I was in a music shop in Tokyo GASing around and I saw something in the music section which grabbed my attention.
The Moog Theremini’s pure white capsule shape looks completely out of place among the knobs and buttons, keys and wires that one is normally subject too in these dwellings. It’s very clean and my first thought when after being immediately drawn to it was ‘I didn’t know Moog made radio’s’ … ‘if that even is a radio?’ … ‘What is that!?’ I asked myself. Today, GASing around on the Moog site I saw it again. After reading about its notable place history and picking my jaw up from the floor I fired up YouTube and watched a very interesting video.
“Only 20 black and 20 silver will be made | Waldorf / Sledge Synthesizer Engine | SPL Supra Op-Amp audio technology | Wavetables | Hartmann Neuron Synthesizer Sampleset | Pure aluminium shell, milled from a massive block | Collapsable, milled ultra thin aluminium panel | Custom-built pure aluminium knobs and wheels | Custom-built acrylic-glass switches | Highest quality, custom-built, all black Fatar TP 8 Keybed”
"Only 20 black and 20 silver will be made | Waldorf / Sledge Synthesizer Engine | SPL Supra Op-Amp audio technology | Wavetables | Hartmann Neuron Synthesizer Sampleset | Pure aluminium shell, milled from a massive block | Collapsable, milled ultra thin aluminium panel | Custom-built pure aluminium knobs and wheels | Custom-built acrylic-glass switches | Highest quality, custom-built, all black Fatar TP 8 Keybed"
The silver version is a lovely looking synth. I’m not too familiar with Waldorf stuff, if it sounds anywhere near as good as it looks they’ll have no trouble at all selling the few they build.
@cube48 Thanks for sharing this. I didn’t know anything about SunVox until now - really interesting stuff. I like the white & light wood combo in your design!
@libertinelush Its certainly a fine looking device, seems like the display has a taken the OP-1 route which is great to see. I’m an Ableton user but have never made the (logical) jump to Push.
Very interested to see how 2.0 pans out though, the ability to control VST’s from Push itself is massive. Less mac screen + more instrument time is vital for me. Its all about how intuitive the workflow is that will sway me one way or another - the final but vital part of the design process!
@libertinelush Its certainly a fine looking device, seems like the display has a taken the OP-1 route which is great to see... Its all about how intuitive the workflow is that will sway me one way or another - the final but vital part of the design process!
I think there very well could be inspiration from the OP-1 in the Push 2 display’s successful ambition for form and function. But to the latter aspect, I think the Maschine Studio is likeliest lineage—touch encoders directly above each screen parameter and menu works so well in the Studio in the absence of a touch screen, which still would be much superior for workflow, and it looks to work the same in the Push 2 videos.
This import that Ableton places on their design (so obvious, as well, from their site design) really makes me wish to switch to Live, but learning a DAW is such a miserable thing. I don’t wish to do it all over again. I considered it when Push was out, but I had enough credit in the Apple Mac App Store to get Logic for free, so I did.
If I were willing to move to Ableton Live, I would have to choose between a Maschine Studio, which I have, and a Push; I don’t want both, I like to be minimal. Also, now that I have an Elektron Analog Four, and love it so much because of its sound and sequencer, despite no emphasis on design comparable to Teenage Engineering or Ableton, I’m intrigued by the portability of a standalone drum machine, their Analog Rytm. And now Push 2 is just looking fine as can be. So there three things swirling in my head as drum machine contenders—Maschine Studio, Analog Rytm, Push 2, bagels, Maschine Studio, Analog Rytm, Push 2, bagels—and it’s that sort of burdensome and wonderful reverie so many of us here have so often.
@libertinelush Yes, Machine definitely has an influence here, and Akai as well. I only use Ableton for arranging, mixing and mastering things I’ve recorded so something like Push would be several levels more use than I currently operate on. I think Ableton still do a ‘lite’ version - might be worth installing and seeing if it works for you.
I’m still eying up Elektron stuff as well - both the Rytm and Octotrack appeal. The latter is more tempting to me than Push 2 but both make me hesitant about the learning curves involved as my time is very limited.
I totally get the minimal thing. I recently bought a new synth and its made me realise that I’m a one-box-at-a-time kind of guy. I’d rather have a well chosen pencil than a whole art cupboard.
I think Ableton still do a 'lite' version - might be worth installing and seeing if it works for you.
Yea, maybe I’ll do that. If I can figure out the basics without too much trouble, then I could suffer through a DAW switch.
I’m still eying up Elektron stuff as well - both the Rytm and Octotrack appeal. The latter is more tempting to me than Push 2 but both make me hesitant about the learning curves involved as my time is very limited.
I totally get the minimal thing. I recently bought a new synth and its made me realise that I’m a one-box-at-a-time kind of guy. I’d rather have a well chosen pencil than a whole art cupboard.
I can only speak to the A4, but I’ll share a couple things, in case some of it could be mirrored in the AR or Octotrack.
The usability of the A4’s synth is, along with the OP-1, the most immediate and intelligible of the synths I’ve tried. The sequencer is reasonably understandable—aspects that require manual explanation are ones that should. Where the popular critiques of the Elektron learning curve exist is in the powerful, flexible save system and file/data structure. It seems like the A4/AR/Octotrack OS are similar, and this aspect of their OS may be identical.
It’s not that the save system and file structure are poorly implemented. They’re fairly well done, but it is either poorly explained or, more confoundingly, not explained at all. I’ve had to spend several hours with trial and error to figure out when/why/if/how something gets saved. That should be in the manual. It’s not. It’s a shame, because after you understand how the save system works, you realize it has much of the save/undo convenience of a software-based instrument.
So I imagine the Rytm may be similar: accessible drum machine/sound shaping, inaccessible everywhere else; accessible core function, inaccessible complementary functions. Since I’ve acclimated to the Elektron ways through the A4, I don’t expect similar frustrations on the Rytm, and it could replace my Maschine Studio.
I considered getting that 001 at one point. I was most compelled by that screen, providing the sort of relevant, crucial, edifying information most would benefit from, but only attempted by few others (OP-1, Maschine Studio, Push 2). It also has touch-sensitive encoders, like Native Instruments’ Maschine Studio and Komplete Kontrol keyboards.
Many design elements put me off though. It’s (attempting) upscale design, but not aesthetic or smart design.
Where the leather bookends meet the metal body, there are wide gaps, most notably at the “front lip.” Their machining process looks cheap.
The joystick and trash bin-like encoders are unattractive, and the latter looks particularly uncomfortable. The encoders are concave, so your fingers will rest on a needlessly sharp edge at the top. The joystick is hemmed in by 4 screws. There are no screws on the front face, except for that jarring cluster.
There is absolutely no functional purpose for the ugly grey linework scrawled all over the face. The encoders are already in discrete clusters, the line-work is unnecessary and very awkward—there are a couple that look phallic and the one at the top center looks like Mickey Mouse’ silhouette.
The national flag is a part of their logo. Fine, but I don’t want to be staring at nationalistic fervor—it’s at the center of the synth.
