Your most favoritist Synths...?

[~IiI]

Well, this might turn out to be a big horrible debate thing, but I sincerely hope not. I was just wondering what YOUR favorite synths are. I would suggest trying to stick to maybe just your favorite top 10 or something. But feel free to elaborate. But let's not ninja kick each-other over it, 'k?

Mine thus far are:
(From most favoritist down)

Hardware:
-------------
1 Oberheim's Matrix 12

2 Yamaha's DX1

3 Ensoniq's FIZMO (I want FIZMO 2)

4 Casio CZ-5000

5 Yamaha's DJX (guilty pleasure folks)

Software:
------------
1 Native Instrument's FM7

2 SimSynth 2.7 (way under-rated)

3 TurboSynth (mac only :( )

4 Native Instrument's Absynth (is it just me, or is this a pain to program?)

5 RGC Audio's PENTAGON

So what about YOU?

[~chriswdc]

In no particular order:
-Roland Juno 106 (I love it..a workhorse..great sounds and easy to use.)
-Roland System 700 (no, I don't have one)
-Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 (not yet, but soon)
-Minimoog
-Korg DW8000
-Roland MKS-50
-Oberheim Matrix 12
-Korg MS20
-Arp 2600 (wish list)
-Yamaha TG55

[~Bornslippy]

Chrisdw, I just checked out your Site, but it was a blank black page.. I want to hear some your stuff. You too IiI.... I like to collect a lot of demos because a lot of times I like the rugged, demoed, rough sound, in terms of self production..

Chrsdw, are you doing something New Wave or ?

IiI what type of tracks are you making these days....

this is fun..

[~IiI]

I've been working on a 5 song EP. I just started on it actually, but I hope to have it released by December 1st 2002. It's a "winter" album. Very serious, melodic, and dark. But it'll have a track or two that kicks the tempo up a bit. I haven't even named it yet actually. I developed a set of rules I call the "10 Rule Theory", and the EP is being developed according to them. Which takes a long... time. I spend like 8-12 hours a day working on it.

Whenever I get a website up I'll post the link. Maybe some samples and stuff.

So what are your favorite synths Born?

[~chriswdc]

Yes, we just pulled the site temporarily. I was quite unhappy with it's design, and my singer and I are in the process of changing it. However, you can hear some of my semi-older material on ampcast:
http://www.ampcast.com/music/12018/artist.php

Still electronic, but not very representative of my latest songs. I would say my newer material is much closer to synthpop. We hope to find a label soon and release the newer material.

[7red7]

Roland JP8000
Roland Juno (damn I want one of these)
Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DJX (I'm guilty too, I love this cheesy little thing, it's fun to use)
Korg E-M1 (Just got this one, small, but tons of fun to play with so far)


This is all I have to go on, cause this is what I currently use...I'm still really new to this side of the electronic music world...But I'm having a lot of fun making music, and learning to program :)

[~PTInc]

JP8000 represent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[7red7]

Originally posted by PTInc
JP8000 represent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Thanks Phil!!!

I love this thing, but damn if it didn't break the bank for me...I used it a lot last Summer when I first started toying around with making music...I still have some getting used to with it, Rolands aren't very user friendly these days from what I hear...

But I love Roland's products, them and Yamaha :)

[~pop]

Hardware
1. DOEPFER A-100 Analog Modular System
2. ELKA Synthex
3. (EML) 400/401
4. EMS Synthi 100
5. JOMOX Sunsyn
6. Korg DW-8000
7. ENSONIQ SQ-80
8. KORG MS-10
9. Korg Prophecy
10. Dx7IIFD
11. Korg Wave Station
12. Marion MSR-2
13. MOOG Modular Systems
14. MOOG Liberation
15. MUTRONICS MIDI Mutator
16. nOVATION SUPERNOVA
17. OBERHEIM obxa
18. Octave Plateau Voyetra 8
19. QUASIMIDI Sirius
20. ALESIS Andromeda A6

Software
1. Reason
2. absynth
3. Pentagon
4. Waldorf A1
5. Reaktor
6. Fm7
7. Mercury
8. JunoX2

[~Hajas]

Mine is Roland XP-50, the best that I can touch in my life. :)

Freddy

[Synthpopalooza]

Well, not had a lot of experience with synths, but here are the ones I use:

Korg Poly-800 II: Not a bad little analog synth, even tho it has a digital interface. You can get some really ambient sounds out of it, and some good analog sweep sounds too.

Yamaha DX-100: You can't beat the metallic sounds on this one. I even butchered this thing into producing one heck of a killer kick drum (used in my song "Technology" over on http://www.ampcast.com/synthetikfm )

Kawai K1-II: Ok I have had use of this thing for well over 10 years and I've never been happy with a lot of the preset digital new age sounds ... but with a little programming, I have butchered this poor synth into producing some sparking metallic synthpop sounds and some really killer drum hits.

