Synclavier Regen // The 7 stages of ownership
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ค. 2024
- It's not like other synths... it's part of music history... it's complex.. it's unique... it sounds amazing... it's a thing. I've had this for a few months now, and created a couple of tracks, made a patch bank, tried re synthesis, samples, additive synthesis, single cycle samples... whole sessions and complex partials.
Here's a rundown of my experience, what it is, how it works and how to get the most out of it. We go through a number of phases
Fascination and intrigue, confusion, understanding, discovery, exploration, acceptance before finally landing on enjoyment
/ starskycarr
starskycarr.com
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Here's the video with more of my patch explorations:
• FREE Synclavier Regen ...
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• From The Studio
0:00 Context
3:25 1.Fascination and Intrigue
5:36 2.Confusion - MIDI setup
6:56 3.Understanding - Sessions, Timbres Partials and The Interface
12:46 4.Discovery - Programming Partials Runthrough
15:52 4.1 Additive Synthesis
18:20 4.2 Subtractive Synthesis
21:03 4.3 Samples
22:35 4.4 Wavetable style programming
23:44 4.5 Frames
24:41 4.6 Using the Modulator
28:22 4.7 Modulation Matrix
29:21 4.8 More Samples Stuff
30:49 4.9 Track Filter & FX
34:06 5.Exploration
38:20 6.Acceptance
40:11 7.Enjoyment
#synclavier #regen #demo #review - เพลง
I actually saw Sting's Synclavier once at a New Year's Eve party. My dad was in Three Penny Opera in Broadway starring Sting. He invited the whole cast to his apartment in NYC. I saw it and my jaw dropped. My third and last time seeing one in person.
i saw the Synclavier at the Frankfurt Musik Messe in the late 80s in a closed area. They played the whole song from Sting "Straight from my heart" inc. multi track of Stings voice... it was jaw dropping.. the whole song from one instrument. never will forget this.
@@iSirTaki crazy that I saw the machine it was recorded on and you actually heard the file. That's insane. The other 2 times I saw one was at a studio in NYC called Planet Sound and at New England Digital's NYC offices for a demo. I just said why not, called them and went to a demo. They played Stevie Wonder's Skeleton, a Go West Record, King Of Wishful Thinking if my memory serves me correctly and Swing Out Sister's Break Out
Love the look and sound of this thing
Sounds absolutely epic man.
Really cool thanks Starsky!
Fantastic review
Uhm, did you know that frames work with any additive sound? Each frame can be a different distance from the last and it morphs between them. You can change the harmonic make up, the pitch the amount of modulation, etc. and so make super complex, evolving sounds, etc. I've had a Regen for several months and spend most of my time tweaking frames. A few partials, each evolving at different times and doing different things - wow. The hybrid mode actually adds the beginning of the sample to be kept when you do resynthesize, so there is a tiny bit of sample for the attack transient and the additive after that. You can then tweak that resynthesis sound with all of the additive stuff and the single resampled sound plays nice across the keyboard.
Anyway, it is a great tool. Besides that bit about Frames (coming from the Kawai additive synths, my favorite part of the Regen!!), I enjoyed your overview :)
Having used the Synclavier V plugin, I was going to make the same point! Frames are pretty much the main way you get timbral changes over time in the original, I believe.
Starsky... this was brilliantly done. I do not own... and watched the whole video. Bravo!!!
Thanks… nice of you to comment. 😀
I have had it since it came out and love it and super Thank you for doing the video, the DC coupled XLR outputs are loud and amazing, folks who want analog warmth just run it through any Sequential filter input or any analog filter, digital with analog filters is just so appealing.
Right!
Depending on the purpose of the audio you're creating, you need to un-digitize the Synclavier somewhat. It offers sufficient tools for that, but an analog filter or a (Strymon El Capistan) tape delay pedal will do just fine!
@@agerven Great Tip Thank you!
I'm running mine mono into the Arp 2600m when i want some grit. Anthony Marinelli used to run the synclavier into his Roland System 100 modular to add a Little bit of grit.
To be honest, the Synclavier Regen sounds great as It is but "playing" with some analog effects Is cool
Excellent vid!!
Ok it sounds cool but my goodness 😮 what a beautiful bit of kit .....& I guess it should be for the money but it may be the best looking desktop synth I’ve ever seen. 😍
An enjoyable watch as always.. I like t that this is out there and different to most synths in that it doesn't pretend it is what it is also the sound 'IS' different
I agree. It's its own thing... just showing off my knowledge of apostrophe usage!
