Juice 3
Ensemble with vintage monosynth, tape echo and flanger
DESCRIPTION
UPDATE
A Company-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named asked me via their legal representatives to change the name of this ensemble as they though someone might get the impression that this is a proper product from the Company-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I have therefor renamed this ensemble to Juice 3 - it still sound as juicy as before and you still get 3 oscillators. I'm sorry if someone got confused. I've made this ensemble on my own with love and care, Sowari was kind to test it and add a bunch of snapshots. I'm greatful that NI still offers to hosts this ensemble.
Enjoy
/ZooTooK
This ensemble uses the Analog Legacy techology.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When asking synth aficionados about their favorite synths they describe them as having a specific raw power and organic feel. Jupiter 4, SEM, OBX, Odyssey, Roland System 100, Modular III, CS80 comes in high and Prophet 5 and Polivocs are held high and described as organic and raw. Note that most but not all* on the list of favorite synths are first or second generation of synth with design made in the 70s. The reason to the raw power and organic feel is in my opinion the basic (or even poor) design and fairly low quality components (compared to today). It's important to understand that there are many factors behind that organic and raw sound and it's not equal to distortion. Overdriving the filter gives a lot of character, specifically at higher resonance values, but it's not the only factor. Just by adding some white noise is also not way to analog nirvana. Zero delay filters are much acclaimed recent years and offering the correct frequency response is important but it is still not a one way ticket to vintage weirdness.
People have tried to imitate analog synthesizers for decades e.g. by sample a single wav cycle but failed badly. Not only should waveforms be non perfect from a mathematical point of view they should also vary over time, just like a violin. However it's not the detuning and the drift, which is mainly a nuance and could easily be emulated by detuning the oscillators on purpose but instead, it's the microscopic variation in all parts of the circuitry that makes all aspect of the sound to continuously varying over time. These variations are very flattering to the brain as humans are very good at pattern recognition. Hearing a static sound becomes dull quite quickly but subtle or even subliminal changes becomes interesting and pleasing to listen to.
E.g the oscillators might vary in frequency and amplitude at high frequency adding more of a noise character but also variations at frequencies above and below the played note. Same with the frequency of the filter and the amplitude response of the amplifier; all functions varying at all frequencies.
Analog Legacy is the theory of modulating all functions in a synthesizer at all frequencies. The key is to find the right balance of the modulation depth for each frequency. Juice is the first attempt to use this theory in practice.
Just to make it clear: The Juice 3 is not in any way a copy of MONARK. I have not used or have had access to MONARK during the making of Juice 3. Instead the old ensemble Minimood made by NI in 1999, which has then been modified by several users, has been used as the starting point. I think that the basic structure will be recognizable from that early ensemble.
*Polivoks might not be designed in the 70 but the point is that the design and components are not of high quality measured by todays standard.
COMMENTS (96)