Single synth obsessions

I also really like albums that pull this off. If you can make 10 tracks sound different using the same few elements, it’s a testament to compositional creativity rather than just curation of sounds.

Edit: holy cow this SND album is good, can’t believe I haven’t heard it before

1 Like

All Neutron:

2 Likes

No protons or elektrons? :thinking:
Amazing! :smile:

1 Like

I have 3 black Elektrons here but no Protons yet. :slight_smile:

1 Like

The Normal “Warm Leatherette/TVOD” - Korg 700s only
Yaz “Only You” - all Sequential Pro-One
I suspect many early synthpop groups used only one synth for a track here and there.

The Tuss/Aphex Twin - GX1 Solo
I wonder if the Cheetah tracks were strictly Cheetah MS800 (sequenced by a cirklon I’d assume)

Not sure if we are counting modular works done on single systems: Morton Subotnik, Suzanne Ciani, Keith Fullerton Whitman would all qualify then.

Or Laurie Spiegel on the GROOVE system at Bell Laboratories, this is a different synth here:

3 Likes

duo505 is two dudes making music with only (from my understanding) the Roland MC 505. really good stuff too.

I once spent and entire summer writing with only the Monomachine. very very deeply with song mode and everything was recorded out of the stereo output at once (no later editing other than basic mastering tasks). loved every minute of it and still listen to the completed songs from time to time.

4 Likes

Soooo dope. Amazing variety of sounds. When I took the Moog tour in Asheville a few months ago the Grandmother was the synth that impressed me most (even after playing the One for 20 minutes…)

VCS3 is great as well… all of them really.

1 Like

Thanks. I love the Grandmother. It has a sound unlike anything else (I can afford). One of the main reasons I bought it was to act as a comparison model for building my own replicas of some of the old Moog modules, but it quickly earned its place in my room.

(and yeah, VCS3 is something special. It is definitely more than the sum of its parts)

2 Likes

I still can’t get beyond how good the AX60 filter mod sounds. Metalic, distortion, harmonic shifting, goodness.

It has a sound unlike anything else (I can afford).

That cracked me up!

2 Likes

Spent nearly two days just working with my humble little 0 Coast. I love that thing to death. Doing something I don’t necessarily advise…

Sequencing it with my OT. Between LFO’s, cond. trigs, more LFO’s on the thru machine and scenes, you can turn it on, hit record on your DAW and never hear the same bar twice for very long periods of time. Which is exactly what I did :slight_smile: Did it with melodic stuff today, will do some basses another day and perc another day. Record each of those for 20 minutes apiece and you have the basis for a ton of songs. Great sample food if nothing else, but I’ve had decent luck with a few songs I like ok using this drawn out method

8 Likes

Never had one. But I’ve been slowly sampling my Bass guitar, with every (decent) effect option I can throw on it and my Orange OB1.

Going to load them into the AnalogRytm and jam along on the Bass or guitar.
I’ll probably not touch my other synths for a few months.

2 Likes

The only synth I have at the moment is the SE-02. This thread is making me want to really dive deep into it this year.

2 Likes

Would love to hear those monomachine tracks, there’s not enough mono out in the wild and I’m constantly thirsty for it

2 Likes

A friend of mine, Used an entire Summer nothing Else than an old/brandnew JVC KB-700 that he found in a Music Store in an unsealed Box since the 1990ties… Like a time capsule.
He did a whole Album with it.

5 Likes

Nice!

Reminds me to mention Heatsick with a casio-only approach :slight_smile:

5 Likes

Whenever I get a new synth, I try to make a complete track using it (sometimes not a very good one! But the process is great for getting to know the ins and outs of a new machine). My last new synth was a Grandmother so I made a cover of the Stranger Things theme (it was multitracked into Logic, with some Valhalla Vintage Verb added)

I just got a Peak, so my next task will be making an entire track with that. I haven’t really considered sticking with just one synth in the longer term after getting to know it though. But I do like the idea of returning to one synth and playing with just that sonic palette; many of the examples posted in this thread prove that can produce great results

2 Likes

speaking of time capsules, that one has a tripod page! http://jvckeyboards.tripod.com/kb700.html

1 Like

cool. yeah I’ll work on uploading some this weekend. here’s one though:

2 Likes

Work in progress…7 tracks of an 0 Coast sequenced with an OT. Kinda industrial disco, if that’s a thing…

5 Likes