Portable synths thread

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Have we had a general portable synth thread? Let’s talk about them.

The latest Roland Aira Compact series and the surrounding discussion have made me think about extreme portability in synths, and chatting to a friend just now I wondered if there’s something with the power of say, my Nord Rack 2X but in a somewhat less monolithic enclosure; something I can chuck in a backpack with my M8 or Syntakt etc for a portable, polyphonic, easily controllable/“tweakable” (hate that word) synth expansion. Or even just something to idly poke at while on the couch.

What’s out there that I might have been missing? Off the top of my head, a few options I’ve considered:

Roland Boutique synths
Pros: Easily editable, solid construction
Cons: Limited sound palette

Roland Aira Compact series
Pros: Even more portable than Boutiques
Cons: Still limited

Hydrasynth Explorer
Pros: Deep sound engine
Cons: Size not super portable, controls (seemingly?) not as immediate

OP-1
Pros: Sound is suitable for my style of music, immediacy
Cons: Connectivity, limited sound design options

Ipad apps
Pros: Portable as fuck, can really do any type of synthesis, potentially multitimbral
Cons: Connectivity, touch screen not as intuitive as physical controls

Fuck it all and just use laptop with Ableton
Pros: Can do it all and save files to cloud storage
Cons: Dealing with people who make not using a DAW part of their personality

Is there anything small, standalone and multitimbral out there? The answer is possibly a second M8, but a small synth with 2-4 part multitimbrality and physical controls seems to be a bit of a dream.. thoughts?

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Groovebox for hiking
#2

Roland MC-101 - a wee bit larger than M8, 4 part multitimbral, physical controls include 4 faders and 4 assignable knobs, v1.8 update added access to more synthesis parameters… still menu-divey but not much else out there that has all these characteristics

Oh, you said 2-4 part… Micromonsta2 I believe is bi-timbral. No personal experience with it though. Listed as out of stock and reportedly hard to get at the moment.

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#3

That’s a good contender too, though a bit more on the rompler side, right? I’d like something with more pre-filter synth parameters, like PWM, variable wave shaping, FM, etc. Is the MC-101 all sample based or does it have some variable wave sources too? I admit I haven’t really looked into it.

#4

MC-101’s ZenCore engine is rompler meets VA. I think it’s VA sounds pretty good, no matter how peeps love to diss it in favor of ACB.

Full access to ZenCore editing requires either Zenology Pro or an MC-707. MC-101 allows access to a lot of parameters but leaves out a few things which I’m too tired and sleepy to remember right now.

There’s sync and cross mod but not sure about PWM. What’s variable wave source? Like continuous variation between square and saw wave? I don’t think ZenCore does that. My Matriarch doesn’t do that, lol. - just switch between wave shapes.

But yeah small, 4-part multitimbral, and not preset-only… not much else with this combo.

I edited my earlier post too late for you but Micromonsta 2 might be more to your liking synthesis wise, but… 2 part instead of 4 and harder to obtain at the moment.

This might be one of those situations where you want a thing with A, B and C, but your real world choices are restricted to A and B or B and C but not all 3.

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#5

Jupiter Xm:

  • Sounds like a top shelf ‘90s Roland
  • Great if you are a keys player and fine with mini keys
  • Great if you come from the JV/XV world, includes much of the XV5080, maybe some expansions too?
  • Screen is small, not sure if it is visible in the sun, but should be easy to shade due to small size
  • Approximately all of the Boutiques in one box
  • Speakers are quite good for their size
  • Fits in a well padded Roland DJ bag
  • If you are coming from Elektrons, you will find it very menu-divey, although the latest firmware update (3.0?) enhanced the sequencer and menu structure
  • Heavy, I suspect there is an iron bar inside, but I haven’t opened mine up. (Probably not lead due to cost & toxicity) much heavier than the almost identical sized Korg OPSIX/Wavestate/Modwave, which weigh nothing
  • Requires NiMH batteries
  • Probably won’t fit in carry on unless you are flying biz class or better, weighs 4.4kg without batteries so will eat up the usual 7kg carry on allowance for most international carriers
  • Probably really fun if you are a rockstar and fly private biz jet :money_mouth_face::money_mouth_face::money_mouth_face::crazy_face: (or Van Lyfe)

Roland SE-02

  • unlike all of the other Boutiques, does NOT take batteries!

Lyra-8

  • No batteries
  • Was the only synth I unboxed and jammed on with headphones in hotels as I drove cross-country with all my gear last year
  • Can just squeeze into its box with a decksaver on
  • Double bag has zero padding

Nintendo Switch

  • Korg music app(s), rhythm games, etc
  • But I ended up playing TOTK instead :sweat_smile:

Kindle

  • No musical capabilities but fantastic for reading books about music, music theory, musician bios, etc.
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#6

I think mostly what I’m desiring is a portable Nord Lead. If Nord ever wanted to do anything in the synth-nerd space again, a compact, battery powerable Nord Lead would be amazing. I don’t see how it’s not possible given current tech and miniaturisation.

