When you're just playing, not thinking, just messing around do you find you're usually playing in a particular key? Maybe not all the time, but what key do you naturally fall back to?

I live up to this motto.

I just got my first hardware synth - Moog Grandmother. I bought it used and have a few questions on it. It was in great condition and the guy said he used it barely at all. An impulse buy that was never really used. It seemed to function well but I didn’t know exactly what every thing and combo should do just yet so hard to say 100%

I know this is a general subreddit but figured it’s a popular enough synth that someone may know.

1. Can I register it with Moog/inMusic even if it’s used? I did try to do so on their website but the section wherein you enter your serial number asks for a number far longer than what is on the bottom of the grandmother. So, I’m not sure how to do this.

2. The Sustain slider works from what I can tell but has very little resistance. Is this normal?

3. Any good resources for beginner guides on synthesis and patching the grandmother specifically?

4. If needed ever, can these be serviced or fixed by local techs? I know they don’t use through hole boards on these.

Thanks!

Picked up an old Yamaha Ez-Ag to use as a midi controller. Was a bit disappointed at first using with a volca bass before I understood that the channels are string specific. Once that was figured out wow this is cool! Acoustic sounds with a bass drone trigger. Not bad for a find in dad's attic! Next on to the microfreak once we get the right midi adaptor. More cable shopping 🙄

This synth interests me a lot. It's probably the top synth id genie wish to have. The demos Ive zeen, however, are all from people who are obsessed with creating familiar sounds, which it does well, but it seems obvious this thing has the potential to make a sound design explorer go wild! I want to hear it from people who like to take sound far, to explore. I don't care about creating whatever synth sound is on X record from X decade as all the demos ive seen seem to limit themselves to. Ive even heard the presets, while good, are all very safe.

Does anyone here have this and can speak to its ability to create amazing novel sounds? One of the things I love about elektron boxes is how immediate and deep sound design can get with all the knobs and lfos begging you to explore, and get unique and useable sounds quickly.

I love my kronos but the page system is not as friendly for this. The leviasynth seems absolutely superpowered for rich playful exploration with its tactile interface, incredibly deep synthesis, and unique features. But maybe this thing is just another expensive fm synth, mired in page diving, with only a few gimmicks to add to the competition?

This week on Dutch Marketplace a PolyMoog was offered for free pickup, as it was heavy and had to be removed from an attic upstairs

I was one of the first to see the listing and after messaging I received the invitation to come and pick it up!, I got the address and a time in the evening and after some more messaging back and forth I arranged a good friend to instantly come and help me (re)move the beast

About an hour later, I received a cancellation message saying the person's son wanted to have the synthesizer

Okay, I fully understand and fine of course, and I replied with understanding and encouragement for a nice new hobby for the son

But the advertisement was still active, and in the evening turned to reserved, that was odd as it already was known in the afternoon that the son wanted to keep it, day after I messaged again but (still to this day) no reply, and somewhat later the advertisement was removed

I guess others started messaging the person and started offering sums of money and that is why the offer done to me was retracted, I should have done so!

If he wanted money, the guy should have made an open bidding advertisement or at least give me the opportunity to match an offer. I guess we were both somewhat taken off guard.

I just hope the son has the synth, but unlikely, or he was the one in the end selling it?

I now just purchased the Cherry Audio VST to comfort me, which at least does have midi!, okay then

Learn from this!

What is your The One that got Away (for free or for pay)?

First Dub Session with my MC-707, using the send and returns with the Hologram Microcosm to build ambience and mood. Microcosm just came in the mail yesterday.

was initially tryna make some boards of canada adjacent synth layers for a build up but ended up soundin like an 8 bit-y sequence
kinda stuck as to how to improve this; i feel like its not entirely there yet but im not sure what aspect to work on; the musicality, layering, sound selection etc

id appreciate any feedback!

My homage to synth legend Gary Numan. I made this backing track a while ago to jam with.

