I had that M3r it was super nice for a good price a million years ago.
Uh-huh. 4 outputs to get 2 stereo fields near quadraphenia. The M3R was a nice 8 button 1U package. It could do M1 stuff. It could do M3 stuff. Then it wasn't an exact M3 engine so it had its own M3R thing going on too. The Korg M3R is steal right now. Probably the cheapest synth on eBay..well. Perhaps no. Why would you buy one? More like..Why wouldn't you buy one.
16 bit era was pretty ok. This was my rack for synth bass. Sure it has some gems in there. That M3R had some great bass synth presets. 16 bit has a certain sound that breaks up and grinds in a detailed way. It is raw and gritty. This feel is not emulated in the VSTi. There is something there. Primal . Basic. Real.
Most of the well knowns are VSTi'd and can download for free.
Believe it or not, the Alesis Nano Synth's will blow your mind. Incredible quality. The Golden Eye 007 for N64, of Romplers..
The power amp has no fan, it is nice and quiet. Something to think about.