Best Analog (Analog-Sounding) Keyboard with Midi-Sync??

Hi all,

I've just been thrust into a position of Lead Synth player in a band with a pretty substantial budget and I'm shopping around for a new synth set-up. Ideally, I'd like to consolidate the set-up down to one keyboard with true analog sounds that I can also run my midi sequences through from Reason. Is there a perfect analog (or pretty-frickin'-close-to analog) synth for this?

If not, what analog synths would be ideal to use monophonically, and what little midi keyboard would be best to run the reason stuff through?

P.S. I'm very new to this stuff and only half-know what I'm talking about.

-thechristening

If you don't want a Vintage board, (which is probably the case if you'll be gigging a lot, and don't want high maintenance costs,) then the Alesis Andromeda A6 would be my recommendation. The Dave Smith PEK may work as well, but out of the box it only has 4 voices. The advantage though, is that in addition to its analog oscillators, it has some nice digital ones as well, and a cooler internal sequencer. The Andromeda though has 16 voices, so huge chords, or multitimbral type stuff will be better.

There are other options like Studio Electronics and JoMox, but these aren't keyboards. You'd need a separate controller board. (which may not be as fun to haul around)

+1 on the A6.

I agree on the PEK, if you

Based on what analog synth? Growing up in the 70's analog was all that was available. Korgs, Arps, Moogs, etc each having there own voice same as diff guitars have their own basic voice. I preferred the sound of the korgs over the moogs and arps. But some others of course preferred moogs etc. For Va's I like the sound of Novation, Access, & Nord. In that order. Havent played a waldorf yet so cant comment on them.

If your going to be a lead synth player you may well to concider a two synth rig. A Va and a rompler, or two of either. You can do far more with two synths then you ever can with a single one. Irregardlessof that single synths split & layer ability.

Youd be much further ahead to spend the time to find out what synths are used by bands you like and what synths get used most for what genres of music. Then you can make an informed decision for what brands to put on list for concidering. If Dream Theater type stuff is what your after, then kurzwell (rompler) is of course going to go on your list.

What kind of music are you going to do? Is a Va, or a rompler, or one of each best suited to that? Dont rush off to buy expensive synth just to find out later that most of the stuff your going to play is done most often on diff kind of synth that costs less. Check what bands you esp like use. That might rather surprise you.

Heed the words of Darkstorm.

The band is kind of a dance-y, almost break-beat progressive rock band that uses synth sounds and arpeggiating sequences to make the sound shimmer a bit. Not all of the stuff I play live will be monophonic. The current set-up is an MS2000b along with a little dippy MIDI-controller keyboard connected to a Powerbook running Reason.

We all don't like the MS2000, and I'm looking to revamp the set-up for optimal sound and performance quality. If you know of a great stage amp for keyboards, I'd love to hear of it too. Again, money is almost a non-issue.

-thechristening

i dont think Reason can run your external hardware synth, but maybe I'm wrong. The Andromeda would be a very nice Analog synth if you can only have one keyboard on stage.

No, you're right. I would just be using Reason as a soft-synth. Actually, we're probably gonna switch to a different program. I don't need to have only one keyboard, I was just curious about what some of my options are. I'm very new to this stuff and I want to make some educated choices on equipment. This thread has already been a big help in it's second day.

A triton extreme can have a nice 6 voice VA board installed, but also has an excellent rompler in there.

really ain't no reason that the MS2k doesn't sound really as sweet as you like (unless you wanna talk {censored} about digi vs analog), it's all in how you learn to program it. i'm not saying you shouldn't invest in a few more, newer options with sounds that you like that you can get easily, but a synth as powerful as the korg shouldn't be written off before you spend some time with the manual and a bottle of whiskey, y'know?