M-Audio Venom $200 at Sweetwater

[meatballfulton]

After M-Audio offered these for $200 on Black Friday, Sweetwater has more for the same price, with this caveat:

"Venom stock for this unbelievable holiday deal is on its way from M-Audio to Sweetwater, and will arrive in the first week of December so customer orders can arrive in time for the holidays with plenty of time to spare. Don't hesitate to take advantage of this deal, because when these Venoms are gone, they're gone for good."

Hmm, does that mean the Venom is headed for the scrap heap?

[Alex E]

I hope not. Tempting, but I'm done buying synth keyboards for a while.

[Sir Nose]

After M-Audio offered these for $200 on Black Friday, Sweetwater has more for the same price, with this caveat:

... because when these Venoms are gone, they're gone for good."

Hmm, does that mean the Venom is headed for the scrap heap?

That's the way it reads to me.

[somebedroomdj]

Wow, that seems like a steal. I've been looking for a board with an audio and midi interface built in and it actually sounds pretty good in the videos I've watched.

Thanks for posting this here!

So now... how do I justify this?

[blavatsky]

I absolutely did NOT need another synth, much less with a keyboard.....but for $200, i couldn't help myself. Even without all the editing capablities of knobbier stuff, the sound of this thing is pretty impressive for a VA.

I'm justifying by selling off other gear, considering selling my x-station too.

[walkathon]

Thx for the heads-up, had to jump and give it a shot. Can't wait to dig in, curious if the "future classic" whispers hold any truth.

On the other hand, criminy I gotta pare down the studio ...


UPDATE: Received a notification from Sweetwater that it wasn't in stock (even though the website said it was).

Word from said rep:
--
"Awaiting on tons of them we have sold almost 1500 in less than a week. This
was a special buyout from Maudio. Avid sold Maudio to a new company, and they
will no longer be manufacturing this. It still comes with full factory and
sweetwater warranty."

[sammy123]

I recommend checking Amazon lightning deals everyday. Yesterday they had the venom for $174. I bought one. I think they had it last week for $199. So keep checking. It's a little easier to browse the deals using the app than the website.

[samuraipizzacat29]

Wow, that seems like a steal. I've been looking for a board with an audio and midi interface built in and it actually sounds pretty good in the videos I've watched.

if you're looking for an audio interface, built in: DO NOT BUY! terrible s/n ratio, low headroom, just a c**p interface. Also, the midi over usb is lacking IIRC.

IMO as an early adopter of the venom, buy a better controller keyboard and stick with other software. That is all the venom amounts to, a controller, since the machine is close to useless without the computer for editing. nice sounding dsp engine though.

[meatballfulton]

That is all the venom amounts to, a controller, since the machine is close to useless without the computer for editing.

An interesting point if expressed rather bluntly

I learned many years back that hardware that is dependent on software for full functionality is a disaster waiting to happen, eventually new computers/new OSes will not be able to run it.

Just be prepared to maintain a compatible computer as long as you plan to use your Venom.

[samuraipizzacat29]

That is all the venom amounts to, a controller, since the machine is close to useless without the computer for editing.

An interesting point if expressed rather bluntly

Deserved. I'll state my position more objectively as my last post was all bias and no facts.

First, they bill it as "all the important controls are on the front and anything else is in software". I found the opposite to be true. Only the most obvious controls are on the front panel, and its likely to take you a few button presses to get to anything useable other than the mod wheel. Encoder scaling is unintuitive, I was always too fast or too slow. The keybed was ok- cheap feeling but nice playing at the same time. The construction quality is somehow both cheap and rugged at the same time. Like a plastic snow sled. Feels cheap but still difficult to break.
The real pain is that nothing that you really want to edit or have visual feedback is available without a computer. Without going into too much detail, all the in depth stuff (and even a great majority of basic necessities) are only accessible through computer. Programming patterns is a pain since midi files must be loaded. That being said......
The sound engine is actually pretty welcoming. I found the most useable sounds were in the noisy pads and the drum samples on board. The demos make it sound "fat" but I didn't get that from it in the flesh. It's all around pretty flexible, but since it has the feel and result of a vst, it would seem to make more sense to get a nicer controller and just stick with vsts.
So that's why I opine, if a little too strongly, not to expect to do anything more with it than using it for the out of the box presets because it seems under qualified to solve any of the problems of which its billed.
But, hey, if $200 is the right price for a fun toy to tinker with it'll suit you. Contrarily, if they're selling 'em for $200 now it means they'll be second hand for $100 in six months or so.....

^and my appraisal is based on the state of affairs within the first six mos or so after they came out. Can't comment on updates since.
Nate

[walkathon]

Finally got to spend a bit of time w/ the Venom this holiday season, and must say I really dig it. Great pads, really easy to generate some beautiful dronescapes w/ it, can't get enough of the DCO bass patch, etc. Not 100% sure about the keyboard feel yet, and while I've got mixed feelings about having to have an external laptop to get to all of the settings, I can also see where some folks 'round here who are claiming this has possible future classic status, ala a Fizmo. Looks like the $200 clearouts are already long gone, and I highly doubt you'll find these for $100 used in 6 months, but if you do, grab it!

[meatballfulton]

Looks like the $200 clearouts are already long gone, and I highly doubt you'll find these for $100 used in 6 months, but if you do, grab it!

I suspect people who got the $200 deal and decide to flip will be asking more than $200...seen this happen time and time again with blowouts.

[jeffrey1121]

venom's the one & only synth i feel justified hating on. Mostly due to the same reasons mentioned by samuraipizza. M-Audio really dropped the ball by thinking people would be content with having to interface the damn thing with a computer just to detune the oscillators, change the osc waveform, etc.

admittedly, I myself underestimated the value of a handy interface when bought my MoPho desktop--really should have saved up for the Kb--BUT you can at least tweak all the parameters on it without needing software. it just happens to be tedious....but possible.

think of all the people who paid the full price when it first came out.
what was it, $399? $499?

[Tiger Jackson]

Yea this thing defeatscthe purpose of itself.. Buyers bought it because they want hardware but then its full functionality requires a software vst?

[meatballfulton]

Venom was hardly the first synth to require software for full programming. There's been quite a few over the years, some of which were very popular.

Sequential MAX
Yamaha FB01
Roland MT32
Nord Modular
Roland SH201
Moog Minitaur
Arturia MiniBrute