Studio Electronics SE-1 analog synth complete review part 1/2 (ENG sub)

[johnprophetmatic]

Bravo bella spiegazione, ben fatta!

Grazie

[RapOfficer]

Questa canzione dei Dipset come si chiama?

[neopandorex2]

@RapOfficer just type the lyrics in google ull find

[xtal202]

hi!

I know that the stepping knobs are a known issue about the SE-1 (if you control the synth with a cc controller you've got no stepping).

If you upgrade the OS with the X OS you 'll have no stepping anymore on the front panel knobs.

Another interesting thing is that the SE1X (or SE1 with the new OS and the mod from Studio Electronics) can send CC over the front panel knobs and buttons, that' s a good thing.

:)

[AlainHubert]

@xtal202

Yeah, but even with CC messages you'll still have only 128 steps for each knob, compared to 16384 steps on a Moog Voyager...

[AlainHubert]

@xtal202

Top sounding is right, as long as you don't tweak the cutoff too much in real time. And fortunately, all the internal modulations sources (LFOs, envelopes) have much more than 128 steps resolution. A great sounding box, for a fraction of the cost of a Voyager, you're right about that.

[sc00f]

7 bit cutoff stepping sucks :(

[DanielSilvestriProd]

@sc00f

man, if it's MIDI it has this problem... also the great Virus, DX7 (but FM is different), JP8000, DSI Evolver or Prophet, even the Alesis Andromeda A6... all of them... otherwise you buy a vintage synth for 3 times the price and half the features...

[DanielSilvestriProd]

@DanielSilvestriProd

oh, obviously also the new Moog Voyagers and Little Phatty... ;) if you want a good filter you should go to Sherman's or Moog pedals, they're not MIDI retrofitted.

[sc00f]

Well I have a Virus B, and they handled the MIDI stepping in a very nice way - albeit 7 bit, the parameter changes are smoothed, so you don't even notice that it's MIDI. It's really nice and smooth. So, it's sad that a $800 analog synth that otherwise sounds great can't do this. Really, it wouldn't be difficult - just put a one pole lowpass filter (like a simple RC circuit) after the D/A converter which goes to the cutoff to smooth the steps. I'm thinking it may even be retrofitted with this.

[DanielSilvestriProd]

@sc00f

I don't know... to put another filter is a matter of changing the sound, wouldn't be a good solution IMHO... and for the Virus... it has digital filters, it's not the same. Here we're speaking of analog circuits with quantized values, in the digital domain is easy to think they found ways to solve these problems... I don't see how it could be different, really...

[DanielSilvestriProd]

@DanielSilvestriProd

otherwise Moog pedals would be MIDI retrofitted too to allow automation. Don't u think so?

Anyway, it's rare for me to do cutoff modulations so fast that I could hear this problems, so when it comes to practice it's quite pointless for me :)

[sc00f]

Don't forget that this synth is a digital/analog hybrid - the control circuit is digital, and the sound generation is analog. So this problem could be addressed and fixed in the digital control circuit by using digital interpolation and higher bit-depth D/A converters for the filter CV signal. This is possible, I don't see any problems with it. I don't understand why synth makers don't do this.

Moog pedals could be MIDI retrofitted, why not? All you need is to make a smoothed CV from MIDI.

[sc00f]

I suggested putting a smoothing filter on the _control voltage_, not on the signal. This doesn't change the original filter character. I'm a digital synth designer/programmer, and this is commonplace in digital synths.

The quantized values come from 7 bit D/A converters. If you do smoothing on this control voltage, steps will be reduced. Alternatively, 16 bit converters could be used instead of 7 (they're cheap), and values could be interpolated digitally for a smoother control signal.

[AlainHubert]

@DanielSilvestriProd

Sorry, not the Alesis Andromeda nor the Moog Voyager. These two synths use NRPN MIDI messages, instead of CC messages, and have a resolution of 16384 steps instead of only 128. The problem is not MIDI. The problem is lazy companies that don't want to use the higher resolution system of two bytes NRPN messages.

[DanielSilvestriProd]

@AlainHubert

That's really interesting, thanks for the good infos :)

[gentleclockdivider]

sorry dude midi is 7 bit

[DanielSilvestriProd]

@gentleclockdivider

??? can u explain?

[sc00f]

@DanielSilvestriProd:

MIDI has 7 bit resolution, not 8 bits. CC values go from 0-127, that's 7 bits. If it were 8 bits, CCs would go from 0-255.

(Well MIDI RPN/NPRN is another thing, it's 2x7 = 14 bits, but not many synths support it.)

[DanielSilvestriProd]

@sc00f

This is really interesting, thank u for sharing your knowledge with me and the community, I've learnt something new today :)

do you think it would be possible to solve this problem with a customization or it would be too expensive? How much would it cost?

[sc00f]

@DanielSilvestriProd:

Do you have a schematic diagram? Without seeing that, it's hard to tell if it's possible to make a simple DIY customization. If it's possible, then you'd need a smoothing filter or (even better) a slew rate limiter on the control voltage. For a simple RC filter you need only a capacitor. Slew rate limiter curcits are a bit more sophisticated, but wouln't cost too much either (a few op-amps, resistors, etc.)

If you have a schematic diagram, I can tell you more.

[devmiles]

very good thick analog synth.. i have one too. buy it, you won't regret. great value for the money

[EVESrecords]

ottima recensione complimenti!

[onnolab]

i thought this thing is analog. why is there audible stepping with the filter frequency?

[DanielSilvestriProd]

It's because of the 8bit architecture of MIDI... every knob is MIDI controlled, you can do automation from your sequencer as well and control the various parameters of the synth but MIDI is 8bit, there's no alternative ;)

[onnolab]

i see, thanks. learn something new today

[mummstylesound]

Good demo!

[thisnextsongiscalled]

great ! thanks

[rezisehtnys]

Awesome job, without a doubt the best video of the SE-1. Kinda makes me want one even more now...