I've got four pieces of gear, but there's no reason to assume my collector instincts won't have gotten me more by the next time this thread gets resurrected:
- Roland MT-32 - classic Sierra/LucasArts synthy noises! I need to learn my way around editing custom patches.
- Yamaha TX-81Z - classic DX-style FM tones with some extra versatility added. Shame it's not General MIDI-compliant.
- Korg 05R/W - really nice wavetable synth, and I say that as someone who really isn't normally a fan of wavetable synths.
- microKORG - probably the closest thing I'll ever get to a Minimoog...
What the hey, might as well resurrect the thread. (Not like we're talking about much else at the moment.) A
whole lot has changed since this post; I'm afraid I'm now a full-fledged synth fiend...
- Got an E-mu Proteus/1 module in March - glorious '80s sampler cheese (with a solid multitimbral MIDI implementation,) though it's surprisingly lacking in shakuhachis and orchestra hits. They did, however, sample the opening vocals from "Tarkus," which is awesome. Just wish I could find the support patches for various Sierra games...
- However, things really started in earnest in April, when I bought an Oberheim Matrix-6 from a guy in Superior who used to play in a local band. I sold my microKORG to buy it, but that's okay - it's a real analog polysynth, while the microKORG was clearly digital in spite of being analog-modeling. (Though the microKORG really is excellent for grainy, crunchy trance/industrial-techno sounds - but that's not my thing.) And it has a patch matrix just like the microKORG, only with more slots, sources, and destinations. It's very much a jack-of-all-trades, even if it's a master of none - not as big as the big Oberheims, not rich like a Roland, not smooth and delicate like the Prophet-5, but good in its own way, and oh so versatile.
- I had to sell the 05/RW, unfortunately (needed the cash.) Still keeping my eye out for a low price on its big brother, the X5DR...
- In June, I traded the TX81Z up for a Yamaha V50 - basically two TX81Zs plus a basic (but nice) effects unit, sequencer, and crappy drum machine in a quite nice keyboard, with more patch space and a vastly improved multitimbral MIDI implementation. (Even got a basic GM-compatible patch set/map for it!) Like the TX81Z, it can't match some of the complex, multi-part sounds the 6-operator DX7s can do, but the multiple operator waveforms allow it to achieve some rich or gritty timbres the DX7s can't match...
- Also in June, I placed an order for Korg's new MS-20 Mini, a recreation of their classic analog monosynth.
I am STILL waiting for the damn thing. :angryfire: The retailer I ordered from has been getting their shipment pushed back for three months now. It seems Korg decided to ultra-faithfully recreate a sought-after cult classic, priced it at the same dollar amount it originally went for in 1978 dollars, and then didn't anticipate anybody wanting it...
- In July, I got two keyboards: first, a Casio HT-6000, which is a fully-programmable digital-analog hybrid synthesizer in the guise of one of Casio's cheap home keyboards. It runs complex, evolving digital waveforms through analog filters and amplifiers, and achieves a very neat sound. Like most of Casio's keyboards, it's awfully lacking in bass (though I need to test it with something other than the built-in speakers,) and it's not great for your classic analog lead sounds, but for dreamy pad sounds it's something of a hidden gem. Just a shame the keybed is in such rough shape...at least I can control it over MIDI.
- The second was a Hohner String Performer, a simple but nice analog string machine. It doesn't have multiple settings for its ensemble/chorus effect the way some of them do, but the single setting is pretty nice, and unlike a lot of them it articulates each note individually across the whole keyboard. It's also got some additional polyphonic sounds like "Piano" and "Clavichord" that aren't that great, but layer with the strings in interesting ways, and a cheesy li'l preset monosynth that can be used on the upper half of the keyboard. Good stuff all-around, and it folds up into its own self-contained flight case!
- In August, after way longer than I would've liked, I finally scraped together enough money to buy the Roland Super JX-10 from the guy who sold me the Oberheim. Oh my God is this thing a beast. Big 12-voice analog polysynth with a big, lush sound and lush stereo chorus, and a voice architecture that emphasizes stacking patches to make it even bigger. I could have only this one synthesizer and still have a wealth of excellent sounds to discover. The sound on this thing is what finally convinced me that analog modeling will never be a 100% satisfactory substitute for the real deal...
- Shortly after that, I grabbed a Casio CZ-1000 super-cheap from Music-Go-Round. The CZ series use Phase Distortion synthesis, which is a kind of mirror-universe patent-avoiding take on Yamaha FM - a bit grittier and brighter, whereas FM tends toward glassy and cool...it's a neat little synth, even if its 4-note polyphony is kind of underwhelming.
- Towards the end of August, I also picked up a Korg DW-8000 on the cheap, non-working. I've gotten it to the point where it boots and basically works, but it's seriously in need of further cleaning and calibration on multiple fronts (at present, it's common for the delay-effect feedback to go above unity and bring the thing close to blowing out speakers - luckily I've only used it on some cheap crap ones!) It's another digital-analog hybrid, like the HT-6000, but more typically analog in character, just with complex digital waveforms as a base. To my ears it's kind of like the SID chip on steroids, dark, weird, and wonderful...I can't wait to get it fully fixed up.
- Finally, in mid-September, I spotted a Yamaha DX7 for a modest price on Craigslist. I'd had the TX7 module version for a while, but I just never used it, because all my keyboard synths were so much more immediate (I'm on the lookout for a Proteus MPS to replace my Proteus/1 for the same reason.) So I nabbed this and sold my TX7, and got a Grey Matter E! expansion to boot (adding more patch memory, splits and layers, and a bunch of other fun stuff.) What a glorious synthesizer. Everbody knows the DX Rhodes sound from a billion sappy pop ballads, but there's so many more possibilities lurking in this thing, in so many different corners of the sonic spectrum. It doesn't quite dethrone my JX-10 as "desert-island synth," but it certainly comes close.
And of course it hasn't stopped there...I'm saving for a
Roland D-50 from the guy I bought my Matrix-6 and JX-10 from (and maybe his Ensoniq EPS-16+ sampler, too...every time I get burned out on the nearly-exclusive omnipresence of sampled sounds in modern music, being part of the Amiga community reminds me why it can be wonderful in spite of being overused,) and I'm crossing my fingers that, come tax time, I'll get enough in refunds to be able to cajole someone into sending me a Minimoog...
...boy, am I in trouble :lol:
