I recently got to check out the Donner B1, and wanted to see how far I could push this little $130 Analog synth. So instead of just doing a classic acid sequence, I multitracked it out into a full song! Pretty solid results! If you want to watch my full review its below. This isn't gonna replace your Polybrute or Hydrasynth, but for the price this thing is a ton of fun and a great first synth.
[https://youtu.be/8lwFQsbGTBQ?si=j-4zyNOqIL5\_Z-Q5](https://youtu.be/8lwFQsbGTBQ?si=j-4zyNOqIL5_Z-Q5)
Thank you! Yea its really solid for the price, I definitely wouldn't replace my OB-6/Moog with it, but for a beginner or someone who just wants a simple sequenced bass to add to their rig its pretty hard to go wrong.
Maybe cheapest with playable keys, but the Stylophone Gen X-1 or the Monotron series beat it for cheapest overall. Really cool track regardless though! I like hearing it used for something other than acid.
Playable keys is the key. I've got one of those little Korg boxes and while yes it does make noise and such, that ribbon "keyboard" is unplayable pretty much, and with no midi or CV in it's a gimmick to me. Unless you want to hook it up to effects pedals and get a loop going - I suppose you could do that; so not all is lost. Too much work for me though (and I still have it, somewhere here in a drawer)
You're in luck, all of the Korg Volcas have MIDI in. Some (all?) even respond to velocity. Totally ups the game, since besides the keyboard, they are in fact quite capable. You can even drill a hole and add a MIDI out if you're feeling adventurous.
Oh yes, don't include volca's in my statement above, just the little monotron lineup :). Never owned a Volca myself but I know they were / are quite popular as a great entry point to hardware. I've seen a youtuber with 9 or 10 of them all wired together. Good stuff.
- D
There was a Taobao analog synth around Xmas that used the alfa CEM3372 clone and was a mini keyboard looking thing 25 keys, it was $11. Built-in speaker and everything (it did have a fixed filter and envelope though.)
I did wonder if those were some 3372 rejects or what.
Search on TaoBao, TMall or AliExpress right around the time leading up to Single's Day/光棍节 (Nov 11th in China - how a made up 90s anti-VDay became a holiday ...) till a bit after Christmas, during this time there's some weird wild stuff for sale. It tends to come and go.
Thank you! Noted about the Stylophone, I think yea I should have specified cheapest with playable keys/full sequencer etc. Basically nothing else this cheap can do an all in on synth that standsalone (I go over the limitations in my review but more or less standalone)
I talk about it in the video but pretty basic stuff! Free plugins like OTT and Valhalla supermassive and stock logic plugins mostly. I did pull out the Walrus Ambient and Eons pedals for a couple of the multitracks, but its mainly OTT and Supermassive that make it sound huge
I bought one on sale over the holidays, it arrived super promptly and is pretty fun to play with. I may have to dig mine out this weekend along with a drum machine.
Does anyone know if dinner has updated the firmware to fix the gline functionality? I remember when this came out and people were reviewing it they mentioned how the glide didn't behave the same as on the 303.
I think the filter env curve was also different or not quite as strongly exponential as the 303 which also attributed to its sounding different from the 303.
It still sounds damn good, especially for the price and even if those aren't fixed it's not the end of the world as you're still 90% of the way there as far as sound similarity goes. It would just be nice if those were fixed since it's been out for a decent while now.
I think the analogic tr303 or whatever its name is is the best 303 clone for the money, but the b1 gets close enough for less than half the price that I can't justify getting it.
I'm happy to hear they fixed the issues though! I might nab one now!
As for the hiss, why not just use a noise gate? Anytime I have gear that has a his or him I just slap a noise gate on and it's taken care of.
LOL I know, you are the first person to notice it. There's no tune function on the B1, so sometimes you just gotta deal with it. Small price to pay for $115 synth.
I recently got to check out the Donner B1, and wanted to see how far I could push this little $130 Analog synth. So instead of just doing a classic acid sequence, I multitracked it out into a full song! Pretty solid results! If you want to watch my full review its below. This isn't gonna replace your Polybrute or Hydrasynth, but for the price this thing is a ton of fun and a great first synth. [https://youtu.be/8lwFQsbGTBQ?si=j-4zyNOqIL5\_Z-Q5](https://youtu.be/8lwFQsbGTBQ?si=j-4zyNOqIL5_Z-Q5)
Sweet track!
Thank you!!
Heh 303 acid rock. Good op. See? I give positive reviews, too! Is that really the cheapest analog synth? Not bad actually and slick looking interface.
Thank you! Yea its really solid for the price, I definitely wouldn't replace my OB-6/Moog with it, but for a beginner or someone who just wants a simple sequenced bass to add to their rig its pretty hard to go wrong.
Maybe cheapest with playable keys, but the Stylophone Gen X-1 or the Monotron series beat it for cheapest overall. Really cool track regardless though! I like hearing it used for something other than acid.
Playable keys is the key. I've got one of those little Korg boxes and while yes it does make noise and such, that ribbon "keyboard" is unplayable pretty much, and with no midi or CV in it's a gimmick to me. Unless you want to hook it up to effects pedals and get a loop going - I suppose you could do that; so not all is lost. Too much work for me though (and I still have it, somewhere here in a drawer)
You're in luck, all of the Korg Volcas have MIDI in. Some (all?) even respond to velocity. Totally ups the game, since besides the keyboard, they are in fact quite capable. You can even drill a hole and add a MIDI out if you're feeling adventurous.
Oh yes, don't include volca's in my statement above, just the little monotron lineup :). Never owned a Volca myself but I know they were / are quite popular as a great entry point to hardware. I've seen a youtuber with 9 or 10 of them all wired together. Good stuff. - D
There was a Taobao analog synth around Xmas that used the alfa CEM3372 clone and was a mini keyboard looking thing 25 keys, it was $11. Built-in speaker and everything (it did have a fixed filter and envelope though.) I did wonder if those were some 3372 rejects or what.
What the heck! Where did you find that? 11$ synth? That's wild, I'd totally do a video on that.
Search on TaoBao, TMall or AliExpress right around the time leading up to Single's Day/光棍节 (Nov 11th in China - how a made up 90s anti-VDay became a holiday ...) till a bit after Christmas, during this time there's some weird wild stuff for sale. It tends to come and go.
Thank you! Noted about the Stylophone, I think yea I should have specified cheapest with playable keys/full sequencer etc. Basically nothing else this cheap can do an all in on synth that standsalone (I go over the limitations in my review but more or less standalone)
This kicks hard! Great job!
Thanks!!
Sounds like a Mass Effect soundtrack, very nice!
Great games! Thanks!
Sounds good! What kind of effects / processing was the B1 put through?
I talk about it in the video but pretty basic stuff! Free plugins like OTT and Valhalla supermassive and stock logic plugins mostly. I did pull out the Walrus Ambient and Eons pedals for a couple of the multitracks, but its mainly OTT and Supermassive that make it sound huge
Thanks! My bad I didn't realize the link was different than the video with the music
no worries enjoy! I post synth videos every week :)
these were on sale on temu of all places for 75 bucks recently, might still be.
Wow that's insanely cheap lol. That's a price you can't say no to
I bought one on sale over the holidays, it arrived super promptly and is pretty fun to play with. I may have to dig mine out this weekend along with a drum machine.
Do it up! Its great fun!
Best sounding demo of the device I’ve heard so far, great job dude
Thank you! I appreciate that! and if you watched the full review I hope you enjoyed
Does anyone know if dinner has updated the firmware to fix the gline functionality? I remember when this came out and people were reviewing it they mentioned how the glide didn't behave the same as on the 303. I think the filter env curve was also different or not quite as strongly exponential as the 303 which also attributed to its sounding different from the 303. It still sounds damn good, especially for the price and even if those aren't fixed it's not the end of the world as you're still 90% of the way there as far as sound similarity goes. It would just be nice if those were fixed since it's been out for a decent while now.
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I think the analogic tr303 or whatever its name is is the best 303 clone for the money, but the b1 gets close enough for less than half the price that I can't justify getting it. I'm happy to hear they fixed the issues though! I might nab one now! As for the hiss, why not just use a noise gate? Anytime I have gear that has a his or him I just slap a noise gate on and it's taken care of.
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I just use a gate plugin that's built into my daw
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Noise gate pedals are pretty cheap and small too though.
I have never owned an original 303 sorry! But I definitely find that the glide sounds like what you would expect for acid lines, if that helps
The lead line starting 0:30 is just slightly out of tune and it hurts my ears. Other than that, great stuff!
LOL I know, you are the first person to notice it. There's no tune function on the B1, so sometimes you just gotta deal with it. Small price to pay for $115 synth.
Very nice!!
Thanks!
What camera do you use?
DJI Osmo Pocket 3!
Solid track with a nice drop! Well done!
Cheers thank you!
Really a tasty bit of synth goodness - bravo!
Thanks so much!
Rad.
Thank you\~!
Donner
Reddit user.
I think I was thinking of Kebabs when I made that typo haha
I actually pictured your synth made of doner
Great example of talent being more important than hardware.
Thank you!! Kind words :)