Winter NAMM 2013 releases

[oscillator]

The first release date of Pulse 2 was almost one year ago. Hope the synth will not postponed again.

Speaking of integration my Novation Mininova got an integrated VST with all parameters, it's very cool.
The Virus is getting old? Do you know another super-knobby synth with 16 channels, fx and vst in the same price range?

[TweakHead]

Originally Posted by namnibor

Great point there! Understanding 'MY' perspective is ONLY a newer one because of many years with the military and abroad; with that even, among the synths I specifically acquired after MUCH research, still remain rather "fresh" and on the cutting edge of technology/abilities/unique characteristics, with the Virus and very knobby interface and just a capable Waldorf Q rack (they compliment each other as they are equally very different sounding and each deeper synths). I would say that Waldorf were safely two decades ahead of their time with the Q and a swarmy of synth-heads on harmonycentral still concur...with yet another Waldorf, microwave XT, more of a purely wavetable synth that neither virus nor Q can make such otherworldly sounds so easily. ONLY DSI Prophet 12 at NAMM 2013 has finally broke THAT glass ceiling in new analog filters mashed with digital madness, and my goal is to strive with *what I already have* reach that same territory, albeit taking three instruments to do so--the tools are here before me! "The sleeper awakens" (Dune)
With that said, there's no reason other than perhaps economics or time itself that's preventing these relatively smaller "fish in the pond synth makers", in releasing yet more future classics.
Time: You nailed that one down with association with using this time to explore the unexplored with WHAT WE HAVE and indeed make music. whether that is music for eels to yawn to or humans to spawn to (or vice versa) .
What I find so ironic amidst the 'big three' and plethora of softsynths and yes, even modular companies; it happens to be the VERY "small fish in pond" such as; Access, DSI, Elektron, Waldorf--that REALLY continue to innovate. Heck, the DSI Evolver is over 10 years in production and is literally like chaos theory in a muse' form to mould sound like silly putty. Access's Ti series is still very unexplored territory with many people like a few of us on this forum that still are exploring new territories with former incarnations of the Virus. Waldorf came back and have every reason to believe they will continue to innovate. Nord seems to in my humble opinion, let-go of their micro-modular prematurely. I have not used it nor own any Nord, but those I correspond with and sent sound clips of what they can do (as long as they never upgrade their computer O.S.) is pretty amazing--like Reason in a box.
At NAMM, Korg, after testing analog waters with monotrons, etc., did a brave thing re-releasing MS20 but kingkorg seems to be rehash of Radias/Oasys lineage and although the Korg M3 offers encompassing features--I am sorry, aesthetically, could not be an uglier box and reason only want the outstanding 88 keyboard version that can be used for either M3 or Radias, but if it only has the propriatory Korg nexus rather than proper midi so can place my Q rack on it, forget it.
Namm 2013 has done something to make me realize something that Tweakhead nailed it in on: As much as I would LIKE the new Korg MS20 or DSI Prophet 12, I want to make FULL use of the still ahead of the pack in synth technology that we each own in any version of Virus, DSI MEK, and Waldorf Q--and wait until a future point if my *needs* out-weigh my proverbial *wants*. While I realize my philosophy may run counterintuitive to what NAMM wants us to do--slave to consumerism and marketing, and can smile every now and then knowing Dave Smith has again pushed the limits rather than re-issue the past. That same thinking makes me realize that the Virus Ti offeres ALOT of uncharted territory for the future and I for one, do not mind being a "bottom-feeder" of technology.

In my opinion, if there's been a synth from Waldorf ahead of its time it was the Waldorf's Wave. It has the wavetables and analogue filters on it!! There's an "old" ancestor of this new Prophet 12!

[namnibor]

The Microwave 1 also had warm analog filters in it but interface was crap and Access actually made a knobby programer for it. You are correct, the new DSI Prophet 12 is to me Dave Smith's genius of bringing ALL the best sound-sculpting electronica tools under one hood, along with seemingly newer innovations in manipulating them. It's like this--among my synths, I have *most* of what it would take to make that cool sound design demo YT Video sent to me (thanks), but scattered about in four synths. I am REALLY interested in knowing how and if one can use the mod matrix to take analog lpf and hpf in parallel and LFO's on wavetables with a looping envelope! I am not exactly a dumb ex-military guy, and am still trying to wrap my head around modifiers in practice/use on microwave XT--DSI may have made this much easier. Always wanted a Sequential Prophet VS but used they go for what this new Pro12 suggested retail price is and seeing how this new DSI synth is very deep, kind of think the price is very fair and will sell a ton of them! Perhaps I will need to talk my 23 LB cat into buying me one?

