Miles Away is an Electronic Musician releasing music and content on synths, pedals, and more!
Miles Away is an electronic musician and RU-vidr from Vancouver, British Columbia. His sound is a blend of melodic synth-driven music with warm, organic elements. Miles Away’s first major EP was released on Lowly/Trap Nation in 2019. Since then he has released many more singles and remixes on established labels such as Sony, Monstercat, Proximity, Trap Nation, and more. To this day Miles Away’s music has gained over 120 million streams online and is featured on over 10,000 playlists. He was also nominated for the Breakout West Electronic Artist of the Year in 2020.
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Majority of what Espen said is true. But i still like hardware, and i still like to get excited about new products. He really wanted to like that Prophet X. Sold so much of his vintage rare equipment to sample into that Prophet X. So with all the bugs you hear about, i might be a little sour too.
Espen is suffering some level of depression. A large majority of his his videos are about how he sold his gear and people who own hardware are suckers and are getting scammed. One of his classic patterns is to call people out predicting that people will attack him in the comments of the current video so he tries to hit them first by saying "these people don't make music like I do". Sad. Several years back he made a video where he explained that he was gonna quit his job and become a full-time RU-vidr. I think this was a mistake and isn't paying off. Next thing that happened was he was selling off his hardware. I don't think everything is going as he planned.
The problem is how much these hardware companies charge for thier synths, when what you are paying for is just a custom controller keyboard with a limited computer inside, most of these keyboards could easily be sold for a profit at a much lower price. As for R&D a large percentage of the componants in these keyboards are off the shelf parts, of course how you put them together still needs to be addressed, but don't forget that a lot of the circuits are already designed, even the knobs and sliders are not custom made apart from maybe the plastic cover. So I get and agree with what Espen is getting at as far a cost scams go. If I had loads of money to spend would I buy loads of hardware synths or VST's ... Hardware of course because I like knobs and sliders .... but I would have to BIG lottery win rich to do it. Until then I will carry on being a VST junky and not really making music ..... 😋🤣
I think you might have missed some of the point that Espen was making... is a software emulation of a 70's/80's synth in a nice tactile box worth $4000 dollars. That's a lot of many to a great many people. Are people paying for something concrete or are they buying brand prestige/FOMO. Paraphrased from the Oberheim website: software 'OS 2.0' update can provide a host of new features; that can only be true if (some aspect of) the underlying synth is actually software. I'd love to see a tear-down video, that should bury the debate... does anyone want to take a screwdriver to their $4000 synth ;)
Oberheim is truly epic and inspiring. My favorite poly analog synth. Access Virus TI2 is another masterpiece that can do it all from drums, bass, trance to more. I am downsizing my gear as my needs require only a few synths.
Good argument & good advice. Having a few key hardware synths is actually really helpful to the overall creative process, and they don't have to cost a small fortune.
So beautiful. I’ve been thinking of selling a couple synths (probably OB-6 and Grandmother) and picking up the Deckard’s Dream MKII. The sound is just stunning. I have the Deckard’s Voice in my eurorack and LOVE it.
Even the Init sounded awesome. I just ordered the TEO 5 for the OB flavor to my setup, I will more then likely sell my DM12 since a lot of it is over lapping with my JunoX, not analog but it really covers the Roland sound. Good video bro, thanks for sharing.
I just recorded a song with the GS E7. No way to get this analog sound with a plug in. I also have the new Waldorf Microwave Plug in. It sounds really good, but my original Microwave sounds better especially the analogue saturation and distortion in the filters. Your point with inspiration is very valid. Nothing inspires more than playing with a physical instrument. And if you need a real instrument to be inspired it’s OK. No one really knows where ideas come from.😄
Its ridiculous you have to buy another modal just to get 16 voices. I hate the way Sequential/Oberheim/Groove Synthesis assign voices. You basically get a card. So for this 2 x 4 voices. Whats kinda useless! My 1980s Yamaha TX802 you had 8 note polyphony. You could say have a bass you would assign 1 note too as with the lead leaving 6 voices for pads. Skip forward to 2024 and you have to buy a £5000 synth to get 2 x 4 voices and if you want more no upgrade exists except buying yet another £3500 modal! What are we all, Cash cows to these companies?
I totally agree. I am a KORG sound developer and I know how much research costs from a simple device to a musical instrument. Also a beautiful instrument brings extra inspiration for musicians.
That's the issue here, he is trying too hard to piss people off, it was only like 2 weeks ago that he made a video on how he deals with trolls, yet here he is trolling a whole bunch of people, without even getting the prices of the synths right. I don't think anyone tried to gaslight him when he owned all that vintage gear, but when someone invests in something new, according to him it's now a scam. He can think what ever he wants, doesn't make it true though.
