7 synths I never reviewed and why 

going on summer break now. Let me know what videos you want to see this autumn!!

"Do I look like an engineer to you?" You look like 75% of all the engineers I've ever spoken to lol!!!

I vote "yes" to a video in which you record the audible and EM sounds around you

I have the Jupiter XM and do love the sound. I use it with a Digitakt and a Moog Minotaur and have had good results. I agree about the menu diving. Hard to get those features in a synth in the price range.

"Do I look like an engineer to you???" Gold

I really want one of those little Gecho things. I never realized just how cool it actually was

Interesting angle to take on a video and very honest. I've had one product sent to me that I just couldn't connect with at all. I had to be really honest with the manufacturer and return it to them without making a video and they were understanding about that. I think it's fine to say that you don't like something, it doesn't mean it's bad, it's just reality. It's probably more damaging to both parties to pretend because it will be obvious in the video. Have a nice break Bo. :)

Such a brilliant video! I just love that there are people like you reviewing all these exciting- and occasionally useless- little sound gadgets... GechoLogic Synth especially caught my interest; gotta get me one soon!! Thanks for this great channel, bro!

Wow! Great stuff, I’m interested in hearing more from the loop synth. I kind of need that MicroFreak shirt Bo!

Thank you for yet another great video. Have a great summer. Spend some time with the family, you've earned it.

Great video Bo! I actually use my XM mainly for jamming, practising and live playing, not sound design because of the menu structure. I love to use bluewooth, play along with the I-arp and tweak the thousands of presents found in the machine. It sounds great!

All of these a super badass! Gonna buy GechoLogic Synth when in stock!

You doing a found sounds video? HELL YES! That would be awesome to watch!

I can see why you feel that way about the Medusa. I just got one in a trade and almost sold it immediately. Glad I didn’t. Really, really glad. It is awesome… So much timbral variety, and nearly everything is right at your fingertips. I am still wrapping my head around the best ways to integrate the grid mode into my workflow, but it seems that using it as a linear 64 step sequencer is probably the last way that it will get used in my studio.

Hi Bo, please make an more in depth review of the Microgranny. I'm really interested in it and I don't think there are many videos about it here on RU-vid.

Was wondering what happened to the XM review! Agree, sounds gorgeous!

Glad to finally see your objective opinion. There’s too much “YEAH THIS THING IS AMAAAAAAZING! WOW!! 🤩🤩” going on in the Modular RU-vid arena. Thanks for all the great content, keep up the great work 👍👍

Great video. Also nice to see the shoutout for FunkTree. :-)

I'd want to see a video of you sampling the world. Sounds awesome!

Ha! I KNEW that you were talking about the Minijam Studio when you teased it at the beginning of the video.

Hey Bo, nice new look (haircut) I do love that new Roland Jupiter Xm (I've had a Jupiter 6 for years and years but I sold it, wrong !! I miss it) This could kind a replace it, sounds great ! Like always Great review Bo... thank you, greetings from Adriaan from Salt Lake !

Id love to see a vid with the soma. Could be incorporated into a walk and talk style video

Great point re the microgranny. I've had one for a while & I love it whenever I have a play with it; it's such an inspiration machine for interesting glitchy textures, and with a delay added, ambient loveliness, but I just can't be bothered to remember what format of samples it likes and convert a bunch of audio files, so its palette is much more limited than it could be, and I use it far less than I could.

Good luck with your new workspaces! Just recently got back into the Synth world and discovered your channels. Great fun and informative. Just bought a Volca FM, Modal Argon 8m and Artura Keystep using your and other's reviews. Now I'm Looking for the right sequencer, sampler, Synth, drum combo. Probably be going with the Akai MPC One. The Novation Circuit and Digital seem to be a bit old these days. Be nice to see you review it! Look forward to your future posts and video's. Maybe some thoughts on Midi 2.0?

My next big synth will be the Iridium once I sell my Juno 60, but in the meantime I think I’ll be getting that little Gecko synth. Loved that.

I appreciate you giving some air time to things that didn't work for you. Thank you!

Insightful video, Bo. I often wonder why I can't find just a little midi box with a dozen analog filters jammed with MIDI / CV control, like an Analog Heat for filters. Maybe I've found my kickstarter, lol.

Those few seconds of the jd-xm, through the line in, sounded wonderful (the built in speakers have a horrible upper bass peak, but yes great for portable jamming). What if you played that microG sampler audio through the crazy gecho box? lol would youtube crash?

Would have love to see you reviewed or do a tutorial on MFB Tanzbar 2. There are very few or hardly any tutorial.

