All about the Roland Jupiter-series

-----Original Message-----
From: Rhen, Kris [mailto:krhen@...]
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 9:46 PM
To: analogue@...
Subject: RE: [AH] Re: was JP-8: now VA vs Analog


> If you ask me, (and you didn't... I know) Virtual Analog 
> synthesis, Analog
> modelling synthesis, etc etc should just be called "Digital 
> subtractive synthesis"...cause that's all it is really.  

Isn't that like saying that the sound coming out of your old record player
isn't anything like the sound from your CD player? Sure there are
differences, but there are plenty of similarities, and a pristine album can
come close to sounding the same as a CD...

I've gotta side with the "everything has its place" and "they sound the same
in a mix" croud (though I may be standing alone here in AH? :-)  I have
played a JP8080 alongside analog gear and it does sound 'analog' (see
footnote below) - with the exception of any preconceived notions etc.  I
also don't think that "blame it on the MP3 compression" is a sufficient
excuse to why the samples on the NAME THAT SYNTH post are not necessarily
differentiable IMO.  Sure there're differences between VAs and true analogs,
JUST AS THERE are differences between different true analogs.  

Its like taking several synths and putting out a 50% pulse from each,
unfiltered and unadulterated in any other way... are they going to sound
different?  Maybe just a little (making pinching motions with thumb and
forefinger)... a little usntableness or a little osc artifact, but is it
enough to generate the zeal I'm hearing?  IMO, no (but of course this is
just opinion :-)  Then add the filters... does one filter sound different
than another?  Yeah sure, but they all do, because they're all different,
different slopes, different linearity, different resonance characteristics,
phase, based on design (digital and analog alike).  They're all different
and in circumstances, can all sound alike or all sound entirely different.
IMO something people forget is that they are SYNTHESIZERS after all; YOU
make the sound:

IMO, there isn't an 'analog' sound, just a sound, which is composed of
time-varying frequencies stimulating the cochleae (sp?) inside your head.  I
love analog SYNTHESIS, as well as digital SYNTHESIS (rather than the
sounds), and try and fill my kit with as diverse a set of synthesis
mechanisms as I can afford, because, as I said above, they all have their
place.
(I'm calming down now, thanks for listening :-)
KRIS


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