New/old to keyboard synths -- what's out there fo me

[captain insane-o]

hey guys

I guess I should explain where I'm coming from when I say I'm new/old to keyboard synths

 

I'm in my mid-late 40s -- my first synthesizer was a pro-one (which I still have, but the J-wires are crapping out, more on that in a different post where I ask for yet more help ).

 

I think I got it for abt $40 back in the 80s

 

My second synth was a cz-101

 

I've had a few synths over the years (I though the DW-8000 was pretty cool)...not tons, and I wouldn't consider myself a real player...but I do find them incredibly useful and  hell of a lot of fun. 

I actually quite like monophonic I guess b/c..

well first because I'm not a pianist, so it doesn't really cramp my facility (which I don't have TO cramp)

second b/c I tend to approach synthesizer sounds a little like a 'cello in that the timbre is full enough where simple lines sound good.  I don't ever really use them for instrument emulation (Oh, I like string pads, but in the sme wy I like spring reverb...I think they may have been originally conceived as an emulation, which they were not very goo at, but took on a life and character of their own.  I think a cheesy string pad is a thing of beauty)

 

I'm a creature of my time I suppose...Moogishness like ELP (Lucky man solo) or the solo on Heart's "Magic Man" kind of make me go -- "now that's what a synth does!" 

The cars "moving in Stereo" was sort of a big deal (ARP?)

 

I don't mean I'm some rabid purist and other uses aren't valid, I enjoy other uses immensley...my (pardon the pun) resonance with synths just developed at a certain time and that's how I approach them when I'm around em.

 

anyway, so that's who I am

 

So I've been interested in getting another synth or 2 (my trusty pro one is feling it's age -- I home to resurrect the keyboard, but if not I gues I've CV it, but won't hack it up)

 

A couple of things I've noticed --

 

I'm not very bright and need fewer features.  Stuff that is useful to a real player like keyboard split I'll simply never use.

 

I'm not much of a menu-driven guy (hey, I used to work in SW and I was the generation that made those..I'm terribly sorry for that).  I do much better with one-control-per function - ish type stuff.

 

I'm used to  clssic subractive architecture

 

The cz-101 was really nice in terms of having

A) a 2 line subtractive architecture (2 osc->filt->amp lines). 

B) 8 stage envelopes

 

The pro one? well, that's what I learned on and who was it that said you cn't be aware of your own culture?

...the pro one is my "baseline"  so it makes it tough for me to critique it.

detuning oscillators was great, PWM on the square, being able to unslave osc B fom the keyboard...nothing that isn't probably pretty standard these days -- but nice

 

I must admit, I do like analog -- trying to tune oscillators without a hard-synch really lead to a whole little world.  Sort of like 2 stroke motorcycle tuning.  I liked that "in tune" was sort of a fluid concept.

Now, I do com from a world of strings and horns an such and ther tuning isn't quite as defined as on some instruments.

 

4 octave is probably enough keyboard for me -- 2 octaves is a little small

 

I don't really use MIDI (Oh, I've don it for patch switching, etc, but nothing advanced andprobably wouldn't miss it) -- played with vaious CV things for fun.

I don't know that I'd even mis patch memory (that depends on the synth though I suppose -- for a pro-one style I'd be fine without it)

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

 

SO -- enough with personal perspective.  We all have em and I'm not even drunk, so I'll shut up now

 

 

but if you guys have some suggestions of current (or readilly available) synths that might fit me - I'd love to hear your suggestions or thoughts

 

 

 

 

[AnotherScott]

Maybe a Roland Gaia SH-101 or Korg MS-20 mini? Lots of dedicated controls, not 4 octaves, but at least more than three. If your budget can handle it, a Studiologic Sledge looks like it would be nice.

 

There are also a number of synths that are not as knobby as those, but aren't menu-divers either... rather they have banks of knobs that can be switched to different functions. So they are kind of "in between" in direct manipulation. So then you've got things like Mopho and Little Phatty,

[mildbill]

You didn't list a budget range.

 

Discontinued now, and a little pricey, but it sounds like you might have liked one of these:  http://www.moogmusic.com/products/minimoog-voyagers/minimoog-voyager-old-school

 

Here's a pretty good thread about some stuff you might be interested in:

http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Keys-Synths-amp-Samplers/List-of-inexpensive-modern-analog-synths/m-p/32336273/highlight/true#M758755

[captain insane-o]

 

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mildbill wrote:

 

 

You didn't list a budget range.

 

 

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I don't really have a hard rnage -- yeah for being in my 40s!!!!

 

That and the personal demand is pretty elastic so -- sort of riding the demand curve on this one