personally, i like the design of this a lot. and i think it sounds nice. but the price to features ratio is kinda crazy here. in a bad way. For $900 i would expect a lot more functionality.
It definitely fits in the less for more category. Less keys and visibility of the text for sure. The engine and arpeggiator are actually pretty nice, I think that when they make another synth I will have high expectations.
My favorite thing about the Elektron Digi stuff is the click buttons. Also the reason I want to get rid of my mpc live mk1 for a retro mpc live 2. If you told me 20 years ago that I would pay a premium for clicky keys I would have laughed at how wrong you were. Everything about my 40’s is strange to me. Lol
Your experience neatly parallels mine. It took awhile for my guitar experience to connect with synthesis, and your explanation connecting the guitarists right hand to the envelope was brilliant. Thanks for the run through! It really helped me make sense of my Replay.
Great video Matt! Being called the “Replay”, I half expected there to be some sort of special looping superpower or something. I’m actually surprised to hear and see how simple it is.
Should be $599. Now I own the dread box nymphs. And this sounds better for some reason and it’s digital, which is very strange. The dread box to my ears sounds a bit thin and harsh compared to this.
the only effect applied here and there is the vongon ultra sheer reverb/vibrato, which is off to the right. Any time I reach over there, I'm turning that on or off
The "if it inspires you then its worth it" test falls flat at the price and the sound for me. Can't really hear anything special or standout, especially given the price and features. Looks good on video, however the value in terms of sound, feature-set and playability is very low.
@@mattlowerymusic In that case, the value synth bucket includes the modern version of the synth it's inspired by, the Roland Juno-DS 61, at $635 (which can also make Polysix style sounds) ! If the Replay was $400, then it would be a playful take on classic synth sounds. At $900, it's well into serious instrument territory (Elektrons, Hydrasynth, Wavestate mkii, Blofeld, MPC Key 37..) and dictates how it's perceived. The design choices alone communicate a disregard for basic usability conventions. Omitting a tiny screen to see presets, esoteric key choices and making parameters illegible for a $900 synth means you'd expect something very special from the engine underneath. However, feature-set wise in this price range, you only need to look at the Hydrasynth, Roland Juno-DS 61 or the Elektron ranges to see that this is completely lacking in that regard too. I mean, you could save up another 100 bucks and you can bag yourself a Sequential Take 5 or OP1. It's audaciously priced with no effort made to justify it.
This must be the rock bottom, as it comes to features vs. pricetag.. I thought my Casio VL1 was basic back in the 80's, but at least I could count on it. :-)
@@mattlowerymusic The only Mini Moog emulation that ever impressed me: th-cam.com/video/ob1nUVzRk5Y/w-d-xo.html Bare in mind that this was coded / enginered in 1999! I've been through many Clones and Emulations.. I don't know which target audience they had in mind when designing a unit with so few controls. Good luck when accesing the parameters of a minimoog without getting confused..
I wasn't referring to any emulations. I was referring to the mono synth made by Moog which has been reissued at a price point of $5000 USD. It doesn't matter.
Everything you need and nothing you don't; exactly! Wise words for music-making in general but I'm delighted to see a designer take a risk in this way. Having been on a very similar journey (guitarist turned synth nerd, got into eurorack etc.) I would have loved to have seen this 5 years ago! But sitting here now I'm contemplating what cool things I could achieve with my newly slimmed down modular case, this synth and a bunch of pedals. What a snazzy little thing.
One important note for people coming over from the guitar side to see what these synths are all about: what’s typically referred to as sustain among guitarists, how long a note rings out after picking a string, is not what sustain is in an envelope. That’s more like the release time, or decay depending on the semantics. Nice sounding synth, but a bit pricey for what it is. Would rather they just made it a desktop synth and skipped the mechanical keyboard entirely.
really informative and pleasant to watch as someone who has ever really briefly played around with a minilogue. feels like a learned a lot from this quick demo!
Great explanations and playing samples with the Vongon Replay...thx so much! I asked for one for my birthday and my wife hooked me up ;). Take care and great video!
Coffee causes vasoconstriction which long term is bad for your health. This synth is digital and for a digital synth on a chip in 2024 I expect a sequencer, effects and tons of presets. It is quite a strange product.
