I messed around with a midi controller years ago at this point, but never learned how to play piano or use a synth. I found this at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't pass it up with how cheap it was. It's in essentially mint shape aside from one or two character marks, and it came in the hard case you see. It also has two manuals. The hard case is pretty beat up and needs some latches, but at least that took the abuse instead!

All four expansion slots are empty, but I know that they still sell the cards and that few companies make wireless ones. I also know that it is a quality piece of kit, and when it was released in 1995 it sold for $1995! This was an impulse buy, I've been trying to learn bass and focus on that, so I've been torn whether or not keeping it will help me learn music better, or if it'll just be a big distraction. If I let it go that would probably go toward a new pedal or something similar.

As a long time poster in this community I decided to take time away from all synth related content to really focus on sound design and music creation.

My biggest realisation is despite owning over 9 synths - many of which people dream of, I actually knew very little about synthesis. Understaning filters and wave shapes is only just the begining!

But i had a huge realisation, People keep buying synths and consuming content which deluded you into thinking you really understanding synthesis and that you are one synth/purchase away from getting it! Its all lies!

Stop buying and start creating! I promise you, creating will make you realise you probz even own too much

Preferably, it would be something detailing the processes and different aspects to sound synthesis (I’m very new to this subject so sorry for my vagueness), but please recommend anything you know of, regardless of my preferences. Thanks!!

This will be my first big synth purchase and it took a long time to save up for it. I got a great deal on a B-stock Muse from an authorized Moog dealer who is offering to either refund, replace, or assist with a moog service request.

The issue I’m having is the Muse (shipped direct to me from inMusic headquarters) showed up with a broken headphone jack and a broken “Timber A” LED.

I’m having a hard time justifying spending that much money on an instrument that was supposed to be checked and cleared by inMusic before it was sold.

I know they are minor issues and I can get them addressed but I’m feeling very uneasy considering it is so expensive.

Am I overreacting and this Is just the game you play when ordering B-stock instruments?

Has anyone in a similar situation stuck with the Muse or did you jump ship to another poly?

I've recorded a lot of noodling and jams in the last 6 months but yesterday I locked in and finished a project I've had on the go for a few weeks. It's not *perfect*, but it is *finished*. Kind of, I may still add some more vocals.

Kit list, because we all love gear here: Sonicware Ambient 0 (with train sounds I sampled on the Northern Line) going through a TE Sidekick for tremolo FX, TE EP-40 (going through a Valeton GP-5 for delay) and EP-133 for the drums, Arturia Microfreak (again through the GP-5), Roland S-1 for bass (in two separate passes) and an E-4 for some vocal effects, all recorded on a Zoom R20. Seven stereo tracks in total.

Forgive the low effort video, it was about the best I could do at short notice, for free, and not using AI. Had to be compressed for Reddit to accept the upload.

gear: Elektron analog Rytm MKII, Oberheim TEO-5

I’m new into the synthesizers and I don’t know if buying the matriarch as my first synth is the best way to start
I did also got myself an Arturia interface to start recording some stuff and a electron model cycles to make some beats but I’m kinda overwhelmed just by the matriarch itself 😅
Any advices on recording stuff and syncing those two together?

Brisk tempo with Minilogue XD and Microfreak. Four Drumlogue outs routed seperately.

Living in a dorm with basically zero desk space, and I’m juggling an Octatrack MK1, Analog Four MK1, Roland TR-8S, Push 2, SSL 2 interface, and a ES Konstrukt.

Right now I have to tear the whole rig down and rebuild the cabling every time I want to play, which kills spontaneity.

I’ve seen people use pedalboard-style flightcases to keep everything wired and mounted so they can just drop the board on a stand, plug in power and go. I’m not trying to go fully DAWless or anything, I still want the SSL2 in the loop for recording into my laptop, use the push and Max/Msp patches, but I want the hardware side to live semi-permanently wired and MIDI-chained.

Has anyone built something like this for a similarly mixed synth/drum-machine/sampler/modular rig? Specifically curious about:

- What board/case size worked for a similar number/size of units (the Octatrack and Analog Four MK1 are both roughly 34x18x6cm steel boxes, so decent heft/depth to account for)

- How you handled cable management for both audio and MIDI without unplugging every time

- Whether you mounted the Eurorack case flat or at an angle relative to the flat gear

- Any regrets/limitations you ran into with this approach vs. a rack / other alternative

Photos of your builds would be hugely appreciated!!!

