Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

There are many all digital analog synths out there. Kyma, Nord, pluggins ect.
However being the audio files we are, we’re all recognizing how good analog sounds compared to digital simulation.

I constantly think of ways of combining best of both worlds.
There are a few personal musings in this matter.
My main setup consist of a MOTM system and a Synclavier both connected to a Kyma system acting as the main hub.
An analog audio path simply just sounds the best. If you compare an analog oscillator with a digital high quality oscillator, there is no comparison. Analog wins. However digital completely rules over analog because of superior control and complexity. So how do we combine the building blocks of analog with the complexity of digital. High speed computer controlled CV. The PISM-1 is a first step towards such a thing, but ultimately I would want to connect my computer (without having to resort to MIDI then CV). I can only dream of the possibilities that would bring. Additive synthesis, scanning synthesis, true formant synthesis etc etc.

Now let’s flip the concept.
Most of the time digital synths all share a final converter as an output. That means that the sound never quite feels bigger when you’re playing more notes. Witch is the case with ex Giga studio or ESX24. You play one note and it sounds convincing, but a chord it sonically starts to collapse. The secret with the Synclavier is that each note polyphony has it’s own voice card. That’s also why the Synclav tower is so big. Each voice runs on a separate sample rate set to the speed of what key you press (not like ESX24 where a poor sounding real time sample rate converter changes the sample in reference to a fixed clock). The analog output from each card gets mixed together in an analog bus. Thus even when you play a chord with simple sample, it sounds rich and full. It’s like several mono synths added together.
What does this have to do with Modular synths? Well, here’s my thought. Why not create a sampler card for the modular world? Take the idea of a Synclav voice card, and put it in a MOTM module. A MOTM 300 ultra mono sampler! Let it even stream the audio from your computer, so ram wouldn’t be an issue. Individual voice cards that can be linked together to create polyphony, AND now also give you access to all your filters, modifiers etc. The real interesting sounds happens when you breakup the analog digital chain a bit. Slap a MOTM filter in the middle of a KYMA patch, not just at the end. Same with the Synclav. Let me add some analog noise to modulate the pitch of each voice etc.


Tobias Enhus





Wanna spend 10 grand to get the knobs back?

http://www.buchla.com/200e/index.html

--George

----- Original Message -----

From: Bob Colwell <mailto:bob.colwell@...>  
To: MOTM <mailto:motm@yahoogroups.com>  
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 4:04 PM
Subject: [motm] an all-digital "analog" synthesizer

I have an idea that's been kicking around in my head for the last 25 years: what's the best way to
combine the strengths of both digital and analog electronics to make a modular synthesizer.

Picture a modular analog synth. I believe the day is coming when I could replace the analog
guts of any of the modules with one DSP-like device, programmed to provide the function
of that module, be it filtering, envelope generation, VCO, etc. Powering up the machine
would cause each DSP to be programmed for its function by some master CPU. Want
another VCO? Just make one. Could also keep the programming in flash, possibly
incorporated directly on the DSP chip. Silicon capable of doing this is pretty much
available right now.

To capitalize on the strength of the digital part of this rig, I'm thinking the interfaces between
modules should be digital, not analog. But I'm somewhat torn on this part -- there's something
satisfying, logical, and concrete about connecting a patch cord from the output of one
module to the input of another. Even with digital protocols we could still have patch
cords.

But the digital world doesn't really need 'em. You could have a very general routing
interconnect network inside the box that allows anything to connect to anything else.
The question is how to control that routability and how to make it readily visible to
the machine's operator.

To really take advantage of the extreme programmability of the modules, you'd
probably want each of them to have some kind of display that reflects the  current
function of that module. LCD displays are pretty expensive right now, especially
the color ones that I think would be necessary to quickly distinguish the various
modules.

Why would anyone want such a rig? Well, one major reason is that you could
get all of the "knobs" back to their exact settings later, something that I never
could achieve with an analog synth. In fact, if the patching is done via a routing
network, you could reconfigure the machine to precisely what it was at any
previous time. Maybe a combination of internal routing network plus patch cords?

Anyone else ever thought about doing this?

-BobC


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