I think this would make a fun, ongoing thread. Post something you did with your synths (and other gear) today. Whether you recorded something, played live, just noodled around, created a new patch, or reconfigured your studio, anything goes.

Today I just jammed/practiced a bit, which I do fairly often. The other night I created a new FM patch on my MODX--one that morphs from an electric piano-ish thing to a fluteish thing when sweeping the super knob.

EDIT: When jamming I played the MODX, OB-6, Take 5 and Sirin mainly, and ran some sequences on the Microfreak.

At 7 am today, I was running new midi routing to new MIOXL midi interface, and obtained a cardboard box from hell cut on finger from MIOXL box, live in a duplex, I’m sure the 7 am bloody scream woke the dead.
Try as I might, I couldn’t blame Behringer.

Today I played the Kronos and then used it as a controller and played some of the synths in the Arturia V-Collection 8. I also created and recorded a patch using the BT-Phobos synth. Fun stuff!

Now I created a patch on the Take 5 I call "Epic Unison Bass". And it's epic because it uses all 5 voices.

I also routed my Microfreak to the OB-6 so I could play it with poly AT. And I jammed an old piece I made called "Constellation" which I have never recorded (yet). I played it on the OB-6 and the Take 5 (and also played some parts on MODX and Sirin, taking turns playing parts on different synths).

I should really record this track some day, now that I have decent synths.

And I was naughty and ordered something.

Today, I released my super space funk jam

I replaced one of my Monotribes with a Volca Modular for my percussion.

Great thread idea. I have two new things, a Super 6 and a Hapax. So each day I do a new thing with each. On Hapax I made my first template project, and also experimented with making overlapping real-time loops played in on my Linnstrument, which was super fun. On the S6 I finally bothered to learn how to set pitch bend. And I always patch it from scratch, so every time I play I try new modulation routings and options.

Today I actually scrolled through 30 odd presets on my Hydrasynth and edited several. The random button is amazing too!

Absolutely love Hydrasynth randomize function…takes you to some useable far out there stuff and next thing I know….I’ve forgotten to eat again.

I made some loops and 1 shot samples with my s2400. Sampled the Nord Drum 3p and Essencefm, with a little help from my torso T-1. Fun times, need to work on my hand drumming tho

I was just getting to know the s2400 before the last updat, and now they have doubled the tracks, and given it some great bouncing options. Totally unexpected and making me rethink the purpose of the box, so I'm doing a lot of experimenting these days.

I took my accordion down town and busked today.

Am fixin' to re-record a vocal for a country track I did for a buddy: pedal steel, bass, organ, drums, etc all are working but I had to get the vocals off a crappy youtube video and I didn't get the words right cause his drawl is so strong.

Then probably will start replacing some plugins on one track with the moog mother. I've been enjoying the hell out of tracking with a softsynth and then putting the midi into similar hardware and twiddling knobs while printing the output to a track. Best of all worlds for me.

Great thread idea. Today, I had grand plans to add some updated software patches into a MainStage concert. First patch I pulled in.. I got sidetracked with jamming with a sequence I had been noodling with. The MainStage softsynth parts, marry up with hardware instruments, which are stitched together by an SL MKIII. Two hours later, I realized I had lost momentum on the planned MS updates. I *did* have a complete blast, integrating a new patch into a software/hardware song. I just didnt do the half dozen or so, I had planned.

Made the beginnings of a possible song on the MPC One and then added some extra lines to it with my Minibrute2.

accidentally recorded over something

Spent an hour scrubbing the gunk off Microbrute knobs.

I looked at them. Had no time to play them!

I took a day off from synths and left them powered off while playing a game that’s turned out to be one of my all time favorites because the team interaction and continual dialog finally nailed it on how games can be: Guardians of the Galaxy. Hilarious. Just a hell of a lot of fun. Lots of synth music, too!! Doing a huddle in the middle of a battle and the huddle ends and you get to kick butt to something like Take On Me.

Yesterday I lost time zoning out with a preset I’d made on the Ob-6 plus fx on the computer.

I opened my Ace Tone FR8 to mess with the trimpots and change the sound of each voices. Sounds better now

Nice thread idea!

Tried to get as close as possible to the JP-8000 supersaw on the Waldorf Q. Got very close, but it has a different energy. Can't quite nail the smoothness of the JP. If only I could pitch the white noise on the Q, I could get closer.

I am spending a bunch of hours making a synthwave song using only waldorf iridium which only 30 or so people will end up listening to.

Extracted some individual layers from a handful of Wavestate Native performances and swapped out a few samples in the wave sequences (so they wouldn't just be 100% factory presets) to incorporate into a little 4-bar bridging section on a song.

Used a couple of square wave-ish synth lead patches from the Korg Nautilus to lay down a short solo between the second verse and second chorus of the same song. (I briefly thought about bringing the Bodyssey up from the basement for that but wanted to keep moving quickly and, if I'm honest, the actual results in the mix are often not really any better when I use real analog for synth leads.)

