Good question. It's a killer synth, but I didn't see a unit spec on their site. I'll measure it later and let you know. It's hard to tell because I have it on a stand on my desktop.

I don't think 7U is too much. Just needs a proper rack

That's great example of the evolution of Waldorf modules in size.

Hehehe he

The Nina is 230mm, so that does translate to 5u.

Too big is why I gave up the MPG-70. Combine that with two MKS-70's units and you've got an 11 rack-unit behemoth. I'd rather just use the PG-800 or menu-dive on the synths.

I beg to differ. Using up over half the spaces in a 24-space rack (the tallest rack I would consider putting in my studio) for two 7-space modules is not an efficient use of space, especially considering that most of the space in the rack behind the modules will be empty.

It would be much better to mount the two 7-space desktop modules on VESA arms on either side of your main desk and pull them close when needed. Fortunately, the Waldorf and UDO desktops allow you to do this.

But still, I would rather have 4U units like those from Black Corporation that can be positioned upright in a rack on your desk or laid flat. 4U is large enough to provide plenty of hands-on control while still using reasonably-sized controls.

Evil Dragon, you are a brave person to show that rack. I hear pitchforks being sharpened in preparation for denouncing you as MKS Lover.

A single MKS synth in a 24-space rack? What a tourist.

Then again, he is EvilDragon.

Hahaha! I sure am evil at times, yes.

MKS-80 is too expensive these days and I have MKS-20 and MKS-50 covered well enough in software (TAL-Pha is terrific).

You see, I don't discriminate between HW, SW, hybrid, analog, digital. All is good when utilized to its strengths.

ROFL!

The Roland MKS synths (and of course the keyboard versions) had their time and place. But as you say, these days there are very good-sounding software versions for most of them.

What’s still missing is an MKS-80 emulation and better-sounding (or at least better-supported) JX-8P/MKS-70 and JX-3P/MKS-30 emulations. But TAL is reportedly working on a JX-8P emulation so that will soon be covered.

I still think an MKS-80 emulation would be worthwhile even though there are many Jupiter 8 plugins along with TAL’s surprisingly good-sounding Mercury 6 (Jupiter 6) emulation.

The MKS series allowed musicians to cram a lot of Roland goodness into a relatively small amount of space. But authentic-sounding software emulations running on a laptop are even better, IMO. Especially given that there are not many reliable software editors for the hardware MKS synths that run on modern Apple Silicon Macs.

I’m all about the sound, not fetishization of the hardware.

You mixed something up, Mercury 6 is not TAL.

Indeed MKS-80 is in such a weird in between place; neither a JP-6 nor a JP-8, yet still exhuding a lot of character of JP-8 somehow. Would be great to have it ITB.

Ah, yes. I meant Cherry Audio. I own Mercury 6 and think it sounds really good, although it has been over 25 years since I played a Jupiter 6. However, a buddy of mine owned one and I used to play it every time I went to his studio. Mercury 6 sounds like what I remember.

Although Starsky Carr is too forgiving of synth plugins in his comparison videos, even I was impressed by how close Mercury 6 comes to the Jupiter 6. Is it perfect? No. But it’s close enough for me to not really care.



Cherry Audio get a lot of flack on these pages. But, IMO, most of their plugins are very useable and at least capture the flavor of the original. I actually prefer Cherry Audio’s Synthx emulation to Arturia’s (which may or may not be more authentic). And Cherry Audio’s Memorymoog emulation sounds surprisingly rich, although I’m sure it isn’t entirely convincing when put up against a real Memorymoog, which I have no experience with.

I wish I could find this YouTube video of a guy comparing several of the Cherry Audio plugins to the original hardware synths in his studio. I saved it to my "Synth Demos" YouTube playlist. But I have hundreds and hundreds of videos saved to that playlist over the past 20 years.

Anyway, most of the Cherry Audio plugins sound more controlled/precise, and some sound a bit sterile compared to the originals. But that may be because the hardware synths in this guy's studio sound pretty wonky and probably need servicing. Some are noticeably out of tune, which I suppose sounds more "analog." But I would prefer to dial that in on a patch-by-patch basis using a "drift" or "vintage knob."

Okay, I found the video. It was actually on the Cherry Audio site. On second listen, some of the Cherry Audio plugin patches are pretty far off, while others are much closer. I don't know if that is because the patches simply weren't matched properly or whether the Cherry Audio synths just couldn't recreate the sounds:



Incidentally, YouTube's search is so utterly worthless that I had to use ChatGPT to find the video using the following natural language search query:

Search for a single YouTube video comparing most Cherry Audio synthesizer plugins to the hardware originals.

And of course there were no bullshit "paid search" links and banner ads on the results page.

Google is so dead. They just don't know it yet.

Hydrasynth Desktop
Notation Peak
Any of the Modal synths Carbon8, Argon8, and Cobalt8
Are the new Korg 5u? Poly, wave state etc…?
Virus
The Triple 6s for sequential I believe are all 19”
Nord Lead was 19” not sure if they make racks for all their latest synths

New Korgs are 4U, each and every one of them.

I find the Cherry audio stuff to be OK, like "inspired by" new synths, and not really accurate emulations. I have a couple of them, and my biggest complaint about them is that to get them sounding good, you have to crank up the oversampling really high, and then you end up with a very CPU intensive plugin that sounds about as good as their less CPU demanding competition. My favorite one of theirs is Dreamsynth, which has an interesting combination of options. I think Roland's Jupiter 4 sounds quite a bit better, but neither plugin really captures that overdriven VCA sound the 4 is known for.

