Donner L1 | Three Synth Sketches

video upload by Jay Hosking

"Please support my work on Patreon: / jayhosking
Three song sketches featuring the Donner L1 synthesizer.

00:00 - Ambient
04:38 - IDM-ish
10:48 - Video game music

Fair warning: Donner sent this one along for free. The only stipulation I agreed to was to post this link so you could find out more about the synth, and they would know that you came from my video:
https://datasink.rantion-admin.com/t/zy

It's hard to overstate how much this one appeals to me. A budget analog synth that sounds remarkably like my Roland SH-101, but has a triangle wave, second envelope, velocity options, stored sequences, MIDI, a removable keyboard, and a bunch more. The SH-101 is a simple synth, but it's one of my favourite subtractive sounds, and the L1 is the best modernized version of it that I've played. It's the kind of thing I wish Roland were making in 2025, and I would have bought it even if Donner hadn't sent it to me.

Here, I explore the L1 from a few different perspectives, showing off how I'd use it in making music, how it sounds on its own, with effects, and with other instrumentation.

Everything performed and recorded live to a stereo output, with EQ, compression, and limiting on the master.

Thanks for listening.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com"