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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Help with synthesizer anybody?
    Posted: February 02 2015 at 11:40
I'm a complete beginner when it comes to synths, I'm mostly a guitarist and I can play some simple stuff on keyboards but I have always only used preset sounds on my keyboards and synths.

I have just purchased an e-Mu Vintage Keys synth on eBay, it's a 64-voice polyphonic digital synth made around 2002 which presets focus on sampled vintage instruments like Mellotron patches, Modular Moog, Minimoog, several ARP synths, Clavinet and stuff like that. But I understand that it is also a reasonably powerful synth if you know how to work with it, you can modify any of the preset patches, slightly or heavily depending on how much you know about synthesis, or just create your own sounds from scratch as in a genuine old synth. It has a ROM with 512 factory, non modifiable presets, and another 512 in RAM which come from the factory with a duplication of exactly the same presets but these can be modified and stored as new user presets so in total you can have 1024 presets (expandable with SIMM cards).
I'm just starting to check it out (actually I have it only since 4 days ago).



My main question for now is the following. While the synth is polyphonic, several (not to say many) of the vintage synth preset patches are programmed to be monophonic. Of course that's the way those instruments were, and it can be nice if you want to replicate the authentic sound of those monophonic synths in solos, but it can also be annoying or even frustrating if you want to use those sounds but playing in a modern polyphonic way.

Do you think there's some way of modifying those patches in order to make them polyphonic? (without changing anything else of the sound itself). I have quickly gone through the user manual (not in detail, it's over 200 pages long) and I didn't see any explicit setting or parameter which determines if the preset will behave in monophonic or polyphonic way.
I don't know if this has any importance but each preset is made up of (up to) 4 layers.

If anybody can help, that would be great!
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Dean View Drop Down
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 03 2015 at 18:22
can't you just turn off Solo Mode for those presets?
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 04 2015 at 01:45
Hi Dean, thanks!
Yes I think I found it, in the manual, I didn't have time to try it in the synth yet but I think it's solved, indeed each layer has its Solo Mode parameter, so it must be simply a question of turning it off.
TX!
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Dean View Drop Down
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 04 2015 at 02:16
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Points: 20604 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 04 2015 at 10:02
^See. if it was a mellotron you could have fixed it with a rap from a big stick.
Btw, that's also how you turn them on and off. LOL
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 04 2015 at 12:29
I could already check it on the synth and indeed it was very easy to turn them into polyphonic mode, TX Dean! Thumbs Up  I think I'm gonna have fun with it Big smile
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Dean View Drop Down
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 04 2015 at 13:06
No problem Gerard, 'twas just a few minutes effort to find the manuals online and skim through them. Geek
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 04 2015 at 13:23
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

No problem Gerard, 'twas just a few minutes effort to find the manuals online and skim through them. Geek
I know I should have checked it myself more thoroughly before asking Embarrassed
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Dean View Drop Down
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 04 2015 at 13:29
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

No problem Gerard, 'twas just a few minutes effort to find the manuals online and skim through them. Geek
I know I should have checked it myself more thoroughly before asking Embarrassed
"Solo Mode" is not obvious - I only discovered this when I wanted to make my OB-12 poly-synth produce a monophonic portamento.
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moshkito View Drop Down
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Points: 17510 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2015 at 13:33

Hi,

Ohhh man ... talk about issues with this stuff, I'm worse than a beginner and having a real hard time figuring out how to use, for example, a sequencer, and even how to be playing along, and extend a set of keys ... let's say on the left hand ... and even create something as dumb as continued moments in music. (keeping the stuff on the left hand repeating let's say!)

Oxygen 61
Fairly good computer -- no issue there
Arturia - Jupiter 8V

 
(That Casio will be replaced by a real synthesizer -- some small movements in the equipment so the tape deck and turntable are closer to the mixer. Computer on the right is the DAW, and the computer on the left is all play and goes to the mixer with access to CD, Cassette, Turntable, Radio, Microphone, MP3's and the Midi on any software and finally the Casio also goes to the mixer.) Mixer goes to recording on the right. This is a "radio station" setup for now. If I turn to full music it will likely change)
 
And after I get that down, have to figure out how ... i've been looking for someone to help me with the ABC's of synthesizers, and it has not been easy ... most of the instructional stuff is basic for the old days, and the stuff for the newer days (like that English Magazine) skips so many steps and screen shots that it is almost impossible to follow.

The manual, is way over simplified and while I do not find it hard, I do not find it easy, and it would be nice if it had a couple of exercises, that would allow you to go from the first note to the last ... using different things.

It has not been fun, not to mention the hardest time getting DAW's to pick up what you are playing ... they are supposed to be easy at what ... farting? had an issue with that Miroslav Phiharmonic here, that will not allow you to use the various Midi Channels, when it is on standup mode (no daw or anything under it, and then by accident someone said that you have to open a DAW first and then bring up the Miroslav to use the Midi Channels so you can use more than one voice in the program ... otherwise it's a piece of crap and their support was even worse! That slight bit of information was NOT on their manuals, btw!

It's been frustrating ... to try and find a sound and something that you want to hear, and the software is not helping and getting help is difficult. Can't even find a keyboard player in Portland that is capable of playing synthesizers ... ought to tell you how backwards and out of it, this place is!

Simple ... where?

(I rest my case ... no replies!!!!)

Edited by moshkito - February 09 2015 at 12:03
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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