Korg Forums

Like many of you, I have had my share of actual analog synths - from my original Korg Poly-800, a actual Moog synth, to a MOSS board in my Korg Karma with actual oscillators (the spinning kind) to a brand new hybrid Arturia MicroFreak (digital and analog-esque).

And I have the Korg Kronos ... to be truthfully honest ... I just don't hear this difference you all speak of. I have been able to make some massively large unison sounds on the analog synths and re-create them to near perfection on the MicroFreak and now the Kronos. With effects and EQ, you can make any digital analog sound thicker and fatter. Double it. Triple it. At the end of the day, who cares as long as it sounds good to you. Does it fit in the mix of the production you are creating?

I have never been one of those people who swear analog is better than digital, that LPs sound better than cassette tapes which sound better than optical CDs, yadda, yadda, yadda.... I think it all sounds amazing if captured cleanly. What I hate is noise, hum, stuff that somehow leaked into the production or hissy, nasty stuff. Analog synths do that - they make noise. Lots of noise. Chaotic, non-melodic, unharmonious noise.

I'll take digital any day.

Mike

so ... you'll plug your analog gear into a digital mixer , digital effects , digital speaker management , digital amps ...??

maybe a quality 'emulation' sent thru some other analog gear , effects , real tube pre , a real analog filter ..?? then into the digital realm of above ...?

it's not like most of us are plugging a mini-moog into an old tube amped Leslie .. !!??

then I remind myself , ... oh yeah , 98% of the audience is totally clueless about this kinda stuff ... & ... don't care .. !!

not that i'm lazy or cheap ... just been at it since the 60's ...!

and getting old ... = what was the question .. ??

been here for many years ( my Kronos 88 V1 is 10 yrs old ) but after not being able to sign into this site for about a week ... i signed up again today ...

There's been a lot of gushing over the "vintage" knob on the new Prophet Rev4, and now on the OB6 and Prophet 6. Slight variations in tuning and envelopes with each new note press can make a sound more alive.

The Kronos AL1 can do vintage nicely. Random values here and there.

On the LFO page, choose a random waveform instead of triangle, and click the "stop" button. Now you can use that LFO on filter cutoff or envelope attack and decay. Every new note will be slightly different, like on the old analogs.

Dan from Korg did a great tutorial about such things (link below). You simply need to know what to do and program it correctly. For an authentic Minimoog sound, you also need to reproduce Jim Scott's VCF miscalculation. When well done, it becomes impossible to distinguish a real analog from the Kronos.

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=83803

It all simply boils down to, "Do you like it"?
That's really all that matters.

KK wrote:Dan from Korg did a great tutorial about such things (link below). You simply need to know what to do and program it correctly. For an authentic Minimoog sound, you also need to reproduce Jim Scott's VCF miscalculation. When well done, it becomes impossible to distinguish a real analog from the Kronos.

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=83803

I always appreciate tips to make things sound better. Every analog has its own personality, especially in the envelopes and filters. I like using the dual filters and drive. Loads of character there.

For anyone interested, I stumbled across a great video that almost nobody ever watched - a two hour discussion with the great Herb Deutsch and just as great Jim Scott whom I mentioned earlier in this thread. Shueh-Li Ong is well-known too.

Those two guys have more knowledge in synths that probably the whole forum community here. In the video, they have some problems with their microphones at first, but after maybe 10 minutes the discussion is very interesting, amongst other things they talk about how they designed famous Moog models, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhVMQZnMtbg

Thanks KK! 81 views, but it was only posted last month so there's that.

I'll have to watch it in the morning, as I'm currently working late, but that sounds intriguing! Especially as a former owner of a Mini Moog, then a Micro Moog back in the day

I don't know...

My first synth was a Korg Poly-800 and I have owned many different synths in my career (well over 100) and currently have 25 in my stable. It is a mixture of analog (new analog) and digital.

You can get great pads from any synth you want, if you work at it. Simply having 'analog' does not mean that you are going to get great sounds. You have to PROGRAM them. I have watched videos from a guy who programmed the old Casio CZ-101 to make GREAT Oberheim and Yamaha CS-80 type patches. It CAN be done.

I was working on my Korg Kross 1-88 the other day and have been creating a number of pad sounds on it and I like the results. They are fat, warm, and sound great. When I hit the low notes, I get a rumble.

I have also programmed some pretty convincing analog sounding stuff on my PA700.

I have even programmed from great analog stuff on my Ensoniq VFX units and they are warm - very warm.

I have the Behringer Deepmind-12, Korg Minilogue XD and XD Module as well and I get some fantastic stuff from them. The EFX help a lot on those synths too.

You want to be a purist and go analog? You be you. While the purists are out there talking about how 'analog' their analog synth is, I will be making music on my synths

I am not interested in being a purist or anything. I am interested in making the gear that I have work for me for what I need. THAT is what having gear is all about.

I did a recording session the other day for a band that I am in and we needed to fix some vocals on a cover song that we are going to use as part of a demo. We originally recorded it in a 'real' studio with high end mics and such. The lead vocals needed to be redone on part of the song.

I grabbed my Sterling condenser mic, tc helicon studio gizmo box thingy, and re-tracked that part of the vocal that needed to be fixed with our lead singer. I recorded him to my Tascam DP32SD for that take and flew it up to my DAW for processing.

After adding the matching EQ for that new take with the EQ settings I had from the original studio recordings I was using in my DAW (Reaper), I was able to match up the vocal so it sounds like it was simply what he sang (albeit with the correct lyrics this time around).

I also took the lead vocal track I recorded, copied it to another track, and made a harmony vocal by adjusting the pitch in my DAW for that section of the song. It sounds great and you would never know that it was done in two different places with different gear. I just finished the final mix yesterday and submitted two versions to the band - one is with just mastering compression and such and the other is all of that PLUS a stereo widening plugin.

Since I have operated studios for about 30 years and went to school for it (if only to get the paper to hang on the wall), it really is about what you know and how to use what you have to make things work.

I know that there are people out there who think that they need to buy the best gear a company has to offer in order for them to sound good. There are some in these forums. They focus on specs, details, and other forms of minutiae that seem to do more harm than good. Many of them have never even played the instrument they are picking apart to see if it works for them.

There are obvious advantages to getting a Kronos over the Kross; we all know that. Buying the best gear does not make a person a better player, though.

Get the gear into your hands and try it out. See if it clicks for you. Put away any biases and simply PLAY the instruments. If one does that, they are SURE to find a piece of gear (or many) that will work for them.

Grace,
Harry

Harry! You're absolutely right.

Well said, Harry... even the humble CZ101 can sound great in the hands of a great programmer.

I love the AL1 dual filters and drive because they can also get really "analog" type sounds. I have a few analogs as well, and somehow I keep going back to the Kronos.

I love my Moog Grandmother but I spend more time on my Kronos! 2 totally different beasties but both amazing!