Arturia MiniBrute - analog monosynth

[bassdude]

So digital LFO and made in China makes for a sub $500 analog. I guess the question is, why didn't somebody do this by now? And why wasnt it one of the bigger companies?

Also, based on this formula, how much would it cost to make one of these with more keys and say, 4 note polyphony?

[SSquirrel]

So digital LFO and made in China makes for a sub $500 analog. I guess the question is, why didn't somebody do this by now? And why wasnt it one of the bigger companies?

Also, based on this formula, how much would it cost to make one of these with more keys and say, 4 note polyphony?

I honestly have no concept how much it costs to add more polyphony and such. I could see a Maxibrute edition w/49 keys, dual oscillators, both w/wave shapers, maybe add some extra modulation capabilities like Ring Mod. Toss in an option to hard sync the oscillators too. Add a sequencer to make it more similar to the oft-compared SH-101 maybe. Something tells me we would be looking at something more like $800-$1000 if they did all of that tho.

[tim gueguen]

Yeah, that sounds about right given that a Mopho Keyboard sells in that range.

[Scories]

Edit : Sorry, I was thinking about the TETRA; my mistake.

The [TETRA] doesn't have realtime control and has DCOs instead of VCO's.

4 notes of polyphony with dual VCO's would mean 8 VCO's and 4 multimode filters, rather than 1 osc + 1 filter.
I don't think that price will be mutiplied by 2 but rather by 3 or 4 IMHO. And from that price, I'd rather choose something with dual filtering, to get something very different from my 3P.

I rather whish Alesis could have released an updated version of the Andromeda, rackmount with 8 voices of polyphony and 3-4 voices of multitimbrality and no digital FX.

[Kidney05]

The MOPHO doesn't have realtime control and has DCOs instead of VCO's.

4 notes of polyphony with dual VCO's would mean 8 VCO's and 4 multimode filters, rather than 1 osc + 1 filter.
I don't think that price will be mutiplied by 2 but rather by 3 or 4 IMHO. And from that price, I'd would prefer to get dual filtering.

I rather whish Alesis could have released an updated version of the Andromeda, rackmount with 8 voices of polyphony and 3-4 voices of multitimbrality and no digital FX.

I had buddied up with Alesis a while ago through twitter (they saw some of the posts on my blog about the andromeda and loved them) and I had told them some ideas for products-- nothing specific that I'd make on my own, but just "you should try to compete in this market". And I told them, DSI has no competition around the 400-700 dollar range, and that they already had the research and means to create the andromeda, so there was no reason to not try to make a monosynth in that price range.... of course, I told them this at the end of the summer IIRC, so I doubt even if they listened to a random blogger on the net, they could have had something ready for January NAMM. Unfortunately now, arturia's kind of beat them to the punch, but I still think there's room in the market for something with dual oscillators or more keys than the minibrute. Alesis is a really good company, but they don't really work for the synth heads, more just the cheaper home musicians.

[GuyaGuy]

The MOPHO doesn't have realtime control and has DCOs instead of VCO's.

4 notes of polyphony with dual VCO's would mean 8 VCO's and 4 multimode filters, rather than 1 osc + 1 filter.
I don't think that price will be mutiplied by 2 but rather by 3 or 4 IMHO. And from that price, I'd would prefer to get dual filtering.

I rather whish Alesis could have released an updated version of the Andromeda, rackmount with 8 voices of polyphony and 3-4 voices of multitimbrality and no digital FX.

The MoPho keyboard has plenty of realtime control: 20-30 knobs to twiddle, sustain and cv/exp jacks, mod and pitch wheels, etc.

Pricing for a poly is not just based on the number of filters and oscillators. It's also the larger keyboard, you'd probably need to throw memory on there, a nice display, etc. etc.

[Scories]

Sorry, I was thinking about the TETRA; my mistake.

[GuyaGuy]

Sorry, I was thinking about the TETRA; my mistake.

Ah yeah, lots of guys were waiting for a Tetra keyboard with lots of knobs but DSI said it would just be almost as expensive as the P08 so they wouldn't bother.

[Scories]

Seems like there's no easy way to make a cheap VCO polysynth. Otherwise, some companies would probably have done it.

[tekkentool]

And of course if it's only DCO's and Not VCO's why would you f**k bother right?

[Scories]

JX's and Junos are still a better deal.

[Automatic Gainsay]

And of course if it's only DCO's and Not VCO's why would you f**k bother right?

Yep

[GuyaGuy]

Seems like there's no easy way to make a cheap VCO polysynth. Otherwise, some companies would probably have done it.

I don't know; that's what people were saying about VCO monos until now. In any case it's not just the parts it's the R&D and assessment whether there's enough of a market to support a VCO poly that doesn't have all the features that modern keys players want--including oscillators that wont be going out of tune all the time.

And a VCO synth would still be a lot cheaper now than it would have been in 1981. As much as we complain about vintage synth prices going up, they are still rarely over the prices they went for new 3 decades ago. Compare that to prices of old Fenders and Gibsons!

[Automatic Gainsay]

Seems like there's no easy way to make a cheap VCO polysynth. Otherwise, some companies would probably have done it.

I don't know; that's what people were saying about VCO monos until now. In any case it's not just the parts it's the R&D and assessment whether there's enough of a market to support a VCO poly that doesn't have all the features that modern keys players want--including oscillators that wont be going out of tune all the time.

And a VCO synth would still be a lot cheaper now than it would have been in 1981. As much as we complain about vintage synth prices going up, they are still rarely over the prices they went for new 3 decades ago. Compare that to prices of old Fenders and Gibsons!

I'm with Guy.

You don't want a VCO polysynth... you never have.

[GuyaGuy]

I'm with Guy.

You don't want a VCO polysynth... you never have.

VCOs aren't the droids you're lookin for...