Lol I just got my OBX8 when Espen released his video. It was a dream of mine to own an Oberheim it's been great using it. I could use a VST, and I do but I just want hardware. It makes it more fun and I can feel what I'm playing more.
@@matthewcassette I got my 3rd Wave around a month ago, it was a shock to me looking at all this money I had spent, this had nothing to do with Espen or his video, then when I really sat down with it, I was marveling at how great a job they did with it, then it confirmed I made the right decision for the music I enjoy making. That's all that matters and I don't care what Espen thinks, but he cares what he thinks.
I don't know why he's taking this weird turn this last few years. I used to follow his channel for synth tips but there's bit a bitter turn recently for some reason.
This comment is not an attack on Miles Away. I have watched many videos on this channel and enjoyed them. This is a friendly response to Miles Away as well as Miles Away’s video is a friendly response to Espen Kraft. My comment is regarding Miles’ comment on Behringer gear and Behringer not having any R&D expenses. Dear Miles. It’s not like Behringer just went to a store like Ikea and picked out some parts and put them together on 5 minuttes “and that was that”. As I’m sure you know, all of Behringer’s synthesizer has had lots of new features assed, that wasn’t available on the vintage synths that inspired them. That alone is a lotta R&D. But also, it’s not like they could walk into a store and find all the original parts for the synths they’ve made. Because they just don’t exists in such volumes. Obviously the first stages of their designs is cloning, but they are not one to one clones. Just look at the size and add ons of some of the instruments. A lot of R&D goes into putting together the synths with the parts that are available today. And in most cases expanding heavily on them. Take for example the UB-Xa (because I know you love that OB sound). It has tons of new features that tje original doesn’t have. It even has some very awesone features that the OB-6 doesn’t (just as well as the OB-6 has some feature the UB-Xa doesn’t). The most obvious feature is the 5 octave POLYAFTERTOUCH keybed to play the 16 bi-timbral voices. But then there’s stuff like the arp and sequencer and modmatrix and vintage modes etc. Putting all that stuff together Miles…!!! …that doesn’t just come out of the thin blue air. That comes from heavy R&D! All subtractive synths made since the MiniMoog and Prophet 5 are more or less copied form those two synths and then expanded one. We need to stop acting like synth designs are holy objects that can’t be build upon😄 They are just instruments. Like a guitar. Guitar players have accepted that decades ago. Metallica plays ESP guitars. Japanese clones of vintage american guitars. Ibanez just as well. Nobody cares anymore except for the vintage police holding on to their 1959 Gold Top like it’s the only guitar that’s good enough…for playing alone in their basement😄 Also consider the fact, that Behringer COULD in all secrecy have established a hipster “boutique” conpany outside of Behringer/Music Tribe, and released the exact same synths they have released so far - but made them look complety different than the original and named them something completely different and set the pricepoint two or three times as high - and I bet you, the reputation would have been completely different. I bet criticts like yourself would have been in awe. But obviously instead, Behringer decided to give the synths a look and a name in resemblence of the vintage synthesizers, that inspired their own synths. Also Behringer knows, that high volumes a low prices in sales always beats low volumes in sales at high prices. That is how Behringer got to become the biggest player in the game, so that they could later buy up companies like Midas and TC Electronics etc. Disclaimer. I don’t own a single Behringer product. I’ve mostly been using Sequential and Nord’s and Korg’s etc. But I am impressed with what Behringer is doing, and I will buy their 16 voice Prophet as my…well Prophet’ish synth and 5 octave aftertouch controller, when it’s being released. And I don’t care at ALL, that it’s made in China like all my Apple products. Or somewhere else in Asid like Novation, Arturia, Moog, most parts for Sequential etc😉 Best regards✌🏼
Like you, I don't understand the problem, everyone can have their opinion. But aren't we all here because we love synthsounds? At least it was so when i started my love for it! All the best, peace and love! What is forgotten these days in my opinion is that all products are an offer, nobody has to buy it. No Synth is mandatory to buy! A VST can sound better than a hardware or not, but there is one thing you have only with hardware -the physical conection, try to hug our vst!!;-)))
Some people literally have not experienced the ninetees, where there were ONLY hardware synths and the best goddamn music was made with it... music that when it's remixed today, lands immediately in the top10... so much to that. and this fully overblown overcompressed and whatnot vst sound of today is just trash... the analog sound was great, it had heart and soul which cannot be said about nothing of todays digital stuff
We had a bit of back and forth in the comments... I think the issue is that he thinks the only nobel reason for a synth's existence is music production output. And if that's your only goal, a single package of "knobs, lights and faders" is unnecessary and expensive. But he's actively dismissing the fact that one can just play an instrument for the sake of it, as if art for the sake of art is a bad thing.
