True that, their sound is pretty slick. Fortunately you can do a lot with software synths these days, in many cases even more. I guess it depends on your goal. Some got lucky; used regular instruments, worked their way up and then could afford the big stuff
If you're interested in modular synths in particular and their history, the 2014 documentary I Dream of Wires is pretty good. It's on Netflix.
It's interesting how this thread started I actually disagree with the first post, and am happy you decided to actually share some things later I'll check the links out later.
Time for yet another update I don't talk often about my synth passion on EMC but I did get some questions from a few players who were curious why I shared so much movies and such from one product (Propellerhead Reason) while I keep saying that I use 2 programs where Reason is more or less an addition to Ableton Live for me (my main program). The reason is quite simple: Propellerhead software manages to make much more appealing video's (in my opinion obviously) than Ableton. Of course they more or less had to because Reason has always been a bit of an underdog. For example; even in a time where most DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations) could be used to record audio (using a microphone) Reason didn't have that feature (yet) and relied on its own instruments. So yeah, Ableton Live. What makes Live so unique and special to me is its workflow. Instead of working in a classic sequencer where all the tracks are laid out in horizontal rows Live begins with a "spreadsheet like" environment in which you can record individual clips which can then be used to make up a whole song. It's a rather specific way of working, but one which can really help you "play" your music together. Here is a rather dated video (6 years old) which still gives a very good impression of the things you can do in Ableton Live. You can see how Dennis starts by simply creating (and collecting) a diversity of material (audio and midi data alike) and then uses that to eventually create the full song: Click here if the video doesn't play I can really relate to this video, mainly because the setup he uses here (talking about the APC40) is also something I'm using for my work. In fact; it has a permanent place on my desk, right next to my keyboard. As to more appealing videos... The fun thing is that this way of working has also inspired other companies, including Propellerhead. They came up with "block mode". When they first introduced it I was quite skeptical and even (secretly) wondered if they weren't merely copying Live's way of working. Well, that wasn't the case. The blocks feature turned out to be quite unique in its own way. And right now these two environments really enhance each other in my setup. But when looking at the blocks promotional video you'll probably notice that some things are quite more appealing. It has awesome music ("Faster" from the Techno Squirrels), adds a little bit of humor and its pase is also a bit faster as well: Click here if the video doesn't play So yeah... a little extra insight in the world of Ableton Live & Propellerhead Reason (these are my favorite 2 programs)
So... we did something Today a very good friend came over and we started experimenting, playing, having fun. Thing is... I consider myself to be more of a technician than a musician with one major exception: sound pads. I love sound pads or soundscapes. In case you're not familiar with the term: it's basically a piece of music (sound), not necessarily a song, which - when done right - can actually trigger emotions. Of course not always and there's the issue of being in the mood, yaddah, yaddah, not the point. We picked up a nice percussion, added a pad, bass, "tingle" effects... started playing, mixed it together, enhanced the sound a little bit (pulveriszer ftw!) and yah... Listen to our plaything here. It's a wav file, approx. 1:38 long and yah. I'm actually kinda excited with the end result. Of course it's also not that special, it's most definitely not the next gangnam style Still... Just showing off with the setup
It has been nearly 6 years ago when Reason 5 got released, which provided a new and very exciting instrument. One which I'm still using today on a very regular basis: the Kong drum designer. It's basically an instrument which allows you to generate your own drum sounds. The fun part is that it's not merely about synthesized sounds (synthetic stuff) but they also added physical modeling generators. This means so much that the sound which you can create is limited to what is possible using a real drum set. This is what I'm talking about: This instrument has gobbled up a lot of my free time The 'problem' is that it allows for massive experimentation and tinkering, which automatically results in playing and trying out new ideas and before you know you're working on something completely different than the thing you wanted to work on Remember what I said above how Propellerhead (the company behind Reason) often did much more appealing stuff? Well, here's another fun example which I'd like to share and it happened shortly after the Kong was released. But first there's something you should know. Designing a drum ("percussion") sound is one thing, but playing it is another. Although you could use a keyboard for this (most modern keyboards also include percussion and allow you to use it as such) it's really not that ideal. A much better and commonly used tool is a drum machine or drum pad controller, it's also what the Kong was modeled after. For example, this is the drum pad controller which I use: It's a pretty dated machine by now, but it does what I need it to do: it allows me to drum (tap) and create more realistic percussion sounds. Basically I hit a pad, that triggers something in my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, either Ableton Live or Reason) and that plays a drum sound. And this got Propellerhead thinking. They decided to build the worlds biggest drum machine (powered by Kong obviously) and take it out to town. Watch this: I especially like the comment around 0:50: "No Swede would ever do something like this without having a permit. So people just assume we have that..."
