Does anybody use individual outs on synths?

[Martin Naef]

Hi Peter

It depends. (I am sure you saw that answer coming...)

Multiple outs make sense when you use synths in multi-timbral mode and you want to process the different tracks with different effects. This is particularly useful where effects are an integral part of the sound. Where available, I had most of my synths hooked up with four outs (though not more, even if there was the option) before the recent big studio revamp. I made the secondary outputs available on the patchbay in case I needed them.

Despite having all those options available, I barely ever used that feature in the last ten years. Given the array of synthesizers both physical and virtual at my disposal, it is rare that I use more than one sound per synth. For the few exceptions I could have easily just recorded and processed the different timbres in sequence and get the same final result.

In the new setup, none of the secondary outputs are hooked up to the stageboxes that serve as digital patchbays. I still have the additional output cables from the Virus and the Nord Modular dangling in front, but I doubt I'll ever patch them in manually... In short: If you have spare inputs, sure you can hook up the extra outs from the synths. But I wouldn't (and didn't) spend any money on it.

There is one exception though: I use all the 8 outs from the Roland TD-10 drum head unit when I want to heavily tweak and process drums.

Regards
Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: music-bar <music-bar-bounces at lists.music-bar.org> On Behalf Of Peter Korsten
Sent: Mittwoch, 18. August 2021 22:10
To: Music Bar <music-bar at lists.music-bar.org>
Subject: Does anybody use individual outs on synths?

As the subject says. When Martin and Gert 😢 came to Malta, the first thing that Martin did was pull out the 8-cable snake from my EX5. Fair enough, those four extra outputs was perhaps not my best investment ever.

But those synths (Proteus 2000, Wavestation SR, Micro Q and EMX-1) all have individual outs. These four alone have 18 outputs between them, and there are another 10 for the EX5 and AN1x. My question is: are these actually useful?

I might get an Airbase 99 somewhere in the future (today, I reluctantly didn't accept an offer of €450 for one with the latest ROM and great optical condition) and that thing has a silly amount of outputs – but apparently, you cannot pan sounds over the stereo outs.

The Proteus 2000 now has three ROMs; just an hour ago I installed the X-Lead ROM. This one would be the most likely contender to have the extra outputs connected, to have a bit more freedom with routing and effects.

But as said, I have no idea how well this works out in practice.

- Peter
_______________________________________________
music-bar mailing list
music-bar at lists.music-bar.org
http://lists.music-bar.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/music-bar

Listen to Music-Bar Radio! <http://www.music-bar.org/radio.html>