I'm a bit in love with microgranny but haven't gotten around to buying it..

This was a brave move, as I've sometimes wondered as to how many instruments that come out are actually as good as some of the reviews. Especially more so when you've been using hardware and software for years on end in a pro capacity, and many reviews seem to be praising some equipment that has the usability factor of badly organised flatpack assembly instructions. Reviews are an essential on RU-vid, and have been for many years. I travel a lot (less due to covid) and can't always get to an actual showroom for a hands on experience, so a smart, well prodcued overview is the next best thing. I concur on the jupiter xm, only because it's mindboggling as to how the premium version (the jupiter X), has the same screen, and the same oddly thought out ergonomics, regards altering/ programming the sequencer. Having owned the V synth and used it extensively on so many projects, it was excruciating to see the potential for ease of programming regards the sequencer (amongst other things) completely wasted by the lack of a larger touch screen style interface. A total loss, considering the power, price and potential flexibility of the instrument. Thank you for doing this, as it's rare to see on RU-vid. Coming up with musical ideas and making music should be fun and engaging. When it becomes a test of the equivalence of learning button combinations to put the best fighting games to shame (i was always a mortal kombat fan), then i feel you've lost a step (or two) in having an instinctive connect with that instrument.

Loving the new haircut Bo🤙🏻

Jupiter XM: Good sound, but hidden behind way too many menus on a tiny screen. That's exactly the same reason I don't use my Microkorg XL.

I bought the minijam studio and agree with your assessment 100%. Lots of corners cut. The hub's pots are so dirty that you lose the signal when trying to adjust levels and it never recorded the micro sd. Moreover, when I took delivery, they sent me two of the drum machines and no waves. When I let them know, they wanted me to send my extra drum machine to some guy in Japan in the hopes, I guess, that he would make good and not just steal my unit. Eventually, after a couple months and arguing with them, they made good and I returned my extra one. Should have stuck with the two drum machines, though, since the waves unit is pretty useless to get a usable sequence out of.

iPad editor for the Roland Zen-core products, could have some potential, had they put fixings for a music stand on the XM, there could have been an ipad holder, and it could have made for a nice little portable rig. Though, it would still seem too expensive to me.

the ether is a wide-band receiver, so basically a radio you can’t tune. bring a recorder and walk around electronic stores, industrial areas, electrical towers... even remote areas can produce an ambient static noise, or isolate particular signals better. it’d be great if you demonstrate it, I’ve only heard a few people use it and they do so more for static textures just found you and subbed! super quality

It was fun watching you “play” the Gecho.

I have a Medusa. It's cool it sounds great. It's cool that the "keyboard" built in a Launchpad / Push style 64 grid thing because the Push is mainly how I play with my synths anyways so I know chords and stuff by using it that way... But the sequencer is not fun to program on. It's limited to 4 bars, you could half the speed and thus resolution of the sampler and get longer loops but it's just not fun to program on. I tend to just use Ableton or Octatrack to sequence it and it's much easier.

The Patchblocks Minijam Studio looks kind of fun. Guys from LOM made a similar thing to the Ether, it's called Elektrosluch. They also make some high end microphones called uši (ears). You should check them out. And very jealous of that Gecho synth and whale. Imho they sound beautiful.

Haircut looks great brother!

Love your vijoes bo!

Hey Bo, :) have you ever considered reviewing the organelle with the functionality of ORCA 2 and it's open-source aspect? I would really appreciate it, love the content and take care.

I am thinking about an XM. There are very few videos of it being just treated like a synth. It's all i-arp and pianos. If I want to control a Jupiter8. Juno106. Sh101. Jx8p from my digitakt this seems like the best way to do it.

I'd like please, if you would? Do a full review on the patch blocks. Thank You!

Yes Bo please make a video in which you record nature sounds and combine them with synths for ambient bliss! Love from Greece :)

its a little bit late but i would love to see more deluge videos of you :)

The Gechologic device seemed pretty interesting. If the Jupiter Xm was priced south of $1,000 US, then its stuck-in-the-'90's UI might be forgiven, but at nearly $1,500, not so much. I once had a microGranny, but it died of a mysterious cause and my $160 flew off into space...

