Make Noise 0-Coast

So as not to bury the lead: I love this synthesizer. It has quickly become a favorite. I have a whole bunch of misc gear aquired through about 40 years of creating music, mostly from an amateur perspective, but also a life long student of music and alumnus of Berklee College of Music. And I think this synth is tied as my favorite electronic musical instrument (with the OP-1 by Teenage Engineering) and definitely my favorite analog synthesizer I have ever owned. I also own two other semi-modular desktop analog synthesizers, the Werkstatt and the Mother-32 both by Moog. I use them along with the 0-Coast as my modular system, along with various controllers, both MIDI & CV, and some fx. It plays very nicely with my other gear, but also works very nicely all by itself. By using various patches, this becomes a very cool generative music machine, that can generate patterns of sound for hours, with various degrees of non-repetition. I could just set it up and listen (and often do). But it's too tempting and too much fun, to resist tweaking and interacting with the sounds and patterns generated. And you can also just hook up a MIDI keyboard and play like a "normal" monophonic analog synthesizer. Same goes for using it with a sequencer. I use it with both a Korg SQ-1 and the Arturia Keystep both very inexpensive (around a $100 each) sequencers with both MIDI and CV out. If I could only have one piece of modular gear, it would be this one. Same goes for analog. And if I could only have one electronic musical instrument or synth, it would be a toss-up between this and the OP-1. The OP-1 might win because of its complete portability and self-containment. But when I'm into exploring randomness, unpredictably, and the inner and other dimensions of sound, this is my tool of choice.

Very versatile in its sound capabilities & cv functionality, & its layout is very easy to use. It's especially good at being experimental. Functions extremely well with other gear, but very fun by itself. Only cons, I know it's older but some things feel missed, like the maths being a vca & an audio in for the overtone section etc. Still absolutely worth the price.

At first I thought I wasn't going to be making any decent sounds being a noob to modular but once I got going I loved it. I've only learned 3 patches so far but have literally spent hours messing around with them. Set up is decent, Ive hooked it up to midi via USB to Ableton and used my Korg SQ1, I'm having more fun using the SQ1 with it though.

[EDIT]: After 4 months of playing around with it, I must sadly decrease it to 4 stars. When you patch anything into the square wave, the result is highly unstable and rampantly out of tune by 3-5 semitones. I find that I cannot use the square wave in a musical manner (either for output or modulation) because there is just no consistency. I use midi from ableton for trigger & cv and notice that the square wave is the only thing that does this. The saw wave is fine but noticed that it drops 2 octaves if you use it as the output instead of the sine wave. But basically the square wave is useless to me. Perhaps I am the only one who has this issue? On the flip side, I've made some great melodies and basslines. I discover something new each time I play with it. You can always record layers to make chords, it just takes more than 1 recording pass and multiple tracks. Not only is it awesome as a standalone, you can use this as a tool to modulate your other synths. I seriously recommend getting some tip-top audio stackable cables for this. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Original Review: If you can't find out what cables and stuff this package comes with (I couldn't for some reason) here it all is: - 0-coast synth (duh, of course) - Make noise power supply (don't use anything else!), and several types of interchangeable wall outlet adapters - 6 patch cables (4x 6 inch and 2x 1 ft) with 3.5mm connectors (2 of the cables are pink, 2 black, and 2 white) - Midi adapter (this adapter cable is about 6 inches long, you will need another midi cable) - HOSA 3.5mm stereo jack to 1/4in TS adapter (it's about 6 inches long, has a right-angle jack. You will need to provide your own 1/4in cable, I would not recommend HOSA but it'll work just fine) As for my quick review, it sounds simply amazing as most things from makenoise do. Everything feels well built and the sonic capabilities seem endless! Look on youtube for sound demos, there are plenty out there. The package comes with everything you need to make noise (pun intended). You can use any standard headphones with a 3.5mm jack if you don't have an audio interface with speakers, though it's much more satisfying to blast some noise through a large sound system. Package also arrived 2 days early on free shipping so that was a nice surprise. Note: I would strongly recommend you use this with either a sequencer or midi source in order to make any sort of rhythmic music stuff. When you do, it will open up the way for awesome stuff, and you will be able to do more than drones or random beeps/boops. Pretty much every 0-coast demo you'll find on youtube is made with midi or sequencing so basically everything you see on youtube requires an external source of midi or cv control. Hope this helps, happy synthing.

This is my first Make Noise product and it won't be my last. Built like a tank and sounds awesome.

Had first bought the Strega and finally caved and bought the 0ctrl.. then.. since I have other semimodular/modular gear i kept talking myself out of buying the 0coast esp since I own a microvolt which is similar.. sort of.. Well! I gotta say I’m so glad I finally caved & bought this! Was using the 0ctrl w/ the Strega & 0coast for a bit but found the 0ctrl a bit too experimental? Temperamental? Limited in terms of 8 note sequencing? So even tho I own a beatstep pro I grabbed the korg SQ64 and absolutely love it paired with the 0coast+Strega! They all sit happily together in a stand and the korg sq64 lives in its own little stand. This is my “second studio” for when I want to noodle and not be stuck in the big studio.. and honestly.. if I didn’t already have more gear you could have this trio plus a polyphonic synth + maybe moogs DFAM & be pretty set honestly.. through some reverb on there and pump out tracks.

I love the sounds that come out of this thing. If you like drone, ambient, noise, nonsense, bloops, or tones, you should get one.

Forget about reading reviews and watching demos, if you want a semi modular synth, just buy this. It is fantastic. The sound variety and quality is really something. Some are clears a bell with super bright rich sounds and then it can get downright crazy, insane and nasty. However, this is complicated. Compared to the Mother 32 (that I also own) it is a much less easy to just figure it out. Sadly the manual could use much more of a tutorial style with more explanations and examples. Instead it starts with describing the utterly confusing "screens" for MIDI settings and other modes. They do provide a number of videos, but some or so jargon filled it is almost humorous. I wish their documentation and tutorials better suited beginners as well as more advanced users and focused on learning all the various functions in a more systematic way. In effect, they are amazing engineers and designers, but not as great at instruction. They should hire someone for this! However, there are so many others online with good videos and tutorials. I downloaded a jpg diagram of the unit and have been assembling patch sheets (edit them with patch cord lines in Mac Preview) and am building my own little "book" to help me really learn about this. So, one star off just for the documentation (Moog's Mother 32 manual is a work of art by comparison), but beginners should not let this discourage them. This is a classic for sure.