Synth have always been expensive. Back in the 80s new were unaffordable and unobtainable by many. A 3.5k synth back in the 1980 would have been 13k today (adjusting inflation). We live in a golden era for gear, there are tons of options. Back then we weren’t that lucky. With all the technology we have developed, building a piece of gear exactly as we used to does not make any sense. Only a minority of people ask for this. The reality is that people back then complained about long time for the synths to tune, were unpredictable due to weather, they could stop working, they were heavy, huge. Companies took note and gave us what we asked for. Now we complain that we want gear like they used to built them 🙄 I am happy with what is being produced now, you have a vast amount of gear at different prices. Compared to the 80s even these 3.5k synths are more accessible to more people now than what it used to back then. Agree that there are pieces of gear that are ridiculously expensive and are geared towards certain people (people that can afford it). To call it scam, I don’t know. Small companies will sell gear at higher prices. I used to built amps, and it was expensive to make them. Small operation, you can’t buy big bulk of parts. And having custom chassis made, as well as transformers is very expensive. In the end the profit margin was very small. So I can see why small companies prices their items higher.
It was the claim that the good folks at all these companies were running a scam on the poor unsuspecting public that offended me. It is a harmful tag and (I think) was meant to do damage to the reputation of these various manufacturers, some of which Mr. Kraft himself has represented in his work. That in itself is disingenuous. So I think the "scam" label is more befitting to Mr. Kraft than he even recognized. I admire your calm response but the damage has been done (The Gauntlet is thrown down now). Espen Kraft must stand alone for his decision to use the language he has used.
You have to remember, Espen is severely on the autism spectrum and has a very child like mind. He throws a tantrum when people do not agree with him or criticize his points in any way, so taking what he says to heart is a pretty fruitless endeavor. Better to smile and nod and let him believe his own fantasy land than debate, there's no point.
That’s not an entirely accurate representation of Autism. Yes, criticism and disagreement is difficult for Autistic people, but we ARE able to learn to graciously accept critique, with practice.
the musicians i have paid to see, bought vinyl/cds/tapes, t shirts, flown 12000 miles to catch latest tour make music, they dont do gear reveiws, run podcasts, do synthfluencers youtube content , make childish clickbait titles.... and 100% dont preach what ever woke nonsence is fashionable this week
As a person who has worked in the electronics manufacturing industry in the past, there are a lot of hidden cost that typically go unrecognized and underappreciated. Sourcing the most sensible parts and services in the supply chain, holding an inventory of parts, distribution, R&D, manufacturing cost, gambling on whether the item will be a success or a flop, providing warranty services, facility and employee cost, retailer cut and that's not nearly everything. The synth market is niche and it can get complicated (expensive) with just the regulations alone. Profit margins aren't as wide as one would think. I don't know what it is like in Norway where Espen is from, but I doubt he understands everything about how the to operate a business in the USA. Especially now with inflation. Also we should not forget that a JP-8, P5, OB** were about $5000 back in the late 70's and early 80's. Do the inflation calculation and you will see that today's market it isn't so bad. By contrast a synth today that cost $5000 would have only been about $1500 in '81, about the price of a basic Juno 60 back in the day. I personally grow tired of hearing people complain about how much synths cost. We have more now that ever. If you want cheap but decent, buy Behringer, even cheaper, buy soft synths, they will get the job done, but don't poke the bear with people who want a modern poly by telling them they have been scammed, it's insulting.
I think Espen’s second point was more that the envelopes and LFOs are often digital, on even flagship ‘analog’ synths? I think that is definitely a fair point/criticism.
I’m pretty sure his video is satire. He literally has a sequential circuits synth in the background in clear sight. Either he is a hypocrite or it’s satire….
This is fucking hilarious! Just to randomly see this come from your channel is pure gold. And it actually sounds good. Shame far left people get offended at just the sight of Trump.
