First post here, I have a question I wanted to ask directly to the Organelle lovers.
I have an Octatrack and need to feed it with sounds, my first idea was to take a small poly synth like the Roland JU-06a or the Dreadbox Nymphes but I just came across an Organelle video and I really like it’s simplicity and format.
So I found a few patches that try to emulate a full classic substractive synths like Polylogue, Juno 104, CZZ, Aquarius, Supersynthengine.
My question is, how do these sound ? I don’t need it to sound like a Prophet or a Moog but do they sound good enough to justify getting an Organelle instead of the Roland boutique or the Dreadbox module for example ?
I like the idea of having other uses with it like doing granular stuff and having patches with other types of synthesis, so if the virtual analog engines sound good, I will probably join the Organelle cult.
I don’t use any Organelle so I cannot tell how it sounds, but here is my take on it.
Being an Octatrack user, you must like mangling various audio material type (I’ve been the proud user of a MDUW for 15 years now…). The Organelle will offer much more than just a synth, as you already know. In that extent, I think it’s a very good idea indeed.
You seem ok with the fact of using a virtual analogue rather than a “true” analogue, so it boils down to:
will the sound of it fit you?
will you be ok with only 4 knobs to control it?
To me, those are the points that can make the difference for you, those that can make of this move a good deal or a tradeoff.
Yeah exactly. It would help if there was some videos showcasing the sound and interface of the synth patches I mentioned earlier but unfortunately I can’t find any !
I’m sure someone will chime in, don’t worry Meanwhile, you may want to try to find users of these very patches here in the forum. I’m new too but I feel the place is crowded with helpful people.
Keep us tuned!
I’ll chime in too with the fact that if you are willing to learn Pure Data, you can build any type of synthesizer/looper/sampler/effect/etc that you want.
It does have a steep learning curve I wont lie but if you’re willing to put in the work, it’s a device with endless potential. I’ve been studying it hardcore for the last year from knowing nothing and now I feel confident that I could build whatever I want in it
Just to clarify, an Organelle patch can have more than one ‘page’ of controls. With each page, the knobs control different parameters, so there are ‘more’ than four knobs. For example, the Breno patch has two pages: Loop and Volume. On the loop page, the four knobs set loop length for their respective loops. On the Volume page, the same four knobs set the volume of their respective loops.
Oh thanks for clarifying, @chrisk. Plus I guess there is even more possibilities via PD patching as well as MIDI.
Just to add my 2 cents about having “only” 4 physical knobs: by the time the Moog Little Phatty was announced, I thought “Come on Moog, 4 knobs?!..”.
A couple of years later, I tested one in a shop and was immediately seduced by how fun it was to play with that interface.
Another couple of years later, I stumbled on a local ad: it’s been my main stage synth for about 10 years now
The Organelle is pretty unique in what it offers. It is the one piece of kit I have that I wouldn’t get rid of. Unlike my Lyra 8 (which I regret to some extent). Because it uses pure data it can both digitally emulate sounds and/or play samples. And there are many many patches out there - and this is before you even delve into Orac - including a Lyra 8 emulation (it’s not the same… but it’s amazing in it’s own right and very close in lots of ways)
One thing I would say is that I think it benefits from an effects layer - I almost always put it through my Shallow Water pedal and have reverb/echo fx pedals on my mixer for added depth - I like my lofi and glitches. You can use effect patches in Orac to layer output but I don’t always want to work in Orac - it has it’s limitations.
Yep, even if I do not have an Organelle -again- I second that: I used to patch a lot with a Clavia G2 and one of my set ups was having a synth patch going out to an amp sim and back in a second patch with a mixer and effects. In this patch, I also input a guitar so that I can play strings or keys and have that sound.
You can do that kind of in-and-out stuff if you have multiple outputs; if the Organelle output is stereo and if you are ok for a final mono signal, then it is possible.
Shallow water: I tried just yesterday my new Pocket Piano through it: pure, sweet LoFi-ness hehe
Yeah, I could do with a Pedalelle for effects to go with my Organelle. Looking into doing something with Bela or Raspberry Pi as I want the small form factor. I’m finding it difficult using devices that I can’t tweak to how I want them at the moment!
Monome Norns (Shield) comes to mind re small form factor. It offers many effects (loopers, synths,…). Also Korg NTS 1 which has brilliant effects, is small and cheap. I recommend both.
Hi there… I’m a guitarist and got an original Organelle years ago as a handy bass-line style keyboard synth that was small enough to fit in with my guitar pedals. Worked great, as I’m a terrible keyboard player, but soon I realized I was underusing it… enter ORAC 2… really turns it into a tiny MPC, like a self-contained multitrack, synth, sampler and multieffects box, kinda like a… what’s that thing called? That tabletop Swedish box? Oh yeah… so, yes, I got an Octatrack about 8 months ago and I’m still trying to get fluent with all it can do, but I’m still seeing it as just a big clone/brother of the Organelle.
Sure, it’s a lot easier to manovre, physically I mean, like an actual instrument, though the Organelle’s little keyboard may be a joke to a pianist, it’s fine for a guitarist, even a bit better that the OP-Z’s. Also, unlike the OP-Z, that I also play, the first series Organelle is a bit slow processing complex patches… leading to glitches and the occassional freeze.
Anyways, you were wondering about the sounds… with the hundreds of patches available on Patchstorage you won’t be short of ‘normal’ or innovative sounds. Only problem is that there is big, steep, learning curve if you want to mod them yourself. I actually gave in and got an MC-101 and just use it as a sound library for ‘normal’ synth sounds, though I’m still using the Organelle as master keyboard and for weird sounds. I’m sure that the newer M version can handle complexity allowing for a smoother experience with ORAC, but I’ll stick with mine driving Rolandy sounds from the MC-101, and now, thanks to a Blokas Midihub, also the 3 voice polyphonic analog synth of my pre-Xmas gift Syntakt…
… and, if you’re wondering, no, I don’t get out much lately… nope…
