordered a replacement Uno Drum and paid for the mixer this morning. Next week should be a lot more fun.

Laid down tracks for a tune I'm working on.

I installed the brand new Peak FW update 2.0

New flanger/phaser FX, arp probability, new pan spread modes

Practice some Hanon exercises on my CP73 and bought a digital metronome just for that use.

Just bought this guy's Uno Drum!

A better home I'm sure

Yesterday I had like 10 minutes free for the studio, so I powered up my modular and it suddenly went dark, ugh.

Probably overloaded the +/-15 at 5 Amp Bel power supply.

So, it's more "What I didn't do on my synth" post.

Not quite synths, but I got out my monitor calibration box and its software and explored a bit with it.

My room is setup more for "just get the music out" than for science, but I feel like I have found a reliable way to get into the right listening position by just, like putting a hand on each monitor. It's just a bedroom. I'm not gonna get serious on a studio again until I stop renting, I think. But I've put out plenty of terrible music mixing on headphones. I don't see why I'd stop now just because I don't have a good room to listen in.

I figured out where my monitor calibration software thinks unity gain is on my cheap-o USB interface (Genelec GLM versus Focesrite Scarlett 4i4). Or, at least where the software's dB meter agrees with the actual output of the speakers. If you can't tell, I am kind of a putz about this science, and half-assing my way around a lot of things that I could probably full ass my way through.

I figured out about where the headphone gains are relative to the speaker outs on the Scarlett. They are the headphones of Theseus; over the last 15 years I've replaced everything but the drivers. Still, I feel like I know them well enough to, like, make decisions with them. It's nice to know where "85dB" is on them, after a decade and a half of listening to them.

Then I ripped some reference tracks and put them in the DAW and geek'd around taking notes on some reference tracks in YouLean. I've been watching a lot of videos trying to remember what I know about mastering, which isn't a lot (I think I read Bob Katz's book a decade ago, and yeesh, what do I know).

Anyhow, that's what one nerd on the low, low end of the music industry was doing tonight after his money gig and a nap and a beer. Maybe I will go for a walk and then come back and make some bad electronic music.

Cool thread!

I wanted to emulate the Buchla 258t sine to saw waveshaper with my Matriarch. So I patched OSC 1 triangle out to a x-fader, and OSC 2 saw out to the x-fader’s second input. I used osc sync to keep the two oscillators in phase. Controlled the crossfade with velocity, aftertouch, and envelope so far. Of course, I patched the filters, amp and remaining envelope to emulate an LPG response too. Sounded quite nice, if note exactly like a 258t. Next I want to try replacing VCO 1’s triangle with a sine wave from self oscillating VCF 2, to get even closer to the 258. Only problem is there’s no way to align the phase of the sine wave and VCO 2.

Went into the main studio last night for the first time in a while. I installed my newer modules on the Eurorack and on the AE system, straightened out the power supply system, went through my cable box and found some mini TRS to stereo 1/4" to go into Studio B, and organized my video gear finally. I'm thinking about taking all the video gear that doesn't live in the Eurorack and migrating it to Studio B. It's all boring stuff, but stuff that needed doing. This weekend, I'd like to actually work on some music instead of just screwing around. I'm even planning to go sober for the first time in a while!

Today, I mostly bricked my Pro 3 ........

Today I observed the mysterious lack of cats in my back garden.

I naturally saw this as an omen, and made a small synth related purr-chase.

Gave all my synths a waxing and electrolysis cat hair removal today.