Virtual Synthi Pt 2: Instant Chems!

Who could not love a piece of software that comes with a safety warning? When you install EMS' Synthi Emulator, a disclaimer comes up warning that it can produce very high and very low frequencies, and to be careful of your speakers. In other words "Watch yer bass bins, I'm tellin' ya". I spent about an hour last night playing with the demo, and it's ace. All those spazz-out synth sounds the Chemical Brothers use - particularly on 'Come With Us' come straight out of the Synthi. Using it is simple: Load up any of the patches (they all sound pretty much the same), tweak out any annoying noises, and start wiggling the joystick. I was using it in Tobybear's Minihost to record a load of pretty-much-random audio, which I then chopped into loops in Ableton Live (avoiding the hisses that the demo version of Synthi inserts every so often). Instant Chems! Still, one thing I forgot to mention yesterday. EMS want €350 for the software. It's awesome, but €350 for one noise seems a little bit steep...

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

I can safely say the best and most amazing performance / use of the venerable synthi I've ever seen was seeing Del Dettmar w/ Nik Turner's space ritual hiding behind a stack of speakers, playing an actual 'chop chop' axe with one string on it and a pickup of some sort wired into his synthi. so that's where those sounds were coming from...

# posted by

raytubes : 8:37 pm

Anyone know if the synthi was the high-pitched synth used alot be hawkwind on songs like 'Warriors on the edge of time'?

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:04 pm

Can't help you on what synth was used on "Warriors on the edge of time" but Tim Blake used two Synthi-a's during the levitation period and Brock was so taken by the sound ( but not the man ) that he bought one which he was certainly using live during the "Elric" tour. Tim Blake used a mini Moog and a home made sequencer and so electric piano but that was the "crystal machine" if you have not already heard Tim's Crystal Machine LP (Barclay Metronome 0066.050) you should seek out a copy. This recoding demonstrates why the analogue synth and most especially the Ems and Minimoog were such brilliant instruments. The Vsti is a real bargain at 350 euro's.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:03 pm