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Wanted: Synth for start up


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Cheap but decent 80s synth?? Non-existent mate, unless you mean a home keyboard thing (Casio, etc, Bontempi !!?)you can mangle after the fact, given the right effects anything can sound interesting.(Just about) Anything pre-90s thats any cop will either be a) V pricey, or b) broken. There are plenty new and recent options you could go for, but reading Sound on Sound can save plenty time and money, and is a very good point of reference. SOS Home

MicroKorgs are OK, Roland and Korg all make synths at around the same price point, and the minisynth market has taken off since the MicroKorg was introduced.

Lateral thinking could take you to a Nintendo DS that Korg now make a prog for, DS-1, and I want one. 2 synth and 1 drum track, slicker than slick.Korg Synth.. on a Nintendo DS // Current

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I would recommend having a look at the Roland Juno-D, I've got one and I love it. It's more geared up for people who are looking for a synth with decent instrument replica patches (organs, strings etc) but it does have some great synth patches. There's a good few decent 80's Polysynth sounds and semi-Moogish noises and it's got a decent built-in effects processor. It's also a full 88-key synth as opposed to a mini-synth, it is about a 100-ish more expensive however and might not be as 'synthy' as you're after.

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In terms of rack units, the Virus TI Snow would be a totally decent bet. All you'd need is some sort of midi keyboard. You could hook it up to ableton live using the virus control software and have a lot of fun doing live sequencing using the sequencer mode... amazing software to use if anyone gets a chance. All the benefits of using soft synths without the cpu drain. :up:

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hmm, yeah maybe not the cheapest, about 780 from a quick google check. But I think for the money you get a lot of power and versatility. It's always a good call to not blow your wad on the first thing you come across that does sort of what you want it to do. You want something you can grow into, and that is worth saving a little while for. Been using the TI Polar for a while now and it is a feckin mean machine. There is brilliant support too, regular firmware upgrades introducing new functions and features. They've just added an atomiser in the latest upgrade... not started using it yet but my understanding is that it is a real time glitch effect.

Whilst on the topic of exciting expensive synths, the Roland V synth GT look amazing.

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Guest treader.
I would recommend having a look at the Roland Juno-D, I've got one and I love it. It's more geared up for people who are looking for a synth with decent instrument replica patches (organs, strings etc) but it does have some great synth patches. There's a good few decent 80's Polysynth sounds and semi-Moogish noises and it's got a decent built-in effects processor. It's also a full 88-key synth as opposed to a mini-synth, it is about a 100-ish more expensive however and might not be as 'synthy' as you're after.

isnt the Juno-D only 61 keys?!

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Cheap but decent 80s synth?? Non-existent mate, unless you mean a home keyboard thing (Casio, etc, Bontempi !!?)you can mangle after the fact, given the right effects anything can sound interesting.(Just about) Anything pre-90s thats any cop will either be a) V pricey, or b) broken. There are plenty new and recent options you could go for, but reading Sound on Sound can save plenty time and money, and is a very good point of reference. SOS Home

MicroKorgs are OK, Roland and Korg all make synths at around the same price point, and the minisynth market has taken off since the MicroKorg was introduced.

Lateral thinking could take you to a Nintendo DS that Korg now make a prog for, DS-1, and I want one. 2 synth and 1 drum track, slicker than slick.Korg Synth.. on a Nintendo DS // Current

Cool, I'll check out those links. From my research so far I found a number of poly synths from the 80s to be well reviewed (Roland Juno 106 and 60, Korg DW-8000) and which are around 200 today - I know what you mean about the number of damaged ones out there. So you'd totally recommend the Roland JP-8000? I just read some reviews, going to check YouTube demos now.

Funny thing you mention SOund On Sound though, you get better second hand ad options on there than you do on ebay!

I find the microkorg keys a little too small but it does make some intersting noise. How much money are you looking at spending? There are good options at most price bands.

Well, if I went with my original plan when starting this thread, a budget around 300. Yeah the more I research the MicroKorg the more I'm being put off it.

Microkorgs are kinda meh. You'll find after having a shot of one that you'll hear all the presets in most of the songs you hate. It also has it's limitations and you might get bored with it after a while.

I naturally recommend anything Moog related as the sound you get is just awesome. If you buy an old school one it'll cost you a fortune and it might not be that reliable. Minimoogs are ace but also pricey. You can get a little phatty 2 for about 600 I think. If you can find one second hand you can probably get it cheaper but probably not much cheaper. The depth of sound you get from a moog is just incredible.

I saw a Minimoog Voyager being used by a band a couple of weeks ago. Truly outstanding, really fat notes, just what I want, but of course that, and the Phatty you recommend are above my budget (checked for the Phatty on GAK - near 800 bucks).

In the end what I'm trying to achieve is a fat synth sound like Health but enough to it I can make something strange like Locust. Trouble is, for someone new to this, like myself, there's so much to choose from!!!

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Agree with the JP 8000 option, I also own one of these and can testify that they are fantastic. They are really good for getting started, not too complex in a digital sense but enough to expand your knowledge pretty far. They are not as fat and warm as true analogue but they have their own quality for sure. Great arpeggiators. They also have midi options should you need. Also from the same era Korg MS 2000 will give you a fat sound for the money. You'd probably be looking at the 300 mark for either of these, you just need to find one! I knew of a guy wanting rid of his MS 2000 a while back, will see if he is still in the same situation with it (he may have seen the light and decided to keep it though).

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Agree with the JP 8000 option, I also own one of these and can testify that they are fantastic. They are really good for getting started, not too complex in a digital sense but enough to expand your knowledge pretty far. They are not as fat and warm as true analogue but they have their own quality for sure. Great arpeggiators. They also have midi options should you need. Also from the same era Korg MS 2000 will give you a fat sound for the money. You'd probably be looking at the 300 mark for either of these, you just need to find one! I knew of a guy wanting rid of his MS 2000 a while back, will see if he is still in the same situation with it (he may have seen the light and decided to keep it though).

Thanks bro, keep me in mind. Really appreciate your advice.

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