Synth to buy as an incentive to not buy synths

[cryabetes]

So my girlfriend is challenging me to not buy music equipment for a full year. Says, if we're still together at the end of said year, she'll throw in half of the price of a really nice gear purchase.

So it's been six days and no gear purchased (honestly pretty good so far) and I'm debating what to get. Probably looking for something to replace the Juno-D & D110

Ideally would have the following:
(physical)
61-76 keys, synth action, full sized keys
pitch + mod wheels (the roland joystick is ok but i'd like a non-returning wheel for mod depth)
assignable knobs
fixed knobs for cutoff and resonance
Other controllers like sliders, pads, xy-pads, AT, dbeams, whatever. "things to creatively interface with"
visual display (dot matrix ok, lcd/led preferred)

(audible/synth architecture)
32 voice polyphony minimum
Ability to load wav/aiff/ogg samples or record samples (and loop them into proper tones)
on-board effects other than chorus/reverb/simple delay
patch storage - minimum of 8, no max
ADSR envelopes for amplitude, filter (pitch is a bonus)
at least 1 LFO assignable to amplitude, pitch or filter cutoff
dat phat bass (or not iunno I'm not in miami but being able to do an SH101 bass impression would be nice)
not a ton of menu diving or unintuitive processes (patch rename is hidden behind the system restore menu? dealbreaker)
portamento/glide
ability to combine multiple parts like roland's LA synths while detuning individual parts (or ring/cross modding them or doing the waveform sync thing or whatever)
ability to have, say, pads on one midi channel and the keys on another would be a big plus. Doesn't need full blown multi-timbrality - I'll be playing it rather than just sequencing a bajillion parts, but being able to improvise quickly would be really cool.
A decent piano sound. I feel like this is a lot to ask for, and it shouldn't be.

As far as output sound, I like Massive Attack, Boards of Canada, and Air (the french band, not the 70s one) so something in those neighborhoods would be awesome but with sample loading abilities I suppose that is a bit of a moot point.

So what does this?

[OntarioHydro]

Roland V-synth?

[phesago]

I think its time to consider a modular since its going to be half off...

[cryabetes]

I think its time to consider a modular since its going to be half off...

Ha I suppose I should throw in a qualifier that I need to gig with it too. Although perhaps just building a modular into the back of a go-kart would be neat. nice & portable.

Roland V-synth?

kind of what I was leaning towards, although I wanted to see if there was something else I was missing. What're the differences between Vsynth models?

[visceralvoids]

V Synth GT vs. original V Synth

Rough differences are GT has Articulative Phrase Synthesis + extra fx block, rearranged interface, color touchscreen. You may not need ALL of the GT's extras. I've had my eyes on V-Synths and recently they've been going for under a grand on Craigslist. GTs and XTs (rack) are still way more.

[b3groover]

Solaris.

[plikestechno]

VSynth would be great. If she's going halfers why not go GT?

My wife did a similar thing when we were getting married. I used to be a hardcore record collector and she said If I didn't buy any records until the wedding (it was about a year) she said she'd give me 2k to go record shipping on our honeymoon. I didn't buy any records and she gave me 2k to have fun with in great cities like Amsterdam, Berlin and London.

I wish I'd been into gear and modular at the time though as most of the records I bought are basically worthless now and it would have resulted in a lot less digging. But at the time it was fun.

[Ashe37]

M3 + RADIAS expansion +RAM expansion?

[Stab Frenzy]

So my girlfriend is challenging me to not buy music equipment for a full year. Says, if we're still together at the end of said year, she'll throw in half of the price of a really nice gear purchase.

So it's been six days and no gear purchased (honestly pretty good so far) and I'm debating what to get.

Yeah this will end well.

[Ashe37]

M3 + RADIAS expansion +RAM expansion?

ok, so its at the end of the year...
KRONOS...

[cryabetes]

Kronos looks quite promising.

Also the Radias looks awesome too; I've got a decent edirol keyboard i'm not doing much with (seeing as the D110 is easily one of the least inspiring purchases i've ever made). Would you say I should drop the extra for the M3 control box or just run with the midi bits?


Also, Stab - just bought a rack to get stuff like my digitech S100 and quadraverb into the same thing as my patch bay, i'm thinking programming on those will keep me occupied for at least three months.

[balma]

V synth.


It can sample, load samples (fast!), tweak them on infinite ways, ring them with lots of oscillator options. A single patch can have 16 sounds (made of two sounds each one), and they can be splitted over the keyboard. Samples can be formated depending how you´re gonna use them. Also provides wavetables, a motion shaping sequencer for each patch (ver 2.0) that can be designed with your finger, plus the arpeggiator, wich can control not just notes but continuous controllers.

It has 512 user locations that can be browsed very fast and with an intuitive organization. Fast access for favorite patches. Plenty of controllers, hyper intuitive.

Interesting filter section, wich is integrated with the effect section.

V synth is a blast. One of the best synths from Roland.

[deeplow]

get this: http://bigcitymusic.com/index.php?main_ ... cts_id=735

just the half of the price

[zukskywalker]

You may not make it outright, but some kind of compromise may help. That and you'll need a pacifier for yourself. Perhaps dive into the world of free(?) VST's and DAW's for a year and then come back to hardware.
Six Days. Sounds like a storybook...and the NAMM is just days away.
Ooooo Crumar!
Ohhhh Kurzweil!
Aaaah Moog!
Huhh? Casio?

The dying robot last line from Alien: "You have my sympathies."
Good Luck!

[trevordutton]

OK, I'm surprised no one yet has suggesting getting a new girlfriend instead . . . : )
But seriously - I second the notion that the V Synth is one badass instrument. However it's more intended for VA and sound designing. I don't recall having come across a good acoustic piano patch on it. But don't take my word alone - that's just not what I use it for. Also, in order to do the ridiculous warping it can do with samples, it uses a proprietary format which to my ear doesn't sound as clear as standard formats when playing them back unaffected.
Another suggestion might be one of the newer monster workstations?