As an owner of the original Synth AKS in 1975 (which, regrettably, I sold to buy a car in 1978), I needed a refresher course before using the Arturia software. I was very pleased to hear such familiar sounds agin and also to discover that certain functionality has been significantly improved - polyphony, patchpin voltage selection, frequency tracking, octave switching and so on. You have given us a super easy to follow set of videos which have proved to be invaluable and as a reference source. God knows how I managed to navigate around the actual synth when I was a music student, but I must have managed this as I played it in a solo concert at the 1976 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I recall the three oscillators being almost impossible to keep in tune as the instrument warmed up, and a sudden drastic runaway change in sequencer speed, also due to overheating. The plastic keyboard cover used to became very hot to the touch, without actually melting. Thank you for your help!
@@ThierryLalinne Yeah, the sound from this somewhat rare, obscure synth has nonetheless been heard by a great many people through well known, popular music. Count Depeche Mode (Martin Gore has a Synthi AKS) and Erasure (Vince Clarke has a Synthi II, or VCS 3 Mk II) as users, too. They're still being made and sold in small numbers, though, aren't they? And I heard that Behringer were working on a cheaper (but highly accurate, as they usually are) clone, so there might be quite a few more owners and users of this synth sometime. And of course there are the VSTs.
I finally understood the sync thing! :-) Thanx a lot for the very understandable explanation! And the oscilloscope helps a lot, too. Very well done! Thanx again!!
Those waveshaping knobs kind of remind me of the RSF Kobol's ability to "morph" between the various waveforms it offers--not the same thing, but reminiscent, and quite a feature for a pure analog synth to have, regarding waveforms.
Two for two. Superb. Does the sync have a name, in terms of types of synthesis? It reminds me of FM, with one acting as a carrier and one as a modulator, but that seems to miss the mark here. Thanks again. I am glad I found your channel.
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it! Sync (usually in the form of "hard" sync) isn't a synthesis type - it's literally a means of "connecting" two oscillators together so that they act sympathetically. It's basically nothing more fancy than a retriggering mechanism, but the effect it has on the slave's waveform is pretty dramatic, so it manifests as a unique kind of sound. I suppose one perspective might call that a synthesis type, but that's not something I've seen done. FM is a good analogy, but the reason FM *is* considered its own synthesis type isn't because of FM per se, but rather the operator model and algorithms that expand upon the principle.
As an owner of the original Synth AKS in 1975 (which, regrettably, I sold to buy a car in 1978), I needed a refresher course before using the Arturia software. I was very pleased to hear such familiar sounds agin and also to discover that certain functionality has been significantly improved - polyphony, patchpin voltage selection, frequency tracking, octave switching and so on. You have given us a super easy to follow set of videos which have proved to be invaluable and as a reference source. God knows how I managed to navigate around the actual synth when I was a music student, but I must have managed this as I played it in a solo concert at the 1976 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I recall the three oscillators being almost impossible to keep in tune as the instrument warmed up, and a sudden drastic runaway change in sequencer speed, also due to overheating. The plastic keyboard cover used to became very hot to the touch, without actually melting. Thank you for your help!
Aw, man, I'm so jealous. That sounds awesome. Just think that was the year Oxygene was released too. Definitely the instrument of the moment!
These tutorials are absolutely fantastic.
That's very kind of you to say, thank you :)
Wonderful! Love the sound of hard synced analog osc. Thank you.
You're welcome :) Really looking forward to doing this series. Some of my all-time favourite music was written using the VCS 3 family
@@OneManAndHisSongs Same here :) Alan Parsons Project, J-M Jarre, Pink Floyd, Eno, King Crimson, The Who etc Legendary stuff
@@ThierryLalinne Yeah, the sound from this somewhat rare, obscure synth has nonetheless been heard by a great many people through well known, popular music. Count Depeche Mode (Martin Gore has a Synthi AKS) and Erasure (Vince Clarke has a Synthi II, or VCS 3 Mk II) as users, too. They're still being made and sold in small numbers, though, aren't they? And I heard that Behringer were working on a cheaper (but highly accurate, as they usually are) clone, so there might be quite a few more owners and users of this synth sometime. And of course there are the VSTs.
I finally understood the sync thing! :-) Thanx a lot for the very understandable explanation! And the oscilloscope helps a lot, too. Very well done! Thanx again!!
Thanks for the kind feedback - you're very welcome :)
You’re the man! Thank you so much
Those waveshaping knobs kind of remind me of the RSF Kobol's ability to "morph" between the various waveforms it offers--not the same thing, but reminiscent, and quite a feature for a pure analog synth to have, regarding waveforms.
Thanks again for this instruction video. I needed that! :)
You are very welcome!
You present this so clearly. I thank you. It's hardly intuitive!
I agree, it's an odd beast! Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it :)
THANK YOU!
You're welcome!
Two for two. Superb. Does the sync have a name, in terms of types of synthesis? It reminds me of FM, with one acting as a carrier and one as a modulator, but that seems to miss the mark here. Thanks again. I am glad I found your channel.
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it! Sync (usually in the form of "hard" sync) isn't a synthesis type - it's literally a means of "connecting" two oscillators together so that they act sympathetically. It's basically nothing more fancy than a retriggering mechanism, but the effect it has on the slave's waveform is pretty dramatic, so it manifests as a unique kind of sound. I suppose one perspective might call that a synthesis type, but that's not something I've seen done. FM is a good analogy, but the reason FM *is* considered its own synthesis type isn't because of FM per se, but rather the operator model and algorithms that expand upon the principle.
@@OneManAndHisSongs Thanks for taking the time to give such a thoughtful response. I have a lot to learn but I find it all interesting.
No problem, you're welcome