Waldorf Pulse or Minibrute?

[ejlif]

I want to add another bass type synth to my arsenal. I have the slim phatty and since it only has a single output I have a lonely single input available on my interface. Might as well give it a home. I know the pluse has a stereo output would there be much difference just running mono? The mini brute is just mono. I like both of these synths. I already have a Waldof Q so not sure if I am retreading getting a pulse. I also have a Roland Vsynth, Juno 106 and Virus Ti and lots of plugs into Live 9. I am finding that I am getting better inspiration and overall better sound with the outboard gear so I am leaning that way. I am also looking at the Dave Smith Prophet 12 and Elektron Analog 4. Seems like the Minibrute might be the most unlike the other gear I have but just thought you guys might have an opinion.

[WhiteIsBeautiful]

i use my minibrute for alot of things. bass/leads/effects. its my go to synth. i can use it for acid/house/techno tracks then for industrial/noise stuff. im really a fan of the filter/amp envelopes. very well rounded. hook it up to a sequencer for major fun!

[Bitexion]

I'd vote for Minibrute. It is different enough that it is fun to play with, not "just another analog mono" like so many others. The filter and the feedback (brute factor), plus that crazy oscillator section makes it more fun than any standard analog monosynth to me.

[Aaron2]

Get a Bass Station II instead. Man, that thing's a beast. Plus, it has way more features than the Minibrute for the same price.

[Ashe37]

And the Pulse 2 has more features than either...

[Stab Frenzy]

Get a Bass Station II instead. Man, that thing's a beast. Plus, it has way more features than the Minibrute for the same price.

Totally apples and oranges. BS2 doesn't have any of the things that make the MB so great; ie VCOs, that filter, the wavefolder, sawtooth animator, CV/gate. Likewise the BS2 has a bunch of stuff the MB doesn't have. And they sound totally different to one another. To me the BS2 has that rigid, cold DCO sound and the filter sounds lifeless. The MB sounds so fuzzy and breathing and alive in comparison, and that's what I like about it.

As always, one man's cold is another man's precise etc, but that's why you can't really say objectively that one is better than the other. It's like comparing a Juno 6 with a Polysix.

Re: choosing something by the amount of features it has: You know what company makes things with the most features for the price? Behringer. Give me sound quality and playability over features any day.

[Percivale]

If you can live with monophonic voice without patches, Minibrute is a good buy

[Aaron2]

Get a Bass Station II instead. Man, that thing's a beast. Plus, it has way more features than the Minibrute for the same price.

Totally apples and oranges. BS2 doesn't have any of the things that make the MB so great; ie VCOs, that filter, the wavefolder, sawtooth animator, CV/gate. Likewise the BS2 has a bunch of stuff the MB doesn't have. And they sound totally different to one another. To me the BS2 has that rigid, cold DCO sound and the filter sounds lifeless. The MB sounds so fuzzy and breathing and alive in comparison, and that's what I like about it.

As always, one man's cold is another man's precise etc, but that's why you can't really say objectively that one is better than the other. It's like comparing a Juno 6 with a Polysix.

Re: choosing something by the amount of features it has: You know what company makes things with the most features for the price? Behringer. Give me sound quality and playability over features any day.

To be clear, I wasn't suggesting that feature count should be the sole criterion that one should consider. But I do think the BSII has a lot going for it at that price point. To me -- and maybe because the first synths I ever used were '80s DCO polysynths -- I really like the way the BSII sounds. As far as I'm concerned, the BSII is just a lot more versatile than the MB.

But that's just one man's opinion. It's like arguing about whether chocolate ice cream is better than java chip, right? It's all a matter of personal taste. [But for the record, it's java chip all the way! ]

[Automatic Gainsay]

I say that if all you care about is bass, get a danged Minitaur. You want bass, it has bass.

However, if you want a solid, non-sketchy synth in regard to CV... maybe not.

If you want a powerful monosynth that does an incredible amount of things, bass, lead, or otherwise... that has one of the most powerful oscillators ever seen in a single-oscillator monosynth... THEN you should get a MiniBrute.

[ejlif]

Whoa I guess i missed somehow that the mini brute can't store programs? Wow that is a pretty big deal. So you have to make you sound up each time you want to change it. I watched demos and looked at spec but I somehow missed this very important feature. I suppose you can just record the audio each time but wow what a pain. I wonder why they would not include that feature?

[Kenneth]

Excuse me! I realize this isn't the most important factor here, but I was under the impression that the bass station II had voltage controlled oscillators! Where have we heard otherwise?

[Stab Frenzy]

Excuse me! I realize this isn't the most important factor here, but I was under the impression that the bass station II had voltage controlled oscillators! Where have we heard otherwise?

What gave you that idea?

Whoa I guess i missed somehow that the mini brute can't store programs? Wow that is a pretty big deal. So you have to make you sound up each time you want to change it. I watched demos and looked at spec but I somehow missed this very important feature. I suppose you can just record the audio each time but wow what a pain. I wonder why they would not include that feature?

Patch memory would have increased the price by quite a margin, and it's a really simple synth so you just need to learn how to use it rather than rely on factory presets.

[Percivale]

Well, there are some patch sheets (overlay) included if that is of any help.

Whoa I guess i missed somehow that the mini brute can't store programs? Wow that is a pretty big deal. So you have to make you sound up each time you want to change it. I watched demos and looked at spec but I somehow missed this very important feature. I suppose you can just record the audio each time but wow what a pain. I wonder why they would not include that feature?

[Ned Bouhalassa]

I guess the OP meant Pulse 2? If so, I prefer it to the Brute. So many modulation options.

[Bitexion]

Patch memory would increase the price, since you'd basically need an internal computer to send and read parameters to the synth, an LCD screen to show the parameters, put some RAM in there for storage, plus they'd lose the "completely 100% analog synth" gimmick thing aswell.

There was a market for the Minimoog Voyager Oldschool even, where they took a Voyager and removed all the digital stuff, including patch memory.