Based on your preferences, the Microkorg is probably the better choice. There is some menu diving, but it's not too bad, and it at least has some knobs - the CZ series only offers increment/decrement buttons for the parameters, which makes onboard editing incredibly tedious. Also, the Microkorg is p...

Good question - I've never used one.

Is getting a really cheap "thrift store keyboard" sometimes the best option? I heard demos of the synths you are talking about and I want some old low end keyboard (especially one with built in beats in it) but I do not want something monophonic except for basslines and some leads). I'm never one t...

Yup. If your aim is to use discrete synthesizers and not virtual instruments on a computer, there's no way you're getting all those in one bundle for that price. The Yamaha SY series will give you sampled sounds and FM in one package (though you're stuck with the samples in the ROM) - the SY22 in pa...

What exactly do you mean by "8/16-bit" here? In terms of game consoles and home computers that encompasses everything from the Atari 2600 through the SNES, including such different approaches as the NES's bare pulse/triangle/lo-fi DPCM, the C64's digital-oscillators-with-analog-filtering, the Sega G...

I think in general you can safely ignore anybody who calls themselves "DJ whatever."

Hah, I didn't realize it since I run XP at home, but it's one of those Win95-era programs that are 32-bit but come packaged with a 16-bit installer...looks like I can't upload attachments on the forum, but here's a copy of the installed directory. Pulls up fine on my work computer running 64-bit 8.1...

I wish Uli would have more tact, and do what DSI does... Announce the synth, for X amount, link to website. It's clear by the participation on the forum that everyone sick of playing the games. Yup. It just seems like marketing departments take it as gospel truth that you have to do infuriatingly g...

If IC1 is the problem and it's truly cooked (not just fed bad power, etc.) then you're pretty well sunk without another AX80 to cannibalize, at least so far as I know. It would be nigh impossible to replace the keyscan CPU. Main CPU would be a tremendous hassle too, but IC1? Forget it. Though this ...

That's very cool. I wonder if it would it work for PLG daughter boards too? I don't know too much about the PLG, but I suspect the trick here has to do with the fact that Wave Blaster expansions are basically already a full-fledged MIDI module on a card; the host sound card just funnels MIDI data i...

Yeah, software for the early SY/TG series seems to be hard to come by. I do have an editor that allows access to all the hidden parameters, but I can't for the life of me remember where I downloaded it; I'll dig it up when I get home from work. No idea if it'll run on Windows 10 or not. Okay, it wa...

Yeah, software for the early SY/TG series seems to be hard to come by. I do have an editor that allows access to all the hidden parameters, but I can't for the life of me remember where I downloaded it; I'll dig it up when I get home from work. No idea if it'll run on Windows 10 or not.

Um, hello? While it is fun to debate the relative merits of the synths on offer, don't forget that the guy's a noob who wants to produce tracks, not add to an existing setup. You're not going to be able to produce tracks like the ones you posted with only one of the synths people are talking about....

Ugh. I wouldn't give a dog I liked a Gaia.

$800 is unfortunately getting to be pretty typical for a JX with the programmer - that's what I paid for my JX-10 & PG-800 a few years back. $600 seems high for the SQ-80, but I haven't kept up on things in a while. That said, it is a really good synth and a great jack-of-all-trades for '80s sounds ...