yes, that’s what I was wondering… I did it with the Nordlead, when it was my only synth, but as you say, it is multitimbral, so that makes it much easier.
I did one little multitrack demo with the SH01a as well when I owned it. Posted it in another thread already.
It works fine I guess, but as you said…
I just wondered what you guys think about multitracking and if you have some tips, or can tell me advantages I didn’t think of maybe…
This was the demo if anyone interested… Sorry for reposting.
cool track. yeah I would also say with this approach, it helps for such a synth to have multiple filter types. way more flexibility for sound sculpting.
regardless… yeah it’s something you can do. not sure how much I’d want to though. beyond maybe creating some percussion sounds with the synth and sampling them into the OT (or Ableton). or maybe a bass track… something you don’t think you’ll tweak much after writing/recording it, beyond what you can do with a sample.
I went from sequencing several instruments and multitracking them to individual recordings when I went in the box. Before that I used hardware sequencers running individual instruments over midi which went through a desk and out of the direct outputs to a pair of 8 track HDRs. All very traditional in terms of workflow and demarcation or the stages of recording. One of the beauties of the DAW is that it blurs the lines between writing/recording/mixing. In other words I’ll start off building up a tune by layering recordings. I write new parts to suit what I’ve done. I get the point about going back and changing things and it can be problematic especially when using a synth without memories. I tend to record individual notes and hits fir some parts and sequence them in the daw or at least keep the individual notes to drop in (or take out). Otherwise I’ll just record a new run and exchange it. A lot of times I’ll discard quite a few passages or instruments, all part of the writing process (even though im already recording!). I don’t know, maybe it’s me and just a workflow I’ve stumbled into but I find it faster to get an idea together this way rather than building up an idea over midi then recording the lot in one pass.
I’ve now got an integrated desk/DAW set up so I’m doing a bit if multitracking and a bit of composite recording depending on what I’m doing. Still building up the track in the DAW though.
Regarding hearing the full thing, yeah at first you’re only gonna have a part at a time to build from but I tend to arrange on a tracker so it’s constantly looping sections that I can monitor while writing new parts. If I’ve got the idea germinating I can get ‘scratch’ parts down this way really quickly. I’m might return to these parts and re record them later if required but it lets me get a structure under way. Conversely I might start adding compression etc to a part early on before I’ve got most of the track written if I can hear it needs it or I can hear the start of something. Each to their own I guess!
The cheap ones (like the HiFimeDIY @$25) don’t fully isolate/float the ground, but use a DC-DC converter to create a separate power supply. They help somewhat , but only support <250mA downstream DC power and are limited to 12Mbps bandwidth. This is good enough for a single channel of stereo audio. My experience has been that with analog synths, this is not enough power and the DC-DC converter leaves residual hum/buzz that you can hear.
The more expensive ones use a separate power input and are galvanically isolated from the computer completely. I have had good luck with the iFi products (iDefender, etc…) and have used them to drive small hubs that are completely isolated (which requires USB3.0 bandwidth).
The iDefender products are better and 60-cycle hum and the iSilencer products are amazing at removing radio induced noise (I have a WiFi hub sitting in my studio…sigh, perhaps dumb but it’s the best spot for coverage in our house).
The JCAT products are really amazing, but they are generally >$300 and complete overkill for home studios. They are used in professional studios and capable of supporting very high bandwidth and power for 10-20 channel USB hubs
Thanks guys for the AS1 recommendations.
Got one like new for 300 euro and this thing sounds amazing.
Might be the fattest sounding synth I touched so far
Completely ignored this one since I didn‘t even know the original. Watched some videos with it and it sounds beautiful indeed.
How is the user interface with the knobs? Is it hard to operate compared to the sh01a for example?
I find the knobs allow a little finer control than the small sliders on the JP-08, and roughly similar to SH-01a, they are pretty small but I find them ok and my hands are not small.
It is lovely for drones as well as usual Roland fare, given your taste in sounds/music seems very similar to mine I think you will really enjoy it.
The paltry 16 user memories is the only real buzzkill, but you can of course back them up by USB.
thanks. good to know. The patch memory is not a big deal to me on a knob/function synth like this.
What gets me interested in it apart from the nice roland sound are the crossmod options for some more unusual sound options. Seems to set it apart from most of the other boutiques
Good Questions! After working for several years with different synths I finally also got one of the “mojo synths” … the Prophet 6 Desktop and for me that has many advantages. Need some mellow chords? Need a lovely pad? Need just some noisey hihats? Need some sounds with a great Chorus and Phaser? P6 covers it all and its easy to tune in, just have to plays the right keys. But Maybe bass is not the best what a P6 can do.
Recordings Multitrack with a mojo … well. Just laydown your main idea with drums Chords etc etc. and play everything in loop and record just 4 bar live takes (Maybe playing keys by hand!). And its fun to layer different recordings as every recording will sound a little different.
Or just record several minutes of the synth tweaking parameters live. This can also be a good guideline for the final arrangement of the track.
I just landed a OB6 desktop and that’s exactly the work flow I plan for it. First I’ll hit record on my daw and noodle for a bit. Then loop the good stuff and start building on top. It’s such a fun organic way of working.
