Dream Synths

[Inventor]

I just figured out my dream synth and I'm gonna build it. What's your dream synth?

Les

[iPassenger]

Well I am not sure I have a dream synth but I dreamt about a drum machine once, it was similar to the Machinedrum I've got but a bit fatter looking with a larger red screen.. It had a fully analog section for sculpting your own drum sounds from and a sampler section with a analog filter and distortions but importantly it was all neatly put together with a similar interface of that of the Machinedrum. In other words it was easy to use, logical and a proper instrument.

I was gutted when I woke up and realised that I neither had one nor did it exist.

[nobody]

I literally have a dream synth. When I was a kid, I dreamt I walked into an old childhood bedroom of mine. On the bed was a 61-key synth that looked like a much-simplified Yamaha Motif (of course, the Motif wasn't even invented at the time of my dream, I'm describing it with what I know now). I did not need to physically touch the synth or be connected to it in any physical way. I thought the music and the synth played whatever I was thinking.

I woke up, naturally, going "Holy shit! I need one of those!"

[Antimon]

I always forget my dreams, but I've daydreamed a bit about controllers like these (my submissions for that portugese invention competition someone posted about here some time ago - I forget what it was called).

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[GovernorSilver]

Someone on the fiddle forum dreamt up a Roland Virtual Violin (he didn't say that specifically, but his description was eerily close to that of a Roland VG-99, except for violins). You could plug a polyphonic pickup violin, and have a choice of violin models (Guarneri model, Stradivari model, baritone model, custom model, etc.), non-violin instrument models (brass, woodwinds, Er-Hu, Kemancheh, the near-obligatory "synth" model, etc.) plus the usual assortment of pedal and amp models.

So I guess the Roland VV-99 would be my dream synth too.

[pyrosonic]

A 16 part multitimbral Nord G2X with an added module that plays samples like the Wave.
Yeah,I think that would do me just fine.

[nobody]

Stefan, those arrays are cool. Why not build one? What about a combo wheel/track ball array?

[nobody]

[Antimon]

[kkissinger]

Interesting question, really. A tough one for me to answer.

Digital Dream Synth

My K2600 is as close to a digital "dream synth" as I can imagine. Ever since I encountered a Kurzweil for the first time (back around 1989) I dreamed of owning something like that however the five-figure price put it into the "unobtainable" category. When I found a K2600 for under $2K (back around 2002) I jumped at the opportunity -- since then I installed the sampling option, additional sample memory, and the DADAT-26 which enables 8-channel, 48khz/24 bit output. I kind of lucked out to find a K2600 at the price.

Analog Dream synth

The Aries is still a dream-synth for me. As of 1980, I had expanded it to be a good "meat-and-potatoes" keyboard modular synth. I mention keyboards because it is biased towards keyboard performance and when I built it I was interested in Switched-on music a la Carlos. I'm now adding new, more exotic modules for control, processing, and signal generation.

As far as my dreams, I dream more about the music I'd like to do than the hardware -- the hardware is the means to the music. Since I like to do multi-track and looping work, I strive for clarity and excellent s/n ratios. In the "old days" noise buildup while tracking and looping was a big issue.

Dream p/a system

My musical dream is to play through more channels -- currently my system supports 5.1 however I'd like to expand it and have some speakers in non-standard locations. The sound-design with 5.1 is somewhat limited in live-performance spaces -- particularly in the sense that the sound source is limited to the periphery of the listening space. I'd like to put speakers over and in the middle of the listeners, for example.

I'm developing a voltage-controlled quad (or greater) panner for the Aries synth -- still in the works and to some extent, such a module will help me to realize some of my ideas.

[Inventor]

[Octahedra]

[Inventor]

Here's a thought based on that ball array. Put a 3-axis accelerometer chip controlling the audio of some noise maker in a ball. The ball is a whiffle ball with holes in it so an internal speaker can be heard. Then when you roll the ball around it makes sound. Cute, maybe not a dream synth but cute i guess.

Les

[Antimon]

[ian-s]

[Inventor]

[Antimon]

I've actually had that as a project in the back of my head for some time. I guess that besides being bad at electronics I'm also lazy. But I've checked that ChucK can handle several mice/trackballs/touchpads/whatever on OSX, which it does!

/Stefan

[Antimon]

Besides, I'm actually more excited about the wheel array. I love the feel of a mod wheel - you can control it in a precise manner. If you could make the wheels roll endlessly (perhaps using some optical tech like with mice or trackballs) I think it would be a very cool controller indeed.

/Stefan

[nobody]

[bachus]

I think my dream synth would be a sample player with 6 voice polyphony but able to weave each voice out of any number of samples with the equivalent of a Kyma-Pacarana behind each voice. And, of course loaded, with all my sample libraries

[modulator_esp]

my dream synth would be something like a Nord modular G2 with modules modelled on existing analogue circuits that were sonically indistinguishable from the real thing, with the ability to patch without needing a PC and enough DSP to switch sounds and patch without the horrible silence you get now

[Inventor]

While some of these dream synths require complex user interfaces or impossible ones with current technology, there does seem to be a commonality to some of them. Apparently polyphany and generally multiple outputs is a big deal, among other themes. I wonder if we should gather up ideas and consider building such a synth, as hardware or software... just a thought.

Les

[Jack_Hertz]

I want a wave table synthesizer that will do real-time re-sampling with assignable modulation at a harmonic level. There should also been an array of DSPs that I can configure to work as any combination of effects.

[DrJustice]

[nobody]