Big John wrote:That Zap band clip was great thanks for making my day.

gold outfits and a red guitar in the shape of a flame.

tight.


as to you john w.
you should really read the manual. always. it's shitty advice and many manufactures write in engrish, but you'll always be able to find something out that you didn't know.

also, there are many rack/table top synths that only need a keyboard to produce sounds.

oh i'm going to have to back up a bit.

you understand how synths work no?

sound generators/controlers? that sort of shit?

and have a go at this site.
plentiful information (sound samples/manuals/related gear/ect.)

i'm linking you to the synth finder app

give it a go and tell us what you found.

I got an Akai AX-60 when I was in high school, it fried, I sold it.

I've used Junos and Rolands before, but, um... I just sort of mess with the knobs till I get a cool sound. No clue what I'm actually doing, well, not much anyway.

With the dx-100 if I have some outboard midi audio boxs I generaly just plug it in with midi cables and the basic controls like keys and mod wheels seem mapped in the other module. I think this is generaly standard. You control switching on the other module manualy if I was using a nicer controler than the dx100 you can do that remotely too. I also use a small mixer to switch between things or layer.

This would be more handy if the dx-100 had some kind of sequencer in it.

I have a korg microcontol if I want to map to thinks using midi addresses. You go through the midi list of numbers usally in the back of the manual as a appendix sometimes put the numbers into the controls you want to the knobs or fader and save. I plug the dx100 into that and I can control a lot of the params with the knobs and faders then I save the sounds on the dx itself. I use this a lot with soft synths in my computer and use it to record performances into reason via midi (performance on top of keys played for melody moving knobs on the synths or mixer and recording them in midi).

I have been having a lot of fun with outboard rack unit a Warp 9 MAM unit clone of a wasp which is extensively mapped by midi. That was very cheap arround a hundred bucks.

A lot of older midi gear came out rack mounted and as a keyboard. The rack versions are usally very inexpensive if you go to a couple of the synth internet sites you can get a review and usally all the manuals. If you join some of the user groups you can get access to all the old patches as well. If you hit the pawn shops / used muisic stores sometimes you can get a bargan this way. This is because most people have not spent enough time leaning midi to realize that you can with some luck get them working with a basic midi controler and with something like a micro control get a lot more access to program it or play it live. Using the sliders like you would have on a old school synth but using midi mapping to get to the contol inside this knobless box.

ok, the keyboard/envelope/LFO/and VCA are all examples of a Control Voltage

these send control voltages to the Sound Generators (OSCILLATORS) which are filtered by the Filters. (think of a WahPedal or EQ)

midi is just a way of sending control voltages and other information from controller to synth

here's another educationalLink

I would love a sk-5 I have two sk-1s one that is kind of trashed mising keys but works fine. The other is mint with box I got in a yard sale.

I like the odd synth feature where you add tone across a grid. Gets very interesting sounds. I think there is also a Yamaha sampler of this type too that I used to see in stores.

But I should move up to a sk-5 if I can get one for under $100.

On the midi issue imagine all the parameters you can bring up inside a unit the ones you would have knobs for on a analog you can assign to a fader using it's Midi assignment number in fact there may be more parameters you can control through midi if they are enabled. This can be recorded into your sequencer for playback if you are recording.

i've been looking at both of these for my set up and while i'm impressed with the macron i think i'm gonna stick with getting a microkorg...it does EVERYTHING...

I have a micro korg, I love it, I've had it for 5 years and am still finding cool stuff for it to do. it's preset sounds are a little generic sometimes, but with minimal tweaking you can get great sounds out of it. I run it into this: TS50>V4B>acoustic 2x15 cab it sounds huge. they are super cheap used too. the Alesis and Novation look cool, but this seems to make a little more sense to me from a sound library standpoint.

Microkorg. I've had this one for more than 4 years before it finally died. and that was only because I was being stupid. Got one with reverse keys now. If i was the minister of synthesis for a communist dictatorship, it would be Microkorgs for everybody.

I'm pretty sure I've made every sound I've ever wanted to make with the Microkorg. A friend of mine has the micron and while I agree that the patches are a lot more interesting/useful than most of the MK's, the editing capabilities aren't as convenient to me.

I should say that I don't really have a problem with the Micron, but the MicroKorg is just about as perfect as a digital synth gets. I don't mind people thinking its cheap or wussy or whatever, because it'll surprise them that much more when I actually play it.