Best synth under 600?

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oh_the_blood

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What do you guys think and would recommend for someone wanting to start an electronic dance indie kinda band much like the faint/the killers/the postal service(happy stuff).
Im expecting to buy a drum machine and some sweet pedals for guitars and bass. Any suggestions would be great, ive been looking at the micron myself.
 
Not bad. You might be the ideal candidate for the EMU XK-1 Extreme Keys (About $600 new), tons of good arpeggiator on that synth (dare I say one of the best Arps around). If you want analog emulation go with the Microns big sister the ION. You should be able to find one used for $500 or so. I'm a huge fan of the Korg N364 (a biased opinion for sure), you can also get it for about $500 used. It has loads of sounds (Lot's of good drums, basses, pads, perfect for dance and atmospheric stuff), and a sequencer, but if knob tweakin' is your thing, you'll need an additonal controller or another synth all together. My 2 cents.
 
If you dont need lots of sound at once, find an SH-101 or similar mono synth and a few decent casios to put through your pedals. sequential circuits six-trak has some great sounds and can be had fairly cheap. you might be able to get both of those for under 600. If you want to go modern, I'd go with the Ion.

Will
 
Do you have a computer with which you can sequence?

Do you want to play live, or just make studio-based tracks?

When I saw The Postal Service, they played their sequences live with a G4 laptop (running ProTools, I read). I believe the programmer (jimmy, I think) had a Korg chaos pad and a Microkorg (which I think he just used as a controller, cause he was spinning the knobs alot, and the sounds weren't changing). The guitar player had a Nord Lead 2 and a telecaster through a small blackface Fender. They also had a young lady with them (not the singer from Rilo Kiley) and she had a blue strat, some Roland machine, and a midi drum pad.


So, this is what I'd recommend:

If you want electronic sounding drums- Elektron Machinedrum ($$$), Novation Drumstation ($$), Nord Lead 2 ($$)

For synths: Nord Lead 2, Alesis Ion, Casio CZ101/CZ1000 (this machine will give you sounds you won't find from a FM or Subtractive Synth, with the benefits of both...I think it's great for quirky/80s sounds)

Effects- I think a dedicated hardward filter would suit you well- Electronix Filter Factory, Sherman Filter Bank, Moogerfooger pedals
- A delay is of utmost importance: Line 6 DL4, EH MemoryMan


Good Luck
Chris
 
id rather just do some live stuff and not mess with computers.

isnt the micron just like the ion except in a smaller package and a lot more affordable? For the drum machine we just recently bought the zoom drum machine unit. For a hundred bucks, couldnt pass up the offer. My other guitarrist has a pretty crappy keyboard which can be mainly for piano sounding. I was looking at the nords but they are way out of my budget. This equipment i guess i s just until we maybe get rich haha. Thanks i really appreciate the advice.The postal service have some great synths sound, but im thinking now maybe more up temp and some faint sounding buzz saw synths. Im just wondering if the micron will work. Thanks! and if you have any more advice, hit me
 
If you want to do live stuff, I'd stay away from older, all analog machines, because they have no preset memories. A newer VA synth like the Alesis (though I'm skeptical of buying anything by the brand) or the Nords (which you should check out used) will have memory, and the mid/late 80's machines (Moog Source, Casio CZ, Yamaha DX) have digital preset memory.

I don't think you'll need to spend $600 dollars to get the sounds you want.


Good Luck
Chris
 
Chrisjob said:
If you want to do live stuff, I'd stay away from older, all analog machines, because they have no preset memories.
Click to expand...
Prophet 5 and Poly 6, 2 of the greatest analog synths ever have presets. Many analog synths have memory. A TRUE analog synth (Like a Moog Modular) doesn't have presets. But this is not necassarily a bad thing either. Look all the wonderful bands that brought along analog monsters. I guess patch-sheet reading is a dying art. However, it can be risky taking out older analog gear, if you do not maintain a rigid preventative maintainence routine for them. So this said, I guess the Analog vs. Digital debate boils down to how much time your willing to invest in your equipment. Me personally, I'll invest as many hours as necassary, because no Virtual, can really achieve what the Real can do. And on that note, I use both and, currently play live with 2 analog synths (and 1 FM) over the age of 20, and one Analog that is almost 35. And none of them died in the middle of a song. The thing to remember is that analog circuitry usually gives you telling signs of an impending error. You can for instance hear differences in tone or quirky things will start to happen. Unlike digital which usually fails with a sudden spark followed by the sinus opening stench of burnt IC's. Food for thought.
 
Atterion said:
Prophet 5 and Poly 6, 2 of the greatest analog synths ever have presets.
Click to expand...

True, as I almost recommended, but I'm sure Oh_The_Blood doesn't want to invest $1500 in a Prophet-5, and then invest the time and money in maintaining it, and subject it to the risks of taking it on the road. Perhaps a Prophet 600 would suit his needs. It's cheaper, has the great arpegiator, and professes to have MIDI impletation (though it didn't work on everyone I've played) and mucho memory patches (100, I think.) But, again the worries about taking it on stage.

And based on my experience, I've learned to stray away from single VCO synths for rock music, and I don't think the Poly 6 would suit his needs well.

Atterion, I've learned of your hard-core analog fanaticism (and your "crazy" opinions about the Moog machines :D ). But Oh_The_Blood is 16, and he wants a dependable machine that he can take on stage to play Sawtooth leads for a rock and roll band. Though they may not be sonically ideal, I think a VA or digital machine would do him best as a beginning instrument.
 
I agree with you 100%, about him probably starting with a VA (That's why I suggested earlier he get the ION..I have learned about your "Crazy" opinions on Alesis :D ). As far as single VCO (DCO) vs. dual or more, that could be debated till we were blue in the face. I don't personally use any single VCO (DCO) machines live, but I have many presets that I use live, which only use 1 VCO (DCO). And I play metal (more like symphonic speed-metal). I know Oh the blood was looking at getting an ESQ-1 (In another post), and feel that if he does want to go the analog, he should consider one of these hybrids or something like the Poly-61, poly 800, or indeed an FM synth. All can be had for cheap money these days, and would be a good education in synth history.
 
ive been looking a lot at the Casio Cz1000 and i even bid on one on ebay(lets hope i get out bid chris :) ) and i think they might be the one for me, anyone have any good stories to say about the Cz1000? And anything i need to know before i get one? And as an added bonus, any good amplifier set ups with the money i saved? haha thanks so much guys.
 
Hate to bump a thread that hasn't had a post for 11 days, but did you decide what to get oh_the_blood? I'm looking a lot into various virtual analog synths, and was wondering if you've bought anything yet.
 
The Killers mainly use a Nord Lead 3. The micron is cool(I have an Ion, the big version of it) but the presets probably aren't your type of thing, and unless you're *REALLY* good at programming it's hard to get good sounds out of it. For you I'd say a used ms2000 or used Nord Lead 2X would do. I used to own a Nord Lead 3, currently own an Ion, and have extensively used the ms2000.
 
a used Triton Le. hands down for techno/D'n'B,hiphop stuff.
 
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