As someone who’s owned both the Typhon and the clusterfuck of branding that is the “Pioneer Toraiz AS-1 featuring an analog sound engine by Dave Smith Instruments” I really have to warn against the latter. It’s a beautiful sounding synth, and also a complete pain in the ass. That one knob you use to methodically walk through each menu will forever haunt my dreams. I tried adding a MIDI Fighter to help control it, but eventually gave up on it.
The Typhon sounds just as great, and is a pleasure to program on. The menu system is very reminiscent of Elektron’s workflow. My friend has an Erica Synths Bassline, which is even more fun to use, but the patch memory and effects matrix of the Typhon are what clenched it for me. Either would be a great choice IMO.
That one knob does take you from beginning to end of the features of the AS-1 in an orderly fashion though, no shift/menu/combos to remember. They could’ve made all the knobs freely assignable a la mopho module, but even on that I mostly just used the one. But I cut my teeth on a TX81Z so have a high UX pain threshold.
It’s very easy to overdo things on the Freak, but given a bit of time it’s an excellent source of lots of very useful and interesting sounds. I mostly use it for pads, chords and sequenced leads, and in combination with an Elektron sequencer things can get very detailed. Program change works at 16th note resolution too, which opens up a lot of possibilities.
I made the same study before buying a mono synth and my option was SE-02. Super nice synth. Eventually, I sold it I and start using iPad’s Minimoog and Animoog plus midi controller, which sound great and bring me more flexibility for a lower price.
That would be my only complaint about my db-01. And the lack of a volume knob. For a performance focused synth I find that a slight oversight (for example, if I want to use a looper with the db-01 I have to go via some sort of mixer that allows me to mute it).
thanks for the warning
I’d just like to check - is it only because of the lack of knobs and menu system, or is there something else?
because I’m not planning to use the menu system too much, I will sequence and control it either from the SP-16 which is preconfiged for AS-1, or my Digitone.
I really like the sound, the idea of macro configurable touchstrip, and the few knobs for filters and envelope seem fine for live tweaking
and I think it should combine well with the SP-16 which I really like, and the Digitone
So the Erica is off the list, but I am going to think about the Roland a bit more as other than the cramped controls and 16 step sequencer it does seem perfect.
I also think the Minifreak looks great, but it’s not really what I was looking for.
If you like filter sweeps, the Typhon is a really nice feeling synth. The knobs have just a nice amount of resistance and the way the controls work make it very playable. It feels premium. The sound is great and flexible. It has notably good effects, and through its (mono) external input, it can be feasibly set up to be an effects pedal.
It is very compact too. The YouTuber “Atlas Castle” has a bunch of jams where he used it as a bass synth, his vids should give you a good idea of the capabilities.
I recommend it. I congratulate myself on my choice every time I use it lol.
However - I nearly always overlay it with itself (looping, overdubbing etc). So, ‘fun on its own’ might be a stretch (though the transposable sequencer is nice with switchable behaviour on patten change)
You can Set the Main Volume of the Erica db in the configmenue it’s “Shift + config”. I would prefer a knob too, but i’m setting the Volume via the Korg nts-1, which Delivery the effects for it…
I think this was the case for me until I got a Norand Mono, which is even more fun. It doesn’t have a headphone socket either. I don’t understand this concern; I’ve plugged headphones into the mono output of each and used them (yes, the volume being buried in a sub-menu on the DB-01 is a nuisance). But they both benefit from downstream effects, like an NTS-1, anyway.
I’m just talking about the lack of knobs/tedious menu system. You can externally sequence the AS-1 just fine, like any other synth. The issue is more sound design. There’s a separate, standalone page for the attack, the decay, the sustain and the release of the amp (four pages), and then the same for the filter…add in the pitch of each oscillator, each oscillator’s waveform, volume levels etc and it gets old fast.
You also can’t jump to these pages using any kind of button combination, you have to literally walk past all the other settings sequentially until you get to it, with the only nicety being a func button that allows you to skip to “sections” (again scrolling left and right with that one knob). It’s absolutely mind boggling that anyone thought this was a good way to go about things.
