Live synthesis

[Culture_Shock]

I've been looking at getting a synthesizer for live use, something small like a kaossilator or a monotron. does anyone have any experience with doing things like this? Any synthesizers worth recommending?

[safefire]

Lots of options.
How basic do you want to go?
How much do you know about synths?

The Moog Minitaur is a really, really sweet sounding synth.
So is the Doepfer Dark Energy. Optionally paired with a Dark Time if you want to go really old school and tweaky.

[Culture_Shock]

I know the basics of analog synthesis, I had a copy of the ds-10 synthesizer for my nintendo ds, which is actually an emulation of the korg ms-10 I believe. but I'm looking for something even more basic than that. I want something that I can just grab and hammer on for a quick buildup or breakdown, and then get back to the mix. i was thinking that the kaossilator or one of the monotron units would be nice, but the monotribe has also caught my eye!

[diepotato]

I am also looking forward a mono tribe but don't know if it could work with ableton

[Shishdisma]

The Monotribe is definitely pretty awesome, and you can sequence and get rid of the ribbon with a MIDItribe kit. However, a synthesizer isn't really something you can just hammer on mid track and expect good results from.

[Nicky H]

I've been looking at getting a synthesizer for live use

... but I'm looking for something even more basic than that. I want something that I can just grab and hammer on for a quick buildup or breakdown, and then get back to the mix.

I'm not sure what you're asking for here mate - do you want something to use with dj'ing or production?

[Culture_Shock]

live use, right there next to my vci-100, in the booth or on stage. I want to be able to play something on top of my mix, nothing spectacular or drastic, but I want something more lucid than just using samples.

[3heads]

Maybe look into the Electribes then.

[alpha_5_]

I think I understand what you want.

The Korg Kaossilator is real sweet. I've got the original, and messed about with the pro, but any of the models will provide instant live improvised synthyness!

Also, if you have an iOS device of some sort, check out Korg's apps there (iKaossilator, iElectribe, iMS-20), and I HIGHLY recommend Propellerheads Figure. BeeBot is also great if you fancy annoying people. Infact, there are plenty of sweet instruments available on the app store!

The trick here is to find instruments are simple, and immediate. Don't look for instruments that are thick with features, or even deep into saving presets or projects. This will just create more things to think about, and more things to go wrong during your set. I believe a truly live instrument should require as little preparation, and faffing about as possible. Hopefully this will help your ability to perform shine, minimizing the chance of error and hopefully the audience will be able to recognize and appreciate this sort of performance too.