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[Fraser Shredwards]

I'm looking for a reasonably cheap synth/keyboard(up to £400). I don't really understand all the technical side of how they work but i just want one that can create the usual sawtooth and square sounds etc aswell as orchestral sounds e.g. strings. It also needs an arpeggiator.
Can anybody give me any advice?

[The Kernel Loaf]

I have a Roland SH-101 that I may consider selling.

[Fraser Shredwards]

also looking for a full size at least 64 key, sorry forgot to mention.

[The Kernel Loaf]

Ah right.

This one is also monophonic which wouldn't be much help.

novation k-station or bass station or X station? you could spend the extra cash on more than one synth and connect them up?

i dont know of many decent synths with full size keyboard that are cheap and still decent synths, the best way to go is buy a seperate 61 key controller and connect it to synth modules.

if i had 400 quid to blow on synths id think about it modularly. you could get rack mounted k-station + bass station + a decent midi controller keyboard for around that money if you shopped about. Once you have all that, you could get a patch bay on your rack, and you'd have a world of connectivity to all your synths, you're then set up to start expanding later on by adding seperate effects modules and midi controllers set up to control certain functions.

if your looking to get a single unit you can get the non rack k-station. other decent synthesisers are alesis micron (i own this, its exactly the same capabilities of the alesis ion for much cheaper, but has quite a frustrating interface)

or the ever popular microkorg?

if you go the modular route make sure the midi contorller has actual midi connections, recently they're becoming usb only, which is fine if you want to use it with a pc, but not so much if you want to use it on it's own.

nice big weighted controller eBay.co.uk: Axiom 61 MIDI Controller (item 250070156588 end time 15-Jan-07 11:04:54 GMT)
x station
Novation X Station 25 | Dolphin Music
k station
eBay.co.uk: NOVATION K-STATION PERFORMANCE SYNTHESIZER/SYNTH (item 110073592091 end time 08-Jan-07 13:54:20 GMT)

[Fraser Shredwards]

thanks for the help im seriously considering the microkorg but also looking at different modules

i havnt played with the microkorg a lot, but when i was looking at the specs of the microkorg against the alesis micron i decided on the micron because it blew the microkorg out of the water as far as features are conserned.

personally, i wouldn't spend my money on a microkorg because you can get a lot more out there for the money. You should try them out first.

Sound control in edinburgh has a synth department with a microkorg (but not micron or ion) where all the synths are set up to play with.

[Fraser Shredwards]

Can you try them out in RnB? If i got a MIDI controller could i then get a sound thing for it to go into- like an effects pedal- or did i just make that up? Sorry i don't really understand the technicals.

And yea the alesis micorn does seem to be alot better, cheers.

[The Kernel Loaf]

We use a Microkorg for gigging, and it does us just perfectly.

Obviously it wouldn't be the most powerful synth of that size out there, but its extremely light, portable and cost very little buying it 2nd hand.

Originally Posted by Fraser Shredwards

Can you try them out in RnB? If i got a MIDI controller could i then get a sound thing for it to go into- like an effects pedal- or did i just make that up? Sorry i don't really understand the technicals.

And yea the alesis micorn does seem to be alot better, cheers.

i got my micron in excellent condition second hand for £200

i'll try and explain what i think you need to do a bit better. you're unlikely to find a cheap,good synth that has 61 keys so you need to understand a bit more about midi...

What you could do is buy a good synth with a crap keyboard (the microkorg has a pretty shit keyboard but its a really good synth), and then buy a good 61 key semi weighted midi controller. what you then do is connect the "midi out" port of the controller to the "midi in" port of the synthesiser. You can then play the synth with a much better keyboard. The sound will still come out of the "audio" port of the actual synthesiser. A midi controller doesnt make any sound, you can think of it as a way to "extend" the keyboard built in to the synth. you'd probaly need to read the manual etc in order to understand whats going on a bit better, but it should be pretty simple to set up straight away.

What i'd reccomend however, is using your money more effectively to buy many synthesisers ( like the rack mounted k station, bass station, micron, microkorg). You can then control all these synthesisers with one decent keyboard.

In order to add effects...

once you have several synthesisers and you want to start adding seperate effects (like a guitar pedal) then you start having much greater routing requirments. this is where a logically prepared patch bay is brilliant. Instead of getting on your hands and knees looking over a rats nest of cabeling trying to plug your delay into your synth and then out to your amp, you can simply plug a cable in the "microkorg out" jack, connect the other side to the "delay in" jack, and thats it.

In all honesty, a patch bay an rack is proably a bit over board at this stage for you. I just thought i'd say what i'd do if i had £400 to blow on synths.

i hope that makes sense.

if you can i reccomend a trip to sound control in edinburgh though, they have a really good synth department and should be able to explain what you need (just dont let them sell you a massive £500 keyboard, you'll be able to buy a MUCH better midi controller and hook it up to your synth)
p.s welcome to the world of rick wakeman