That's been the day so far. Time for lunch!

Installed these lovelies on it.

That means you're further ahead that I am. Still stuck making sounds and jamming.

Years ago made some multi samples of some analog synths and imported them in the Iridium. Blending those samples with VA and use the super power of polyAT is total bliss.

Nothing. My kid’s home sick and my wife is on a crazy tirade to make sure the world is in perfect order before we go on vacation. Looks like I won’t get in the studio for a few weeks.

Funny how that works. As far as I can tell, everyone who’s listened to things I’ve recorded seems to like them… but getting anyone to actually listen… difficult. I’ve learned to not care. I make my stuff for the sake of making it. If someone listens and enjoys it, bonus, but not expected.

I made another FM-X flute patch on my MODX. I'm trying to get more practice creating semi decent FM patches, even if they're on the simple side.

Also made a Superwave pad on the Microfreak.

Dug out, cleaned up, and incorporated my old Casio DH-200 MIDI Wind Controller into my setup!

Tried to reproduce a crash with Wavestate Native that a GS user reported. Cleaned up some crazy cable runs from the weekend. Sampled some sounds from the OB-6, Sub37 and my ole Model D. Had a 2 hour session with a local artist. Now I'm just playing around with WS Native for the rest of the night/morning.

i think it's been 2-3 weeks since i've even touched one of my synths, etc and it actually feels great. i got so much stuff in the past six months that it felt like i needed to be working on an album or something, like i needed to be using them all the time. finally they just feel like "instruments" that i can pick up any time i want, i don't feel pressured to be doing anything. somehow this now makes me feel like i can do "anything/everything" i want to. i'm actually thinking now about working with local singers/songwriters that might be looking to fill out their sound or do live shows. i don't know, we'll see.

i finally realized that i need to look at myself as a "musician/artist/producer" instead of trying to be a techno guy one week and hip-hop guy the next or whatever. i really can't NOT do this, not sure how to explain. it was bad enough before i started playing guitar, now that's a whole other direction that i'm always pulling myself towards. my influences are so broad that i've never even started on anything serious. always jumping from one style/idea to the next and never really having a clear goal. i think the answer for me is to have no goal at all, just work on music when i feel like it and see what happens.

maybe i'll start writing actual songs or something. who knows. ... a couple months ago i would have been updating this thread every day.

I wish I had time to use my synths every day!
Lately it's been quite crazy between day job, other music jobs and tons of personal stuff... I hardly had time to do anything meaningful on the synthesis side of things.

Been busy learning new songs with my two live bands, hopefully this year we will go back to gigging.

Last week I finished recording a track for a wedding: the groom (who's NOT a musician, composer, singer, poet or anything) had composed a "poem" for the bride, and I had the dreadful job of transforming it into a real song that he will sing to her at the party...given the quality of the composition, it was a real challenge!
I must say I'm quite satisfied with the result (a kind of pop-tango rap ballad), and at least me and my associate had a lot of good laughs while trying to get something decent out of that trainwreck!

In between, I'm practicing theremin (my latest musical infatuation from last summer) and slowly (VERY slowly) getting better at it.

And I have two ongoing projects that I carry on in the spare time (which is almost zero, as you might have guessed).
One is a "hardware" project, I almost finished providing all my synths and desktops with decksavers, even the ones for which a specific cover isn't available. Polycarbonate is relatively easy to work on, so I find the Decksaver model with the closest size, and then I cut-bend it to the exact shape. I feel much better now that all my 1st-gen Dreadboxes are safe and cozy beneath their custom hard shells!

The final project is the most ambitious one, which will probably take me years to complete at this rate. These last few years have been the best of my life for various reasons, and I wanted to celebrate them by recording a synth arrangement of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Wendy Carlos-style. And it only seemed appropriate to do it using the Messenger of Joy, so this became a "one-synth-only" project using only the Moog Sirin.
So last year I downloaded and studied the orchestral scores, wrote my own cut-down arrangement (it will probably be around 6-7 minutes as opposed to the full 30), and designed simil-orchestral sounds on the Sirin for each instrument of the score.
For the last few months I've been in the process of recording everything. No sequences, I overdub 3-4 tracks for each instrumental part to imitate the many instruments of the same type in each section of the orchestra, slightly detuning each part and playing everything by hand (small imperfections included).
I think that's more or less how Wendy Carlos worked...except of course that she had no computers, no DAW for easy editing and no room for error! It's amazing the results she could get with such early recording and editing techniques, she really is a master of music in the purest sense.
We'll see how my project goes, I still have to record tons of parts, and it will then be "fun" to mix hundreds of tracks.... but I'm in no hurry, and anyway nobody will ever listen to it except me and my wife