Well, yes and no. Synthesis might have a hard time here but you can totally get it with sampling.
Triggered drum samples have taken a huge place in live human drumming now, as an example. It turns out Steven Slate can record miked drums better than most studios
Generally I would agree though - synthesizers are best when looked at as a separate instrument itself. The patches that mimic other instruments are usually the worst patches in any synth, with some exceptions (flutes, bells and some string pads, generally).
(Correctly miking a real Leslie speaker for recording sounds very hard too - lots of reflected sound from other surfaces and nuances to capture. I kind of wonder how that compares to the modeled versions.)
Iām sure youāve heard an actual trumpet being played. I have, and in fact played the instrument briefly. The trumpet synths just donāt sound real, not even in AL V. Maybe there are some better ones out there, I donāt know.Same with sax, clarinet, flute etc. Yes, they have an interesting sound, but I would never try to pass them off as real instruments.
With that said. The point of my comment is that I would not be interested in using synths to make an arrangement; they just sound to synthetic to me. The only ones that sound authentic to me are the pianos and organs.
Donāt get me wrong, I enjoy playing around with AL V, but itās hard for me to think of it as anything more than a plaything.
I hope this clarifies it for you.
Ahh. Yes, trying to mimic actual instruments is not the strong point of synthesizers. Unfortunately lots of time is wasted on patches that attempt this.
Absolutely!
The only synth in the brasswinds or woodwinds camps that comes remotely close is flute (unless you are a flautist), the rest are all quite nonsensical.
Sax - forget it. I have the best ones out there (SWAM) and they are still terrible. Reed instruments take so much tone from the human voice its impractical to get a good one.
I think @howard is thinking more in the synth of synthesizers and classic keyboards, and maybe drums camps.
I am no Hammond/Leslie expert, for sure, but the IK and Autria ones are both really good, good enough for me. I like the UI of the IK better (at least during demos) and think it sounds better, to me, a guy who knows nothing about it.
Yeah definitely. Synthesizers are generally really good at making pleasing musical sounds, but exactly mimicking traditional instruments is not their strong point.
Which is not to say that all synth brass patches are bad - many sound great and are very useful. But only if you are using them in ways that donāt try and mimic the actual instrument.
As a direct example, I strongly doubt anyone would argue that the sweeping saw pad sounds that Vangelis used in Blade Runner sound bad (or frankly, anything but awesome). Do they sound exactly like a cello or horn? Well, no, and no one cares.
And the Yamaha CS-80 model in V Collection/Analog Lab? A very close approximation of the original Vangelis used, to the point that the differences donāt matter.
Wavetable synths have also made this a lot better. When your oscillator is an actual sample of an instrument, you can do lots of interesting things. But in general, those interesting things are better used in a synthesized sound not trying to mimic.
I think so too. I think Hammonds and Rhodesā are probably harder to model well than analog and digital electronic circuits (as they are both pickup-based, like a guitar) but I do think Arturia has done a good job there.
The Leslie is an interesting question though. Both for simulating but also just recording live well without having it be overly warbly. Hadnāt thought about that until @LeftyChad mentioned it.
Yeah, Iāve saved that instrument as a template in Reaper. There are so many presets I donāt even want to try to count them. I can spend hours exploring them.
Below is the programming interface for my C4 synth pedal.
I have zero idea how to use it. Hundreds of other people fiddle with it and load configurations online to download to anyone elseās pedal. Iāve spent hours looking through those and more are added constantly. Iāve yet to begin figuring out how to make my own.
This is a big issue I have with tech, while it enables so many options it cripples you with options.
Abelton alone has over a dozen compressors let alone the zillion you can buy. I have 3 in my DG compressor pedal Iām still sorting. Who is spending their life figuring all this stuff out?
I used to joke that whenever I bought a new stereo receiver to tape deck or whatever audio thing that there was always one button no one ever used, not there are more unused features (per person) in things than used things.
No one can ever figure it all out, of course. You have to pick your battles. Ableton also comes with several gigabytes of samples and loops. Does anyone listen to them all to find the good ones? Probably, but not me
Yes, exactly. I did not at all mean to be disparaging of synths. They are part of the soundtrack of my misspent youth, after all . Synths are cool, and I want to play in a band with keys almost as much as I want a horn section. When treated as their own thing, they are great.
What I object to is the āwe can fake it in postā mentality that seems to permeate the airwaves these days (he said, hiking his relaxed fit jeans over his navel and yelling at the neighbor kids to get off his lawn)
@howard@wellbi or any other MIDI peepsā¦
Whatās a good, smallish (running out of room on the desk) control surface if I would primarily use it for drum programming and Abelton? I have a full size digital piano for notes, etc.
Is there an option without a piano keyboard that you would suggest as I already have way more keyboard than i need anyway?
Or is this not really the way to go to program drum tracks?
And if a pad is, what is the number of pads/buttons needed/overkill?
16 vs 64 etc?
Is bigger pads and less better, etc?
Itās really just to make drum tracks myself.
Akai and Novation make a ton of these things. The Akai MPC line is famous, never used one myself though. Same for the Novation Launch line.
Arturiaās BeatStep looks interesting too. Itās got some cool additional features, including three built in sequencers.
Thereās a whole ton, and I mean a lot, of cheaper ones from other companies as well.
Honestly speaking for myself, I very rarely play drum tracks with the pads. Iāve been sequencing drums for so long that itās easiest for me to just enter it directly in the MIDI editor. Get a good drum VSTi and they are really simple to program. The pads are fun though.
. Synths are cool, and I want to play in a band with keys almost as much as I want a horn section. When treated as their own thing, they are great.
