Electro, gothic, noise, darkwave from the Side-Line
Plastik Suicide
offlineMember
I'm looking for a new general lead/bass/fx work horse to my small home studio. i already own AN1x but i want something with more knobs and "hands on" feel.
So can you recommend some affordable rack mount analog/VA synth.
What you think about Novation A-station?
-juhani
(sorry my english is bit poor..)
the novation is not too bad i think (but I´m not a big fan of novation in general).
other options: Roland JP 8080, nordlead 2 rack, Korg ms2000r, access virus rack.
i've got a ms2000r & it's great, been oggling the JP8080 for many years.
The Novation stuff is ok but personally i'd go Spectral Audio Neptune 2 if i was looking for an analog rack. are you looking for something more simple & raw (as the analogs tend to be) or lush with more options (as the VA's tend to be)?
how much are waldorf's going for these days?
well if you want more "direct access" to the stuff I would not go for the A-Station...it is a very nice sounding part...but the 2 Digit Display becomes quite fast a Pain in the butt...if you are into knobs I would recommend you the following synts:
Novation Supernova,
Novation KS Rack,
Roland JP8080,
Waldorf Q,
Korg MS2kr
Korg Radias,
or if you want to spend some Money:
Access Virus TI or TI Snow,
Arturia Origin,
I would not recommend you any of the Nord Series....they sound nice yes...and they offer a good bunch of knobs...but imho they are hell to program because of the triple functionality of each button...
the jp8080 was one of my first VA's, taught me a lot about synths and has basically every control right up front without having to go through any menus. I just did a quick ebay search and found one for 450$ CDN so you can pick them up pretty cheap.
I was never a fan of Novation, IMO their sounds are flat and thin sounding although that could be good for leads etc.
If money is an issue, you could always look for an older Virus B / C, they still have serious balls and are all around great machines that produce sounds I haven't heard replicated in software yet.
soillodge
offlineTech Moderator
You apparently have never heard the Bass Station then :P
Seriously though, the Novation VA synths have really bad presets. But when you dig into them they are gold mines. Very affordable gold mines.
`michael
KryonikMessiah23
offlinemember
There's all kinds of cool shit you can rack.
The Supernova...the Nord.......hell, I even have a neptune myself, but you asked for a V/A.
But you said "Bass". That sticks out to me. If you want a synth that does leads and bass....and i'm just going to assume you are into industrial since you are here......I'll go ahead and say get the Micro Q.
Don't let the looks fool you. It's easy as chips to program. Matrix editor rules. And it does everything well for the most part that isn't strings....and since you have an AN1X I think it'd be a perfect fit for you. You can find them between 300$-400$ usually.
I had a basstation for a while. I didn´t like the way it was build. Very unstable...
when look between the keys you can almost see the mainboard.
And in general it´s very thin plasic. Don´t use this on tour!
soillodge
offlineTech Moderator
It was cheaply made, but a cheap and sick bass making machine at the time it was produced, there was no substitute. I toured with it for several years before it finally gave out on me.
`michael
Without a budget cap hard to say. But the Access Virus TI rack is awesome...I have one and it gets used on pretty much everything these days.
@Fractured: the problem imho the JP has, is that its attack envelopes click if set to steep...you often hear this is cheaper Trance Productions ...it takes ages to get this away when programming the part :-)....
@Soillodge: I find the K-Station's presets not really bad...:-)
Plastik Suicide
offlineMember
Thanks for the input guys!
After little searching, the most tempting ones seems to be:
- Waldorf microwave XT / Micro Q
- Korg MS2000r
- Novation SuperNova / KS rack
- Roland JP8080
just something about the Korg MS2k....it only offers 4 Voice Polyphony and at max 2 Timbres....this requires quite some programming skills to make a decent lead or bass that can be used as a "standalone" or "leading" sound....
and the Supernova I would go for a Supernova II....I dunno if this one is more stable :-)...but my Supernova I is not the most stable synth I have....well topped by the JP8080 which in conjunction with the Unitor cluster hangs sometime...but they sound imho really nice....for both you can also buy additional soundpacks by Vengenance Audio which imho offer really killer-sounds!
do all these racks have 'aux in' capabilities? i know the korg does. running things thru other things is a favourite past time of mine & a great way to find new sonic territory.
soillodge
offlineTech Moderator
I love running stuff through the MS2K, and who need polyphony when you can make such nasty tones with it. I have made entire tracks with just the modulation sequencer and the delay FX. Brutal synth.
`michael
@Metaball:
The JP does also
I think my Supernova also has..but as it is rackmount I would need to check :-)
@Michael: yeah it is nice for noises and stuff...but he/she is looking (i guess) for some "bread and butter" stuff as you call it...and under this aspect the polyphony starts to count...especially for leads often used in this genre of music we are working in :-)
the speed/time & depth/feedback knobs on the ms2k are favorites.
soillodge
offlineTech Moderator
@Yade- I do not really agree with you man. Leads and basslines do not have to be complex, and oftentimes in this "genre" they are the farthest thing from it anyhow. I can play the top 20 electro hit melodies on one hand. You do not polyphony to make a trance lead, you just need a solid detuned saw waveform and some good filters, the MS2K has this in abundance. Then as for basslines, this thing is my workhorse. It can make such crazy fat tones with such character. It's amazing. Not to mention you can emulate all kinds of "normal", sounds. There is quite an array of bread & butter presets to serve all kinds of functions. Then add the VA modular matrix on the front panel in conjunction with the modulation sequencer. You can make insane evolving sounds on the fly, you can make it into a VA drum machine, a distorted rhythmic noise generator. It is also capable of some mad dub-step wobbles, as I found out recently. Brilliant synth. And you can get the rack-mount version for under 400$ I do not see why they wouldn't pick one up.
`michael
@Michael: I don't say it is not good :-) I also have one at home and love it....I just say that due to the limited polyphony you need to put in more effort to get out a tone which you can more easily achieve with other synths....
soillodge
offlineTech Moderator
Ah- I get what you are saying now. It is not a lazy mans synth. That is correct. If you do not like progging and just want presets to carry your ideas, it might not be the best choice. This thing is a labyrinth of possibilities.
`michael
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