Mono Synths: A Pianist's Perspective

I have had quite a bit of experience with playing piano. With piano, you are able to have "infinite" polyphony, meaning you can play as many notes as you want at the same time. However, for many synthesizers, you are only able to play one note at a time. In this video, I document my exploration into the world of synthesis, and how I incorporated piano into it.
In the video, I used the Behringer Poly D, which is a clone of the original Minimoog Model D.

[@sibbyeskie]

I recall talking to a classical player about music and he was all about the note structure. Essentially if it’s on the sheet, that’s all you need. Even said that reading the sheet would be almost as good as hearing the music! I asserted that the complexity in modern music is all about texture and sound design, none of which can even be captured by sheet music. The great thing about these instruments is they forced exploration of texture and sound. Limitation can open up new paths. That’s the to look at it.

[@Songtweaker]

I totally agree! Having the music is a baseline for what to play, but a big part of classical music is the way it is interpreted. That's where the freedom is at. However, now a lot of it is about creating interesting sounds that work well together. Thanks for sharing!

[@davidsharp3110]

I absolutely love what you did here at 1:47. You figured it out! Cheers!!!

[@Donetur]

I compose classical music and I love synths.

[@squashpsych7052]

You can actually play 4 notes at a time with the Poly D as well, if you use it in "poly" mode and use the same voicings on all the 4 oscillators. I think the correct term is paraphonic, but it works okay for the most part.

[@Songtweaker]

Yes! I made a video about it before this one, but my point for this video was to demonstrate the mono aspect of it.

[@8-BitHeart79]

Get yourself a stand that stacks your keyboards. This way your eyes and hands are generally in the same spot when playing. It makes playing multiple boards easier than reaching and looking every time. Like an organ.

[@Songtweaker]

absolutely! I was thinking of getting one when I move into my new space.

[@PCFROMVCS]

Nice video, I too am a pianist and I honestly find these super intimidating! I see professional musicians with walls of knobs, cords, and weird lights surrounding their keyboards, and I cant even fathom how they make use of them. But they probably start off with just one basic synthesizer like you though haha. Maybe Ill do the same soon

[@Songtweaker]

If you want to start out learning basic synthesis, I think this / the Behringer Model D is a great start, since there aren't a crazy amount of functions. Modular synthesis also seems pretty intimidating to me, but it's really expensive so maybe sometime later! (It does look really cool though) Thanks for sharing!

[@hozzer68]

Rick Wakeman bought his first synth a minimoog from the child actor who played “the artful Dodger “ in the film Oliver, he had bought it but disliked the fact it could only play single notes, as he was a pianist it was no good to him.

[@Songtweaker]

Cool, I never knew that! That's why he's got multiple synths... Thanks for sharing!

[@Luthiart]

@@Songtweaker The guy who sold the Minimoog to Wakeman actually thought it was broken. Apparently Rick tried to explain to him that it was monophonic, and that it worked just fine, but the guy was having none of it and sold it to him for half price.

[@RayyMusik]

I‘m also a pianist, but I think mono synth keys are somehow misleading. A mono synth is rather to be played like a lead guitar, a wind instrument or, in the low registers, an electric bass. Listen to guys like Chick Corea, George Duke etc. - they didn‘t play their Moogs like a piano at all.

[@toastsawdust9814]

@@Luthiart not even half, he ended up paying 60£ for a brand new minimoog

[@bigbasil1908]

Close to the edge, down by the water

[@wiseoldfool]

Very interesting!

[@bigbasil1908]

I recently bought a microkorg s from my friend and found it a bit disappointing that you can only play 4 notes at the same time on the polyphonic patches. But I'm slowly getting used to it and it does force you to work with either the 4 notes maximum or 1 note at a time for mono or single patches. But I have a Yamaha e443 which I've had for a few years now that I can play if I want to use more than 4 notes at a time, and of course it has a very good grand piano patch and other great musical instrument patches. The microkorg would be better if it had a bunch of switches and knobs for changing stuff, but I will get used to the way you create and adjust patches eventually.

[@Songtweaker]

For sure, you kind of embrace the limitation and realize that it has its other strengths. Thanks for watching!

[@dstrats]

Thanks for sharing this. I found it fascinating. Also, as a owner of the PolyD (and I am coming to synth with a guitar background) how did you make the synth notes sustain as you playing piano? It was so awesome! Thanks.

[@Songtweaker]

Thank you!!! There is a button that says “hold”. I believe it is near the arpeggio controller. It’s really useful for when you want to tweak a sound with both hands, and doing what I did!

[@johnsmith-nd9yo]

cool vid

[@Songtweaker]

Thank you for watching!

[@jjrusy7438]

I am like you, i see the world through the piano. just some ideas for live performance: that 2 keyboard jam at 2min is clunky because you have to reach for the synth. If you put the synth on a shelf just above the main keyboard, you can play much faster and cleaner. sustain pedals and foot controllers also help. i use a footboard and a mcmillan 12-step and a pile of homemade sustain pedals. i also built my own stands and racks to exactly fit my height&reach. i have occasionally even set up 2 keyboards so i can play both at once with the same hand. ya, i'm probably a bit on the spectrum haha. i dont spam my music channel, but i think if you see how i set up my gear and then check out some 100% ad-lib 1-take, 1-track jams using more complex soundsets from several keyboards and MIDI modules, you might get some cool ideas. my channel is "Autistic Einstein" here is a random multi-keyboard live jam that i use the 2 keyboards with 1 hand in an ambient piece: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYbLlqmLlN2nm7s and now that you have synth #2, my ideas may really start you thinking about your setup. i went through my setup in a vid series, if u r interested i can link them to save you from searching