Synth module for farfisa sound?
Eirik K.
hardware module? I'd like to be able to control the stops, and preferably boost
settings for that nice buzzy Farfisa Compact sound.
Are there any good emulations or will I be better off with samples?
Also, are there any hardware emulations of Arp Solina or other string synth
sound?
---GT---
<eikrogst@-shrinktofit-.start.no> wrote:
>Can anyone suggest options for Farfisa emulation or samples in a compact
>hardware module? I'd like to be able to control the stops, and preferably boost
>settings for that nice buzzy Farfisa Compact sound.
>
>Are there any good emulations or will I be better off with samples?
>
I don't know of a module with a good Farfisa sound, but you should be
able to recreate the sound with almost any synth. Just layer a bunch
of triangle waveforms (16', 8', 4', 2 2/3' and 1'). You can control
the 'stops' by adjusting the volumes of each waveform. Add a vibrato
effect and you're ready.
By replacing the triangle waveforms with sine waveforms and leaving
out the vibrato you can create a clean Hammond-like sound.
Torben Anschau
I never found a real Farfisa expander somewhere. But I got a very nice Farfisa
Plug in for VST! It just sounds original.
As far as I know:
- The Vintage Keys expander got Sounds from Farfisa and Continental Fox that
are quite ok.
- There have been Sound Expansions from Roland for Synths and Expanders (60&70)
that have farfisa sounds
- Maybe the Nord Electro has Farfisa sounds
Alternativ: Search for auction and get and old Bontempi or Farfisa Keyboard or
even a real organ. They won't cost more than 50 bucks at the time.
The ARP-Sounds are much harder to get....
I give you a hint: There has been a series by Yamaha (SK 10 - 50 I think) that
combined Organ, Synthesizer and String Synthesizer. Maybe you could get all the
sounds you need with them. They're analoge and without midi but not that
expensive. There were Equivalents by ARP, Korg and some others I think.
Torben
Moege der Inhalt wichtiger sein als die Form
Eirik K.
"Torben Anschau" <ans...@aol.comkeispem> wrote in message
news:20031026080055...@mb-m03.aol.com...
> Pink Floyd Coverband? ;.)
Well, inspired by, anyway. Or at least I am, don't think the others are that
fond of them.
> I never found a real Farfisa expander somewhere. But I got a very nice Farfisa
> Plug in for VST! It just sounds original.
> As far as I know:
> - The Vintage Keys expander got Sounds from Farfisa and Continental Fox that
> are quite ok.
A lot of people are recommending this, and saying the sounds are excellent, I'll
check it out if I come across one some time.
> - There have been Sound Expansions from Roland for Synths and Expanders
(60&70)
> that have farfisa sounds
Would be nice if I had a Roland synth, but I don't.
> - Maybe the Nord Electro has Farfisa sounds
The Nord Electro does not have Farfisa sounds, only a pretty good tonewheel
Hammond emulation.
> Alternativ: Search for auction and get and old Bontempi or Farfisa Keyboard or
> even a real organ. They won't cost more than 50 bucks at the time.
Of course, I could, but the point was to have a lightweight portable module,
something I actually would be able to carry, and take with me to practice
sessions with my mates. I don't even have a car, so in addition to my
soon-to-buy Nord Electro and Korg MS2000, I can't carry much.
> The ARP-Sounds are much harder to get....
> I give you a hint: There has been a series by Yamaha (SK 10 - 50 I think) that
> combined Organ, Synthesizer and String Synthesizer. Maybe you could get all
the
> sounds you need with them. They're analoge and without midi but not that
> expensive. There were Equivalents by ARP, Korg and some others I think.
Well, same thing there, they are heavier than me. But they do seem cool for home
use though. I've seen some of these for sale for very little money.
Thanks for the suggestions anyway.
Eirik K.
"---GT---" <gt...@home.nl> wrote in message news:3f9bc3ff.2615296@news...
But are they really just triangle waves? The boost setting for the Farfisas is
also a bit hard to emulate, I don't know if it is just added oscillator waves
(sawtooth?) or some transistor overdrive or both.
