I got one for $200 in 1995. Everyone thought it was ridiculous because it was too big and only sampled at a low rate for a short time. I always thought it sounded cool.
Great video. I randomly bought one of these in the 90s for a couple hundred bucks but had never clue how to use it. I think I managed to make a couple loops and thought it was funny to sample video game sounds. Now that I have had a crazy amount of synths and actually know what this thing can do, I bought another one (and a manual)
Ok, you've made me want to keep my DSS-1 and DSM-1. The floppy disk drive on both units doesn't work anymore, so I'm going to have to figure out how to replace them with USB drives or dump via MIDI. I love the Poly-800, DW-6000 and DW-8000, but the floppy fatality made me put the DSS-1 away and not use it lately. I need to get it out and fix it. Thanks for making these videos. They are a valuable resource for us DSS-1 owners. :) Take care, Sam from machiwoomiapoo. :)
@MIDERA it's definitely an interesting unit - the filter is pretty amazing. I ended up selling because software like Kontakt is so much easier for me to use and I can always run the results thru outboard filters. Other people may feel differently though. Ps I really dig your channel and have been watching for years! You're my groove box hero :)
Thanks for the response - I missed this. Yeah, I have mine up for sale - it's just way too big. Oh - and thanks! Hahah, I haven't messed with my grooveboxes in a while. That was my schtick I suppose, but I downsized my studio and got rid of a ton of my grooveboxes - still have my favorite (the Spectralis 2).
thanks for watching! Honestly, sampling is pretty rudimentary. You can truncate, reverse, etc. However, every edit takes forever because you're pulling samples from disk to ram with 1986 disk drive tech
Hey Yatevio. very nice revieuw! helpfull and clear:) I am going to purchase one this week. do you happen to have a copy of this program floppy you demonstrate? I would like to test the device and also have a go on it with the sounds you are using. Thnx!
Thank you for the nice comments! Sadly, I've had to sell the synth since making this video so I don't have the floppies any more, but you can find them existing online here: glenstegner.com/dss1/home.html
7:23 i have a problem with that. In my screen it doesn’t say completed, i just wait about 10 seconds and it says: incompleted. What can be the problem?
Nice review! Very informative with a interesting back story. Well done and good job! My question however is, if I could aquire one but with no sample disk, would that not be a great deal , probably not worth it?
Thanks for the kind words! It's def a hassle w/o the disks, but you can always find resources to create your own files: www.glenstegner.com/dss1/copyqm.htm / www.retrosynth.com/gear/dss1/files.html
I used to have one of these monsters, how does it compare to an Emax 1? I enjoyed my Emax 2 for pads but it lacked the weight and punch of my old Akai's Prophet 2000 and ASR.
I haven't had a chance to try those units out, but I would love to get my hands on some E-mu and Ensoniq gear! I'd love to compare the ASR and Emax to this in terms of sampling/synthing and the Ensoniq ESQ-1 / SQ-80 to the Korg DW-8000 (which I did a long video series on) in terms of hybrid subtractive synths. I'll light a candle to the synth gods that one of these comes up for a good deal on my local craigslist boards :)
It's bigger... Seriously though, there are so many differences: The MicroKorg is a four voice virtual analog synth / vocoder instrument whereas the DSS-1 is a very unique eight voice synth / 12 bit sampler hybrid instrument, meaning it combines digital dual oscillators that can control samples with an all analog filter, envelope and amp section, no vocoder but you have the possibility to draw your own waveforms and to create rich overtone spectrums based on additive synthesis features. The 16 so called DWGS (digital waveform generator synthesis) waveforms which are presents in the Korg DW-8000 from 1985 are also implemented in the DSS-1 and in the MicroKorg though and I assume that's what lead you to the question. They will sound quite different in the DSS-1 and in the MicroKorg though, with the DSS-1 sounding much more like the DW-8000 which uses the same filter but they are pretty much the only similarity there is between all of these instruments.
(Ewoky?) I got one when they first came out and for the time, it was/is the shit. And it has channel pressure which was great and you don't find that midi parameter much these days. As my predecessor said, your can do the filter sweep with the joystick so don't need slider. Its hard to make an objective judgement when we are spoiled by the modern virtual synths (and hardware synths
Chris Nairn most of the sounds you hear in this video are sample-based, pulling audio sources from the floppy discs. The only time that isn't true is the part of the video when I get into Fourier synthesis and custom-generated waveforms, the core sounds for both of which the DSS1 generates itself. Thanks!
Drop the synth! Can you actually play? I'd love to drop this synth from approximately 100 metres up. These synths are huge, heavy and cool. Peace ✌️ out people
Just saw this bc I actually have a life beyond making rude remarks on YT. I never claimed to be a great keyboardist, my main instrument is guitar, but I have made thousands of dollars over the years playing keys with live bands. I get by with playing simple chords and it's good enough for the bands who hire me to fill in on organ / electric piano / etc. How much money have you made performing music? I checked out your videos on your channel and you have nothing to brag about when it comes to your key technique. Worry 'bout yrself my dude.
I got one for $200 in 1995. Everyone thought it was ridiculous because it was too big and only sampled at a low rate for a short time. I always thought it sounded cool.
Great video. I randomly bought one of these in the 90s for a couple hundred bucks but had never clue how to use it. I think I managed to make a couple loops and thought it was funny to sample video game sounds. Now that I have had a crazy amount of synths and actually know what this thing can do, I bought another one (and a manual)
You can also change the envelope parameter in the filter to sweep it! Love this big beautiful beast!
Great tutorial. Just got one of these and can't wait to dig in. Very helpful and informative. Keep cranking these out!
westeringsun thanks for watching!
You can activate filter sweep by binding the VCF to the joystick (parameter 62).
awesome to know, thank you!
