Twisted Electrons Blast Beats

personalnadir

This could replace my Model:Cycles: a groove box based on the Sound Blaster chip. I can still remember the difference a Sound Blaster made to games when there was an option to enable it. Think I first heard it on Raptor: Call of the Shadows.

It’s part nostalgia, part awesome looking features 
https://youtu.be/yAIz7NxRRRU

Their MegaFM - the synth with Mega Drive chips in it looks super cool too

monquixote

Have you seen the Liven XFM and 8 bit warps?

personalnadir

monquixote said:

Have you seen the Liven XFM and 8 bit warps?

They look interesting, thanks

Strangefan

I wish I could afford one of those but I'm saving up for a matrix brute.

I did have a therapkid which was ace, also have the 8bit warps, and an elz (I like to try out as many as poss lol) all were great however the therapkid really struggled to play nice with the arp on my arturia keystep so it had to go 
The 8bit was waaaaay to menu divey to the point is was frustrating  and the elz was great but really didn't do any warm tones it was very brash.
I tend to only own one synth (2 at the very most) at a time so I need something which does it all and the blast beats does look tempting, expensive tho! 

personalnadir

It‘d definitely be an upgrade pick for me. The Model:Cycles is great, but i struggle with getting melodic lines out of it. Also tempted by Polyend Tracker as I’d love to try my hand with sampling and it looks cool

monquixote

personalnadir said:

It‘d definitely be an upgrade pick for me. The Model:Cycles is great, but i struggle with getting melodic lines out of it. Also tempted by Polyend Tracker as I’d love to try my hand with sampling and it looks cool

Have you watched any of Gabe Miller's content on You Tube?

He does a lot of groovebox comparisons. I think the Polyend is very powerful, but I've heard a few people say it's fairly horrible to use unless you are an experienced use of soundtrackers from the Amiga days.

There are a few people doing amazing things with the Model:Cycles 

This one blew my mind: 

I think the Model:Samples looks very cool although it's a shame it can't actually sample.

personalnadir

@monquixote ; That Aphex Twin cover is super cool. I probably just need to invest more time with the Model:Cycles. It is super powerful. I also need to figure out how to use the chord engine - it's not my jam at the moment and that's a big part of the machine

On reflection I think the issue is that I don't have the ability to come up with the sort of melodic riff that works well in a step sequencer, as I also have the same issue with the Polyend+Dreadbox Medusa. I probably need to practice that, then it'll come more alive for me.

I'd recommend this playlist for the Model:Cycles he covers some nice tricks on how to do drones and ambient music:

I need to find some more tips and tricks and expand my ability with it.

monquixote

@personalnadir ;
Have you watched any of True Cukoo's content on it?

He did an entire music set on YT just using the Cycles.

I have the same problem with my Circuit Tracks (which is brilliant BTW) I've bought an Argon8 so I can get some additional sounds and have a go at writing riffs using a proper keyboard rather than pads.

personalnadir

@monquixote ;

Been super tempted by the Argon 8. How is that working out? Looks and sounds great from what I’ve heard of in the demos  

monquixote

personalnadir said:

@monquixote ;

Been super tempted by the Argon 8. How is that working out? Looks and sounds great from what I’ve heard of in the demos  

It's a really solid piece of kit. Very chunky and well made, with really nice feeling keys and controls. 

I've only fiddled with presets so I've got no idea what it's like as a sound design machine, but from that limited experience it sounds lovely.

It's definitely in the kind of icey digital ethereal sounds camp rather than fuzzy analogue goodness, but that's no bad thing and they have the Cobalt8 for that. 

Paul_C

Having bought all the guitars and amps I could possibly need I've started looking at other things to add to the bits and pieces I use intermittently.

Today I've ordered a Neutral Labs Elmyra (in kit form) from Thonk, but there are other things I'm tempted by too - electric cello, Volca Beats etc.

That Model:Cycles might well get added to the list too now

personalnadir

@Paul_C one extra advantage to the Cycles is that it gets you into the Elektron workflow, for better or worse. They also seem to get discounted new now and again 

monquixote

This is worth a look for people interested in the Model:Cycles 


If I'm going to get into ambient stuff with drones etc then it gets much more powerful when you start looking at the synth / sampler world 

Paul_C

I'm still thinking about getting the Model:Cycles but I've got distracted by the possibility of getting an iPad running synth apps*

*or maybe both, I do have a small-ish budget for toys to mess around with.

personalnadir

This is a real long video, but I highly recommend it for any Model:Cycles users:
https://youtu.be/EV8yY3xekbU

Lots of useful tips. Sometimes with gear it’s easy to find reviews, but hard to find masterclasses (or maybe I’m just missing them)