Noob needs help deciding on first synth.

[jampackmusic]

Hi there everyone.

I am looking at buying a some equipment to begin producing my own dance/hip hop music, but i'm not sure what direction I should go for. I will be buying the akai mpd 26 as i can incorporate this into my dj setup and use it to drum on as well, but I was initially looking at getting an all in one setup, like an axiom or the mpks from akai.

I am looking at spending about AU$1500, i think its probably about US$1300. This will be my first synth/digital keys purchase.

I learned to play on my parents' upright piano so full sized weighted keys will be important to me (ie no. microkorg i know they are the standard beginners synth) I have played around with various soft synths in FL studio and now Ableton Live and feel as though I can navigate my way around a sound quite well. Previous to Ableton I used to use an old Casio CTK-7something and an edirol midi-usb interace with FL studio for my midi needs. (I no longer have access to this, its at my parents house, which I've now moved out of)

At this stage I am looking at probably two broad options, one which would be to buy a decent midi keyboard (at least 49 keys) and some sort of desktop/rack synth like a DSI Mopho (I really like the hands on approach of being able to adjust various parameters of the sound at any point, versus clicking and adjusting, just feels more natural) or to go with a synth that has keys and will transmit midi should i ever need it to work with soft synths etc. The two hardware synths that I am looking at at the moment are either a Roland Juno Di or a Roland Gaia SH-01, and maybe if you guys think it would be worth it, and i can get a decent price on it, a Moog Little Phatty Stage II.

I would love any suggestions you have.

[rharris07]

Honestly if you're looking at a synth for dance/DJ/electro stuff - I would highly suggest you look for and try out a Roland JP-8000. I think you'd be extremely pleased with the controls, the keys, the sounds and the MIDI capabilities. It is a strong synth with good power, good effects, the knobs feel great on it, but its still light-weight so its easy to carry around. It also has some classic 80's/90's Roland sounds in it that I'm sure you'd recognize. There is a whole lot you can with a JP-8000. It has been used on countless dance, hip hop, electro and even rock albums. To me, the most famous (or at least noteworthy) use of this synth would be by The Knife.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/jp8000.php

[jampackmusic]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking into it now. I don't suppose you know where I should start looking for this? Other than ebay of course...

[Hybrid88]

Hi, welcome to the forum from a fellow Australian.

I'm maybe not the best to give advice on synths for your style of music but I'll offer my opinions anyway.

Both the Juno Di and GAIA are pretty good starting synths but I'd say you'd outgrow them over time to be honest.

JP-8000 would be a much better option than the GAIA I reckon, don't discount buying secondhand there are some good prices on secondhand VA's.

Other options (with varying prices) I can suggest you look into are;

Alesis Ion
Access Virus (definately check these out)
Dave Smith Prophet '08
Dave Smith Poly Evolver
Roland V-Synth (original)
Nord Lead (1,2,3)
Nord Modular G2
Korg R3
Korg Radius
Korg MS-2000

These are a pretty varied bunch so do some research and look up some demo's for them to see if you like them, some good ones to pick from in that group in my opinion but some may be out of the budget range, unless you can stretch it?

For a monophonic synth the moog Little Phatty II and DSI Mopho are probably my two best picks for a modern monosynth for sure.

[monolith]

Welcome fellow Aussie
For $1500 dollars you could get a new DSI Mopho Keyboard ($900-$1000 Analogue, lots of knobs, easier to program than the desktop version) and a used MPD-26. That would be a cool way to go. But the Mopho doesnt have a lot of keys.
You could even get a used Lil' Phatty for around a $1000.

Another cool synth is the Waldorf Pulse.
It is a rackmount 3 oscillator analog monosynth, you could maybe find a used one and get an Akai MPK49 controller and most likely have some cash left over for some good (polyphonic) softsynths.

Best of luck with it.

[rharris07]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking into it now. I don't suppose you know where I should start looking for this? Other than ebay of course...

It seems like someone recently posted on VSE that they were a bit surprised to find that you Aussies have a Craigslist there...so you might check that, if I am remembering correctly that is. eBay would of course be the second pick after CL...not sure where else from there. You can post on the Wanted section of the VSE, and ask if anyone in your area is selling one or willing to trade one for something else you might have.

I think you'd be incredibly pleased with the JP8000, and I don't think it is something you could outgrow very quickly. Hybrid88 was very right in saying that you'd probably outgrow the GAIA easily - I got very bored with it after playing on it in a Guitar Center for 20 minutes or so. It has some cool sounds, but felt limited and a little dull a lot of the time.