Yeah I was gonna say, just like the Ensoniq samplers, you can assign the filter cutoff to the joystick/mod wheel.
Ok, you've made me want to keep my DSS-1 and DSM-1. The floppy disk drive on both units doesn't work anymore, so I'm going to have to figure out how to replace them with USB drives or dump via MIDI. I love the Poly-800, DW-6000 and DW-8000, but the floppy fatality made me put the DSS-1 away and not use it lately. I need to get it out and fix it. Thanks for making these videos. They are a valuable resource for us DSS-1 owners. :) Take care, Sam from machiwoomiapoo. :)
Machiwoomiapoo thanks for watching!!
Nice content! Keep it up!
Best thing korg ever made
i have ps 3100, thats pretty equal ))
Vacillating between buying a replacement drive (SD card drive) and just selling the unit... Very nice review, thanks for sharing!
@MIDERA it's definitely an interesting unit - the filter is pretty amazing. I ended up selling because software like Kontakt is so much easier for me to use and I can always run the results thru outboard filters. Other people may feel differently though.
Ps I really dig your channel and have been watching for years! You're my groove box hero :)
Thanks for the response - I missed this. Yeah, I have mine up for sale - it's just way too big.
Oh - and thanks! Hahah, I haven't messed with my grooveboxes in a while. That was my schtick I suppose, but I downsized my studio and got rid of a ton of my grooveboxes - still have my favorite (the Spectralis 2).
Keep it up!
excellent,I'd like to know more about the sampling side of things,I picked one up a few years ago but couldn't really get the most out of it..
thanks for watching! Honestly, sampling is pretty rudimentary. You can truncate, reverse, etc. However, every edit takes forever because you're pulling samples from disk to ram with 1986 disk drive tech
What kind of floppy disc does this keyboard take? Like what kind of blank floppy for sampeling?
Filters are great and dual delay
Hey Yatevio. very nice revieuw! helpfull and clear:)
I am going to purchase one this week. do you happen to have a copy of this program floppy you demonstrate?
I would like to test the device and also have a go on it with the sounds you are using.
Thnx!
Thank you for the nice comments! Sadly, I've had to sell the synth since making this video so I don't have the floppies any more, but you can find them existing online here: glenstegner.com/dss1/home.html
My favorite synth of all time! I no longer own it, kept my library tho
7:23 i have a problem with that. In my screen it doesn’t say completed, i just wait about 10 seconds and it says: incompleted. What can be the problem?
Nice review! Very informative with a interesting back story. Well done and good job!
My question however is, if I could aquire one but with no sample disk, would that not be a great deal , probably not worth it?
Thanks for the kind words!
It's def a hassle w/o the disks, but you can always find resources to create your own files: www.glenstegner.com/dss1/copyqm.htm / www.retrosynth.com/gear/dss1/files.html
I used to have one of these monsters, how does it compare to an Emax 1? I enjoyed my Emax 2 for pads but it lacked the weight and punch of my old Akai's Prophet 2000 and ASR.
I haven't had a chance to try those units out, but I would love to get my hands on some E-mu and Ensoniq gear! I'd love to compare the ASR and Emax to this in terms of sampling/synthing and the Ensoniq ESQ-1 / SQ-80 to the Korg DW-8000 (which I did a long video series on) in terms of hybrid subtractive synths. I'll light a candle to the synth gods that one of these comes up for a good deal on my local craigslist boards :)
How does this compare to the Korg MicroKorg?
It's bigger...
Seriously though, there are so many differences: The MicroKorg is a four voice virtual analog synth / vocoder instrument whereas the DSS-1 is a very unique eight voice synth / 12 bit sampler hybrid instrument, meaning it combines digital dual oscillators that can control samples with an all analog filter, envelope and amp section, no vocoder but you have the possibility to draw your own waveforms and to create rich overtone spectrums based on additive synthesis features. The 16 so called DWGS (digital waveform generator synthesis) waveforms which are presents in the Korg DW-8000 from 1985 are also implemented in the DSS-1 and in the MicroKorg though and I assume that's what lead you to the question. They will sound quite different in the DSS-1 and in the MicroKorg though, with the DSS-1 sounding much more like the DW-8000 which uses the same filter but they are pretty much the only similarity there is between all of these instruments.
(Ewoky?) I got one when they first came out and for the time, it was/is the shit. And it has channel pressure which was great and you don't find that midi parameter much these days. As my predecessor said, your can do the filter sweep with the joystick so don't need slider. Its hard to make an objective judgement when we are spoiled by the modern virtual synths (and hardware synths
Best feature, bit scaling down to 1 bit
It might have been mentioned, but, I doubt those are samples. That keyboard was truly both a sampler and a synth.
Chris Nairn most of the sounds you hear in this video are sample-based, pulling audio sources from the floppy discs. The only time that isn't true is the part of the video when I get into Fourier synthesis and custom-generated waveforms, the core sounds for both of which the DSS1 generates itself. Thanks!
I owned it in1987
Additive wave draw!
If it had hard drive perfect workflow
Metal chassis heavy as fk
Drop the synth!
Can you actually play?
I'd love to drop this synth from approximately 100 metres up. These synths are huge, heavy and cool.
Peace ✌️ out people
u can. not. play. but. good. video. check. my. bass line ..
Just saw this bc I actually have a life beyond making rude remarks on YT. I never claimed to be a great keyboardist, my main instrument is guitar, but I have made thousands of dollars over the years playing keys with live bands. I get by with playing simple chords and it's good enough for the bands who hire me to fill in on organ / electric piano / etc. How much money have you made performing music? I checked out your videos on your channel and you have nothing to brag about when it comes to your key technique.
Worry 'bout yrself my dude.