Future Impact now available!! WAS: deep impact reissue!!! interested?

[Quatschmacher]

Great experiment!

Thanks. Seems to have silenced the troll for now too.

Care to make a guess?

 

[maisbass]

Perhaps I'm in the minority but they sound very different to me. Both sounds are good, but they sound very different.

Edit:
To elaborate a bit. The second one clearly lacks in the high end and doesn't have the same attack, girth, and punch as the first one.

I respect everything you do Q, you are a master at synth programming, but I feel these comparisons can easily be skewed by so many factors. When people do comparisons with sounds on the internet, you never really know how they are being approached or tweaked, so there is a big unknown left out of the equation.

Most of us here know and agree that the FI is a killer piece and can mimic Moog sounds very well so no convincing needed for sure.

Also I should clarify that I am in no way suggesting that you are trying to skew the results at all, I'm just stating it's very subjective and can provide different results with different approaches.

 

[AlexanderB]

Thanks. Seems to have silenced the troll for now too.

Care to make a guess?

I "listened" (heard good noises!) on my phone. Will give it a go later, using my AKG headphones, but that will have to be after work. (5-6 hours from now.)

 

[maisbass]

I think if I do this again, I’ll construct both patches from scratch at the same time, adjusting one parameter at a time, only adding the next parameter once the previous one is matched.

I like the idea of this approach much better, but then we must ask the question as to what we are looking to achieve? Are we comparing how close each parameter is between the FI and Moog, or just taking a random patch in the Moog and then trying to emulate it as close as possible with the FI? It would be interesting to explore both, but also interesting to see the latter and how you either had to subtract or add to the settings of the FI in order to achieve the result. That would be very informative for sure.
Thanks as always Q.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I like the idea of this approach much better, but then we must ask the question as to what we are looking to achieve? Are we comparing how close each parameter is between the FI and Moog, or just taking a random patch in the Moog and then trying to emulate it as close as possible with the FI? It would be interesting to explore both, but also interesting to see the latter and how you either had to subtract or add to the settings of the FI in order to achieve the result. That would be very informative for sure.
Thanks as always Q.

It was a rough and ready attempt to stem the flow of misinformation being spouted on the Facebook group that the FI wasn’t able to hold its own against a “proper keyboard synth”. The fact that people can’t easily tell the two clips apart goes some way towards refuting that claim.

In this case, I took a patch on one device and tried to match it as closely as possible using the other.

 

[Quatschmacher]

Perhaps I'm in the minority but they sound very different to me. Both sounds are good, but they sound very different.

Edit:
To elaborate a bit. The second one clearly lacks in the high end and doesn't have the same attack, girth, and punch as the first one.

I respect everything you do Q, you are a master at synth programming, but I feel these comparisons can easily be skewed by so many factors. When people do comparisons with sounds on the internet, you never really know how they are being approached or tweaked, so there is a big unknown left out of the equation.

Most of us here know and agree that the FI is a killer piece and can mimic Moog sounds very well so no convincing needed for sure.

Also I should clarify that I am in no way suggesting that you are trying to skew the results at all, I'm just stating it's very subjective and can provide different results with different approaches.

No, I wasn’t trying to skew results in any way (and didn’t think you were saying I was).

The second clip didn’t have the filter as open as it should’ve been. The other issue is matching the pulse width offset, which results in different partials being accentuated. The FI has a precise numerical control for this, whereas the Moog has rotary dial with no real indication of what’s actually going on.

If I get some proper free time, I will have a go and constructing both from the ground up.

 

[Hugsonic]

Im guessing Clip A is the FI. Just to have a go. To me it just sounds more like it, don't know anything about keyboard synths but do us the FI on bass.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I’ll start keeping a tally. Thus far this is what people think:

A is Moog: 1
A is FI: 4

 

[Feral Feline]

I think if I do this again, I’ll construct both patches from scratch at the same time, adjusting one parameter at a time, only adding the next parameter once the previous one is matched.

Just to clarify, I was in no way denigrating your effort, but rather COMMENDING it!


To get any closer to a key-bass synth while playing bass guitar through the FI...

...you have to think like a keyboard player and emulate keys technique while playing the notes a keyboard player is inclined to choose.

