The Hartmann Neuron was and in a way still is a polarising instrument. For those who like to generate unique soundscapes it is a very interesting tool. Several people claim it only can sound harsh, cold and digital and you can get the same sounds with software synthesizers. Let’s hear if that is true and decide for yourself.
Do not expect the sound of a real Orchestra when listening to the first example.
Orchestral Pad
To me this sound includes in a way horns, strings and a bit the decay of a harpsichord at the end. All thrown together, shredded and put together again. Do you think this to be a harsh, cold and digital sound?
Next sound is one of my favourites and named “bebe Tara”. Originally planed to be used in a short diving movie, but the movie never made it.
By using the sticks (= “chanterelles”) you can influence some of the characteristics of the sound, depending on the model used. The reverb you hear is the internal one and to be honest, quite important for most of the sounds…
bebe Tara
In the last audio demo you can listen to several sounds I played in a row. Yes, some of them are scratchy, to me this is part of the “charme” of Neuron. Switching between sounds sometimes can take a while as Neuron always has to load the model.
several neuron sounds
Mass & Time
sounds like a motor saw recorded thru a phaser
Der Erzaehler
reminiscence to a project in the 90ies, has some Peter Gabriel “genes” in it
VP-1 Bellpad
very scratchy, but I love it
Didgeridoo
a factory sound, played a little bit with the chanterelles.. surprisingly does sound better then during playing
Wave Tubell Pad
used a Wave sample and “ReModellized” it, does not need further explanation, does it? Maybe your monitor boxes cannot reproduce the low end at the beginning.
Unisonal
to avoid any depressed listeners I am ending with a “happy sound” … mh… maybe not to happy for others, but at least happy for me. Chanterelles were used once more.
Last but not least - in case you ever have the chance to switch on a Neuron one… no, two recommendations. First put on your sun glasses before you switch on… but before that check the fuses :wink:.
If you want to know more about this machine, then visit hartmann-music’s website. There are more Hartmann Neuron related websites online with lots of informations, like the one from Sylvain Kepler or the dedicated Neuron Forum. And if you want to know more about Neuron Forum user “neuronaut” - he is what I call the brain, maybe DSP brain describes it more precisely, behind the Neuron - then it is a must to click here.
Korg OASYS User minnkorg was so kind to provide a MIDI file in Supertramp style. Several Wurlitzer sounds were recorded as they are using on board effects. There are HD-1, MOD-7 and KARO sounds for the OASYS versus Roland factory and SRX expansion sounds. Feel free to post any comments.
A - Roland XV-88 factory sound User Bank 065
B - Roland XV-88 SRX Expansion 015
C - OASYS MOD-7 Combination
D - OASYS KARO Wurlitzer E. Piano 2
E - OASYS KARO Wurlitzer E. Piano 1
F - Roland XV-88 factory sound User Bank 006
G - Roland XV-88 factory sound User Bank 019
H - OASYS Program D080
I - OASYS KARO Wurlitzer E. Piano 3
J - OASYS MOD-7 Combination + EFX
The following sounds were used (different order above):
Roland XV
- factory sound User Bank 006
- factory sound User Bank 019
- factory sound User Bank 065
- SRX Expansion 015
OASYS
- KARO Wurlitzer E. Piano 1
- KARO Wurlitzer E. Piano 2
- KARO Wurlitzer E. Piano 3
- MOD-7 Combination
- MOD-7 Combination + EFX
- Program D080
I have posted two Wurlitzer demos some time ago. But now with the MOD-7 Wurlitzer sound I thought it is of interest to add a demo file to compare these three sounds. The first two are sample based sounds using the HD-1 engine whereas the last is the MOD-7 version.
Exactly the same sequence was used with the same velocity curve, digital audio data transfer via OASYS lightpipe into MOTUs Digital Performer.
OASYS factory sound D080
KARO Wurlitzer sound 001 for OASYS
OASYS Combination using two MOD-7 sounds. First loop is dry, second is with the same EFX settings as found in KARO’s Wurlitzer sound 001
Now all three in a row with the same EFXs. First factory sound D080, followed by KARO’s sound 001 and last but not least MOD-7 combination:
For those who are interested in the difference of the factory sound and one of the KARO Wurlitzer samples. Here is a short phrase played with both - internal HD1 sound #D080 and KARO Program #001.
Exactly the same sequence was used with the same velocity curve, digital audio data transfer via OASYS lightpipe into MOTUs Digital Performer.
OASYS factory sound D080
not bad…. but
KARO Wurlitzer sound 001 for OASYS
Unfortunately I had some problems with the word clock, thus you can hear in both sounds some clicks. but this did not influence the different sound characters at all.
Here is another sound demo, somehow old fashioned, I know. It is one Combination of MOD-7 Programs to get the E-Piano sound which is another try to copy Yamaha’s GS-1 together with an HD-1 Saxophon Program.
GS-1 & Saxophon
.. sorry for the clipping. Have to get used to the basics of recording again….
addendum:
… and that’s how it could sound with drums - version for Porto & Tribuswinkel:
composed by Antonio Caldara
* 1670 in Venice; † 28. Dezember 1736 in Vienna [Wikipedia]
vox: jaqueline schwarz
vox edit: andreas ecker, pmm
drums: andreas ecker
keys: pmm
OASYS
- “Dark Aquarell” combination from KPS (indigo strings, ob-xa pad, modified #A-013)
- “Stage E.Piano”
- one of the many STR-1 “guitars”
- sample from Distorted Reality / Spectrasonics
OASYS together with MOTU’s dp5.1, PSP’s Vintage Warmer and some UAD Plug Ins
There were always instruments that impressed me. Yamaha’s VL-series is one example, Korg’s Wavedrum another one. The latter I could not afford and unfortunately disappeared to fast from the market without finding a new home in my studio. Now it is no longer available… so in case you know someone who is willing to sell his Wavedrum.. please let me know.
