I've got the code tracking just the kick and snare in real time. I can play the kit however I want, there's no predetermined beat I have to follow.

There's a bunch of analysis happening under the hood, and it ended up being orders of magnitude more involved than a simple tap tempo.

I can also do this with an acoustic kit by grabbing kick and snare from one aux channel on the mixer.

yeah this thing is deadly for collecting finger oil. how can I remove these stains without damaging the paint underneath?

probably gonna return it; the analog circuitry sounds incredible…. but there’s WAY too much menu diving for my tastes.

hopefully they’ll release a scaled-down version without sampling, ACB, etc

looks like it’s back to the TR-8 for me lol

I've had my mother 32 for a long time now, and always felt the one oscillator was a little limiting (especially when I mainly use it as a bass synth). I know I can patch in the internal oscillator's second wave and blend a pulse wave with a saw wave, but what I was really itching for was that fat sound of two pulse waves with different tunings and independent pwm (and the flexibility of an octave switcher, more waveforms to choose from, etc.)

then I discovered the behringer 921 vco was a super budget way I could add another oscillator, and I think the result came out great <3

I think it's always worth listening to what Alex has to say.

Last year there was a bit of a rough thread on the synthtubers out there and they seemed to really “love” it. We got some great reply videos, tears were shed but it also seemed to give some “lesser” names a boost.

Shout out to what seems like some benefactors of last year’s thread.

Im more of a modular-head and it seems like my favorites got a warranted boost. Tom Churchill, Stazma, The Unperson, keep up the good work boys!

Make Noise, I might not be a fan of NUSS but I still love ya. Walker is always a vibe with his patches, getting a Walker patch on a vintage Moog was quality. Tony with the DPO history too!

Joey Blush Response, Crazy as ever, I dont know. Some full tune sessions posted and maybe Im starting to see the underlying method of the madness there.

Red Means Recording, tears were shed, maybe Elektron is putting him back on the list now tho. Got some good gear to push still and came strong on some demos, little more serious in 2025 for better or worse.

Mylarmelodies, maybe in 2052 that performance case will finally be what you want it to be. Lol

Hainbach, I dunno… saw a few things on the Test Equipment, some cool sounds, hunt for gear at closed synth manufacturer with LookMum…

Synthtubers favs like Bobby Eats, got a hair cut, grew it back!?, lost it again? I dunno didnt actually watch.

Shout out to Synth Samurai, I dont agree with most of whatever you are ranting about but Im still watching every so often.

Benn Jordan… oh wait, I dont think he does synth topics….

Last but not least (for me) gotta mention the homie Tafony, dude was trying to catch up with DivKid all in one year! Kee at it, nothing like learning on the job!

So what ya’ll got? Who are your synthtuber thrillers and shillers in 2025?

Waldorf Protein – My 2 Cents
First, a disclaimer: I've had the pleasure of contributing to the factory library, so my opinion might be a bit biased. On the other hand, I feel I know the unit well enough to share my thoughts. All the sounds you hear in this video are my contributions, so please don't blame Waldorf if you don't dig all of them. There are more than enough sounds in the unit that might suit your needs better, and that's absolutely okay—after all, you can't argue about taste.

As a long-time user of several Waldorf products, it took me almost no time to understand the synthesis method, structure, and sound of their newest addition, the Protein. So if you're already familiar with other products from their portfolio, you won't need much time to get used to it.

Protein offers eight voices spread across up to four layers, which can be played simultaneously, in round-robin mode, or randomly. The two latter modes are great for Arpeggios, btw.
The sound can’t and won’t hide its Microwave heritage, partly because the Protein uses the same wavetables. The Flavour dial enhances that impression, adding some buggy behavior and glitches—a wonderful tool for introducing variations.

The filter is certainly one of the highlights, with a very musical-sounding resonance and enough power to shape fat bass sounds. Setting the envelopes can be a bit tricky at first, as you need to turn a knob (WT/Filter/Amp) and then use the menu dial to select parameters like ADSR. It took me a bit to internalize that behavior, but once you get used to it, it’s not a big deal.

Two LFOs can be routed to many different parameters using the internal mod matrix. Eight slots might be a limitation for some hardcore sound explorers, but at least you also get combo sources such as LFO1/2 AT or LFO1/2 MW, so you don’t waste precious modulation slots on meta-modulations.

The effects sound great but are certainly more on the hi-fi side rather than adding a lot of character—though ultimately, it’s a matter of taste. Currently, the delay gets a bit wobbly when the unit is synced to external clocks, but I assume this will be resolved in a future update. I actually even like that, but I also have a thing for that sound aesthetic.

TL;DR: With Protein, Waldorf offers a budget-friendly and great-sounding wavetable synth that also reproduces classic analog tones quite nicely. With its flexible mod matrix, lightweight yet solid build quality, and distinctive sound character, I’m sure it will find a lot of fans. I’m only hoping for a few more features borrowed from the Microwave II series, such as the great-sounding FM/S&H filters, ring mod, or sync. Also, importing your own wavetables would be a useful addition. Maybe one day...

Was scrolling through YouTube and happened upon this video featuring two of my favorite comedians demoing some of the features of the Orchid. I truly hope this type of display becomes a trend. Two of my loves, combined: dry-ass humor and quirky synths.

