The Name Game Pro Tip:
  1. Didja accidentally blow through the whole, "We're using our real names" thing on registration? No problem, just send me (Mike) a Conversation message and I'll get you sorted, by which I mean hammered-into-obedient-line because I'm SO about having a lot of individuality-destroying, oppressive shit all over my forum.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. You're only as good as the harshest criticism you're willing to hear.
    Dismiss Notice

Vintage Emulations

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks & Talk' started by Mike Verta, Jul 4, 2017.

  1. #1 Mike Verta, Jul 4, 2017
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2017
    Having owned most of the marquee synths at one time or another, I think I actually get more joy out of playing on vintage vst emulations than I do orchestral instruments. Some of the emulations are really great.

    Currently I'm using:
    Sonicprojects OP-X
    Arturia Jupiter-8v, CS-80v
    TAL U-NO-LX
    Native Instruments FM8
    Scarbee Classic EP-88s, Clavinet
    Acousticsamples B-5 v2
    u-he Diva, Zebra

    I might have other ones but that's the main group.

    Recently I had to play Toto's Rosanna solo live on one keyboard with no backing tracks or triggered samples, which required me to write a bunch of patches for these plug-ins and trigger the whole thing from Mainstage.

    For the opening, the left hand below middle C is playing a layer of piano and a delayed polybrass comper, and the right hand is doing a 3-layer combination of Minimoog, Prophet, and CS-80 for the lead line, with the top octave reserved for an MC-4 approximation which I did with a 3-octave arpeggiatior and a harmonizer. Then for the second half of the solo, a keyswitch changes the right hand to a 4-synth-layer filter thing with pitch bend done by foot pedal (!), and then finally a keyswitch at the uppermost end of the keyboard changes the right hand stuff to the "descending line" thing which is about 8 layers of stuff, all harmonized and programmed to cover both 2 and 3 octaves in the same gliss. So for example, one layer glisses down three octaves, but some of the other layers are remapped so that even as I drag 3 octaves, they only descend 2. It's the only way to recreate how they actually did it when multitracking.

    Anyway, the patches are... I dunno, maybe 85% of the way there... programming was never my strongest suit. Also, it's technically pretty challenging to play. Here is a recording of the very first time I actually got it right in practice using the isolated original studio tracks from Rosanna. All the synth sounds are happening live. It was like 3am after 10 straight hours of working on it:

     
    Ben Cepeda, Alexander Schiborr, Jeff Laity and 1 other person like this.
  2. #2 Felipe Opazo, Jul 4, 2017
    I bought a cool emulation of the CS-80 a couple weeks ago, it's called ME80 by memorymoon (i think it's made by a guy in Norway). I read that it was even better than the Arturia One, which is already great. i don't know about that, i just got it because the Arturia stuff always crashes on Logic (at least the demos) and because it's just $40. Mike, maybe you can give it a try and tell me what you think. I used it on a project a couple weeks ago (i had to do a sort-of John Carpenter impression) and it worked great.
    The site is https://memorymoon.com (please don't die after looking at that horrible - straight out of geocities days - website design)
     
  3. #3 Michael Antrum, Jul 4, 2017
    My first poly synth was a Korg M1 which I bought from Chappell's in Bond Street in London. I remember getting a black cab (a rare expense back then) back to my little one bed flat that I shared with my now wife in Finsbury Park.

    I don't think I went to work for about a week (I worked at London Zoo back then) I just played the thing to death. I think it was the first synth that had built in effects IIRC.

    Anyway a couple of years ago I wound up with a copy of the Korg Legacy Collection - not sure how - I think it came with some other stuff. Well, it was a real trip down memory lane - back in the days when I had a broad mind and a narrow waist.

    I don't know how good the legacy collection is as I don't have an M1 to put beside it - but it sure felt right.
     
  4. #4 Mike Verta, Jul 5, 2017
    I picked this up based on your recommendation... as soon as he sends me the link I'll let you know!
     
  5. #5 Felipe Opazo, Jul 5, 2017
    i hope it doesn't disappoint you, i think it sounds good (love the "Blade Runner" patches), but i've never played an actual CS-80, at least the opinions on different forums were good.
     
  6. #6 Ryan Strong, Jul 5, 2017
    Never heard of this, will have to check this synth out. Thanks!

    Lately I've been really digging the TAL U-NO, and then Diva never gets old.
     
  7. #7 Felipe Opazo, Jul 5, 2017
    So? Did you try it?
     
  8. #8 Mike Verta, Jul 6, 2017
    Yes! Okay, I think it sounds great.. really couldn't tell you which was better between this and Arturia on first listen, but I can tell you that I like interacting with this one better, and right away, as soon as I pulled up the Funky 1 and 2 preset it sounded like I remember. So, it's already fun :)
     
  9. #9 Felipe Opazo, Jul 6, 2017
    yeah, i also like interacting with this one better (base on the demo version of the Arturia). I'm glad you liked it Mike! Try using your TEC breath controller with it, it's super fun.
     
  10. #10 Ryan Strong, Jul 6, 2017
    Just checked out the Memorymoon CS-80 and it's nice. I just did a comparison against the Arturia CS-80, as I own the new (and improved) collection and the Memorymoon sounds like it has more "clarity". It definitely sounds brighter and the low end is a little more focused. However I will say that part of the reason I want a "vintage" synth sound is for the opposite of those things - generally speaking.

    I've never liked the Arturia collection synths. I've regretted buying them since the first version but the newest update is better, and the new GUI makes them easier to get along with.

    So I'm not sure which is "better", but I do feel Arturia's version has more "character".
     
  11. #11 Mike Verta, Jul 6, 2017
    We're so spoiled. I love it.
     
    Mike Worth likes this.
  12. #12 Ryan Strong, Jul 6, 2017
    Yeah... it's REALLY bad!!!
     
  13. #13 Jeff Laity, Aug 14, 2017
    Wow that Memorymoon sounds great in the demo. Seems to have way more character than the Arturia, their stuff always sounds a bit flat to me. There are some CS-80 Blade Runner patches in Dark Zebra but they don't have that reedy sound. I even have a controller with poly aftertouch. I need this. :)
     
  14. #14 Jeff Laity, Sep 27, 2017
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page