Welcome to my synth enthusiast page with videos I have made of my synth collection I have assembled on a budget.
I have been collecting synths on a budget for over 30 years and some come and go.
As I have been obsessed with synths from the early 80s and have played in bands, recorded etc.. for over 30 years, I have noticed that some people seem to have forgotten some amazing synths which can be picked up for not allot.
I worked in a music store and witnessed first hand the evolution of synthesis and sold most of the classics (and not so classics) in real time.
I thought that it would be nice to share my technical experience and knowledge with the world via the format of video.
If you enjoy the videos please hit the subscribe button for more videos like this and to help this channel survive.
Gotta make an acknowledgment at 4:27. I was tempted to shout out “BLIND, BLIND, BLIND, BLIND, BLIND!” When I was 17 in ‘97, I was given the follow-up to this model, the QS6. It was my first synthesizer, the main reason why I’ve still got it as of June 2024. If I had been more discerning, I would’ve chosen a more expensive model that had better fidelity. What was it about the QS6 that only sounded a fraction as good as this, especially regarding the rock piano preset at the beginning? That sounds infinitely bigger than the grand piano sounds in the QS6.
You can't beat a bit of talking heads. The acoustic piano is not the strongest point on the quad. The EPs though are very good. From what I gather the qs6 is a scaled down version of this. I have never played one, so am not an expert. I have owned this since about 97? It is quite unique in the way the sound design works, probably the closest thing is Ensoniq. But both units have very different sounding sound roms.
I could buy a jv 2080 but I went for the 1080.. it includes the expansion orchestra. So amazing 👏 🤩 😍 the only thing I will save money for next is roland fantom rack or fantom synth.. I think having alot of sound is important. Because you can layer the synth with plugins
I bought it yesterday 😮😊. I love it. I absolutely don't care if it's old. I like old school. Also, I was shocked when I heard the acoustic guitar on it. Sounds like a real nylon guitar. This thing I use is pop music 😊
I have a Quadrasynth and for some reason I have different presets. However, there is no special qcard in the machine. And I am referring to presets, not user presets . I do have some of these however. Any idea what’s going on?
You remind me of exactly how I demo gear, I play what the patch inspires me to play but I play guitar synths. Interesting that the algorithm threw you my way but I love this demo!
They do indeed sound good in a retro-nostalgic kind of way. I wonder how we could use them in modern sampler plugins in our DAWs, or if they were licensed in a way that they can only be played back from Emu hardware... most of us wouldn't have any.
It's the DA converters and the inbuilt synth engine that really makes these shine, EMU were purchased by Creative in the 90s I'm surprised they have not done something with them? There is the Emulator X and there is the arturia Emulator 2 but they do not come close to the hardware. Also, there are around 22 actual EMU libraries and over 100 3rd party libraries, so I dont know how that would work?
Many sample CDs are available to download in places like the Internet Archive, and the samples can be converted to SF2 or other files using software like CDXtract and Chicken Systems Translator Pro.
The argon is really quite unique and is possibly my fave synth ever. It has over 50 wavetables including VA and also samples of vintage analogue which are morphable. It also has 9 morphable filters and oscillator modifiers which are unique to modal synths and killer effects. It also records all moves via midi to daw. I love the hands on nature of the programming which is intuitive and quick also the joystick is great for live.
Yes, there is a sample disk called protozoa that has all of the emu modules P1,2,3 orbit,Dance etc.. The sampler has a more comprehensive version of a synth engine and can do all of the same things as the module. The racks had the particular sample sets in rom usually about 8-16 mbs
Es una verdadera joya la explicación técnica del Quedrasynth que hiciste en tu video, yo tengo el PLus Piano y me parece sorprendente, deberías hacer un tutorial de las funciones live y de como hacer los splits con su configuración para cada uno de los canales midi.
Ensoniq synths, great machines even today! I had a chance to use the SQ1 during the 90`s. Unique sounds, great pleasure and pure inspiration! I am pretty much sure if you have a chance to use it, you will be amazed with Ensoniq instruments! It's a shame Ensoniq doesn't exist anymore. It would be just great to see this brand again!!!
10:18 move your pitch wheel and let it snap to pitch (from above or below actually) and the expressiveness of sax samples will immediately click for you
EMU's samples have held up well and I have used them alongside Edirol Orchestral VSTi in recent productions - they compete well with modern expensive multiGB libraries if you use them carefully. Google proteus soundfont and you can use them yourself.
You'll need either a USB -to- MIDI cable or audio interface and something to send MIDI (or .syx) from your computer to you synth; a good and common program for this is MIDI-Ox. The you load the .mid or .syx file into the software (e.g., MIDI-Ox) and send it to your SQ-1. Not to make it too complicated, but bear in mind you'll likely need to increase buffer size in MIDI-Ox (or other software) as many older synths aren't generally reading in the data quickly enough to receive a big barrage of data.
AWM2 was already used in SY77. Still, SY85 sounds "fresher", compared to a pure AWM2 voice on the SY77 or even the SY99, which has the same effect system like the SY85.
I have never really spent time with the SY99 or 77, They both have FM?, The 85 is really underrated these days, they were almost untouchable back in the day
