Modal Skulpt, Microfreak, Micromonsta etc?

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Short and sweet. Looking for something to use with some guitar pedals for some ambient droning kind of stuff. To be complimented with VSTs then.
I had the Microfreak and considering it again.
I also have a Microbrute and still trying to figure out some decent clean bass sounds.
Curious about the Modal Skulpt SE. I’ve seen a fair bit of pros and cons online but the sound demos seem pretty good.
The negatives seems to be around build quality and the touch keyboard.
Micromonsta 2 looks pretty interesting as well.
Small footprint and lots of knob turning opportunities.
I also have a Waldorf Streichfett string machine which is a nice little unit good for live knob twitching.
Could also revisit the Yamaha Reface CS but no saving possibilities on it.
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Comments

  • If you're specifically after droning you could try the Drone Rainger or other drone guitar pedals. Saw some interesting videos of it being combined with an Arpeggiating pedal.
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  • Thanks @personalnadir , I am not aware of that pedal. I have an EHX Freeze, and so far find it interesting. I am thinking even the Modal Craftsynth might be a nice little purchase once I clear out some of the "out tray"....
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  • i recently got a Beebo abd that has a lovely freeze effect on it. A good freeze and reverse fell essential to me. On that note the Beebo and Zoia are both good guitar pedals that can also be synths, though the are pricey and have a learning curve.

    If you want to try something totally different, it’s possible to get the Model:Cycles to do ambient drones, and they are often on sale:
    https://youtu.be/vCpcgQEhRSA

    that said while I’m happy with my Model:Cycles I find its chord engine difficult to get the sounds out of it I’d like.

    For a similar price point there’s also the Dreadbox Typhon.
    https://youtu.be/u92LCc0h3n4

    All that said the I think the Microfreak is probably your best bet given all the firmware updates it has. I do think the Sculpt has a cool feature where you can chain four together, which would be pretty cool!

    lastly at some point the component shortage will ease up and Plinky kits will be available again!

    https://www.thonk.co.uk/shop/plinky/

    If you’re handy with a soldering iron and willing to wait the Plinky looks amazing 




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  • @personalnadir thanks so much for those links. I really like the look of that Dreadbox!! Going to spend today checking the demos. I did just pick up a used Craftsynth, so looking forward to that.
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  • StrangefanStrangefan Frets: 5845
    Have you thought about the modal argon 8?  Such a great flexible synth 
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  • Have you thought about the modal argon 8?  Such a great flexible synth 
    Not as of yet. I have gone through a minilogue, microfreak, have a streichfett string machine at the moment, and have some decent enough VSTs. (a Juno one for example etc).
    I just want something pretty basic to stick in front of a few effects pedals.
    The argon 8 is tempting....
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  • blobbblobb Frets: 2914
    The best synth drones I've managed to get from a guitar pedal is the drone side of the ehx Sitar pedal. Just turn down the plinky plonky string sound.
    Feelin' Reelin' & Squeelin'
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  • Gone through a lot of demos online over the last few weeks. For what I am looking for, which is to hook something up to some effects pedals, I think a bog standard basic job like a Volca Keys might even do me. But also looking again at the Microfreak, the Modal Skulpt, and the Uno Synth Pro desktop as well. Even those might be overkill.
    I played an Ultra Analog VST with some VST effects plugins, and it did what I wanted it to do, so looking for a hardware version of that kind of thing.
    I also have an Arturia Microbrute and a Skulpt SE which might do, but you would miss the basic chord playing with those...
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  • The Pocket Operators are fun to run into pedals too, particularly if you have a looper.

    For what it’s worth I have a Polyend Dreadbox Medusa which I run into my pedals. Does so much, but probably a fairly acquired taste. 

    If you want chords the Dreadbox Nymphes is tiny and all about analogue polyphony
    https://youtu.be/ra-QKtuTC68

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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    This is kind of in my wheelhouse at the moment. I've got a Novation Circuit Tracks hopefully coming today (though I don't have the tracking so looks like it's not going to appear) 

    That's a groove box with a two channel mixer so I'm planning to use it with a midi enabled loop pedal to do some guitar synth mashup stuff.
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  • @personalnadir Yep, I have seen those as well, but might be way more than I need, but they are pretty cool sounding.
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  • A VST, but GAS for this


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  • wolsnahwolsnah Frets: 189
    The freak and skulpt pair well in this: 
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  • Creed_ClicksCreed_Clicks Frets: 1385
    edited January 2022
    @wolsnah sounds cool! More GAS!! I love the fact that he has paint stains on his hands and nails too.  
    in this video, the Skulpt is going through the MF by the looks of it...? (I am a total noob when it comes to this)
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  • wolsnahwolsnah Frets: 189
    I think the yellow cable is just the clock sync and both units are separately going into the dual reverb unit. Quite a nice sounding tidy small setup. I only know enough to know there's far more that can be done than I can get my head around. Like with the guitar modelling technology of late, it's amazing the value for money that can be had with music technology these days.
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