In 1993-94 I was in the market for a new keyboard. When I saw and played with the VL1 at my local music store it blew me away, needless to say. The price tag of over 4k blew me away as well and I couldn't leave with one unfortunately. So, I ended up buying the just released Ensoniq TS-10 which was a little over half the price at around $2295 and I was very happy to have been able to even get that. It was still a lot of money for that time being 18 yrs old.
Such good woodwind type sounds from this. Its a little misleading though to call it additive synthesis. That term is normally used for a different approach, stacking sine waves to create a more complex sound. The VL1 is normally referred to as a physical modelling synth which works by manipulating short delay lines and filters.
Interesting sounds. I remember this when it came out. In the early 2000’s the price had dropped significantly. I remember looking online for synths and stumbled across one for less than £300 - now there’s a rev2 one on eBay for £3k
There was no way to create deep editing (element and voice level) for VL inside the machine at a time - it was so complex and much less intuitive than FM. Instead, you could use classic Mac (MacOS 7.1..9) with VL Expert Editor application to create completely new sounds (elements), if you dare to do so. I remember it was working fine with EX5 VL and EX5 allowed to store 16 custom “elements”. The biggest problem was that you cannot hear the changes instantly - you have to make change(s), then upload to EX5 in order to hear them. Nowadays there is wonderful VL-Wizard application that gives access to the most (if not all) VL parameters.
Not sure why this is being called an additive synthesizer. It is definitely NOT additive. This is physical modeling. And it was really meant to be used with controllers such as a breath controller / wind controller, or at least by manipulating a wheel or foot pedal to shape the sound in real-time as the note is sounding. Unfortunately, this demo and explanation completely misses the mark. This demo epitomizes why this technology failed to catch on- which is very sad. It was great. Nothing else like it.
This instrument proves that musicians are a lazy bunch and it was also introduced at an unfortunate point in time. You cannot just noodle away on this keyboard and expect it to sound great. You need to learn to work all the controllers at the same time, including the wind controller, because only then can the instrument shine with its capability of producing the subtle transitions that happen between the notes in a real wind instrument. However, most musicians preferred perfect realism from simple phrase samples over total creative freedom at the expense of having to learn an instrument. I was completely wrong in predicting that this technology would take off.
: / I DONT LIKE THE "AIR SOUNDS" ASSOCIATED WITH THE INSTRUMENT SOUNDS. WHEN SOMEONE IS PLAYING A LIVE WIND INSTRUMENT? YOU DO NOT HEAR ANY AIR! SO WHY THE ENGINEERS THOUGHT THE AIR SOUND WOULD SOUND GOOD???? IF MUSICIANS WERE INVOLVED MAKING THE SOUNDS? AS THEY SHOULD ALWAYS BE FOR ALL SYNTH DESIGNS! THOSE AIR SOUNDS WOULD NOT BE HERE... ALSO I THINK THIS SYNTH IS REALLY JUST AN "EXPERIMENT".. THE WORLD NEEDS MORE REAL MUSICIANS TO BE PLAYING REAL INSTRUMENTS! AND THEN COMING TOGETHER TO MAKE MUSIC TOGETHER! NOT MAKING COMPUTERS THAT REPLACE LIVE MUSICIANS AND LIVE INSTRUMENTS!
@@rockybalboa2526 ● Controller ≤ off, Modulation Wheel … Touch EG (124 settings). The “Breath Noise” parameter can be used to add the required amount of breath noise to a voice. The sound of the breath noise itself can be varied over a wide range using the Breath Noise parameters - accessible from this page by pressing the • button, or from the ELEMENT MISCELLANEOUS directory. The “Controller” parameter specifies the controller to be used for breath noise control. When set to “off” no breath noise variation can be produced, but an absolute breath noise value can be set via the “Value” parameter, below. ● Depth ≤ -127 … 127. Sets the amount of variation produced by the controller assigned to breath noise. The higher the value the greater the variation. Positive values cause an increase in breath noise in response to higher controller values (e.g. increased breath pressure or higher modulation wheel position), while minus values cause a decrease in breath noise in response to higher controller values. The “Depth” setting is reflected in the graph to the right of the parameters - the horizontal axis represents the controller value and the vertical axis represents breath noise. So the breath noise can be omitted completely.
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In 1993-94 I was in the market for a new keyboard. When I saw and played with the VL1 at my local music store it blew me away, needless to say. The price tag of over 4k blew me away as well and I couldn't leave with one unfortunately. So, I ended up buying the just released Ensoniq TS-10 which was a little over half the price at around $2295 and I was very happy to have been able to even get that. It was still a lot of money for that time being 18 yrs old.
