Your first Hardware Synthesizer & Reason!

[Noise]

Hello!

Looking for some opinions / insights about your choice of your first synth hardware:
( I don't own one, but I'm looking @peak or @minilogueXD )

1 ) What compelled you to own a Synth hardware ?
2 ) Did integrate well with your Reason workflow ?

Thanks!

[drloop]

I have always had hardware synths.
The only synth I actually use together with Reason is my old Moog and I just record it straight into the soundcard.
I have a few hardware synths none is modern so I use MIDI to sequence them.
I use my Kurzweil K2600XS when I play a pianoplugin due tot he fact it is 88 keys weighted and sometimes I use the Kurzweil when I have need for many the cool controllers in the K2600 while playing a plugin...

But I always find myself to think that it takes too much time to use the hardware and not worth the effort. But that´s me.

[Jagwah]

I have a small modular synth and a module that allows it to communicate with Reason, I don't use it for serious music making, more for experiments and fun or drone sounds. No it didn't integrate with my Reason workflow but others may find that different. I agree with drloop it's a lot of setting up and you could see it collecting dust. You should really be sure about why you want hardware and if you can see yourself using it a lot in future.

[QVprod]

Agreed with above. Make sure it’s what you really want. The workflow is different. Separate audio and midi tracks... Latency when used alongside soft synths is another factor. MIDI going out and the audio coming back in from the synth is a noticeable delay. Personally if I ever decided to incorporate, I’d only do it if I were recording the audio directly.

I bought my keyboard for live performance use, but decided to try it out with midi sequencing. Didn’t care for it.

[Noise]

Since now I have the SL MKIII, I'm thinking make some use of the CV / Midi output it offers. It's very possible I will only record the audio source directly, I guess the delay there would be minimum.

I'm beeing very conscious in this situation of hardware Synths. Watching a youtuber and he said it like this, "hardware synths are a luxury", and he was comparing the lead instrument in track he made, using the Korg Prologue Analog and the free plugin TyrellN6. To be honest, I heard the difference and on the spot I knew what was the plugin and the real synth (both were fine). But again, I hate the word "luxury" and buying "luxury" items it's not for me. I want to know, if this really made a difference in your "artistic" work. Thanks for the input so far.

[selig]

I basically did the opposite - I integrated a DAW into my hardware setup. I’ve been recording MIDI through a computer since the mid 80s, so that’s nothing new for me. As sequencers added audio (Studio Vision, early 90s), I just kept on going. Latency is always an issue but I’ve dealt with it successfully for decades now! I monitor all hardware (Peak, MiniBrute 2s, EuroRack modules) via a mixer/interface and then “print” to audio tracks fairly early after building a basic arrangement. I love how the SL mkIII integrates into my setup, both as hardware and software controller.

[deeplink]

After many years of fiddling "in the box", I finally bought a Minilouge XD.

Pros:
I think time will hold, and it will have great resale value.
Built in effects, you can really get lost in it.

Cons;
Maybe a pro, but practically it feels like having a hardware Subtractor. Not like there's any special 'sound' behind hardware.
Chrossing between hardware and a computer can be quite jarring. I actually set up my midi controller to control my minilouge just to sit and control everything from one place

[guitfnky]

my first was a microKorg, which has done a lot of work in my band’s live set, and a slight amount of recording. it sounds okay, and has a weird UI, but I learned most of what (little) I know about synth basics on that plasticky little guy.

most of my synths are always done in the box, because you can get better sounds using software than with the microKorg. I picked up a Behringer Deepmind 6 last year to have some better live sound options, and love it, but still find myself using REs/VSTs most of the time, out of sheer convenience (or call it laziness).

[PhillipOrdonez]

I have two workflows.

One in the computer and another in hardware.

Sometimes I combine them by sending stems from the computer to my hardware for processing and then bring the results back.

