what is a table-top synthesizer and how is it different from a keyboard synth

It's a keyboard-less synth module you play using a MIDI keyboard and which sits on a, ermmm, table top rather than in a 19" rack.

An example would be the Waldorf Blofeld...



Here's another, more analogue, table top synth...



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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

I'm currently reviewing yet another tiny desktop model for SOS - it's a popular format for those who want something a little more intimate than another strip bolted into their rack


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

God I wish they'd stop making every synth now table top.. What happens when you run out of table space?!?! Oh yea buy a bigger table... Or a Akai S-1000KB lol

Whilst we are on the subject of table top synths one I didn't get is the Dave Smith MoPho...

Here is a real analogue synth in a horrid table top format with about as much programing ability from the actual unit itself that of a onion.

But wait didn't Dave release a desktop synth before the MoPho? Ahh yea the Evolver duhh
Now although that's a small desktop unit much like the MoPho in question the layout on it is well done... Everything can be done on the front panel pretty much and is quite straight forward to use... Oh and fun..

So now go to the MoPho.. a ANALOGUE synth, a synth that is meant to be fun to tweek, play and make your own sounds with that sounds good. After all isn't that what a big selling point (if not the only point) of this kind of modern/retro gear is??
Yet instead you have to use a paid for editor on a computer, click away with a silly mouse at 10000 parameters and stare at a computer screen all day.. And the rub, you don't get MIDI thru or even a USB port.
I'd get it if the sound was cream your pants god but personally I think it's just ok/good. The whole concept is not far removed from just using standard VST's and can't really honestly see the point in a studio situation...

The marketing men did well though on the It's analogue.. thus the kids will love it thing though and in essence all they ever do DO with it is play the presets and tweak the filter cut-off and resonance

I emailed DSI about this seeing as they already had a good design from the Evolver and they said... We just wanted to make it different from our other products.
Ok sure but you could of still done better I think than what you do have now.
I know it's built to a price but still.

The Ensoniq ESQ don't have many buttons but it's amazingly intuitive and simple to program.

Now the MoPho keyboard, that's more up my street...

Edited by vinyl_junkie (24/04/12 11:49 PM)

Quote vinyl_junkie:

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10000 parameters

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There's the clue right there. If Mr Smith had put all the knobbage on it, you'd be complaining about the price which would not be £299 any more but likely three or four or more times that and you saying you can't afford it. A simple panel with a few controls to make superficial edits and tweaks to key parameters and a software editor to roll your sleeves up and get jiggy with it is exactly what I would have done to meet that price point to bring a synth of that capability to you for a quid south of £300.

As it is, synth afficiando, Gordon Reid, with a 30 or 40 year history playing with some of the best synths ever made said of the MoPho...

"At around £300, the Mopho recreates the sounds of vintage monosynths now selling for well over £1000, and it does much more besides. Programming can be a bit laborious unless you use the software editor, but it’s a superb little synthesizer that can sing, scream, grunt, and generate sound effects to rival the best of them."

You want knobby, get one of these...



It'll be monophonic and cost the best part of £1,800 though!

Or perhaps a Dotcom for around the same price (plus import duty and VAT and tax ... probably £2,300 in total)...



Knobbage costs and even if you want it on a tight budget, there's the one oscillator, one ADSR, monophonic 'Dark Energy' for £350...



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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

so you can play a table top synth with midi keyboard like an Akai MPK 49 is that it

One way to get good programming access to a knob-challenged box is to use something like the Behringer BCR2000.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan05/articles/behringercontrollers.htm



Its the lower unit in the photo. Current cost around £115 on Amazon.

Quote Martin Walker:

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I'm currently reviewing yet another tiny desktop model for SOS - it's a popular format for those who want something a little more intimate than another strip bolted into their rack
Martin

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Martin, can you drop a name?

Quote hollowsun:

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Quote vinyl_junkie:

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10000 parameters

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There's the clue right there. If Mr Smith had put all the knobbage on it, you'd be complaining about the price which would not be £299 any more but likely three or four or more times that and you saying you can't afford it.

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Absolutely and I totally understand that and I wasn't asking for hundreds of knobs, but what I was getting at is products like the Blofeld, Micro Q, Evolver desktop and ESQ is how it should be done I think.
Those are all complex synths with only 6 or less knobs but are in my opinion well designed with simple matrix editing facilities making them very easy and enjoyable to use wheres the MoPho differs and not sure why other than to just be different.

The Evolver Desktop had the perfect formula... All the controls are at your fingertips, why change a good thing. If this was Alesis they would have stuck it in the same case to save money lol a la HR-16 and MMT-8



Edited by vinyl_junkie (25/04/12 09:18 AM)

The Oberheim Xpander was Marketed as a Table top synth. Must have been one hell of a table!


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www.myspace.com/shambolic-charm


Edited by Shambolic Charm (25/04/12 12:58 PM)

Quote BillB:

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Quote Martin Walker:

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I'm currently reviewing yet another tiny desktop model for SOS - it's a popular format for those who want something a little more intimate than another strip bolted into their rack
Martin

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Martin, can you drop a name?

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No, I'm afraid I can't reveal that just yet, although I will say that I've already bought the review model


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Quote Martin Walker:

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Quote BillB:

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Quote Martin Walker:

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I'm currently reviewing yet another tiny desktop model for SOS - it's a popular format for those who want something a little more intimate than another strip bolted into their rack
Martin

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Martin, can you drop a name?

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No, I'm afraid I can't reveal that just yet, although I will say that I've already bought the review model


Martin

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?

Quote Martin Walker:

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No, I'm afraid I can't reveal that just yet, although I will say that I've already bought the review model


Martin

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Will you be comparing it to this beast?

OK... Martin has purchased possibly the only unit in the UK. How about this for a business plan, he writes a damning review, sends a select few a PM with the details of the synth in question and we all buy two each. With the bad review the product bombs and is withdrawn quickly, so we can get ours cheap in the fire sale. In 5 years it is belatedly recognised as a classic and prices go through the roof, and then we can sell ours for a massive profit.

There's your pension sorted Martin

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Crafty journalists. I shall be reporting him to the Leveson inquiry.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Not a table top synthesizer but even better - a synthesizer table!







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Jonny

Edited by fatbenelton (25/04/12 03:03 PM)

Nice.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote fatbenelton:

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Not a table top synthesizer but even better - a synthesizer table!

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And you use this to sit on..



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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

You need some pillows for all that hard furniture lol

Quote zenguitar:

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OK... Martin has purchased possibly the only unit in the UK. How about this for a business plan, he writes a damning review, sends a select few a PM with the details of the synth in question and we all buy two each. With the bad review the product bombs and is withdrawn quickly, so we can get ours cheap in the fire sale. In 5 years it is belatedly recognised as a classic and prices go through the roof, and then we can sell ours for a massive profit.

There's your pension sorted Martin

Andy

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Wow - I didn't know you were a pension consultant Andy!

What a marvelous idea - I'll get right onto it


Martin

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YewTreeMagic