opinions regarding external synths...

[bosone]

in these time i'm searching for alternatives for expanding my I/O. i started and partecipated to the numerous thread on this topic.
but i forgot to talk about the reason i would like to buy additional I/O interface....

i'm considering buying some external synths.
not a "top class" synth like Triton or Virus... something cheap used like Roland U220 (180euro), or Korg 03R/W (135euro) or Proteus 2 (130 euro).i dont want another analog synth (pulsar is full of those!).

in these day when softsynth are everything, and you can achieve awesome sounds with VSTi or pulsar Synth, i'm thinking about "downgrading" to an external unit, with all problems that it can bring (noise, pain programming, and i don't know whatever, because before i've always worked only on my PC).

what do you think about adding external units? my idea is that in this way i will have (i hope!) a "decent" set of sound "ready to use", without DSP limit problems, without CPU overload problems, etc... i know that the sounds i'm gonna buy are not the top, but they can be useful (i've read many comments on those synth on the net)...
searching for opinions!
bye!

[astroman]

hi,

the most important thing in such a setup is the variety of sounds.
Don't need to be top of the end converters or signal to noise ratios.
Every unit is different and adds to the spectrum, so on it's proper place in the mix even the most crap can sound fantastic.

some general suggestions:
add something which isn't that strong in Pulsar like Kawai's additive K5 or K5000 (excellent masterkeyboard btw) - of course only if you like the sound

Something with faders (midi controllers) like Alesis, Yamaha or GEM - to achieve a better bang for the price.

Some elcheapo 12 bit lofi stuff for the fun.
Experience the difference between software bitreduction and real crap it is there

cheers, Tom

[Neil B]

I use a Roland JV-1080 as an external synth.
It has all the range of sounds I need to support the soft analog synths.
If you pick a second hand one of these up cheaply I can send you a few thousand extra patches too!

[freddan]

I just got another external synth just a few weeks ago as I usually like to work with hardware. It's a Wldorf Micro Q which I really like a lot already. I got it used for $500 in Sweden. It's the old model so it has 25 voices.

Nowdays Waldorf seems to make one model that has 12 voices and one that has 30+ something. So if you're looking into Micro Q I would go for the old model.

[borg]

i've got a casio SA-1 Tonebank, about 25 €, lots of fun (no midi, no presets, the cheapest sound, only two voices, 100 sounds, none tweakable, but lots of fun)

i love my nordrack2, and they cost about 800 € new nowadays

i have a waldorf pulse for sale, 150 € and it's yours. it's like new, sounds great, but with the nordrack, and 8 extra DSP's (14 now), i don't find any use for it anymore.
http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw7_ ... 03087.html

[Xantia]

I use a Roland XV3080 and there is no noise
at all going through the Powersampler's
converters.

Programming wise, using the synths front
panel can sometimes be less intuitive than
using a software editor (only with knobless
synths)

The downside of a software editor is that
the best one is sold by Emagic (Sound Diver)
also passing sysex info via midi can be
slllooowww....