SY-300- Blown Away- I just drove the SY-300 Oscs only with the EHX Synth 9

[Rhcole]

It's really late, and it was just a quick idea to try out before turning in.
Oops.
A few of you who read other sections know that I am now running the Mel 9 and Synth 9 into the SY-300. I hadn't gotten around to driving the SY Oscs only with the Synth 9, but noticed that in some cases the SY Oscs sounded terrific when the S9 drove them.
So, I thought I would see as a quick experiment how the SY sounded if the input was nothing but the Synth 9 turned up. No direct audio from the S9 to the outputs, no direct guitar to the Oscs, only the SY Oscs making sounds.
It absolutely flattened me. In some cases (not all for sure) it tracks BETTER. But, there are other factors, such as real portamento, complex harmonics, interesting rich modulations, much more. Too much to write up right now.
In my opinion, one of the greatest strengths of the SY-300 is its unpredictable, organic responsiveness that is unique to itself. Driven with the Synth 9, you get a genuine expansion of sounds.
You might have to get one soon.

[szilard]

It's really late, and it was just a quick idea to try out before turning in.
Oops.
A few of you who read other sections know that I am now running the Mel 9 and Synth 9 into the SY-300. I hadn't gotten around to driving the SY Oscs only with the Synth 9, but noticed that in some cases the SY Oscs sounded terrific when the S9 drove them.
So, I thought I would see as a quick experiment how the SY sounded if the input was nothing but the Synth 9 turned up. No direct audio from the S9 to the outputs, no direct guitar to the Oscs, only the SY Oscs making sounds.
It absolutely flattened me. In some cases (not all for sure) it tracks BETTER. But, there are other factors, such as real portamento, complex harmonics, interesting rich modulations, much more. Too much to write up right now.
In my opinion, one of the greatest strengths of the SY-300 is its unpredictable, organic responsiveness that is unique to itself. Driven with the Synth 9, you get a genuine expansion of sounds.
You might have to get one soon.

I hadn't thought about the portamento that alone might make it worthwhile. Of course you then have the filters, LFOs, and sequencers ...

[Rhcole]

Here's what makes this special. The S9 has heavy compression and very distinct waveforms that the SY loves. When you run the S9 into the SY, you get a distinct character for each waveform the S9 produces imprinted on SY Oscs. BUT, in the SY, you can change attack, waveforms, octaves, etc. So the S9, which is pretty limited as far as its own sonic palette, in partnership with the SY produces a greatly expanded range of options. Further, the various modulations in the S9 cause organic and slightly unpredictable fluctuations in the SY. They can be very musical, or in some cases, they don't work.

Because the S9 produces distinct waveforms, in some cases the tracking is better than if you use a guitar straight into the SY. The limitation is that the S9 itself doesn't have perfect tracking, so if you hit it the wrong way (think dissonant intervals) you get the S9 and SY that BOTH can't track what you are playing. That doesn't sound very good. Also, the String Voice #8 on the S9 can't track at all, it sounds like whimpering kittens. I wanted to apologize to my equipment for even trying it.

The right way to use the S9 into the SY is to run two cables in- one from the S9 synth into the main input of the SY, and the direct out into the Return jack on the SY. This way, you can process the pure Oscs in the SY without having the regular guitar blended in, or you can do partial blends.

Since I have both the Mel 9 and the Synth 9, I have decided to run the Mel 9 into the Return jack and the Synth 9 into the input. That seems to offer the maximum flexibility of settings. The Mel 9 doesn't offer waveforms interesting enough to drive the SY Oscs, so it is mostly about being able to process it separately from the synth section. It's also surprisingly simple to connect: the guitar goes into the Mel 9, its output goes into the Return jack on the SY and the clean out goes into the Synth 9. The Synth 9 goes into the Input of the SY and you're done. In my case I have a Mod box on the Mel 9 but it isn't mission-critical.

This combo is a real instrument. It will take months to explore all of the ins/outs.

[chlorinemist]

Really interesting stuff guys!

The potential of these polyphonic pitch tracking-based effects is really compelling. I've always wanted effects that could really transform the timbre of my instruments into something entirely different, and the way that these pedals do this mostly through audio manipulation rather than sample/midi triggering is really cool. Seems like there is a lot more behind the way they work than the companies are letting on... Would love to see a big fully programmable unit that gives users access to more of the parameters involved in the process and give users more freedom to sculpt their own sounds

[Rhcole]

What the heck... I posted this fragment under the General Discussions section, but I'll throw it in here too.
Taken off a Looper, 30 seconds with everything going at once.

[mchad]

What the heck... I posted this fragment under the General Discussions section, but I'll throw it in here too.
Taken off a Looper, 30 seconds with everything going at once.

sounds great. well done. so the reverb is from the SY? I was just thinking that a top notch reverb pedal is going to make pad sounds even better.

[tbeltrans]

What the heck... I posted this fragment under the General Discussions section, but I'll throw it in here too.
Taken off a Looper, 30 seconds with everything going at once.

That is absolutely beautiful!  I may have to look into getting the S9.  Great stuff!

Tony

[Rhcole]

Mchad,

The SY can do reverbs equal to Strymon and others. Try out a couple of the reverb patches I loaded up.
They use quite few resources though. There isn't much left over after creating a high-end verb.

[Rhcole]

OK, I'll do a couple of more double postings between sections and that will be enough. This is also under General Discussions.
A short demo of portamento/glide with the SY and S9 working hard together to convince you that you are not really listening to a Fender Telecaster Thinline.
I buy it, and I was there!

FYI, the S9 Portamento voice doesn't respond to fast playing, so using the SY you'd need to use a few tricks to work around it if that was your goal.
...I would likely not use the S9 voices directly like I do here, but would rely on it to drive the SY voices and would use the S9 only for the portamento segments. I'd have a Ctl pedal or expression pedal to switch.

[Rhcole]

Here is the final demo of this I will post, and the summary of why I wrote this up. The first part of the demo is the Synth 9 by itself; second part is the SY-300 by itself; and the third part is the Synth 9 driving the SY-300. To me, this is proof of the argument "the sum is greater than the parts". When the two boxes are combined you get a patch that would be worthy of Omnisphere, with a richness and complexity that neither could deliver on its own.

And all of this through a 1/4" jack. To me, this is something brand new in the world of stomp boxes. 

[jcaman]

Rhcole, you are an inspiration.
I usually plug my guitar into an A/B box with the A output going into the SY300 into small mixer/speakers
And the B output going into my pedalboard(envelope filter, wah, phaser, fuzz, OD, flanger,
Ring Mod, H9, Timeline)into two amps(stereo)
But now I feel I need to route things differently.
Wish I didn't have to sleep