Affordable new age/ethereal pad synth?

RedSky · Post by **RedSky** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:26 pm

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm trying to make Future Sound of London/ ambient/ vocal sounds and am interested in synth for this. Would the Yamaha Sy77 be an option?

Phollop Willing PA · Post by **Phollop Willing PA** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:55 pm

RedSky wrote:Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm trying to make Future Sound of London/ ambient/ vocal sounds and am interested in synth for this. Would the Yamaha Sy77 be an option?

Get a 2nd hand Korg Karma and use it sparingly...

Post by **Mixolydian** » Sun May 18, 2008 11:03 pm

I think the SY77 would be an excellent choice.

Also for pads, lots of Korgs with the wave movement work great - TR Rack (an older synth related to the Trinity, not the current TR,) and the Korg MS-2000 with it's multiple LFOs.

The Roland MKS-70 is a real analog string monster, and Roland's D-50 / D-550 are still cool after all these years. A lot of people buy the D-50 just for the Arco Strings and Soundtrack patches.

Also, if you're just using it for recording, you may look at software synths as they're getting better all the time. GForce's Virtual String Machine and M-Tron are both excellent.

Arturia's CS-80V is another cool pad maker although a bit control heavy.

Reason is a program (sequencer + synth rack + effects + sound tools) that gets used for a lot of ambient and trippy dance music. It's complicated though and takes a few months to really get to know. Still, I've heard some amazing stuff made with Reason.

Post by **braincandy** » Sun May 18, 2008 11:27 pm

RedSky wrote:Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm trying to make Future Sound of London/ ambient/ vocal sounds and am interested in synth for this. Would the Yamaha Sy77 be an option?

What is your idea of affordable?

OriginalJambo · Post by **OriginalJambo** » Mon May 19, 2008 1:29 am

Sounds like a D-50 would be worth a look. It's certainly affordable.

hfinn · Post by **hfinn** » Mon May 19, 2008 1:58 am

The SY77 would be better for this than the D50 (in my opinion)

MrFrodo · Post by **MrFrodo** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:49 am

Would any of you consider the M1 a viable choice?

9mm · Post by **9mm** » Mon May 19, 2008 3:08 am

the SY series are good choices, as is the wavestation (possibly legacy collection)

i have a tg33 that i love for good lo-fi ambient sounds.

micahjonhughes · Post by **micahjonhughes** » Mon May 19, 2008 3:39 am

I have a TG77 and think it is a great synth. However, I don't think it is the best synth for ambient sounds. There are too few samples and programing the FM side is not easy. The synth is very powerful with good effects, so if you want to spend time with it, it will do ambient. But, be prepared to send some time programming.

I suggest a K1m. There are lots of waveforms, the low sample rate give a nice shimmery sound to it, and there is a joystick to to control the mixture of the waveforms. Add to that a decent effects processor and you are in an ambient dreamland.

Hugo76 · Post by **Hugo76** » Mon May 19, 2008 3:40 am

Get a secondhand Yamaha cs6x. Great synth for this stuff. Plus it also packs a little sampler + can be expanded

Syn303 · Post by **Syn303** » Mon May 19, 2008 6:29 am

get a Korg M1, Z1 or a Wavestation

crystalmsc · Post by **crystalmsc** » Mon May 19, 2008 11:01 am

the 01/W is my favorite new age pad synth followed by Karma and TG500.

Don Solaris · Post by **Don Solaris** » Mon May 19, 2008 11:15 am

RedSky wrote:I'm trying to make Future Sound of London/ ambient/ vocal sounds and am interested in synth for this. Would the Yamaha Sy77 be an option?

Very good choice. I had SY-77 for some time, programmed it a lot. It has that ethereal character, specially for chords. But keep in mind, FSOL's main tool is a sampler. If you are looking for that FSOL sound, the synth is just the first step. You need a good fx unit to process it, and a sampler to sample that (be it a phrase, or a chord). Then apply more fx onto that, compression, eq, resample it again, play it transposed, etc.

Once you make a good collection of (reprocessed) sounds or phrases in your sampler, add some beat (process it heavy) and you are ready for some FSOL goodness. Good luck! You'll need it. I still haven't heard a band that can sound as good as they do. Not even close.

As of "all in one" solution. I use this:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/for ... st26300975

stevebirss · Post by **stevebirss** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:56 pm

As for software, you might want to check out Spectrasonics "Atmosphere". I know it's not analog, and stuff, but it is versatile and you can resample, and process externally in your sampler or in your host program. Just and idea.

Post by **shaft9000** » Tue May 20, 2008 3:15 pm

Don Solaris wrote: If you are looking for that FSOL sound, the synth is just the first step. You need a good fx unit to process it, and a sampler to sample that (be it a phrase, or a chord). Then apply more fx onto that, compression, eq, resample it again, play it transposed, etc.

yes, the synth is not a big deal. darn near anything with some flexible architecture will do.
it's the fx/processing chain, or more succinctly, workflow that will get you there. FSOL's is a particularly processed sound, so the ability to compose w/ various processes are need much more, ultimately, than any specific gear or whathaveyou...

Affordable new age/ethereal pad synth?

Affordable new age/ethereal pad synth?

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