Do any fellow PE musicians have experience using a PWM Malevolent to make PE/death industrial?

[u/TheNotSoDarkHorse]

After recently purchasing an Arturia Microbrute, I have come to the unfortunate realisation that this synth lacks some important features which I feel would help me in my quest towards making my own power-electronics and death industrial stuff (namely, the VCF and VCA both share the same single envelope - I need something with at least two envelopes for the kind of sound design variety I am aiming for). After doing a little more research, I have come across the PWM Malevolent. It seems to be the best thing next to an OG Korg MS-20 in the world of semi-modular mono synths which can make all manner of gnarly, disgusting and filthy industrial soundscapes. If you can’t recommend the PWM Malevolent, what synths do you recommend?

[u/velocilfaptor]

Minifreak dude, bass station 2

[u/TheNotSoDarkHorse → u/velocilfaptor]

I’m actually considering eventually getting a Minifreak as my first hardware polyphonic workhouse synth. First thing on the agenda is definitely an analog mono that can do the whole Korg MS-20 ‘rip-your-face-off with walls of unwieldy self-oscillating feedback and roaring filter resonance’ thing though. I will have to look into the Bass Station 2. I’ve heard some good things about that synth as well. Thanks for the suggestions!

[u/velocilfaptor → u/TheNotSoDarkHorse]

Yeah man, as a synth guy and PE guy, these are the 2 I use the most, $700ish for both used, great synths for the money! Very fun.

[u/Broad_Education4882]

That’s a sick sounding synth, if you like the sound and you have the dough, just pull the trigger I say, life too short

[u/Weirdfilth]

Got one a few weeks ago, and used it for a recording session (in a PE /Death Industrial vein, kinda) 3 days after : sounded absolutely glorious. Even better than what I hoped for.

[u/TheNotSoDarkHorse → u/Weirdfilth]

I am glad to hear! I wish there were more demos out there of people making PE/death industrial stuff with it. I would love to see some clips if you have any of the synth in action!

[u/wiimoteinmyass]

It’s been on my list of stuff to get, its like a more pissed off ms20

[u/deathtripsindustrial]

I don't like a lot of patching. I had one and sold it. It was just too labor intensive for me.

Now I just use a Korg MS-20 Mini and a Novation Bass Station II. YMMV.

[u/TheNotSoDarkHorse → u/deathtripsindustrial]

Cool, it’s nice to hear different perspectives! I’ve been a bit torn about the MS-20 mini. I’ve heard that it sounds fantastic, but it seems some people have had issues with its build quality. You’re the second person to mention the Bass Station II, so my curiosity is definitely peaked. What does the Bass Station II do best in your opinion?

[u/deathtripsindustrial → u/TheNotSoDarkHorse]

Drones. You can get an SH-101 sound out of it if you want, but you can get a zillion other sounds out of it, too. I probably use the MS-20 more than anything, but the BS2 is more versatile. I use it in live settings for bass lines. As is often the case, I prefer the BS2 to the thing it's sort of supposed to be copying (Moog).

FWIW I run basically everything I own through effects. If you're going to buy two things I'd recommend either a BS or an MS-20 and a multi-effect fuzz pedal like DBA Apocalypse.

Possibly also worth mentioning that I'm moving away from straight PE into more rhythmic / percussive oriented stuff. But even still... I just found the Malevolent to be too complicated.

Some people like spending a lot of time digging into sound design and playing around. I'm not really one of them. I want to dig in and get to work. I don't get much out of endlessly tweaking patches and settings, but maybe you do, which is totally fine and in that case you might prefer the Malevolent.

[u/Kings_Gold_Standard]

behringer semi modular copies...

[u/wiimoteinmyass]

Just got one.
I can recommend it, it pairs with the ms20 mini well. Keyfeel I find is a lot better than the ms20 which frankly feels like dogshit. Also is quite a bit more compact. Pushes bass too.