Hi 5!@@StarskyCarr
Simply beautiful sounds! I love the design of this synth. It just seems like too much for me. I'm not talented enough to work with it LMAO
Nah… sit back, relax and go with it - loads of inspirational stuff will pop out.
I like the Regen as beside it sounding really good, it's just so alien compared to all my other synths. Hope to get one, one day. Got the Arturia one for now.. but I never find plugins that exciting so might grab an old iPad for Synclavier Go and a Synclavier Knob to play with before taking the plunge on the Regen. I've read about half the manual but seeing you go through the modes helped it make a bit more sense in my head
It'll be interesting to see just how they extend it via future firmware updates, too..
Fantastic device.
Thanks so much for this elaborate but essential video on Synclavier Regen!
On one side, for Synclavier newcomers, it may appear to go very fast. For me, as an Arturia Synclavier V user, it is just the right tempo and duration. Great!
Things that struck me:
1. The workflow with the Regen appears much quicker than with the Arturia. This is probably because the Arturia has about 5 (i think) different screens to work on and also the Arturia only has the mouse as interface, meaning many sequences of clicks on all the parameters.
2. The Regen only has a small (although apparently large enough) OLED display. A big improvement on that, i.m.o. would be the possibility to connect a (large) flatscreen to one of the USB ports, for seeing extended graphic information in visual display, and for easing my old eyes ;)
That would be good - possible if the USB3 power port could be used in some manner.
Personally, I'll seriously consider the overpriced Synclavier knob as well. I think that slider would drive me nuts. :D
starsky carr is best
I love mine. THE SOUNDS!
They did a great job on the display UI . Some of the screens look like layered overlays you'd see on some old LCDs. It really pops and is easy to read.
You're doing god's work with these videos! I love the Synclavier though have only heard it on records and in videos ... this new hardware version seems to sound different to the Synclavier Go - again just judging from videos so I could easily be wrong. - The screen on this seems way too small considering how integral it seems to be to using the machine, apart from that and not having the big silver dial, it seems awesome.
Cheers. The screen gives loads of information and is well thought out, but of course a big screen with loads of knobs will always give more. I’ve not found it too small as you only normally work with a parameter at a time - like the original, but yeah a huge screen with all the info is always better. I like using editors with a lot of my analog stuff just because I can quickly see everything that’s going on in a patch. On this that would still be a challenge 😂😵💫
thanks for your reply @@StarskyCarr ! - Do you think there's any scope for the screen output to go to a computer monitor via usb or something?
That's not technically possible on Regen I'm afraid. HMDI mirror out was briefly considered, but to do that you have to register with the HDMI standards and pay a subscription, and we assumed only a handful of people would use it this way. Also, it would only be the same screen, only bigger (some people might prefer a bigger screen because it could show more information at one time) What we did instead was source a high-resolution high-contrast OLED screen that is crisp and clear. We were careful with every pixel we used, too.One nicety we added, on Loopop's suggestion, was that when you alter a parameter, its value on the display momentarily zooms. That helps a lot.@@rekindle
@33:05 from firmware 1.10 & upward, the roll-off frequency exists as a modulation target entry.
It would take me years to learn this, LOL!
Years of fun! 🤩
So much power… not a knob in sight. I’m so torn over this synth.
Its so much faster to use than my knobladen synths, to create complex additive/FM/samplebased sounds this interface is perfect! It gets into your musclememory very quickly,
I find it very interesting that they decided they could default to DAW over keyboard for that setting. I would imagine market research must have overwhelmingly shown that more of their target audience would run it that way - while I personally do (not with this particular synth, but I’d love one), I wouldn’t have imagined that would be so much the case.
Took me soooo long to figure it out.
@@StarskyCarr I can only imagine! It sounds absolutely infuriating - I would have definitely written to customer support. . .highly doubt I could have figured that out on my own.
Not sure, if the regen is my cup of tea, but nevertheless I enjoyed how you presented it.
now that is a digital synth I would like to work on... excellent sound, and that almost never happen with digital, except with the emu 6500 ultra I used to have...
Nice!!!
I had a Synclavier II with ORK for a couple of years. Apart from looking amazing and the famous preset patches it was a dud to be honest. I sampled the sounds I liked and sold it on. No regrets.
Really Really interested in this thing. I'm just scared of the UI. Imagine if it was the size of the Iridium module with its big screen and the signature Synclavier Big Knob instead of the Swiper and proper outputs for at least 6 tracks so you can process them separatelly. Anyway, i'll probably get it one day.
