Friday, November 18, 2011

The Progress Report: Or, A Guide to Creating a Budget Synth Studio in Istanbul


Months have past since the last post for one good reason: I've been playing music instead of talking about it. As you can see, much has been added. Someone in a Gearslutz thread said that VSTs are a gateway drug to hardware synths. I couldn't agree more. I love the way they feel, look and sound. Besides, I spend all day at work staring at a computer monitor - I no longer want to do the same in the evening.

The purchase of the Roland Juno-Di in January touched off a spark: specifically, the Di's arpeggiator. I don't know if there is a ranking of the synth world's slowest arps, but the Juno-Di would likely be near the top of such a list: 1/4 notes at 5 BPM. One and a quarter beats per minute. So, you may well ask, how could this be of any use? Well, drone lovers and those with an affinity for slowly evolving pads, the Juno-Di is your dream machine. Find a suitable sound (not particularly difficult), pick from any of the over 100 sequence patterns, play a chord, adjust the attack and release until the notes blend into each other, turn the arp speed down and latch it, and you are in ambient paradise. For sonic doubleplusgoodness, the Juno-Di is midied out to the Roland JV-1080 (in Performance mode), with two parts (at the moment, using the same patch for each part, but further experimentation lies ahead) panned hard left/right, one channel an octave higher or lower, one or both detuned to taste.

Things Not In the Manual 1: In performance mode, the lower split of the Juno-Di transmits on midi channel 2, the upper split on channel 1.

...and while I'm here...

Things Not In the Manual 2: To delete a Juno-Di user performance, save it with no name.

For about 6 months, I worked with a combination of hard and software. Also went on something of a effect pedal buying spree. But most importantly, I started seriously listening to early Krautrock. Here, I found kindred spirits and a sense of direction. For electronic music, the Germans did it first and they did it best.

In July, my sisters arrived from Canada, bearing the Korg Electribe EA MKII, the Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-3 (granted, not the most interesting of drum machines, but capable and user reviews are generally positive) and the FM3 Buddha Machine 2 (finally, a cheap noise toy that makes something more than an annoying buzz, and with a better effort-to-result ratio than the Monotron). Conveniently, my mother had sent with my sisters $500 CDN in birthday money - a sum that covered the price of the gear. Happy Birthday to me. Getting the EA MKII was another turning point. First, any VST sequences/arps I had been using got transcibed into the EA MKII, taking the computer out of the mix. Second, any sequences/arps I had been using on the Xio or the Juno-Di got transcibed into the EA MKII, freeing them up to make more interesting sounds (see above).

Electribe Aside 1: I am glad I purchased this without first listening to it - Laura got it from e-Bay months before I received it. The presets on the EA MKII are, to put it politely, completely useless to me (I've kept only one). Also, it is not easy to get a truly decent sound (as in, something that doesn't sound like a third rate TB-303) out of the thing - useable patches have often been the result a lucky tweak. This is less of a problem now, as I'll discuss after. On the other hand, it is dead easy to sequence and it has something of great value: a start button. The EA MKII now functions as the command centre: midi-out to the Akai Miniak, midi-through the Miniak to the DR-3. Rhythm section perfectly in sync, which brings me to...

(Rant on) The biggest problem with the Xio is that it doesn't play well with others. It is impossible to tempo sync it with any other hardware synth (confirmed through e-mails with the Novation tech department). There is NO MIDI IN. Midi out will not sync with other devices. USB is useless. And this sucks, because one of the great things about the Xio is its arp: I've gotten wonderfully TD-like sequences out of the Xio which are often useless to me because I CAN'T SYNC THE DAMN THING with any of my other gear. (Rant off)

Things Not In the Manual 3: With the Xio in the "as played" arp mode, hold the first note, quickly hit the second and third notes a couple of times before you hit the fourth note, as in (1 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 3 - 4) or (1 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 3 - 4). With a square-based bass patch and the proper delay, you'll soon be Ricocheting across the Rubicon.

Things Not In the Manual 4: The Behringer XENYX 1002 is sold as a 10 input mixer. However, you can easily add two inputs by using the CD/Tape RCA input - simply push the CD/Tape to Mix button in. Only downside is that you have to control the volume at the source. As the DR-3 also has RCA jacks, I have it plugged in to CD/Tape when using unprocessed drums (see below).

Akai Miniak vs. Yamaha DX-7: The Miniak came about three months ago from Lafa Muzik after the sale of my old Ovation acoustic (took over a year to find a buyer, hated to see it go after owning it for close to 25 years, but I just didn't play it much anymore, so I hope it is now getting the love and attention it deserves). From the reviews and Youtube vids, it was clear that considering what was available in Istanbul for the money (there aren't a wealth of options here anyway), the Miniak was the best choice. As I had bought the Xio at Lafa and been stopping in occasionally to say hi and take a look, they sold it to me tax free, which saved about $100.  Now, some knowledgable readers may be disturbed to hear that I choose an Akai Miniak over a Yamaha DX-7 (which had been sitting in Lafa being ignored for months). However, in terms of practical functions (especially in Multi mode), the Miniak blows away the DX-7. The way I'm working involves having everything creating as many textures as possible in real time. I need a synth that is conducive to the way I work, not an old, slightly beat up, notoriously difficult to program synth famous for its electric pianos and bells (two sounds that I typically avoid).

