I need a Synth!

Hi,

I use MPC for now 2 years and i'm actually working on MPC 2000 XL.
For a long time i used only samples and drums in my beats, i sampled hundreds of songs.
But recently, i understood that sometimes i needed to add synth's sounds in my beats, first off all because i had no bass in my beats and because i wanted to add some other sounds over my samples.

So i want to ask you which synth i should buy, i m 18 so i don't have a lot of money, i like old school sound and i'm found of DJ premier, 9th wonder, J-dilla, Rashid Hadee, Kev Brown, Oddisee... Is there one Classic Synth i should buy for me to evolve in beatmaking. I heard about the Korg Synth Bass.

Thanks all!!! (sorry for my english )

See if you can find one of these used: http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=265

Then if you need more sounds, it's expandable too.

Yo Dab, that is a sweet synth. How does it sound in today's world? I'm looking for some cheap keys to upgrade to also.

Mike Boogie wrote:Yo Dab, that is a sweet synth. How does it sound in today's world? I'm looking for some cheap keys to upgrade to also.

If you're familiar with the fantom, then this is like a retro version of some of its basic sound sets.

Add in whatever expandable card you want (like the "sr-jv80-12 hiphop collection") and you're good.

Today i went to the secondhand shop of my city, a man told me that i needed a Proteus, i didn't know it before, but it looks famous. It sounds nice to me. 350 Euros. Good Idea?

melodicomike1 wrote:Today i went to the secondhand shop of my city, a man told me that i needed a Proteus, i didn't know it before, but it looks famous. It sounds nice to me. 350 Euros. Good Idea?

It sounds like he just found the right person to dump his ish on especially if you come in there not knowing anything. Turn the tables on his arss and let him know IYO, the sounds are dead & the support ain't there for this anymore.

I had some emu stuff in the past and it was cool in the begining, but things quickly got stale afterwards so I dumped it.

Funny thing is...my boy loved it so much that he grabbed one not too long ago (used of course) but took noticed that it ain't no motif or fantom after working with it for a minute.

I will co-sign but the proteus, albiet dated, is definitley NOT dead. 350euro is too expensive for it you could grab one here in the states for around $80-120 USD! God I miss E-mu... But I did here a rumor that they were coming back sooner than we think...

i love all those old E-MU modules personally... but those are modules/romplers and not actual synths... you would most likely still need a keyboard to play sounds off them anyway... if you want an affordable synth i'd recommend something smaller from the last few years like a microkorg, alesis micron, korg micro-x, novation k-station, etc... it really depends on what you need from the synth.

I agree with Crossings.

The "I need a synth" is as old as this forum! Synth can mean a ton of things. My advice is do some research. Start at Vintagesynth.com. Also, check out your local Craigslist. Type in the brands mentioned above and the popular ones like Korg, Roland & Yamaha. You'd be surprised what you find there.

Just remember, like I always say here, get in there and program whatever you get. Otherwise, what's the point!? Presets suck. Always will.

Synthesizers rule.

by the way, i dunno why i mentioned the korg micro-x in that last post since that's just another rompler as well... it's not a synth, but it may be the kind of keyboard/rompler combo that you could put to good use [since it does have some nice basses and pad sounds]...

the microKorg has some really dope sounds but the keys are pieces of shit

if I were to hook it up as my MIDI keyboard and control a sound module
the keys are so weak and produce weak sound unless you press hard

not to mention you can only use 1 MIDI channel if you want to use a sound from it
I know you can sample into the MPC as audio but that can get annoying

melodicomike1 wrote:Hi,

I use MPC for now 2 years and i'm actually working on MPC 2000 XL.
For a long time i used only samples and drums in my beats, i sampled hundreds of songs.
But recently, i understood that sometimes i needed to add synth's sounds in my beats, first off all because i had no bass in my beats and because i wanted to add some other sounds over my samples.

So i want to ask you which synth i should buy, i m 18 so i don't have a lot of money, i like old school sound and i'm found of DJ premier, 9th wonder, J-dilla, Rashid Hadee, Kev Brown, Oddisee... Is there one Classic Synth i should buy for me to evolve in beatmaking. I heard about the Korg Synth Bass.

Thanks all!!! (sorry for my english )

hey melodicomike1 - have you tried just sampling a tone into the mpc, and then 16-leveling it?

if you are looking for a cheap solution that can give you good basses and stuff, this might work for you.

@ Fawn: Yes, that's what i was actually doing. But i think a synth/rack will give me a lot of choice and an other sonority.
I'm actually hesitating between Yamaha Motif ES and Proteus 2000

melodicomike1 wrote:i think a synth/rack will give me a lot of choice and an other sonority.
I'm actually hesitating between Yamaha Motif ES and Proteus 2000

Why not get both Start with the yamaha, then grab the emu when you can afford it.