Need Help Picking A "First Synth"

Hi all,

I've decided to buy my first synth to start playing for my band, but I'm having a hell of a time figuring out which would be the best one to get. I definitely want a polyphonic, between $400-$800, and I'm less concerned with menu-diving or how difficult it will be to learn than I am about the sound versatility. I've been watching a lot of demos and reading reviews of the Korg Minilogue, Deep Mind 6, and the Mininova, yet I am super inexperienced when it comes to synth and am unsure which one (or which one I have not yet seen) would best be able to help me achieve the sound I am looking for. I am mostly into Indie Rock, Low-fi, and 80's Pop (Tame Impala, Beach House, The 1975, Cyndi Lauper, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes). I know these are quite different groups, but I am really into melodic and groovy types of stuff in general. So many demos seem to focus heavily on ambience and aggressive techno stuff that I don't really dig. Any suggestions?



Thanks so much

All I have is MIDI/sampler keyboards but I always wanted a clean Roland Juno-106.

Either one of your own suggestions sounds good. Personally i'd really like to try the minilogue but the deepmind seems a bit more hands-on.

Best to check them out (demo's on youtube), decide what you think is best, try and buy. If not you could return it or sell it and get something else.

Or maybe a Roland JD-Xi?

JUKE 179r wrote:All I have is MIDI/sampler keyboards but I always wanted a clean Roland Juno-106.

if you can get me a 106 for $400-$800 please pm

dx7

Yea, I wouldn’t suggest starting with a fm synth.

Personally I’d go with what ever offers the most knobs per function and looks like you might gel with the work flow.

Behringer synths prove to be a real steal for great sound. It‘s no Moog, that‘s right, but a good point to start from. Also, the MicroKorg is a good one, albeit cheaper than your price range. That one got used in rather many productions you wouldn‘t think of.

Much more info than you’ll find in any thread.

Picking The Right Synth

JD-Xi
Korg Minilogue XD
Yamaha MX49
Behringer Deepmind 12 with or without keys
Korg R3

I have the JD-Xi and Korg R3. The JD-Xi is fun but takes some menu diving.

bees80 wrote:Either one of your own suggestions sounds good. Personally i'd really like to try the minilogue but the deepmind seems a bit more hands-on.

Best to check them out (demo's on youtube), decide what you think is best, try and buy. If not you could return it or sell it and get something else.

Or maybe a Roland JD-Xi?

Don't be put off by Roland's demos. There's way too much reverb on everything. The Minilogue and Deepmind both seem hands-on to me. The JD-Xi is a real Swiss army knife but not really hands-on for synth
programming. If you want to see what's going on under the hood there's this;

http://jdxi-manager.linuxtech.net/

If you have a live or an x you might just need a keyboard as it has synths built in already. Actually if you have a sampler already you could probably use a synth program with a keyboard and get some good starting mileage without shelling out a lot of cash.