Modelled Analogue Synth
Reviews : Keyboard
Creamware's Minimax is certainly not the
first digital emulation of a Minimoog to be released — nor even
Creamware's first. But it bucks the recent trend for software
recreations of vintage synths — by being hardware! Can it replace the
real deal?
Photos: Mark Ewing
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What can you write about the Minimoog that hasn't
been written a hundred times before? Well for a start, that it now has a
hardware-based DSP-driven dopplegänger. Awaiting attention in
my studio today is a small, wood-framed desktop module with a naggingly
familiar layout. Creamware's Minimax ASB ('Authentic Sound Box') is a
digital reincarnation of the '70s monosynth, and loses the keyboard and
left-hand controllers, but gains MIDI capabilities, memories, effects
and even polyphony, while retaining many quirks of the original design —
so there's no dedicated LFO, and no oscillator sync or pulse-width
modulation, as found on some modified Minis. All this comes at a price
considerably less than that of a second-hand Minimoog — and I should
know, as I sold mine a few years ago. If Creamware have nailed the
sound, this module could find itself in great demand. And the company
have been modelling the Mini for years, with the Miniscope and Minimax
plug-ins for their Pulsar and SCOPE systems and later for their Noah
hardware synth, so you'd expect the Minimax to be a highly evolved
emulation.
As you can see above, the Minimax's panel closely
resembles that of the Minimoog, with sections labelled Controllers,
Oscillator Bank, Mixer and Modifiers, although there's no headphone
socket nor a A440 tone generator (the latter, at least, we shouldn't
miss, thanks to digital stability). In use, the knobs are smooth,
responsive and feel right. The minimal visible additions include two
knobs that add velocity control over both envelope amounts, plus a
Feedback switch to route the synth's output back through the filter
section, permitting Minimoog-style overdrive.
Underneath the main panel is the Configuration
Strip, where more modern features are accessed. Here you assign the MIDI
channel and access the effects, patch memories, and polyphonic mode.
There's also a button that transforms the data-entry knob into a master
volume. You'll note there is already a dedicated volume knob on the
panel, but this is a separate, programmable parameter stored with each
patch. The three-character LED display is basic but adequate (although
there's no MIDI indicator LED), and all the lower selector buttons are
of the LED-bearing, positive-clicking sort.
The rear panel is very different to that of a real
Mini — there are no voltage inputs, S-Trig connectors, or scaling pots
for each oscillator (tweaking these was a regular hassle on my old
Minimoog). The Minimax has MIDI In, Out and Thru, plus a USB socket.
Don't be misled by the Minimax's twin audio inputs
and outputs. The Minimoog had a completely monaural signal path, and so
does the Minimax. Its oscillators, noise and any external signals pass
through a single low-pass filter, so the two audio inputs are summed to
mono internally, and the two outputs are only stereo in the sense that
twin delay lines are hardwired to the right and left outputs. Finally,
the power supply is external. I know these keep costs down, but as a live player, I hate them and as long as companies keep using them, I'll keep complaining!
The Sound & The Signal Path
The Minimoog, of course, had no dedicated LFO,
although you could create the effect of one by setting Oscillator 3 to a
'Lo' setting. The Minimax works the same way, and equally faithfully,
Creamware have varied one of oscillator 3's waveforms, replacing the
mixed triangle/sawtooth with a reverse sawtooth (although this isn't
shown on the front panel). The reverse sawtooth doesn't sound any
different from the forward version, but it offers another, distinctive
modulation source. A Modulation Mix knob fades smoothly between
oscillator 3 and noise (white or pink) and switches determine the
routing of these sources to the oscillators and filter, modulation
amount being set by your MIDI controller's mod wheel. Ah, simplicity!
Having had a quick look round, I was eager to make
some noise. Predictably, I played my first note then reached straight
for the Cutoff knob to be rewarded by a smooth, Moog-like sweep. The
Resonance (or Emphasis, to use Minimoog terminology) sounded more
realistic than the average modelled filter; it was possibly a fraction
loud and shrill at its higher settings, but was definitely up there with
the best of them, and self-oscillated nicely when cranked up to
maximum. And when I lowered the cutoff and applied some pink noise
modulation, I was impressed to hear the filter bubbling and warbling in a
convincingly Minimoog-like way.
As on the Minimoog's rear panel, there are audio
outputs and inputs, but then come the modern additions — the traditional
five-pin trio and USB connectors for MIDI.
