So I have this old synthesizer from.. guess the late 90s or something… early 2000s.. the Korg SN5R… This is a digital synthesizer…. and it just sorta hangs around mostly.. I’m in this funky situation where I’ll often push my computer a bit too hard, I suppose you’d say, and I sometimes think “why not pull the SN5R out for then?” Well ok.. accept it sounds kinda bad… as a synthesizer… or I mean.. mostly bad?
It’s PCM… so basically they recorded samples… using old technology… as the basis for there sound synthesis.. where they had no space for anything.. and so had to optomize the living crap out of anything to make anything happen.. especially compared to modern tools… of our day.. but… in a certain strange way I find that I like it’s digital sound?
Well it came with a patch editor.. software.. which I was somehow never able to use… so just out of shits and giggles I decided to do a search for an editor… for it… I figured who knows.. maybe someone has something working for it?
What I found is this Sound Quest software… and then I find out that not only do they want you to freaking hand money over for it… but if you’re on a Mac you gotta spend like.. around $500 to get your hands on a copy? Which is odd considering you can get a sorta $50 copy for the PC…. for $50 I’d consider it.. I mean I’d need to get some kinda virtualization going…
The trouble with these old sound modules is there like.. not worth it.. when it comes to programming sounds.. I mean.. its a pain to try and do… so you kinda.. need the software if you’re going to do anything with it that involves creating sounds…
It’s hard to know what Sound Quest supports… I mean.. how it could be worth shelling out that much money for it.. you can kinda see it if… there’s like old tools you want to use… or have used.. and you sorta need it for that.. and there’s not a big enough group of people interested in it for anyone to find it worth it to keep the software up to date (which is not insignificant on the Mac platform where with every new OS a certain amount of software will stop working if not updated)… but still… $500?
I have to confess that the idea that you could have a hands on control programming experience with an iPad, if I had money for an iPad.. is a compelling thing… but.. this is an obsolete synthesizer… obsolete technology… and…. to my mind… if you were to buy software to create the sounds it creates… that software wouldn’t really be worth more then $50… I’m sure you could sell an NS5R for more then $50 but… the idea of going out and spending $500.. and for $500 you could get… well really good stuff… in order to make this silly old thing to work?
I mean seriously.. I’d be using it just to be slightly crazy.. not because… anyone in there right mind would use it really?
Err…
Ok.. so lets argue it has a few sounds I like.. that there’s a certain digital sound that has a strange nostalgia value.. and then on top of that.. you can have 16 different instrument sounds going on at once out of it.. and ok workflow sucks.. and you don’t have a good idea if sound design with it will have a decent workflow even with the software… and even if it does it has a total of 2 mono channels, or one stereo if you prefer.. coming out of it? So if you want to save the bad sound via the magic that is processing.. you probably not going to be able to really do it?
Bad Oedipus Music Journals 