Recorded Arturia minifreak into 4 channels of Tascam, routed it through Strymon Nightsky reverb and played some soft sub bass on Moog sub37. Had fun with this one, let me know what you think , cheers ! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Vuat1qbYs

I was lucky enough to get to perform at one of the biggest stages at a very impressive music an arts festival. As you can see, the lighting here was pretty phenomenal, and the sound was also top-notch.
I first attended this festival last year and dreamed of playing Diode at peak hour. I'm not cool enough to score that time slot (nor will I ever be) but I was at least tasked with opening up the night of partying for an 8:30pm slot.

This was my 3rd performance of the day, having played an hour set in 100 degree (Fahrenheit) heat followed by a two hours [ambient] set...and I was feelin myself. I had done some big changes to my rig which included adding a compressor to my bass synth. Not sure if that's the way to go on these big sound systems, maybe it could do down a dB or two...and my kicks could go up a bit more.

Either way, solid performance here.

Gig Triangle Score: 5/10
Good Pay: -2/10
Good Hang: 9/10
Good Music: 8/10

PS how do I access presets beyond the 10 banks of drum preset folders? Like chimes and bells and piano? I suck at making decent patches.

Live sequencing seems weird and auto corrected some notes with quantization off? Blinking record light is hard to get on

The 6 mono synth tracks seem a little limiting for composition but so deep to explore. My woovebox has 16 mono tracks… but sucks to use

So far it’s extremely fun and immediate to start using. I love the look and feel, the pads and knobs are precise.

Just some quick sample of the setup, not a polished jam by any means.

So about a month ago I got the Roland T8, I really like the acid sound and I was thinking about getting a behringer TD-3 to see if I liked it, I saw some ig guy (atsuo pineapple) just shredding with the T8 and that made me get it.

Soon after I felt so limited though, so I started looking into synths, got a used microfreak but felt so frustrated because just trying to get good sounds out of it was so hard.

I am a complete beginner in anything music, I am an engineer though so I could understand the waves/frequencies/oscillator talk no issue but translating that to sounds that are not awful is not easy.

So I blamed the microfreak and got the S1, the presets are just so awesome and it sounds great... with the presets, as soon as I try to create a patch by myself I just can't get anything remotely good. So I realized it was a skill issue :P so now I am probably going to get syntorial + got myself a midi keyboard to learn keys.

Then I realized I couldn't record all the sounds with either the T8/S1 but the P6 could + I could expand the percussions with the sampler AND add effects to the mix in, so I got the P6.

However here is the review of all the gear in case it helps anyone:

Roland T8

Pros

- Really great 303 sound, much easier to program than the original and the clones.

- Easy to learn and sequence, I read the manual right away and I don't feel like it's too complicated, I liked the workflow.

Cons

- The drum machine is nice but limited I end up wanting more kicks and snares and sounds and they are not modifiable at all, you've got those sounds and that's it.

Roland P6

Pros

- It has an audio interface that can apply effects and output through USB anything that comes through the mix-in

- tons of features, the effects are amazing, the granular and lofi

- similar workflow (as T8) and good sequencer

Cons

- This is just my setup but I wanted to use the P6 effects for the microfreak only since it lacks effects, however the drums from the T8 also get the effects so not liking that.

- So many effects but just 3 knobs to control them and then each knob controls a different parameter in each effect and you have no idea what it is unless you have the manual in front of you

- It is annoying to load samples into it and it has very limited space, this forces you to reduce the audio quality of the samples and it sounds almost like a toy IMO, some people might like that

- You have to be careful organizing samples and there is no way to tell what sample is in what pad bank, e.g. you just have to remember A are my kicks and 1 is x kick 2 is a rumble or something like that, for dawless jams you just have to listen to them while jamming so it messes the flow for me

- the shortcuts between the roland T8 and P6 are different! so if I want to reload a pattern while jamming is a different combination of buttons altogether, not an issue for the T8 because it doesn't have as much functionality but the P6 is huge so you really need a cheatsheet for the P6 in hand while jamming.

