Spectralis 2 Tutorial: Turn any digital poly synth into a paraphonic hybrid analog synth.

video upload by MIDERA

"Do you have a Spectralis 1 or 2 (they are identical for this tutorial)?
Do you have a polyphonic synth that you'd like to do something new with?
With a Spectralis, you can use it's internal filters to create a paraphonic hybrid synthesizer by sending the external audio inputs into the Spectralis. Here I'm bringing the Access Virus TI Polar into the Spectralis 2 and processing it with the analog (and digital) filters. The Virus is using a very basic initialized patch that you will hear at one point during the video.

Now, WHY would you want to do this? Simple. Let's say you have a digital synth with no analog filters and want to give it new punch. What if you WANT to have a 'paraphonic-like' sound? This is one way to achieve that. Perhaps, for no other reason than to do it, because it sounds good. Mixed with the internal oscillators, it sounds a lot like my Yamaha SK30. You can do so many things - why would you not want to try this if you have a Spectralis?

I say that this is creating a paraphonic 'hybrid' analog synth - but if you use an analog synthesizer going into this, I guess it would no longer be hybrid, it would be a fully analog paraphonic synth. I don't think it matters either way.

Is it paraphonic in the first place? I don't want to get into this debate. Frankly because I don't care about full or partial articulations. To me, it just means multiple voices that go through a single filter and VCA. That's all I mean.

This requires you to have your synthesizer with Local ON, on the same MIDI channel (1) as the internal part you are using.

I think you could do something similar with the Elektron Analog Heat. BUT - I think the Spectralis does a lot more, because you can sequence the sounds you are creating, you can add internal oscillators, you can FM the filters using the oscillators, and a LOT more. It may seem complex, but it's feasible to do and hopefully this video helps guide you on how to approach that.

Given that the Spectralis 1 and 2 seem to go for around $800-$1200 (in 2022), and all that it does - it's really worth it's price. This does mean it's twice as much money as an Analog Heat (which probably does other things really well - I've never used it and fully understand why you'd go for that instead of the Spectralis - BUT if you already have a Spectralis, this is a great way to experiment with it. Furthermore, I found using this setup to sound VERY similar to my Moog Matriarch. You've got multiple filters, that can be panned and modulated in a ton of ways. I'm not saying Spectralis + another synth = Moog Matriarch, they're different. BUT the sound seemed very similar to me, with the paraphonic aspects.

I fumbled around a bit - because I had to learn things on the way as well, which goes to show that even after owning this thing, I'm still not a true master of using it."