Synth Tricks: A Great Year for True Analog Synths

Date:2020/1/19 14:46:16 Hits:

If you were lucky enough to go to the 2015 NAMM show this past January, you already know that this is one of the best eras ever for synthesizers with 100%-analog audio paths (all analog VCOs, VCFs, and VCAs). Basically, this means that the analog electric audio “wiggle” that starts in the oscillator remains a true analog signal until it comes out of the synth’s output jacks. It was never digitized into quantized steps and then converted back to analog at the end of the chain.

You may be asking, “If that’s such a wonderful thing, why did analog mostly disappear off the store shelves by the mid ’80s?” The two biggest reasons were sampling keyboards and the Yamaha DX-7 FM synthesizer. The samplers could reproduce pianos, choirs, and car crashes in ways that were near impossible to match with analog. And the DX-7’s bright and metallic FM synthesis would soon be featured on almost every ballad and dance song well into the ’90s.

Plus, analog synths were very touchy about room temperature, voltage levels, ground noise, and physical abuse. Sometimes you’d have to re-tune the oscillators every song or two as the synth warmed up or risk sounding like sour milk.

Through the dark ages of synthesis, knobs almost completely disappeared in favor of a few buttons and a single data slider (ugh!). You had to look at a 2-character LED to figure out what parameter you were adjusting, and you could never adjust two parameters at the same time.

So why did we put up with it? Well, for starters, the digital synths were cheaper and lighter. They could play more notes, and you could store hundreds of presets that came up as fast as you could press a button. And they stayed perfectly in tune. But, sadly, we collectively stopped sculpting our sounds in real time except maybe to move a slider to make the sound brighter, faster, or more reverberant. An entire generation of musicians missed out on the joys of true synthesis.

Moog

Then, as the new millennium approached, “virtual” synthesizers and on-screen editors matured enough to be considered professional tools. You could at least see all of the parameters on the screen. But it still required moving a cursor or one virtual knob, button, or slider at a time. I believe it was these tools that reminded musicians of the old days when they could move anything just by reaching for it.

Now, a decade and a half into the new millennium, we have an astonishing selection of analog synths to choose from. There are loving re-creations of famous synths as well as entirely new configurations. And they’re much more stable, robust, and often have many of the modern features we’ve come to expect (via digital components that are not in the audio path).

The first analog synths we’ll talk about are the Moog Modulars. These are unapologetically faithful re-creations of the legendary modular behemoths that once roamed the earth. Barring the invention of a time machine so that you could have Dr. Moog make you one in 1973, this is the only way to acquire a new System 55, System 35, or Model 15 modular synthesizer. Not only do you get a knob, button, or jack for everything, but you also get plenty of front-panel real estate to spread them comfortably apart. They encourage you to try adding yet another patch connection and tweak several knobs at once. The panel graphics are all readable (without reading glasses), and there’s plenty of room for your fingers.

The real magic of these Moog Modulars comes from the sound of their handwired analog components. Trying to describe the massive sonic power of these synths, either in words or with online videos, is almost pointless, as nothing compares to actually being the musician who’s pressing the keys and turning the knobs. Without a doubt, they are pricey ($35K, $22K, and $10K), but if your studio, school, or awesome collection of musicians can justify one, they’ll never tire of experimenting with it.

Moog’s other analog synthesizers also feature 100% analog audio paths but use digital components to add many requested features as well as new tools that were unimaginable in the ’70s. These synths include the Voyager XL, Voyager, Sub 37, Sub Phatty, and Minitaur. All of these have the ability to store presets, to be controlled from either analog control voltages (CV) or MIDI, and to lock to external MIDI clock from sequencers, drum machines, and DAWs. They each have a perfect balance of front-panel knobs and buttons, along with additional under-the-hood features that allow for incredible complexity. And, if you’re looking for a true Moog analog synth module at a rock-bottom price, check out the Werkstatt-01 Analog Synthesizer Kit. After an evening of light assembly (no soldering), you’ll have access to a genuine Moog oscillator, legendary 4-pole lowpass ladder filter with resonance, amplifier, envelope generator, and LFO, along with a 13-note button keyboard. Along the side is a 16 x 16 grid of control voltage patch points, allowing you to rewire the synth to itself and to external synths and effects in creative ways.

Korg

Korg has also been delighting analog synth fans for several years now. Their flagship true-analog synth, the Korg MS-20 Kit is a full-scale re-creation of their legendary MS-20, first released in 1978. Over time, used MS-20 prices climbed to over $4,000 as musicians appreciated the unique sonic signature found in its powerfully resonant lowpass and highpass filters, its 33 patchable 1/4″ jacks, and its groundbreaking External Signal Processor. By buying it in kit form (no soldering), you can now own a re-creation of the MS-20 that also features modern MIDI input and USB connections. If you’d prefer a tabletop version (no assembly required), check out the MS-20M and SQ-1 Synthesizer and Sequencer Limited-edition Bundle.

Bargain hunters will love the MS-20 Mini analog synthesizer, which has all the features of the 1978 MS-20 except that it’s 86% of the original size and adds MIDI in and USB connectivity.

At the 2015 Winter NAMM show, Korg surprised the synth world again with its re-creation of the beloved ARP Odyssey duophonic analog synthesizer. Like the MS-20 Mini, the all-analog Odyssey is 87% the size of the original and adds MIDI in and USB connections, a headphone out, a Drive switch, and three switchable filter types allowing you to re-create all three versions of the original model. You can even choose between the white front panel (only available at Sweetwater!) representing the first ARP Odysseys or the black and orange front panel representing the final production version of the original, vintage Odyssey. And, because they are truly analog synths, you can use control voltages with its keyboard CV in and out, gate in and out, and trigger in and out, as well as a controller pedal in and portamento footswitch in.

Sequential

And finally, Sequential (by Dave Smith) is releasing a modern-day tribute to Smith’s groundbreaking Prophet-5 analog polysynth: the Prophet-6. As you might have guessed, it now has six fully analog voices instead of five and adds many modern features including studio-quality reverbs, delays (standard and bucket brigade device), chorus, and phase shifter. Although the effects are digital, 24-bit/48kHz resolution and true bypass maintain the pure-analog signal path. Also onboard is a 100%-analog independent stereo distortion effect. The Prophet-6’s polyphonic step sequencer accommodates up to 64 steps and up to six notes per step, letting you build sequences polyphonically, with rests and external MIDI clock sync. There’s also a full-function arpeggiator that you can sync to external MIDI clock as well.

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