Avoiding materialistic desire over just making art with tools that are realistically in your graps is one way to look at the spirit of that video - and I was fine with that. Where he lost me was on the logic of a "vintage knob" - Which, (if it's good) drifts specific parameters, not just pitch, but filter/env amount and timing. This is not the shady, bullshit magician's trick he's suggesting. This is applying specific functionality to achieve a desirable quality. Better to have drift you can dial in than to have stability you struggle to achieve. Really poor thinking on that whole section. (Rabbit hole time) ...That contemporary analog synths implement this functionality because they're made with far more stable components than were used 50 years ago is no blemish on the components used today, nor the companies that utilize them. To suggest otherwise or in any way hint at the implication that there's some conspiracy theory and perhaps a Pro-3 is secretly a VST in a box is utterly preposterous. If modern boutique synths are secretly just VSTs in a box....and that's bad ......why does he extol Hydrasynth in the same video? Hydrasynth really IS a vst in a box. So why did I buy my Hydra? Why do I love my Hydra? .....................~weird~ logic .....Speaking of contemporary components he also contributes to the tired, cliche canard that "cheap" by necessity equates to "inferior" components. Ridiculous, as progress can result in components that are both improved AND cheaper, and any one synth may have a combination of improved, cheap and dud/future dud components. The broad brush employed by this canard is a myopic child's toy. PS: I personally don't own much in the way of expensive boutique synths, so I have little investments for my ego to defend. Ironically, my most expensive synths, Hydra and VirusTi2, are VSTs in a box.
On the subject of the "Vintage" knob. This is specifically on the Oberheim OBX8. I've spent a lot of time in music stores playing with this synth and the thing I noticed is this, to my ears, having the Vintage knob on full blast always sounds better than not. So that being the case, why even bother with the knob at all? Just make it all Vintage all the time. Also as I mentioned in the comments section on Espen's video, that night I happened to attend an Audio Engineers seminar here in Toronto where the head of System 80 happened to do a talk on analog and digital envelopes and the difference. And if what the System 80 guy says is true, then analog envelopes cost a lot more in time, effort and expensive parts to create than digital. Exponentially more. Now that being said, it doesn't make analog envelopes superior. In fact most of my favourite synths use digital envelopes. But, if a company makes an analog synth and uses digital envelopes, yet charges as if they used analog envelopes, I think that would indeed qualify as a scam. It'd be like Behringer making an Minimoog clone and charging $5000 for it just like Moog Music does with theirs.
I know it sounds offensive, but if you can’t tell the difference between analog and digital synths in terms I’d their overall sound maybe your ears aren’t that great/developed? I’ve been in the box for 20 years and finally getting a classic analog synth was an immediate impression of “wow” and still does that. I’m also, minimally though not inconsequentially, a programmer of virtual synths and I can tell your there is no meaningful way I could replicate all of what happens in actual circuits that makes the final result special. And I’ve tried! You can go down a rabbit hole just for any one thing and quickly realize you can only do so much. I liken it to. GGI vs live actors. And some can’t tell that apart either! 😂
I admit it, my dream is to be able to have everything in the box. The convenience, the cost, the appeal to my minimalist ethos. It just makes total sense to me. Over the last 20 years, I've spent periods of time where I tried to it do all in the box, and every time I think "it's finally there" in terms of comparison in sound, I'll turn on a "crappy" analog synth like my Roland Juno 106 or Oberheim Matrix 1000 and within seconds it's like yeah, the plugins are not even close. Have the plugins improved massively from the early days when they all sounded like digital accordions? Yes, but they're still not there. And for those who cry "You can't tell the difference the mix", that is not the problem. The problem is what a musician hears and feels playing the instrument influences what they play. It's that feedback loop. And playing a plugin ends up with a totally different performance that many musicians can argue is far inferior. What I play on a free Oberheim plugin is totally different than what I end up playing on an Oberheim OBX8. The plugin only addresses the surface level. The fact is this: I would love nothing better than to be able to have everything on my MacBook Air and travel around the world and make music anytime and anywhere. But I still drag around my analog synths (my new favourite and most recent acquisition is the Kawai SX-240 of which there isn't even a plugin available) and I still have a pair of Neve preamps because I have to.
Though I respect you a lot, I have to agree with EspenKraft today, I consider this reply totally off-topic. He mentioned that it's understandable that people like playing with those (unnecessary) expensive synths, he also mentioned to be careful of people who have a ton of synths and do not release any music (obviously you are not in this category). So, what is the actual point of this reply? You stated, you have no idea how much money goes into developing a new synth (I guess you presume a lot and I will not argue). In the same direction I would ask back, when a company releases a synth with very similar characteristics with a model already in the market, does it require much or not that much money (eg the oberheims or the sequential)? So, I understand the concern of the development only in connection with Behringer releases BUT....Behringer doesn't just copy, they add features in their synths, doesn't that require some development? Is development cheaper for Behringer rather than the well established synth companies who already have the know-how? To summarize, everyone's free to feel good with the vsts, the synths - whatever and make or not make music, collect synths without playing them - ALL IS FINE. If the established synthmaking companies try to rip off people's pockets because Behringer (imo) the really revived the buy new synth market, it's good for them, it's not that "ethical" - that's the point.
