Korg's new OpSix is a very successful reinvention of six-op FM and a very nice-sounding synth. It's really quite impressive and also much easier to program.
The real issue is that the synth universe has contracted around a relatively small number of "classic" synth sounds. You have the Moog bass, the supersaw pad, various dreamy pads, various EDM plucks. the TB303 squelch, Oberheim brass, various dubstep pseudo-vocal woobs and buzzes, various clockwork-like sequences, and so on. There are maybe a few hundred of these sounds, and to music consumers they all sound like "synth."
Even with vintage analog, the space of potential sounds is much, much bigger. But the number of people who are real sound design virtuosos - as opposed to patching up some kind of raspy randomness on Eurorack - is tiny.
It's so much easier to treat sounds as presets or as imitations of the "classics" - which are often imitations of imitations - instead of approaching sound design as an imaginative exercise in mood and association.
So that's why some analog synths have legendary status. The promise is a legendary sound without having to do much work. And that's a very boring reason to play with synthesizers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6X4QSP0NpY
The real issue is that the synth universe has contracted around a relatively small number of "classic" synth sounds. You have the Moog bass, the supersaw pad, various dreamy pads, various EDM plucks. the TB303 squelch, Oberheim brass, various dubstep pseudo-vocal woobs and buzzes, various clockwork-like sequences, and so on. There are maybe a few hundred of these sounds, and to music consumers they all sound like "synth."
Even with vintage analog, the space of potential sounds is much, much bigger. But the number of people who are real sound design virtuosos - as opposed to patching up some kind of raspy randomness on Eurorack - is tiny.
It's so much easier to treat sounds as presets or as imitations of the "classics" - which are often imitations of imitations - instead of approaching sound design as an imaginative exercise in mood and association.
So that's why some analog synths have legendary status. The promise is a legendary sound without having to do much work. And that's a very boring reason to play with synthesizers.