Who rocking a vintage synth in their setup?

Im talkin 70s, 80s, or early 90s.

Im gonna be adding one to my setup soon either the Korg Poly-800, Ensoniq ESQ-1, or the Roland Alpha Juno.

I just want a analog polysynth. I had previously been in search of a old school mono synth and i had my eyes laid on the Roland SH-101 but one day i look on ebay and they were all goin for about $400 and then a couple weeks later they are all goin for over $1000. sooo...yeah...i jus said **** it and got a Monotron lol cant beat $60

Im interested to see what types of synths everybody else is rockin with and how you fit it into a sample based setup

Kawai K4. I got it, a really nice keyboard stand and chair for $175. I restored some of the keys and it sounds absolutely beautiful. I may sell it though. It's huge.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/kawai/kawaik4.php

What I have:

Ensoniq ESQ (Cheesy presets, but you'll be rewarded if you program yourself)
Roland Juno-6 (Creamy, warm sound)
Concertmate MG-1 (The Radio Shack Moog)

I use them just like any other instrument... making interesting sounds, bass, & melodies to support the track. Though I still use samples, I haven't used them as the only source in my making music in a long time.

Who rocking a vintage synth in their setup?
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16801

Akai AX-80 and AX-60. Also got an X7000 to pair up with the 60. I'd describe them as rusty chainsaws.

Also got a Roland HS-60, which I bought as a fixer-upper, but I'm gonna sell it soon, because I prefer the Akais. And a Yamaha SY-2 that I bought in non-working condition off CL for $75. Its in the shop for repair.

AKAI AX-60 was my first synth ever... i really liked that keyboard, but i don't miss having to carry it around... like most vintage synths it was heavy as a muthafugga... the positive side to that is that it's obviously well-built... but still... it also had a pretty bad hum which required post-processing to make it sound better... another drag... but i do regret selling it in the long run... i kinda wish i still had that beast around the crib.

nowadays i've got more basic/lighter things... i have a Freebass FB-383 [essentially an emulated Roland TB-303 in a single rack unit] which is pretty cool for "that sound"... and i also have a Dave Smith MoPho for instant gratification when i want some wet fart noises. neither one is actually "vintage" but, being analog, they can fake it pretty well...

there are plenty of choices when it comes to analog synths... it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish sound-wise in order for us to start recommending particular synth models/brands though... however, if you don't need a keyboard, definitely look into the Dave Smith Tetra... that thing is a compact poly analog MONSTER... sounds even better than a MOOG in some cases... although i guess that's just my opinion...

mp3 wrote:Akai AX-80 and AX-60. Also got an X7000 to pair up with the 60. I'd describe them as rusty chainsaws.

ooh wee

crossings wrote:it also had a pretty bad hum

My 60 doesn't have any hum, but it is noisy when you turn on the chorus (same goes for the HS-60).

AntonPD wrote:ooh wee

About sums it up... The AX-80 is way more versatile (2 oscs w/sync and xmod, 3 LFOs), but the AX-60 has unison, a noise source, and the sampler input, so it fills the AX-80's gaps perfectly. Still missing a monosynth with glide, and I'm hoping the SY-2 fills that gap.

I like vintage general more than new. but you have to accept that you might be opening and fixing things someday. ax60 recently I scored one at a pawn shop for $200. Its pretty sweet actually. I dont know about the filter, but its a pretty strong synth for what it is and you can chain them to 950s...

The 101 is sick, it has a very nice sequencer that makes a lot of fun.
It’ sound ranges from extremely raw and ballsy to abstract bleepy sounds, with its superfast envelopes you can even program some nice percussive sounds, definitively a very nice synths but yeah, the actual prices are a bit too high.

Along with my MPC2000XL and a Yamaha A5000 (imho a very underrated sampler) I have a little roland 80s museum
SH-101
Juno-106
Alphajuno2
(a TR-909 as well, but that’s no synth, just another 80s roland product I have)
I mostly create patches on the junos, sample them in the yamaha and go on. I found myself endlessly tweaking synths and never get tracks done, so now as soon as I have a convincing sound I’ll sample it in the sampler and sequence everything from the MPC. Of course you lose some flexibility when you sample synths in the sampler but thanks to this self-imposed limitation I’m more focused at creating convincing patches from the beginning, not just tweak the shit out of it.
Since I like to use LFO to subtly modulate sounds, I mostly sample say 20-30 chords or hits, cut them as a single shots, map them so that the will only respond to one note and shuffle between the hits to maintain a realistic evolving sound. A pseudo round robin technique.
I wish I could create programs for my sampler on the computer, but I’m not aware of any editor, so it’s a lot of knob work.
The 101 delivery mostly bass so I’m not tweaking it as much as the junos, I’ll send MIDI from the MPC and record it at the end of the process, when I multitrack record my hardware jams

damn im jealous it seem like everybody got a cool ass synth in their arsenal.

I like that some of these vintage joints can be found for so cheap and sound better than some of the $2000+ units that are comin out today.

I got all these vst's on my computer and some of em are pretty good but aint nothin like the real thing.

At the moment:

Original Minimoog D, Korg DW 8000, Korg Delta, Studio electronic atc 1,
Emu Emulator II, ASR10 (kind of a synth),
various moogerfoogers...

and had in the past about 20-30 all time fav. synthies (from ms20 to Poly Evolver Keyboard)

i know, who the fvck needs this equipment....
but i was young and didn`t need the money

Casio SK-5... for that 2-bit grittiness.

I'd love to own one, but vintage Synths are too expensive in the long term (and also short term these days with the Casio SKs even going for stupid prices). Repair costs and also issues with even finding someone to repair that shit and even if you do there's a long wait as they'll be a queue.

The only chances of getting a cheap vintage synth these days is if you either find one in a pawn shop or buy off a musician who has hit hard times who is desperate for cash.

Too many 'Comic Book Guy' types who collect synths these days

I'm rocking an Ensoniq ESQ-1 now, and it's probably my most favorite synth I've owned in 15 years of music production. It's got 8 bit digital waveforms run through true analog filters, and can sound warm and smooth or cold and harsh, it's just so versatile. They're still priced really cheap, and I wouldn't hesitate to get one at the current prices.