Bad Gear - Red Sound Darkstar - Worst Synth Of All Time???
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- In this episode of Bad Gear, the show about the universe's most hated audio tools, we are going to explore uncharted space and boldly go where no gear has gone before with the Red Sound Darkstar. Is it really that bad? Who knows... Probably aliens!
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One of RUclips's Greatest Paradoxes:
There is no bad gear on Bad Gear.
1-2 of them caused me nightmares
The only real bad synth the Cheetah synth.
@@fortheloveofnoise Laurent Garnier made good use of a Cheetah synth and Aphex Twin even named an EP after his Cheetah synth. Seems like you just are lacking talent ;)
no bad gear, only bad users. seriously: this thing is actually pretty decent. those that hate on it have no idea how to use it properly.
Well, I failed to set up a proper synth pad in the 1000 subs episode ruclips.net/video/Od2_IzmO-28/видео.html
For sure my dude. If it works and makes sound then you can find a place for it.
yeah and no, this certainly isnt a bad synth at all, but such ones do exist
except the AKAI Rhythm Wolf, which sounds really, really bad ;-)
This thing sounds sick to me... that mangling of the elektron is worth the price alone!
Any sound has a value in the talent of a musician.
True that!
I understand close almost to what you might be saying, I believe.
V Price 😇 Any sound has its beauty within the talent of a musician.
Smoke detector beep
Input skill in place of the commonly misused talent and I agree. Few people are talented.
I never thought any sound was a bad sound just different
That's the spirit
Great way to look at it! It's all about perspective :)
Rhythm wolf
I always wondered where Skwisgaar would be after Deathklok, now I know.
Metalocalypse!!!
I had one one and i still regret i sold it. The best part of this synth is that it has 5 PARTS! U can assign every part to different midi channels and u have 5 different instruments playing at the same time. U can make a full 5 channel drum module or use 3 channels for drums, 1 for base and 1 for lead! Also u can assign parts to midi channels as u want. For example u can combine a very complex patch if u assign every part to 1 midi channel and u can modulate every part independently. So many things u can do only playing with parts and midi channels. EXTREMELY UNDERESTIMATED!!!
Yeah, using that feature in one of the jams
Did everybody miss that this thing has 8 voices across 5 midi parts? I gig mine for all my parts, Bass line, Sequencer and lead in one box. It is deep, it just takes a bit of easy patching. You can even play 10 oscillators through 10 lfo's and 5 filters, if that's your jam. And the slightly shitty timbre actually sits really nicely in the mix.
External FX were the key to this thing. It provided a nice quirky raw sound that my FX rack just loved.
Agreed, it really needs some external FX
I'm amazed at how you keep pumping out videos about synths from my 'to cover on my channel' bucket list 😁
The sound bit parts in the video are really nice this time. I couldn't even find one half decent proper sound demo of the red star on RUclips and you really make it shine in all the briefness of your video. Now I really have to get one.
Also, I'm really looking forward to the vocoder video, thumbs up for that already 👍
Thanks man!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have truly given this hugely underrated instrument the kind of stardom it deserves. One man's garbage is another man's treasure.
Thank you! Pleasure!
If your videos have taught me anything it's that there is no bad gear, there are only bad users. You make everything sound good.
There certainly is gear that makes your life much easier ;)
I mean, there can be legitimately bad gear, but it's almost never due to the sound. Truly bad gear is gear that's either unusable or so difficult to use it's not worth the trouble regardless of how it sounds, both of which are a lot rarer than something that just needs a bit of creativity to fit into a mix. Something that crashes all the time or has a UI that's just outright frustrating and unfun to use and can't easily be bypassed using MIDI or CV would qualify as legitimately bad.
I LOVE all the super strange things I could find in this synth when coupled with hard delay and reverb effect. This thing also was amazing when using a Fender guitar as input source. I havent owned any other gear that twisted sounds as unpredictably, and thus as creatively, as the Darkstar. I would dive in not knowing where I would come out, and that is so much fun.
Agreed! Underrated instrument!
Sweet! I just found my Red bpm fx pro and was planning to try hooking up a guitar to it in a few days 😊 i used years ago it when mixing vinyl and it was pretty cool for that.