Yes they have it and a lot! Try to play a Meng Qi WINGIE 2 (around $200) or just a Korg NTS-1 (around $100) - and if you or who read this lines are in the synthesizer business, you know very well what I am talking about. Of course, there are also plenty of useless and very expensive gadgets on the market (and this Vongon as a synth looks like just a very expensive gadgets and a poor synth), but they are almost always made of special materials and with very high quality components, while it seems to me that this Vongon Replay, apart from the nice design (screwed a little from Love Hultén's synths design - google this name), is not even made of special materials or with very high quality components and cost $900. Not to mention that with about $300 more you can buy a big new Moog that besides being a real synth that comes from a brand that is a guarantee, not even among the cheapest. 😉 The fair price for this item should be a little higher than that of a Korg Volca.
In any case, in this century there is always an attempt to brand the simplest and most common criticism of any individual by immediately tagging them as interventions by "haters." A good system to censor different opinions to always be right and never dialectically confront facts by exposing real and factual opinions, on technical side and on the mood and feeling side. 👍
not a single potted plant?? disappointed...
@@mattlowerymusiccoping...
At least there's a beverage.
Bro those hands look like they could open any jar in the world. Great review!
personally, i like the design of this a lot. and i think it sounds nice. but the price to features ratio is kinda crazy here. in a bad way. For $900 i would expect a lot more functionality.
Whatever. Things cost different amounts of money.
@@harveytherobot this too much tho .
It definitely fits in the less for more category. Less keys and visibility of the text for sure. The engine and arpeggiator are actually pretty nice, I think that when they make another synth I will have high expectations.
just some chorus delay or verb would be nice
My favorite thing about the Elektron Digi stuff is the click buttons. Also the reason I want to get rid of my mpc live mk1 for a retro mpc live 2. If you told me 20 years ago that I would pay a premium for clicky keys I would have laughed at how wrong you were. Everything about my 40’s is strange to me. Lol
It’s the little things in life
I recognize a LOT of these sounds from my old Juno 106.
Sure sounds like a synth that sounds like any other synth but hey it looks like it’s from ikea so take my $900
Your experience neatly parallels mine. It took awhile for my guitar experience to connect with synthesis, and your explanation connecting the guitarists right hand to the envelope was brilliant. Thanks for the run through! It really helped me make sense of my Replay.
Loved this whole video, your voice, your approach, the sounds, and the way you communicate 👏
900 euro
Great video Matt!
Being called the “Replay”, I half expected there to be some sort of special looping superpower or something. I’m actually surprised to hear and see how simple it is.
looks and sounds great... amazing that such a simple (!) synth costs $1,499 in AU...
Should be $599. Now I own the dread box nymphs. And this sounds better for some reason and it’s digital, which is very strange. The dread box to my ears sounds a bit thin and harsh compared to this.
没有步进器？？？。。。。。。
man when you said the filter envelope took you way too long to learn, i felt that
So how much of this video is the replay just by itself and how much is with other pedals and sources?
the only effect applied here and there is the vongon ultra sheer reverb/vibrato, which is off to the right. Any time I reach over there, I'm turning that on or off
How do you think it fares by itself? Does it neeeeeed pedals to really shine?
@@stewarthenson7558 I almost always pair polysynths with delay and reverb, but it really depends on the music you’re making.
I'd probably get an OP-1 for that money , but the synth looks realy cool. If it was analog oscillators , with digital control...you'd get my money!!
@@endless_arps yeah but it's just screens and knobs. Takes ages to get to know. This just looks so nice and simple.
a low pass filter does not simply reduce harmonic content in the upper frequencies it attenuates the upper frequencies as a whole
For what it’s worth, I’m imagining you doing that Boromir meme here. Cheers!
The "if it inspires you then its worth it" test falls flat at the price and the sound for me. Can't really hear anything special or standout, especially given the price and features. Looks good on video, however the value in terms of sound, feature-set and playability is very low.
Plenty of synths will certainly outpace Replay in the "value synth" bucket- take your pick.
@@mattlowerymusic In that case, the value synth bucket includes the modern version of the synth it's inspired by, the Roland Juno-DS 61, at $635 (which can also make Polysix style sounds) ! If the Replay was $400, then it would be a playful take on classic synth sounds. At $900, it's well into serious instrument territory (Elektrons, Hydrasynth, Wavestate mkii, Blofeld, MPC Key 37..) and dictates how it's perceived. The design choices alone communicate a disregard for basic usability conventions. Omitting a tiny screen to see presets, esoteric key choices and making parameters illegible for a $900 synth means you'd expect something very special from the engine underneath. However, feature-set wise in this price range, you only need to look at the Hydrasynth, Roland Juno-DS 61 or the Elektron ranges to see that this is completely lacking in that regard too. I mean, you could save up another 100 bucks and you can bag yourself a Sequential Take 5 or OP1. It's audaciously priced with no effort made to justify it.