Nice video ! Very very interesting :-) thank you

I really think you hit the spot there with us musicians "connecting" with our music instruments. It's something that's been very hard to express with words, but it is indeed about a connection. My very, very, very first synth was a Korg Minilogue and I loved it for many reasons; once I learned enough about synthesis I went and got a Prologue, zero research done, just figured it was the Minilogue Pro, and was severely disappointed for 1) having sold my Minilogue and 2) getting a synth I didn't connect with that sat and collected dust until it was gone. I found love with an old Novation Supernova rack (first edition), and it is the one synth that always gets turned on when I jam or am looking for ideas. Please do more videos like this! Love the honesty. The Medusa is a weird monster, I cannot make myself like it; haven't seen one in person but have watched plenty of videos (and done research) and after years of discovering what I connect with better, it's been a lot easier to pick new gear more carefully (with the occasional surprise or dismal disappointment). I agree with your opinion about that last set of synths, the prototype you showed looks way better than the finished product.

nice round up

See I could have a go with that kit. I quite like a challenge as my monotron + su200 video shows. Difficult just means you have to try and be creative. Anyone know if there is much of a second hand market for them?

Ohh I was looking forward your review for Erica DB-01 :)

Aw man this is a great channel.

This is a great vid - thanks for doing it. Something worried me about the workflow of the Medusa also, though I love Dreadbox and Polyend really grabs my attention. Sidenote - I saw something from Error Instruments (don't remember what it is) does what the Soma one does. I didn't know Soma had one. I too grabbed that MiniJam Studio as well through Kickstarter. I've played around with it some - I really think it sounds pretty good. I just wish the workflow on them fit the way I work. I shoudl probably revisit them though as your demo reminded me how I sort of gave up too quickly. I also liked that I could pull in Volcas and Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators. (And yeah the low-end feel of them kind of hinders inspiration.) BTW, have you ever reviewed anything from Rare Waves? I find their stuff awesome and intuitive.

Liking that Microfreak shirt, Bo!

So difficult to find any info on the gechologic, including pricing, is there anything out there that has that lovely sampling tone that is playable through midi? or should I just experiment with what I own?

With regard to the MicroGranny. Not sure what you mean by "convert samples". You can sample straight into the unit either via the mic or through the input.

Wow ur so skilled! How many years have you been in music industry?

I had the xm for a minute. I do not believe it’s price tag is justifiable for what it really is. Even the X is way to high, in my option of course, for what you get. With such a premium price tag Roland could have incorporated a decent screen at least. The menu diving also makes it a no go in my book. It does sound absolutely amazing, However.

I had the tek.filter for a little bit. The build quality was very disappointing. In the pictures it seemed to me that it would be a hard plastic but when I opened the box, I actually said WTF out loud, no acronym. The bandpass/lowpass button was wired in reverse on my unit. The mini usb port was very finicky from the get-go. I've had mini usb ports die on me in the past: after a long time of continuous use. This one was hard to get the charge going right away. It was convenient and small, but I just hated it. Was fun using with my old phone that had a headphone jack, and I even sampled stuff from my phone through the filter before. Ultimately it just wasn't worth keeping. Enjoy your vacation!

I went to the patchblocks mini synth jam studio website just to check it out and it said there products were discontinued. Such a shame. I am really poor like most people and it seemed like a really good idea, just needed reworked. I hope someone else picks up on the idea. Maybe Korg mini volca.

i want that pulsar in the background pls?

Hey Bo, question for you. I owned a Jupiter 80 before (just sold it) and while it was fantastic for its giant soundbank of synthesized instrument sounds, it wasn't very good at synthesis. Basically, it just didn't have the controls or the interface for actual synthesis. So, my question is, is the Jupiter Xm actually good as a synthesizer or is it more like a sample box, similar to the Jupiter 80?

Tim Shoebridge just did a deep / complimentary video on the Jupiter Xm - similar conclusions

Thanks for the videos very useful My Grandfather came from Granna Sweden Came to U.S.A. early 1900 He told the tale of ice skating to school

Hey @BoBeats , what pedalboard did you use at 13:19? looks like a perfect size and form for me. Thank you!

I think it's fair to say when stuff is not at the right level, when there are shortcomings and issues. It's good to see you there (I mean that much in this particular video). Though I'm puzzled with your opinion about the Jupiter Xm, you seem to have liked so much the MC707 whereas it's workflow and menu diving is so much worse to me, especially in sound design ! How could this be ?

I just wanted to ask you which is the better keyboard, the Korg minilogue, or the Novation bass station 11?

record the birds around on your summer break. then a video for Fall.

yes to the ambient sound recordings!

What do you think of the sound of that Sennheiser HD300 monitor versus other closed-back monitors that you have or have tried?

