The Synth Thread...

[budda12ax7]

Any play with the new cherry audio soft synth stuff???

[Shadoweclipse13]

I'm not positive that this is a single speaker vs a pair of speakers, but how do these 8" KRK speakers look?

KRK Classic 8 Powered Two-Way Professional Studio Monitor

From my limited experience, everything I'm reading looks good...

EDIT: Question. With it being mentioned above that some modern synths have a bit hotter of a signal leaving the instrument, would it matter using standard instrument cable (guitar cables) or would I need speaker cables going into the mixing board?

[BlixaFan]

I'm not positive that this is a single speaker vs a pair of speakers, but how do these 8" KRK speakers look?

KRK Classic 8 Powered Two-Way Professional Studio Monitor

From my limited experience, everything I'm reading looks good...

EDIT: Question. With it being mentioned above that some modern synths have a bit hotter of a signal leaving the instrument, would it matter using standard instrument cable (guitar cables) or would I need speaker cables going into the mixing board?

i have an OLD pair of KRK V6s, and they are great! i use them in my studio. one thing to keep in mind, KRKs in generally are not pleasant to listen to, they are very flat and accurate, great for mixing, but not something i'd listen to music on for enjoyment generally speaking.
I also used to have the KRK VXT4, which was a smaller speaker, very tight controlled mids, and surprisingly a good amount of lows, but again, flat, accurate.

i don't think i'd ever plug in a synth directly into a monitor... YMMV.

[Shadoweclipse13]

i have an OLD pair of KRK V6s, and they are great! i use them in my studio. one thing to keep in mind, KRKs in generally are not pleasant to listen to, they are very flat and accurate, great for mixing, but not something i'd listen to music on for enjoyment generally speaking.
I also used to have the KRK VXT4, which was a smaller speaker, very tight controlled mids, and surprisingly a good amount of lows, but again, flat, accurate.

i don't think i'd ever plug in a synth directly into a monitor... YMMV.

That sounds perfect. I'm planning to run the signal as such: synths > mixing board > monitors. I figure I can control the EQ for each synth separately on the mixing board, or on the synth itself. Flat EQ is preferable to me so it's accurate as you say. Did you ever have issues with the low frequencies and your KRKs?

[mackerelmint]

I'm not positive that this is a single speaker vs a pair of speakers, but how do these 8" KRK speakers look?

KRK Classic 8 Powered Two-Way Professional Studio Monitor

From my limited experience, everything I'm reading looks good...

EDIT: Question. With it being mentioned above that some modern synths have a bit hotter of a signal leaving the instrument, would it matter using standard instrument cable (guitar cables) or would I need speaker cables going into the mixing board?

I don't actually know from KRKs. I have some headphones of theirs, which are very good, but their monitors and I have never hung out. I don't think speaker cables would be necessary since I'm having hard time picturing a synth that drives a cabinet all by itself with no amp.

To speak to what Blixafan said, really flat monitors might be a case of spending more money to get a lesser result, at least as far as using them for synths goes. That said, if your synths go into a lil mixer first, that's a chance to throw in some EQ and sweeten the sound by cheating your monitors, I would think.

I was using some really flat Dynaudio monitors for a couple of years, and didn't find the sound of the synths going through those unpleasant. As always, YMMV.

[BlixaFan]

i have an OLD pair of KRK V6s, and they are great! i use them in my studio. one thing to keep in mind, KRKs in generally are not pleasant to listen to, they are very flat and accurate, great for mixing, but not something i'd listen to music on for enjoyment generally speaking.
I also used to have the KRK VXT4, which was a smaller speaker, very tight controlled mids, and surprisingly a good amount of lows, but again, flat, accurate.

i don't think i'd ever plug in a synth directly into a monitor... YMMV.

That sounds perfect. I'm planning to run the signal as such: synths > mixing board > monitors. I figure I can control the EQ for each synth separately on the mixing board, or on the synth itself. Flat EQ is preferable to me so it's accurate as you say. Did you ever have issues with the low frequencies and your KRKs?

nice! that should work well. never had any issues, and mixed a good amount of music with lots of low end on them without a woofer, to a pretty high degree of success i'd say

[Shadoweclipse13]

I don't actually know from KRKs. I have some headphones of theirs, which are very good, but their monitors and I have never hung out. I don't think speaker cables would be necessary since I'm having hard time picturing a synth that drives a cabinet all by itself with no amp.

