Help with purchasing synth...

R

Ricky Denim

New member
I live in australia and i have a budget of about $800 to $1200 to spend on a synth that is mainly used for recording purposes. A nice sounding piano is probably my main priority.

So far i've been told to look into the Roland Juno-D and Korg X50 but reviews im reading are 50/50 with people finding as many faults as they do likes.

Im going into some stores to play tomorrow but thought i'd get some suggestions before I go. Anything you could suggest would be great!
 
Likes and dislikes will vary from user to user. What are you looking for in a synth?

You're already on the right track if you plan to head out to stores and check what's out there. Best to always play something and get a feel for it. Can't count how many hours I've spent in the past 15+ years scrolling through patches/sounds, sitting in the music store all day long on a Saturday. I've only once bought a synth (rack mount) without playing it first.
 
I went and had a play around yesterday. Its been so long since i've looked at gear. I couldnt believe what is around at the moment. Its incredible. The place I went to different have a great deal around my price range. They did have the Juno-D and also a Yamaha which was a bit cheaper, cant remember the model.

I thought this would be a great chance to go deep into the Juno and see what I thought. Overall I must say I was pretty impressed. Simple to use, sounds on a whole were pretty nice and a good feel. I'm not that much of a piano player so the chord/arpeggiators were nice.

While there I also looked at a Korg that was about another $500 but I didnt like the sounds as much and it was much harder to use from scratch. Although I did have a play of a Fantom X6 or something that sounded absolutely beautiful. Money sure does buy a lot.

For the price, I think the Juno is pretty decent. But I will try find some others to muck around with before I purchase I think.
 
A buddy of mine plays guitar and a little keyboard. Bought the Juno-D and loves it. I think it really does have some nice sounds on it, and is pretty easy to work with.

The Yamaha you mentioned was maybe the S30? Nice board to. I have a S80 which is the big brother to it with 88 keys. I've moved to a Motif 8 recently and could heartily recommend something in the Yamaha Motif series. There are three flavors now - Motif Classic (you'll find these used on eBay), Motif ES (you'll find these used as well - maybe online somewhere new for left over stock), or the new Motif XS. I know the Motif Classic is "aged", but I gotta tell you, I love my mine! The recommendation for the Motif 6 Classic was a good one.

As far a piano sound quality, I have a PLG150-AP plugin board which provides a grand piano more suited for jazz or what I use it for, 50's and 60's pop, and I really like the Power Grand and Naturl Grand (think that's how it's spelled on the board) on the Motif 8. The Motif piano works well for cutting through a mix, and works for me for Christian worship music. IMO, it's got a pretty decent realistic value to it even though it's only based on single samples (rather than multiple layers).

Anyway, I'd give thumbs up to the Juno-D or Yamaha's.
 
Haha yeah I really want to play the X50, I'm not too sold on the looks or feel from pics I have seen, but everyone seems to LOVE the sounds. Oh and the usb and software editing looks nice too.

I think my guitar playing is really gonna start taking a hit once I get something lol. I was writing today on guitar as my el-cheapo Panasonic keyboards' power adapter blew, and all I could hear were the Juno-D sounds underneath haha.

Warble, I'll check out those Yammy's. Cheers!
 
Ricky Denim said:
Haha yeah I really want to play the X50, I'm not too sold on the looks or feel from pics I have seen, but everyone seems to LOVE the sounds.
Click to expand...

I like the looks, it is thin and sleek:cool: It has a crappy keyboard, but its about what one would expect. Soundwise, it's really quite impressive.
 
I just heard from a friend and he told me he has a new Roland RS-50 for sale and would sell it to me pretty cheap. I've been trying to find info on it but can't really find anything. Can anyone tell me of where its placed compared to a Juno-D? Is it more expensive? Better? Worse?

It looks pretty darn similar. Just silver.
 
Ricky Denim said:
I just heard from a friend and he told me he has a new Roland RS-50 for sale and would sell it to me pretty cheap. I've been trying to find info on it but can't really find anything. Can anyone tell me of where its placed compared to a Juno-D? Is it more expensive? Better? Worse?

It looks pretty darn similar. Just silver.
Click to expand...

It is an older model and discontinued. Here is a link.http://www.roland.com/products/en/RS-50/index.html
 
Cheers!
Will have to see if i can have a play. From the link I cant really tell any difference to the Juno. If its missing something the Juno has I cant tell lol.

He is asking $500aus for it and the Juno is $995rrp.
If its got everthing I need then I could use the extra cash on a saphire LE I want.
 
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