"Patina" in terms of audio gear! Wow, what a great concept! Or rather, what a great way to put into words that experience we often have with older gear! I love it. This thing actually sounds pretty good in your hands!
Thank you! Well, the DarkStar can be a tough cookie but it has some pretty nice sounds
@@AudioPilz Based on what you showed, I have to agree!
Thanks for reminding me of the MFB 501 which I owned in the 80s and had completely forgotten.
That one's quite a dinosaur...
Your bad gear videos are just a joy to watch, but wow, I think this is the only one where even you couldn't squeeze something pleasant out if it !
Thanks! It sounds pretty nice in the 10k episode. Have you watched the Red Sound Vocoda video? THAT'S a real fail;)
Warms my heart to see you using an Oxygen 8. It was my first MIDI controller! I had it for almost 15 years before it just died :(.
It's in heavy use for so many years
Never tried one of these but I've had a Redsound Elevata for 8 years and I still use it all the time. As long as you can get the last version of the firmware in to it (not so easy - you have to get one of the former devs to agree to send you a hex file - the hardest part - and then burn your own EEPROM), it's one of the more fun to program and unique sounding subtractive synths I've ever used, and has a way of sitting really well in mixes.
I spent about 18 months in2019 and 20 getting parts for and building a the DIY version of the Black Corporation Kijimi and right now the Elevata gets about the same amount of use.
Sounds interesting!
Just stumbled on this. Love your editing and camera pans they are lol. Also your songs were bangers.
Thanks!
Don't forget to check out the Darkstar VOCODA
ruclips.net/video/Rits_dTTZvw/видео.html
Try washing the equipment BEFORE YOU MAKE A VIDEO!!! ITS GROSS!!!!!!
That thing sucked even then. Nobody bought it for a reason, it was trying to exist in the era of the Access Virus and Fizmo.
Your channel is great fun man, you deserve more recognition for sure.
Thanks!
I can’t believe how good you made that sound. When i say my synth journey started in 1999 i really mean i got that thing and wanted better ever since. I couldn’t get anything but weird, casio or harpsichord. I did make a track with a kazoo from hell that was nice
Thank you!!!
This is actually on my want list.
It was on mine for almost 20 years😅
A friend gave me mine
Dude these videos are hilarious. Its probably been suggested but I think the DX-7 (as much as I love it) could make for a pretty good bad gear episode!
Thanks! The DX7... Long story ;) ruclips.net/video/sxDFcSOP5tU/видео.html
It sounds a little, I don't know, flat? Sterile? That being said, I quite liked what you did with it and for 160,- I think it's a pretty good deal. Thanks for another fun video!
Thank you so much! It seems to divide the nation ;)
Cheers for including carpenter's Dark star, incredible movie :D
Big fan!
Binge watching this channel on my day off. You are legitimately fucking hilarious.
Thank you!
Hey this is so great the jams in this video. Just fun and original!
Thank you!!!
This takes me back to reading about the Darkstar in Electronic Musician and pining in vain for one. Had to settle for a midi-to-cv converter hooked up to a Roland Promars.
I really craved one so bad back in the days
It's a poor musician that blames their instrument! It sounds good to me with what you did with it here. Not as phat and punchy as big name synths maybe. But Red Sound always struck me as a bridge maker between DJ's and Keyboardists. Hence the RCA jacks on the original. I think the Dark Star would definitely cut through a mix of bass heavy grooves coming off turntables, and not get tangled up with 303's and searing ARP's et al playing alongside.
Didn't work so well in the 1000sub jam (but that's, again, mainly my fault)
Sounds great, or at least very interesting to me, and I have a vintage Oberheim sitting right here. I actually reviewed a press unit back in early 2000. To me it has its sound.
I totally agree. Fascinating box
Not gonna lie, the jam that starts at 3:15 is NOICE
Thanks!
It sounds like a dark synthwave tune. Reminds me of Mega Drive.
@@bobtheman1 check out the REAL synthwave jam in the SR16 video ;) ruclips.net/video/zZ0HTFiPeyc/видео.html
@@AudioPilz Listened to it. Thanks!
@@AudioPilz I almost don't want to watch this because it might make me regret selling mine
The XP2 was the first synth I ever owned.