[~intro]

My favorites are pretty much synths I buy. I don't pick them up unless I really like them. But some synths I own that I love are:

Clavia Nord Lead 2
Yamaha AN1x
Roland XP30

And I'm hoping to pick up a Roland SH101 (the bass machine, woo!) very soon. Other synths I think are pretty damn groovy, if only I had the money:

Korg Prophecy
Waldorf Micro Q (Gonna get one of these very soon)
Roland JP8000

As for software, I love software. Wee. My fav soft synths:

ReFX JunoX2
Native Instruments FM7
Native Instruments Reaktor
Sonic Syndicate Junglist

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[~chriswdc]

Originally posted by Synthpopalooza
Well, not had a lot of experience with synths, but here are the ones I use:

Korg Poly-800 II: Not a bad little analog synth, even tho it has a digital interface. You can get some really ambient sounds out of it, and some good analog sweep sounds too.

Yamaha DX-100: You can't beat the metallic sounds on this one. I even butchered this thing into producing one heck of a killer kick drum (used in my song "Technology" over on http://www.ampcast.com/synthetikfm )

Kawai K1-II: Ok I have had use of this thing for well over 10 years and I've never been happy with a lot of the preset digital new age sounds ... but with a little programming, I have butchered this poor synth into producing some sparking metallic synthpop sounds and some really killer drum hits.

From what I understand Orbital started out their sound with the help of the Korg Poly 800.

[~arronc]

My favorites are

Roland

Sh101
JUno 106
JX-3p

Korg

Trinity
Ea-1/ER-1

Yamaha

Dx100 / Tx81z

Rolf Harris

Stylophone

Least favorite : Ensoniq Mirage

Most commited to : my collection of commodore SID things :

HardSid Quattro
C64 series d
SX 64
Electrokit

[~NukleoN]

My favorite synths? The ones I have...let's see, I've got a Virus B I just adore, and new Waldorf XTK which I am using as a controller as well. The Korg 01R/W is a good workhorse and I'm still fond of the mono-timbral MKS-50 module (Juno 1 rack).

Other synths I am keen on are the Indigo II by Access, Novation's Nova or Supernova, A Station and I've been eyeballing the Nord Lead 3 as well.

Software...I'm fond of Sonar (1 or 2), Sound Forge, T-Racks (mastering). I haven't gotten too much into soft synths yet due to latency worries, but I'll probably get into it with Sonar 2...I'm still hardware based.

[~pop]

high latency? get a better sound card and fast cpu..... it is so cheap now.... i remember paying $2500 for 486/sx 25mhz with
4megs of ram... i sold my mustang for it. there is no excuse...

[~chriswdc]

Who needs an excuse? It is a matter of preference.

[~NukleoN]

Yeah my first experiences with soft synths were exercises in futility, and I have some gear I am still learning about (thus no tolerance to learn a bunch of soft synths as yet). I was unimpressed with Sonar's DXi synth however, once I get Sonar 2 I'll probably check it out again in earnest.

I am sure my sound card could probably handle it...it's an M-Audio Delta 1010 with M-Audio's WDM driver.

There's something about those knobs and LED's which I find inspiring. :)

[~ZuN]

My favorite piece of gear is my Kurzweil K2VX, a beast of a synth ;)

[~skylla]

my most irreplaceable synth gotta be my waldorf microwave. if you're into analogue basses i just haven't found anything doing the job quite as well. not much of an allround machine though. always wanted a kurzveil synth but i havn't got the money.

[~sonitis]

1. ensoniq ts-10
2. ensoniq asr-10
3. yamaha cs1x
4. nord lead 2
5. kurzweil k2000
6. ensoniq eps16+
7. roland jp8000
8. yamaha cs2x
9. alesis qs6
10. e-mu emulator

[~LARS]

Roland JD-800
Alesis Andromeda
Yamaha Motif 6
EMU Extreme Lead 1
Korg Prophecy
Yamaha CS6x
Korg Wavestation

[~Jupiter 4]

Now, assuming one doesn't have to own to have a favourite:

Hardware:

(1) Roland Jupiter 8
(2) Korg Mono/Poly
(3) Sequential Circuits Prophet V
(4) Roland SH-101
(5) Korg Poly 800 (just for kicks--guilty pleasures)
(6) Alesis Andromeda A6
(7) Roland Juno 106

Software:

NO! NO!

[~intro]

Originally posted by LARS
Korg Prophecy

How is the Prophecy? I've wanted one since I saw Chris Lowe playing leads on it on the last Pet Shop Boys tour. It sounded killer, and it looks like a pretty cheap synth.

-Mark is gear lusting, as usual
www.djintrovert.com

[~LARS]

The Prophecy is a great synth!!! You can create some really killer synth riffs and stab leads. You can usually get one cheap on ebay I got lucky and got mine for $100!!! A friend of mine works at Mars Music and some jackass came in wanting to sell it so my buddy called me up and I ran over and offered him $100 and he accepted he must have been really desperate.

