9 ms·

A lot of people, myself included, still love and create acid. The original 303 itself is pretty absurdly (prohibitively) expensive to acquire, and it's a tiny p

by tjr225 8y ago

A lot of people, myself included, still love and create acid. The original 303 itself is pretty absurdly (prohibitively) expensive to acquire, and it's a tiny plastic toy and net anywhere from 2000-4000$. A case study in supply and demand - with a little bit of hype, I suppose. There have been a bunch of pretty good software emulations, most notably: https://www.audiorealism.se/abl3.html https://www.audiorealism.se/abl3.html and even some much cheaper physical emulations: https://www.cyclone-analogic.fr/en/34-bass-bot-tt-303-0701980493430.html https://www.cyclone-analogic.fr/en/34-bass-bot-tt-303-070198...

malvosenior 8y ago
Roland recently reissued many of their classic synths including an updated 303. Now it’s called the TB-03 and it has a “friendly” step programming option in addition to the original crazy style: https://www.roland.com/us/products/tb-03/ https://www.roland.com/us/products/tb-03/
- tjr225 8y ago
  The only reason I didn't mention the tb-03 is that it is essentially a digital(software) option, whereas the TT-03 is still analog. I still think it sounds pretty good.
  - malvosenior 8y ago
    Very true. The look and feel of the TB-03 is second to none though. Imho the build quality is much higher than the original 303.
  - bascule 8y ago
    The TB-03 provides a fairly faithful and accurate reproduction of the TB-303's sound. The TT-303, on the other hand, despite being "circuit identical", can sound downright weird at times (as can Roland's other "analog modeling" 303 reproduction, the TB-3) Here is a 4 way comparison of the 4 synths I just mentioned complete with waveform visualizations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8CAEUU_ics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8CAEUU_ics
- rorykoehler 8y ago
  Behringer are also bringing out a bunch of clones. I think they may have just released a 303 clone. Can't speak to the quality of it though. Always found Behringer kit to have a high noise floor but that was at least a decade ago so things may have changed.
  - stef25 8y ago
    Behringer is generally awful, but check out their Model D. Peter van Hoesen has an excellent review of it. It's almost a crime how good it is, considering how much cheaper it is than the Moog it's copying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWhoakNEoKU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWhoakNEoKU
bhrgunatha 8y ago
Any recommendations for modern artists?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Piezoid 8y ago
  The mini/micro-brute by Arturia are the new cheap analog bass synths. They combine a minimal amount of monophonic signal nodes while providing quite a lot of possibilities. The Voltage Control IOs are a bridge to Modular Acquisition Systemic Syndrome :)
  - bhrgunatha 8y ago
    Sorry I didn't mean equipment, I meant artist recommendations.
- philbo 8y ago
  Recondite
- conqueso 8y ago
  Ceephax Acid Crew - super fun(ny) bangin' acid dance beats Aphex Twin (aka AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, The Tuss and others) - insanely beautiful, engineered yet organic music, has tons of acid tracks (see 'Syro', 'Collapse', 'Analord' (afx) and Rushup Edge (The Tuss) for more recent acid stuff)
- zrth 8y ago
  Donato Dozzy - Filo Loves The Acid Apehx twin - Analord Universal Indicator - Red
  - tomduncalf 8y ago
    Another Dozzy fan on HN! Also recommend checking his Acid Test releases. Especially Test 3, which is beautiful, but it's all amazing.
NL807 8y ago
Have you considered getting a x0xb0x kit? I built one of those a few years back, and the sound was pretty spot on to the original.
- sschueller 8y ago
  Sadly some of those parts are almost impossible to get.
- stef25 8y ago
  Xoxbox and the Cyclone ones feel very cheap. Knobs are shitty plastic. The TB-03 feels much better, lots of metal parts. As to the sound of the machines, that's a never ending discussion.
mollusk 8y ago
DinSync RE-303 is probably the most impressive. As they say "it's not a clone it's a replica". They painstakingly traced the PCB, used as much original parts as possible, and you can use the original TB-303 CPU to control it (or you can get the RE-303 CPU with their own firmware since the original is proprietary and long since out of production). Meaning you can use the project to revive a real 303 if you have to, or build your own legit 303.

by tjr225 8y ago

malvosenior 8y ago

Roland recently reissued many of their classic synths including an updated 303. Now it’s called the TB-03 and it has a “friendly” step programming option in addition to the original crazy style: https://www.roland.com/us/products/tb-03/ https://www.roland.com/us/products/tb-03/

tjr225 8y ago
The only reason I didn't mention the tb-03 is that it is essentially a digital(software) option, whereas the TT-03 is still analog. I still think it sounds pretty good.
- malvosenior 8y ago
  Very true. The look and feel of the TB-03 is second to none though. Imho the build quality is much higher than the original 303.
- bascule 8y ago
  The TB-03 provides a fairly faithful and accurate reproduction of the TB-303's sound. The TT-303, on the other hand, despite being "circuit identical", can sound downright weird at times (as can Roland's other "analog modeling" 303 reproduction, the TB-3) Here is a 4 way comparison of the 4 synths I just mentioned complete with waveform visualizations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8CAEUU_ics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8CAEUU_ics
rorykoehler 8y ago
Behringer are also bringing out a bunch of clones. I think they may have just released a 303 clone. Can't speak to the quality of it though. Always found Behringer kit to have a high noise floor but that was at least a decade ago so things may have changed.
- stef25 8y ago
  Behringer is generally awful, but check out their Model D. Peter van Hoesen has an excellent review of it. It's almost a crime how good it is, considering how much cheaper it is than the Moog it's copying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWhoakNEoKU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWhoakNEoKU

bhrgunatha 8y ago

Any recommendations for modern artists?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Piezoid 8y ago
The mini/micro-brute by Arturia are the new cheap analog bass synths. They combine a minimal amount of monophonic signal nodes while providing quite a lot of possibilities. The Voltage Control IOs are a bridge to Modular Acquisition Systemic Syndrome :)
- bhrgunatha 8y ago
  Sorry I didn't mean equipment, I meant artist recommendations.
philbo 8y ago
Recondite
conqueso 8y ago
Ceephax Acid Crew - super fun(ny) bangin' acid dance beats Aphex Twin (aka AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, The Tuss and others) - insanely beautiful, engineered yet organic music, has tons of acid tracks (see 'Syro', 'Collapse', 'Analord' (afx) and Rushup Edge (The Tuss) for more recent acid stuff)
zrth 8y ago
Donato Dozzy - Filo Loves The Acid Apehx twin - Analord Universal Indicator - Red
- tomduncalf 8y ago
  Another Dozzy fan on HN! Also recommend checking his Acid Test releases. Especially Test 3, which is beautiful, but it's all amazing.

NL807 8y ago

Have you considered getting a x0xb0x kit? I built one of those a few years back, and the sound was pretty spot on to the original.

sschueller 8y ago
Sadly some of those parts are almost impossible to get.
stef25 8y ago
Xoxbox and the Cyclone ones feel very cheap. Knobs are shitty plastic. The TB-03 feels much better, lots of metal parts. As to the sound of the machines, that's a never ending discussion.

mollusk 8y ago

DinSync RE-303 is probably the most impressive. As they say "it's not a clone it's a replica". They painstakingly traced the PCB, used as much original parts as possible, and you can use the original TB-303 CPU to control it (or you can get the RE-303 CPU with their own firmware since the original is proprietary and long since out of production). Meaning you can use the project to revive a real 303 if you have to, or build your own legit 303.