Polymorph & Spectralis - dif./sim.

[stikygum]

I'm wondering what similarities they have. The Specki seems to have 32 lines for the sequencer. Does this mean that instead of the Polymorph's 3 lines, the Specki can have 32 different parameter (variations) for each step? The Polymorph has it's 3 LFOs wired and so are the 4 Env. Are the Specki parameters free to mod other parameters or is there similar 'wired' parameters like on the Poly?

For the Specki, do you chain patterns together to make a song or can you actually build a song from scratch? How many bar total can you have in a song?

I know the Specki has a beefed up engine, but there is something about the Polymorph sampled waves I love. Are there similar waves in the Specki? Do they sound similar for certain sounds?

[Soundwave]

Never tried a 'Spekie' but from what I know the Poly is easier to use tho the Spekie is a beast soundwise tho has a steep learning curve and (still) unfinished OS which has taken a little too long to get finished.
The Poly does have a very unique sound and the way everything (patches, sequencer ect) is saved globally for each pattern is a god send.
Sequencer wise I think you can only (yet) assign certain parameters on the Spekie tho you can assign almost anything on the Poly which is the machines main virtue and something I never fully explored when I had mine.

[droolmaster0]

I'm wondering what similarities they have. The Specki seems to have 32 lines for the sequencer. Does this mean that instead of the Polymorph's 3 lines, the Specki can have 32 different parameter (variations) for each step? The Polymorph has it's 3 LFOs wired and so are the 4 Env. Are the Specki parameters free to mod other parameters or is there similar 'wired' parameters like on the Poly?

For the Specki, do you chain patterns together to make a song or can you actually build a song from scratch? How many bar total can you have in a song?

I know the Specki has a beefed up engine, but there is something about the Polymorph sampled waves I love. Are there similar waves in the Specki? Do they sound similar for certain sounds?

Hi - This is from memory on the Spectralis: the Spectralis has tons and tons and tons of synth and filter parameters, pretty much all of which can be modulated by the sequencer. MUCH more flexibility here than on the polymorph - so you could easily use up 32 lines if you wanted. (there are 26 pages of oscillator parameters alone!) Same with lfos - I forget how many there are, but quite a large number.

As far as sampled waves in the spectralis - you can load your own (if you have a pc - no mac compatibility yet).

I don't remember the limit of a song's length, but it's pretty long. I think that you can download a manual...

Also, it has incredibly flexible routing. Nothing like it, except in a modular synth.

the problem, of course, with the speckie, is that there is so much to put together in order to gain mastery of it, and the overall interface could be put together, I think...somehow.

[stikygum]

It's interesting because I know the Polymorph inside and out and the Speck 'looks' like a somewhat different beast, but I know there is a lot of commonality. So are the LFOs freely assignable or are they pre-routed to a specific parameter? There are quite a lot of parameters in the Poly, the Osc and filter sections have about 27 menu pages each. The others have quite a few as well. I'm going to have to look at the manual of the Speck, does it have a list of a Mod Matrix, listing all the parameters that can be the Source and Destination?

The pluses of the Spectralis's sequencer over the Polymorph (PM) is that it sounds like you can have 32 or so, different parameters for each step of the sequencer. The PM only offers 3 parameters (which they call lines). The other thing is that the Spectralis has a song mode, where the PM only basically has patterns, which is all you need really, but the song mode is nice to have.

I can see the Spectralis is looking more like a expanded or suped up Polymorph.

FYI for everyone - The PM's sequencer, however, is not limited to 16 steps. The PM spec sheet (or at least in the manual) says that there are 16 steps for the sequencer, which is true. But if you want 32 steps, Quasimidi's sequencer is awesome and allows you to have 1 sequencer trigger the others. The PM has 4 sequencers. You can set up sequencer 1 to trigger seq. 2 and 3, so that seq 3 plays imediately after seq 2 finishes and it keeps looping.
So you could actually have 48 steps, if you have Sequencer 1 trigger Seq 4 also (16 extra steps).

I know my Polymorph pretty well, but I still haven't checked out and studied or looked into all the parameters in the pages of the Polymorph. Sure, I use them but I've just blindly tweaked them. I'm guessing the Spectralis is the same way, there are a lot of parameters.

Do the Parameters differ from the Analog and Digital synth engines? How complex is the Filterbank?

[droolmaster0]

I haven't had my Spectralis in quite some time, so if no one posts here, you might try the Spectralis forum - I'm sure they'd be glad to clarify some of your questions.

As I recall, some of the lfos are assignable, and some aren't. I think that there are at least 10...

Yeah - the Spectralis is kind of like a super powerful polymorph, but the structure is a bit different. It has the samples and drums, and then the hybrid monosynth. it's the monosynth where you can sequence in such incredible depth. Trust me - there are a bunch of menu pages in the polymorph, but the Spectralis is insane....

I can't remember the details of the modulations, other than there is quite a bit now. I don't think that there is a mod matrix page per se, but that the modulations are in the various destination sections - but that might be a faulty recollection.

[stikygum]

Dang! 10 LFOs.... The Spectralis sounds quite deep. I just love everything Jorg Schaaf does. How are the pads on the machine. I wondering if it's just the hybrid synth, but it's hybrid pads sound quite lush in this:



I'm just wondering how good the regular poly synths sound. I know they'll have their charm and be cool, but I'm wondering how much better they sound from the Polymorph. Reason I ask is because some of the stuff I've heard from the Spectralis, sounds like my Polymorph sometimes. The Hybrid synth sounds completely different from the Polymorph though.

I might be thinking about getting the Spectralis for 2008, IF! Jorg implements being able to record knob movements and finally gets a Mac editor (or was it the sample convertor that they're working on), then I'll strongly think about getting one. It sounds like Jorg is already working on adding those 2 things along with a Groove shuffle feature. This sounds like a great machine.

[droolmaster0]

Dang! 10 LFOs.... The Spectralis sounds quite deep. I just love everything Jorg Schaaf does. How are the pads on the machine. I wondering if it's just the hybrid synth, but it's hybrid pads sound quite lush in this:



I'm just wondering how good the regular poly synths sound. I know they'll have their charm and be cool, but I'm wondering how much better they sound from the Polymorph. Reason I ask is because some of the stuff I've heard from the Spectralis, sounds like my Polymorph sometimes. The Hybrid synth sounds completely different from the Polymorph though.

I might be thinking about getting the Spectralis for 2008, IF! Jorg implements being able to record knob movements and finally gets a Mac editor (or was it the sample convertor that they're working on), then I'll strongly think about getting one. It sounds like Jorg is already working on adding those 2 things along with a Groove shuffle feature. This sounds like a great machine.

Well, the hybrid synth is monophonic. You can get some harmonies from the different oscillators, but it is really a monoponic synth.
The rest is muchbetter sound quality than the polymorph, especially because you can use the filter bank and analog filters, but on some levels, polyphonically the polymorph is more powerful - there are more parameters to mess with for 4 sounds...the really powerful synthesis section of the spectralis is the monophonic hybrid synth.