Vortex Sound Research

OMG. No review to link to, or anything - I bought a Neutron!

(Have been quiet recently due to impending house move, but have plenty of things coming soon).

Anyway - I didn't buy A Neutron. I ended up with two - but one may go back, or it may not.

You've seen one of these before...

So what happened was I wanted a TD-3-AM despite the financial uncertainty of a house move, because Amazon had them at £93. In fact, I ordered the AM, but that was delayed, so I ordered a BK and SR as well (also £93), and Amazon took the money from the account, and three weeks later I still had no TD-3. Having poked the GAS and got the WANT for a Behringer, I cancelled the BK and SR and ordered a Neutron instead - the AM got cancelled as out of stock, so I bought one from GAK (I haven't even opened it yet).

The first Neutron arrived and I had real issues with levels. I played with bypassing and it was okay, but 'off', and then the overdrive didn't seem very 'overdrivey', and eventually because stress etc. I just asked Amazon to replace it.

The new one arrived, and it's more sensible. But it also made me think that I maybe didn't really understand the signal chain on the first - I have a month to decide if I return the other one, or pay for a second one.

Why?

Well, the one I'm using sounds AMAZING. I'm finding it so intuitive and fun to make complex patches (still exploring, so ignore the rather basic routing above). I originally bought it in part to finish the review of the Keystep Pro, to use the CV outs for animation, but I've been too busy PLAYING IT AS AN INSTRUMENT to write an article.

And the logic is, the second one would cost me £250ish. For two envelope generators, an audio filter, a delay and probably, really, a perfectly good synth I just hadn't grokked how drive, level and volume related on them. And had forgotten about gainstaging. Doesn't help that I'm working with a new mixer, Korg MW-2408, which I've nicknamed Max Headroom. For obvious reasons.

Anyway. Flipside of that if if I do that I may as well return it and buy a Model D and really I need the money more than the synth. But eh, temptations.

So. How do I get the best out of this thing? Any tips, tricks, things that might catch me out (again)? It's got an Argon8 to complement when I set my studio up again (for the first time in almost two years!).