Such a strange beast, I'd like to find an affordable one again someday.
Yup, these are going to be legendary!
Nope, not buying the ‘worst’ hype. It sounds not only like magic to me, but a specific type of sick and fractured magic befitting the insanity that’s 2020.
It's more of a rethorical question ;)
AudioPilz 💯. You got views, playa. Job well done:)
Ahhh! One of my favorite movies as well. I don't necessarily hate the device from the sounds of it... But I would own a jawa moped just for the name , I would probably own this for the name at least partially.
Yeah, the name turns it into a no brainer for me;)
@@AudioPilz tell me you've heard of the band pinback.. they're not edm at all but so muchh fun
I really like the way it sounds for some reason... not sure why :)
If I was still making purely electronic industrial I'd absolutely jump for one of these.
True. A lot of fun for electronic sound design
Looking forward to your review of the Vocoda. I lost the original DarkStar chip and have only used the Vocoda, but I like it a lot.It's different. Before I slapped in the Vocoda chip, I actually enjoyed the DarkStar,, again, because it had unique qualities, and it's just plain weird. Thanks for reviewing it.
It was a pleasure. Looking forward to the VOCODA
Really liked the last tune! Great as always
Thanks, Schurli!
The M-audio Oxygen 8.... that keyboard literally started the digital DJ revolution.
Love 'em! Destroyed numerous MK1 and still use an MK2 as my main keyboard
I love how you take a garbaggio synth, add a few pedals, and whalah... sounds of gold.
My pedal addiction seems to pay off after all;)
I was under the impression the darkstar was designed for techstep dnb sounds and production, which was gaining popularity when it was released.
I mostly like it for spacey pseudo-oldschool sounds
@@AudioPilz To be fair, there was a lot of sci-fi soundscapes going on in late 90s/early 00's techstep! :) So...maybe Dark Star accomplished it's mission? :P
It reminds me a lot of my first synth, the Korg EA-1. I feel like the EA-1 was not a good first synth. I was endlessly frustrated with it because I wanted to make ambient music and it's just not good at that. Or I wasn't good at using it that way. No LFO, no full ADSR...and a harsh, stepped and cheap emulation of the analog sound.
Been there, done that ruclips.net/video/aiisa8flZ2s/видео.html
For being a hated synth, I could not find one on eBay or Reverb here in the US. I saw a couple of XP2’s for around $300, but not many of those.
Took me quite some time to find one, too. Thought it was only in EU...
They are pretty rare. Just picked one up locally on eBay, looking forward to using it.
Really starting to feel the thesis for this whole series: It's not bad, it just needs to be used with care and in context.
Always entertaining though! Moar, plz.
There will! THX!
@@AudioPilz Was going to say there's only so much shite gear in the world but then again, there's an unlimited supply of criticism....
I doubt there is a single piece of gear in the world that I can't pull something cool out of; It's just a matter of *how much* cool shit you can get out of something, and how much you have to "fix it in post".
@@inthefade Well, some gear really are one-trick-ponies, eg, Timbre Wolf. You don't need that sound in _every_ track.
People bought them just because they were cheap, even though maybe it didn’t fit their music. They never took the time to learn it, then sold it on and trash talked it.
If it was rare, people would rave about it.
It’s great for experimental music, like modern takes on kraut rock or early electronic styles. The oscillators are so raw. Nothing else like it.
I keep confusing this with the Hypersynth Xenophone. Great video as always.
Wow, didn't know that one! Thanks, man!
Your videos are so great!
THX!!!
man I bought the XP2 almost two decades ago and I've powered it up less than a dozen times before I got obsessed with finding the vocoder chip for it (which apparently doesn't exist for the XP2). I never have put it to good use but I know that joystick will come in handy one day
The VOCODA is REALLY REALLY bad;)
Youngsters have to understand that in music stores, synths were primarily digital “keyboards” and “workstations”. To see something with knobs and...joy stick?!?! - was pretty cool 😎. That being said, I complete spaced out that I owned one of these 20 years ago.
The joystick convinced me instantly
Very entertaining channel, keep it up!
Thanks!