THE ZIZEK SAMPLE IS SOO FIRE for the real intellectuals ahhahah love it

So i have a novation circuit and a Waldforf Blofeld that i want to jam with using the Blofled for long pads but all sequencers seem to just play the note and then stop is there a way i can make the chords keep playing it the background while i jam with the Circuit. (I don’t have a laptop)

I bought a Polyphonic Whale after seeing your video. :)

The last one - such a pity! That could have been a really heavyweight contender... The drum and filter combo was a weapons grade killer. If only they did a better job of the finish... Might try and find one, then rehouse it in a much better box...🤔 The electromagnetic "microphone" was just brilliant..... So much scope with that. I agree with the Roland too (the first synth) they should just accept that some people don't like tiny menus and fiddly interfaces... They should have understood that from the 6xx series drum machines. Despite the dedicated output for each drum - it wasn't a joy to program. For that matter, despite me dusting it off recently... Neither is the E5000 ultra. Technology has advanced everyone is used to more streamlined and intuitive things....

Can you help me choose a mixer for my home studio? I am right now working with Logic Pro 10.5 and Clarett 4 pre. I would like to set up a more permanent system that would incorporate accoustic and electric guitars and bass as well as a few sinth. (SH-32, Xp-50, Yamaha CS, Minlogue XD). I bought the 12 signature by Soundcloud but it does not have a on/off switch and that is a bummer. I returned it...

Gecko v2 review please :-)

You going to be working on a new album while on vacation??

i love the microfreak t-shirt

Do you think the Jupiter XM is a bit expensive for what you get? Looking at prices today--> Why would I pay $1,499 for the Jupiter XM say over Juno DS 61 for $749, half the price?

10:00 did not expect Zizek from a synth 😂

Bo, where did you get your Micro Freak t shirt from?

I hate menu diving too that thing sounds good enough to look past that as a factor maybe just not live this is a common issue when you have more choices it takes longer to make a selection

Love the Moog One comment. I've tried a Mother 32, DFAM and Grandmother over the years and just did not connect with any of them. The interfaces are nice but the sounds are just unexciting to me. I cannot justify the price tag for the One and I can't haul that thing out on gigs. On the other hand, I do own and love the Sequential Pro 3. Easy to use, lightweight for gigs and pretty darn versatile with 3 wonderful filters.

Dude, where did you find a Microfreak t-shirt ?!

another great video, thanks! :-), thumbs up for a found sound, musique concrete video I would love to see that :-)

Bonus points for the Zizek sample. Freedom. Hurts.

Love the Slavoj Žižek sample!

For the Patchblocks stuff ... if it was manufactured by Behringer, it would have cost maybe around 1/4 of the price for the same build quality.

What baffles me about the TEK synths, especially the drum, is that the pre production is moulded plastic, which means that somewhere, there is or was a mold created and subsequently could have been used again to produce for the final versions. That plastic, be it the pre production or final plastic, is bought in large quantities at surprisingly affordable prices; think a few cents per kilo. I think the owners made a larger profit than revealed and as the old saying goes, laughed all the way to the bank.

This was really interesting. I'd love to see that "sampling the world around you" video.

didn't expect to hear Zizek on a synth channel

Anyone knows what's up with the gecho synth page?

Innovative!

Love your channel. Just got my first groovebox. Roland MC-101. I'm a guitarist :D

I don't understand the issue with Microgranny. You got 2nd version right? On official website it said you need wav files on microSD. Do you have samples not in wav and that's why you need to convert them?

What is the brand of the mg please I love it !!

That medusa seems a bit odd to me. The pad section, could be quite nice as a MPE controller, even better if they made a 16 pad wide version, and then it would work better as a sequencer (polyphonic), and it could be a cool clip launcher. But then comes the synth part, monophonic/paraphonic only, with a MPE contoller attached to it, strange. And then I just dont get a feeling for the synth enginge, for me it feels they threw in a bit too many options where I don't necessarily want them, instead of keeping it more simple and direct, or just made the enginge digital and polyphonic to make use of the controller, then I could have accepted more dual functionality, as MPE synths kind of need to be complex to make use of the polyphonic expression, in a meaningful way. But since the price-drop it almost feels worth it as a controller. Would be nice if omnisphere mapped it, or someone else for that matter, to make it a interface for playing and programming a MPE software.

If the Jupiter XM was less than $2000 it might be worth a look. I love the form factor and the sound quality but holy crap, two grand is a big ask for a menu-diver with mini-keys, especially when you can get comparable instruments for much much less.

I dont know if yall know this, but Bo is actually a super good dude sure we watch his stuff for music reasons, but I actually want to support him in general, good dude