No demo of the Vl1 is complete without a breath controller.
But good to see your take on it.
We literally just located it last week. :)
If you don‘t play this Synth without the breathcontroller, you ignore the real magic of this thing
You're right. The breath control bc2 or bc3 is a magic way to play the VL7 , VL1 and VL70m ! Articulations are a Real pleasure !
Such good woodwind type sounds from this. Its a little misleading though to call it additive synthesis. That term is normally used for a different approach, stacking sine waves to create a more complex sound. The VL1 is normally referred to as a physical modelling synth which works by manipulating short delay lines and filters.
Interesting sounds. I remember this when it came out. In the early 2000’s the price had dropped significantly. I remember looking online for synths and stumbled across one for less than £300 - now there’s a rev2 one on eBay for £3k
There was no way to create deep editing (element and voice level) for VL inside the machine at a time - it was so complex and much less intuitive than FM. Instead, you could use classic Mac (MacOS 7.1..9) with VL Expert Editor application to create completely new sounds (elements), if you dare to do so. I remember it was working fine with EX5 VL and EX5 allowed to store 16 custom “elements”. The biggest problem was that you cannot hear the changes instantly - you have to make change(s), then upload to EX5 in order to hear them.
Nowadays there is wonderful VL-Wizard application that gives access to the most (if not all) VL parameters.
There was only 27 VP1 synths made, that thing is like CS-80 range in price.
A rare synth, duophonic, no?
Not sure why this is being called an additive synthesizer. It is definitely NOT additive. This is physical modeling. And it was really meant to be used with controllers such as a breath controller / wind controller, or at least by manipulating a wheel or foot pedal to shape the sound in real-time as the note is sounding. Unfortunately, this demo and explanation completely misses the mark. This demo epitomizes why this technology failed to catch on- which is very sad. It was great. Nothing else like it.
Would you be willing selling the keyboard?
This instrument proves that musicians are a lazy bunch and it was also introduced at an unfortunate point in time. You cannot just noodle away on this keyboard and expect it to sound great. You need to learn to work all the controllers at the same time, including the wind controller, because only then can the instrument shine with its capability of producing the subtle transitions that happen between the notes in a real wind instrument. However, most musicians preferred perfect realism from simple phrase samples over total creative freedom at the expense of having to learn an instrument. I was completely wrong in predicting that this technology would take off.
: / I DONT LIKE THE "AIR SOUNDS" ASSOCIATED WITH THE INSTRUMENT SOUNDS. WHEN SOMEONE IS PLAYING A LIVE WIND INSTRUMENT? YOU DO NOT HEAR ANY AIR! SO WHY THE ENGINEERS THOUGHT THE AIR SOUND WOULD SOUND GOOD???? IF MUSICIANS WERE INVOLVED MAKING THE SOUNDS? AS THEY SHOULD ALWAYS BE FOR ALL SYNTH DESIGNS! THOSE AIR SOUNDS WOULD NOT BE HERE... ALSO I THINK THIS SYNTH IS REALLY JUST AN "EXPERIMENT".. THE WORLD NEEDS MORE REAL MUSICIANS TO BE PLAYING REAL INSTRUMENTS! AND THEN COMING TOGETHER TO MAKE MUSIC TOGETHER! NOT MAKING COMPUTERS THAT REPLACE LIVE MUSICIANS AND LIVE INSTRUMENTS!
Air sound is editable
@@GeoffRoss-h5z Ok, but you get my point right? THERE SHOULDNT BE ANY AIR SOUNDS IN THE SOUND CHIP TO BEGIN WITH..... : /
@@rockybalboa2526 ● Controller
≤ off, Modulation Wheel … Touch EG (124 settings).
The “Breath Noise” parameter can be used to add the required amount of breath
noise to a voice. The sound of the breath noise itself can be varied over a wide range
using the Breath Noise parameters - accessible from this page by pressing the •
button, or from the ELEMENT MISCELLANEOUS directory. The “Controller”
parameter specifies the controller to be used for breath noise control. When set to “off”
no breath noise variation can be produced, but an absolute breath noise value can be set
via the “Value” parameter, below.
● Depth
≤ -127 … 127.
Sets the amount of variation produced by the controller assigned to breath noise.
The higher the value the greater the variation. Positive values cause an increase in breath
noise in response to higher controller values (e.g. increased breath pressure or higher
modulation wheel position), while minus values cause a decrease in breath noise in
response to higher controller values. The “Depth” setting is reflected in the graph to the
right of the parameters - the horizontal axis represents the controller value and the
vertical axis represents breath noise.
So the breath noise can be omitted completely.