Anyway, a six oscillator per voice analog style (for triangle waves) synth with
decent polyphony is pretty rare. Almost any synth? I don't think I can name one.
Bob Weigel
at a time with most of the ones that have sliders I guess. :-) There are
some samples on the JV1080 keyboards of 60/70's, but I far prefer my vip345
I think. Definitely nice having the knobs or buttons in case of the earlier
ones.. -Bob
"Eirik K." <eikrogst@-shrinktofit-.start.no> wrote in message
news:VoRmb.1768$mf2....@news4.e.nsc.no...
Mivarsh Faz
:The ARP-Sounds are much harder to get....
:I give you a hint: There has been a series by Yamaha (SK 10 - 50 I think) that
:combined Organ, Synthesizer and String Synthesizer. Maybe you could get all the
:sounds you need with them. They're analoge and without midi but not that
:expensive.
The SK-20 is probably your best bet. The bigger, "top of the
line" models (30 and 50) are probably too big and clunky for what
you're looking for. And the 20 is a better overall keyboard than the
10 and 15, with a pretty cool Hammond emulation (though using sliders
rather than drawbars) and some serviceable synth effects.
:There were Equivalents by ARP, Korg and some others I think.
The ARP you're probably thinking of would be the Quartet, which
was based on an instrument developed by Siel. Either that or the Omni,
which I guess would be a good buy if you can find one in working
condition, and all you really want are variations on a string-synth
sound. Korg's would I guess be the Delta (if you want their
top-of-the-line clunky synth/organ/string synth, go for the Trident).
Lots of cheap Italian-made string-synthy things out there, like
the Farfisa Syntorchestra, the Logan Stringmelody and pretty much
anything made in the mid-70's by Elka or Crumar that wasn't just a
tinny-sounding electronic piano incorporated string-synths somewhere
along the line (including their big, clunky console organs).
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
to reply, contact Stephen Bernard Carrington of Global corp. He can
help you contact me on the NET.
"The only completely consistent people are dead" --Aldous Huxley
N.P.:"Yukon"- M y t h o s / C o n c r e t e C i t y
Eirik K.
"Mivarsh Faz" <prog...@marindia.org> wrote in message
news:92pppvs0ah94iblae...@4ax.com...
> The SK-20 is probably your best bet. The bigger, "top of the
> line" models (30 and 50) are probably too big and clunky for what
> you're looking for. And the 20 is a better overall keyboard than the
> 10 and 15, with a pretty cool Hammond emulation (though using sliders
> rather than drawbars) and some serviceable synth effects.
the strings are just about right, classic string synth sound, the Hammond is
surprisingly good. But I just ordered a Nord Electro today, so I wouldn't be
needing the organs anyway. :)
> The ARP you're probably thinking of would be the Quartet, which
> was based on an instrument developed by Siel. Either that or the Omni,
> which I guess would be a good buy if you can find one in working
> condition, and all you really want are variations on a string-synth
> sound. Korg's would I guess be the Delta (if you want their
> top-of-the-line clunky synth/organ/string synth, go for the Trident).
I have seen an Omni in one of the local synth shops, I seems to have been there
for ages, I expect it to be in working order. Maybe I could get it cheap seeing
that they have not been able to sell it.
A lot of the Korgs also seem to have interesting string sounds, they do sound
less rich than the Solinas etc however. Different, but definately usable.
Anyway, for portability and versatility, I'll be getting a compact sampler.
Thanks everyone for your help
Mike
> hardware module? I'd like to be able to control the stops, and preferably boost
> settings for that nice buzzy Farfisa Compact sound.
>
> Are there any good emulations or will I be better off with samples?
Check out the Voce V5 module: http://www.voceinc.com/
Kind regards
Mikael Hillborg
MHC Synthesizers and Effects
http://www.mhc.se/software/plugins/
---GT---
<eikrogst@-shrinktofit-.start.no> wrote:
>Anyway, a six oscillator per voice analog style (for triangle waves) synth with
>decent polyphony is pretty rare. Almost any synth? I don't think I can name one.
>
You could create a patch containing a single triangle wave and layer 6
patches. Sample-based synths often have analog waveforms too like
sawtooth, sine and triangle.
