So after reading a ton of negative reviews I knew not to buy this. So I didn’t, I rented it, thanks to krztov’s advice stating how this is the same team that did time splitters so no way will it suck. LOL OH HE WAS SO WRONG. This is the biggest piece of over hyped shit to ever come out on the ps3. The graphics suck, I mean doom 3, that game that came out years ago looks better that this. Frame rate issues out the ass. When games from 2 or 3 generations before look better you know you have problems. The game play is ok, but its seriously generic, it totally relies on nectar. But you only get it for like the first few missions, and it really isn’t all that great. We rented this to play the online co-op, krztov and I spent 2 hours trying to figure out how to get it to work, we would set up a game, and invite, but when you try to join, it says “most recent patch required to play” and craps out. (there is no new patch to get) so it makes no sense. I could get on the death matches and join most games, but could not invite friends once I was in the games, or if i was hosting one. It would never work. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE. DO NOT EVEN RENT THIS. PISS ON IT! PURE TRASH.
Lets face it, music has changed. Sure, this is pop, but it has its roots in trip hop, techno, trance, and disco. I’ve always been a sucker for anything that uses a ton of analog synths. This is analog heaven. No exaggeration. Through the whole lp, tones of wet resonant sounds, bandpass and highpass filters. Huge unison like ripping tones and bass lines. Below, the video for Tiptoe. I know, I know, It kind of reminds me of janet jackson or something. But past that, the chorus is like heaven. The strings and flanging, the super pretty vocals. Astonish me every time. This is a fan made video, not official, and the actress in this video is not goldfrapp. Tiptoe has the most kick ass amazing modular synth type noises in it. In fact this is what made me run out and buy a modular, I really wanted some of those zippery high pass and band pass sounds. No virus can do this, listen to the noises in the beginning. This is the modular sound I love.
I freaked out when i read that he recorded most of this lp with a motu audio device using logic. I think an old version of logic. But of course, they let someone else take it and mix it else where, probably on a high end mixing board with high end compressors. That is why this lp sounds so freaking phenomenal. Below, the video for Hairy Trees, This song is so pretty and angelic. I love it.
I’ve loved Goldfrapp even before she was doing her solo stuff. She did some guest vocals for a band I love to death called ORBITAL. She was on the middle of nowhere lp, an lp i listened to fanatically during the ttg production stage. She can sound swanky, erotic, heavenly, pretty, powerful, hypnotic and lucid. I think she beats out bjork even. That is saying something. Below is the video for twist, I love the growling bass lines. This has some huge sounds. Pure techno pop. I love it.
My favorite tracks on this lp are: Crystalline Green, Tiptoe, Deep Honey, Hairy Trees, Twist, Strict Machine. My favorite is Tiptoe. This is one of the best records I have picked up in years. Sure it’s a little dated now, it came out a few years ago. But seriously, I listen to this quite often still. I love the analog sounds and production. Very well done. Below is the video for Strict Machine, a song about a vibrator LOL. I’m not joking, it’s about some kind of sexual device, it has to be. Listen to the lyrics closely. who knows. Maybe it’s just my filthy brain, who knows. What I find even funnier is that this song was used by nintendo I think in the marketing of the nintendo DS or gameboy advanced. One of the two. LOL.
This is one of those lps that stays cool years and years after its prime. If you are just starting to get into goldfrapp, this is where you start. Stay far away from the new one “seventh tree”. The new one sounds like crosby, stills, nash and olivia newton john. YUCK. Start with black cherry. This is truly psychedelic. I give this a 5 out of 5. Buy now! Click Here to download Black Cherry by Goldfrapp DRM FREE 256 mp3. Click Here to Buy audio cd Black Cherry by Goldfrapp.
I’ve had it for over a week now. What can I say? I think it is a lot louder, bigger, and fatter than the mfb dco I have. It pairs up very nicely to it. What it does do better than all the others is tracking the keyboard and staying in tune(update: the rs95e is a tad better at tracking). So I find this a lot more musical. Hey, before I go any further, I have to say that the pwm on this is the best. Better than any of the other units I have used. There is a pwm saw as well that I really like. Kind of like the old alpha juno. This does those wicked animated leads when you use pwm. It can sound really buzzy and alive and thick. The sync sounds it can make are huge and my favorite so far of any of the oscillators I have used. The square waves on this are godly. I have never used the cwejman vco-2rm, so I have no idea how it stacks up against that oscillator. This is a very stable VCO. That can sound huge. I think the triangle and sine waves on the vco-6 are really good, but I must say that the plan b model 15 sine wave is a tad better. Why did I end up choosing this over the rest? Because stability is the thing I desire the most. I wanted something to cut in the mix and stay really musically IN TUNE with the other gear I have. I had a lot of trouble with oscillators before the vco-6 and mfb dco. My leads would sound like massive detuned trance leads because the tuning and stability of the model 15 was all over the place. I like to have control over the detuning, with the vco-6, I have complete control. It does what I say. It is well behaved. Some people hate this. I love it. The tone is kind of clinical. People say it sounds like roland vco. I compared it to my sh-2. The sh-2 was pillow warm and softer. The vco-6 is like a razor, clinical, and cutting, but still fat enough for most bass duties. I would say over all that the VCO-6 does remind me of roland a bit. But it’s so clean compared to roland stuff. I think it is in it’s own class. I can see the roland comparison, but honestly, it is it’s own thing. Unique in its precision and cleanness. I give this a 5 out of 5.
Pros= Many inputs and attenuators, a switch for dc and ac on fm input 1. Can double as a LFO(It cannot go as slow as some others, more like a moog lfo). 2 pwm inputs, 2 pwm attenuators, 3 fm inputs with 3 fm attenuators, octave switch + fine tune, sync input. The build quality knobs and jacks are so much better than anything else on the market.
Cons= In some cases too clinical. Lacks a bit of warmth and filth(this can be good or bad), not vintage sounding at all.
Here is a little demo of the VCO-6 that I put together, just going up the keybaord on each voice output. At the end I mess around with all the PWM modes. Right Click Here, to save as an mp3. HEY, all you VCO-2RM owners, you can use this to compare the sound to your oscillator if you are still on the fence. Hope this helps. PEACE. hexfix93.