You can connect an USB Interface and get individual outs through that :)
Yeah you can get individual outs via a usb interface, I recorded some stuff but it didn’t make the final cut. It doesn’t work as USB to your DAW yet .. it’s in the works, but you can use an interface to send the audio to separate outputs in the interface that you can send to a mixer/fx etc. for live.
i'll trad my entire studio for the osmose and the regen.
You may want to try a Hydrasynth Deluxe first. I do not own one but found it to be quite impressively built.
I just got me a Vesa stand, it's life changing. Especially in the beginning, a regen is the kind of unit you are going to spend hours tweeking. And bending over is really not a confortable position, imo that's due to the square shape. But they were clever enough to add that option on the unit. With a nice controler lying before it; i feel just like i'm more in the original synclavier position...
Agreed, got one for mine and VESA is the way to go.
The Synclavier actually figured into one of the Police's most petty arguments. Sting and Stewart Copeland allegedly got into a fight on whether the drums on "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" would be Synclavier (Sting) or Fairlight (Copeland). Whether they came to blows over it is not known...
You know what the Synclavier line really needs? Being able to choose different Partial series. The partials used by this and many other additive synths are the standard ones for strings or brass instruments, but a timpano (or any circular membrane) has a totally different set of partials. I'd love to be able to use other harmonic series when creating an instrument.
I think your initial bass patch would've exceeded the capability of the 8-voice additive only Sync II (Serial #2 or #3, IIRC) at university. LOL.
Still wish there were more than 24 harmonics.
Thanks for your review. I think you've given a well rounded review of this instrument (as I think you've illustrated fairly well what is different from the original Sync II / Synclavier Go which I've played with in the past.) Good job.
Why do you think you need more than 24 harmonics? In most cases, the upper harmonics exceed the upper frequency of your hearing anyway.
i should add, however, that when you introduce phase changes in the higher harmonics they can affect some of the lower harmonics and become relevant.
@@agerven We only had 8 voices, so the workaround was to use harmonics for polyphony. Thus, the bottom 7 harmonics are not always particularly useful.
How many keyboards can be connected together? The Waldorf Kyra has similar functionality. The Access Virus has 8 soundengines too.
JAJAJAJAJAAA..JAJAJAJAJAAA...Animo con alegrias...otro buen aparato musical para ir evolucionando las musicas y pasar el rato con ellos y dar buenos momentos...very good...
I miss my PPG. It was the bollox for this sort of thing back then. The sound is similar.
Is it all sampled waveforms ? When I hear beating of the 2 oscillators detuned , and the phase of the cycle on every key press starts in the same place, I get nervous.
This or Waldorf Iridium keyboard?
I have the latter. Does this add anything?
83 voices 😉
Can the partials in additive mode be individually detuned, too?
A partial is like 1 oscillator voice. Each one can be detuned as you wish. But, if you mean each harmonic in an additive partial, no. You alter the coefficient and phase for each harmonic and this builds a waveform.
Thx, so no envelopes for pitch and level per harmonic, sadly. Would it be possible for upcoming updates? I'm always hoping that someone builds something that could replicate the (real) additive synthesis engine of the Kurzweil K150. Many real instruments have inharmonicities in their spectra, so detuning (and even detuning over time) of harmonics would be mandatory for convincing additive bell- or plucked-type sounds...
I believe that you can change the carrierpitch in semitones and fine for each frame, so that will alter pitch over time, and you can also turn of pitchtrack for each partial. I dont know if further pitchchanges are available in the modulation matrix but I do think you can modulate a lot of things with the LFOs from there, maybe also with the envelopes?
@@tihinter
It would be nice if they could make a keyboard version in the shape of the Synclavier 2 synthesizer.
Did they ever get around to adding that resampling feature?
This sounds lovely, and has a spectacularly clever UI which could win awards. I think it's worth the price (though I can't afford one at the moment, sadly). A few points/queries...
- Is there a desktop app to make editing easier?
- Does it support microtonalism and tuning files?
- Personally I love the colour coding on those 12 buttons, but would a colourblind person struggle?
- 23:10 If it really is 512 long, why does it say 511? Minor bugfix needed, I think.
- 26:21 This envelope sounds alarmingly steppy... or is that because of the parameter it's modulating?
EDIT: I see many others hate the UI. I stand by what I said. They've made some very intelligent decisions about accessing things, similar to the ASM Hydrasynth. It's not excessively "menu-divey", as some claim. It actually looks OK to me.
You're best off asking Synclavier directly for most of those questions - they're very responsive. The one I can answer is the sample length. It says the final sample is 511 as the first sample is sample 0 - so thats 512 in total. I often get confused when doing similar things with patch numbers and wave numbers on wavetables! When you're trying to compare them and the numbering system is different it can be a headwrecker!