I have a fairly good Hammond sound in my GEM S3 created almost the
same way (one jazz organ patch layered with 4 sine wave patches).
Bob Weigel
machines I'm aware of that allow you to stack 6 patches, save the Chroma
Polaris I guess..but then it's monophonic. "Almost any synth" was the topic.
You can cleverly use an additive synth machine to do some of these things.
But I have a K5 and K5000 and nothing really sounds like the farfisa
totally. Especially the K5 because attacks always have telltale artifacts of
the K5 that are nothing like the farfisa's attacks. I mention that because
I know that board so well, and the discussion relates to what you will find
with most synths when you are trying to closely emulate a funky sound like
the Farisa.
Really haven't tried with the K5000 to know if one could come close or
not. But ALL old analog synths have the ability to have 1 to 4 oscillators
per voice pretty much that I know of. The Roland Super JX can stack two 6
voice 2 osc/voice synth boards together to give 4 oscillators. 6 voices to
play with is..pretty minimal if we're talking emulating an organ here! So
that's one of the closest from the pre digital era. Then sure, in digital
synths we get into some retro ways you can do somewhat emulations maybe.
But the controls never are there quite. Though you can do some nice things
with joysticks on VS, Wavestation, K1, etc, and assignable
controllers/sliders on other synths. But..'almost any synth'. uhuh.
But yes you can take any synth that has control over the layered
patches I guess and triangle waves. Which synth is that again? :-) It's
that control element that's going to be clunky in the end. That's why I just
went and got one. One of the guys I dealt with a while back had a really
nice vip345. Don't know if he still does. -Bob
"---GT---" <gt...@home.nl> wrote in message news:3f9d911f.570383@news...
---GT---
<soundod...@mfire.com> wrote:
> But..'almost any synth'. uhuh.
> But yes you can take any synth that has control over the layered
>patches I guess and triangle waves. Which synth is that again? :-) It's
>that control element that's going to be clunky in the end. That's why I just
>went and got one. One of the guys I dealt with a while back had a really
>nice vip345. Don't know if he still does. -Bob
>
I just wanted to give a programming tip. Sometimes it can be useful
and saves you an extra synth or module. I didn't say that you can
create a 100% emulation of a Farfisa, but you could get a useful 60's
organ sound.
In the past I have created an accordion sound for the Roland JV-80
using a church organ and a sax sample (copied the parameters from the
Roland D-10). I have used that idea for someone with a Kawai K-1 and
he got a useful accordion sound too.
People often forget that synths can be programmed.
Bob Weigel
"---GT---" <gt...@home.nl> wrote in message news:3f9e7215.7859441@news...
least try to get familiar and write a few sounds for all the machines I
have. The K1 is good with accordian sounds somehow. Mostly use it as a sci
fi sound machine myself though. With the sweepability and AM effect it has
just he right flavor for that stuff. :-) In terms of cheap digital
synths...I believe it's the all time winner! Nobody packed more bang for
the buck at the time than Kawai.
It's amazing how diverse the soundscape really is (not referring to the
old ensoniq card :-) ) each machine out there pretty much can make some kind
of relatively cool organ sound it seems. But each one is so different!
And you think 'eh...it's just an organ'. But when I play something that
needs that jumpy sharp cheesy attack...the farfisa is it baby! :-) Nothing
quite feels the same.
My theory is that popular keyboards were popular for a reason. And the
engineers who designed them went to a LOT of pain to create something that
would function in a certain way. Those things are FULL of chips. And when
you hit a key, the stuff that really goes on is very complicated to emulate.
It might take more hours than the man hours the engineers spent designing
the thing in the first place to do it well! Why? Because those engineers
were blessed along the way with the fact that they were working with natural
phenomena...not software. :-) Nature has a way of displaying COOL THINGS.
