2008
Got my Mopho today (thanks, Shawn!!!) All I've done to this point is plug it up and take a step through roughly half the presets, but I have to say that aside from a couple UI quirks, this is an excellent box, and a really good value for your synth dollar. Quite frankly, I'd have a hard time recommending anything that makes noise that costs under $500 over this, period.
Minor quibbles: the way the "Program" knob was, well, programmed leaves a bit to be desired. Once you've edited a program at all, you have to press a button to be able to change programs again. I assume this is to keep you from accidentally changing programs while you're programming it, but frankly, anyone that wants to program a sound _from_ the UI is in for a lot more ruthless experience than accidentally changing a sound will provide.
Also, some of the knobs which should have a bit of velocity to them (the filter freq and program chiefly) do not. You have to turn either knob like 30 times to get through its whole range of values, and this can get a bit tedious.
The presets, well, whatever. It seems like about half were made by Venetian Snares and the other half were made by someone who makes their living in a prog rock cover band. "Tom Sawyer?" Really? Did we have to go there? I haven't gone through all the banks of provided sounds yet, but I'll be utterly completely shocked if there isn't a patch named "Lucky Solo" or some such. I already found a "Tarkus" sequence. In the song the part is played by an L100, so this is double extra silly. Jesus, I can't believe I even typed that. Kill me now.
I can't speak to the editor or general usability, as I've only had it a couple hours. I'll get to those in good time. But I have a feeling that once I scrape out all these dumb "SYNC LEEEDZ" sounds, I'll be able to program some fairly cool shit in to this bitch. It seems pretty capable. But sound-wise, absolutely fantastic. Smooth as butter and bottom for days.
I guess what I'm saying is, maybe you could write a few words comparing the sound of the two once you've had some time to play with it? I'd also be curious to hear how the filter sounds on external inputs. If it sounds as good as something like a Moogerfooger then it'd definitely be worth the price of admission alone...
posted September 30, 2008 by gregoreck
Regarding this versus the Evolver, I can state already that it is a very different (and much better, IMO) animal. The Evolver, aside from having one of the most obtuse interfaces in modern synth design, has what I feel are fairly abrasive oscillators and a filter that just doesn't do the job it is meant to do. And then he went and hung all these extra things off what was a general failure of a foundation. Couple that with what has to be the world's worst selection of presets (which, for better or worse, are what you start with), and the Evolver is pretty epic in the fail column.
With the caveat that I haven't actually tried to program this lil' guy, I'll say that aside from what I mentioned in the original post, it is fairly logically laid out, and sounds _much_ better. It has a very comfortable traditional monosynth sound to it, and unlike many modern analogs, it doesn't sound hollow or "steppy."
-CR
posted September 30, 2008 by Chris Randall
Most of the presets in the Voyager are like that, too. Rick Wakeman solo sounds. Then again, I'm not even sure why the Voyager NEEDS 1,000 presets. Or any presets.
posted September 30, 2008 by synthetic
All the mod stuff seems really cool... four sequencers? And though I usually don't use external inputs, it seems like you could do some crazy shit like AM'ing ext audio, etc.
Mitchell
p.s. should've bought it from us :>)
posted October 1, 2008 by mitchell
posted October 1, 2008 by mitchell
Hightower is in Police Academy not Soundtower.
posted October 1, 2008 by inteliko
posted October 1, 2008 by inteliko
link [www.gearjunkies.com]
posted October 1, 2008 by inteliko
posted October 1, 2008 by oredon
Thanks for posting, I was thinking of checking out the Mopho soon myself. Glad to hear the overall sound is worth it.