Old school synthesis
There is one of these Doepfer analogue synth modules in the studio at work, used for teaching synthesis concepts. I’d been meaning to learn how to use it and play around with it for ages but didn’t do it till just recently. I think for the first time after years of using virtual analogue and various types of hybrid sample sound devices I really began to understand the practical basics of designing sounds this way and I can understand how it can get pretty addictive. Firstly, compared to software it feels quite out of control and you can never save anything so unless you record as you go (or are willing to document patches) its all pretty in the moment. Secondly, it’s quite a lot of fun. I spent a few hours burbling away with it the other night, forgetting all worldly cares. The Doepfer is quite cool and germanic sounding, a cliche I know but I even thinks its true of Native Instruments products, compared to the only other analog synth I’ve ever played (a Moog).
Unfortunately I can’t drag it home to my studio, so back on the software instrument trail I’ve found something very similar.
Somehow Fab Filter Twin 2 pictured above here captures that weird fragile instability, that feeling that you are playing with modulated electric current that is more the attraction of the real thing than the sound for me.
