Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Hey,

I'm wanting to start an electronica influenced music project and I would deeply appreciate it if some nice person could provide me with the most suiting equipment for my ventures.

My main influences for this project are Aphex Twin, The Prodigy and recent Radiohead (Kid A + Amnesiac) (however, I do also listen to glitch pop/minimalist artists and artists similar to Aphex Twin).

I've been looking at the Korg MS 20 but there is also some rather negative reviews of it and in addition I'm just generally new to the creation of electronica music.

I would also be very happy if someone could please point me in the direction of decent drum machine to accompany the synth.

My budget is around £300-£500, but with hard work and dedication it can easily be raised.

Thank you,

Reece

You could put this post in the "Buyer's Guide," and you'll probably get more responses.

In any case, if I were you, I'd get an MPC instead of a stand-alone drum machine. I have the MPC 500, and even though some people put it down for being the cheapest MPC, it's really great. It's compact, easy to use, the sequencer is great, and if you max out the memory, you'll be good to go for sampling. Actually, if you were to just use it for drum sounds, the onboard memory would be fine for a while. Oh, and don't be tricked into buying memory from akai. MPCs take regular laptop memory.

As far as synths go, I think a more "modern" synth would be good. You'd want to be able to control/be controlled by the MPC, if you were to go that way.

Other people might tell you to go exclusively with software, but I like hardware.

The MS20 is great, and Aphex used it, but I honestly feel that if you're starting out, you should go with something more contemporary.

Thank you.

This is really helpful.

I'm also much more into the idea of hardware than software.

What sort of modern synth makes or models do you think I should be looking at/around.

And I shall post this in the "Buyer's Guide" as well.

Thank you!

To offer my opinion, I honestly don't understand a negative response to the MS-20, absolutely fantastic synth attested by the mere list of artists who have/are using it, Royksopp, Aphex Twin, Daft Punk, The Prodigy (is his main go to synth) etc.

But I have to agree with the earlier post, it is not a beginners synth. To offer an alternative and I know it gets a lot of flack for various reasons but really the Korg MicroKorg is not such a bad synth for the money, and there are certainly worse synths out there to start with, just my opinion.

Hybrid88

the ms 20 has a lot of negative reviews cause it was a "cheapo" budget synth. it has no chance to sound like the minimoogs or odysseys that everyone was used to when it came out. sounds quite dirty, especially with high resonance settings. but mind you, that's exactly why we love it now, it's the dirty character of that synth. also, some people don't like it's semimodular design, cause most of its uses are standard functions that could be done with some switches and pots without problems, like on many other synths. IMO it's the ability to interact with other gear that makes its patchpanel so unique and useful. also, the ESP is great, especially the pitch-to-cv.

IMO, unless you want polyphony, it's a better starting synth than a microkorg, cause all functions are available on the panel, it's knob-per-function, which the microkorg really is not.

just my two cents

I recommend you get some software for your computer! if you own a mac, start to learn garageband..
if you have windows, grab a demo of FL Studio

spending money without knowing what you want will probably just end up slowing you down while you buy/sell/buy/sell until you figure it out.

pflosi wrote:the ms 20 has a lot of negative reviews cause it was a "cheapo" budget synth. it has no chance to sound like the minimoogs or odysseys that everyone was used to when it came out. sounds quite dirty, especially with high resonance settings. but mind you, that's exactly why we love it now, it's the dirty character of that synth. also, some people don't like it's semimodular design, cause most of its uses are standard functions that could be done with some switches and pots without problems, like on many other synths. IMO it's the ability to interact with other gear that makes its patchpanel so unique and useful. also, the ESP is great, especially the pitch-to-cv.

Yeah but come on, that was the argument when the damn thing was new, 30 something years ago. Even then it was a weak argument, based on people too cheap to get a mini or Ody and expecting a synth from a completely different company, with a completely different ethos, made in a completely different continent, at a completely different price point, to sound the same as the American synths, really?

pflosi wrote:...IMO, unless you want polyphony, it's a better starting synth than a microkorg, cause all functions are available on the panel, it's knob-per-function, which the microkorg really is not.

just my two cents

Well, to some people, polyphony and things like perfect tuning, reliability, MIDI, patch storage etc are more important and I reckon starting out with a MicroKorg would be way easier than a MS-20, I know it doesn't have a "knob per function" interface but some features such as the patchbay on the MS-20 are far from easy to get to grips with for a beginner.

But really I was going more by the OP's budget, if you can find me an MS-20 for £500, then send a couple my way please

Hybrid88 wrote:

pflosi wrote:the ms 20 has a lot of negative reviews cause it was a "cheapo" budget synth. it has no chance to sound like the minimoogs or odysseys that everyone was used to when it came out. sounds quite dirty, especially with high resonance settings. but mind you, that's exactly why we love it now, it's the dirty character of that synth. also, some people don't like it's semimodular design, cause most of its uses are standard functions that could be done with some switches and pots without problems, like on many other synths. IMO it's the ability to interact with other gear that makes its patchpanel so unique and useful. also, the ESP is great, especially the pitch-to-cv.

Yeah but come on, that was the argument when the damn thing was new, 30 something years ago. Even then it was a weak argument, based on people too cheap to get a mini or Ody and expecting a synth from a completely different company, with a completely different ethos, made in a completely different continent, at a completely different price point, to sound the same as the American synths, really?

no, i dont expect it to. and i dont want it to. i love my ms20, it's great as long as you know what it does and how to do it. just explaining why there are negative reviews about it out there.