@@mattlowerymusic Why did you delete my response?
@@apendica1 I didn’t delete anything. Was it something that TH-cam would have flagged automatically?
Opening a gateway to another realm, 👍 kind of sound.
Looks great in a minimalist way. Sounds good as well.
This must be the rock bottom, as it comes to features vs. pricetag.. I thought my Casio VL1 was basic back in the 80's, but at least I could count on it. :-)
wait until you hear about the minimoog model d
@@mattlowerymusic The only Mini Moog emulation that ever impressed me: th-cam.com/video/ob1nUVzRk5Y/w-d-xo.html
Bare in mind that this was coded / enginered in 1999!
I've been through many Clones and Emulations.. I don't know which target audience they had in mind when designing a unit with so few controls. Good luck when accesing the parameters of a minimoog without getting confused..
I wasn't referring to any emulations. I was referring to the mono synth made by Moog which has been reissued at a price point of $5000 USD. It doesn't matter.
@@mattlowerymusic So you just delete my message ??
no, I didn't delete anything.
Reminds me of old Japanese synths. Suiko
I recognize a LOT of these sounds from my old Juno 106.
😐
Everything you need and nothing you don't; exactly! Wise words for music-making in general but I'm delighted to see a designer take a risk in this way. Having been on a very similar journey (guitarist turned synth nerd, got into eurorack etc.) I would have loved to have seen this 5 years ago! But sitting here now I'm contemplating what cool things I could achieve with my newly slimmed down modular case, this synth and a bunch of pedals. What a snazzy little thing.
Very cool walk through and lovely ‘jams’ … 😊
One important note for people coming over from the guitar side to see what these synths are all about: what’s typically referred to as sustain among guitarists, how long a note rings out after picking a string, is not what sustain is in an envelope. That’s more like the release time, or decay depending on the semantics.
Nice sounding synth, but a bit pricey for what it is. Would rather they just made it a desktop synth and skipped the mechanical keyboard entirely.
The keyboard is actually a lot of fun!
gosh I love everything about this. REPLAY is winning me over as a more compact and straight-forward synth after going on a similar journey.
really informative and pleasant to watch as someone who has ever really briefly played around with a minilogue. feels like a learned a lot from this quick demo!
Thanks for watching!
this sound unbelievable. something very special about that filter
Insane as always, love the walkthrough
Great explanations and playing samples with the Vongon Replay...thx so much! I asked for one for my birthday and my wife hooked me up ;). Take care and great video!
And......how is it?? Is it awesome or does it suck?
Sounds great !!
I love the way you teach.
Damn it! Now I want one
Coffee causes vasoconstriction which long term is bad for your health. This synth is digital and for a digital synth on a chip in 2024 I expect a sequencer, effects and tons of presets. It is quite a strange product.
Life is a sexually transmitted disease that invariably ends in death. MYOB about other people’s choices.
That was a lovely demo! Thanks!🎉
All these haters. Theres better cheaper synths bla bla but.....do they have the weird lovely quirky little soul that we have on display here?
exactly!
Yes they have it and a lot! Try to play a Meng Qi WINGIE 2 (around $200) or just a Korg NTS-1 (around $100) - and if you or who read this lines are in the synthesizer business, you know very well what I am talking about.
Of course, there are also plenty of useless and very expensive gadgets on the market (and this Vongon as a synth looks like just a very expensive gadgets and a poor synth), but they are almost always made of special materials and with very high quality components, while it seems to me that this Vongon Replay, apart from the nice design (screwed a little from Love Hultén's synths design - google this name), is not even made of special materials or with very high quality components and cost $900.
Not to mention that with about $300 more you can buy a big new Moog that besides being a real synth that comes from a brand that is a guarantee, not even among the cheapest. 😉
The fair price for this item should be a little higher than that of a Korg Volca.
In any case, in this century there is always an attempt to brand the simplest and most common criticism of any individual by immediately tagging them as interventions by "haters." A good system to censor different opinions to always be right and never dialectically confront facts by exposing real and factual opinions, on technical side and on the mood and feeling side. 👍