hi guys
i'm about reconsidering my position about what i thougth about synths. plus, i , i hope, solved the problem with humidity in my cellar so i will have a space to build up a little shitty studio, so...

anyway, i felt synths they were strange to my kind of way to make music, so until now i only used vsti or broken keyboards for kids...
now i listned to some synths wich i loved.
...is more for b.o.c.,squarepusher, the orb and f.s.l.o.'s sound that i'm searching...
examples of those bands sounds (in order as i wrote up)wich i would like to find precisely:
b.o.c.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT0gRc2c2wQ
squarepusher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CHV44WpKw4
the orb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7BVp2qyVBU&feature=fvst
future sound of london
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCoCTkC0oL0

can you tell me if you have experience on those (also your opinion without using them is ok)?
the synths (also rack versions are accepted):

Roland Juno 106

Roland JD 990

roland jd-800

Korg Microkorg

Korg MS2000r

Yamaha TX81Z

Akai AX80

Yamaha DX100

Yamaha D7


Fenx

any reason that you're list includes those specific synths? just because they are in your price range?

out of your list i'd say youd could get the sounds that you are looking for from either the juno-106 or the korg ms2000(which is just a microkorg with more knobs).

the juno is analog so it might have a better sound, also i think the classic hoover bass comes from this keyboard. The MS2000 might allow for a slightly broader range of sounds since it's a virtual analog, but i'm not intimately familiar with either of these synths, so that's just a guess.

based on the video's you posted i'd stay away from the dx7/100 or any other FM synth.

you want to go with either analog or virtual analog. you could also look into the korg dw-8000 or dw-6000. I think they are comparable to the juno and I've heard that they lend themselves to boards of canada-ish tones, but i haven't used either so I can't say this for sure.

yep those are all radically different styled synths

i wouldnt go with any FM synths if i were you, theres lots possible with them but not the sounds you are looking for in this case i think.

The b.o.c. and future sound of london kind of synth sounds are actually pretty common synth sounds.

You just need to set the correct amount of reverb, saw type sin waveform and add a nice cut off filter to make it softer or sharper.

I can't help you with the synths you've mentioned though, I've only had a MicroKorg (which actually doesn't quite can produce exactly those sounds).

The b.o.c. sound is very cool by the way.

That's my favorite BOC song!

ROYGBIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. *yes, all the colors of the rainbow.

i listened to this while painting walls in a house and it was too perfect...

also listened to brian eno's music for airport in an airport and that was too good as well

but anyway...
if i had the money to toss around, i would probably, maybe, pick up that juno

but if i had even more money, i would pick up the minimoog voyager
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa6MvpOl0ZU
over 3 grand!!!
http://www.moogmusic.com/voyager/?secti ... duct_id=40

Synthesizer, microwave me
Give me a drug so I can make seven babies
Pump my breasts up, can you suck the fat up
Please make my life appear
like ain't no such thing as bad luck
My, nose ain't right
Like I need a new one
Just take your pick, a yellow red
A black or a blue one
Virtual reality, virtual, BULLSHIT
Synthesizer preachers can reach you
up in the pulpit
Who a bitch?

mine too. great track. too short indeed.



yes.
i forget to explain that.
the price range is between 0 and 250€ (372usd).



the juno 106 is the one i prefer on the list.
but it's hardly difficult to find it here(france) or you found it half broken...it's an old machine.
when you talk of ms2000, is the rack version? not expensive indeed i think...



i'm a total dummie about synths. what fm stands for?i heard a million times...




thanx for all your advices, i will look also those.

the micrkorg is a versatile synth? it had also ambient-ish sounds?

majority of synths are capable of 90 percent of synth sounds. you just gotta learn the basics of subtractive synthesis and you are set. what you want is to be able to change things such as:
OSC waveform
OSC octave
OSC fine tune
amplitude envelopes
filter envelopes
Assignable LFO


those ^^^ in conjuction with FX will get you very very far


until you want moog/FM...then you got to relearn how they work, especially FM, but don't worry about FM really...

FM=Frequency Modulation synthesis. a really simplified description would be that instead of just mixing oscillator waveforms together(which you do with standard analog subtractive synthesis) you have the main oscillator(carrier osc) modulated by one or more additional waveforms. and these themselves can be modulated as well. it's a far more complex beast than your typical analog or virtual analog subtractive synth.

also i noticed that you have the yamaha an200, i think this is actually a pretty capable little synth with both virtual analog and FM synthesis. might be worth your while to dig into that before you look further. this may give you a better idea of what you like/dislike.

yeah, you should be able to do most of the sounds on the AN200, so you should learn to use that first!

thanx for this simple and and good description.





...just this morning i almost finished to build an half studio in my cellar...
now i'm trying the roland D2 synth parts with a midi keyboard to see what i can do with (i remeber there are inside some Juno sounds too), after i will try the an200 (but something tells me that this one is more "metallic", but who knows...)

i like synths quite a bit, but i'm still a novice at getting the sounds i want. by tweaking the osc's, waveform, etc., i usually find something i LIKE, but rarely do i get the sound i was looking for initially (if that makes sense).

a while ago i read a BOC interview where they talked in depth about how they run synths, etc., through old radio amplifiers. they basically add old hardware into their signal chain to damage the sounds, warm them up, and "age" them. this interview touches on it:

http://remixmag.com/mag/remix_northern_exposure/

but you never know with these wee scots. could be subterfuge.

also, too, i'd recommend looking for the synths you've mentioned on:
http://www.vintagesynth.com/index.php

because often this site will list other artists that have also used the synth. i've been looking for a cheap roland rs-09 since i found out that it is the 'string' sound on the cure's 'close to me'.

LAST TIP: look for dudes (usually 12 year olds) on youtube doing covers of BOC/FSOL songs, and check out what gear they're using to do it. OR - find live footage of the groops in question and check out their rigs.

i'm full of good ideas, but not coffee. so i will stop now to make some java.

good luck, ella g.

yes, i know what you/they mean. the synths i talked about could be near or not to the artists i mentioned. but the "last word" is to the way we manipulate those sounds: in the synths itself ( the waveforms, the arpeggios etc) and outside it (fx, eq, noise etcetc). so, potentially, we can buy all the synths we want but no one could be the good one. it's all about the exercice/pratice with it.
sayng this, the juno 106 is an instant b.o.c. synth...



this site i like very much. i always look at it before buy some machine (another good one is sonicstate).
your story about the cure (great band) is funny. and the rs-09 looks nice...


...12 year old guys doin cover of boc and fsol? what about their adolescence? this world is crazy ....
anyway thanx, and good luck to you fauna!