That's a pretty common gripe of mine. Getting good per-voice distortion in a plugin is a rare thing. It's usually too tame, or alias a noticeable amount, especially in the higher registers. The new Korg stuff is really great. Massive X is also very good. Usually I just use a hardware synth, though.

But they don't fit the brief of being analogue or hybrid.

easy...
4ru
Studio Electronics Code Luxe

just scheduled my code upgrade cant wait

I think im going with the white one

I think the Cherry Audio Mercury-4 (Jupiter 4) emulation is one of their least convincing. The Roland Cloud Jupiter 4 is definitely better.

But if you listen to the comparison video I posted, the Cherry Audio "Memorymode" isn't too far off. And their Rhodes Chroma emulation wasn't bad either, although I preferred the hardware Chroma on almost every patch because it sounded "looser" and more alive.

However, the Arturia emulations featured in the same video were what impressed me most. The Arturia Prophet 5V, Mini V4, and SEM V sounded almost identical to their hardware counterparts, to my ears at least.

Dreamsynth is an interesting take on old school hybrids like the Ensoniq SQ80 and even the D50. I sort of like the Microwave-style modulation system, where there are at least two modulation sources for every destination parameter (as opposed to a mod matrix). However, how this is presented on the UI is not so great. The interface is one big blur of small modulation buttons and value knobs. Cherry Audio really needs to come out with a "DreamierSynth" which visually separates the LFO, oscillator, filter, envelope, and FX sections. But still, I have created some cool lofi patches on Dreamsynth that I would be hard-pressed to create on other synth plugins I own.

Other than Peak and the 6-series, none of these are analog or hybrid synths. I don't see the point in owning an all-digital hardware synth unless it is something like the Waldorf Quantum MK2 whose build quality is so impressive that it would be a welcome addition to any studio.

While the Virus and Nord were well-built synths, it's now possible to run the original code on your computer using The Usual Suspects emulation technology. The osTIrus plugin is basically what the Virus TI "Total Integration" series was meant to be all along, sans the expensive hardware.

And the Sequential 6 series can't be rack mounted. You'll have to excuse me, but I can't help but go off on a rant every time I think about those synths. They are probably the dumbest modern synths. It's just one willfully stupid design choice after another, starting with no display and ending with the inability to rack the desktop versions (or mount them via a VESA arm). What a waste, because they sound pretty good for modern analogs.

I’m afraid Vesa mount isn’t an option because of the weight, I own an OB-6 module and it’s heavy compared to something like a TR-8S (which has no Vesa mount either) or an Elektron box like the Syntakt.

Anyway, the size slightly larger than a standard 19U rack really annoys me, it rules out a lot of possible places in the studio. Not just the standard big vertical rack, but also using a small angled rack on the desktop for better accessibility. I guess it’s a design choice to avoid a major rearrangement of the controls avaible on the panel in comparison to the keyboard versions (there are some differences, but they are limited to very few controls); reducing the spacing between controls would have affected the usability… but yeah, the downside is the size.

The lack of a modern display is not a big issue in practice, except for patch names.

This is just a pet peeve of mine. I suspect most people considering one of the 6-series synths feel the same as you.

The lack of a display for naming patches becomes an issue when I purchase third-party patch sets. Although I enjoy programming my own sounds, it's not uncommon for me to purchase four or more sets of 128 patches for a synth, especially for popular synth plugins like Diva. So for the Prophet 6, for instance, I might have over 1,000 patches between the factory presets, the third-party presets I purchase, and my own sounds. It's hard to find what I'm looking for if all the patches are listed as numbers from 001 to 999. Even if an editor/librarian allows me to name the patches on my computer, that's still 1,000 patches I would have to name, which is unrealistic.

Anyway, the Take-5 and TEO-5 are more my speed, even though the 6-series sounds better, IMO. It's too bad there aren't 10-voice, light-weight 4U rack versions of the Take-5 and TEO-5 that can also be mounted via a VESA bracket.

I can’t speak for the Omega/CORE or MIDImini, but the SE-1X/3X is very lightweight! When I pulled mine out of the box for the first time, I literally was worried (until I plugged it in and actually heard sound) that the seller ripped me off by selling me an empty SE-1X case!

Interesting. I didn't know that. The SE-1X/SE-3X just look like they would be really heavy.

How deep is the SE-1X/3X? Could you rack mount it in one of those lightweight 12U open frame racks sitting on top of a fairly shallow table? Or would the SE-1X/3X stick too far out the back?

The SE-3X doesn't look overly deep in this picture (not like a D-550 or any of the Roland MKS rack synths).



That's great because I have always wanted one.

i have one
and had a se1x for 20 years prior

much tougher sound thanks to very strange new filter types that are combos of filter types and 2 switchable distortion types

i remember when the nord lead 2 two came out with distortion on/off button (amt unvariable) and was revelation welp similar

"Tougher sound" in a good way or "harsh and unappealing"?

Yeah, I remember when I upgraded my Nord Rack 1 to a Nord Rack 2 for the "variable" filter keytracking alone. One of the first things I did (after testing the different keytrack settings) was push the "distortion" button. I was expecting this Virus-style squelch. What I got was a total nothing burger.

tougher sound in a very good way.
3-4 new filter types and two new stages of fuzz/overdrive how could that be bad?

dont like it? switch back to the old 1x filters and turnoff the drive

heres my current version of rack synth ergonomics