What's the best Knob twiddling Analog synth

[genus9]

Hi Guys

I'm looking for an inexpensive £150-£300 ($200-$500) used Analog synthesiser with at least 2 x OSC and which has really good knob twiddling. I need to adjust OSC1 to one Octave lower than OSC2, and play with the Envelope and gate, etc, whilst I am gigging....I have been told the Alesis Ion can do this?? Or may be the Roland SH-201...Any of you guys have experience with this type of activity whilst gigging, or can you give me a classic example of a good Analog Synth that can achieve this.

Thanks

Phil

[Hybrid88]

Hi, first of all as a fellow newbie to VSE i'd like to welcome you to the forum .

Secondly I think that to help you with your decision, you need to understand the basics of what different types of synths are out there to help you decide what's best for you. At its most basic they are as follows;

> Real Analog (Vintage) - These are the first synths and can be either monophonic (play one note at a time) or polyphonic (Play several notes at a time)

> Real Analog (New) - Same as vintage analogs but are made currently by synth manufacturers and offer several differences (mainly tone, reliability etc...) with their vintage counterparts.

> Virtual Analog - These use digital representations of an analog waveform and are the most pitch perfect out of the lot. However this can come at a cost to the classic vintage sound. examples are the Nord lead, Roland JP-8000 and the Alesis Ion

> Rompler/Workstation - These synths are usually the most common and include such keyboards as the Korg Triton, Roland Fantom and Yamaha Motif. They use a sample as the base of their tone and are the best choice for realistic tones such as piano, organ, strings etc.

For starting out I can recomend going here http://www.tweakheadz.com as it explains just about everything you need to know about synths studio's etc and I find it is written in a very easy to understand manner. Finally my recommendation for a good starting out synth which has a good tone, lots of sliders for modifying sound and at a relativly cheap price would be the vintage mono Roland SH-101. For a cheaper alternative many people find that the modern virtual analog Korg Microkorg (this is polyphonic unlike the SH-101) is a fantastic synth to use live.

Sorry If you know all this already but I think if you can get the basics right, the rest is easy

Hope this helps in some way ,

Hybrid88

[deathbycubicle]

when i first read the thread title, "voyager" popped in my head

but at your budget, you might as well just get a used VA synth

e.g. nord lead 1 or 2x, jp8000, ms2000, etc etc

[otto]

Yes, "the best knob twiddling analog" synth isn't available in your price range. The synths you mentioned aren't analog, they are virtual analog. VA is a good place to start and probably the most value for your money.

[Jack Spider]

Moved to 'Buyer's Guide'.

[novielo]

in the came vein as va, depending of what you like you may also consider a soft synth. if you get as an exemple a moog modular vsti and a that controler from behringer. for live shows maybe the bass station is something you'ld be interrested at. go to th vse data base and look around with an ebay page open beside. 'cause the price on vse are out of date sometimes for better some for worst.

[plikestechno]

You could go actual analog and get a Mopho. But if you want lotsa knobs you could go VA and get a MS2000 or Ion or Micron probably in that range. Microkorg is versatile and useful there too.

[code green]

a real analog, 2 osc. poly on the outer end of your range is the prophet 600 (and who knows, with the recession and all, the price may have dropped...though they usually go for ca. $600). one thing to keep in mind, though, is that you should probably count on $100-$300 worth of servicing for a vintage board like this, unless it's recently been serviced by a good tech.

[Yoozer]

- cheap
- lots of knobs
- real analog

Pick 2.

Any decent enough VA will do the job for you.

[OriginalJambo]

- cheap
- lots of knobs
- real analog

Pick 2.

Any decent enough VA will do the job for you.

That's a great way to put it. I'll elaborate a bit:

Option one - cheap and lots of knobs:

Go VA.

See KORG MS-2000, Alesis ION, Novation Station or KS series, Roland JP-8000/SH-201, older Nord Leads, Creamware modules, Oberheim OB-12, Waldorf microQ.

Option two - lots of knobs and real analogue:

Practically any analogue synth before 1983. Lots of choice but almost all are beyond your current budget.

Some exceptions may be Roland SH-101/SH-2/SH-09, Roland Juno-6/60/106, Octave CAT, KORG Mono/Poly, MFB Synth II, KORG Polysix, Siel DK-600, Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 - although you'd have to be quite lucky to score most of those in your budget.

Option three - cheap and real analogue:

Early to mid '80s analogue poly synths with digital parameter access.

Examples include Roland JX-3P/JX-8P/JX-10 and Alpha Juno series (these can also fulfil the "lots of knobs" requirement with the right hardware), KORG Poly61, Crumar Bit One/99, Akai AX series, Cheetah MS-6, Oberheim Matrix-1000, Waldorf Pulse.

Option four - cheap, lots of knobs and real analogue:

Mainly undesirable and rather limited mono synths.

Your best bets are the Jen SX-1000, Novation Bass Station series or Teisco/Kawai brand mono synths.

[Diametro]

- cheap
- lots of knobs
- real analog

Pick 2.

Any decent enough VA will do the job for you.

That's a great way to put it. I'll elaborate a bit:

Option one - cheap and lots of knobs:

Go VA.

See KORG MS-2000, Alesis ION, Novation Station or KS series, Roland JP-8000/SH-201, older Nord Leads, Creamware modules, Oberheim OB-12, Waldorf microQ.

Option two - lots of knobs and real analogue:

Practically any analogue synth before 1983. Lots of choice but almost all are beyond your current budget.

Some exceptions may be Roland SH-101/SH-2/SH-09, Roland Juno-6/60/106, Octave CAT, KORG Mono/Poly, MFB Synth II, KORG Polysix, Siel DK-600, Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 - although you'd have to be quite lucky to score most of those in your budget.

Option three - cheap and real analogue:

Early to mid '80s analogue poly synths with digital parameter access.

Examples include Roland JX-3P/JX-8P/JX-10 and Alpha Juno series (these can also fulfil the "lots of knobs" requirement with the right hardware), KORG Poly61, Crumar Bit One/99, Akai AX series, Cheetah MS-6, Oberheim Matrix-1000, Waldorf Pulse.

Option four - cheap, lots of knobs and real analogue:

Mainly undesirable and rather limited mono synths.

Your best bets are the Jen SX-1000, Novation Bass Station series or Teisco/Kawai brand mono synths.

excellent summary ... but the previous one was at least equally deft for its brevity ...

It's a shame the days of inexpensive desirable analogs are over — for the time being at least — but then again ... Why should they be ... ???

[JSRockit]

Novation BassStation Keyboard

[sam]

The SH 101 is a great knob twiddler and MS 20....

[ramos]

jx-3p with pg-200.... still pretty cheap.

picked them both up for $500 aud