hey! a dawless setup is run here, with a midas mixer, ot, space, rytm, a4 and heat. the problem is now that a synth is still missing, which has at least six or better eight voices to drive complex pads that have long attack, decay, sustain and release and thus flow nicely into one another without stopping each other.
yes, you can easily integrate a vst instrument into the setup, there is already such a midi interface at the start, which makes this possible without any problems. but whenever I integrate this strange daw sound into the fully analog setup, it just doesn’t fit and it’s also somehow uncomfortable. i just don’t like a daw, no idea why, maybe it’s my age and the sound i grew up with. the dream would be an ob6, although it only has six votes, but that still works - it costs a lot of money right now.
the only synth that I know and is relatively cheap, but not analog, but still interesting and versatile, is the blofeld. and it certainly still sounds better than a vst instrument? But now I read every now and then that this does not fit with the A4, is that true? does anyone here really have experience with it? is he taking too many frequencies? there are some videos and I like the sound better every time than e.g. vom dt, which I already had, but sold again.
maybe there is a better synth for the price?
greetings, rob
the a4 sound can be very dense and captivating, so does the blofeld. i never got them play together in a mix nicely, not because they cant but because i wanted both of em to show the most they can offer. if u use the a4 as a poly and not as as drum synth its already taking too many frequencies. what plays along nicely is for example a unique sounding mono synth, like a sirin or an se02 with a warm brass, flute, string sound … just my experience. btw the blofeld isnt really as hands on as the a4, deep menus, if u load many presets u just end up scrolling through forever … the blofeld can be nice for sound design with a vst controlling it, less for a quick live jam. hope it helps
I own both of them and think they can work together nicely. Just a question of sound design/patch choice and arrangement. A lush pad on the A4 and another on the Blofeld played in the same register will end up mushy. But you could have a few mono synth patches on the Blofeld and drums and a pad on the A4 and it’ll work out fine. Many possibilities. The Blofeld takes some getting used to when it comes to programming, especially in multi-mode, but so does the A4. Just differently. Will it sound better than a VST? Depends on what you’re expecting and comparing it to. It is its own thing and you’ll probably make sound design choices you wouldn’t with any other synth. Which is (to me) the most fascinating aspect of hardware synths. Now I’m just rambling…
Outside of highly nonlinear analog noise boxes like the Lyra & Syntrx, I’d strongly caution against expecting hardware to sound “better” than VSTs. Workflow, physical controls, and stage presence are all good reasons to go for hardware.
If you just need better sound, get a better audio interface, headphones / monitors, or go deeper on your VSTs.
I love my Blofeld, but along with the Evolver it’s one of my least friendly pieces of hardware.
I write all of the above as a guy who is mostly DAWless these days. But if I was trying to crank out tunes for money, I’d probably be 99% in the box, and save my hardware for occasional extra spice. (Not better but different)
They’re both super versatile and have a dual filter setup that makes it easy to thin out the sound, there’s no reason they wouldn’t fit together if you’re smart about it. There’s a VST version of the Blofeld called Largo that sounds almost exactly the same, try that first and you might find it’s all you need.
What about a Waldorf Pulse 2? Really underappreciated, Pretty cheap second hand in the UK - ÂŁ250 - 280 mark, analog, paraphonic and a really decent synth for the money
Well the Blofeld is very very close to Largo, so perhaps have a play with the demo of it and hear for yourself. I think the main difference is that Blofeld has an additional PPG filter model and can upload custom wavetables, and it also has a sample engine and you can upload samples if you buy the addon.
There will be sonic differences based on your soundcard vs Blofeld DAC, but it should give you a good idea. Largo is superb. I’ve owned Blofelds and found them a bit darker than Largo in my setup. https://waldorfmusic.com/en/largo-overview
hey, I read here that the Pulse only has one voice !? I am still thinking of the old Nordlead Rack 2x, it also has charm and sounds good and is cheap to buy.
i realize that there is no fully analogue synth with at least eight voices for so little money. the minilogue with its four voices is one of the few cheap analog polyphones, but unfortunately too few voices.
I wonder why that is actually the case !? why is analog still so expensive? whether it is more complicated to get several analogue voices? if I e.g. open the a4, then there is also a green circuit board inside, like with digital synthesizers. maybe that will change someday.
you can tell me what you want, I have been making sound for many years and started with daw - analog just sounds different, it’s much more powerful and has character, even a cheaper analog one, the highs are much more bearable, etc. to me the daw sounds flat and dead against it. if you listen to radio music these days, you also hear that a lot is produced with daw because it sounds so clean and somehow uncool with zero philosophy. When I hear an old pink floyd record, it sounds completely different, a lot more character and depth and dirt …
It’s purely subjective, everyone should do what they want, I don’t have to listen to it, but I’m glad to be able to drive fully analogue here and to have bought the few devices that were difficult.
lol, that would be a really good solution until you can maybe afford an ob6. but don’t they enrich themselves through poorer people? I can’t stand that somehow. maybe I’m talking nonsense, but I think I read that somewhere.
I have a blofeld and A4 and reckon they complement each other very nicely. You can even plug the outs of the blo into the ins of the A4 and use its effects and analog filters on it.
Blofeld is awesome. Used it with my DN a lot. It needs some kind of boost though … maybe AH (also would texture it nicely, I guess… never used that combo … so I can only imagine it could work very well)
I have them both and find they do work together, although i tend to use the A4MKII as a 4 voice in ya face mono…then the Blofeld for complex evolving pads…like you want…will say that the reverb needs tweaking to sound useable, and i have a TC electronics HOF2 strapped inline for better pad reverb…would be great controlling MIDI parameters from the OT i can imagine however…
Things can max out on the blofeld and voice steeling occurs easily, so i just keep it to 4 voices as after that, if you play chords, you get voice steeling…but you dont really need more than 4 or 5 channels of the same synth in a mix.
Its like others have suggested _ a bit of a PITA to program, and i will add, is sometimes buggy and temperamental…i have done the pot degreaser on mine after getting frustrated endlessly turning knobs and getting nowhere…but all in all its a keeper and after more than 10 years it still keeps me interested…