The hardware only stuff always ends up the box for editing and mixing. I feel I can write a track faster in hardware but that might just be me. Fewer options, straight to the point. ‍♂️

Plus being on the computer all day, when it's finally time to work with music, and if I feel like starting a new song, I just need to press a button and the hardware is ready to go.

There have been instances where I've replaced a bass line I wrote in hardware with a monotone or legend, but then again the same has happened the other way around ‍♂️

[Noplan]

The only reason I have a hardware synthesizer is that I found a Roland JD-Xi at work and was allowed to take it with me for free.

[demt]

Volcas i started with then the GAS set in

[WOO]

A Korg Mono/Poly and a Sequential Circuits Pro One.

[Re8et]

There you have a professional piece of equipment and absolutely yes, but mostly like Selig, it was Reason that had to get in somehow, or roundabout...

[illlumen]

Using Bass Station II, Peak, OP-1 and my modular system together with Reason 10 here. I have everything synced up bit when producing tracks I mostly use the DAW ti record the synths. I also use my Keystep Pro when I want to get off the screen completely which is a lot of fun, too. Most of the time I end up with some recordings in Reason either way. If you still haven't decided, I recommend both Peak and Bass Station. I love both but if it was your first synth I'd say get the Peak. It's much more versatile than the BS. Oh, I also use BS II to remote control my software synths which makes life much easier. You could do similar stuff with Peak if you can get your hands on a remote map for it.

[Faastwalker]

First synth I ever bought was a Korg MS2000. I wanted something with plenty of hands on control, that had interesting sounds and was affordable. The MS2000 ticked all the boxes. Extensive MIDI capability so played will as a MIDI controller for Reason. But back then Reason did not have MIDI out. I sold it before it did. Would have been like using it as an RE if Reason had MIDI out back then. I miss it. But these days these kinds of synths are everywhere. Not so back then. To play well with Reason you want something that has decent MIDI control beyond just triggering notes. If you can control the synths parameters over MIDI then you can go to town from Reason.

[raymondh]

Warning; long description of my experience

My synth music passion started with hardware, after I build a basic hardware synth but had no skills in playing it (basically built the synth around a game chip called the Texas Instruments SN76477N). It was super limited which sent me out for something more useful. So I started with a Yamaha CX5 music computer that had sequencer, built-in FM synthesizer. Then added Roland MT-32 which was awesome for both multi-timbral voices plus PCM samples (= drums). Expanded the synth collection with Roland W-30, Korg M-VS1, M3R, EMU ProteusFX, Casio CZ5000, Korg Wavestation EX and upgraded the sequencer to Atari STe running CLAB Creator (that has evolved to Logic Audio now on Apple).

Moving house and country caused me to sell all the hardware and move to the developing in-the-box set up and Reason was fantastic for this.

Made a lot of music using Reason but I really missed my synthesizers - looking at them, the tactile playing with them, the feeling of playing an instrument rather than a computer, etc.

I was very lucky to find a second hand Roland JX-8P which was my dream synth. This was before Reason had MIDI-out which was unfortunate because I'm a poor player and my performances need correction. But it was so good to be hands-on with a real synthesizer, and I like it every time I turn it on and watch the warm-up cycle begin. Same with my Moog Sirin, that doesn't stabilise until 15 minutes after power on. Something about the randomness in analog circuits really appeals to me. The fact that my synths might sound a bit different to someone else's due to some oxidisation in the electronics, or a power fluctuation, or some other weird factor. I like the perfection that is imperfection.

Digital electronics can't create random numbers; algorithms create pseudo random numbers. Analog electronics can be truly random (depending on your view of the physical world). Frankly the end result with the music is equally fantastic using software or hardware and nobody would ever tell.

But for me it's the tactile user experience and knowing what goes on behind the scenes that makes it worth the substantial overhead in effort of producing using hardware synths.

[avasopht]

Roland D110.

I'd just exited the rehearsal rooms and noticed this cute little rack staring at me.

It was great. The D110 added a new flavour to my music.

[raymondh]

Roland D110.