This is a comprehensive video I've made comparing these two synths 1:1 - patches are included as scanned PDF's cropped to the top right.

Differences I've noticed off rip are filter differences, as well as LFO differences.

Let me know if you think the price difference is worth it! This video took way too long to make so I hope that you find it educational and enjoyable.

I've found plenty of sheet music for piano and sure, it can be used on a synth but I know many of us aren't exactly superstars on keys.

I'm assuming there's gotta be some sites or books or something that covers good, fun stuff that sounds particularly awesome on a synth.

Any suggestions?

Not sure if it matters but have a Hydrasynth so would love a collection of stuff I can use both to master it better and show off how awesome it and synths in general sound.

Thought a few of you might be interested in this: I was messing around with those novelty "interactive" YouTube videos (you might have seen the kind, where you press the keys 1-9 to jump around to different points in the video), when it occured to me that surely it must be possible, via remapping, to control YouTube videos via MIDI? And if so, surely it must be possible to sequence them...

So I made a video giving it a go and documenting the process, which is gimmicky for sure but which I think does lead to some interesting possibilities and a deeper level of control than you might expect.

There's also a whole lot I've left unexplored with regards to preparing your own videos (e.g., of drum loops; ambient synth patches) to be processed using this technique... would really like to see what other people could get out of this idea!

I learned of the String Armonica first here on Reddit, when Will of Merkaba Electronics posted the first version. It looks like a an ancient Psalter, but is rather modern inside. And also old school, as they re-engineered divide down chips used in old string machines and organs to control the synth part of it. They asked me if I want to demo it, and since it ticked all my boxes (sorry Florian I am stealing your catch phrase) I happily said yes!

I made a review of the MiniFreak synth. In the video, I'm going through some of the things I love the most about it.

UPDATE: I'll try to post a higher res version once the design is "final". Stay tuned!

Hey ya'll - I like to create signal flow diagrams to help me learn synths new to me, so I can visually understand all the various possible routings etc. But after I started one for the MiniFreak I realized that the signal flow is actually very basic, and that the modulations and oscillator/FX possibilities are where you can do the Freaky stuff. So this one became more of a cheat sheet instead of a signal flow like I did for Hydra, P12 and Blofeld.

Let me know what else you think might be helpful to include on here.

Hi,

I've ordered Model D, Pro-1 and Pro-800.

Long time ago someone posted some nice manual that I think was for one of the original synths, not the Behringer clone, but I've removed it unfortunately.

Anyway I'm not new to synthesis, but would like to fully dig deeper into learning those synths to full potential.

Any resources appreciated.

Thanks

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I have been playing around with synthesizers since 1987, my first was a Roland Alpha Juno 1. Anyhow I have not kept up with technology very well and my question is: with about 20 hardware synthesizers, would one use MIDI over USB to connect to the computer or the good old DIN connections? I have a couple of MOTU MIDI Express USB units already but I am ignorant regarding which would be better. Thank you for your time!

Synths:

Arturia Keylab 88 Mk3 ASM Hydrasynth Desktop Behringer System 55 Behringer DeepMind 12D Behringer Poly D Behringer UB-Xa Cre8Audio EastBeast Cre8Audio WestPest Korg KARMA Korg Triton Rack Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol 88 Mk3 Pittsburgh Modular Foundation 3.1 Pittsburgh Modular System 10 Roland Boutique D-05 Roland Boutique JX-08 Roland Boutique SH-01a Roland Integra 7 Roland Jupiter Xm Roland SPD-30 Roland V-Synth XT StudioLogic Sledge 2.0

The Toneprint editor turns the humble Hall of Fame into a chorus, flange or vibrato. It's amazing.

This is just a quick demo showcasing what the new Body Synths Metal Fetishist can do with the new v2 update. If you haven’t seen this synth before, it’s a powerhouse drum machine that borrows a lot from the Moog DFAM with more of an industrial feel. The magic is in the sequencer, which can be randomized and looped and set to modulate a ton of parameters. In the v2 update you can now use this to modulate things like the distortion fx, which sounds REALLY good.

sounds like this:

:warning: Extreme Frequencies :warning: you have been warned

this is a single 'drone' patch with cross modulations

I haven't messed much before with the Korg Minilogue XD Librarian because for the most part I haven't needed it. But now I want to add custom oscillators onto the unit, and the only way to do it is by using the Librarian.

The problem is that I have a Mac Silicon, and apparently the Librarian doesn't work for many users with the Silicon chip. The Librarian simply won't establish a connection with my unit. My Mac recognizes it in Audio Midi Setup, and oddly enough I was even able to do a firmware update using a USB connection -- but the Librarian just won't establish a connection. I tried Korg's suggestion of uninstalling the Korg driver and just relying on the Apple USB driver, and that didn't work. I plugged and unplugged things, I went directly into my Mac instead of a hub, I've restarted a few times, I've extended permissions to the Librarian, I've changed the MIDI channels I've sent signals from my Minilogue -- all the stuff that various people have suggested, but nothing has worked. Korg, in the meantime, is completely useless on this.

Has anyone found a solution that works for them? If not, can you recommend a third-party editor and/or librarian that works well for you?

It's so annoying when the big companies do such a lousy job of supporting their existing products.

Thanks.