Freesound Forums

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post about this but it seems technical so I assumed it was. If I am wrong could a moderator please direct me to where I should post this topic?

I just want to bring up something about digital outputs on synthesizers.

Has anybody else noticed that hardly any good analog modeling synthesizers have digital outs?

I know the term analog means electrical signal from oscillators and not digital PCM signal but digital PCM is what goes to D/A convertors in most mid-range spec synths now before output to an analog in on a speaker system or sound card line input, so why not have a direct S/PDIF output or something similar simply to preserve the original signal?

I have been looking at reviews for the Korg electribe synths and they are digital with PCM waveshaping but there are only analog outs.

I get the feeling I would be ripped off if I purchased one of these things instead of using a freeware VST plug in fully digital.

Purely my own thoughts here, but I would guess there are two reasons for analog outs. Number one is that to mimic that "analog sound" there needs to be an analog stage of the signal, and of course the analog outs mean that the machine can be easily connected to most things like amps, speakers, effects, etc. while connecting to a computer is something relatively new, not to mention lots of people like the grit and noise. Number two is cost. Manufacturers want to save money and having a decent analog out is cheaper than having an analog and digital out.
As far as Electribes, I wouldn't say you're getting ripped off (I had the EA1 and ESX1) because of only analog outs. They are fun to manipulate and encourage touching, much like a lady, not like a VST. Incidentally here are some single cycle waveforms I recorded from the EA1 which you can load in a sampler.

As far as Electribes, I wouldn't say you're getting ripped off (I had the EA1 and ESX1) because of only analog outs. They are fun to manipulate and encourage touching, much like a lady, not like a VST.

LOL :lol: Yea I like the look of those controls.

Purely my own thoughts here, but I would guess there are two reasons for analog outs. Number one is that to mimic that "analog sound" there needs to be an analog stage of the signal, and of course the analog outs mean that the machine can be easily connected to most things like amps, speakers, effects, etc. while connecting to a computer is something relatively new, not to mention lots of people like the grit and noise. Number two is cost. Manufacturers want to save money and having a decent analog out is cheaper than having an analog and digital out.

I know about the effect of analog sound but that's not what I'm getting at.

I could make an entirely digital recording with a VST and a good valve amp plugged from my computer's sound card speaker out to it's line in and then record from that input with the recording playing in something like windows media player, exactly the same warm sound maybe even better. I know of allot of good valve effects on the market, I think the electribe uses one of them as it is.

As for the costs and the technical problems with plugging digital outs into speakers and amps, the trick to that would be to have both digital S/PDIF and analog outs on a synth, just a case of choice.

I recently heard a recording on a youtube video of the vocoder on the yamaha motif XS and by the looks of the video the guy was using the S/PDIF cable to output to the computer, it was the best purest sounding synth I have heard in a while. No grit or bass distortion needed there.

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention that the yamaha motif XS is an expensive top range keyboard though and that is about the only one I could find with an S/PDIF out. None of the mid-range I have seen have them.

I believe there are some synths from Access (Virus TI for example) with SPDIF as well. Depending how you look at it, they may be mid-range.

Dunno. What's their price range? Never heard of them. I'll google later.

Although has anybody modified something like an electribe to use a PCM digital out? Seriously there must be some engineers on this forum that know what they're doing.

I've seen people modding keyboards from the 80s to use PCM out.

The analog modeling synths are all digital signal paths anyway. I would assume the primary reason many don't have digital outputs is simply price. The most common method in the studio for home recordists is a line level, analog signal, so that's what is on there. To add an additional digital out (SPDIF or AES) would just add to the cost.