analogue synth on a usb

General Chat // Music Discussion
User avatar
winston
unsure
Posts: 391
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:10 am
analogue synth on a usb

Post by winston »

no knobs, but it is a dongle. looks like it is controlled by a plugin, so it all seems a bit weird: the sound is produced by chips for "analogue realness", but you have none of the tactile joy of using a synth, you're still mousebound (or use a controller i guess). is it better than sylenth? i dunno.

http://truenosynth.com/
£140 if you want to buy me one for Christmas.

Image

Image

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Lost to the Void »

It's a great idea. In terms of integrating analog in to a DAW.
Proof will be in the sound. I'll take a listen.
Potentially this could start a new paradigm.
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.

User avatar
Críoch
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 11025
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:22 pm
Location: Lego City
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Críoch »

Surprising choice going with USB2.

USB 1 is much warmer sounding.
KennethExack wrote:My kids and I are completely shocked by the specialized secrets that everyone has on this forum
>> Click here for NEW POSTS on subsekt <<

Dialog I The Hole I subsekt Blog I The Bench I IG I SC I Mixes I FB

asm
crud
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:18 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by asm »

Fuck.

I'm literally designing the same thing.

User avatar
Mono-xID
Uumfääng
Posts: 3380
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:20 pm
Location: Berlin
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Mono-xID »

Hipster gadget... :D
http://soundcloud.com/monoxid

Behringer = ARTS label of synths

User avatar
Críoch
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 11025
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:22 pm
Location: Lego City
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Críoch »

asm wrote:Fuck.

I'm literally designing the same thing.
Do one with 4 Oscs.
KennethExack wrote:My kids and I are completely shocked by the specialized secrets that everyone has on this forum
>> Click here for NEW POSTS on subsekt <<

Dialog I The Hole I subsekt Blog I The Bench I IG I SC I Mixes I FB

asm
crud
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:18 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by asm »

Críoch wrote:Do one with 4 Oscs.
I like your thinking...

User avatar
Mono-xID
Uumfääng
Posts: 3380
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:20 pm
Location: Berlin
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Mono-xID »

Críoch wrote:
asm wrote:Fuck.

I'm literally designing the same thing.
Do one with 4 Oscs.
And knobs.... :)
http://soundcloud.com/monoxid

Behringer = ARTS label of synths

User avatar
WOLF!
Grand
Posts: 664
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:05 pm
Location: Belgium, Gent
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by WOLF! »

What about the interface? I don't see the point of this gadget. It's a vst with a hardware output... .

Resin
Pig
Posts: 118
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:55 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Resin »

WOLF! wrote: It's a vst with a hardware output... .
More like hardware with VST control. If you wanna have "hardware sound" with software workflow you're limited to CPU heavy synths like Diva. So I'd say it has its point...

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Lost to the Void »

Exactly analog sound but with digital integration. Think elektron over bridge but not shite. Probably.
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.

User avatar
Mono-xID
Uumfääng
Posts: 3380
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:20 pm
Location: Berlin
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Mono-xID »

Overbridge works as advertised on my system since first installed in 2016...
http://soundcloud.com/monoxid

Behringer = ARTS label of synths

asm
crud
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:18 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by asm »

My thoughts behind doing something similar (but I've only breadboarded it thus so far and was targeting a slightly different form factor) was that a huge cost of an analogue synth is in the controls, case and IO. No one likes tiny knobs and cases, or menu diving. Plus indie developers have no economy of scale to cut costs and make it at a decent price. Offloading the interface to whatever control surface people already have is a much easier and quite a rational direction to take.

There are niggles though - noise floor on usb is often pretty high for a start.

On the whole, I'm pretty jealous as it looks a nice implementation at a nice price.

The_G
Artificial Hazard
Posts: 1135
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:14 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by The_G »

How is this different from software? Repro-1 or OP-X already get so close to analog it's hard to tell the difference with the vintage gear they emulate.

That said, $140 isn't a bad price. Diva is $179. I'm just skeptical as to whether this is anything but a gimmick.

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Lost to the Void »

It all depends on the qualities of the oscillators.
I don't like the oscillators on DIVA they don't have much character.
I'm assuming that this also won't take your processor.
Who knows. It's interesting new tech. It would be great if this developed and you could get small plugout boxes containing the circuitry of new fangled analog synths.
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.

User avatar
WOLF!
Grand
Posts: 664
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:05 pm
Location: Belgium, Gent
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by WOLF! »

asm wrote:No one likes tiny knobs and cases, or menu diving.
Unless you have a fetish for it :D.

And what about audio latency, midi jitter and combining with a audio interface (not possible to use 2 interfaces at the same time in Windows). Very curious how it works.
It's still possible to use a synth with trusted midi (80's technology) but I've had some problems with usb drivers (coming from bad support of some brands) so I quite skeptical about usb.

PixelKind
who is it?
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 2:36 am
Location: Austria
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by PixelKind »

Yeah the problem with this thing is that once driver/software support is dropped the whole thing is worthless. The USB standard is changing a lot right now also...
Havent thought about the problem with 2 audio interfaces on Windows. Thats a good point as well

User avatar
winston
unsure
Posts: 391
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:10 am
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by winston »

asm wrote:My thoughts behind doing something similar (but I've only breadboarded it thus so far and was targeting a slightly different form factor) was that a huge cost of an analogue synth is in the controls, case and IO. No one likes tiny knobs and cases, or menu diving. Plus indie developers have no economy of scale to cut costs and make it at a decent price. Offloading the interface to whatever control surface people already have is a much easier and quite a rational direction to take.

There are niggles though - noise floor on usb is often pretty high for a start.

On the whole, I'm pretty jealous as it looks a nice implementation at a nice price.
although i was a bit dismissive of the idea (like everything i guess :cry: ), i've been reading about it and i'm trying to figure out how it works.
Could you give me a couple of ideas of how it works, more how you breadboarded your version? was it a raspberry pi breadboard? how did you have the chips that were being the VCO/oscillators? did it require programming/coding?

i like the idea of pi based samplers, or diy samplers for that matter, but i haven't found many sources of info around it. what i have found i have read, but it hasn't given me enough to go on as i've no background in this electrical field. it would be great if you could suggest some things to read about what might be diy instruments like this.

The_G
Artificial Hazard
Posts: 1135
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:14 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by The_G »

Lost to the Void wrote:It all depends on the qualities of the oscillators.
I don't like the oscillators on DIVA they don't have much character.
I'm assuming that this also won't take your processor.
Who knows. It's interesting new tech. It would be great if this developed and you could get small plugout boxes containing the circuitry of new fangled analog synths.
Diva sounds a bit clean and sterile compared to what it emulates but there are multiple ways of dirtying it up. OP-X, for my money, is the best software emulation of vintage hardware. It gets stunningly close to an actual OB-X and Matrix 1000.

I see your point about processing, though. Have you tried the Roland Cloud stuff? The Jupiter-8 software emulation is so taxing on your CPU that I can't load more than 1 instance in Logic, and have things function well, whereas I can load 6 or more instances of Diva on divine setting. So that's an argument for dedicated hardware right there.

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: analogue synth on a usb

Post by Lost to the Void »

DIVA is fine, you can do a lot with it, it's phat but it's not got bags of character on the oscillators alone.
I mean I find this tech quite interesting, but honestly I'm not that much in to synths in general unless they have a very unique character or have unusual features, so really not interested in Roland's reruns of its old stuff
I'm really more of a samples\field recordings\electroacoustic sounds guy. But ease of use is always a good thing for me, I hate wasting music making time on processes. Fiddling, syncing etc.

I'll give op-x a try though.
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.


Post Reply