[~spankmix]

Roland Juno 106 and the MKS 7 (you can program the MKS 7 with the Juno. So it's like having three junos in a rack plus a TR 707)

An overlooked piece of gear is the Sequencial Circuits Six TraK. It's midi, 6-part multi-timb. and 100% analog. It's like having six SH-101's in one box. And you can do a retrofit to add six individual outs. Great for bass, leads and sfx.

I use the Juno 106 and sequencial on every track!

Other favorites are the SH-101, Korg EX-8000 (very similar to the juno but slightly different in texture) and the MKS-50,70 & 80. As you can see, I'm a Roland whore!

Software synths: Pro 52, FM7, TC Powercore 01 synth (SH-101).

Cheers

[~nwdve]

My favorites well.... lessee here...
In no particular order.

Hardware:

1. Oberheim Matrix 12
2. PPG 2.3
3. Roland JX-10 (Super JX...way overlooked...great pads and basses).
4. Kawai K-5 (Another overlooked synth...weird sound capabilities).
5. Ensoniq TS-10
6. Roland JD-990 (Super JD)
7. Waldorf Q
8. Access Virus B
9. General Music Equinox (got one now...waaay cool)
10. Sequential Circuits Prophet VS

Do I have to stop there? I could name about 50 favorites!!

Software Synths:

1. Reason
2. Reaktor
3. Steinberg PPG Wave
4. Pro 52
5. B4

Now the one synth I expect to be adding to my list of favorites is the new Hartmann Neuron!!! Oh my God!! What a lovely synth-monster!!!
www.hartmann-music.com

[~David Vesel]

Hmm....I had to think about this for awhile.

Kawai K1. My first synth. I made about 7 demo tapes with it.

Alesis QS6. I've barely scratched the surface of this. Love the feel, hate the editing.

Ensoniq ESQ-1. Nice hybrid synth.

Oberheim Matrix-6. Wish it had knobs.

ARP Odyssey. THIS is old school. I've always preferred sliders.

Roland Juno-60. Ditto.

I have no soft synths and I'm really not looking to get into them at the time.

[~REPLICESS]

Well, I'm still using my first synth - my Korg M1 :)

Saw Gary Numan this weekend and was thrilled to see he's still playing his live ! :D

As for software, Cubase & Halion are keeping me occupied enough ..... for now.

[~rivetbadtz]

(the following is stuff I admire but dont neccesarily own)
Virus synth(if only I could afford one)
RX7(*hums theme to super mario bros.)
Yamaha QY70(how can ya beat a game boy-esque synth?)
Virtual Light synth(If youve seen the Jean-Michale Jarre live dvd you know how insanely cool this gadget is)

As for practical application over the years, Roland 707 and a good sequencer. (Or more recently a good VST plugin)

[~jamesdstark]

I havent owned a lot of synths, but this is what I have kept which makes them my favorites I suppose:

Hardware:

K2500XS - Beast of a keyboard, a little geeky to program. My favorite features are being able to assign anything to a slider really easy, and high quality fx processing (KDFX). I have to say this keyboard also has a huge number of things I don't like about it, but its been the center of my system for 5 years.

Juno 106 - I was suprised how many other people listed this. Its one of my favorites too. The simplicity of it is a marvel.

Korg ES-1 - I needed something to simplify drum programming and this did the trick. However its extremely limited, I would be more happy with a more "pro" version.

Software:

Cubase SX

trying to get more into software but i have a hard time being musical that way...

[~Kirlian Blue]

My favourite ever synth was The Waldorf PPG WAVE STATION 2.3 the mother of all EBM/INDUSTRIAL sounds you can here it in numans 1984-86 period it steams in The Intro To Big In Japan by Alphaville was one..Project Pitchfork have used that PPG sound ! Ive got the Steinberg/Waldorf PPG WAVE 2.3 vst plug in and the sound is amazing!!




Ensonique-sq80.. i love it to death funky synth bass digiatl sounds an amazing american synth!

korg P61's got two of these amazing old analouge workhorses they had the most amazeing appegio you can here..proper New-WAVE sound creators

Roland JP8 the first Midi Workstation Synth.this was given to me buy my producer Tony it has a beautiful string sound and it just looks like a Model to me!

i have ermm also a KORG ELECTRIBE AN3 love it to death brillinant Numanish Modern Loops and Electro beats can be created on it

and I have an American RolandMC500 8 track sequencer it is pukka!


mark .........(KB)

k.b.

[~intro]

Hum... seems it's been a while since I wrote in this thread. I'll add a few.

HARDWARE
Roland Alpha Juno 1
Korg Prophecy
Nord Modular

SOFTWARE
Dash Synthesis DaAlfa2k
LinPlug Albino
Green Oak Crystal

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[~Quixote Chapter]

I've been using Reason a lot lately and I gotta say that it Rocks.

Definitly my current favorite.

-Kevin

[~machman5]

i have a roland d-50 and a oberheim matrix-6.i would like to get a roland jp-8000,alesis andromeda a6,Waldorf PPG WAVE STATION 2.3,korg triton,mini moog,and a alesis quadra synth,just to name a few.