@@StarskyCarr Cheers for the reply! My point was that it says "length 511" on the actual screen, though :) I think someone did a simple subtraction and forgot to add 1.
- No desktop app...yet. We are working on something that might allow for that. If you have the Synclavier V app, you can edit sounds there and then import them to Regen. I wouldn't say the editing is easier there per se, just different, but it would be quicker if you're used to it. Another "concession" is that Regen supports SoundFonts, so if multi-sample patches is your thing, you can create them on a desktop editor like Polyphone and then import to Regen.
- Yes it does. Full details here: th-cam.com/video/ZDvfJKdUrK0/w-d-xo.html
- We made it so there's always an additional cue not just colour -- typically a symbol on the screen or something. So colour is never the only determiner. Also, we chose red and blue for the dual mode buttons,, because red/green is the more common colour blindness.
- The envelopes are far from steppy. I think the effect you can hear is more from the fact different envelopes were used on different partials.
- Some commenters on youtube that have never played with a Regen claim to hate the UI. In fact, we get customers every week emailing us with compliments on the UI. Maybe this hate is coming from people more used to subtractive synthesis and they'd like every synth they buy to look and act the same? I don't know. We certainly felt if we were going to develop a product it would have to have our DNA in it and not be a clone of something else. We're very happy with the way it turned out and very happy with the feedback we continue to receive.
Edit: and 511 is the first sample not played. A bit weird maybe, but that's how it's displayed
As a Regen user myself I agree about the UI, it should win a price, its the first complex synth that makes it so easy to edit parameters in layers in an intuitive way! It gets into your musclememory very quickly!
@@Synclavier Thanks so much for the detailed replies! Glad to know microtonalism is supported - I'll watch that video shortly. Congratulations on this achievement, it's an amazing instrument! P. S. Yes, I do have Synclavier V, so I'll bear that in mind if I think about purchasing. Cheers!
Just as an aside, I remember Sting comparing himself to Lorenzo de’Medici, because he was a patron of NED, which was his Leonardo da Vinci. I guess you have to justify the expense somehow.
I think it was on the back of ‘Bring on the Night’ - a live album i absolutely loved because of the musicianship of the band - where he talks about The Russians and songwriting being like recipes… ‘a little more salt perhaps’.. was the quote. I guess he can be a matter of taste himself 🤢. Theres a touch of David Brent in there.
@@StarskyCarr yes, because I believe it was from a Keyboard interview from about that time.
So what I really want to know is how it compares to the Arturia version
I have the Arturia one. Haven't used it for a while but I don't think it does resynthesis. That's a major point in Regen's favour.
I really must be missing something here - and I genuinely wanted to like this bit of kit, as a child of the Eighties who lusted after Fairlights, Synclaviers and Jupiter 8's, et al - but all that time, money and effort to sound like a retro Jan Hammer soundtrack!!!? 🤔🤷🏻♂🙄
For me, the whole purpose of hardware synths is to retain (regain?) some hands-on control, without the cumbersome menu-diving, the ergonomics of which always gets in the way of music making, whether that's composition, production or sound creation.
For a whole lot less bother, I'm gonna veto this one and stick with Arturia's recreation of the original Synclavier. Very similar sound, much more ergonomic and user friendly!
Still enjoyed the video, though, SC - thanks!
Great video as always. Can't help thinking this may as well be a plugin though.
I got the impression that changing things on the interface was far quicker than anyone could manage with a pointing device, despite the lack of knobs. I know what you mean, though. It would have been great to see a full-size keyboard version, but I'm guessing it would be super expensive.
Well, you kept the Omose E, in the end… I did not. 😊
Sink-LAY-vee-er
looks and sounds great - but they squeezed too much in one box. Too many multi-key presses, pages, and sub menus for me
It's interesting, especially from a historical perspective, but it seems overly complicated for the pedestrian sounds we heard here.
It should have analog Filters then it would be perfect.
Haha that’d be 144 of them! It’d end up the size of the original. I like that’s its proudly digital … but that’s prob because I’ve got a studio full of analogs. I like that this is different.. definitely its own thing.
@@StarskyCarr yeah mate it looks like you have a subscription to Analogue solutions.
@@randydarklighthaha… I’ve got a couple, but those massive ones are only here for a couple of weeks. … I wonder if they’ll do a subscription 🤔 nice idea 😂
@@StarskyCarr off topic: Do you already know when you will get the Mantis? I'm sure you'll get it months earlier than us. 🙂
I've got the Arturia version. A giant computer screen really helps. And it's not $2,499.00
Dumbest thing to say no app is close to the feel of this
Congrats!
