Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Hi, I'd be grateful for any advice for a second keyboard for live gigging. I need something good for Genesis-type sounds/general 'vintage' sounds. It would be great to have something that I could use for more modern synthesis sounds too...I have a basic grasp of programming but ideally would like to keep that to a minimum. I have a Roland xp-30 so was considering just buying the synth expansion card but to be honest wasn't overwhelmed by the demos I checked out. I've been borrowing a korg N364 and again not really convinced. I guess the priorities are: Good quality sounding pre-sets, ease of use, ability to create and save sounds and some real-time control. (Am I being greedy?)

Apologies for doing this I imagine you're all pretty sick of people like me, but like I said I'd really appreciate any help!
Thanks

my first response is Alesis Ion. Or you sould slave a micron or MiniAK to your XP30.

I think the Alesis Ion/Microns are the best sounding VAs I've ever owned. They definitely sound closer to analog than anything else I've owned (besides my actual analog gear ).
The Ion did have some problems with main outputs volume being kind of low if I remember correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong please. Also, the Micron can be time consuming to program; but the payoff is huge. I didn't have this problem with the Micron, but I know that some other people I know complained of the volume knob being very noisy/scratchy as time went on. I don't know if this is a problem with them or just bad luck.
All said though, for the music you are trying to create this is your best option imo. I also think the prices are usually cheap...so you are really getting a lot of synth for not a lot of $$$.