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Edited: Jan 30

A list of Multi Timbral Synthesizers

in General Discussion

A list of multi-timbral synthesizers that pair well with Midicake's multi-channel MIDI approach.

Please comment if you have any more suggestions.

ACCESS MUSIC

VIRUS/VIRUS TI

AKAI

MPC; 1,
LIVE, X
FORCE

ALESIS

ANDROMEDA

ARTURIA

ORIGIN (4 PARTS; UP TO 32 VOICES)

DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS

TETRA (4 PART; 4 VOICES)

ELEKTRON

DIGITONE
MONOMACHINE (6 PART; 6 VOICES)
OCTATRACK (8 PART; 8 VOICES)
ANALOG 4 (4 PART; 4 VOICES)

E-MU (Samplers)

PROTEUS Series (up to 32 PART; 128 VOICES)

FRED'S LAB

MANATEE (4 PART, 10-16 VOICES)
TÖÖRÖ (4 PART, 6 VOICES)
BUZZZY (4 PART, 16 VOICES)

FUTURESONUS

PARVA (up to 8 PART; 8 VOICES)

KODAMO

ESSENCE FM (16 PARTS, 300 VOICE POLY)

KORG

RADIAS (4 PART; UP TO 24 VOICES)
TRITON RACK

MICHIGAN SYNTH WORKS

XENA (6 VOICES, 6 PARTS, 1x6 Poly, 2x3 Poly, 6x1 Mono)

NORD

WAVE 2
LEAD/A1 & 4
MODULAR RACK (4 part)

NOVATION

SUPERNOVA 8 PART; SCALABLE UP TO 48 VOICES

QUASIMIDI

POLYMORPH (4 PARTS; UP TO 16 VOICES)

ROLAND

FANTOM 6,7,8
MC707
MC 101
INTEGRA AND OLDER ROMPLERS
JD-XA AND JD-XI
JUPITER X / XM (5 Parts, 4 Osc per voice, 256-note polyphony)
SH-4D

SYNTHSTROM AUDIBLE

DELUGE (16 part / variable voice)

TASTY CHIPS

GR-1 (4 part / variable voice)

WALDORF

BLOFELD (16 PART; DYNAMIC UP TO 25 VOICES)
Q (16 PART; UP TO 32 VOICES)
KYRA

YAMAHA

MODX
MONTAGE
MOTIF RACK XS
RS7000
FS1R - 4 part / 32 voice
TG33 - 4 part / 32 voice

Of course, you can also use a DAW and a myriad of VST Plugins that will work with your Midicake.

13 comments

Comments (13)

submo

May 24

Audiothingies MicroMonsta 2 is bi-timbral.

Quick note on the current Akai MPC models. They are multi timbral, but there is a pretty gnarly bug with them that means they cannot handle multi channel midi input correctly. Received Note Off messages are applied to every MIDI channel, and not just the channel they are received on. It's super annoying!

Denony

Jul 18

Replying to

Unfortunately, I confirm this issue with MPC. I just tried and MPC (with lastest 2.15 firmware) failed to record Midicake ARP MIDI note OFF events when multiples tracks (ie arpeggiators) are send simultaneously.

But, while MPC does not record the Multichannel MIDI note events, it works. It is possible to play ARP live (and use the MPC sounds engines), but it is not possible record the MIDI notes sent by ARP.

Note : The issue is on MPC side, it is not a Midicake ARP bug or compatibility issue. 😁

Edited

submo

Jul 18

Replying to

Hey...

Yeah it's a bit of a problem with MPC's.... I think it may be worse than you think.

A 'Note Off' message on ANY MIDI channel that the MPC receives (from a single port i.e from ARP) will affect every other MIDI channel it is receiving regardless of MIDI channel, so using an MPC is still broken if you want to just use it as a sound module because it's not processing multi channel MIDI input correctly. You will get some sound from the MPC, but it's probably not the same MIDI data that the ARP would be sending. Drone notes are completely out the window!

I've looked into this a bunch, here's the video I sent Akai.....

https://youtu.be/ZA0X3J53R3w?si=sjrlk6CdEFozz8ji

There are some workarounds to this.... I've made a custom MIDI interface purely so I could use my ARP, and DIgitone with the MPC without it messing with my MIDI.

Some more info here:

https://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=217906

If you need any help sorting something like this out I'd be glad to help!

Edited

Denony

Jul 18

Replying to

Thank you for all this information. I didn't think there was an impact on the "live playing" too. I did not see this with my test script.

I will look at the links you provided.

lumm71

Feb 03

Two impressive Open Source DIY projects(which you can build by your self) with great multi timbral abilities are Zynthian and Microdexed Touch (MDT).

Zynthian is a Raspberry Pi based synth/fx workstation/Groovebox and MDT is a Teensy based Dexed (Yamaha DX 7 Emulation) Expander/Groovebox.

Both projects are very well maintained and you can enjoy a helpful living community.

Sébastien Barré

Jan 30

Would a TEENAGE ENGINEERING OP-1 work fine with the Midicake? Thank you

lumm71

Jan 30

The little one man company Freds Lab also has multitembral(4x) devices:

Buzzzy
Tööörö

In the next month the new Manatee will be shipped to the Kickstarter backers.

Frédéric Meslin is a french guy who lives and works in Germany. Formerly he was developer at Waldorf synths.

https://fredslab.net/en/manatee-module.php

Chris Brown

Jan 30

Replying to

Thank you, I've added to the list. I'd only seen them in passing before, they look like interesting devices.

dwainj

Jan 20

Not got my Arp yet. Order going in soon but may I add to the list.

I picked up a Roland JV-1010 for £50 recently.

16 part multitimbral and scored a few sound cards quite cheap too.

Some great sounding patches. Very nice pads and key synths that work great with arps. So I'm very much looking forward to getting myself a midicake arp to get that jv1010 singing alongside my other synths.

David Thorn

Jan 19

It kills me that I had just sold my virus just before I got the arp lol.

For budget the micromonsta looks good (but only bi tembral)

House de Kris

Dec 15, 2023

I think this is a good topic. I was going to start the same thought on another forum, but will share here instead. At first I thought this was limited to currently available gear, but I see older stuff has been listed.

YAMAHA

FS1R - 4 part / 32 voice - my absolute favorite FM box (until another comes along).

TG33 - 4 part / 32 voice - should be a cheap unit today, vector synth.

CLAVIA

Nord Modular Rack - 4 part / voices depend on complexity - lots o' fun.

E-MU

anything by E-MU will most likely be 16 part with lots of voices, they have a boatload of 1U romplers and 2U or 4U samplers, some with up to 128 voices. An E-MU rompler and an ARP is all one would need to do entire sets.

TASTY CHIPS

GR-1 - 4 part / variable voice - I actually would NOT recommend this one as the only synth companion for the ARP. It's a great synth, I love it, but doing typical synth sounds for most incarnations of arpeggiation is not its forte. Then again, perhaps I should think outside the box more.

SYNTHSTROM AUDIBLE

deluge - 16 part / variable voice - a deluge and the ARP is my portable system that I take when I'm on the road, way fun, hours of satisfaction.

I'm glad to see the Roland SH-4D was already listed. I've been impressed by this synth of late. I tell myself I will never buy it, but I really like its architecture and range of sounds. I wish it would have been available when I was buying grooveboxes.

David Thorn

Jan 19

Replying to

I still load up my old emu e6400 with a jaz drive -I miss my fs1r

Edited

Joline

Dec 03, 2023

Roland Jupiter X and Xm are very suitable. In the same manner as the Roland MC101/707.