Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Its mono I know, but I can live with that. Got an analogue synth in the post 
Synth Recommendations
- Thread starter Woebot
- Start date
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
"As used by William Orbit, Nine Inch Nails and Josh Wink" apparently.
So it must be good
So it must be good
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
I forget to mention the keyboard which seems fine on the xl, but the standard microkorg keyboard is completely Fisher Price. Definitely worth shelling out an extra 50 quid for if you liked the microkorg.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
incorporating a circuit-bending thread
nomos
Administrator
Yes! I don't know how many times I've watched those videos. His synth demos area actually a lot more interesting than the CDs on his website.
CHAOTROPIC
on account
woops
is not like other people
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Well, I got myself a Novation Super Bass Station rack synth in the end (all the talk of analog on here persuaded me to sack the microkorg idea off in the end). Got me mate to build a Max patch to control it with too. Couldn't be happier with it really, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking to buy an inexpensive analogue synth, I picked mine up on ebay for £200 but I'll bet you could get one for even cheaper if you kept your eye out.
connect_icut
Well-known member
Ah-ha! So was this as easy as I thought it would be? Are you controlling it directly with the computer or are you using Max to map a MIDI controller to the synth?
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
We're controlling it directly from the computer using a max patch, very handy for automation purposes in ableton. It took maybe a couple of hours to put together, very simple indeed. I was just on data entry duties though!
connect_icut
Well-known member
Of course, you're using Max for Live. Did you even have to use the Max bit to do that? I would imagine Live would be able to control an external synth pretty easily all by itself.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Ok bear with me cos I'm not really up on how to use max and may well get some technical terms wrong, but the reason was...
You can use ableton to control an external synth easily, you're right. However we found you could only automate within the individual clip envelope and not across a whole track in the arrangement view (unless you consolidated all the clips and did it that way). So the max patch gives you knobs that you can automate in arrangement view, which is obviously much more useful.
We may well have overlooked something here but the midi controllers didn't show up in the arrangement view automation menus. With the max patch we now have total control over it.
Does any of that make any sense? lol
You can use ableton to control an external synth easily, you're right. However we found you could only automate within the individual clip envelope and not across a whole track in the arrangement view (unless you consolidated all the clips and did it that way). So the max patch gives you knobs that you can automate in arrangement view, which is obviously much more useful.
We may well have overlooked something here but the midi controllers didn't show up in the arrangement view automation menus. With the max patch we now have total control over it.
Does any of that make any sense? lol
connect_icut
Well-known member
I think so. For using the computer to map a MIDI controller to the synth, it would probably be easier just to use Max, without the Live interface. But for doing sequencing and automation, Live would make everything a lot easier. You could do it with just Max but it would be a lot of work.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Yeah, which is why max for live is so sweet innit? Best of both worlds. We are gradually introducing max stuff as we go along but now we just want to get on and make some finished tracks, and Live is such a brilliant program. My mate's bulit a couple of decent synths using max, and it came in very handy for a situation like the one described above. We're looking into putting together something for modulating loop points and mangling samples etc, but I think it'll take a while before we have something we can use properly. Exciting stuff though...
connect_icut
Well-known member
I love the idea that you can be doing stuff in Live and if you discover that it won't do what you want it to do, you just hit "edit" and use Max to create the feature you need.
Modulating loop end points is pretty simple. Here's an image from a really old patch of mine. It's a random number generator used for modulating filter cut-offs. I use a similar thing for end-points. More info here.
Modulating loop end points is pretty simple. Here's an image from a really old patch of mine. It's a random number generator used for modulating filter cut-offs. I use a similar thing for end-points. More info here.
I really need to get myself an official copy of Max so I can use it with live on my PC. Been meaning to make a omnichord type midi patch for my juno 6 for ages (which should be really simple), plus making useful features for djing, a step sequencer designed for my gear. hadn't even thought about being able to work around the limitations of midi automation on the timeline!
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connect_icut
Well-known member
I don't think there is a timeline any more. I think they got rid of that feature in Max 5. Or at least they totally overhauled the way Max handles sequencing and rhythm. It's actually way easier to do beats and stuff now.
Woebot
Well-known member
I assume muser means the timeline in Live?
One thing you can do is just have another track going to the same MIDI channel with a clip running the whole length in the arrange view where you can put the automation. Still can't record the automation in that way (only draw it, I think) so the Max solution is nice.
One thing you can do is just have another track going to the same MIDI channel with a clip running the whole length in the arrange view where you can put the automation. Still can't record the automation in that way (only draw it, I think) so the Max solution is nice.