Is it possible to pose a better example of apples
and oranges than say "apples and oranges?"
The Nord Modular (unlike other Nords) and Oasys
and Max/MSP (might as well throw in Kyma) are in a different building
in the imaginary museum of sound tools than 100 percent of the other
synths in the world. Those are more like computer environment for the creation
of software synths than anything else. Things like the Nord Lead, JP8080, and
Roland you can think of, most Korgs, K5000, etc are not such things (but may
be conjured up in such things) and it is hardly fair or
meaninful to compare them, except by perhaps the quality of what sounds
come out (which should be all that matter, right?).
I am trying to come up with comparison of why
juxtaposing most hardware synths with these musical tools in regard to
operation or power meaningless. How about:
Like comparing an excellent book to a computer
word processor. The book already is great and pre-written, but the computer,
although almost infinitely more powerful to create more than just the
book, is totally dependent on its user input and could produce utter crap if
misused. One could type the written book into the computer and it
would be a nice facsimile, but without more, the computer is no better than
the book-perhaps less. But then, how to compare their strengths and
weaknesses in any meaningful way where they are so different from each
other?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 4:08
AM
Subject: Re: [xl7] Re: Shots of the new
Roland MC909
> Both MC-505
> and the XL7 have the most
rocking, deep and highly evolved synthesis
> engines around.
I
can't speak for the 505, but the XL-7 is, at heart, just a sample
playback
synthesiser with nice filters and a rather cool modulation
matrix, coupled
with a simple but usable arpeggiator and
sequencer. Oh, and it's nice
having tons of voices, although the
aggressive voice stealing on envelope
release is a bit of a pain. I
love mine to pieces (bugs aside) but wouldn't
rate its core synthesis
engine against, oh, a Nord Modular, an OasysPCI, or
Max/MSP (units
which, coincidentally, form the rest of my rig).
--
nick rothwell -- composition, systems, performance -- http://www.cassiel.com
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