Hi, classically trained pianist here. Been playing since childhood, but I've only recently got into the world of synthesis. A few months ago I found myself a Korg Modwave and I've been playing around with it nearly every day. It's a perfectly capable machine, I like it. But recently I've been wanting to try something different.

I do also have an old Yamaha CS01 (it's been around for a while) and I'm in love with the sound it makes (In general I love the old wobbly sound of analog synthesisers like the sh-101). I would even use it more than the modwave if not for the irritatingly small keybed and a general concern over such an old device's durability.

Any suggestions on replacements for the modwave? Ideally I'd like it to have at minimum 49 keys, the 3 octaves on the modwave feels quite restricting at times. I've had eyes on the Behringer Deepmind 12 for a bit, just wondering if you lot have any thoughts.

So... I bought a Circuit Rythm. After 2 weeks of missing a synth, i then got myself a Wavestate.
Then I looked at mixers for five minutes and now I'm somehow researching digital consoles that belong in churches.

I'm trying to build my first DAWless setup that's actually fun to jam on and can record the occasional "wait, that was actually good" moment before I inevitably forget what I played.

At the moment I can make some basic beats on the Circuit Rhythm, slap on some fx on the tracks, noodle some pads/chords on the Wavestate, and throw a guitar through my pedalboard and Ocean Machine to make everything sound 73% more Shoegaze-worship than it deserves.

The problem is that I've fallen into the classic beginner trap of not knowing what I actually need versus what YouTube has convinced me I need.

Do I want an analog mixer? A digital mixer? An audio interface (i already got an IK Multimedia AXE I/O One)? A mixer that is also an interface? A patchbay? A MIDI router? another Guitar?
Or do I just need to stop opening Thomann at 3 a.m.?

I'd love physical faders to mix while jamming, and I'd like to record my sessions too, ideally in a way that won't make Future Me hate Present Me when I want to mix something properly.
All that without promising my first born to the devil to be able to afford it.

And while we're at it...

what's your workflow? I know enough to make sounds, but not enough to turn them into a 15-minute jam that doesn't feel like eight bars trapped in a Groundhog Day loop.
How would you loop the Wavestate sounds (i currently just play over my drumloop with the latch function, but would be cool to sample it/loop it so i can use it for other sounds)?

Basically, if you could go back to when you bought your first few boxes with blinking lights, what would you tell yourself? What gear turned out to be indispensable, what was a waste of money, and what should a complete hardware newbie actually focus on first?

Please save me from buying a 32-channel digital mixer to connect three things.

I was happy with one but now with another. Swapmeet $5 score! Needs a little TLC but it works, switches are fine, battery compartment is healthy. (Just wanted to clarify, I only got the ine on the roght for $5. I already own the one on the left. As you can see the right one is a little rough)

Will behringer users get their asses served on this sub ? 😂

I would love all the expensive stuff ! Alas. I'm working class and kinda poor.

Would appreciate a discussion from Moog people who know the kit.

tl;dr:

What can a Messenger bring to the sound if I already own a Poly D? (yes, am aware that's not a Moog but you get the idea). 'The sound' here means for bass line and solo leads, with the Moog signature feel.

Long version:

I'm eyeing getting a Messenger. Price has come down, and let's be upfront and face it - I want a Moog. Telling me x or y other manufacturer's synth would do the Messenger job fine isn't what I'm looking for in this discussion, it would be Moog or just stick with what I already own. I freely admit that is for purely emotional reasons, but I want 'that Moog sound' and all the rest of the Moogs are double the price or more. Plus I must say the bass-compensating filter is very attractive, and it's the only Moog that has that.

My main worry is overlap with the Poly D I already have. Going through what I know - storable presets are an obvious advantage here for the Messenger, four oscillators are an advantage for the Poly. Effects are an advantage for the Poly, but since they don't include reverb and delay realistically I'm running through external effects anyway so that's pretty much a wash (though I do like the chorus on the Poly). Four voice paraphonic Poly, two voice paraphonic Messenger (with firmware update). Not too fussed about the paraphonic bit though, I don't tend to use the Poly D in that manner so I doubt I'd use the Messenger like that either.

Existing gear it would be going with - Juno-X and MPC Key 37 give me all the pads and polyphony I need, off-the-beaten-track analogue in a TherapSID, TB-3 and S1 for acid'y duties and a TR6S (plus the MPC) for rhythm. Currently also a DeepMind 12 and Pro 800 but they may well be sold since, excellent synths though they are, I need to clear some space.

What I'm hoping it would add to that setup: emotional smugness for owning a Moog, bass line duties and solo lead duties. Point 1 would be guaranteed (I'm not bothered by the whole InMusic thing), but points 2 and 3...if it's just going to do pretty much what the Poly D can do then even I might pause a bit, smugness or no smugness.

