Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Hi, I'm new in the forums
The reason why I signed in is because I'm about to buy my first synth so I wanted to ask experts first before making a bad decision... and this looks like the right place!

I play in a band and I mainly do some lead sytnhs and strings nothing much really. But we were composing with FL studio and my little keyboard voices can't compare to the vst instruments and all the stuff. We're merging techno with post-hardcore

I've tried a lot of synth emulators (korg legacy collection, native pro-53, etc) and I've been using my yamaha keyboard as a midi controller for some time. And I think is time to buy something better, cause I can't figure out how to play on stage with such equipment.

I wanted to buy a microkorg because a lot of people told me is a great instrument with many functions, but I don't know I'm used to the full size keys (I've been playing the piano for 3 years).

What I'm looking for:

• I don't want to spend a lot because it's gonna be my first synth
• I'm not looking for a professional instrument
• I would like to know your opinions about the mini korg and the alesis synths

Thanks for reading all that haha I guess I wrote a little too much

If you are mainly looking for strings and such, personally I would look at a Roland. I think the Roland XP-80 is pretty good synth with some nice strings on it. You could also look at a Roland Juno-D. Both have good synth/orchestral sounds and are not overly expensive. You can finds numerous demos and youtube.
As for the MicroKorg, I don't own one...so I can't really help you out there. I've played around with one a few times at the store. It seems to be capable of doing quite a bit of things, but I just couldn't seem to play the small keys (I have a hard enough time playing regular size keys...those little ones really screw me up )
I have an Alesis Micron....really cool synth, but despite its small size it can be a really deep and complicated synth for first synth purchase. However, they do have an attractive price.

You already have a midi controller, you could get the korg ms2000r (rack version of the ms2000, which is same synth engine as microkorg), and use the midi controller to play it live.

If you are mainly looking for strings and such, personally I would look at a Roland. I think the Roland XP-80 is pretty good synth with some nice strings on it. You could also look at a Roland Juno-D. Both have good synth/orchestral sounds and are not overly expensive. You can finds numerous demos and youtube.
As for the MicroKorg, I don't own one...so I can't really help you out there. I've played around with one a few times at the store. It seems to be capable of doing quite a bit of things, but I just couldn't seem to play the small keys (I have a hard enough time playing regular size keys...those little ones really screw me up )

I checked some demos for the Roland Juno-D and it looks just like what I am looking for. (:
I know the microkorg is a powerful littel tool, but I hate the litthe part I played once an small key keyboard and it was h**l. Thank you for you answer!

You already have a midi controller, you could get the korg ms2000r (rack version of the ms2000, which is same synth engine as microkorg), and use the midi controller to play it live.

I actually have it, it comes in the korg legacy collection but my keyboard isn't a real midi controller just works as one and isn't really good is just a Yamaha YPT-400 my father bought me to start playing and it's really difficult to set up everything. At least with my keyboard, how good are thos midi controllers from m-audio and such?

Algy wrote: how good are thos midi controllers from m-audio and such?

Not too familiar with the M-Audio stuff. A friend of mine has one of their basic Midi controllers, and he seems to like it, but I have never used one myself.
Novation makes the Nocturne, ReMote SL Compact, and the SL MkII...these are all pretty cool midi controllers as well. Also, you could even look into the Novation Xio (either 25 or 49 key versions). They are pretty versatile. The are a basic synthesizer with about 200 factory sounds on it. You can easily create your own patches, make your own arpeggios, etc. But the really cool thing about it is that it also acts a midi controller and can be plugged directly into your computer via USB. I really like this feature of mine. I don't use softsynths on my computer too often, but when I do, I just plug in the USB and away I go. Pretty simple...pretty easy.

Algy wrote:
how good are thos midi controllers from m-audio and such?

I've had 2 of them (oxygen 61 and axiom 25) - you get what you pay for. The keybed is useable but cheap, the sliders are ok on the oxygen, but the knobs on the axiom I find totally useless, programming them is a nightmare without the computer program, and my axiom developed a stupid problem where the usb connector bent a bit and it loses usb connection all the time.. Go play one and if you can live with it then get it.

That being said it was like $100 used, and it does the job.