It is in the hands of the player to some degree, set up and economies of scale. There is never any such thing as a one to one comparison. The CS80 is without a doubt the best poly synth of all and it also is over 200 pounds and requires careful maintenence. I truly wish I still had one, the DX7 was just as good but too difficult to program. With some of my charges I sorted them out with delays, compressors and other fx. I use a bandpass filter on the output of any of my lead synths. With fx and some modding almost anything can be made into a really useful rig.
When i first could afford a synth , long ago one of the first things I did was take an Arp Odyssey and install a switch to make the filter either Arp or Moog, I added outboard compressor, big muff, Electric Mistresss. and a tape deck modded for delay and reverb in the amp. I started with that indvicualistic sapproach.
Hello Gino!
To be fair the Prophet 5 did even more things that a Pro One never could. But that classic lead sound that Tony Banks used with his Pro One was just plain perfect for those solos! Other than a couple of sounds the Pro One is pretty cheesy until (as Genesis did) you beef it up with effects. With the push of a button the Profit 5 became monophonic in unison mode but it was a much fatter sound than the Pro One… especially the rare Rev.1 which was by far the best sounding but least reliable of the series. I wish I had never sold mine. My Rev 3’s and Prophet 10 never did have the bite of the Rev. 1. I got my Rev. 1 for $500 from a friend at Sequential Circuits after Eddie Jobson turned it in for a newer model. The SSM chips which were designed by Emu sounded great but were prone to failure. After the Rev. 1 they moved to the Curtis chips and never sounded the same. Emu actually designed the scanning keyboard for Sequential as well. I knew people at both companies well so I got some good deals and factory training. They were both groundbreaking companies with sounds you hear on more records and soundtracks than you can imagine.
Cheers!
Gary
Analog polysynths are great but a pro 1 did things the Prophet 5 only dreamed of, Minis and Synthi A's are monophonic for a very good reason.
Whilst saving up for my next keyboard I have bought a Monotribe and a Volca keys. I still love the mellotron but I am doing much more with subtractive synthesis these days. I mainly use the almighty MicroKorg or the wonderful Synth1 plugin. But even to my ears analog synths sound more pleasing, but I can't afford a true analog polysynth. The Volca is polyphonic but works much better as a monophonic synth. These are 2 of my latest efforts for all of you who love endlessly repetitive electronic loop music.
I have more sense now than to buy a vintage synthesizer but I suppose I wouldn't be able to resist a MiniMoog if one turned up here.
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ReRED Recording, Analog Sound Design
Audio Mastering, Recording & Restoration, Logistics
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ReRED Recording, Analog Sound Design
Audio Mastering, Recording & Restoration, Logistics