Come on in and recommend a synthesizer/keyboard!

Y'all read the title, now get recommendin'!

From what I've read the Roland Juno-G is great for it's price...

Any other recommendations? My guess is most MPC people are looking for something that is packed full of amazing sounds with some solid synthesizing options...

If you've had success with a particular board or know of a synth that is quite clearly ahead of the pack, drop the knowledge here!

You can check out the Roland Juno-G here.

MJH

I use a Micron, MicroKorg, and Nord Lead 2X.

I highly recommend the MicroKorg, also the Nord Lead is crazy. I don't think the Micron is as good. Seems to have more dance and pad capabilities then anything. The MicroKorg just sounds way more grimey. The Nord Lead has a very plastic, flat sound but when EQed and everything sounds amazing.

akai ax60- analog synth, no menus, all knobs and sliders. ive never made the same sound twice with this thing

korg tr rack- pretty much a rompler. it has a lot of great sounds from realistic to synths.

the downside of both of these is that neither one has portamento. other than that, they are dope.

Kawai K5000.

Roland Juno G

Kurzweil k2000 or k2vx.

Alesis Fusion (make sure the shit works properly)

How much $$$ do you have/What kind of sound do you want. IMO the juno-g is like the wackest keyboard out there. If you need rompler sounds(strings pianos rhodes general instrument sounds) get reason 4. If you need synth sounds get a microkorg a moog a dave smith evolver or something like that. If you need BOTH kinds of sounds....get reason. This is just my opinion but I think "workstation" keyboards are a thing of the past.

I really don't think Reason compares to an analog synth.... or even most hardware synths.

objektivone wrote:I really don't think Reason compares to an analog synth.... or even most hardware synths.

+1

the workstation keyboard is kinda an unnecessary expense when you have an mpc.
i use a microkorg and it works really well for me.
i'm even thinking about getting a microkorg xl to accompany it.

haha you're preaching to the choir man,
none of my friends understand why i have a sp-303, an mpc1000, and a s2000
(and i still intend on buying a korg electribe).
different machines, different flows, different methods.
but what i meant is if you're looking for a synthesizer to complete your setup,
a workstation keyboard is usually an unnecessary luxury.

I had the M3 with the redius expansion,i took it back and got a refund.
It sounds so compressed i didnt like it or its workflow.
I had the triton when it 1st came out and loved it but had to sell it due to cash flow.
Ive had allsorts over the years you name it.
I have just ordered this http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/pro ... intro.html
and I am quiet excited about it especially sampling it.
Id say for the money if you are looking for a pure synth its worth a consider.
Ive also recently bought a kaossilator for £100 and would seriously recommend one to any MPC user as the machine is great for comming up with random fresh stuff.
Oh I had the x6 work station too which had a strange workflow for me.
It has to be transparent and the thing is with workstations is they try to be everything and fail.

How about the Roland Fantom series? A friend of mine who studies music at university is an animal on the keys and highly recommends a Fantom for anyone looking for a board packed with sounds for production purposes... Anyone else had some experience using a Fantom with their MPC?

Also, to get a bit more specific... Are there any synths that are better for particular Hip-Hop sounds (eg. g-funk, crunk, etc)?

objektivone wrote:I really don't think Reason compares to an analog synth.... or even most hardware synths.

In what way? I own a little phatty a dave smith evolver a microkorg and reason. They all have their own character, but I turn to Reason as much or more than my other synths because I can get the sound I want out of it. They certainly don't compare in terms of hands on tweakage, but as far as sound goes they all sound different and complement each other. My official stand on reason is if you think it sounds bad you need to improve your sound design and engineering skills.

I have owned a lot of keyboards and in my experience/opinion the yamaha's motifs seem to have the best sounds. I also like the way it spells out the bank info in the voicing screen when working in multi-timbral mode - helps when I want to keep the voice info in the MPC so it automatically selects it next time.
I have a friend who has a Juno-G and a fantom, and both of them are really a pain for us to get to work multitimbrally. In fact, I don't think we EVER got them to work the way we were trying to.
I also have a friend who has a Korg Triton extreme. I have never really liked it myself, but he can get some truly amazing sounds out of it - it is just a matter of who's hands it is in.

I have some va synths too but not any of the newer stuff (not that I have anything against it.)
I LOVE my Roland JD-800. I have owned three of them.
I also like the Novation stuff for synth/bass sounds.
I like the Nord leads too, but they are pricey for the amount of voices you get - so if you need something that does it all they are NOT the way to go. I have owned a couple of them and might buy another at some point.

Again, just my opinion. You can pick up Motifs and MotifESs pretty cheaply now too since everyone seems to be crazy about the XS's. My ES sounds are just as good (to me) as a friend's XS and my ES has an output expansion that gives it 10 ANALOG outputs which is great (to me). The XS does not have this option at all. If you want to do it all in one machine though, the XS might be a better option (but if that is what you were wanting then you wouldn't be here.)

As far as hardware being a thing of the past, I've been battling that debate on and off for about 15 years now. Everytime a new architecture of computer comes out everyone starts buzzing. I sold my MPC3000 in 1997 because of this buzz and then regretted it and wasn't really productive until I bought another one. It's all about workflow and what works. It might be worth mentioning here that I work with computers during the day, so my opinion may also be jaded from the fact that I really don't care to sit in front of one all evening - so your mileage may vary. I will say though, changing patches in computer software is a pain in most of the softsynths that I have used in the past. Having to grab the mouse and click just isn't as intuitive as clicking the + or - button or spinning the dial... but to each their own.

bridgealantee wrote:

objektivone wrote: My official stand on reason is if you think it sounds bad you need to improve your sound design and engineering skills.

I love reason but don't like it's sounds as much as some other stuff out there. People always tell me this. But, not all of us want to tweek all of our sounds all the time. I'd much rather use something with better presets and less flexibility than worse sounds with the ability to make them great. Not everyone is going to want to go through this. That's not to say i would discount reason, infact, it's where most of my music is made. But for only sounds, i would recommend a motif rack over it for something with alot of sounds that are very usable. That's just me though.

talontsiawd wrote:

bridgealantee wrote:

objektivone wrote: My official stand on reason is if you think it sounds bad you need to improve your sound design and engineering skills.

I love reason but don't like it's sounds as much as some other stuff out there. People always tell me this. But, not all of us want to tweek all of our sounds all the time. I'd much rather use something with better presets and less flexibility than worse sounds with the ability to make them great. Not everyone is going to want to go through this. That's not to say i would discount reason, infact, it's where most of my music is made. But for only sounds, i would recommend a motif rack over it for something with alot of sounds that are very usable. That's just me though.

well the thing about reason is... you get the sounds you have. you want good sounds, you need the refillz or refills or what ever they are called.

There are novation ones, and all sorts of ones based on HW.... and they sound pretty good considering they are all free online.

Now this may not be the place... but hell I gotta suggest a VST pluggin (does not work on reason but will as a standalone program or will work in cubase, fl studio, etc...)

east west quantum leap makes a series of virtual instruments that are definately fu-ck-ing worth checking out:

here is a vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57hqPPKxsyY