Hey man, where'd you come from?! you always show that in the right hands, all gear is awesome. Seriously, you put out a bunch of content and all of it sounds great! Good work.
Thank you so much!
@@AudioPilz I actually was curious, whats your background? The rate at which you put out new musical content (all of it sounding legit, btw) is pretty impressive.
Sick jam as usual. I'd love to see a video on your back story man, like, what's your "story"? You're really good, is this all self taught? Go to music school? Ever in any bands? Do you currently make music?
Just sayin if you ever thought about making a video like that, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be interested 🙂
I mean I suppose I could just ask in a comment like I just did but I could totally see a video on the subject being fun too lol
Great idea! Thanks! I'm currently thinking about doing a vid like that but I still haven't found the right story for my story ;)
love this ! you should do a video on the Beat Thang !
Thanks! The BT came up quite often, I will take a look at it
@@AudioPilz I'm curious about Beat Thang also. It always seemed to be overselling itself in promotional videos to the point of being sleazy.
That drum machine that looks like a 1200 baud external modem needs to make a comeback.
Agreed!!!
oh wow I was just about to suggest this thing. its sitting on my shelf, but it actually sounds 'good' depending on what your ears consider good with effects
Very nice for sound design!
@@AudioPilz and for industrial/ebm type genre
A good thing was the beautiful girl on the cover of the Future Music magazine, back in 1999, holding this piece of mysterious equipment.
FM covers of the 90s!!!
Yeah i was often secretly reading those during class, back then...21 years ago...crazy sh*t
My first "synth" was a Yamaha CS1x. I still love it, but it gets a lotta hate since it's basically a dance oriented ROMpler in a cool case. Maybe worth a look or an ep? It was a huge seller in its day...
Yeah, everybody had one of those blue keyboards and every audio school and university bought them in bulk. Good idea! Where have all of them gone?
We had both the DarkStar and cousin BPM FX Pro (serial no 16) and yeah.. never got round how they work honestly. The darkstar had some cool sounds, but we only ever used the BPM for the filter section mostly. We still got em :-) wouldn't buy again though. I don't think we ever used them in our productions back in the 90s, they were just toys.
Recently did a sampling session with the DarkStar, not so bad;)
Wait, this is actually cool and I want one
Hard to find (at least where I live)
@@AudioPilz it's definitely uncommon enough to be out of my budget over here
I'm watching this gem, and it's a good look at your evolution of video production. this was great when it came out, and now your new stuff Is soooooo much more. I'm sending unicorn vibes from the uni corn.
Thank you so much!!!
You got a good deal on yours. I spotted one on ebay and began to do research and to me it seemed like the ideal synth and I had to have it. They are a little rare, or over priced. I was only able to talk a seller on reverb down to 300 dollars. Still worth it though. I laugh because most of my gear has been featured on your show. My next object of desire is the korg ms2000. I'll have to see if you've revieed it yet.
MS2K is totally on top of my list!!! Thanks for the suggestion!
@@AudioPilz I keep listening to demos and I am somewhat dumbfounded that the ms2000 is not a classic must have synth. It is like my favorite EA-1 on steroids!
I have the XP2, despite all of the panel buttons it is still very time consuming to program, lots of shift-commands. All that work and still rarely satisfied with the patch. It was a necessary starter synth, but mostly it has been in the box since 2007. That's when I got a Moog Phatty and an old ARP Axxe.
Setting up a preset in my Novation midi controller for quicker access the hidden commands is my rainy day project. One of these decades...
Keep it in the box, it will eventually become VERY expensive ;)
Dark Star is an amazing movie
Legend!
Ahh, da ist das Video, sehr cool! Ich glaube ja fast, der Darkstar klingt dann doch fast etwas zu gut für dieses Format, es wird bestimmt noch sehr viele weitere Kommentare geben, die dasselbe sagen... Daher hier mal eine richtige Herausforderung für Dich: Boss Jam Station JS-5! Weiter so, großartige Videos!
Finde den eigentlich auch sehr geil und habe mich über die Ablehnung im Netz gewundert. JS-5 steht auf der Einkaufsliste ;)
AudioPilz Yeeeess! Das Ding ist glaube ich eher so ein Alleinunterhalter-Begleitautomat oder so. Weiß gar nicht, ob man da eigene Sequenzen mit schreiben oder Sounds basteln kann... Wenn ja würde mich das aber sehr interessieren wie. Freue mich drauf!
