In terms of the most [category]/buck....and assumingby 80's synth we mean at
least analog filters...WS isn't actually an 80's machine at all by virtue of
a few months I'd say. I guess maybe the first reviews were coming out in
'89 on it, but it represents a whole different approach; something the VS
was able to do only a small fraction of. The WS has a lot of VS samples and
some moog, etc. It's great for complex control of the sample library with
lots of expressive routings for that and the fx processor also of course
which it also represents landmark technology in. But it's definitely a
'goodbye 80's welcome to the 90's' synth.
In terms of raw analog filters/buck...can't beat the Korg DSS-1 and or
DSM-1 which have 8 and 16 respectively. These can both be gotten amazingly
cheap but are pretty chunky gear and they don't do anything
automatically...have to load from floppy on boot and tell it you want to
:-). On the UP side....it's the closest you can get to the sound of an OB8
on a budget I do believe. The quality is great and the DSS-1 has a dual
digital delay also. I'll write a comparative review of these two soon since
it seems hard to find one! I was under the impression that the DSM was just
a rack version. It isn't. No delay and only one sample per synth
channel...so to really emulate some of the sounds in the dss you have to
make two identical voices and detune one for instance. Then run it through
a digital delay I guess. Anyway I can say how badly underrated this synth
is. I was going to sell the dss but not now! It won't bring enough. I'd
have to get several hundred and nobody is paying that at the moment.
In terms of digitally controlled oscillator units which feature
simpler base waveforms than the dsm/dss units and Roland S500 and other
samplers that also can be gotten fairly cheap though I can't imagine their
filters sound as good :-)...the Roland MKS-70 rack or the JX10 keyboard have
two 6 voice 2osc/voice synths in them and can be gotten fairly cheap also.
An MKS I saw for 285 buy it now I believe? Great deal. They sound real
nice for string pads and piano's that layer nicely over other sounds...use
the acoustic piano sound to layer with my Kurzweil K1200 (A late late 80's
sample playback synth with some great sounds also. K1000 series are nice;
sounds taken from the K250 which listed around 20 grand! The first weighted
all around workstation keyboard). For another couple hundred ish you can
get the slider box, the PG800 anyway to give you knobs.
For cheaper units that already have knobs in this realm, the Siel
Opera 6 or DK600 (same thing) are sometimes trouble prone I've found, but do
have some GREAT sounds when they are working. Half of the "super JX" above
in terms of facilities..well a little less a little more than that
even...only one envelope to work with but 3 LFO's for which there are two
speed controls...while the ROland has 2 envelopes per 6 voice board..so 4
ADSR envelopes for the whole 12 voice thing, all invertable and decent
routings on both boards.
Now for things that have VCO's we have various degrees computer
control playing into the works, various resolution problems with sliders
that play into that for real time performance. But if you use the machine
in it's limits, the Fender Chroma Polaris 6 voice 2 osc/voice machine
delivers a lot of punch for the dollar also. If Ihad to have one cheap
analog machine it would likely be the one..well save the sampler hybrids
since the diversity of sounds you can make are way wider. However you'd be
amazed at how many flavors a Polaris can come up with. And it has those
wonderful real time control options like a pitch bender that can be made to
only affect the notes that are down, and a glide that kicks in when the
pedal is depressed! Polarity on many of the controls like pwm mod for
instance. And a foot pedal that can be assigned to control rate, volume,
filter cutoff and other things simultaneously! Just a great synth.
Sequential Six-Trak, Multi-Trak, Juno-60 also seem to be great buys of
late. I've about gotten sick to see how cheap some 60's have gone. It's
just crazy. MIDI. Who needs it! :-) Actually every synth above has it I
guess that I mentioned. The 106 was the synth which put midi on the 60 but
other things changed also. Some people like it better, some less. I think
they actually improved the audio quality some on the 106 but the 60 had
something that was likely more complex and lent some kind of warmth. I
dunno. Have to side by side them someday.
AND...let's not forget the string/organ synth class. The Opus 3 is a
nice synth when it can be gotten for less than 300 in my opinion. People
always want more but..sorry..they don't do THAT many sounds well. They do
have a real moog filter. And they make some nice kind of strange organ that
got used on many recordings from that year. Meanwhile sequential recreated
the Siel machine of this type..oh what's it called. I guess they sound real
good too. The Korg Delta I just got is actually from '79 I think but it's
similar and makes some great sounds also in this vein.
And of course...there's the DX series :-) ANything else Yamaha is
going to be overpriced for what it is. The DX pretty much took over the
80's after '83 in some realms. I'm going to assume that isn't what you are
after for now. They do some sounds well like the electric piano's they are
known for and various other strange artifacts of their architecture. The
"analog" stuff they generate is sickly static and wrong for the most part
though. Heheh.
The kawai K5 was another similar sort of effort in a way. Then
the K1 was the first econo ROMpler with a nice AM effect capable of some
useful dynamics. Meanwhile Oberheim was computer assisting their analog
effort to create the Matrix synths which are also a useful option from the
era, as are the Korg DW6000 and 8000, Kawai K3, and Ensoniq (shirrkkk!)
hybrids. Lots of options for fairly cheap 80's synths. All depends on what
you want to do. The digital stuff gives you more parameters to play with
but you'll find each one has a lot less depth built into it, and things tend
to feel more and more static the more computers are involved. Even though
computers don't like static :-) -Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don't t(h)read on my tentacles, Earthling!"
<lepetitmartien@...>
To: <oldsynths@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: [oldsynths] 80s synth recommendation?
Le 09 déc. 2003, à 20:54, campbobo a écrit :
> Any recommendations?
As we're talking oldsynths…
Marion ProSynth (O-BER-HEIM!!!) (if you can find one)
Korg Wavestation (which flavour… well)
Prophet VS
...
It's stupid but I don't know the MKS or the matrix 1000 enough to have
an opinion.
Denis H] lepetitmartien
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