I'd just exited the rehearsal rooms and noticed this cute little rack staring at me.

It was great. The D110 added a new flavour to my music.

Great synth! Did it have the "Warm Pad Fade" patch of it's sibling the D20?

[avasopht]

Roland D110.

I'd just exited the rehearsal rooms and noticed this cute little rack staring at me.

It was great. The D110 added a new flavour to my music.

Great synth! Did it have the "Warm Pad Fade" patch of it's sibling the D20?

It doesn't come with it, but I did have a huge SysEX patch library, and I do recall a similar sound to that patch.

[demt]

Volca bass .

[raymondh]

Great synth! Did it have the "Warm Pad Fade" patch of it's sibling the D20?

It doesn't come with it, but I did have a huge SysEX patch library, and I do recall a similar sound to that patch.

Cool. The Roland "Linear Arithmetic Synthesis" sounded so awesome when it came out! They just call it "Linear Synthesis" now. I have a D-05 which is their boutique version of the D-50. Really excellent and recommended if you want the sound but not the Roland Cloud. Some great D-50 Refills around too.

[raymondh]

One further way-off-track but fun bit of nostalgia. I had one of these keyboard overlays for the C64, and at the time gosh it was fun!!

Cheesy as this is, the C64, and in particular the SID sound chip, is an important part of electronic music history. Bob Yannes who invented the SID chip, then went on to cofound Ensoniq which was super influential in the sampler scene.

[EdGrip]

Last week I bought a Microbrute on a whim, because one turned up near me on Gumtree for cheap and I fancied a toy. It's my first analogue synthesiser - it's the kind of thing I wouldn't have chosen to buy new; with all its functionality, the MicroFreak is the saner choice. The Microbrute can't save presets, it can't receive CC messages for any of its controls, it's only got one oscillator and only one envelope! It takes 10 minutes to not be out of tune.

AND YET

I love it. It does things at the edges and the boundaries that are weird and imperfect. It has triggered something, something expensive, in my brain.
I've spent more time playing it in the last week than I have any single soft synth, or my TB-3 with its broken screen. (It's a more fun acid synth than the TB-3 too)

So far I've been using its internal sequencer, clocked from Reason, and also tried sequencing it with AS-16 and PSQ-1684. Recording directly into the MOTU interface, or plugging it into my Fender valve amp and mic'ing it.* All worked fine. I'll be experimenting with Ableton next.

*"Never play bass sounds through a guitar amp!" Unless you just, like, feel like it, man.

[DJMaytag]

Hardware was really the only option back in 1994, when I first started looking. I ended up buying a broken JX-3P for $100, at a store that accidentally dropped a bass drum on top of it. I did get an email from a small European startup company a year or two later that wanted me test their new software synthesizer that emulated a TB-303 (I was known in the online music community for pushing a petition for Roland to re-release the TB-303). I thought their idea was dumb, and I couldn't have run in on the computer I had at the time (either a 386 or a 486). That was a hell of a swing and miss that could have been good for me...

It's taken until fairly recently to integrate hardware and software. I'd always had underpowered computers, pretty basic audio interfaces, and never could get the latency issue handled well enough to make it work. It took getting a whole bunch of hardware from Expert Sleepers (below), their Silent Way VST suite, and Reason's support for VST's to integrate hardware & software correctly. Now everything has sample-accurate timing over ADAT in and out to these Eurorack modules, facilitated by a RME Digiface USB (4x ADAT I/O pairs).

[Noise]

Still reading this thread, great feedback!
Just to keep an update on my quest for my first hardware synth:

I'm just keeping back to the ASM Hydrasynth (desktop). It looks and sounds very special.
I prefer ambient pads and textured soundscapes.

- 49 Velocity-sensitive keys with aftertouch
- 8 Voice polyphony - monotimbral
- Fully polyphonic aftertouch
- Arpeggiator includes Ratchet, Chance, Gate and Swing (8 modes in total)
- 3 Oscillators with 219 single-cycle waveforms