Korg Radias or....? recommendations plz

[lazerface]

hey folks,
need a hand finding the perfect unit for my live rig,

• needs at least 4 voices of polyphony with 2 timbres
• random preset select buttons (rather than scrolling through them incrementally)
• analog sounds are my preference but im certainly not opposed to a good VA
• no keyboard preferable - rack/desktop module with plenty of knobs please

Currently im using an ms2000 for this role, i'm quite fond of it but the reduced polyphony (2 voices) on dual timbre mode are killing my life a bit..

the preset select buttons are pretty essential because scrolling through presets is REALLY STRESSFUL on stage mid song..

As far as I can tell Virus = incremental scrolling, Nord Lead = incremental scrolling, Prophet 08 = incremental scrolling..

There is the Dave Smith poly evolver keyboard, which I would LOVE..but $$$$ are pretty damn steep

Korg Radias appears to have the same preset selection layout as the ms2000 (yay!)..not sure how I feel about that super clean sound though..??

so I ask, any other options you can throw at me?

[Psy_Free]

Roland V-Synth XT.

[Ashe37]

The Radias isn't as super-clean sounding as everyone makes it out to be and there's two effects channels per timbre plus ways to munge up the sound including the waveshaper... It doesn't take much to make it not sound 'clean'.

[lazerface]

V synth is too pricey in Aus ($4000+)

think im gonna have to find a radias to try out in a store here..

Also, I had another thought - Could I get a little midi pads controller thingy and use that to send midi program change msgs?
Routed like so - Moog LP midi out>midi controller midi in>midi thru to the new synth..
Are there actually any 'nano' midi controllers that actually use midi hubs not usb?
(sorry im a bit of a midi n00b)

[Stab Frenzy]

V synth xt from us eBay goes for reasonable prices. It's not so big that shipping costs are through the roof either. There aren't too many new synths that have that nice button for patch recall system, it's a pity.

Re the radias being too clean, it has a lot of drive parameters and effects built in, if you can program you shouldn't worry about it being too clean. If you can't program you've got a good reason to learn now.

[lazerface]

yea there's a v-synth for $1500 up at the moment I see,

gonna relax and try tweaking the radias to do some ugly mutating noises first though, maybe it'll do I'm after -
they seem to be going for 500-600 on ebay too which is a whole lot for not much.

Re: what I mentioned previously about midi program changes, I've been searching high and low on the web for a coupla hours to find a small device that'll do program changes..only thing i can find is this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GENOVATION-M ... 4aac07c9a0

pretty bloody pricey!

[RD9]

Virus preset selection def isn't as immediate as the Radias'. Supernova's is pretty good. Geat sound too, and affordable if you can find it. And lots of knobs.

[memory cords]

Vermona Perfourmer.

Studio Electronics Omega 2 or Omega 8.

[Psy_Free]

Vermona Perfourmer

Has no patch storage, so the OP would have to program his sounds on the fly mid song which I would guess from his 1st post is even less desirable than having to scroll through patches.

[lazerface]

The Omega's look to have incremental preset scrolling..

re: Vermona Perfourmer...yea wrong synth for the job, im quite adept at programming (i think!) but certain songs require jumping from grimey lfo'd ring mod tones to epics strings to slow warm bass tones in split seconds so getting all up in true analog's grill is out of the question really.. im no knob ninja! (yet )

Supernova looks and sounds pretty good! havent checked out novation's synths before - cheers!

[Xores]

You´ll have fun with the radias!!!

and as many already told you, dont worry about the clean sound, its absolutely no problem to make it sound dirty, even without using fx!

[krzeppa]

I'll say what I pretty much say everytime.....Novation Supernova. I absolutely love the sound, and there are tons of hands on controls. It has been my favorite synth for quite some time.

[balma]

I got a Radias for a very reasonable price. I have been hunting this VA in secret for a looong time.

I had a Virus B years ago, and the few things I have heard from the Radias have some similar taste to the Virus family.

I haven't touch it yet, but sure I'll be hooked to the the Radias, I really love dance oriented and tweaky synths, maybe I miss my JP8080 and I can't admit it, but I needed a VA rack full of knobs and able to sequence tracks!

[silikon]

hey folks,
need a hand finding the perfect unit for my live rig,

• needs at least 4 voices of polyphony with 2 timbres
• random preset select buttons (rather than scrolling through them incrementally)
• analog sounds are my preference but im certainly not opposed to a good VA
• no keyboard preferable - rack/desktop module with plenty of knobs please

Currently im using an ms2000 for this role, i'm quite fond of it but the reduced polyphony (2 voices) on dual timbre mode are killing my life a bit..

the preset select buttons are pretty essential because scrolling through presets is REALLY STRESSFUL on stage mid song..

As far as I can tell Virus = incremental scrolling, Nord Lead = incremental scrolling, Prophet 08 = incremental scrolling..

There is the Dave Smith poly evolver keyboard, which I would LOVE..but $$$$ are pretty damn steep

Korg Radias appears to have the same preset selection layout as the ms2000 (yay!)..not sure how I feel about that super clean sound though..??

so I ask, any other options you can throw at me?

Soo... What I get from your email is you basically need more polyphony; because really, patch management is somewhat of an easy task, especially if you're programming your own. The key is knowing where those patches are, and actually practicing getting back and forth between patch settings in short order.

Yes, it would be much easier to push two buttons and get to your patch, like on an andromeda... but really, with regards to that little problem, get a synth that will allow you easy management of patches. Rearrange the patches so that you have your whole set basically lined up in memory, so flipping patches is quick. There are other methods, but you didn't mention you had a laptop with a DAW running on stage, so I'll skip that.

I believe it's a relatively trivial matter that can be accomplished on most machines with patch storage, especially ones with USB connectivity and host applications like nord, virus, etc... also sound tower has stuff for dave smith instruments, moog and others that will let you do patch management. Then, no matter what method you get to your patches on the machine, they're all within reach.

With that in mind...

Your choices all of a sudden open up much wider.

[lazerface]

yea I realise patch management options are there, like performance sets on my Moog LP,
but i still find that quite a hassle and would much prefer a dedicated set of buttons for patch selection..
I dont like to be trapped into doing certain sounds in a certain order, might change my mind depending on how im feeling, plus it kind of makes the songwriting process more tedious in my mind - due to laziness I might refrain from trying different patches in different places etc etc etc I JUST WANT BUTTONS!

I realised There may be another way to get around this however - by using a midi footswitch board, like the big behringer ones, to do patch changes - does anyone do this?