Beginner gear for generating nostalgic 80's synth (noob level, and building.

whoa... no idea who those poeole are, but synthsesizers are synthesizers and I also love 80s synth pop and make this sort of music but I was alive and buying records then... to me the ARP Odyssey Reissue at such a low price point is a must have... in other affordable, bang-for-buck sutffs?

NOVATION PEAK http://equipboard.com/posts/novation-peak-review

Studio Electronics SE1

Yamaha DX7, TX81Z or SY77

Novation Bass Station II, circuit monostation or Arturia Mini Brute

Ensoniq ESQ1 or SQ80 for gritty stuff

Korg SQ-1 sequencer or similar old school sequencer with MIDI and CV/Gate in and out

Korg Volcas, all are good, I particularly love the Volca Bass, the dedicated kick machine and the FM seems pretty cool if you don't wanna spend on or hassle with an old yamaha... people like all of them, to me Bass and Kick are the jam

Cyclone Analogic Bass Bot if you like acid house...

Roland MS1 sampler, cheap, available, able to LOFI the shit outta sounds... if not that then look at the sampling octapad or the boss dr sample

korg micro korg, jack of all trades, master of none

Roland late 80s racks, realtivelycheap and great if you don't want 100% hand on control all the time.... MKS50, MKS80, MkS70, many others suck though

Korg Poly800 or Poly61

Roland JP8000/8080 if you like supersaws and 90s club sounds

any access Virus

Boss DR55 (early depeche mode)

Emu drumulator

Moog Taurus or Sub Phaty or Subsequent 37

maybe a roland D05, haven't gotten a demo unit yet to speak with authority

brains and education

somewhat spendy stuff?

emu emulator II or emax

DSI prophet, any of them ('08, rev2, 6 and 12) and the recent DSI/Oberheim OB6

DSI evolver of polyevolver

DSI Pro2

anything old and oberheim, especially an Xpander for synth pop, a DM fave... try a Novation Peak 1st

Roland Jupiter 6 or Juno 106

Korg Wavestation

Roland's new modular setup or Moog's Mother

emu sp1200

DSI tempest

Oberheim DMX...

software for free:

TAL U-No, Bassline and Elektro

DigitalSuburban Dexed (if you can't buy a DX7 or similar)

Phutura

Superwave

U-He Tyrell

umm

look at my software list on my equipboard.... I don't use thiss hit all the time but I use it and I won't lsit it if its not pretty decent! I am way into the synthpop end of electronic music so I'm a good resource

I can't get Dexed to install for the life of me.

Wow. Lengthy list. What are the bare essentials needed to compose? Is there a flowchart? Synthesizer, drum machine, etc..? Thanks for the response.

you need ideas, patience and a blank page to COMPOSE music... but I guess you meant something else, like what do you need to record a polished song? that depends on you. When I reviewed Peak I did one demo song using nothing else even for drums, but not everyone will have the aptience and skillset to do that. To the ebst of my knowledge Daniel Miller did Warm Leatherette with 1 synth and a microphone in his bedroom with a borrowed 4 tack. I would say you will want a DAW to record and sequence in that you feel comfortable with, a good subtractive monosynth that can do retro bass tones, a subtractive polysynth with at least 6 voices, a drum machine, maybe an FM synth and... that might do ya to get started.

I don't have a flowchart on electronic music gear but I do have one on procrastination:

http://dobrador.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/241575967482133813_XOvFnoeT_f.jpg

basic but imformative

but I wasn't saying those synths are all must haves, maybe just must-tries in my book! you might want some guitar effects and some studio basics like decent hardware compression (the affordable units by FMR audio and Alesis are pretty great) and maybe a reverb processor with a good rep and an 80s sound, but its not essential with somany plugins out there... what's your setup like so far? how are you writing your songs? on a battered piano, an acoustic guitar or right into a sequencer??? everyone's workflow is going to eb different with electronic music because the instruments are meant to be flexible... you probably want to just start with a handful of isntruments and processors and really learn what they all do before getting carried away. Stay away from those factory presets and learn everything about your synths

I'm always game for free. Are these compatible with IOS? Thanks.

nope, not most of them, they're meant for computers, I like the VST format because it works in a lot of DAWs, has been aorund forever and likes PC and Mac sosessions will transfer if you haven't printed those virtual instrument tracks and you jump on a mac somewhere and wanna open a song... you aren't going to be making music on your phone or tablet exclusively right? I mean, you CAN? but as far as i can tell its limiting at this time. It seems like its still tricky to integrate your hardware with that too... I've ehard of people using their iPads heavily in live scenarios but I've never actually seen it done ('I know a guy who has a buddy who uses his iPad for everything' or 'I saw you a youtube video of this one dude, let me send it' )and I don't know of a lot of records that were made withlive musicians or hardware electronic instruments integrating with a phone or tablet. I guess you coul, but why would you want to? This is an area where smaller tech is NOT usually better tech. Tiny controls and conenctions will probably impede your workflow and when ding this stuff solo you wanna be streamlined. You're the writer, performer, producer, engineer.... you can et bogged down really easily fiddling with stuff and not making music

anyway, you would have to tell us what your setup looks like so far tog et some more advice that makes sense

back this up, wait.... you have a mac or you're thinking of using your phone or iPad? You say IOS? I think iPhone/pad. Pretty much everything will run on amc. All those free VST plugins should behave in Logic even though Logic favors their own AAX standard ever since Mac bought it (if i recall).

do you know ANYTHING about music or sound?

