Doepfer

Not at all! I am quite satisfied with the sound of modern synths.  I  
have no problems with the sound of new synths. I bought my first synth  
in 1974, a Synthi VCS3 (for $500 BTW) an have owned almost every major  
brand old school synth since then (Pro-Ones, Oberheim 4 & 2, Arps,  
Rolands, more EMS) and I worked at a Synth/Recording gear store and  
had daily access to big iron I could never afford (Arp 2500s, Emu, Big  
Rolands etc). The sound of perfect waveforms is not the goal - they  
are the start. I have never made a patch that didn't change the  
waveform anyway. I was just amazed at the differences between the  
units I have now. It has been a long time since I put a scope on a  
synth but when I taught the hardware part of the electronic music  
courses at university, the Arp 2500 and Emus had pretty spot on  
waveforms. Like I said earlier, now I understand the comments about  
the different "sounds" of different manufacturers. I can compare it to  
the different sounds of different brands of guitar strings. They all  
work and you work with them to get the sound you want. I just assumed  
that when the different brand VCOs said Sawtooth or Square etc. that  
the waveforms were the same.
The only time I would think it would get in the way is as mentioned by  
another - when used in FM or ring modulation. Control voltage  
applications also. But since I seldom do critical FM work that matters  
little to me. The main differences I see from the big rigs of the past  
and todays models is in other performance interconnection aspects. I  
remember on the 2500 for example that I could keep on adding CV  
sources to a VCO and it would never sag and need re-scaling. I could  
fan a CV source (like the keyboard) to many places and it would just  
work. Nowadays at some point you better have a buffer module or things  
go wacky. It cost more but the buffering was built into the modules  
themselves. Full patching freedom. Except for the EMS stuff that was  
ass-backwards from everything else and had the .32V/oct CV range.
So what I'm saying is that now I'm aware that different brand VCOs  
will sound different from each other. When building a system now you  
will have to have a variety of modules to have a larger variety of  
sounds. Some VCOs will sound warmer, brighter, crisper and all the  
other words we use to describe the various different starting waveforms.
People have to remember that the old-school vintage synth were VERY  
expensive in their day. It is amazing what you can get today and this  
is just a side effect of cost cutting. I don't think it is a problem  
at all. Every instrument takes time to learn fully and to tap it's  
potential. You learn to play the rig you have.

-James


On Nov 24, 2008, at 9:35 PM, Argitoth wrote:

> James Husted, you come from an era of great synths. Can you tell me if
> this lack of quality in today's lower-cost modular synths have
> translated to worse quality in overall sound? Or is it that when I rip
> out a sweet screaming synth bassline or lead that I am getting a sound
> that is honorable in the synth hall of fame? Or will my synth usually
> fall short of greatness? How satisfied are you with your modern
> modular synth?
>
> 



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