What Are Your Recording Setups?
Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 11:11 am
I am interested in any exceptional processing devices/ signal flows used in recording or playing live with your moog synths. As many different setups as I have used, the best for me is simply model D to mackie mixer with aux send going to space echo, from mackie to compressor to analog tape. I have used Logic and pro tools in the past, and still use them mainly for reverbs (mackie aux sends to firewire-> DAW -> reverb plugin-> mackie - > speakers/tape) and loops, but tape is indispensable for me to maintain the analog signal, and as a processor in itself, how it affects the transients (which can be changed substantially by changing the tape formulation). Also for me a good compressor/limiter is crucial for minimoog because of the wide dynamic range of the synth and how it can overload a system. LA-2A leveling amplifier for minimoog basslines enhances the sound in amazing ways, turning the fat into the morbidly obese. I think I have come to the point where I am content with the model D as my only synth, and now I just need to find the exact combination of analog signal processing to make it sound out of this world.
My next processor will be a Manley Massive Passive EQ. For those uninitiated, this is a tube EQ with passive circuitry (inductors, resistors, etc.) that imparts a wonderful, almost surreal quality to anything you put through it. It really is a magic box, and I can't wait to put the mini through it. I know most of you might think this type of stuff is boring, what with all the new modules and crazy effects out there, and I felt the same way until being exposed to audio engineering and the creative tools that non-musicans use to make music sound better and put their own signature on it. I have always wondered why synth makers and signal processor manufacturers have never really combined their efforts. Except when Moog made the Eq's. Someone should start making synth modules for 500 series lunchboxes or make signal processor modules for modular synths. It would be cool to be able to compress an oscillator before going to a filter, or to gate a filter output, etc.
I never saw the importance of the engineering side of music, but now I realize it's just as important. Whereas in the past people were mainly either a musician or engineer, nowadays the line is increasingly blurred, and since alot of us are do it yourselfers, it is important to maximize the sound of our instruments in order to maintain the quality achieved in the past which has made instruments like the minimoog so revered.
My next processor will be a Manley Massive Passive EQ. For those uninitiated, this is a tube EQ with passive circuitry (inductors, resistors, etc.) that imparts a wonderful, almost surreal quality to anything you put through it. It really is a magic box, and I can't wait to put the mini through it. I know most of you might think this type of stuff is boring, what with all the new modules and crazy effects out there, and I felt the same way until being exposed to audio engineering and the creative tools that non-musicans use to make music sound better and put their own signature on it. I have always wondered why synth makers and signal processor manufacturers have never really combined their efforts. Except when Moog made the Eq's. Someone should start making synth modules for 500 series lunchboxes or make signal processor modules for modular synths. It would be cool to be able to compress an oscillator before going to a filter, or to gate a filter output, etc.
I never saw the importance of the engineering side of music, but now I realize it's just as important. Whereas in the past people were mainly either a musician or engineer, nowadays the line is increasingly blurred, and since alot of us are do it yourselfers, it is important to maximize the sound of our instruments in order to maintain the quality achieved in the past which has made instruments like the minimoog so revered.