I will eat pizza!
@@AlchemicalAudioLiar.
@@zackcolbourne6921 are you feeling jealous I didn’t invite you? You can come next pizza, don’t worry!
The Din Midi is also missing.
You get TRS Din adaptors in the box, so it’s there.
@@StarskyCarr I didn't even knew such adaptors existed. You're never to old to learn :)
Only one out??
It has two balanced XLRs and two unbalanced, and, you can connect a USB sounddevice and get individual outs through that.
What the Waldorf Kyra should have been.
How they managed to make such a beautiful sounding machine look so fugly is beyond me.
I mean it is unique looking and really I should just be happy it’s not covered in rainbow coloured buttons but…
Perhaps I’m just nitpicking cos I can’t afford one 🤔
I am alone or does anyone like the aesthetic?
Le son est génial. Ca fait envie mais mon porte monnaie ne veut pas participer. 😂
Hopefully not long before Uli clones an original Synclavier….
I really hope not tbh. It’s a small company… but as it’s digital the IP is in the processing, so it would be different business model than the analog replicas which they’ve got nailed down after years of cloning etc.
@@StarskyCarrwell Arturia beat them to it. I like programming the Arturia version with the large screen showing all the partials.
@@crhkrebsarturia’s version is in partnership with Synclavier which is cool.
@@StarskyCarr I like the Arturia plugin as well. I don't think it can do resynthesis though. That looks like a very nice feature.
for 2800 EUR no keyboard on this thing?.... out of my budget, but nice piece of technic.
Can't justify the cost, but I have the Arturia version.
I feel like I can do all this with my MPCKey 61 other than having those sounds
It's a synthesizer so yeah the sounds are kind of the whole thing.
the sound quality is more detailed compared to the MPC61.. I have both
Akai doesn’t support MPE as of this writing.
The epitome of menu diving. Looks like a smart phone embedded in a Beat Thang. Swipe left.
I like the sound but hate the design..it looks god awful and doesn’t fit in with most studios.
If it was rackmounted or a proper normal desktop design it would be better,but the curved angles and unusual size makes this one piece of gear which would make it hard to fit in.
Well there is a VESA mount on the back
Great synth concept but atrocious user interface. They need to hire a UX specialist.
Seems to me that the Modal Cobalt does most all of this for about 1/3 the price.
Nice sounds but Terrible 1988 UI. So sorry, i just have to go now because Uli just released the "Introducing UB-Xa" video! Pots and knobs you know! 😅
@deadmanwalking6342 Are you going to post the same comment on every Regen video? At least you change the year each time. It was 1983 on Loopop's video, so we've gained 5 years in 1 ;-)
The UI is actually perfect for very quickly making complex sounds.. Everything ends up in the musclememory after a short while. Im faster at making complex sounds on this than any other complex synth I have tried. Faster to work with than my Waldorf M for instance.
@@henrikstolpe Yes, the myth of the so called muscle memory and its apologoists.
@@deadmanwalking6342it works when I play guitar, im quite sure it works when using a synth. Its called motorlearning and takes place in the cerebellum part of the brain.
@@henrikstolpe Lots of famous musicians dont have a celebrium part in their brain and can only handle knobs, these famous musicians makes great music but most motorlearning musicians makes crap music thats why they are not famous.😅
Example DX7 a famous synth that didnt have knobs so every famous musicians used yamahahaha factory E-piano preset sound and got very famous and made lots a money!
You keep telling me the UI sucks.
No… I keep telling you it’s not as bad as others say it is. It’s actually quite easy once it clicks.. but if you pick it up and play for 19 minutes you’ll be utterly confused most likely.
Little late ain’t it? 🙄 lol
??
@@StarskyCarr Ohh .. sorry Starsky .. the machine .. not you 😉
I think its cool .. just not 2.5k cool
I don't understand who this is for? At this price you can get a very nice laptop that won't require the learning curve.
And as soon as you leave the store with the laptop, resale value if you want to sell for an upgrade goes out the window.
Sorry, but the name doesn't justify the price
sold my synclavier to "the who". this sounds great but the look is terrible. what were they thinking.
cool story.
interface suck
No its actually perfect for how the workflow is designed for the Regen. Everything ends up in the musclememory very quickly! Im faster at making complex sounds on this than any other complex synth I have tried. Faster to work with than my Waldorf M for instance.
Its nearly $5000 australian dollars jeeeesus.
£2,013.00 GBP