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Checking out the oscillators, I found the waveforms
suitably authentic to the ear, from rich brassy sawtooth through to
reedy pulse wave. When detuned, they exhibit the nice 'swimminess' of
Minimoog oscillators, and authentically, they never quite lock together.
I found the basic tones to be fairly bright, so I'm guessing Creamware
modelled one of the later Minimoogs. At high pitches, the waveforms are
clean and free of artifacts, whilst lower down, there's a fullness
sometimes lacking on virtual analogues.
After finding the filter and resonance knobs
completely smooth in operation, I was surprised to hear stepping on the
oscillator frequency and patch volume controls, but most noticeably on
the Amount Of Contour knob in the Filter section. Unsettled, I turned to
the envelopes — and instantly realised something was wrong. The manual
claims that these are 'modelled on the Original's behaviour', but
they're not. Certainly, as on the Minimoog, the Minimax's envelopes only
have three stages, with a switch determining whether release is off or
is shared with the decay time. But if you play a note with a long
decay/release, and then shorten the time, instead of changing instantly,
as on a Minimoog, the note still continues to its original length on
the Minimax, the change only becoming apparent when you retrigger the
note. All the envelope stages behave in the same way. Apart from this, I
found the envelopes to be reassuringly snappy, capable of delivering
the punchy basses and percussive sequences we all know and love.
There were a couple more noteworthy niggles. Despite
sending loud signals to the audio inputs, I was unable to activate the
yellow overload LED, and became convinced I had a unit with a hardware
fault. Not so, Creamware assured me: this LED isn't yet enabled in
software. Finally, I found that the Glide time was stepped, functioning
more like glissando than the Minimoog's smooth portamento. When I
reported this, Creamware claimed there was already a fix, and so there
was — although it wasn't yet available from their web site! This process
introduced me to Creamware's idiosyncratic way of dealing with OS
updates (see the box overleaf).
Memories Are Made Of This
Of course, the original Minimoog had no memories,
but the Minimax offers 128 preset and 128 user patches. When selecting
user patches, the Preset LED initially remains lit. To see the value of
any control, you push the Preset button until its LED goes out, and
then, when you turn a knob, the small row of yellow LEDs in the Match
display at the bottom left indicates how far away you are from the
stored value. When the middle LED lights, you're close, and when it
flashes, you're there. LEDs to the right and left show you're moving
away from the stored value. Values can be fine-tuned with the Up/Down
buttons to the right of the display, or the data knob to the left. To
return to patch selection mode, you hit the Preset button again. If this
method doesn't appeal, you can hold down the User button for a couple
of seconds. All the front-panel controls then become 'live' — my
preferred method of working.
I think programming a synth like this is more of a
personal experience than, say, extracting pianos and violins from a
modern workstation. Certainly the factory patches, mostly typical
analogue sounds of the late '70s or early '80s, didn't do much for me,
but there were sufficient polysynths, organs, leads and basses to serve
as starting points. Soon, I had assembled a selection of warm,
glide-based solo sounds, sweeping basses, subtle brass and all manner of
thick, fluid, resonant leads. The Minimax handled like the most stable,
flawless Minimoog I've ever played: there were no glitches or
instabilities whatsoever. I particularly liked the filter overdrive;
this is activated by switching on Feedback in the Mixer section, setting
the external input to 'on' and cranking up its level. The result is a
very creditable impersonation of the famous Minimoog trick of feeding
the headphone output to its own audio input.
Holding down the Up and Down value buttons together
activates the Minimax's polyphonic mode, with the display showing 'on'
when active and 'of' (!) when mono operation is restored. Curiously,
though the manual claims that it is six-note polyphonic, the Minimax can
play 12 notes at once, although there is no attempt at offering
multitimbrality. Polyphony requires that you approach the Minimax
differently — patches created to sound fat and raspy in mono mode will
sound excessive when you play chords, using the Feedback button to
overdrive the signal gives pretty rough results, and at high volumes,
nasty distortion results. Programming 'thinner' patches with subtle
oscillator detune proved most effective, and I discovered a wealth of
useable organs and strings, plus some stunning synth brass. Although I
missed having pulse-width modulation, I thought the Minimax performed
beautifully as a polysynth, with a presence and depth that few digital
analogues can offer. However, voice stealing can occur unexpectedly when
playing two-handed, since each voice appears to be allocated in the
order it's played. This means that notes are preserved until released,
regardless of new notes that may be played. This can be a good thing: if
you program a patch with a long decay/release, you can hold a
left-handed chord and then solo non-legato with your right, retriggering
the same voice cleanly with each note, rather than creating a solo
'mush'. I rather liked this implementation, although Creamware tell me
that polyphonic voice allocation is something they intend to return to
in a future OS update.
