Hi List
I bought my AK many years ago. I liked the sound but had huge problems integrating AK in the studio. I wanted to use the AK as a regular hardware synth, recording notes along the timeline, using different midi channels… Over and over again it crashed and forced the DAW back to the desktop.
It simply didn´t work and the support couldn´t help me much. So the AK got retired. It stod for many years in the corner of shame collecting dust. ( I always thought that the tide would turn one sunny day and selling it didn´t give my much either) Then all of a sudden I got this impulse…perhaps give it another try after all these updates. After all i sounded so good.
Today I´m glad I kept it. So far so good it hasn´t crashed yet. I can only hope this is for real this time.
Question, is there anybody else using AK together with Studio One 5/ Logic Pro in the way described above? Problems? Aviod this, do that?
Have a nice day
Tomas
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similar here. I hated all the faulty Ovebridge updates and I didnt use the AK for 2 years.
Now I gave it another run with the newest updates and I must say I am finally happy how good it is integrated. I use it also as a main soundcard now. Everything works flawless.
I even had it on sale but no one contacted me - my price was about 850€ - like new condition.
I am using Reaper though! The only problem now i have is that it has NO Headphones level knob, so i must think out a way how I could use it in a effective way, as I really am working only inbox.
MY idea is to divide the output of AK with a hardware switcher/little mixing console in which I would put headphones and route the main signal to the speaker + I would buy a pre-amplifier for mx microphone and i am all set?
First of all, it’s good to see you here again Tomas, and good to know you’re giving the Analog Keys another go. I’ve always wanted to hear what you could do with it.
I’ve been using the Analog Keys as my ‘master’ keyboard for a long time (despite having seemingly better candidates), mostly with Cubase, sometimes with Logic, and now more often with Bitwig. I tend to not use Overbridge, as I have a good interface. I’ve had the odd quirky behaviour on occasion, but not often. Mind you, I make few demands of it. I am the kind of person that tracks the audio from my synths more often than I do MIDI, but I track MIDI sometimes as well.
Of course, I can’t play with the speed or accuracy that you can, so maybe I’ve never taxed it enough to cause problems. 
(and it’s just so, so great for controlling old analog synths)
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Hi Scot
My current set up is Moog One, Moog Voyager, Rev 2, AK, NL 4, NE 5, Matriarch together with a bunch of modular…
… and I must say AK really sticks out … it´s not the "best " sounding analog machine I´ve heard but it really is in a universe on its own. Love it.
I hope you will have a safe 2021.
There will be some releases this year. More music to the people.
Stay safe
Tomas
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BTW Scot, Bitwig, do you like it? Been looking for other platforms just to break up the old track.
best
tomas
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I´m curios about Reaper. Do you have any external synths connected to Reaper?
best
tomas
I do like Bitwig. It has been easy for me to make a sideways move over to it from Cubase (though I will never fully ditch Cubase because of its support for some of my older MIDI gear). Bitwig (along with a DC-couple audio interface) allows me to directly control some of my vintage (or vintage-style) synths without the use of any intervening hardware. It’s CV output can be setup to control even a ‘difficult’ instrument like the VCS3. In fact, in this way, it is very much like the Analog Keys, which I often use for the same sorts of things.
Additionally, Bitwig’s Grid is a great environment for patching together just about anything. Lately I have been using it to ‘prototype’ ideas for hardware-based compositions. For example, I am currently building up some interesting multi-timbal sequences driving simple analogue style patches. These will later be played with a hardware Moog (Model 10, in this case). Pre-testing with the Grid allows me to better ensure that my Moog patches will fit together well in the arrangements.
It’s also quite nice to be able to have both clips and linear arrangements on the same screen and working interactively with one another. You can tell that Bitwig’s designers have taken a lot of cues from their influences and past work (Ableton, obviously) and integrated them in a way that makes sense. It’s very intuitive to use.
It isn’t perfect (is there no ‘normalise’ function?), but it inspirational.
Hmmm it sounds promising, Will check it out! My first choice is Studio One which in a good program but I believe it´s always good to switch between different platforms in order to maintain fresh ideas.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
best/T
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Studio One is excellent (I’ve used most DAWs as part of my work writing for Computer Music magazine). I am using Bitwig for exactly the reasons you say - as a refreshing (and hopefully inspiring) change from my usual DAW (Cubase). The two are so very different in approach that he change is a breath of fresh air. Neither of them is better than the other… just different and that’s a good thing. Using Bitwig for the first time was a bit like using an Elektron sequencer for the first time… a very exciting and unfamiliar take on a technology that seemed as if it had already been thoroughly explored. Bitwig (and Ableton Live before it) is to Cubase/Logic/Pro Tools what an Analog RYTM is to a Boss DR-880, if you see what I mean.
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yeeesh that’s a lot of nice synths
out of rev 2, NL4 and matriarch which do you actually prefer?
Well they have different fields of usage.
- Rev 2 - Perfect when you´re looking for a dark, cold atmosphere in a Blade Runner tradition, My Rev 2 is feeding an Analog Heat. I prefer to combine the AH highpass filter and add just a tiny fraction of grit to get the most wonderful sound.
- NL 4 - Is my goto synths when I´m looking for digital, icy, crystal soundscapes. I love working with the delay which is much underrated,
- The Matriarch is mothership when experimenting with my modulars. Also outstanding for synth basses. The paraphony can create interesting voicing that will suprise your common chord structure.
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