Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

This decision is getting to me!

One minute I think one, the next I GAS for the other....

MKS Pros:

Great VCO sound-easy to attain good sounds....(?).

HP Filter

Cons:

Rackmount

Comparatively limited....

Monotimbral

P08 Pros:

Nice size

Nice sound

Simple to get around

Cons:

No Muliti mode filter

Perhaps thinner than VCO synths?

A6 Pros

Good Sound

VERY Flexible

MultiTimbral

Good Second-hand price

Cons:

TOO complex for me?

Massive-potentially too big for my room....

Feels like overkill?!

Conclusions...

On paper the A6 seems like the sensible choice-its sound creation possibilities appeal to me on one hand-but its size and complexity puts me off on the other- its such a beast!-....The A6 I hear is very versatile-it can fulfill Monosynth duties 'properly' also...but I kind of want a Phatty....
It can be picked up around £850-900 these days-the cheapest of the bunch! Also it sounds from the demos-to have this 80s brooding intensity-which is pretty cool....

In some ways my heart goes to the P08-because it would slot so nicely into my setup as a master control/centrepiece-and I have tried it and really liked it....if only it had a multimode filter! It maybe has a brighter sound than the A6 from what Ive heard?

The MKS to be honest is only just in the runnings-as I need a centre-piece controller also...but worth including.....

It is to go with my set-up which will be something along the lines of:

Little Phatty/ SE ATC1

Blofeld

P08/A6/MKS

My perfect dream set-up!

But the A6 could almost do all analogue-so could be A6 + Blofeld?

Decisions decisions!

Anyone care to chime in and advise-much appreciated....or any friendly London based owners of an A6!

SWAN wrote:
MKS:

Cons:

Rackmount

Monotimbral

The MKS-80 is actually BI-Timbral when in Split mode. According to page 22 of the owners manual, if the upper voice is set to MIDI channel "X", the lower voice is MIDI channel "X+1".

I don't see that the synth being rackmount as a con, unless you need a keyboard. It is a pain to program without the MPG-80. I understand that there is a MIDI fader box made by Peavey (PC-1600?) that can be set up to program the MKS-80.

Good luck!

Z wrote:

SWAN wrote:
MKS:

Cons:

Rackmount

Monotimbral

The MKS-80 is actually BI-Timbral when in Split mode. According to page 22 of the owners manual, if the upper voice is set to MIDI channel "X", the lower voice is MIDI channel "X+1".

I don't see that the synth being rackmount as a con, unless you need a keyboard.

Thats interesting about the timbrality-so its similar to a P08 (although I hear you cannot set up the P08 on different MIDI channels?)

I would prefer a keyboard...

Although I haven't heard the A6 in person, the sound demos I've heard on YouTube and such have been impressive. I had to beg my local Guitar Center for months to get the P'08. When they finalily got it in and I messed with it, I was not impressed. It's built in step sequencers are part of its charm, buy I'm more of a player. The only thick sounds I heard from it were layered, reducing the polyphony to 4. I am excited about the upcoming rack version.

Just my $0.02.

This massive demoset:
http://www.wohmart.com/a6/audio/
convinced me that while the A6 is very versatile, it still has difficulty producing sounds that don't at least have a little harshness in them without filtering down to just bass and/or mud.

To me the P8 doesn't sound thin, but very clean and too well-behaved. Except for that unison mode, that was pretty killer.

I dunno about the MKS-80 since there are several revisions, but the only one I ever heard sounded pretty bold. Moreso than even a Virus at times methinks.

If it was me I'd get the A6. The MKS is too old, I don't like having to worry about maintenance for my gear. The P08 is really nice but I've got an Evolver already which covers a lot of the range of the P08 and has a similar tone.

You, however, might not mind having your gear out of the studio occasionally for maintenance and might not have an Evolver already.

Z wrote:I understand that there is a MIDI fader box made by Peavey (PC-1600?) that can be set up to program the MKS-80.

yes, it would, there's a free template for the PC1600x. but I imagine that the X-stn supposed to make a better interface for it, there's a commercial template for it which is on the pricey side. but might be useful for those anti syx programming as the MPG alternative.

I like 80s stuff, so I would be all over the MKS. But that's just me. The P'08 is nice but more limited than the A6, which is overkill and ugly to boot (an A6 Lite would be nice though, ya hear me Alesis?).

I would love to see DSI release a 2-VCO synth or Alesis release a stripped down Andromeda (say 8 voices instead of 16) some day.

Synthaholic wrote:
I would love to see DSI release a 2-VCO synth or Alesis release a stripped down Andromeda (say 8 voices instead of 16) some day.

Im not that attached to the 80s....tho I do quite like that sound.

LOL so your saying I should splice a P08 and an Andy to form a hybrid?!

Andpropheta A08