No new synths

[Isaari]

I have been waiting for two years for some good synth to come around but there hasn´t been any newcomers.

I have Yamaha EX-5 that is quite good and was fabulous at it´s time.

And ofcourse Kurzweil K2600 that is in it´s own league.

But others. Triton in good in it´s own territory. There is lot of talk of new
Motif ES6 that has large ROM.

I thought for a while hartmann Neuron was it with resynthetisizing but no.

So where is some newcomer that is going to wipe the table with others with groudbreaking new technology and features that outshine others.

What do you think ?

[Over The Edge]

I know Korg is going to have a new offering.
I don't know if it will be anything new in the way of synthesis but
maybe if I hope and pray it might be a Karma Studio, no?



FL
www.franklucas.net

[Over The Edge]

Yeah,

I know, I know...


moved to gear talk! :P



FL
www.franklucas.net

[Shreddy]

Looking the new products they're adding some nice new options but as you said there is nothing ground breaking. Lets see what comes out at Winter NAMM.

Some new Rolands:
Fantom S - this offers a skip back sampling option which is new to boards. It samples everything that your playing so you can recall what you just played as a sample, time strech it, tweak etc.. layer more instruments on it and repeat as many times as you like. It seems like it could be very useful.

VSynth - although the core technology isnt anything new and radical it merges a number of technologies that can provide you limitless sound options. Sampling, Variphrase, realtime wave form tweaking, COSM effects, and cool controllers such as twin d-beam (X/Y) and the Time Trip Pad.

VariOS - this is might be a prototype for what direction new technology is heading. Its a single space rack unit which allows to you load up a couple soft synths but it also has a few other things in its box. I havent checked this out fully yet.

[rlainhart]

I think, in all honesty, that the only innovation in current synthesizer design is in softsynths, and I think it will continue that way. In my opinion, the era of the hardware synth is nearly at an end, and in time, we'll all be using softsynths exclusively. (Actually, I think the old hardware synths will be around for quite a while, but their appeal will be mostly as retro instruments, and the trend of reproducing them in software, as in the Moog Modular V, will continue.) One of the most interesting new synth technologies, the Virsyn Cube (http://www.virsyn.com), is software only.

It doesn't make a lot of sense for manufacturers to continue spending the resources necessary to develop hardware synths when developing softsynths is so much more economical. I'm looking forward to the day when all you need in a studio is a powerful general-purpose computer and a good controller, and you can get any sound or synthesis model you want in software. That day is coming....

[Tigerfolly]

I think, in all honesty, that the only innovation in current synthesizer design is in softsynths, and I think it will continue that way. In my opinion, the era of the hardware synth is nearly at an end, and in time, we'll all be using softsynths exclusively. (Actually, I think the old hardware synths will be around for quite a while, but their appeal will be mostly as retro instruments, and the trend of reproducing them in software, as in the Moog Modular V, will continue.) One of the most interesting new synth technologies, the Virsyn Cube (http://www.virsyn.com), is software only.

It doesn't make a lot of sense for manufacturers to continue spending the resources necessary to develop hardware synths when developing softsynths is so much more economical. I'm looking forward to the day when all you need in a studio is a powerful general-purpose computer and a good controller, and you can get any sound or synthesis model you want in software. That day is coming....

I think the next step will be a good hardware shell that can load software synths into it. What I really want to see is a manufacturer make good solid modular controllers with your choice of features, controlling a rackmounted brain that runs VST instruments.

Have 61, 76, and 88 keys in standard synth action, 76 and 88 in semi-weighted action, and then 76 and 88 in fully weighted action. Maybe also make a 61 key waterfall board.

On the left side of the board you've got a modular bay to put your choice of pitch/modulation wheels, a 4-way joystick, two vertical ribbon controllers (ala Kurzweil's SP) or a KAOSS style touchpad. A smaller, horizontal bay would be available for a horizontal ribbon controller (ala the Trinity/Triton and Motif ES).

All of the shells would come with your standard MIDI controls.. volume slider, octave +/-, bank +/-, numeric pad, but then you'd also have bays for other options like assignable knobs or sliders.

Basically, you would be able to have any configuration for any board you'd want. You buy the shell and the options you want, and you have your own custom board.

The brain would just be a specialized PC. Small LCD screen on the front, two 5 1/4" bays for HD or CDROM/CDR/CDRW drives, MIDI in/out/thru, USB in/out (the in could be used for PC keyboards and mice/trackballs), standard audio outs with expandable output cards.. etc.

Maybe mLan capability, if it ever gets off the ground?

Come to think of it, nobody would ever make a machine this flexible. Manufacturers want you to buy the next big thing in a year or two after all.. one of these days, I'll get around to inventing this beast :) Or at least seriously coming up with a design for one.

This can be made with existing technology. The perfect controller is within reach, and as long as you make it upgradable within the PC market, the perfect brain is also attainable. The big obstacles are latency and stability.

And after it's done, all we need is for Stephen Kay to make Karma a VST effect!