Can I Use a Mono Synth for a Lead and Are There Prophet Alternatives?
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Firstly, other than bass, do monophonic synths have real uses? It seems like such a prohibitive limitation to not be able to play chords. I know there are sort of ways around this, but only one voice at a time seems like it would only work in bass lines. Is this the case? Are any lead sounds in modern electronic music made with a monophonic synth?
Furthermore, if I wanted to buy a "simple" hardware based polyphonic synth, with oscillator waveforms like the classic SW synths (Sylenth, Hive, Diva, Primer) and a functional keyboard (but not spend $4,000) - used or new, do I have options?
In terms of analog hardware, I really can only find one classic "East Coast" polyphonic subtractive synth with a keyboard currently being manufactured (the Prophet line).
The Korg Mini has too small of a keyboard and only one voice, the Moog Voyager only has one voice, The Virus seems harder to use...and I am out of ideas after that.
willynolan
3 years ago
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2 votes
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Sound Design Help
Thank you good sir!
0 3 years ago Reply
I'd say Bass is the most common use, but yes you can definitely use a mono synth for leads. I typically put a poly synth in mono mode when I'm making a lead anyway, often so I can take advantage of portamento.
For polyphonic hardware synths that don't cost a ton see this link:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=polyphonic+synthesizer&sb=low2high¶ms=eyJmYWNldCI6eyJDYXRlZ29yeSI6WyI0OTgvNTEwIl19LCJjb21wYXJlIjpbXX0
It's sorted from the lowest price to highest and you'll see there are a decent amount below 1K.
0 3 years ago Reply