I kinda want one of these now. I don’t understand the hate. It has a really unique and quirky character. Sounds like it could be killer in the right hands.
I like it a lot but it's not always easy to get nice tones out of it
Love this movie. Old Blood Noise Endeavors makes a reverb pedal of same name with some real magic.
Thanks! Didn't know that pedal
I love how lonely and cold you make it sound, mine behaves just like a annoying little robot pet (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Thanks! Just think of space when you tweak it
Apparently the Manfred Fricke Berlin 500 is being reissued. It's back in black XD
Nice, I have to check that out
@@AudioPilz Sadly Manfred passed away recently, the reboot (which he designed) is being managed by his company estate and is surprisingly cheap I think
I used to own one of them bad boys too haha, also, not sure why but I have always loved the word patina.
Patina is a beautiful word!
I KNEW that rang a bell somewhere way at the back of my addled brain.
Back in 2002 I helped my mate get one of these then helped him get the right Chip for it.
They'd sent it with a Vocoder Chip by mistake.
They were very good about it though, and sent him a pair of their latest firmware's chips. 👍
The Vocoder is soooooo bad...;)
Matey's reply "Just about sums it up!" 👍
You beginning to cost me money, now I want one 2
Awfully sorry for that ;)
It ain’t what you got, it’s how you use it. The tb303 alone is proof of that.
Maybe the Darkstar is the 303 of tomorrow... ;)
I quite love the way this sounds
It certainly got some character ;)
The XP2 was the first hardware synth I ever bought. I bought it because it was cheap at the time. It's still not expensive but it's probably the only synth I have that has gone up in price when I see them. As far as I know the company is defunct. I won't ever get rid of it. Mostly because of nostalgic purposes. I believe it has a unique character quality of sounds.
AFAIK, Red Sound still produces some high-end beatcounters. Keep it as an investment - prices will rise
@@AudioPilz I actually was trying to find something they made before and have been unable to but it's a bpm to midi converter.
Please Redsound Darkstar XP2 reviev too?
Great suggestion, thank you!!!
I feel like this one was used on a lot of Drum n Bass tracks circa 1999-2001 which made fine use of psytrance arpeggios ala Usual Suspects - Doorway which immediately popped in my head once you started knob tweaking. Decent gear!
I enjoyed it too!
I wanted one of these so bad in the early '00s.
Same here!!!
What’s your opinion of the same company’s Elevata?
I really would want to know. Never tried one
I have one. It is ok with a little bit of FX.
I was using a Red Star "Filter" years ago when DJing I think I will get a Darkstar soon ;-)
Interesting instrument!
Would love to hear your take on the monotrons . I spent one summer obsessed with mine and gave away four of them.
They're so good! (Most of them;)
So we are just ignoring the finger at 2:20 ? Synth is so-so, upload is good =)
Thanks!
Meine Meinung? Gar nicht übel! Especially for the price. Liked the sound well enough at the time...seemed similar to my Novation KS4, though less capable. The multitimbral feature was nice but also frustrating with only the 2 RCA jacks.
Didn't enjoy programming it so much because of the shift button. I was constantly changing parameters for the wrong thing because I either inadvertently left the shift key on, or I forgot to turn it on. Sold it for only a bit less than I paid for it (around $200). All-in-all, I think it was a decent starter VA synth.
That shift key almost drove me nuts
I have Dark Star on DVD. Told a friend he had to watch it with me. Nearly ruined the friendship. He can’t believe it is one of my top five favorite movies. Incidentally, John Carpenter is also responsible for another film on my top five list. I’ll leave it to you to guess which one.
I am a huge "Escape from NY" fan but the competition is big
“They Live”?
"Memoires of an Invisible man"? "Starman"? "The Fog"?
Shared a apartment that was just used as a studio with two different sections my personal setup and a friend's set up at the other end with a chill sectionin the middle for partying and watching videos... he had a darkstar and he never used it...made me mad because he also didn't want to sell it.