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MIDI
The Minimax's MIDI implementation is extensive.
Elsewhere in this review, I've noted the velocity control of filter and
amplifier envelopes, with dedicated Amount knobs for each. This feature
adds a sense of dynamics that's taken for granted on modern synths, but
which can breathe fresh life into analogue timbres.
In addition, there are several parameters that are
not accessible via the ASB hardware. Of these, mod wheel depth and
offset are probably the most valuable, since they can be employed to
create patches with constant modulation effects. Aftertouch can be
routed to filter cutoff, output level or to oscillator pitch, but,
sadly, it can't be used to control modulation depth. Pitch-bend range is
also programmable per patch.
The best news is that every Minimax parameter has a
MIDI Continuous Controller assigned to it — even those for which there
are no physical controls. You can activate polyphonic mode, set every
effect parameter, or change the envelope triggering response, all using
simple MIDI CCs. As you'd hope, the knobs all transmit these, and
there's even a dedicated Local Off switch to let you do so without
altering the sound engine. This is great if you like controlling
everything over MIDI from your sequencer.
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Effects
The onboard effects are basic but well judged,
consisting of just a chorus/flanger and a two-channel delay line. The
chorus/flanger allows control over feedback, phase, rate, depth and the
wet/dry mix. In flange mode, with feedback set quite high, you get a
welcome metallic bite that slices through a mix nicely, and the chorus
fleshes out polyphonic string sections nicely.
I've always felt that delay is the most valuable
effect on analogue synths, so full marks to Creamware for putting not
one but two on board. The maximum time available is about 1.5 seconds,
and you are always required to set left and right delay times
individually. There's no option to sync the effects to MIDI Clock,
although you can independently set a tempo from 72 to 199bpm for each
delay channel, and you can set the delay clock from 1/64th notes to
single notes (including triplets). The manual fails to mention the
'Cross' feature, which alternates the feedback signals from one channel
to the other, producing a pleasant stereo-widening effect. Finally, you
can bypass the effects altogether with a dedicated switch — and once
engaged, the bypass remains on when you select new patches.
There are five preset effect algorithms (referred to
numerically due to display limitations), and you can only set the
wet/dry mix and the three most important parameters for that preset. For
example, you might be able to adjust left and right delay times and
damping, but not feedback. However, this didn't bother me too much; I
spent five minutes setting up a few knobs on my Novation Remote 25 to
perform the full range of adjustments via MIDI CCs, including the
effects bypass, and never gave it another thought!
My initial impressions of the Minimax were less than
positive. Given Creamware's past attempts at modelling the Moog sound, I
was surprised to hear audible stepping on some controls, not to mention
envelopes that didn't perform like a Minimoog's, and the
non-operational overload LED. But as I started to play and program the
Minimax, that impression changed. I was able to obtain sounds that
closely matched my favourite old Mini patches, and whilst the Minimax
sounds didn't have the instabilities you would find on a Minimoog (and
therefore some of the magical nuances), I was happy to live with that,
and welcomed the addition of velocity control, effects and polyphony. I
should also mention that Creamware took on board all the points I
raised, and promised to revisit the operation of the envelopes, to add
smoothing to more of the controls, and to activate the overdrive LED,
although these fixes had not yet been implemented when I submitted this
review.
I accept that the Minimax ASB will never compete
side by side with a real Minimoog in terms of physical presence, and
cannot offer the quirks and personality traits that come from an ageing
set of analogue electronics. But the longer you work with the Minimax,
the less these things seem to matter, and the more you come to value the
convenience of a reliable, drift-free module that won't develop crackly
pots or a duff keyboard.
This was brought home to me when I asked a friend to
bring his 1970 Minimoog around to put it alongside the Minimax.
Significantly, he decided it was too fragile to risk the journey. The
Minimax could be a perfect MIDI-capable solution for those who want to
gig with their Mini, but dare not. Alternatively, if you've always
wanted a Minimoog, but would prefer one in a reliable, affordable,
hardware form, the Minimax could be what you've been waiting for.
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