Not at all! I am quite satisfied with the sound of modern synths. I
have no problems with the sound of new synths. I bought my first synth
in 1974, a Synthi VCS3 (for $500 BTW) an have owned almost every major
brand old school synth since then (Pro-Ones, Oberheim 4 & 2, Arps,
Rolands, more EMS) and I worked at a Synth/Recording gear store and
had daily access to big iron I could never afford (Arp 2500s, Emu, Big
Rolands etc). The sound of perfect waveforms is not the goal - they
are the start. I have never made a patch that didn't change the
waveform anyway. I was just amazed at the differences between the
units I have now. It has been a long time since I put a scope on a
synth but when I taught the hardware part of the electronic music
courses at university, the Arp 2500 and Emus had pretty spot on
waveforms. Like I said earlier, now I understand the comments about
the different "sounds" of different manufacturers. I can compare it to
the different sounds of different brands of guitar strings. They all
work and you work with them to get the sound you want. I just assumed
that when the different brand VCOs said Sawtooth or Square etc. that
the waveforms were the same.
The only time I would think it would get in the way is as mentioned by
another - when used in FM or ring modulation. Control voltage
applications also. But since I seldom do critical FM work that matters
little to me. The main differences I see from the big rigs of the past
and todays models is in other performance interconnection aspects. I
remember on the 2500 for example that I could keep on adding CV
sources to a VCO and it would never sag and need re-scaling. I could
fan a CV source (like the keyboard) to many places and it would just
work. Nowadays at some point you better have a buffer module or things
go wacky. It cost more but the buffering was built into the modules
themselves. Full patching freedom. Except for the EMS stuff that was
ass-backwards from everything else and had the .32V/oct CV range.
So what I'm saying is that now I'm aware that different brand VCOs
will sound different from each other. When building a system now you
will have to have a variety of modules to have a larger variety of
sounds. Some VCOs will sound warmer, brighter, crisper and all the
other words we use to describe the various different starting waveforms.
People have to remember that the old-school vintage synth were VERY
expensive in their day. It is amazing what you can get today and this
is just a side effect of cost cutting. I don't think it is a problem
at all. Every instrument takes time to learn fully and to tap it's
potential. You learn to play the rig you have.

-James

On Nov 24, 2008, at 9:35 PM, Argitoth wrote:

> James Husted, you come from an era of great synths. Can you tell me if
> this lack of quality in today's lower-cost modular synths have
> translated to worse quality in overall sound Or is it that when I rip
> out a sweet screaming synth bassline or lead that I am getting a sound
> that is honorable in the synth hall of fame Or will my synth usually
> fall short of greatness How satisfied are you with your modern
> modular synth
>
>



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