Korg’s Wavedrum had unique sounds of which you can hear some on Eric Persing’s sound collections. The Wavedrum’s pad was of course half of the secret and I am afraid there is no real way to compensate that within OASYS. But the number of different controllers like the VJS together with velocity and aftertouch could make a different approach feasible. Anyway this is not the place for it and there is most likely much more necessary…
Together with Ebse I recorded the following track which consists of Korg sounds only. Not very surprising the drumloop is a Wavedrum sound and even less surprising everything else comes from Korg’s OASYS.
Maybe you listened to some of my MOD-7 demos. Don’t be afraid, there are no more coming!
Now it is RC’s turn.
Richard Courtel aka RC
RC-Mod7-Demo.mp3
Why this demo?
I always like to make demo of new synths because lots of people love to listen to demos than sometimes do not come out quickly from manufacturers.
Demo Specs:
16 midi tracks used. You can see on the screenshot which patches i have used. I use the patterns to create different phrases for each sound. I have created 35 patterns for this one what is pretty low in fact and I could have made more variations and so more patterns but it’s not the purpose of this demo. I focused on the sounds, took the ones that really inspired me in the factory loaded bank, 12 MOD7 sounds + 4 drum tracks (HD1).
Screenshot of the patches used for RC’s audio demo.
I have used 9 IFX slots (see screenshot) and all mFX/TFX slots. Concerning IFX you can see that is quite simple and the guitar sounds took almost half of the IFX used.
The complete demo took 25 - 30 hours.
Screenshot of the IFX used by RC for his audio demo.
I really like to work with Korg sequencer, beside the fact that of course some functions are lacking, but it’s quite simple, straigh forward, from my point of view, and you can achieve good songs quickly with it.
MOD7:
The sounds are really good and by using only one you can have several sounds ready because of the well programmed realtime controllers, especially the Vector JoyStick which I have used a lot in the sequencer.
If any one has questions about this demo, I will answer of course!
In a posting at Karma-Lab Forum OASYAN RC aka Richard Courtel was asking me for some Neuron sounds. Therefore I thought I will give it a try.
A synthesizer’s sound character also depends on the person playing it. Neuron is here no exception, on the contrary in my opinion Neuron’s sound does even more depend on the person using it. This is not an excuse for the demos, just an explanation that in case you hear some completely different sounds and being surprised that it is the same source used here.
Neuron was and still is a polarising instrument, no doubt but for someone who likes to generate soundscapes it is a very interesting tool. Several people claim it only can sound harsh, cold and digital. Let’s hear if that is true and decide for yourself.
Do not expect the sound of a real Orchestra when listening to the first example.
Orchestral Pad
To me this sound includes in a way horns, strings and a bit the decay of a harpsichord at the end. All thrown together, shredded and put together again. Do you think this to be a harsh, cold and digital sound?
Next sound is one of my favourites and named “bebe Tara”. Originally planed to be used in a short diving movie, but the movie never made it.
By using the sticks (= “chanterelles”) you can influence some of the characteristics of the sound, depending on the model used. The reverb you hear is the internal one and to be honest, quite important for most of the sounds…
bebe Tara
In the last audio demo you can listen to several sounds I played in a row. Yes, some of them are scratchy, to me this is part of the “charme” of Neuron. Switching between sounds sometimes can take a while as Neuron always has to load the model.
several neuron sounds
Mass & Time
sounds like a motor saw recorded thru a phaser
Der Erzaehler
reminiscence to a project in the 90ies, has some Peter Gabriel “genes” in it
VP-1 Bellpad
very scratchy, but I love it
Didgeridoo
a factory sound, played a little bit with the chanterelles.. surprisingly does sound better then during playing
Wave Tubell Pad
used a Wave sample and “ReModellized” it, does not need further explanation, does it? Maybe your monitor boxes cannot reproduce the low end at the beginning.
Unisonal
to avoid any depressed listeners I am ending with a typical “happy sound” … mh… maybe not to happy for others, but a happy sound for me. Chanterelles were used once more.
Last but not least - in case you ever have the chance to switch on a Neuron one… no, two recommendations. First put on your sun glasses before you switch on… but before that check the fuses :wink:.
If you want to know more about this machine, then visit hartmann-music’s website.
Again, I have used only MOD-7 factory sounds with one exception. Starting at around 1:40 until around 2:20 you can hear a MS-20 solo sound. It is getting alive as soon as you start using Bender, Ribbon and Vector Joystick. Everything else is MOD-7 and can be found in the factory sounds. And again, everything is 100% OASYS and was played in a row without quantisation or anything else MIDI related.
MOD-7 demo IV
Addendum:
sounds used
- When a Robot Dreams (Intro)
- Beyond the Clouds (pad playing the harmonies, changed a little bit the EQ for the lower frequencies)
- Lost in an Ion Storm & Convergence (salt & pepper sounds)
- Double Plucked (PPG like sound)
- iRandom pmm solo (MS-20 engine)
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