Joy of Synths #12: IMPLEXUS and Valentine's Day Gift
A non-musician’s guide to creating sounds for podcasts, videos, and sampling for music using analog synthesizers.
YouTube Shorts vs Videos
I spent two hours on a Sunday recording audio and video of a MIDI tutorial intended for YouTube. It took longer than usual as I recorded vertical then switched the camera to horizontal.
For shorthand, I’m using “Shorts” to describe the 9x16 vertical video that has a one minute max duration and is called Shorts on the YouTube platform. I’m using “Video” with a capital V to describe the 16x9 video that runs longer than 1 minute.
Monday was pretty much an 8 hour day editing the video as vertical for YouTube Shorts and 4K for YouTube 16x9 Video. You can watch the Short here and video here:
In the midst of the editing, I had a crisis of confidence. Sunday was a reshoot of an earlier video recording on the KO2 MIDI topic. This editing was consuming a lot of “free” time. Should that time and attention be better spent elsewhere?
In truth, the editing was the best use of time. Most of my Mondays are depressive, which darkens the day with little motivation. Finishing two videos was a 200% improvement.
Granted, filming and editing one video versus a Short and a Video might make more sense with half the time, but I wanted to test the different response of YouTube Shorts versus YouTube Video content.
Results? A day later the Shorts video has double digit views while the Video video has single digit views. Eight days later, Video has double digits and the Shorts has stalled at double digits. Conclusion: YouTube Shorts are initially better promoted by YouTube, and possibly drive views to longer Videos.
The takeaway? If you’re looking for more views organically immediately then produce Shorts.
MAJELLA AUDIO’S IMPLEXUS
I bought the IMPLEXUS synthesizer through a Kickstarter campaign in September 2020. I was inspired that the company founders of Majella Audio would go all in for an instrument during the despair of the pandemic. I also felt that more Eurorack module makers should take the jump to full instruments. (Alas, now in 2024 I’m out of the “buying new instruments for new sounds” game.)
This synthesizer was a ray of hope in a dark time. Could they get past supply chain issues? Would they deliver on the instrument’s sonic promises?
Well, yes and yes. IMPLEXUS serial number 10 arrived a year later, shipped from Netherlands, EU to Florida. (It’s currently available in North America through Perfect Circuit. Here’s their review and product page that lists $1699.00. I’m not sure if the 10% off codes offered during holiday sales apply to it.)
While I’ve read through the IMPLEXUS manual a number of times and helped proof-read the draft manual for U.S. English, I did not really understand the instrument. It made cool sounds but I became distracted by synthesizers and modules I was trialing for possible return. There were a lot of trial and returns for the past years.
So on a sleepless night I finally broke down and watched a really great review/explainer video from YouTuber GeoSynths here. This video informed me about how the IMPLEXUS sends signals around and the video also helped me fall asleep. Double Thanks!
So the IMPLEXUS comes out of storage. Now, writing this out makes it seem foolish that it hasn’t been out full-time because the IMPLEXUS is the most expensive synthesizer I own, even with the Kickstarter discount.
I’ve been recording the Kobol Expander, which runs $199 but only seems to be available for pre-orders. I filled up a 32GB SD card with hours of Kobol recordings, so I’m ready to put the Kobol away and dive into the IMPLEXUS armed with this new understanding of its signal flow.
Once I locate an empty SD card for the H4N I’ll startset recording the IMPLEXUS.
NO CONTROL
I didn’t use a MIDI controller the last time I recorded the IMPLEXUS. I have the proper B. Swing Keyboard Controller ($69 from Sweetwater), so that gets connected to the IMPLEXUS via MIDI. I can use the Stylophone Gen R-8 to send voltage to modulate all the IMPLEXUS patch points.
Thankfully the IMPLEXUS has a full-size MIDI input so I don’t have to allocate mini MIDI to full-size MIDI adapters. It also has internal power so you can plug a computer monitor cable into it. No worrying about losing power adapters or wall warts.
More on the IMPLEXUS in the next Joy of Synths newsletter.
End Note 2/2/2024: Free Stickers
As a Valentine’s Day thank you for subscribing to Joy of Synths newsletter, and for reading this far, I’m happy to send you two analog Joy of Synths stickers for your request received between now and February 14, 2024. I get these stickers in runs of 50, so if I run out then it may be a few weeks until the supply is replenished. Email your postal address to youtube@joyofsynths.com. I know some of you are outside the USA. No problem. Just write out your address in a fashion that your postal system would recognize.
Joy #13 will arrive on 02/15/2024. Cheers! - Anthony Torres
This issue is sponsored by CoWolves. Buy vinyl at https://discogs.com/seller/cowolves.
All Content Copyright 2024 Anthony Torres, All Rights Reserved.