Joy of Synths 29: Gifts 4 Synthesizerers
Suggestions for the synth-adjacent gifts in this non-musician’s guide to creating sounds for podcasts, videos, and sampling for music using analog synthesizers.
SYNTHESIZERER SHOPPING
11/15/2024. A synth is a great gift to give yourself or a loved one. However, what if you want to go a little less expensive? This year we suggest Stackcables, custom stickers, Studio time, and our very own sticker 6-pack. Let’s start there.
Joy of Synths Sticker 6-Pack $9.99 with free global shipping.
Give/get six synthesizer related Joy of Synths vinyl stickers that we layout and get from sticker mule.com. These are packed loose to give to one person or share with many. Here’s the PayPal link.
Tip Top Audio Stackcables $6/ea
These are 1 to 3 cables. You plug one end into an output, then stack a cable on top of the first plug’s jack and another on other plug’s jack. These 3 open jacks now carry the same signal. Effectively they are unbuffered (unpowered) multipliers (mults). If you’re a stickler for pitch then use a buffered mult rather than these unpowered mults with volts per octave control voltage signals.
These come in lengths that are color coded. For under $7 you can buy a 3 meter cable, or 9 feet, if you have synths or modules spread apart or being shared.
Stickermule.com stickers $20-$30
Sign up through our affiliate link to get a $10 credit for new accounts. Look to their weekly deal which is mostly 50 full color die cut stickers for $19.99 or $29.99 with free shipping. We recommend their holographic stickers, clear stickers, and regular vinyl stickers. The sparkly sticker was less impressive. Their pins are made of clear plastic yet they have a nice straight pin back, but I wouldn’t reorder. Most orders come with a sticker mule sticker and possibly a card stock coaster, and every so often a hot sauce packet.
The Record Co. time $10/hr Small Rehearsal Room or $80/4 hrs Studio D, price subject to change
Book time in this Boston Sound Studio and choose from the ARPs for All collection or a Moog Subsequent 27and other instruments from their Floating Gear list of in-house loaners. It’s a clean studio that’s geared for musicians to work with engineers. While they have lectures, meetings, and other stuff, it’s not a space that teaches audio engineering to the best of my knowledge. If you are not an audio engineer and you don’t want to hire one then look to their rehearsal rooms starting at $10/hr that don’t require an engineer. The key thing is to book well in advance and request the Floating Gear instruments. Come with a portable recorder and make sure your audio input levels are -12dB by audio meters on the recorder. Otherwise you can record a whole session that’s blown out if you only listen (monitor) from a synth’s headphone jack.
SYNTHS TO BE AWARE OF
I’m pressing pause on Behringer gear in 2025 because a.) I already own too many and b.) there’s little to tell you if less than stellar audio results are a product of user error or manufacturer defect. Getting unique sounds out of wonky instruments is hard and drains the joy of synths. It’s also a vortex of time swept away. I experienced that with their 2500 modules, Pro1, Neutron, and mixed results with the Kobol Expander. On the flip side, Model D and Solina String Ensemble are nice instruments.
BEHRINGER BRAINS $79
This is the digital oscillator driving the Behringer Grind. If you already have a modular rack with empty space you need to fill then look to this for preset sounds. If you’re starting from scratch then the Behringer Grind is a fair start.
BEHRINGER GRIND $199
The Behringer Grind Digital Oscillator Semi-Modular Synthesizer is a $79 BRAINS Eurorack module with BRAINS Reloaded firmware update minus the Oscilloscope. As of 11/4/2024 it’s on preorder with an estimated shipping date of December 2024/January 2025 though that may stretch to February 2025.
If you add an envelope generator, LFO, powered rack, and sequencer to the Brains module, well, that’s the Grind semi-modular synth.
What’s of note is the parameters you can modulate. These CV inputs mean different things depending on what oscillator engine you select so you’ll have to read the manual to determine what Harmonics and Morph inputs are actually changing. Also, you can “break” the internal defaults for Filter Resonance modulation by patching in an external modulation source or patching in but leaving it disconnected from an external source altogether.
Alas, this is buyer beware because you may not hear a difference with the CV modulation. Or you’ll need to “blur” it by increasing low frequency oscillator rate to audio rate. Did I mention I’m down on Behringer products?
Given the 25 digital presets, this may be best suited for building tracks and atmospheric beds rather than sound effects. Still, it’s a lot of digital synth voices and sequencer for $199.
AMAZON BUYING TIPS
If you’re going to buy off Amazon, where possible, order from Amazon as seller and shipper. Music stores are selling synths through Amazon and handling their own shipping. This means you are subject to paying return shipping and possibly a restocking fee should the item not meet your needs. Returns also affect a small business differently than a global company like Amazon. All this said, a lot of items can be returned by end of January 2025. That gives potentially 2 months to trial the instrument, so long as you don’t scratch the item or damage the packaging. However, Amazon is being less charitable with “I don’t want it” reasoning for returns, so only buy if you’re okay with getting stuck with it.
END NOTE
Happy Turkey/Tofurkey day! For deals, look to Slickdeals.net as certain items are cheaper and in-stock online BEFORE Black Friday. Next issue of Joy of Synths releases December 3, 2024 because everyone else sends their newsletters on the 1st.
All Content Copyright 2024 Anthony Torres, All Rights Reserved.