CLASSIC SYNTH VERSUS SOFT SYNTH

Three synth titans line up against six software pretenders – starts

If we can get historical for a moment, there have been many key moments in the development of music technology: guitar amplification, the introduction of magnetic tape, multi-track recording, computer-based recording… And then there is the sub-strata relating to synthesis, which could take up an entire issue in itself.

Over the last few years, the reemergence of hardware synthesisers has raised plenty of eyebrows. The market is bustling with radical new analogue and digital designs and reissues of absolute classics. And it’s this latter category we’re focusing on here, and the question we repeatedly ask is: “why would you spend thousands on a reissued piece of hardware, from 40 or 50 years ago, when you can buy the software for a fraction of the price?”.

There is much to debate here, not least of all whether there are intrinsic sonic differences between hardware and software, so in the first of a series of articles, we start with three of the finest monosynths ever produced, and audition the hardware against comparable software. But it’s not just down to us! We have captured soundbites from the hardware plus the desktop and iOS software, and we’d like to invite you to vote on which sounds best. So we have a classic hardware reissue (or the original synth) vs one desktop emulation vs one iOS emulation.

The synths this issue

We’re going to start with the king of the classics: the Minimoog. Arguably the most influential monosynth of all time, it is often regarded as the grandaddy, created by the Godfather of synthesis, Bob Moog. (Purists will want to pronounce this ‘Moge’!) The original Mini is often celebrated as having a sonic identity which is gutsy and fat, so we’ve taken an original Moog reissue from a couple of years ago – all but identical to an original – and put it through its paces, against the Arturia Mini V software. Where possible, we wanted to explore rising stars in tablet form, and for the Minimoog, we have the fantastic app, made by Moog themselves. But will an app costing a few quid give the £3,000 plus hardware a run for its money, or will the long-established Arturia have a thing or two to say about it?

Next up, we stay State-side, and audition Korg’s classic hardware reissue of the ARP Odyssey, against their own iOS app, replicating the same machine. The original Odyssey came some years after the Minimoog, but offered a different, unique sound which complemented the Moog. It was also one of the machines that shook up the market, bringing the cost of analogue subtractive synthesis to within reach of enthusiasts. For the purposes of shaking things up, we’re also going to audition G-Force software’s highly regarded Oddity 2 plugin, which is billed as a meticulous emulation of the original, but with the convenience of software.

Making up the final part of our monosynth trilogy, we head to Japan, with the affordable classic from the early 80s, the SH-101. Where the Mini was expensive and the Odyssey was just about affordable, the 101 was truly affordable, with a street price of around £200. It brought analogue synthesis to the masses, in a package which was designed for the future. You could even play it like a keytar! Roland relented to public calls for a 101 reissue a few years ago, so we have the SH-101 Plug-out (also plugin!) software, which is the same facsimile to be found in the System series synths, and the SH-01A Boutique model. With a lack of any clone-inspired iOS apps, we thought we’d place the highly-respected TAL 101-bassline plugin up against the Roland products, to hear their take on the classically tight Roland sound.

More to come

This is the first in a series which compares some of the classics of yesteryear with the codedclassics of today. We’ll offer up slices of synths on a sonic platter and let you listen for yourselves. Newer incarnations of classics can bring much to the synth table, not least of all the convenience of using a piece of software, over the hardware. And then, of course, the other elephant in the room is the price!

In future issues, we aim to explore more classics, from mono’s to polys, from Jupes and Junos, to Pros and Prophets, and we might also delve into the world of effects while we’re at it. And while we’ll bring our own conclusions to the table in terms of practicality, ease of use, price and so on, when it comes to the sound, you can decide every time.

So let’s get to it. Time for the biggest classic of them all, the Minimoog…