js_sound's Reviews

Kyra is the worst synth I have ever bought for 2000 euros.

I will not describe Kira much, I will just say that I returned it already on the 3rd day back to the store and wrote in addition "if it were my will, I would sue the Waldorf for this wretched synthesizer with shameful capabilities, the worst effects on board, curved body (the case was bent and wobbled on the table), dangling handles, static wavetables, with an illiterate concept and a price like a Rolls Royce"

Its sound and capabilities I equated the cost of VST 10 euros.

great old Synthesizer

Supernova 2 this is old school sound, this is what sounds worthy! This is something that was released not just to make money, but in order to bring joy to people and provide high-quality sound.

Great design, great controls, great 808 and 909 style drum kits, cool arpeggiators, good filters (but not good enough to squeal with joy, I know better ones). The vocoder on paper is good, but in practice it turned out to be the worst of all I know. Sounds fat, in places like DCO. The DAC chip constantly crashes (I'm an electronics engineer) and I found an old problem, a new alternative. There is a video on my YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/MZNFcR22PZs

Compared to later ultranovas, the sound is more correct. And after replacing the DAC with a new type, it began to sound even cooler. Solid, reliable (except for the old problem, which is no more and I think will not be in the future), beautiful. Basses, leads, pads, arps are bright. Ideally combined with Yamaha AN1x, Access Virus TI1, Clavia Nord Lead 3 and Yamaha Montage workstation. SN2 it's a funny blue box.

Yamaha AN1x the best VA since the 90s

I had a lot of synths (60 different models) and i have sorted through everything and sold many, I left only 4. And Yamaha AN1x for me is central to my setup. It has a rare property for synthesizers. Even if you find a bad preset, it will not annoy you with its character. While on other synthesizers this picture will contradict the AN1x property. It is endowed with a very high quality 5 voice unison, 2 scenes, 4 oscillators (including additional hidden ones), a huge number of modulators and destination paths. It also has a 16 step sequencer that works in dual mode as both a note generator and as a modulator. 4 x Free EG this is a brilliant thing. Its filter and resonance have the function of self-oscillation with key track. Separation of voices, scenes, the ability to drum at the moment and make the sound of a lead and a pad at the same time, his competitors cannot even today. And I generally attributed such a candidate as JP8080 to the most useless purchase in my life, having AN1x in my hands at the same time.

I look at new synths that come out these days, I look at modulars for 20.000 euros and more, but having AN1x in my hands and being able to make any sounds on it, I am not provocative and do not buy what you can buy today. At the same time, AN1x still sounds amazing to me. Pads, leads, basses, braces, plucks, thongs, he can do it all. And with Free EG and self-oscillation, he can even say speech phrases.

I soldered the microcircuits on the AN1x output stage. The old Japanese chips did not satisfy me very much. On my YouTube channel there is a video for modification. Now the sound is even better and I use it 90% of the time with the other 3 best VAs and 1 workstation.

https://youtu.be/U2trp0iTkQQ