The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

This is an interesting debate, so I thought I'd add my two pennies
worth! :-)

I don't have the Minimonsta, but I have the Arturia Minimoog, which
got a mixed review in Sound On Sound for V1.1, but a very positive
review on V1.5. Gordon Reid, who gave the mixed V1.1. review, said in
his conclusion of the V1.5 review  "Today, it sounds and responds like
the hardware original. In fact, it's now a remarkable imitation that I
would happily use and be confident that you would never realise that
it was not the 'real thing". 

Personally I think softsynths are getting pretty good now. They might
not be 100% clones of the original hardware, but if they capture the
spirit of the original then that's good enough for me!

I actually like both hard and soft synths. My gigging rig is
predominantly hardware (Yamaha EX5, FS1R, Motif ES Rack (with
PLG150-AN) and A4000, a Nord G2 engine and Novation Remote 61),
however I have also added a laptop with Native Instruments B4 Organ
emulation, which sounds so much better than the organ sounds in any of
my hardware units. I have the Remote61 setup to control the drawbars
when I need that. Touch wood, the laptop/B4 so far in 6 months of
gigging with Pure Floyd (www.purefloyd.co.uk) has been as reliable as
the hardware units. The laptop also serves as a MIDI monitor (with
MIDIOX), interval music player and also has all of my patch backups.

In my studio as well as my gigging rig, I also have a Yamaha SY77,
AN1x and CS15, and at that point, I physically have no more room for
extra hardware! Not unless I move house, anyway!

So recently I have been buying soft synths for sonic variety. I have
the Korg Wave Station/M1, Arturia Minimoog and Prophet V (Prophet 5
and VS) and G-Force MTRON Pro. That's without considering Steinberg
virtual instruments such as Groove Agent, Virtual Bass and Virtual
guitar. I love the soft synths as much as I like my hardware units. I
personally think a good emulation is at the point where the sound is
nearly as good as some of the originals, certainly within the context
of a mix. 

You also need to consider, taking the Minimoog as an example, would
you want to pay £1300+ for 30-35 year old hardware and all the
associated maintenance problems, or £130 for a soft-synth that gets
pretty close. Sure, a soft-synth is not classic or collectible, so
that must be a factor in your decision. Is it the unit or the sound
that you want (or both)? You don't get the same immediacy of tweaking
if relying on the computer interface, but then I can set up my
Remote61 to do that, or download a template somebody else has made.

Horses for course of course, and we will all have our own preferences.
Personally I like the best of both worlds!


Cheers
Derek

--- In AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com, "Dale" <admin@...> wrote:
>
> great program
> good to have
> 
> dale
> 
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> Apple iTunes
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> 
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> 
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> Serious_Musicians@yahoogroups.com
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http://www.myspace.com/reloc.cfm?c=2&id=887c816f-4857-42cd-b2d4-4f519a8bed75
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Luc Hogie 
> 
> 
>   Guys what do you think of the sound of the GeForce Minimonsta?
>   It's a software emulation of the Minimoog that got very good reviews.
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>