The Little Phatty would never bore me, I doubt it would you either - BUT a mono synth is probably not where you want to start at. It would be a great second addition to your set up though. You could also try a Dave Smith Mono Evolver - different sound, still a mono though, and extremely powerful.

The Juno synths have some cool sounds, and I'm not quite sure you would outgrow it - but they're more modern sounds from all I've heard, so if you're wanting a more classic approach to hip hop/dance/electro - you'd be happier with the JP8000. There is something I cannot quite put my finger on that I just don't like about the Juno, plus I've spoken with several Juno owners who say they just are not ultimately happy with it...thats not a good consensus to have really when you're spending that much money on a board...

[Hybrid88]

Agreed^^

Check Gumtree I've got some pretty cool gear there, Aus Craigslist has absolute SFA...

[monolith]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking into it now. I don't suppose you know where I should start looking for this? Other than ebay of course...

It seems like someone recently posted on VSE that they were a bit surprised to find that you Aussies have a Craigslist there...so you might check that, if I am remembering correctly that is. eBay would of course be the second pick after CL...not sure where else from there.

Yeah we've got craigslist here, but there's hardly anything on it.. maybe 5-10 posts a week. Gumtree is more active here.

What Hybrid said ^^

Why do americans pronounce 'Craig' as 'Creg'? that trips me out.

Hey jampackmusic: i PM'ed you.

[jampackmusic]

Hey everyone thanks for all the suggestions. I'm really glad that you've suggested i buy something a bit better than the Gaia and the Juno, because that was one thing that i was worried about, forking out now, then more again later to upgrade, i suppose it sbetter off to spend a bit extra now.

the JP-8000 looks really good, i just have to keep my eyes peeled for one now.

I've looked at the Korg R3 because it seems to be a full sized version of the microkorg, and they seem to be a good starting point.

I've looked at the possibility of a nord lead as will as a nord electro, but they seem a little expensive, but then again it'll probably be word spending that little bit extra.

I'd completely forgotten about gumtree too, thanks guys. I've been looking in the trading post and there's not a lot in there.

Thanks for the help guys. I think it'll be safer to go get a poly to start off too, i'll keep looking into my options and see what i come up with.

Thanks again for the help

[sequentialsoftshock]

The MS2000 is the full sized version of the MicroKorg. The R3 is a completely different sound engine, and also small like the MK. It has the mini keys as well. It is more like a scaled down Radias.

[jampackmusic]

The MS2000 is the full sized version of the MicroKorg. The R3 is a completely different sound engine, and also small like the MK. It has the mini keys as well. It is more like a scaled down Radias.

oh i didn't realize it had to mini keys as well. Yuck. I'll steer clear of that then.

[jampackmusic]

What do you think of a JP-8080 the rack version of the JP-8000? there are a couple on ebay for AU$600

[sequentialsoftshock]

What do you think of a JP-8080 the rack version of the JP-8000? there are a couple on ebay for AU$600

I can't speak for that, you will need a midi keyboard (but I think you already know that anyway). Also, you mentioned weighted keys. Those are pretty hard to find on any synthesizer unfortunately. Though you can find semi weighted full size keys on most mid level up boards now.

[Stab Frenzy]

The MS2000 is the full sized version of the MicroKorg. The R3 is a completely different sound engine, and also small like the MK. It has the mini keys as well. It is more like a scaled down Radias.

oh i didn't realize it had to mini keys as well. Yuck. I'll steer clear of that then.

It doesn't have mini keys at all, somebody's discussing synths that they don't know very well.

The R3 is actually a pretty great synth, sounds awesome and is pretty easy to learn on considering the interface. Much better than the Microkorg and Microkorg XL. You can get an R3 really cheap off US ebay and the power supply works in Australia, you just need to swap over the figure-8 lead to an AU one.

Nords are great keyboards, I picked up a G2 for AU$1200 a little while ago, they're built really well and feel great to play. They seem to be easier to come across in Australia too.

The Swop Shop in Melbourne often has decent stuff at a good preice, that's where I got the G2. Not sure if they'll ship stuff, but it might be worth asking. At the moment they have a Yamaha SY-85 for $500 and an Access Virus rack for $1000, that would be a pretty good combination for starting out, provided it's all working properly.

[sequentialsoftshock]

Seriously?! I've never owned one, but I've played it before and could have swore it did!
I'll admit though that I am more into the vintage genre. But damn, I coulda swore it had the mini keys. Alas, it does still have the Radias sound engine.