Vongon Replay synth. Hmm...

[The Elf]

Is it me, or this a piece of over-priced, under-specced nonsense?


A single oscillator, mono output, effects-free, 6-voice DSP synth with an unreadable front panel, for... how much?!

For 75 quid more you have the Hydrasynth 49. For nearly half the price you have the Hydrasynth Explorer!

[BillB]

White text on cream background. Genuis! Target demographic is obviously young, 20/20 vision and never plays in dark spaces. Limiting.

What other inspired design innovations have they brough to bear on the product?

(I know where my money would be going...)

[Martin Walker]

White text on cream background. Genuis! Target demographic is obviously young, 20/20 vision and never plays in dark spaces. Limiting.

It wasn't until Bill mentioned this colour scheme that I even noticed there were any legends printed on that front panel (and even then I had to zoom in to see them clearly).

I'd assumed they were going for the 'inscrutable' look.

[Arpangel]

It does seem, a lot these days, it’s "lets take something very simple, and make it as difficult as possible to program it and play it" in the vain hope that it will somehow make us create amazing unheard of ground breaking noises, I also have this opinion of all modern alternative controllers.
it'll probably sell well in Dalston, and I'd recommend the makers to put sales points at the tills in fixed-wheel bike shops.

[IAA]

Wow how much?.?

I notice the web control page is not compatible with Safari, maybe the target demographic thinks that’s not cool enough!

Anyway it makes me think teenage engineering in the same way ie I’m clearly not meant to get it!

Shakes head

Ian

[ajay_m]

I read that as "vogon" and immediately thought of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation , of whose products Douglas Adams wrote that "their fundamental
design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws"

[Arpangel]

I read that as "vogon" and immediately thought of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation , of whose products Douglas Adams wrote that "their fundamental
design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws"

Form over function.

[nathanscribe]

No dust shields on the switches either. And the toggles look very thin. It'd look good on the set of Space 1999 though.

[N i g e l]

Andertons review & info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gIR6FW87-4

I didnt realise the keys were Cherry keyswitches [mechanical QWERTY style]

[Arpangel]

I often think, can I do anything with this, that I can’t ,t do with anything I’ve got already? and it looks like a no, I may be wrong, but there does have to be a good reason to buy something new these days.
And at nearly a grand, there are a lot of things out there that would blow it in the weeds for under £500.
Just give me one good reason to buy it over anything else in the budget keyboard market? or a free soft synth. Animoog? what? It's jokingly cheap in comparison, and infinitely more interesting.
This thing on the Andertons demonstration sounds like a nice reed organ, it’s great, but a Bontempi on Gumtree is about £50.
Sorry, but it’s time to stop being different for the sake of being different.

[OneWorld]

White text on cream background. Genuis! Target demographic is obviously young, 20/20 vision and never plays in dark spaces. Limiting.

What other inspired design innovations have they brough to bear on the product?

(I know where my money would be going...)

What white text? where is it?

[BillB]

I read that as "vogon" and immediately thought of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation , of whose products Douglas Adams wrote that "their fundamental
design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws"

Perfect

[IAA]

Although….ive scanned a few reviews aside from Jacks rather diplomatic one. There is a group of folks who seem to dig it. Not sure why but I sense it’s not from a feature set point.

Ian

[Arpangel]

They’ve already got us lot talking about it.

[IAA]

They’ve already got us lot talking about it.

I genuinely am perplexed. I’ve seen confirmation bias in play from a few video reviews, probably done it myself, but from a musical point of view I just can’t see where this fits. When I went ga ga after the Moog One came out I had to get it. BUT I had nothing like it and it works beautifully as an instrument. Yes it was overpriced but given the engineering I can see why. I just can’t see that here. But if folks dig it who am I!

Maybe Wakeman might sport it in his next rig atop a Minimoog. Then all bets are off.

Ian

[Arpangel]

It is what it is, but it's the "what it is" bit I’m having problems with.



You know me, anything goes, but sometimes, the obvious is just staring me in the face.

For 75 quid more you have the Hydrasynth 49. For nearly half the price you have the Hydrasynth Explorer!

Elf, a perfect example in this case, that more, definitely is "more"

[MarkOne]

I guess it will do well with the sort of crowd that thinks the Teenage Engineering thingy is cool beyond anything, and I bet that a load of YT influencers will get a free one and make tracks with it. And that will make it popular

It doesn't bring anything new to the party sonically or performance wise and it costs a lot of money. I'm sure it will be a huge success.