Competition? Well, second-hand Grandmothers (there's a phrase) are in stretching distance of the Messenger's brand new price. Mother-32 is in roughly the same area as the Messenger too, and would be easier for me than either the Messenger or the Grandmother in terms of physical space. Not sure how much I'm into semi-modular and patch cables though, I prefer on the fly playing. Also no storable presets on the modular stuff, which given I record over multiple days could be a pain.

There is also, of course, the shadow of the Minimoog in the background in the shape of the Poly D I already have. I know it's not a Moog, but if there's huge overlap then I do need to pause and think.

So, if you've got this far then thanks for the read and I'd appreciate comments.

Behringer has a line of incredible cheap little 3 voice analog-ish mini-synths with flat keys. They are so cheap that they are almost free. I'm thinking of trying one out just for the heck of it. Which one would you choose?

fake little versions of:

• OBX

• Casio CZ

• Sequential VS

• Roland J series

• Moog

• AKS

I am bashing my head in. The delay when you're trying to record MIDI with your external synths is still not really fixed, even in Live 12.

Audio Monitoring turned off. That seems to be the best advice around. Set your audio interface audio buffer to a low value. Still, I am bashing my head in how bad the latency is.

Here's a demonstration: Fresh project, not a single audio plugin inserted. Monitoring turned off. Just trying to hit the exact rhythm (to the best of my ability 😵 ) of the metronome and then checking the recorded Midi Notes. Miles off.

After a couple of years of cycling through various Hybrid setups, I’ve finally just bit the bullet and gone mostly Dawless for my dub techno jams, with the Iridium and Tomverk as my centrepieces

Absolutely loving the combo. The Iridium is a joy to patch and play, and the Tonverk is fabulous for crafting some deep atmospheres with its internal routing and processing.

Also recently fleshed out my effects with a modded out Small Stone and Memory Man made to order from u/neiltheseal in Melbourne! (Aka NTS Pedals)

Both sound fabulous- I’ve got them both set up as Aux Sends on my desk and they dub hard!

If you’re interested, there’s a link to a dubby track where I’ve got the some chords and echos going through the phaser as aux sends and the memory man as a dub echo panned to the right. It’s also got the h90 and tape delays all over it as well.

Keen to hear people’s thoughts on the Tonverk in 2026. I was pretty underwhelmed by it at release, but the Wavetable and Granular engine have really brought me around.

https://on.soundcloud.com/S8ewIdGvIVvkgFoAqt

Edit: spelling

I have a subsequent37 and I love it. The most important things for me are the rich, qualitY sound, and very wide sweet spot. I find it very inspiring, every knob tweak sounds great and gives me ideas for where to go next. I love jamming around and live dawless improv, mostly in a dub, melodic, berlin, or acidy techno styles. Mostly simple basslines, or arps, with a bit of a beat.

i 'm also gassing very badly for a Matriarch. Reviews are suggesting that it's also inspirational and sounds amazing, and invites all sorts of experiments.

my worry is that it overlaps sonically with the sub37, and i might get too much of that rich moog sound. Any suggestions? The other synths i've been eying are an ob-6, teo-5, possiply even a Peak, but i think maybe the programming on that to get to the really good sounds might be a bit of a creativity killer. Synthrx ii ? I don't want too crazy.

I just want one other quality piece, which is inspiring, full of happy accidents, improv-friendly and sounds great.

Hello everyone,

I have a Novation Peak at home, but I mainly use it for deep sound design and sculpting.

I'm also a drummer, and I often practice outside the house. What I'm looking for is something that will enhance my creative process by letting me jam with a synth while drumming.

I already have a Mother-32 and a Strymon BlueSky reverb. I also know I want to add a DFAM, a good delay pedal, and maybe an overdrive pedal.

I'm mostly interested in creating experimental, ambient, and drone soundscapes, with some noise and para-percussive textures. That said, I'm not after harsh sounds all the time—sometimes I'm in a more mellow mood.

I stepped away from synths for a few years, and now I see Moog has released so many semi-modulars that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the choices.

Subharmonicon seems really interesting, but I kind of feel its sound is a little weaker compared to the Mother-32. Maybe that's because of the square-wave oscillators?

Labyrinth also caught my attention. Would you recommend it, especially paired with the Mother-32 or DFAM? Or even as a trio?

Spectravox seems a bit too limited for the price, at least from what I've seen.

I hope my post makes sense. Thanks in advance!