Hi from Canada [Retro Midi/Audio]

[SoftAutomaton]

Hi everyone - I'm an electronic musician and vintage synth tech located in Canada. I build and use a lot of retro midi/audio computers, as well as vintage hardware and software for my productions. you'll find me as @SoftAutomaton wherever...

Currently on my bench:
- A Pentium 1 with dead RTC that will run a EMU APS Audio card (as well as another SB32). DOS + Dual 98/95 boot planned
- A MiniAT 486DX with equally dead and leaky Varta battery. The OS set up will likely be similar to the Pentium. We'll see.

thanks for letting me join!

[ Other Builds: Yamaha CX5M MSX1, C64, Atari STE, 386 running WFW31.11, XP/98SE ]

 

[ElectroBlaster]

This is right up my street

I have an unused EMU APS that is still sealed, I really need to refurbish an old computer that runs 98se and XP to use it.

I have a bunch of samplers, mixers, amigas and ataris with midi stuff.

Welcome to the forum

 

[SoftAutomaton]

A sealed APS, no less! I'm happy to see at least one other audio-related member. i suspect we'll have a few things to talk about along the way thanks for the reply.

the one I have here was in full use and was given to me so I haven't been able to run it yet. i understand there are some third party drivers that one would want to use. Once I breathe life into the P1 I'll eventually get that sound card in there.

 

[deladrevoc]

Welcome to Amibay

I've built a Dell Optiplex Windows XP DAW with Acid Pro 6 and TerraTec DMX 6fire, a Delta 1010, I have a couple of midi keyboards, CDTV, midi interfaces / samplers for my Amigas.

I'm trying to find the time to learn how to use it all and produce something with it, but life always gets in the way

 

[SoftAutomaton]

I've built a Dell Optiplex Windows XP DAW with Acid Pro 6 and TerraTec DMX 6fire, a Delta 1010, I have a couple of midi keyboards, CDTV, midi interfaces / samplers for my Amigas.

I'm trying to find the time to learn how to use it all and produce something with it, but life always gets in the way

Hi @deladrevoc - that's a good combination, actually. the maudio unit has plenty of line leve I/O and the terratec gives you access to RCA jacks for more consumer branded equipment (which is equally fun to use). ACID 6 is a great multitracker too, primarily because it's really intuitive and the loop algorithm was ground breaking for its day. It just makes it really easy to throw ideas at it and remain in sync. It was generally seen as a more consumer-level tool but it really wasn't. It was incredibly sophisticated (and stable!). I produced fully mixed songs from ACID 2.0 to 6.0 without a problem for years.

You can also take advantage of the separate MIDI I/O ports between the units and compartmentalize the keyboard and sampler setups. That will reduce the bit of lag caused by chaining all the midi units together. If you have multi-timbral synths it will be even easier to get something interesting happening.

 

[Templar]

Welcome to Amibay.

 

[Glendower]

Hi everyone - I'm an electronic musician and vintage synth tech located in Canada. I build and use a lot of retro midi/audio computers, as well as vintage hardware and software for my productions. you'll find me as @SoftAutomaton wherever...

Currently on my bench:
- A Pentium 1 with dead RTC that will run a EMU APS Audio card (as well as another SB32). DOS + Dual 98/95 boot planned
- A MiniAT 486DX with equally dead and leaky Varta battery. The OS set up will likely be similar to the Pentium. We'll see.

thanks for letting me join!

[ Other Builds: Yamaha CX5M MSX1, C64, Atari STE, 386 running WFW31.11, XP/98SE ]

Cool! What are some of your favorite vintage snyths? I don't make music, but I really liked how games could sound different depending on your module. I think that's what I miss about graphics cards through the 90s and early 2000s-- they generated very different-looking outputs. You could tell from screenshots what card rendered the game. They had to make compromises and had different strengths, we could argue about them on forums, and it wasn't just FPS it was the qualitative differences that also mattered.

I started off with a Tandy, then got a Sound Blaster 1.5, then a Pro, then and AWE32, but when I had the tandy and Sound Blaster, I used to oogle the ads for MT-32s that came bundled in Sierra games. I could only imagine what they must sound like for a sound module (or card). Once prices started to drop, I started buying modules and cards. I had been hooked on Yamaha since impulse buying a DB50xg that was on sale at Best Buy. I eventually ended up with a couple SW60xgs for retro builds, an SW1000xg, and an MU1000. SOmewhere along the way, I snagged an MT-32 before those prices went insane, an SCD-15 (basically an SC-55 MKII on a board). It's just a ball to be able to hear all of the different renditions of game music. I'd like to get a good guitar midi controller and try my hand at some composition with all of these modules

 

[SoftAutomaton]

@Glendower - hey thank you for jumping in.
Yeah the midi module for games era seems really intriguing. I've never owned any of them. I do have the SGF-05 unit in my CX5M but I'm not sure if it interacts with games. I've never tried. The Yamaha FB-01 is the closest unit that does. I have the original editor for that so that will probably one that I would look for first. I also had some experience with Sound Blasters in the 90s but I just don't remember what cards they were. My recent adventures in all this have been far more specific than back then.

As for vintage synths, there so many good ones and I've had a LOT of them pass through my hands in my life. I actually prefer the really obscure and odd stuff but there is also a balance to be found when mixing them with other instruments. If you're asking for a hypothetical recommendation, the Yamaha CS-30 (duophonic / split mono), Korg MS-20 (old or reissue), and Roland SH-101 / MC202 are monophonics that offer so much and mix well. There are others for sure but I gravitate to those easily. Vintage polyphonics: I have a Roland MKS-80 and Nord Lead 1 that I love. I use a polysix often. It was one of the first vintage synths I ever purchased. My desert island synth is probably the Access Virus TI2 (not so vintage...). I'm determined to master that and the Yamaha DX7IIFD (vintage and complex). I also have a mix of modular that pretty much always brings something interesting.

My insta shows a whole host of weird finds and repairs I've done. It's all over the place there.

 

[ElectroBlaster]

The only interesting vintage synth I had was a Korg Poly 800 special edition reverse-key model.
I sold that to a guy who I can only describe as "Aphex Twin" as he really did look like Richard James lol.
I have no proof as the guy used a different name, so all my friends think I am nuts or was on something if I ever bring it up!

I deeply regret selling that poly 800. I also had a Casio CZ101 which needed serious repair.

I do have a large collection of stuff still:

5 x Akai S3000XL
1 x Akai S01
2 x Akai S20
Roland TR8
Bassbot TT303
Volca Beats
Volca Keys
Volca Drums
Moog Minatuar
Akai Rythm Wolf (no idea why I own it but it was £12 at the time so...)
32 channel mixer desk
Various rack effects, compressors etc
Motu Audio Express 6x6
Motu M2
Motu Midi Micro Lite
Various other external soundcards

Plus! A stupidly large collection of Amiga samplers of all types.