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Lucid Dream Studios
Analogue Digital Modular Synthesizer
Hardware
This
synthesizer
design was inspired by the Synclavier. This is an analogue digital hybrid
- with a focus on the Moog, Arp, and Synclavier sound.
The
keyboard is an Arturia Analog Experience - The
Laboratory (49 Key USB midi controller). It had problems right
out of the box. The rotary knobs are like a cap on a tube of
toothpaste. They don't provide a good tactile experience, and they don't link up
with Arturia's software. I
decided not to return it because it was love at first touch. It's exactly the action and response I
like - with sturdy metal and
wood construction. We made an immediate connection. Besides I'm not
using any of the knobs or sliders; they're all hidden.
Above the keyboard are two Behringer Model D Eurorack
synthesizers. They're a new semi-modular, copy of the Minimoog Model D.
The build quality is surprisingly good. The rotary knobs are very
firm, smooth, provide a great tactile experience, and the sound is
very close to the original Minimoog D. The instability of the
instrument gives it a warm, natural, complex, fat, and
rich sound - making it my favorite monophonic lead synthesizer.
The top cabinet houses
a Korg
Arp Odyssey - a new copy of the the original. It's also
monophonic. The sound is cleaner and thinner than the Moog. It's my
second favorite leade synthesizer sound.
The analogue portion of
this instrument is monophonic, and lacks the ability to save patches
- a feature that I find to be appealing. It forces you to create a
few great patches, and start making music. It makes it feel more
like a real instrument. In the same way an electric guitar has only
one great timbre while the effects pedals provide the different
varieties of sound. To the left are various guitar effects pedals.
Next to the Arp is a computer monitor.
Software:
The software for this studio includes:
Protools (DAW)
Native Instruments' Komplete:
- Monark: Minimoog Model D recreation
- Reaktor: A modular software music studio
- Kontakt: A software sampler
- Massive: a wavetable, semi-modular syntjesizer
- Absynth: a semi-modular experimental synthesizer
- FM8: frequency-modulation-based synthesizer
Arturia's V Collection:
- ARP2600 V
- CS-80 V
- Minimoog V
- Moog Modular V
- Oberheim SEM V
- Prophet V
- Vox Continental V
- Farfisa V
- Wurlitzer V
- Jupiter-8 V
- Solina V
- Matrix-12 V
- Stage-73 V
- Synclavier V
- B-3 V
- Piano V
- DX7 V
- Buchla Easel V
- Clavinet V
- CMI V
Spectrasonics:
- Omnisphere
- Keyscap
- Trillian
Rob Papen's Predator
U-he's Zebra's modular syntjesizer
Native Instruments makes three of my favorite
synthesizers. Absynth is my favorite
synthesizer for experimental sounds, and Massive is great for
more traditional sounds. The best part of both of these instruments
are the randomize buttons. Using
these buttons foster happy accidents, and create sounds
that go beyond my preconceived tendencies.
Monark is a virtual recreation of the Minimoog Model D, and it
provides the ability to tinker with random artifacts that
gave the original analogue synthesizer its warm, fat, and organic sound. You
can adjust the oscillator drift and leakage, but it's unfortunately not
polyphonic or modular. Hopefully NI will use this instrument as the
foundation to create a more powerful experimental modular wireless
system.
Arturia 88
This studio was inspired by the Fairlight CMI. Like the Fairlight it
is completely digital.
It uses a software emulation of the Fairlight by Arturia, all the
above software, and the Arturia Keylab 88 - Hammer-Action Hybrid. It's
also great for Spectrasonic's Keyscape, and practicing piano.
Rolli Seaboard Rise
This
portable performance studio also has the Arturia Analog Experience, all
the above software, and the Roli Seaboard Rise.
Watch Marco Parisi plays Jimi Hendrix's
"Little Wing" on the Seaboard RISE at Musikmesse 2016.
Eurorack Modular Synthesizer
This modular Eurorack synthesizer design was inspired by Don Buchla's Digital
synthesizer. I haven't build it yet. The Eurorack modules will be by Uli Behringer.
Unfortunately Uli hasn't released the final images of the modules,
and hasn't even decided what modules to create, so I don't know what
this instrument will look like - or what it will sound like. The preliminary images he has
released look like a darker version of Döpfer modules. Hopefully
that won't be the end result since Döpfer modules aren't
aesthetically pleasing to me. We all appreciate what Döpfer did for
us, but give us some contrast, and beautiful knobs that provide a
pleasing tactile experience.
Eurorack is a modular synthesizer format that was originally
specified in 1996 by Dieter Döpfer. It's currently the dominant hardware
modular synthesizer format. There are over 5,000 available modules,
and over 270 manufacturers (as of 2018).
©
2020
John Chiappone |