Folks, I am interested in your thoughts in the Chorus effect on the SuperGemini.
To my ears, whilst there’s nothing exactly wrong with it per se,
it’s just a bit lacklustre, and doesn’t really do all that much to the sound, in any of the three settings. (To the point where I’m almost wondering if it hasn’t quite been implemented properly).
Maybe it’s just comparing it with the lushness of DDS1 in ‘Super’ mode, and all the existing binaural shenanigans going on, but I’d expect that when I press both Chorus buttons at once I’d get something ridiculously lush and deep… but instead it’s more usually like an extra 10% of subtle wafting on the sound.
I actually quite like the chorus on the gemini. I personally find that Chorus 2 is the “more lush” sounding of all 3 modes and the only one I really use 99% of the time. Chorus 1 works for some stuff like leads and basses when you want a milder chorus, and I haven’t used Chorus 1+2 much myself. To my ears Chorus 2 is the one you want for the extra stereo width!
But the Chorus overall can be hit or miss depending on the kinds of patches you are making/playing. Some times patches just don’t need it, especially with Binaural activated and detune.
I haven’t got much experience with other synth chorus fx but I personally really like the three chorus variations on the Gemini. To me, like the two drive settings, they’ve got the amounts just right. I don’t know how it compares to the famous Juno chorus though (minus the noise of course).
I guess what’s at the back of mind with this thread is -
given that the MIDI Note On Velocity range of the keyboard was inadvertently set to a really restricted range and nobody noticed for ages and thought it was just ‘meant to be like that’, until a few users pressed for more analysis,
I’m wondering if the rather tame Chorus behaviour is also just a ‘mistake’ too, and nobody’s really thought to question it yet…
personally I would like the option of removing the Chorus and replacing it with a decent but basic built in reverb which I think will be far more useful for users esp those working in the ambient genre. My feeling is that Chorus was added to make the synth more Juno in style and maybe sound however the Juno sound is weak without being fattened up by the chorus effect . UDO synths are much more full sounding so arguably do not need the effect but are lacking in the reverb compartment.
There’s so many problems with the reverb I really don’t think they should even try:
UI: Reverb with 2 buttons is never going to be “decent” unless they sacrifice shift-functions for the parameters. it’s pretty much impossible to cram all important parameters to 3 possible states of the buttons. Mix level being the most crucial to have a dedicated knob.
Sound: The Super sound architecture does not suit a reverb that sums to mono, this means most reverb implementations with the exception being stereo convolution reverb. The problem is that summing the signal to mono means dealing with phase cancellation issues (documented in other threads) and losing some of the real sense of space that the binaural sound architecture creates by itself. There is the possibility to have a dual mono reverb that affects each channel separately, but that would sound silly because hearing stuff on the right channel would not reverberate on the left. Stereo convolution reverb solves this by having four different reverb tails (Right on Right channel, Right on Left channel, Left on Right channel, Left on left channel) but then there would need to be the option to load impulse responses and many more parameters like pre delays and so forth.
In my view the stereo delay + stereo chorus combo was selected to preserve the “super” sound without creating space synthetically, and I think it was for the better as that can be better achieved in post anyway. Actually I think scrapping all effects would be the best.
