What cheap synth should I get next

Kind of irrelevant but I just looked in Turnkey magazine (almost always UKs cheapest price for gear) and Microkorg's have gone up to £350?!?! - bullshit price raise I'm really glad I got mine in 2005 if they are going to stay like that.

I will always recommend the nord modulars, in any incarnation. I have 2 G2's and Im in looove

  Josso said:

  Tridact said:

  Josso said:

Do you think Alpha Juno is within my budget? I have no idea how expensive they are

 

I just got one for $125 USD, but in the states. According to UK eBay's completed auctions they look well within your budget, around £100.

 

orly

 

I saw one for around £100 but there was 4 days left or something. I really would like that, it's got a really great classic sound imho.

 

Regarding Nord Modular it doesn't look like my kind of thing, and I really would prefer to get something from the 80s

Roland MKS-50 (Alpha Juno rack)

or

Oberheim Matrix 1000 (basically THE 80's synth squeezed into a rack)

Personally, I would grab a Matrix 1000 before the prices go stupid, as I think they will be the next retro "must have"

I bet a Nord Modular would do a convincing impression of both. As well as every other synth mentioned here.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

I bet a Nord Modular would do a convincing impression of both. As well as every other synth mentioned here.

Could be. But it's not always the best decision creatively to get the "blank canvas". Sometimes deliberately imposing limitations can streamline the creative process. c.f. 303, 101, 606 :)

So impose your own limits

"I'm going to make a track from this one patch". etc.

If you are short on cash and need to go long on usability from a synthesizer, I really can't imagine why you wouldn't buy a used modular or micro modular. There isn't a prepatch box in exitence that can come within even a fraction of its versatility, and you can get Micro Mods for $250. One that will do all of your favorite DX-7/MKS/Juno/ARP/Moog type sounds, plus tons more, for less than you'd be spending on an 80's Juno box that can do one thing to an OK degree, provided it stays reliable and doesn't come with anything broken at this point. It's silly to me whenever I see beginner synth threads around here with people suggesting Juno's and 101's and MS-10/20's and CS10's and every other one use niche piece you can imagine. These are all great machines for their own little things but the people who want/need them are not the people who post threads asking what synths to get.

Anyway, the title of the thread is "what cheap synth should I get next", not "please rehash the analogue vs digital debate"

Uh, you're right, and I'm not. I'm saying that it's silly to recommend a used, possibly damaged 80's synthesizer, digital or analogue, as oposed to a much newer, much more versitile, cheaper machine -- the Micro Modular. The added benefit of it would be that it's basically a synthesis classroom in a box, something that will probably be the greatest asset of all in terms of increasing the value of whatever other synths you do have.

The type of people who are truly in need of/in the market for DX-7's and MKS's and Juno's, are not people posting to internet message boards asking what synth to get. These are niche synths for niche users who already know what they need and have quite a lot of gear to complement it. They aren't very versitile at all in what sort of sound palette they are going to offer. I've seen countless threads here and other places with gear heads suggesting every imaginable piece of niche gear to someone with a microkorg and fruity loops. Really, do these people need a 20+ year old synth that might not even have MIDI?

he's not making it an analogue/digital debate... its a practicality debate. do I want one synth, that can do a limited amount of things, or one synth that can do many things. he isnt arguing that A or D is better... but just saying youll get more versatility out of a nord.

and its true... make one patch so that it has all the features of a fixed architecture synth. the nord g2 comes with the nord lead 2 and nord lead 3 basically... not the exact patches, but it's the exact same setup as those synths. so save a folder called NL2, and have a default patch that just has the setup. then make sub folders for all the variations you do, and those will be your NL2 patches.

and then you get whatever else you want, beyond that.

it seems like a no brainer to me. I would definitely go for a rack if you can afford it though. knobs are good. and 4 parts, instead of 1.

dead on.

AND... people have been selling their DX7s for FM7.... which is MUCH easier to use, and cheaper.

I think people just like synths for the sake of synths

  Josso said:

Regarding Nord Modular it doesn't look like my kind of thing, and I really would prefer to get something from the 80s

Stop telling the guy what he needs while ignoring what he's actually saying FFS. Are you guys social workers or something?

I think someone with a Microkorg and a desire to ask people on the internet what synth to get is probably less informed about what synths are good money for the budget, and has probably been listening to too many silly warmth and fatness type comments in EKT. For the budget and needs I can think of no other synthesizer that offers half as much, so that's all I'm going to suggest. That being said, iep's Microwave suggestion is a decent one. Also not 80's though.

Also -- this forum is responsible for the most rampant 101 fetishism I have ever seen in my life. I'm not knocking the synth at all, I love acid and I love the x0x series for what they are, but not every single musician in the world needs a 101. Really, I swear it. I imagine that if someone came in asking for advice on what synths to buy to do good covers of Jazz classics and maybe some moody experimental ambient, at least 3 people would chime in that 101's go for "pretty cheap" on the 'bay (pretty cheap being about $300 more than they should be).

  ten fingers ten toes said:

iep's Microwave suggestion is a decent one. Also not 80's though.

yup it's an early 90s machine (the microwave 1) but it sounds so 80s its not even funny. it sounds more PPG than a PPG ;)

great, great filters. plus it has wavetable synthesis (albeit in a crude form) which i'm a big fan of. very underrated. topicstarter should also look at the roland jx3p... analogue polysynth for +-100 pounds....!

so how much is a nord, modular, because =even if josso isnt interested, i am. bin wondering about a new synth for a little while, ive got all my software issues and everything resolved now so i can go back to collecting what i actually want, crazy synths.

