The only laptops that are worth it are the really tiny ones, which are the best for moving around. An iMac does everything else better and you get a whole lot more for the money. Or a desktop + a wacom Cintiq, but that's quite expensive!

To have your synth pads sound generic but still pad-like make sure that in ADSR A=R. This makes chord changes smoother. Make sure you're using a synth with polyphonic portamento if you use portamento.

thank you anyway for the link, it was very enjoyable to hear all those tracks. If I'm not mistaken, I just remember that some are the on-board demos of the Ensoniq Mr.Rack..but it sounds Mirage which is full and warm sounding. I wonder if it's just a re-sample of the Mr demos passed through the Mir...

Very nice demos portland, I really enjoy those memorial and relaxing songs made by a great sounding vintage sampler. Great work! I did not make them, I just ran into that website. Unless you were referring to my search-engine prowess, of course. I'm surprised how smooth that choir sound is in demo ...

multitracked and effected:
http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Ensonic_Mirage_sounds.aspx

philbar wrote:

portland wrote:I heard Aphex Twin bought all the white ones a long time ago

Surely you mean squarepusher. he's a 101 addict as well.

Mines the grey/green version... its a lovely albeit very limited synth.

According to Aphex Twin, Squarepusher is one of his other names he releases under.

Analog Freak wrote:The Roland S-550

That's weird though, because isn't it non-realtime? like you have to program your env sweep and then it processes the sample?

I heard Aphex Twin bought all the white ones a long time ago

Stab Frenzy wrote:

clueless wrote:The MS20 doesn't "synthesize" sound but I get what you mean.

Well technically what the original poster said is correct, but for the wrong reason. But the MS20 doesn't "synthesize" sound (meaning resynthesize?) from the external inputs, so what clueless said makes sense in context.

One thing most people never think about the Juno 106, is that it is the only synth other than the Prophet 600 that has built in knobs/sliders and Midi as well as portamento (of its time period and worth).

Italo_DX wrote:I've been wondering how they made the sound from the LC 5**/ early Quadra line; the one with the interesting percussive attack at the beginning. It is still my favorite Mac startup sound.

Yeah that one seems a lot fresher to me. Because it's more percussive.

Nothing right now is as good a deal as Late 90s Samplers. It's because most people think that they sound the same as softsamplers...

Does anybody know what created the beautiful reverb sounds on this album? It was probably the Quantec QRS given that that was new, German, digital, and expensize at the time. But if anybody knows the truth, will you tell it to us?

Or we can just agree that effects don't get near enough respect.

My favorite delay is not from a pedal; it's from black box - the Korg SDD3300. Most software delay plugins don't emulate the capabilities of this, so it's still a valid hardware unit.

ronP wrote: The clarity, range, (and quality of your play) really brings out this instrument's strengths . . . This is a synth for KEYBOARD players!

Other people like it, too.