My suggestion for a basic synth amp for just farting around the house is a pair of cheap studio monitors like MAudio, KRK, or Presonus or what ever you can get a hold of for as little as you can get by with. Try to get something with an 8" speaker or bigger so you can really enjoy the low end a synth can put out. you don't even have to get a pair. just a single speaker is probably fine. If you ever play shows, you can use your little speaker as a monitor, and just take a line to the sound board. IT should serve you well. Other than that, the Roland Rat Hair keyboard amps are great. any Powered PA speaker like a Mackie, JBL, EV is also a great choice. I do not suggest guitar amps so much as their frequency response is tailored to guitars, and will not put out the super wide spectral range that synths have. Unless you are going for a crackley midrange distorto synth sound, which can be awesome.

https://www.oldbloodnoise.com/pedals/headphone-amp

I just got one of these to listen to my pedals and some of my weird boxes that only have line level outs.
Before that I’d either use my modular case that had a buffered headphone output or my laptop/audio interface.
Before that I used a Fender Rumble 15w bass amp that I found at the thrift store for like $12 on half price day.

I have owned a korg mono for a long time now, it is a great little synth with some weird features. Some of the alt/micro tunings and stuff are just strange. It sounds best out of a keyboard amp or a solid state bass amp with lots of headroom, the signal coming out of it is really hot.

Andy wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 6:59 pm

m3kcomp wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 5:37 pm

Andy wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 2:00 pm I would suggest that the best way to learn synths is to get your hands on one and fuck around until you start to get it. Reference the manual and learn all the knobs / connections / functions. The world of synthesizers is so deep you can paralyze yourself with learning for years before you play one note.

This is exactly what I intend to do, but I want to be able to hear what's coming out of the machine!

I think I've got some good tips here. I'm mainly concerned with damaging the guitar amp with a synth since I will be fiddling around with the range of sound the thing puts out. Can a small Orange Amp take what a synth like that puts out?

I like the small speaker to headphone jack idea as well. I'm not intending on playing loud or live anytime soon. Heh.

Perfect. The 35rt sounds ideal for your uses. Headphone jack, effects loop, plenty of power for you. Even something smaller would work though.

The Mono can put out some MASSIVE low end, so I would keep that in mind when looking for a amp.

Yaledelay wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:48 pm The Mono can put out some MASSIVE low end, so I would keep that in mind when looking for a amp.

It's never a bad idea to use an EQ pedal with a synth when playing through amps, so you can shave off some super lows if need be.

I was recently gifted a cool little USB keyboard with sliders, pads, knobs, etc. Can I run a software synth with Reaper? How bout a newer Raspberry Pi?

GuyLaCroix wrote: I was recently gifted a cool little USB keyboard with sliders, pads, knobs, etc. Can I run a software synth with Reaper?

Yes you should be able to do that, just make sure Reaper recognizes the Keyboard before you start up/

GuyLaCroix wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:26 pm I was recently gifted a cool little USB keyboard with sliders, pads, knobs, etc. Can I run a software synth with Reaper? How bout a newer Raspberry Pi?

Options>Preferences>Audio>Midi Devices
Make sure it is enabled in the midi hardware for input

open a track, hit record arm, choose your midi device as the input for that track. if you are using a VST synth, you must have the track monitoring turned on to hear the synth. If your audio buffer is set too high, you will experience delay from when you hit the keys to when you hear a sound.

Good luck.

Kniferide wrote:

GuyLaCroix wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:26 pm I was recently gifted a cool little USB keyboard with sliders, pads, knobs, etc. Can I run a software synth with Reaper? How bout a newer Raspberry Pi?

Options>Preferences>Audio>Midi Devices
Make sure it is enabled in the midi hardware for input

open a track, hit record arm, choose your midi device as the input for that track. if you are using a VST synth, you must have the track monitoring turned on to hear the synth. If your audio buffer is set too high, you will experience delay from when you hit the keys to when you hear a sound.

Good luck.

Also if you need some free VSTi synths let me know I will post them

Yaledelay wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:58 pm

Kniferide wrote:

GuyLaCroix wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:26 pm I was recently gifted a cool little USB keyboard with sliders, pads, knobs, etc. Can I run a software synth with Reaper? How bout a newer Raspberry Pi?

Options>Preferences>Audio>Midi Devices
Make sure it is enabled in the midi hardware for input

open a track, hit record arm, choose your midi device as the input for that track. if you are using a VST synth, you must have the track monitoring turned on to hear the synth. If your audio buffer is set too high, you will experience delay from when you hit the keys to when you hear a sound.

Good luck.

Also if you need some free VSTi synths let me know I will post them

Wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit.