Quote:
Originally Posted by djflan
Welcome Back!
I'm back myself (for the fourth time). I ended up buying and returning a Novation Summit twice. I just couldn't get along with the sound. Newer digital synths are modeled very close to analog ones (since it is en vogue). I have since added a Kyra, Iridium, Kronos, and Montage....
The Virus still handily beats all of these when it comes to VA sounds (for my type of music). The Summit and newer DSI/SC synths have low polyphony and mono voices. Coming from a plugin world to hardware is eye-opening.
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I have to admit, working with the Virus again has been kind of eye-opening for me to with regard to your point about polyphony, it is pretty crazy to be looking at 16 patch slots in a single plugin like that. I have yet to really push the Ti2 to even see where it hits limits, but my general feeling is it can probably handle a good 3-4 effect-heavy patches at once with decent polyphony (depends on the patch to be sure), and that's a lot.
Sequential gear remains my favorite, though I have several. I looked at Summit/Peak but I came to the conclusion they can sound great, but something about the raw tone of the oscillators just seems not for me. For digital oscillators with analog filters, I prefer my Prophet 12... even though its discontinued, its still possible to find the desktop new or at a great price on the used market.
Polyphony on a single synth has become somewhat less important to me, I actually like dedicating an entire synth to a single sound and then moving to another synth for a different sound (which means usually 6-8 analog voices of analog is more than enough). The harmonic richness of my Sequential gear is so full and lush that its kind of a less is more thing. I'm not kidding when I say my Prophet 10 can carry an entire track with nothing but it and the drums, on a single patch / single track and it sounds like an entire band playing with the right FX... it does something in the mid range that no other synth does, and when played with one hand in the low register and one in the high, even a bassline becomes almost optional. I plan to get the Oberheim OBX reissue when it comes out (should be announced soon)..
Have you checked out the Rev2 or Hydrasynth? I have both, they are both good in different ways... Rev2s have gotten a bit more expensive since I bought mine but the Hydrasynth is really a killer value -- decidedly digital sounding but the filters and sound design experience are great and it can definitely sound warm if you push it to.