SOUND ON SOUND

[Eddy Deegan]

I'm excited ... hopefully one will be in my hands in 3-4 weeks now. It's been on pre-order for months, ETA is "late February" (which is around my birthday, hurrah!) and this video majorly floats my boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqXysMoM5fg

I cannot remember the last time I was looking forward to receiving a delivery so much, and in the event my new studio is ready for use when it comes I may well explode with delight.

The things I'll be able to do with this live in conjunction with the MatrixBrute, Summit, Hydrasynth, OB-6, Prophet-6, 3 cameras and a new studio space are massive in potential. There may be some Pianotec and an SY85 or two for additional texure and good measure ;)

[SecretSam]

I'm very happy for you Eddy.

Also I learned something new: I never realised that the PolyBrute is a guitar. Every day's a school day.

[The Elf]

I don't envy your gear, but I do envy you having the space to accommodate it all! :lol: :thumbup:

[Eddy Deegan]

Also I learned something new: I never realised that the PolyBrute is a guitar. Every day's a school day.

Oops, I'd not noticed! Thanks Sam - now moved to the correct forum :oops:

[Folderol]

I'm a bit puzzled.
Excuse my naivety, but what is special about it?

[Eddy Deegan]

There are a few features it has that one their own wouldn't necessarily make it stand out but in conjunction they really do.

The manner in which it does modulation is fantastic. We already have much of this system on the MatrixBrute monosynth but the PolyBrute extends it and takes it to new levels.

The touch & pressure sensitive pad to the left and the ribbon controller over the keyboard put a ton of expressive capability within easy reach. I've seen a few youtube videos where folks are using these two controllers as much as they are the keys, and they work beautifully.

The ability to morph seamlessly between two different patches polyphonically on an analogue synth has huge potential, especially for live use. This morphing can also be modulated, which is brilliant.

The oscillators themselves sound exceptionally good to me. They sound like the MatrixBrute ones with a touch of the harsher characteristics removed which is perfect for me. I've often thought how incredible the MatrixBrute would be if it was polyphonic and now we have the PolyBrute I'm very excited about the prospect.

The motion recorder, which allows you to record movements of virtually any physical control and then play it back automatically with variable rate and optional looping further adds to the already significant potential for creating/playing music live.

As Gordon Reid said in his review of it last October:

"I've had the privilege of playing and reviewing many of the most revered polysynths of all time, and I think that the PolyBrute has the potential to be up there with the best of them"

Sometimes it's not so much the individual features a synth has as it is about how they work together in combination and the PolyBrute seems to have delivered this in style. I see it as a superb "player's instrument" and can't wait to get my hands on it!

It's also worth mentioning that Arturia know how to do good software and the PolyBrute comes with a fantastic looking component that replicates the entire front panel and which can be used either standalone or as a DAW plugin. I'm not sure how much I'll be using that feature but it's great to see.

[Folderol]

Ah!
Thanks. None of that seemed to come over in the vid. In fact the guy seemed to be talking about himself more than the synth :roll:

[Luke W]

Patch morphing has me interested, I’m going to have a little look at that, sounds like a great idea. The motion recorder sounds like a really interesting feature as well.

[Eddy Deegan]

Ah!
Thanks. None of that seemed to come over in the vid. In fact the guy seemed to be talking about himself more than the synth :roll:

Ahh, yes, sorry - it's not the best video for introducing the synth but there are plenty of demonstration and review videos out there. This ambient performance by Philippe Brodu is a good example of the former.

[Folderol]

Ah. That's much better... and in the youtube side column I spotted this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5fJoiiB_KU

Indeed seriously impressive.

I wonder what type of morphing they do. In some cases (a certain one included) it's simply a cross fade, but about 4 years ago, on a Linux Audio Conference, there was a description of an incredibly complex type where the harmonic distribution of the two morphing sounds was analyzed and then in the morphing process the most significant elements where matched sometimes with pitch as well as amplitude shifts. The examples they demonstrated were of something like a violin to a trumpet - it was quite spooky :?

[Eddy Deegan]

I wonder what type of morphing they do. In some cases (a certain one included) it's simply a cross fade, but about 4 years ago, on a Linux Audio Conference, there was a description of an incredibly complex type where the harmonic distribution of the two morphing sounds was analyzed and then in the morphing process the most significant elements where matched sometimes with pitch as well as amplitude shifts. The examples they demonstrated were of something like a violin to a trumpet - it was quite spooky :?

In a few places they have made a point of mentioning that it's not crossfading. Rather, it scales the values of all voice and modulation matrix parameters (though the modulation assignments themselves stay fixed) to the range of the morph knob so that as the knob is moved those values transition smoothly from those of the first voice to those of the second voice.

It really is quite a technical achievement. I particularly like it as there are any number of new sounds that can be generated during the process. Loopop did a good overview video which covered how it works.

[Folderol]

Interesting

[Eddy Deegan]

I don't envy your gear, but I do envy you having the space to accommodate it all! :lol: :thumbup:

Working on it, working on it! Currently in the middle of framing the door enclosure at the top of the stairs, which is a big milestone as it unblocks a number of other things relating to plasterboard in that general area :thumbup:

[Marbury]

I think any good vst, ie Omnisphere can cover any of those sounds. To me it doesn't sound that special.

[Folderol]

Well, I'm sure that getting the sounds themselves wouldn't be too much of a problem. However, the main draw here I think is the ease and speed they can be obtained.