Or not. Why even bother? Instead of emulating a keyboard part — serve the music whether you're playing the part on a keyboard, bass, ocarina or humanatone . I bet there's key-bass players trying to emulate the articulations of bass-guitarists, or oboe-players, cellists etc. So, a bass-guitarist emulating a key-bassist emulating a bass-guitar who was trying to emulate an upright bass that was playing in thumb position to emulate a cellist... Maybe serving the music at times is emulating a keyboard part. Fine. All good.

Anywayyyyyy...

Purely sound-wise, it's there — the rest is up to the musician.

 

[Quatschmacher]

Just to clarify, I was in no way denigrating your effort, but rather COMMENDING it!


To get any closer to a key-bass synth while playing bass guitar through the FI...

...you have to think like a keyboard player and emulate keys technique while playing the notes a keyboard player is inclined to choose.

Or not. Why even bother? Instead of emulating a keyboard part — serve the music whether you're playing the part on a keyboard, bass, ocarina or humanatone . I bet there's key-bass players trying to emulate the articulations of bass-guitarists, or oboe-players, cellists etc. So, a bass-guitarist emulating a key-bassist emulating a bass-guitar who was trying to emulate an upright bass that was playing in thumb position to emulate a cellist... Maybe serving the music at times is emulating a keyboard part. Fine. All good.

Anywayyyyyy...

Purely sound-wise, it's there — the rest is up to the musician.

Yes, transferring the lines a keys player might play on keys to a bass guitar is pretty challenging and forces you to do stuff you mightn’t otherwise do. For instance, on keys, I often alternate between a quite low note in the left hand and a line higher up in the right - on bass that requires some gymnastics but is fun to try.

 

[AlexanderB]

Thanks. Seems to have silenced the troll for now too.

Care to make a guess?

Listened again, used headphones now. The file with 14 in the beginning of the file name sounds meatier, heavier, more articulated and has more authority, IMHO. Differences are small, though.

 

[AlexanderB]

So I think file A is the moog... (At least it is the sound I prefer.)

 

[kerryg]

Current tally:
A is Moog: 2
A is FI: 4

I just had my first chance to listen to both on my studio "bigs" and subwoofer, and I'd like to change my vote on closer listening - A for Moog, B for FI. More "weight" to the sound.

Once again, could just be an artifact of them being programmed a little differently. But the fact that I had it the other way around definitely tells its own story about how closely matched they are functionally.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I just had my first chance to listen to both on my studio "bigs" and subwoofer, and I'd like to change my vote on closer listening - A for Moog, B for FI. More "weight" to the sound.

Once again, could just be an artifact of them being programmed a little differently. But the fact that I had it the other way around definitely tells its own story about how closely matched they are functionally.

OK, I’ll amend it.

Current tally:
A is Moog: 3
A is FI: 3

 

[peterpalmieri]

OK, I’ll amend it.

Current tally:
A is Moog: 3
A is FI: 3

Point well taken, it can hang. Great job.

 

[AlexanderB]

Perhaps a slightly silly question, but still...
Can the Future Impact do the sounds that came stock with the SA C4, especially "Funk dragon" and "EDM swell"?
Thanks!

 

[Quatschmacher]

Perhaps a slightly silly question, but still...
Can the Future Impact do the sounds that came stock with the SA C4, especially "Funk dragon" and "EDM swell"?
Thanks!

Possibly not, I think they both use double and triple filter combinations as well as two different settings on the two processors. You could probably get something similar going though.

Funk Dragon is probably doable as it’s lowpass into a peak (BP) filter. You could use the FI’s EQ section as a series bandpass filter and assign envelope to the frequency via a flexi.

 

[AlexanderB]

Possibly not, I think they both use double and triple filter combinations as well as two different settings on the two processors. You could probably get something similar going though.

Thanks! Let me re-phrase my question, then.
Are there any built in or structural limits or bottle necks in FI, preventing "deep" filter/synth combos like "Funk dragon"? I really like that sound in my C4.

 

[Quatschmacher]

Thanks! Let me re-phrase my question, then.
Are there any built in or structural limits or bottle necks in FI, preventing filter/synth combos like "Funk dragon"? I really like that sound in my C4.

See amended post above.

 

[cosmicevan]

I think A is the FI because the attack is more choppy to me. I felt that way assuming it was a bass through it so clearly I can’t even tell the difference if MIDI triggered or bass triggered. For the Facebook group just search future impact or do you need an invite or something?