Hybrid88 wrote:

pflosi wrote:...IMO, unless you want polyphony, it's a better starting synth than a microkorg, cause all functions are available on the panel, it's knob-per-function, which the microkorg really is not.

just my two cents

Well, to some people, polyphony and things like perfect tuning, reliability, MIDI, patch storage etc are more important and I reckon starting out with a MicroKorg would be way easier than a MS-20, I know it doesn't have a "knob per function" interface but some features such as the patchbay on the MS-20 are far from easy to get to grips with for a beginner.

But really I was going more by the OP's budget, if you can find me an MS-20 for £500, then send a couple my way please

polyphony, ok. reliability? these are built like tanks, despite it's "budget" price tag when new. never had tuning problems with mine. the budget argument is true, but since the OP mentioned the MS himself...

maybe a juno 6/60/106 (in the vintage area)? Though they're not really aphex twin

reecef91 wrote:My main influences for this project are Aphex Twin, The Prodigy and recent Radiohead (Kid A + Amnesiac) (however, I do also listen to glitch pop/minimalist artists and artists similar to Aphex Twin).

I've been looking at the Korg MS 20 but there is also some rather negative reviews of it and in addition I'm just generally new to the creation of electronica music.

The MS-20 would be great for that kind of stuff.

reecef91 wrote:My budget is around £300-£500, but with hard work and dedication it can easily be raised.

You can't afford an MS-20.

The Aphex Twin and Radiohead stuff you mentioned is a lot to do with processing sounds, from synths and other things, to come up with completely new sounds. The MS-20 is great for that cause you can run signals into it through the patch points, although there are a lot of other synths that can do similar things.

Since you don't have a whole heap of money to spend I think you should look at something like a Novation X-Station or Xio, they both act as an audio interface for your computer as well as a synth which means you can record without having to buy a separate audio interface, which will mean you can start making complete songs straight away instead of just playing your synth solo. They sound pretty good and have a good interface for playing.

I'd also look at getting a Korg KP3, they're great for coming up with interesting effects on other sounds and can also be used as a very basic drum machine, and as a looper for layering different synth parts over one another when you're playing around. I think that those two would be a great beginner setup for not much money at all.

pflosi wrote:...no, i dont expect it to. and i dont want it to. i love my ms20, it's great as long as you know what it does and how to do it. just explaining why there are negative reviews about it out there.

Yeah, I wasn't having a go at you, just *that* argument has never made any sense to me as IMO the MS-20 is every bit as good as the Ody/Mini, but is of course a different flavour, perfect for dance music

pflosi wrote:...polyphony, ok. reliability? these are built like tanks, despite it's "budget" price tag when new. never had tuning problems with mine. the budget argument is true, but since the OP mentioned the MS himself...

Well, I'd like to agree with you but mine's been out of action for a while now and I don't know if you've ever taken one apart but it is a *big* hassle, eg. very easy to break a cable off a dodgy soldered joint like I did, and I was careful. Just generally you get the inpression that when they were designing it, they didn't think too hard about making it easy to service. The tuning comment is just a generalisation to do with the nature of analog, but yes the MS-20 seems quite good in this area.

pflosi wrote:...maybe a juno 6/60/106 (in the vintage area)? Though they're not really aphex twin

Yes I thought Juno too, but really it depends on whether the OP wants, mono vintage analog, poly vintage analog, poly modern digital, all great options but again different brushes for different brushstrokes. Then of course there's budget also to consider.

Actually, just had a thought what about a novation BassStation Keyboard or K-Station? Perfect for the budget

Hybrid88 wrote:

pflosi wrote:...no, i dont expect it to. and i dont want it to. i love my ms20, it's great as long as you know what it does and how to do it. just explaining why there are negative reviews about it out there.

Yeah, I wasn't having a go at you, just *that* argument has never made any sense to me as IMO the MS-20 is every bit as good as the Ody/Mini, but is of course a different flavour, perfect for dance music

yeah. good techno / electro bass, perfect for short percussive stuff and fx, and i LOVE the long held disco / techno leads that this machine can make.

Hybrid88 wrote:

pflosi wrote:...polyphony, ok. reliability? these are built like tanks, despite it's "budget" price tag when new. never had tuning problems with mine. the budget argument is true, but since the OP mentioned the MS himself...

Well, I'd like to agree with you but mine's been out of action for a while now and I don't know if you've ever taken one apart but it is a *big* hassle, eg. very easy to break a cable off a dodgy soldered joint like I did, and I was careful. Just generally you get the inpression that when they were designing it, they didn't think too hard about making it easy to service. The tuning comment is just a generalisation to do with the nature of analog, but yes the MS-20 seems quite good in this area.

only took a look inside a MS10, not MS20. but i guess they're quite similar. yes it's annoying, with unscrewing all the knobs etc...
I have a 2nd rev MS20, so that might have to do sth with it's stability too...

I got a chance to mess with Z's MS20, which I think is a rev 1. Mostly I just did filter tweaks and a few modulations:
Fun and pretty flexible, true, but I never could figure out why someone would pay $1700 for that. It's like paying a call girl to scream at you all night.

If you're into that kind of thing, maybe look into a used Future Retro XS.

Solderman wrote:...but I never could figure out why someone would pay $1700 for that...

Yeah, and some people have a hard time working out why people willingly pay 2k for a 303, touche!

Hybrid88 wrote:

Solderman wrote:...but I never could figure out why someone would pay $1700 for that...

Yeah, and some people have a hard time working out why people willingly pay 2k for a 303, touche!

Agreed. I paid $700 for my TB303 in 2002 and I still feel like a chump. Anyway, I mentioned the Future Retro XS but it may be too expensive, even at a used price. Reece, consider a higher price range if you must have real analog. I've seen Virus b's and Novation Novas just barely above that price range.