More like waveshaping, or even wavetable synthesis. Probably more along the lines of east coast synthesis than subtractive.

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#7

I know this is probably not allowed on technical grounds, but I taped two big magnets to a USB-C power bank so I can slap it onto the bottom of my Digitone (with Birdcord to connect). With this and a pair of open Koss Porta Pros, it has opened up how I use the Digitone.

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#8

Magnets induce electric fields perpendicular to the magnetic flux. If your device isn’t glitching out it’s probably OK, unless you’ve added a floppy drive for some reason.

#9

IK Multimedia Uno Synth [OG] – runs on batteries
IK Multimedia Uno Synth Pro [desktop] – USB power, runs off a power bank without additional adapters

Circuit Tracks – has 2 synth tracks, runs on onternal battery
Circuit OG – has 2 synth tracks, runs on batteries

TR-6s – runs on batteries

Electribe 2 / 2S – [maybe dated but still] runs on batteries

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#10

Here is what I have

Syntakt with a battery pack in a travel case. To be honest this has not been out of the studio much despite making it portable…it has so much plugged in to it most of the time…
Roland SD 4h - smaller than you think and battery powered, 5 parts, lots of hands on controls, groove box stuff means it gets some occasional bedroom use as well as being a great studio synth…
AKAI MPC Live 2 (biggish but transportable) - built in sound bar makes this my go to for the garden in the summer…everything else needs cans.

Sold - op1, opz, m8 and Deluge- all bought as portable travel synths but just didn’t end up getting used. Basically the iPad ended up doing everything better and was what I always ended up actually using.

Most use travel/portable synth - iPad with AUM and Drambo (and soon Logic). Pretty much all the advantages of a laptop in a small light handheld device…long battery life, instant on and infinitely expandable…if it didn’t exist I would probably still have the deluge of the travel toys above.

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#11

I have bought many bits of kit for my daily commute but then just end up preferring to zone out staring out the window or listening to music most days.

iPad has probably been the most productive though, especially on flights

Opz also because it’s subtle and can hold in my hand.

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#12

Ooh good additions. I always forget about the Circuit’s very capable synth engine.

Yeah I’m honestly leaning this way. I still have some trouble with the ipad due to the (lack of) connectivity, but if I manage to get a nice USB-C hub or something (any recommendations?) it’ll make things easier.

Yeah I’m not very into making music on the train or whatever, but it would be nice to have something small and with nice features that I could take to gigs—I don’t like taking large gear and my Nord Rack 2X is just big enough to be cumbersome. Ipad is probably the way once I figure out how I can get audio and MIDI out of it simultaneously.

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#13

for some unknown reason(s), i started whole DAWless thing with intention to ditch a laptop – but iPad with Drambo instantly clicked with me and became my default tool for arranging tracks.
what i want to say is that laptop and iPad feel totally different, at least for me.

PS. recently i bought M1 Mac Mini mainly to run Drambo on desktop – but that’s another story :grin:

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#14

I did a (shallow) bit of research before setting this up, and I don’t think magnetic fields affect computer function.

That belief is a holdover from CRT monitors and, as you say, magnetic storage media. I bet if you cranked the magnet up to RoadRunner/Wil. E. Coyote sizes it might start stripping the metal screws out of the thing.

My iPad is full of strong magnets, and that seems fine.

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#15

At high enough frequencies, you might get a bit of signal slew from huge magnets. I suspect that is accounted for in general RF mitigation though. I think @Airyck would know if he ever decides to visit us again. :cry:

#16

No personal experience of these, but they’ve all come under consideration, and are small and multi-timbral

  • Fred’s lab ‘Buzzzy’
  • Preen FM2
  • Fred’s Lab ‘Tooro’
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#17

Yes, it is sort of halfway between a full laptop/DAW and some dedicated synth hardware (which lets face it are little computers with dedicated controls!)- USB 3 makes its easy to attach pretty much any interface in the studio (or on the road I guess if you are that way inclined (but the iPAD DAC is as good as most portable synths)

#18

There are some great small class compliant USB 3 I/Os for all budgets- Apogee, RME Babyface etc that will; give you pro audio (world class DACS) and Midi etc

Personal I use a MOTU M2 in the studio ( M2 | MOTU.com) cost me under 200, very high quality and it gives 2 in 2 out and Midi - once I plug it in I treat the iPAD like a hardware module, play it with midi and put the monitor outputs in to my Mixer to record in to my DAW (played or synced by DAW MIDI). On the road I don’t both taking it, headphones are fine and I don’t record audio.

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#19

That sounds pretty neat! If it happens, I promise to sample it. :slight_smile:

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#20

I mean at the IC signal level. Likely result would be bad glitch - not circuit bent goodness. But record away if you manage something good.

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