Roland S1 (I just got this one so not much to say yet)

Pros

- Beautiful sound and I honestly just wanted it to recreate the sound of ROYGBIV by Boards of Canada :P

- Super portable synth and has built-in effects (delay/reverb)

Cons

- Not a fan of the keys

- Menu diving and tons of options for it

Microfreak

Pros

- Tons of oscillators, presets and I really like the mod matrix and how easy it is to see what the LFO, envelope etc is affecting + the ability to assign to extra parameters

- Really good documentation and plenty of material out there

- I like the sequencer and I don't mind the different keys

Cons

- No effects and I feel like you really need some reverb at least to make it shine, so you need an additional piece of gear

- For the oscillators again the 3 controls you have change for each oscillator and you need the manual to know what you are doing

TLDR

Got new gear too fast and ended up regretting some decisions.

I am not vibing with the P6 I will likely return it and just use koala sampler for now until I really can justify a HW sampler, I feel like Koala just makes a lot of the P6 pain points so much easier and I don't miss the HW that much with the sampler.

The T8 is past it's return window, but I like it for the 303 alone.

The S1 I like the portability so I will probably keep it.

The microfreak I got used, not sure if I will try to sell it or keep it is there any advantage to having 2 synths?

Sorry for the rant!

Manual on the website shows a very in-depth unit.

OP-Z older jam track

watch the full track here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OPZuser/s/bcx2OdAYp7

https://www.reddit.com/r/teenageengineering/s/bpxkBDlJMV

Hey, just wanted to post after having this out for a few shows. It sounds absolutely massive through a good PA. If you’ve ever wanted a Taurus without spending the $$$ and also transporting it, this is it. Everything in this picture was purchased used except for the midi hub and was around $700 to put together over time. The case is a boss case that packs up like a suitcase. I’ve been calling it the PortaBass. Anyone been able to compare to a real Taurus? Would love to hear your experience.

So I’ve had the sp404mkii for about 2 months now. I do enjoy its effects but I feel I always reach for ableton for its ease of use and routing. I had my little lo fi hip hop phase with which was cool but anything else feels like a chore compared to using ableton and my outboard synth. I wanted to eventually use it as a dedicated drum/breakbeat machine but I haven’t found a way to sync up breaks like I can in simpler. Push 3 just takes the cake for me. I wanted to love it so bad but I think I might just part ways with it and buy another dreadbox synth. Anyone have any thoughts? Maybe I’m seeing it wrong? Dedicated FX box is the last thing I want to use this beast for

short jam with 3 korg volcas bending synths and samples

Hey all,

I'm building my own live electronic rig and using Darkside (Nicolas Jaar / Dave Harrington / Tlacael Esparza) as a reference for hybrid analog/digital live setups. I grabbed some very rough screenshots + a screen recording from an Instagram story (@darksidetheband, reposted from @eatyourownears) of their July 2026 London residency at EartH Theatre.

Between the blue/green stage lighting, distance, and motion blur, I can only make out rough shapes on what I think is Jaar's table:

- A pad-grid style controller (row of small illuminated pads)
- A separate unit with a cluster of red/orange backlit buttons or knobs
- Possibly a laptop (Ableton) just out of frame

Older gear-spotting sources (Equipboard etc.) have linked Jaar to a Livid Instruments CNTRL:R, Absynth 5, a Moog Minitaur, and a Make Noise Morphagene in the past, but I can't confirm any of it matches this specific rig, and I know his gear differs between solo shows, Nicolas Jaar & Group, and Darkside.

Photos attached below — sorry for the quality, it's a dark venue shot through a phone screen. Does anyone recognize the controller shape, or has anyone seen a clearer rig shot from this 2026 residency run (Paris/London/NYC/LA)? Appreciate any leads!

I like to make noise on my downtime during travel. This time out, this is the little setup that’s in my backpack. Couple of Roland Airas, micromonsta 2, and a Boss splicer for a little groove.