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to the thread starter. did you play it?
what did you think?
what kind of synths have you dealt with in the past?
and how much do they want

if you're looking into a realistic mg1.
may i suggest an early korg or roland monosynth?
sh-1
sh-5?
and again.
that MiniKorg (yep. univox re-branded it.)

to my dearest kerble.

hatred. just soo much hatred for all virtual analog keyboards.
i've seen about 50bands using those.
and i hate hate hate it.

it's just me though.
there are bands selling out huge venues with 4 of those fuckers.
so i'm some kind of hater.
as usual apparently.

r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:to my dearest kerble.

hatred. just soo much hatred for all virtual analog keyboards.
i've seen about 50bands using those.
and i hate hate hate it.

I understand, dear r0ck1r0ck2. I think the virtual analog keys have gotten to the 'ridiculously priced' point. I always thought the Waldorf Q's were pretty cool, but Jesus fuck. $3k+ for a keyboard? are you kidding me? That's just stupid. I would feel like such a herb for buying one at that price. the Dave Smith series seems neat (he's the guy that made the Prophet 5), but not for what he's asking, either. I did like the look of the virus polar (white on white on white)

I do my NordLead2, though. Got a really good deal on it though, many many years ago, and I wouldn't part with it ever. It makes up for the 'no patches' on the juno 6, and it's a fifth of the weight. I even got a wicked matching red metal stand for $2 at a garage sale. Fits in a guttyed and padded guitar case, too. I doubt I'd buy another virtual analog synth, though. doesn't seem like it'd be worth it. regular synths? you bet.

Nord seems like one of the only brands that build them within a reasonable price (under a grand). the wood pitch stick is so great, I wish they'd put them in all keyboards. there's no dead spot in the middle, just smooth bending blissssss. So musical. And the snap back when you let it go is tremendous. I don't think I've used a better pitch bend. the mod wheel is made out of a piece of stone, too!


sorry to geek out on your thread with tangentials, hoplesshomo, but there isn't nearly enough keyboard talk on this forum to fill the lust in my heart, so I get carried away.


If you ever want to browse and drool, there's no better site than Vintage Synth. it's got maybe 600 or so synths all organized by make and model with pretty fair reviews of all the keys, along with specs and general going rate.

The Concertmate is over rated and over priced. Spend and extra $200 and get a Prodigy, which is a real synth.

The MiniKorgs (700 and 700s) and still the best bargains around.
That's two things Kerble hit right on the head.

VA gear is perfectly fine. You can learn a lot by playing with a Korg MS2000 or a Novation K station. Plus you often get presets, arpeggiators, step sequencers and excellent live controls.

People can talk all day long about how "fat" analog stuff is, but add EQ to VA stuff and/or a big PA and the field levels out quite a bit.

I have, and have had, some great analog gear. However, the only stuff I ever brought to gigs had presets, even if they only had a few. My main live rig was a K-station and a Mac, controlled by USB controller.
On rare occassions I'll bring the Moog Voyager, but usually I can get it done with VA gear.

And if bands are selling out venues with this stuff then good for them. What, we're supposed to support the purists over the people who favor new gear? I generally just pick the band that sucks the least.

-A

keeping on with the synth geekness, i have a Yamaha An1x. i think you can buy one for cheap - i got mine for 450$. it's a virtual analog copy of a prophet 5, and for me, it sounds pretty good. also have a very cool computer editor that makes it very easy to make patches. two oscillators, lots of onboard effects, nice lfo's. also has a sequencer! very nice sounds overall and the keyboard is great.

alex, you have a moog voyager!? so lucky. congrats.

There was one of these sitting around in an old practice space a band I was in used to use. We fired it up occasionally and messed with it (rude I know.. but the band we shared with used to break our stuff without asking if they could borrow and even take stuff to gigs) .. I know nothing about analogue synths (hey i'm a jerk with a microkorg) but it was nice, although it seemed to be tuned pretty oddly and would shift about if you left it on. My friend has a proper Moog (i think a rogue? It looked very similar to this realistic thing) and his sounded alot better good for bass sounds.. although his was in much better cosmetic condition so perhaps that translated to the internal workings too?