I'm pretty sure it's going to be worshipped by Planet of the apes - like postapocalyptic cults
I remember seeing the the later blue revision model of that thing in the advertisement pages in the Keys and Keyboards magazine back in 2003 / 2004. It looked interesting and i almost wanted to get one. But what pulled me off was that you had to get a MIDI keyboard as well and at that time all that stuff was way over my limited budget. I always wondered what this synth was about and how it sounded like?
Now you know. It's "special" ;)
I have the blue one and I love it. It’s is very good at creating
earth rumbling lows and equally good at creating acid sounds and the joystick just adds such organic control which is beautiful in a live performance setting
Yea man rocking vintage semi! The vocoder chip is so cash money, all life ends if you bend a leg on that rare o rare vox chip.
Bending the legs is probably the best thing you can do with that vocoder chip
@@AudioPilz hahah I get it!
hello!! could you make a brief tutorial of the multitimbric mode and its parts?
please!!
sounds pretty sick when u use it duders !
Thanks!
You just know this is going to be an expensive collectors item in the future
Already stashing all that stuff😅
The Red Sound Elevata advertises for $1000.00 on EBay but only about 300 were made.
Oh great, another to add to my ever growing hoard of gear
Recommended! This one is gonna rise in value!
You've inspired me to go back to my 20 year old XP2 and actually learn how to use the damn thing.
Best wet flatulence sounds in the history of sound synthesis!
Still got mine! And got the Vocoder chip (never tried it) Never really got on with the operating system though and been threatening to sell it for years
The Vocoda is strange
I'd like to hear what you think of the Rave-o-Lution 309. I still love that box, but I am a bit mental.
Heard this one quite a few times. First I have to find one, tho
Seems I have quite some synths from this channel ;-) Maybe I have a weird taste for strange things ;-))
I have the original black Darkstar and the XP2 as well, and I sort of love them. They are perfect for any soundscape which needs "older" sci-fi sounds, but of course you can coax other sounds out of them as well. And of course they are limited. But consider this: would anyone call a Minimoog "limited" because of its inability to produce crystal clear sparkling digital sounds? Just about any synth has its "comfort zone" where it shines, and others you best avoid or you get disappointed. I mean, who would buy an MS-20 for making lush pads and then complain that it can't do that? The Darkstar is aptly named if you think about the now famous movie by John Carpenter. If you want / need that kind of sounds, the Darkstar can happily produce them. And thanks to its multitimbrality it can get quite complex. Try this with a Minimoog - no way. So what? If you can't handle a Darkstar or don't know what to do with it, don't buy it. For all others: this is a fun machine.
Bad Gear should be in every collection;)
@@AudioPilz The only *really*bad gear are my two Gakken SX 150 ... they only lasted about a year, then sort of died :-(
Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Sie haben sich zur Reinigung des Aufzugs entschlossen.
Lol;)
I used this synth back in 2000s for some bedroom live-jams: ruclips.net/p/PLb8aw1R_jv2CAeaeU_C5usKWyRa4Eu_4L The sound was thin, never a carrier for the whole set-up. I loved the joystick for live recording. the synth was ok for industrial electronic and experimental sounds, but it needed some effects added as hall, delay, flanger or phaser for usable and portable sounds. the audio-in function and sending the signal through the envelope section had some fascinating effects (foggy, shadowing moods) for me (maybe interesting for DJs in these days). later it was stolen from my production room - I wasn't really sad about that..
I just discovered your channel and man, what a good find!! Keep them coming :)
Also, I never knew Paul Gilbert shaved off his hair and left guitars for synths :)
Thanks! Damn, the Paul Gilbert comparison came up quite a few times. At least you didn't say Moby;)
We need you to do something on the roland D2 groovebox? Bad or bettet gear, that's on you!
I really wanna do the D2 but people love it so freaking much
@@AudioPilz i thougt so... it's just that i own one and nobody seems interested in doing a proper review on it... so i was just hopeing you to do one hahaha
Let there be light! ha ha nice intro
Hello -- bomb?
Damn! I just found a Darkstar (XP2 model) on eBay for a silly price and I JUST HAD TO BUY IT !!! ;-)
Congrats! It's a nice synth for sound design