Recommendations for eerie/warm analog sounds for psych-folk

[incircles]

I'm looking for something capable of subtle and eerie leads/textures to complement an otherwise largely acoustic project. I'm fairly new to the synth world. In another band, I played an MS-2000 and loved it, so I'll probably pick up one of those (maybe the R version). Wondering about the MS-10/MS-20 or Microbrute, though, or if there's anything else anyone would suggest. Again, going for subtle, not sawtooth blats or dubstep whomps. Pardon my naivete. I can justify up to $1000 on a single synth and maybe $2k total. FWIW, I've got space echo, rotary, and digital delay in my effects chain.

Relatedly, also looking for a good reedy organ sound without a lot of weight/expense.

[commodorejohn]

The MS-20 is more gnarly and weird than warm or eerie, although you can coax more traditional analog sounds out of it without too much trouble. You could hold out for the Korg ARP Odyssey rerelease, sounds like that's going to be priced at $999.

[incircles]

The MS-20 is more gnarly and weird than warm or eerie, although you can coax more traditional analog sounds out of it without too much trouble. You could hold out for the Korg ARP Odyssey rerelease, sounds like that's going to be priced at $999.

Sigh, the lack of a release date means that it's probably still a ways off. And I might have another $1000 to spend by then. I suspect you're right about the MS-20, as the only time I've played it in the studio was for a "Lucky Man" style lead. Which I do want the ability to do. But gnarly as a primary characteristic, nah.

[commodorejohn]

Of course, there's lots of other existing analog synths out there, the problem is that the ones with enough features for good texture/soundscape work tend to be close to or over your budget. Is there a particular sound you're going for? Are knobs important?

[Stab Frenzy]

I'm looking for something capable of subtle and eerie leads/textures to complement an otherwise largely acoustic project.

Minibrute will be perfect for that. It's a very flexible synth and does subtle sounds great, don't be fooled by the demos where people are overdriving the mixer stage and turning the brute factor all the way up.

[incircles]

Of course, there's lots of other existing analog synths out there, the problem is that the ones with enough features for good texture/soundscape work tend to be close to or over your budget. Is there a particular sound you're going for? Are knobs important?

knobs are nice but not crucial; i've also been eyeing the slim phatty. that sentence sounded really weird. maybe the effects chain is just as important for getting eerieness? the $1k's not a hard limit, it's just sort of a ballpark figure so i can afford more than one toy. anything you'd recommend just slightly over that? i appreciate it.

as far as the sound i'm going for, it's hard to say exactly until i start messing with something, but one of the ~1k synths i forgot to mention that i really liked was the yamaha cs-15d. if i could track one of those down...

[incircles]

I'm looking for something capable of subtle and eerie leads/textures to complement an otherwise largely acoustic project.

Minibrute will be perfect for that. It's a very flexible synth and does subtle sounds great, don't be fooled by the demos where people are overdriving the mixer stage and turning the brute factor all the way up.

yeah? that's mostly what i saw on youtube, hah. i'll track one down and try it! the price is certainly right...

[commodorejohn]

I wasn't that impressed with the sound of the Minibrute myself, but it's not a bad little machine for the price, anyway.

[Stab Frenzy]

I'm looking for something capable of subtle and eerie leads/textures to complement an otherwise largely acoustic project.

Minibrute will be perfect for that. It's a very flexible synth and does subtle sounds great, don't be fooled by the demos where people are overdriving the mixer stage and turning the brute factor all the way up.

yeah? that's mostly what i saw on youtube, hah. i'll track one down and try it! the price is certainly right...

Yep, just keep the mixer levels down (below half way) the resonance less than 3/4 and the brute factor off and it does mellow really nicely.

[analoglsd]

I'm looking for something capable of subtle and eerie leads/textures to complement an otherwise largely acoustic project.

Minibrute will be perfect for that. It's a very flexible synth and does subtle sounds great, don't be fooled by the demos where people are overdriving the mixer stage and turning the brute factor all the way up.

Agreed, the Minibrute would work, just drench it with spring reverb, and it will be eerie.

Personally, I would go for the Moog MG-1. It sounds great, has versatile enough modulation options for what you'll be using it for, and most importantly, it has two oscillators. Detuning the oscillators to an interval apart, say a 3rd, would play well to getting something a little more eerie. Here again you would definitely want the spring reverb, or a good emulation. Oh, AND it has a polyphonic "organ sound" which is routed through the filter.

[ppg_wavecomputer]

In an acoustic setting, nothing works better than Mellotron sounds (especially when it has got to be haunting or spooky).

Lots of processing potential as well... tape delays, spring reverbs, phasers, rotary speakers...

Stephen

[incircles]

The MS-20 is more gnarly and weird than warm or eerie, although you can coax more traditional analog sounds out of it without too much trouble. You could hold out for the Korg ARP Odyssey rerelease, sounds like that's going to be priced at $999.

Everything I read about the Arp Odyssey praises its brassiness and "punk"ness. So maybe that's not the right way to go either?

[incircles]

In an acoustic setting, nothing works better than Mellotron sounds (especially when it has got to be haunting or spooky).

Lots of processing potential as well... tape delays, spring reverbs, phasers, rotary speakers...

Stephen

Totally. I've got some decent Mello VSTs (no way I'll ever snag or want to gig with a real one).

[alan partridge]

For this kind of eerie folky music I'd agree with the suggestion of mellotron -type sounds. In synth terms that means a stringer more than a monosynth. Particularly this one.

[youtube][/youtube]

[alan partridge]

edited - double post.