[namnibor]

Regarding DSI Prophet 12- From another forum, reported by a guy who visited the DSI booth at NAMM:
"The oscillators are virtual, produced by a total of six SHARC chips. Output is then converted to analog to go to filters and VCAs. The chips also handle effects."
It was firther discussed that those SHARC chips are the EXACT mega proccessor chips used in the "Solaris". Not exactly surprising since during the Sequential Circuits days then at end, only "Sequential", Dave Smith along with Don Solaris and others from Sequential Team worked with Korg to make the Wavestation. The "Solaris" seems to be a built-to-order, non-mass-production synth that once I find more info on it will confirm that it seems to have some "DAW Integration Qualities". In any case, those SHARC Chips DSI is using in Prophet 12 give massive DSP power to where no real bottleneck for future added features.
ALSO, we were speculating on infekted if like on the Prophet VS, if it were possible to control in a vector way the wavetable in which in the VS and similarly in Wavestation Series, you have FOUR directional waveforms to be able to blend, etc.
The DSI Prophet apparently allows THREE wavetables to be blended,(see *****below), interestingly, and can be found in more detailed specs listed below:
* 12 voices
* 4 Oscillators per voice capable of classic and complex waveforms
- Low alias digital oscillators of several flavors: tri, saw, pulse, sine, noise and 4 wavetable based sources
- Oscillator params: FM, AM, Sync, Level, Pitch (Coarse+Fine), extended slop algorithm, shape, shape mod/pulsewidth
* Sub oscillator
* Shape Mod/Pulsewidth control changes based on oscillator type:
- Pulse and Tri - Pulsewidth control
- Saw - Supersaw effect (note: not complete in NAMM units)
- Noise - Pink on the left, White in the middle, Blue/Violet on the right
- *****Wavetables - Blends between 3 different waveforms, one on the left, one in the middle, one on the righ*****t
* Post FX section, fully analog signal path (no DAC/ADC converstion) with digital effects summed with analog signal at wet/dry points
- Analog VCA and panning
- Analog stereo distortion
- Analog resonant Lowpass filter per voice
- Analog resonant Highpass filter per voice
- All analog parameters are modulated at >11kHz sample rate
* Digital FX 'Character' Section:
- NOTE: Effects are not finalized (besides Drive) and will be improved and possible changed before release
- Air - High shelf with soft clipping
- Girth - Low shelf with saturation
- Hack - Bit Crush
- Decimate - Sample Rate Reduction
- Drive - Overdrive/Saturation
* Tons of modulation:
- 4 LFOs up to 4kHz rate, sync and multiple shapes
- 4 Envelopes - VCA, Filter and 2 Auxiliary. ADSR plus delay
- 16 Mod slots - Oscillators can be used as sources for FM control of a wide range of params
* Two Pressure- and Position-sensitive touch faders for added control in addition to the pitch and mod wheels
* 4 Delay lines
- Can sync to internal arp clock or to external MIDI clock
- ~1 second buffer for each delay line
- Amount, Feedback, and Rate controls on front panel
- Delay time ranges from reverb and flanger effects to a looper with feedback turned to max
- Delay algorithms not finalized in NAMM units and will be improved by release
* Tuned Feedback
* Expanded Arpeggiator modes
* Quick mod section:
- example: holding 'mod source' and hitting 'Osc 1' creates a new mod with 'Osc 1' as the source and brings up the screen. Then holding 'mod destination' and moving the 'Air' encoder assigns the destination to 'Air'. Simple!
- Sorting of mods by slot number, mod source or mod destination which includes the fixed mods (destination params for LFOs and Envelopes) to quickly deconstruct programs. Makes it very easy to see what mods are affecting what parameters at a glance
* Playlist mode for queueing up programs to use in a set for quick 1-button access to quickly load presets. 4 Playlists with 10 presets plus an extended playlist mode if more complicated setups are needed.

I am hoping that 'Doc' Trippler does some demoing of this beast as he always uses extreme modulations to really show what any given synth is capable of beyond your not always all that great YouTube demos.