Synth Craze

I've got the Spectral Audio Neptune 2, OP-1, Waldorf Pulse 2, Roland SH-01 and Der OTO (8 bit synth in the OTO Machines Biscuit). Quite a nice sonic mix.

I'm hopefully going to flip the Roland and replace it with a Moog Sub 37 later in the year. I'd also love the KIWI-106 but I don't have the space unfortunately.

my room is is like 11 by 11 and i have a queen size bed.

room is extremely limited

i have a korg polysix and mono/poly and an ensoniq esq1
sold a microkorg cuz its sound always fell short and a dx7 cuz i didnt have the time to spend all day programming a single patch
the mono/poly is the greatest thing

does it really take that long on the dx7? Everyone keeps saying the same thing..

from what ive seen it looks pretty straight forward. you choose what you want to edit, and you go up or down to change the values?

theres a huge number of parameters in a dx7 patch, 6 sine oscs to tune, 6 very flexible egs to program, and a whole lot of keyboard tracking and split points and break points (technically its monotimbral, but you can make a single patch have a few different sounds in different places on the kbd, very deep to edit all of this to any really useful effect, and the screen wont even display all parameter values unless you get some aftermarket non-yamaha upgrade on the mk I model (it readds 0-100, but if you listen closely there are places where you can hit the up/down buttons and hear a change in the sound but not see it on the screen, i believe its the grey matter e card that reads out all values from 0-127). just to lengthen the release on a sound, depending on the algorithm your patcb uses, will take from 1 to 6 dozen button presses.
the ensoniq esq-1 is another synth with digital parameter access and only one slider, but the large screen, 10 softkeys, and easy page system make it a breeze. hit the eg1 button, all the eg1 values are on screen! hit the button under a value, move the slider or hit +/-
on the dx7 mk 1, you have to scroll through each envelope point to set rate and level individually. theres not a button for each eg, you have to scroll through them and then through each parameter you want to set for the 4 independent rates and values. (iirc they remedied this slightly on the dx7 mkII and maybe the dx7S, but idk that implementation)
and the dx7, its just too smooth. i could get weird evolving sounds out of it, but it never had any kind of top end, and while sure, its nice to have 16 voices and dynamic expression, i still prefer the polysix or the ESQ for EP sounds since either one will have more bite

ok maybe its not as easy as i thought haha

thanks for the post

The DX200 is better suited for that. If I remember correctly, it's got 6 operators just like the DX7. But it's a groove box with it's own sequencer, and plenty of knobs. I used to own one. I didn't know shit about FM synthesis then. If I had it now, I'd get more use out of it.

I have a p12 keys and a blofeld module.

Want a prophet 8 module and a virus ti2 module.




I'll prolly sell my blofeld, asr10 and eps to grab those

I'm a gear whore who has always wanted a Juno 106 also.
One day... one day...

Minimoog Voyager

Roland Super Jupiter

Oberheim Xpander

OP 1

MPC 4000

Im looking at some vintage stuff, I almost got a Prophet 5 a few weeks ago. The seller flaked out on meeting up. I wasnt really looking for one, it just popped up with a good price.

You guys with mpc's and synths really need to check out the 4000. Its synth section is very flexible. It can do vector synthesis to subtractive. You can even apply those technologies to multi-samples instead of wavetables.

Im after outboard gear right now. You need effects to process the synth.

After quite some extensive research i finally picked up a kurzweil k2000 yesterday.

It has 40mb of ram and sampling option.

I must say im quite impressed with the sounds. Alot of character

I managed to sample a quick loop and bang out a quick sequence today, fairly easy process. The amount of options can be shocking at first though

It amazes me that its almost impossible to find any information on people using this board to sample and make hiphop type stuff

Now i only need to upgrade the os to 3.83 and get a new cable so i can hook up my zipdrive!!

Selling my Mopho tho... updating to Prophet 8 instead. Found a really good deal for about the price of a Mopho 4x

[quote="mindcontrol"]This has recently affected me. What synths do you guys have/want? Please share

I currently have a korg poly 800 which i think is alot of fun

i want to to get a yamaha dx7. These are some ive been looking at

Yamaha DX7

Roland jd-800

Korg X3

Kurzweil kS2600

I had a used Korg X3 in the late nineties and really liked it at the time - so much that in the last couple of years I got the rack version for next to nothing. Like many mid 90s romplers you often got a pretty worthwhile synth engine with presets that are 80% cheese - get into editing, though, and the X3 is a beast. At the end of the day it's an improved M1 yet costs less used.

DX7 is a synth I associate with bland 80s pop bands but good FM basses sound brilliant. I was tempted by the similar TX81Z FM rack synth recently. I once had dinky DX100 I bought from a junk shop on impulse but don't really remember using it for much before selling it for £90.

When I got my Akai S1000 in my late teens what I REALLY wanted was a K2000+sampling board. I'd go to a local music store that had one on display and just be gobsmacked at how it sounded compared to run-of-the-mill Rolands and Korgs. I still think there's something amazing about their sound even now.

The JD-800 is really interesting synth - all over thousands of records.. Digital synths were hard and boring to program so they slapped a load of sliders on it. However, I'm not sure I'd really want one over a good quality virtual analogue these days.

One cool synth I've owned that I shouldn't have sold was the Freebass 383, which was a 303-clone rack synth with no sequencer. People are selling them for £150 now - I think I bought and sold mine for £50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmF77r0Esm4

Always wanted to own a 106 - just such a flexible instrument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOjx8wht7TA

Synthi VCS3 AKA: "Putney".