Best Synth, Worst Synth under $500

[Electroluver]

Best: Kawai SX-240
Worst: Kawai K1

[Z]

If we're talking current market value, the Akai AX-60 gets my vote for best under $500.

I haven't messed with a K1 since it came out over 20 years ago. I hated it then for $1K or whatever it retailed for.

[StepLogik]

Best: Ensoniq ESQ-1
Worst: Roland D-70

[Oppression]

Best: AN1x
Worst: ms2000


i once got a sh-2 for about 500$ it was sooo mint too! best bass synth ever imo, only synth i ever regret selling and i've sold alot of synths.

[Alex E]

Best:
Korg MS2000

Worst:
MC-303

[Alex E]

Worst: ms2000

Care to elaborate?

[Oppression]

Worst: ms2000

Care to elaborate?

hehe ok..

i had one and wow it sounded like it was a toy. wayyyyyy digital sounding. i'd spend hours programming it and still thin. maybe if you ran it thru something it would sound good but by it self i didnt like it. i set it up next to a an1x and a nord 2x it just wasnt cutting into the mix. i think the k-station is actually 100x better. at the time that was the ms2000's competition. i think korg died FOREVER after the z1/prophecy. just my oppinion.

[CfNorENa]

Best: Roland JX-10
Worst: Roland SH-201

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

[CfNorENa]

i think korg died FOREVER after the z1/prophecy. just my oppinion.

But surely Korg is currently the most exciting/innovative of the "big three." The Oasys is a mind-blowing machine (worth every penny, in my view), and the Radias -- while not terribly analog sounding -- is a LOT of fun to play (ditto the R3). And as value-for-money, the M50 must be the king of the ROMplers on offer today. Add the new SV-1, and the new Wavedrum, and I think it would be fair to say that Korg is very much alive...

[Alex E]

I agree with CfNorENa. While Yamaha and Roland are focusing more on the workstation and ROMpler market, Korg offers a much wider range of affordable and interesting products that help people stay creative. And they stay true to their roots: something Roland only does half-heartedly (imo), and something Yamaha doesn't really do at all anymore.

[Oppression]

i think korg died FOREVER after the z1/prophecy. just my oppinion.

But surely Korg is currently the most exciting/innovative of the "big three." The Oasys is a mind-blowing machine (worth every penny, in my view), and the Radias -- while not terribly analog sounding -- is a LOT of fun to play (ditto the R3). And as value-for-money, the M50 must be the king of the ROMplers on offer today. Add the new SV-1, and the new Wavedrum, and I think it would be fair to say that Korg is very much alive...

well not alive for me. i suppose its just what kind of synthesis your doing and it all is debatable. i dont research much on workstations etc just VA. i would love to see korg or roland come out with a nice new VA. how long has it been? id say kurzweil had ALOT of potential for VA. i know they made the VA-1 that thing is a monster!!!! bottom line is - we all have our tastes and bringing them here is a part of what makes these topics fun

[Alex E]

Well Korg Released the RADIAS in 2006, and then it's mini-counterpart the R3, in 2007. Both are really powerful and a huge step up from the MS2000. I've played the R3 and I love it's sound.

Roland hasn't released a new VA (That isn't derived from something else) since the SH-32 in 2001 I think. It's been a while.

[Stab Frenzy]

Well Korg Released the RADIAS in 2006, and then it's mini-counterpart the R3, in 2007. Both are really powerful and a huge step up from the MS2000. I've played the R3 and I love it's sound.

Roland hasn't released a new VA (That isn't derived from something else) since the SH-32 in 2001 I think. It's been a while.

The SH-32 wasn't a VA, it's a digital subtractive. The oscillators play back short looped samples through digital filters, that's how it could manage 32 note polyphony with 2001 tech.

Also the Radias and R3 are as much based on the EMX engine as the SH-201 is on the JP-8000 one, so saying they aren't derived from something else is wrong. Pretty much everything is based on something else, except for a company's first VA, first rompler etc.

On Topic:
I think the desktop evolver is best synth under $500, you get a sequencer, multitap delay, analogue filterbank and synth all in one. The modulation options are incredible and you can use it in heaps of different ways. I'm considering picking up a couple more to go with my MEK actually, at the price they go for they're amazing and you can get 4 DEVOs for the price of a PER, and you get 4 external inputs that way as well so you can have 4 different sequences controlled by four different drum triggers, or process four stereo signals or whatever. Even though the Evolver gets a lot of love it's still one of the most underrated synths out there.

Worst: Anything that doesn't work. Pretty much anything is useful for something, you've just got to find out what. Even if it's running through guitar pedals, you can make music with anything really.

[Alex E]

Oh. Aw man.

[_seph]

Well Korg Released the RADIAS in 2006, and then it's mini-counterpart the R3, in 2007. Both are really powerful and a huge step up from the MS2000. I've played the R3 and I love it's sound.

Roland hasn't released a new VA (That isn't derived from something else) since the SH-32 in 2001 I think. It's been a while.

The SH-32 wasn't a VA, it's a digital subtractive. The oscillators play back short looped samples through digital filters, that's how it could manage 32 note polyphony with 2001 tech.

Also the Radias and R3 are as much based on the EMX engine as the SH-201 is on the JP-8000 one, so saying they aren't derived from something else is wrong. Pretty much everything is based on something else, except for a company's first VA, first rompler etc.

On Topic:
I think the desktop evolver is best synth under $500, you get a sequencer, multitap delay, analogue filterbank and synth all in one. The modulation options are incredible and you can use it in heaps of different ways. I'm considering picking up a couple more to go with my MEK actually, at the price they go for they're amazing and you can get 4 DEVOs for the price of a PER, and you get 4 external inputs that way as well so you can have 4 different sequences controlled by four different drum triggers, or process four stereo signals or whatever. Even though the Evolver gets a lot of love it's still one of the most underrated synths out there.

Worst: Anything that doesn't work. Pretty much anything is useful for something, you've just got to find out what. Even if it's running through guitar pedals, you can make music with anything really.

~exactly what i was going to type except i do not have an MEK. so, here is my second pick...

Yamaha's EX5 (which generally sells for $500) AMAZING synth and one of the last cool things that Yamaha made. unfortunately dropped for their boring Motif, but that's Yamaha. i wish they would have done more with the VL and AN synths and the EX5 is somewhat a culmination of the two and with a bit more processing power it could have been their greatest synth. as it is though, it's still very cool.