Knob twiddling reasonably priced synth?

Creed_Clicks

Hi all. I dabble in keys a bit for live use, but wouldn't call myself a "keyboard player". Fairly basic player to be honest. I already have a Microkorg and a Microfreak in the setup, and a Micromonsta V1. The menu diving etc with the Micromonsta might mean it is in the outbox!
Anything else I could consider to replace it with? Polyphonic or even paraphonic would do.
I will use an effects pedal with whatever I get anyhow.
I've had some volcas in the past and wasn't too gone on them...

Musical_Mystery_Tour

Best bang for buck in modern synths, and obviously a future classic which will probably gain value, is certainly the ASM Hydrasynth Explorer. It's the slightly smaller version of the Hydrasynth, but has pretty much everything you'd want off the big version, for half the price. You can find B stock ones at Bax music for about four hundred notes, or it's just shy of five ton for a shiny new one, as opposed to just over a grand for its big brother version, which only really differs in the main by having the expression slider bar above the keys. Instant Vangelis time.

If you want to go a bit more old school rather than modern sound modeling, but with modern convenience added, Behringer's Odyssey is in about the same price range as the Explorer. It has all the features of the ARP Odyssey, but adds built-in effects, step sequencer and an arpeggiator, plus additional connection interfaces and a funky set of light up slider controls. Instant Jean-Michel Jarre time.

I have both of them and they are great for the studio, but of the two, the Hydrasynth is certainly more portable for live use, the Odyssey is a big heavy bastard which barely fits on a car's back seat, but in fairness that is because they wanted it to look like the original ARP Odyssey and give it full sized keys.

Creed_Clicks

@Musical_Mystery_Tour oh man, that hydrasynth looks really cool.

Creed_Clicks

What about the Nord Lead 2 Rack? Too old?

distressed

Behringer Poly D

Creed_Clicks

distressed said:

Behringer Poly D

Yeah, saw that as well.

KDS

Korg monologue

Creed_Clicks

KDS said:

Korg monologue

A nice little unit but I’d like something where I could play chords.
The Behringer Pro 800 also looks like a nice basic option.

horse

Minilogue XD, mini freak, deep mind 6 all worth considering too. Modal argon / cobalt too - there's a massive bargain argon in the classifieds ATM.

At £321 I think this is one of the best bargains available currently, but may not be as knobby as you want, and is only paraphonic not proper polly. Lots of bang for buck though and mine really cuts through live.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/ik-multimedia-uno-synth-pro?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqsitBhDlARIsAGMR1Rh3scDWj8aCrwsBfVlAGVq1FskO14sluh3qDYGWJiUmdUXiuZVRoXwaAh5wEALw_wcB

danishbacon

Roland 201 is an excellent synth

Creed_Clicks

Grrr, soooo many options! I am giving the micromonsta another chance this week!

personalnadir

I've seen someone's started selling the open source Plinky synth on Reverb/ebay. That's always looks cool. The Dreadbox stuff always looks good too. Have the maligned Medusa, which is still fun to play with.

I've always like the look of the Elektron Analog Four, in part because I'm an Elekton fanboy and partly because I've always loved their sequencer 

If I was going to drop serious money on a synth, I'd probably go for the UDO Super Gemini or the Expressive E Osmose, they both look like a lot of fun!