Midi Controller or Synth

L

labradford

New member
Hi, I want to make ambient music but all I have is an old guitar and an audio interface (Focusrite Saffire 6),and I want to buy the real thing, but I don't know if I should buy a synth or a MIDI controller.

I'm aiming for something like:
Brian Eno - An Ending Ascent
Stars of the Lid - Meaningful Moment

I've heard quality synths are very expensive, and someone recommended me to buy a cheap midi controller instead, but I rather save a little more and buy a quality product. To be honest I'm broke and my budget is $500.00 ($600.00 at most).

So, what would benefit me more, a MIDI controller or a synth? What brands should I avoid? What brands are good?

I really appreciate your help.
 
I'm pretty sure most of the synthy pads in SOTL are actually guitars - this is Brian McBride's 1996 setup:

odqMC.jpg


With Eno, it's a bit harder to tell as the man's probably used all kinds of stuff over the years...but apparently he did use the DX7 a lot on that soundtrack (where "An Ending..." is from, that is). But I'd still think the sound's got more to do with the effects processing (reverbs, harmonizers) than the synth used.

That said, with a budget like that I'd probably go for a quality keyboard and some decent plugins, as the hardware synths in that price bracket tend to be a bit limited. I personally think it's a good idea to start with software and only move to hardware when you have a better idea of what you're specifically looking for. Even freeware plugins can sound "expensive" with the right processing; as an example, I can't give enough praise to ValhallaDSP's plugins; they're cheap, but certainly don't sound like it. Some of the reverb modes in ValhallaRoom pretty much turn anything into "instant ambient".

As for the controller, I'd suggest making a trip to a music store and trying them out a bit. Quite frankly, out of the modestly-priced modern controllers there aren't too many that I personally like - Novation makes good stuff, and Akai's MPK series is kind of ok. And that's about it - some older synths have much nicer feeling keybeds than these relatively cheap controllers, so that might be an option as well, especially since you seem to be leaning towards an actual synth (pretty much any synth made after 1983 will have a MIDI output and thus can be used as a controller as well as a standalone synth). Kurzweil and Ensoniq are personal favourites as far as the keybed feel goes...

And sorry if this is a bit disjointed and doesn't really suggest one way or the other - there's just a lot of options here (including your guitar!) and lots of methods to discover. Refining the workflow to suit your particular style is of paramount importance; I've spent years on this, just trying to optimize my setup so it works for me.
 
I REALLY liked the DX7. I think I'll have to lower my budget to $300.00, again, I'm broke. I don't even know how to play the piano, buying a cheap MIDI controller seems like a less regretable choice. Also, I might not even be able to find a DX7 here, not even a second hand.

To be honest, buying a MIDI controller seems more discouraging, I don't even know what software to get, and from what I've heard the sound quality is really bad compared to a synth. I might be totally wrong. This local store has a 32-key M-AUDIO midi controller at $125.00, should I avoid this? I'm going to the store tomorrow just to test stuff, I'm not buying anything straight away.

I care more about quality, but if there's a small quality gap between a cheap MIDI controller and an expensive synth then I rather buy a MIDI controller.

Also, can I just plug a synth into my audio interface? Got a Focusrite Saffire 6.
 
labradford said:
I REALLY liked the DX7. I think I'll have to lower my budget to $300.00, again, I'm broke. I don't even know how to play the piano, buying a cheap MIDI controller seems like a less regretable choice. Also, I might not even be able to find a DX7 here, not even a second hand.
Click to expand...

2nd hand DX7 prices on eBay seem to float around the $300 mark, so you might just get lucky. That said, the DX7 is a FM (Frequency Modulation) synth, which is a completely different synthesis method than the regular subtractive (the Minimoog, for example) method; it's notoriously unintuitive at first, and the 80s interface of push-buttons and a small screen don't do anything to make it any easier. In other words, it's a very tricky synth to begin with - unless, of course, you're fine with just using presets (of which there are plenty).

To be honest, buying a MIDI controller seems more discouraging, I don't even know what software to get, and from what I've heard the sound quality is really bad compared to a synth. I might be totally wrong. This local store has a 32-key M-AUDIO midi controller at $125.00, should I avoid this? I'm going to the store tomorrow just to test stuff, I'm not buying anything straight away.
Click to expand...

Well, you can't really say that "software quality" is worse than "hardware quality". There are great software synths, and there are shitty hardware synths, and vice versa. Granted, real analog synths still tend to sound better than software synths emulating them, but it's rarely the case that software quality would be "really bad" (although with the hundreds of plugins on offer, there undoubtedly are some that are). Also, often with free/cheap software synths the preset quality can be anything - often a great programmer might not be a great sound designer. As any true synthesist will say: "don't judge a synth by its presets". Regarding the M-Audio stuff - they tend to feel pretty cheap. Don't really like them myself, but it's not to say you can't work with 'em. I know it's a bit less of an instant gratification with a controller, but at least you get to try all kinds of synths and decide what kind of stuff you actually like.

I care more about quality, but if there's a small quality gap between a cheap MIDI controller and an expensive synth then I rather buy a MIDI controller.
Click to expand...

I wish there was an easy answer for this...but at this point, I'd just go with a controller. When you've gathered some experience & a solid footing in the world of synthesis, you'll also have a more solid basis on what to look for in a hardware synth. Of course, as said before, you can use pretty much any synth as a controller as well - so you still could go for a DX7 and use it to control those software synths. Although regarding the DX7 it has to be mentioned that the original MkI model has a "bug" in its MIDI implementation, so it only sends velocity values 0-100 out of the full range of 127, which somewhat limits its usefulness as a controller (the newer DX7II fixes this), but this is a very specific bug regarding this one model of this specific synth, which I wouldn't even mention if we weren't talking about this particular synth. Not really aware of other similar issues with other synths.

Also, can I just plug a synth into my audio interface? Got a Focusrite Saffire 6.
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Yeah, that'll work just fine. I'm actually using the Saffire Pro 40 (which is basically the same thing but bigger) & have all my hardware synths running straight into it.
 
There's a few DX7's on ebay right now for $250 BuyItNow.


You better hurry up b4 i get gearlust and grab it lol
 
Buying something online isn't an option, stuff ends up costing 1.5x-2x its price, retarded tax policies in my country. I'm from Panama.
 
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