As I said above, the Miniak is midied to the EA MKII: in Multi mode, Miniak Part One receives Part One/Midi Channel One from the EA MKII: this is the bass sequence. Part Two receives Part Two/Midi Channel Two from the EA MKII: this sequence depends on the song. And, I can still add a number of Multi parts on the Miniak, such as sequences/arps, pads, lead, and drums. Dead easy to split and arrange the keyboard.

Electribe Aside 2: Volume from Part One of the EA MKII is zero or minimal, and I may eventually use that jack on the mixer for something else. EA MKII Part Two is usually balanced in the opposite channel to Miniak Part Two and run through a Boss HR-2 Harmonist (octave down/detune), a Nux PH2 Phaser (I had never heard of Nux either before I bought the pedal, but it ain't half bad), a Digitech X Series Turbo Flange (some truly wacked settings available on this, including "Step", which is essentially sample & hold), and a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay.

Things Not In the Manual 5: In an effort to dirty up the Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-3, I've started running it through the Miniak's filters (there are a number of Ext In presets in the Vocoder/FX Bank on the Miniak, find something close and start tweaking - it is worth it). However, if you do this, you may experience a substantial stereo-separation loss: not a big deal with a kick/snare/hat pattern, but anything with panned toms is seriously affected. I will continue to experiment and hopefully find a solution, but until then, any pattern using toms has to played clean (see above).

Things Not In the Manual 6 (this was unlikely to appear in the manual, but anyway...): When duplicating a Arturia Minimoog patch on the Miniak, you'll get fairly accurate results if you open the Miniak filter about 150-200 Hz more than the Arturia setting, while cutting back on the resonance and envelope/contour amount. A little time consuming, but a great source for bass patches, and I even closely copied two of the pads Klaus Schulze programmed for Arturia - like having a private lesson with the master.

Two weeks ago, I added my classic synth to the set-up: the Roland JV-1080. And found it at a price that is closer to generally accepted market value, not inflated Istanbul value. Yes, many of the presets are dated. (Dear Roland, please let users delete your precious presets. Thank you.) However, for creating ambient pads, this is a beast. The JV-1080 had also been sitting in Lafa being ignored for months: it was literally in the corner with a few other rack units, with other gear in front of it obscuring the view, and the guy I deal with had forgotten it was there - I had to show him it existed on their website. Now, the fun part: I used a  Microkorg to play the JV-1080 in the store (it was just sitting right there, and fit on top of the Roland.) Now, I'd only previously played a Microkorg briefly once, before I had anything to properly compare it to and I must say that the keyboard on the Microkorg is something I would rather not touch again. The vocoder mic is also somthing of a joke: you could use the Miniak's mic to beat someone to death; you could possibly use the Microkorg's mic to strangle someone. And ugly. How a synth with wooden ends could be so hideous to look at is a mystery to me (actually, I think it is the beige/green combination that puts me off).

A note on gear shopping in Istanbul: The music stores I generally deal with here are privately owned, not part of a franchise chain: the people there are always there, with minimal staff turnover. So, they tend to remember you after your first purchase, especially if you are a foreigner and natural blonde (not many blonde men in this city; not many natural blondes in this city either). The secret is to be a repeat customer, and you'll often get better deals on subsequent purchases. The JV-1080 was listed for $300. I got it for $250 without even trying to haggle.

Things Not In the Manual 7: Despite the 15 year age difference between them, two of the Jupiter 8 string patches on the Juno-Di are identical to those on the JV-1080.

That's enough. Time to get back to playing.

Peace



2 comments:

The Editor said...

Hey - greetings from Montreal. Good post - lots of detail on how you're using everything together.

I have a question you may be able to answer about the Miniak. I can't find info about it anywhere, so I apologize, but you seem like a good source!

I'm trying to figure out if, on the Miniak, you can hold down a chord, then hit a button, and have the chord drone on, hands free. I have other synths with this "hold" function, but I was wondering if the Miniak can do something similar.

Thanks for considering the question. Keep up the good work!

TJ Porter said...

Yes, this can be done, but for some reason, only if it is a Comp bank patch: if it is a Pad or String bank patch, you need to set it up as a Sequence (I have a drone sequence where there is only the single note, the patch's sound does the rest), but this will only work for single notes. If it is a comp patch, you can use chords - and strangely enough, if you copy a pad or string into the comp bank, it will usually work the same way.