demagogue on 23/9/2021 at 14:10
Me too. I think I was talking about this before. I'm a mad fan for Zachtronic games to begin with, so this is an easy sell.
I was independently thinking about this recently. If I were going out make a game or thing out of this kind of concept, I'd want to play up the mystical side of synthing, like some kind of mystical order emerging from the depths of chaos, where it still has a logic to it, but one that transcends human understanding, but still taps into this deep emotional or spiritual level with the sounds that come out. Buchla had that kind of vision, and today Vlad Kreimer and the Soma team, and some others try to toy with the idea.
Speaking of Zachtronics, Opus Magnum, the Zachtronic game, tries to connect the logical puzzle & mysticism sides in his kind of puzzle world. It succeeds as a Zachtronic game, but I wouldn't say it really succeeded connecting it to mysticism any more than as window dressing. Cultist Simulator succeeds connecting a game with mysticism (IMO), but it doesn't really have the logical puzzle side of the equation. I feel like there's a concept that puts it all together, the synthing, patching, logic, and mysticism, but it hasn't been quite put together in the right way just yet.
Anyway, this game looks great for what it is, so that's just an aside of this other thing I've been thinking about recently.
faetal on 25/9/2021 at 23:38
Well now.
Aja on 26/9/2021 at 05:00
Nice. I sat in the store and played one today for about an hour, and in spite of me giving myself permission in advance to buy one (“life’s too short!”) I ended up not. I suppose I still might, but it didn’t grab me like I was expecting. I mostly just thumbed through presets, which were fine, but when I tried to modify the sounds or design my own, I found it surprisingly unintuitive trying to understand what was modulating what. Of course that would change with practice. lt did make me wish my Minilogue had one extra voice and the full-size keybed. And the overall build quality felt excellent. I think I was hoping for something a little weirder, a little less pristine.*
*still might buy one
Jason Moyer on 26/9/2021 at 15:42
If you want something that can get weird and also do vintage/pleasing sounds I'd get a Pro 3 instead of a poly. It integrates really well with modular as an added bonus since it has a gate out and 4 cv ins and outs. If that's too much synth for your needs, there's always the Microfreak. I think the hook with the T5 is that it's a compact "budget" poly that sounds phenomenal rather than a thing for making weird sounds. Then again when I was playing it in the shop I started from an init patch and played with the on-panel VCO2->VCO1 FM and modulating one of the DSP tape delays and the salesguy came running over looking super confused.
Speaking of weird sounds, I still haven't cancelled my Minikorg preorder. I think it's kind of expensive for what it is, but it's a really odd synth even for a 70's mono with the ring modulation and PWM stuff plus that amazing filter. I wish this chip shortage would end because it's delaying the announcement of the new PGH instruments, one of which is an updated/enhanced VRL, and they're still king for me when it comes to synthesizing sounds I've never heard before. The tweaks they made to the wavefolding in their primary oscillator for the VRL allows it to do things I've never seen in an analog oscillator.
Aja on 27/9/2021 at 14:10
Truthfully I'm a little confused about what I actually want. Despite being a relatively proficient piano player (I have grade 8 RCM from way back in the day), I always feel uneasy playing poly synths, like I don't know what to do with them. But I want a tool for writing ambient music that has a more composed, harmonic quality rather than just making drones with texture. So maybe a Take 5 is overkill for that because I'm almost certainly not going to be using it for most of the pop/jazz/funk sounds Sequentials are famous for. The T5 does sound pristine compared to the Minilogue, which is both good and bad in that I'm getting a little tired of the Minilogue's veiled, indistinct character, but I also kind of appreciate it in that it's one poly synth that absolutely doesn't sound like software, which I can't quite say about the T5. And also, in spite of being cheap for what it is, it's still a lot of money, that I've been keeping aside for maybe upgrading my old laptop, which might be a more productive use. I dunno.
Anyway, be sure to record some sounds for us to further fuel my indecision. :thumb:
Jason Moyer on 28/9/2021 at 14:27
I love the original Minilogue (and the Mono/Pro16). The things I like that the T5 does differently is having a resonance-compensated filter (not accurate to a P5, but nice), more modulation options, and effects that can be messed with in the mod matrix. In terms of pure tone and "analogness", I think the Korg synths are massively underrated. I also really like the Minilogue's delay circuit, which is apparently a PT2399 digital delay, so while it's not BBD it's crunchy and lo-fi as hell. If I hadn't gone all mid-life crisis buying synths in 2019 I think I would have settled on an OG Minilogue and a Moog Grandmother as my main keyboards.
Aja on 28/9/2021 at 21:58
Ha, I didn't realize it was a PT2399; that's what's in all kinds of trendy gear like the Strega and Field Kit, and everyone loves it there. I'm not surprised, though. The Minilogue delay is indeed very noisy, but it does add character. In any case, I should know by now that buying a new synthesizer has literally never made me more productive (except for maybe my very first one), so I think I'm gonna simmer on the Take 5 for a while and see how I feel about it in a little while.
Aja on 5/10/2021 at 18:47
Agreed; that's a great review. And those are some nice patches. There's a lot of depth to the sound.