Was this a reply? did i miss something?

Was this a reply? did i miss something?

Was this a reply? did i miss something?

reeeaaaal cute Mr.

I don't know what you'll do with an analog step sequencer if you're not buying any syntesizers with CV input, waste of money until you have a fe synths with CV in.... I eman, you cna sue it over MIDI, but why bother? I don't think you should do to much shopping until you learn a lot more about the tech end of this. loe the SQ1. Great little bidget sequencer.... not particularly useful in my eyesunless you're going to generate control votlage with it and use it as a modualtion source for a mono synth

so do you already play an instrument?

Well I'm not sure what Ableton Live Light comes with-

when you get it installed check the browser on the right hand side->

open the Instruments & you should find at least a few of Ableton's stock instruments (vsts)

i.e.

Analog Operator Sampler Simpler etc.

(and several presets under each)

I suggest that since I think (?) you’re on a tight budget and this is the quickest way to get your hands on something to get your sound design feet wet. With some time you should be able to get sounds fairly close to what I think you're after. Zero cash required. LOADS of tutorials in every direction- YouTube, etc.

A solid investment of time will get you much further than cash can. I can't remeber how many people I’ve seen with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of gear making the most bland sounds & usually nothing at all soon as they get bored when things don't come quick. Instruments don't make music, musicians do (not trying to be a jerk, just addressing the pervasive idea you can somehow buy your way into playing good music by buying the right kit).

I've been watching the feverish revival of the stuff you mentioned as it's a genre close to my heart but 80% of what I've heard lately is nothing complicated.

So to get a better idea beyond that:

are you looking to invest in a hardware piece?

Soft synth advice?

a 101 on patch building?

I've been watching the feverish revival of the stuff you mentioned as it's a genre close to my heart but 80% of what I've heard lately is nothing complicated.

ditto... even Depeche Mode is no Depeche Mode these days (as much as I like their last 2 records).

If you're in love with 80s sounds and have a Mac you can't go wrong with:

Native Instruments FM8 (FM Synthesis powerstation)

If you have Native Instruments Kontakt, you might want to get some Fairlight or Emulator sounds. These are good: http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/products/vintage_samplers/index.htm

Recently I've discovered this too, LoopLord's Modalities ROMPLER:

https://www.gearnews.com/modalities-plug-nails-synths-sounds-depeche-mode-cheap/

Which claims to (and does) give you a cheat's way to some high-quality Depeche Mode type sounds. It's not very editable though, it's just a simple collection of convincing preset sounds.

As stated by others, the Korg Volca FM is a great little DX7 in a box with editing features the original could only have dreamed of.

For drums, you can't go wrong with samples of any of the early Linn drum machines (Prince, Human League), the Roland TR-808/909/606, or the Oberheim DMX (think New Order, 'Blue Monday'). Samples of these are freely available on the internet.

Hope this helps a bit.

As stated by others, the Korg Volca FM is a great little DX7 in a box with editing features the original could only have dreamed of.

its more of a DX100/TX81Z... the editing appears to eb LESS comprehensive than the old Yamahas, but it has front panel knobs isntead of menus and pushbuttons, so its faster.... the Yamaha Reface DX7 is very simialr to the volca being 4 operators but its got a TON of waveshapes for them from what I've seen but the control is not knob-based. I kinda recommend a real 6 operator FM synth like a 7, there are great MIDI editors and there's a certain amgic to the old hardware units that software with a full comliment of operators doesn't seem to reproduce. The original DX is midrangey and gritty and the mk2s are bright and crunchy. Nothing quite like those boards. but I definitely recommend FM8 or Sytrus to elarn FM with a visual display. Its not intuitive at all.

In software based samplers I cannot recommend the TAL Sampler enough. it does a alte 80s thing. youc an laod up any waves you want and edit them visually, layer them, filter them. the usual stuff.... but the output is a bit crusher with modes to emualte the response of the Emu Emualtor and early Akai rack samplers. It really puts a verneer of mid-to-late 80s digital skronk allover your custom samples without the ahssle of using an old sampler and fucking with menus and a job shuttle....