I recently got a MD and I’m loving it but now I’m looking at getting a synth and/or effects to be sequenced by the MD. Iv got around 700 euro to spend. I was thinking of getting a blofeld and run it through an OTO Biscuit. What else could you recommend I look at that would be good alternatives to this. Keep in mind I’d like to keep it so that I can run the synth through the MD inputs so that I only need to plug headphones into the headphones out of the MD and don’t need a mixer. Also with the Blofeld/Biscuit, could I use midi to sequence the blofeld and the biscuit and have them playing/sequenced to different lines?
Be aware that running anything through the MD’s inputs is going to degrade the original sound. It may not matter to you as you dig lo-fi, but to my ears, better results come from running the MD through another instrument’s inputs instead of vice versa.
+1 - - Sound quality on MD inputs is weird… it’ll treat incoming signals like it treats samples, make it lofi and crunchy… so it might actually work for your stuff.
I was in the same predicament as you… I tried a few different synths, the tetra, blofeld, but I didn’t like the sound quality through the MDUW, nor did I like sacrificing so many MD tracks… so I saved for an A4 and love it. I feed the MDUWs outputs into the A4, and there is no degradation of sound. The precision of the MDUW sounds cuts through the A4 warms quite nicely. A beautiful combination of sounds. I recommend this if you have the patience to wait and save a bit.
Wondering if anyone has any input into my midi queries about being able sequence different lines on two different devices. How exactly do I chain them together? Is the midi thru input used?
If I understand that you want to sequence Blofeld + Biscuit from the MD, you can use a MidiSport 2x2.
Midi out of MD -> MidiSport in
MidiSport output A -> Blofeld (midi ch1)
MidiSport output B -> Biscuit (midi ch2)
That’s how I sequence Blofeld and MoPho from the Octatrack.
OTO Biscuit+MD are a match made in heaven. Biscuit’s filters warm up the MD and give it a analog character (if you want) and the bitcrushing and step filter synced to the MD plus the FX make it a perfect compliment. Can’t recommend that combination enough- just messing with the knobs on the Biscuit and modding the sequence can give incredible variation to your sequence on the MD without even touching it.
The Pulse 2 looks great but if it’s anything like the first Pulse it has a very specific sound that you’d have to really like in order to use it as the main compliment to your MD. It does great FM-like bass lines and can do some nice shiny leads too. I’d save up for the 3 oscillator MFB Dominion X (or X SED). Probably the best Mono available for the money (very aggressive sounding if you’re into that).