To speak to what Blixafan said, really flat monitors might be a case of spending more money to get a lesser result, at least as far as using them for synths goes. That said, if your synths go into a lil mixer first, that's a chance to throw in some EQ and sweeten the sound by cheating your monitors, I would think.

I was using some really flat Dynaudio monitors for a couple of years, and didn't find the sound of the synths going through those unpleasant. As always, YMMV.

nice! that should work well. never had any issues, and mixed a good amount of music with lots of low end on them without a woofer, to a pretty high degree of success i'd say

Good to know! I'm looking forward to getting a set and booking everything up!! I found some 8" JBL studio monitors for the same price, but I still like what I see from the KRKs better. Might pull the trigger soon. Thanks for all the help on this you two!!!

[mackerelmint]

My son has a birthday next month, and all the boy wants is music gear.

Was gonna get him some monitors, but I guess a buddy of his hooked him up with a set, so it's not a pressing need. He has his bass, and an amp for it. He doesn't wanna learn guitar until he's better on bass. OK. He told me "you could give me literally any of your old music toys", but I like what I have.

So I got him a modal skulpt SE. And I'm kinda thinking I'll play with it for a little while before I give it to him, because it looks pretty neat. Right or wrong, I'm kinda thinking of it like a microkorg minus the vocoder and menu diving. Seems like a good first hardware synth. Anyone have any tips on these things?

[Shadoweclipse13]

No tips, but you're a good mom! That's an awesome gift

[Maggieo]

I was surprised by how much I like my KORG Volca Keys. The stripped-down nature was a new window into synthesis- beginner's mind sort of stuff.

[mackerelmint]

Thanks, Jason!

Maggie- Volcas are wonderful. I also love my volca keys. The kinda "standard" thing I see people doing with them is running them through zoom CDR pedals, which I have two of because there's no end to their usefulness.

I also have a Volca sample, which I've in no way come to grips with yet. But having a little sample based drum machine thingy that syncs to the keys module is going to be awesome when I get it figured out all the way.

There's something really cool about the sorta miniature electronic instrument ecosystem that's been bubbling up the last few years. Simplicity and CV connectivity along with MIDI and all that.

[mackerelmint]

I have some thoughts about this. Apparently, it's supposed to be 3 voice paraphonic. That's all well and good.
The CS-80's thing, or at least a huge part of it, is the two separate voices/patches/whatever that you can blend. This doesn't seem to do that, but maybe two of them will.
Also, check out the knobs on the upper left: those have the exact same settings as the Volca keys, which is sorta interesting when set next to "3 voice paraphonic".

Probably the most subtle suggestion of function I can see is in the keys. That appears to be the same touch-plate poly aftertouch setup that the microfreak uses, the CS-80 famously having poly aftertouch. So that's kinda exciting to think about. But that wouldn't work with midi in, so unless they're building in some way to slave one to a second one, you're only getting half the sound.

[Maggieo]

It really is a great time for Tiny Synth Town.

[mackerelmint]

It sure is. And it's right up my alley, too: I'm a synth dilettante, but VSTs just don't get me feeling it, and cheap, small hardware synths are a perfect way forward. There are controllers like the keystep pro that integrate with them beautifully, too, so you don't have to use the capacitive metal keys if you don't wanna, and can still sequence them without using MIDI if that's how you wanna do it. They're fast to dial in, and they bring just the right amount of limitation to the party to help creativity...

Tiny synths are just perfect musical toys.

[Maggieo]

It sure is. And it's right up my alley, too: I'm a synth dilettante, but VSTs just don't get me feeling it, and cheap, small hardware synths are a perfect way forward. There are controllers like the keystep pro that integrate with them beautifully, too, so you don't have to use the capacitive metal keys if you don't wanna, and can still sequence them without using MIDI if that's how you wanna do it. They're fast to dial in, and they bring just the right amount of limitation to the party to help creativity...

Tiny synths are just perfect musical toys.

Megan, I'm exactly the same.