Pricing schema (All in USD):

Micro Modular G1's - $250 - $350

Modular Rack G1- $450 - $550

Modular Keyboard G1 - $500 - $700

Add about $100 if the Rack of Keyboard has the DSP expansion.

G2 Engine - $1000

G2 Keyboard - $1800

Not even sure if they make the G2X expanded full keyboard version anymore, but it was I think about $2600.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

Pricing schema (All in USD):

Micro Modular G1's - $250 - $350

Modular Rack G1- $450 - $550

Modular Keyboard G1 - $500 - $700

 

Add about $100 if the Rack of Keyboard has the DSP expansion.

 

G2 Engine - $1000

G2 Keyboard - $1800

 

Not even sure if they make the G2X expanded full keyboard version anymore, but it was I think about $2600.

Also, main differences...

Modular G1's:

Micro Modular - Tiny box, 3 knobs, has only 1 DSP bus available, when editing in the Modular editor, it will tell you what % of DSP you are using. Say you have a really basic patch using 10% DSP. That will give you 10 voices on that DSP bus (get it? 10% * 10 = 100% DSP). Most patches though, will land anywhere between 40-100%, so don't count on typically more than 2 voices per patch.

Modular Rack - More like Modular desktop although you can rack it if you want. On a desktop it will sit at a nice 3/4 angle. 18 knobs and 18 buttons. Jog wheel for scrolling through patches. Comes standard with 4 DSP banks, so you are always garunteed at least 4 voices. Additionally, it can be multitimbral (loading different patches into different DSP banks). Obviously with 4 banks that's up to 4 parts multitimbral. The DSP expansion board will double the DSP banks to 8, but not increase the ammount of patch load. It will just garuntee 8 voices instead of 4.

Modular Keyboard - Just the modular rack with a 2 octave keyboard. Users of it say it's very handy when auditioning patches, but since Im always at a PC it's not hard for me to do anyhow.

Modular G2's:

G2 Engine - Rack mount G2 with no knobs/buttons/realtime controls. It is however, a full Nord G2. It's not like the Micro Modular that way. Polyphony is "Up to 32 voices" but don't count on really more than 8 to 10 for any given patch.

G2 Keyboard - G2 engine with a bank of 8 endless rotary encoders with LED positional lights. I would kill for these on the G1. There are also "pages" that you can flip through that will switch the knobs to another set of parameters that you define. Very cool interface.

G2X - A full keyboard instead of the 2 octave jobbie, but otherwise a G2.

There is a voice expansion board for all of the G2's that will double the polyphony.

do they still make the G1???

I am saving up for a G2, someday....

g2 is three octave!

and guaranteed 4 on the g1? really? I dont have one, but I dont know... but ive definitely kicked my g2s ass into only being monophonic :embrassed:

yep at least 4 voices on an unexpanded g1. i think the nord modular is one of the best value for money synths available (2nd hand) even though it can't do anything that a well-equipped computer can't. its just so nicely integrated, the hardware unit / editor combo feels perfectly polished and done.i don't think the topicstarter will like a nord modular tho;)

interesting that the g2 can go down to 1!

and yeah, a well equipped computer can probably do the same stuff... but Ive yet to find any interface that I found so intuitive. Also, I just think it has its own unique sound that I havent found anything else that compares.

  BCM said:

Alesis Micron - are these any good? been looking at them myself...

 

seriously - i've been reading up on these - sound fucking wicked! £260 brand new - check out some of the reviews - got an inbuilt sequencer, drum machine, really good core synthesis engine (apparently)...

check out this review and this... - there's loads more on line. anyway, I'M fucking getting one.

Hate to sound like a broken record but for less cash those Nord Mod G1's offer everything you listed there and quite a bit more.

Several sequencer modules, several drum/perc modules, and uhh it's modular...

im goin for the nord to start with i think, il go for the one with 4 dsp patches.

Does the Nord G2 have a built in sequencer?

Both G1 and G2 have several sequencer modules, both event (on/off per step) and note (C -8 to C +8 I beleive, per step). Also several variations of each with minor differences. You can also sequence using several LFO'S, and key/note quantizers for pseudo-random intonation that still follows particular key patterns.

Also.. its tough to quantifh "built in" with a Nord Modular. It's a modular synthesizer, and infinite number of them, designed by you. Would you like a patch with 15 drum sequencers timed to midi clock to play along to? Just make it and it's yours. Would you like a 16 oscilltor mega-unison square bass? It's yours, just make it. Want a generative synthesis algorhythm to create melodic ptterns based on fractal algebra? Just make it! It can do almost anything aside from sampling, even rudimentary wavetable is done with the Format oscillator (though not nearly as advanced as the Waldof stuff).