So as you begin to engineer concepts to manipulate natural phenomena into
sound of a certain flavor..nature can kind of help things along. As you
tweak and don't get quite what you wanted...you realize it's even cooler
than you wanted sometimes (when you didn't forget to put an hf cap across an
op amp feedback or some such thing :-) ) Software meanwhile has a way of
making people want to tear their hair out. Everything that isn't exactly
described correctly by the software writer is an error and will result in
either a system crash, a horrible noise, or something like that. I doubt
that anything truly nice sounding has ever resulted from an oversight in
someone's software. :-) Therefore I have a great appreciation for a lot of
these instruments....both ones that work nature, and those that do a good
job of organizing creative thoughts to describe a phenomena or the
ke. -Bob
Torben Anschau
or Synths in Combination mode.
However you're right, the farfisas could more than just triangle and they had
(depending on the model) also more than 6 Bars. You could choose between
several Sounds for the registers. Have a look on the VSTi
Torben Anschau
>A lot of people are recommending this, and saying the sounds are excellent,
>I'll
>check it out if I come across one some time.
With the Vox Sound I love to play the "light my fire"-Solo along to the Song.
It sounds at least 90% as the original. There's also that Farfisa sound you can
hear in "zombies" by the hooters.
But: The Floyds did many more things with the farfisa, espeacially with effects
and different registers. Have a look at the movie "Pink Floyd Live in Pompeii"
(now on DVD). Rick Wright makes a lot of interesting things with that
instrument. Some of them you won't do without:
1. Creativness
2.really good playing abilities
3. Total Recall (that means all knobs to twiggle directly)
4. The second Manual plus Bass Pedal
So an original would be the only good farfisa I think if you want to sound
interesting.
>Of course, I could, but the point was to have a lightweight portable module,
>something I actually would be able to carry, and take with me to practice
>sessions with my mates.
Hey, ever seen a Bontempi Keyboard? The usually have 49 Midi-Keys. My first
Keyboard was a ES 4800. 6 Sounds, 8 Rythms, Sustain. But: They have the Farfisa
sounds! They don't weight more than a sound module.
>Well, same thing there, they are heavier than me. But they do seem cool for
>home
>use though. I've seen some of these for sale for very little money
Well think about the SK 15 or 20 instead of the MS 2000 and you're fine! You
have the string sounds, the organs and an analogue synth. Plus the Nord
Electro.
Let me give you one hint: At the moment you start to work with Modules you'll
have more "problems" than just with keyboards. It's not only the weight, it's
mainly the cables, the midi connection and so on. I remember working one hour
before the rehearsal just for my connection. If I were in a band today, I'd try
to make it as simple as possible. The best solutions are two or three keyboards
that can do what they have to do on their own (thatfore: Nord Electro good
choice!). I think the SK-Series by Yamaha are undervalued. Never heard them but
they belong to my dreams. The new Roland VR 760 goes in this direction I think.
Think about that piece instead of the Nord! Maybe it has also Farfisa sounds.
Eirik K.
"Torben Anschau" <ans...@aol.comkeispem> wrote in message
> Hi
> But: The Floyds did many more things with the farfisa, espeacially with
effects
> and different registers. Have a look at the movie "Pink Floyd Live in Pompeii"
> (now on DVD). Rick Wright makes a lot of interesting things with that
> instrument. Some of them you won't do without:
> 1. Creativness
> 2.really good playing abilities
> 3. Total Recall (that means all knobs to twiggle directly)
> 4. The second Manual plus Bass Pedal
Thanks, I love the "Live in Pompeii" film, that version of "Set the controls for
the heart of the sun" has some really cool and impressive use of the Farfisa.
Shivers down my spine!
> So an original would be the only good farfisa I think if you want to sound
> interesting.
I know. I'd like one, and will get one some day. For now, I have 10-15 different
sample sets all with quite different settings and I will be using those.
> Well think about the SK 15 or 20 instead of the MS 2000 and you're fine! You
> have the string sounds, the organs and an analogue synth. Plus the Nord
> Electro.
The SK series don't seem to be very complex synths. You really wouldn't be able
to do spacey synth fx with wild intermodulation, I depend on the MS2000 for
that. And the leads are killer too.
> Let me give you one hint: At the moment you start to work with Modules you'll
> have more "problems" than just with keyboards. It's not only the weight, it's
> mainly the cables, the midi connection and so on. I remember working one hour
> before the rehearsal just for my connection. If I were in a band today, I'd
try
> to make it as simple as possible. The best solutions are two or three
keyboards
> that can do what they have to do on their own (thatfore: Nord Electro good
> choice!). I think the SK-Series by Yamaha are undervalued. Never heard them
but
> they belong to my dreams. The new Roland VR 760 goes in this direction I
think.
> Think about that piece instead of the Nord! Maybe it has also Farfisa sounds.
Well, I actually went and bought the Nord Electro, and I just agreed on buying a
Roland s-760 sampler. I have a good collection of samples, and this is really
the only solution that satisfies short of a truckload of equipment.
Thanks Torben and everyone else.
Eirik K.
"Bob Weigel" <soundod...@mfire.com> wrote in message
news:vprn6cb...@corp.supernews.com...
> that control element that's going to be clunky in the end. That's why I just
> went and got one. One of the guys I dealt with a while back had a really
> nice vip345. Don't know if he still does. -Bob
>
That one has drawbars, doesn't it? So what do these sound like in comparison
with the Compact series? More control over the stops i presume... Do they have
the boost or brilliance setting?
Bob Weigel
combination booster of the top drawbars. Percussion drawbars... btw piece
of interesting info here..I wouldn't be surprised if Vangelis used one of
these to create that strange sound that appears in the love ballad on blade
runner (same song that's on "See you later"...can't recall the actual title)
That wierd "space taxi" class sound that enters partway through the song and
resurfaces here and there doing a kind of rapid reiteration effect. On the
vip 345 and it's relatives, it has a 'syntheslalum' control slider which
sets the amount of positive going pitch bend triggered by an attack. It
ALSO has a switch so you can set whether each note hit is interpreted as an
attack..or whether an attack is created only after all notes are released
again. This affects the percussion drawbars also anyway. ..of which there
are 4, an 8', a 5-1/3', 2-2/3, and 2' btw. And you can also set a sustain
length for them, which goes from very percussive to mildly percussive I
guess you'd say.
Anyway, so when you add either flutes or the piano/harpsi voice
'special effects' drawbars, and you have syntheslalum pulled, you hear
anything from a tiny pitch bend on attack, to one that starts 9 notes below
roughly. That amount depends on the setting of the nearby dial. The slalum
slider sets the time it takes for that whole bend to take place.
MEANWHILE...there is a 'repeat' button which reiterates notes on the far
right. And a knob to control the reit rate! So combining all these things
gives you an interactive lfo situation with total control over the types of
voicing mix in the attack and sustain phase... and it has a characteristic
flavor that would leave me amazed if vangelis had used anything else on that
particular sound.
Anyway this keyboard also has a split option and it gives you a couple
'bass' drawbars and an option between it sounding somewhat like a monophonic
analog with organ envelope, and a decaying envelope. Otherwise you can
select 'chords' and it will become full polyphony again and make a mellow
organ sound down there. Fairly nice one. And I guess the pedal board does
that stuff if you don't hit split. I don't use pedalboards.
Ok, so there are 16' and 4' available in flutes IN ADDITION to the ones
already listed for percussion. And those are most of the controls on this
thing...with the upper three flutes as I said given a drawbar that boosts
them together which I find very nice...probably equiv. to the brilliance you
were talking about on compacts. I've heard them in productions and I don't
think there are too many sound differences in them and this for the most
part...save the special effects you can get with the syntheslalum and
reiterate functions. -Bobnews:E3Znb.35093$os2.5...@news2.e.nsc.no...
Pete Nalda
control can be set up to provide more harmonics so you set up the 2
oscilators for let's say 16' and 2' and use the FM amount to provide
more. I have an AN1x and this gives me a pretty good farfisa sound.
>
>
>
Daniel Means
"Eirik K." <eikrogst@-shrinktofit-.start.no> wrote:
If you use EXS-24 or Kontakt or don't mind loading samples manually into a
sampler (with pre-looped files) then I have a CD for sale with complete
samples of a Combo Compact. If you're interested look here:
www.tra-la-laudio.com
Daniel