Best sounding synths..

[4pickupguy]

Been down a keyboard rabbit hole for a while now. Vintage Vibe electric piano and moving on to synths. I know, it largely depends on what you use a synth for as to what works best, but in my limited travels I always gravitate towards analog stuff. Moogs, Arps, Sequential Circuits, Rolands etc,… there are good things about digital FM, samplers etc but there are a few that have the right amount of simplicity and musicality and seem to accomplish more with less. The Prophet 5 is my latest discovery. It does more with one oscillator than most modern keyboards.
Anyone out there rockin’ one of the Rev4 Prophet 5, 6, 10s?

 

[uriah1]

For modern a couple buddies Of mine swear by their Nords. I had an Alesis module back in the day that was pretty decent. Not an Oberheim lol

 

[TomBrokaw]

Softsynths only for me, due to cost and space constraints. I like the sound of Synth1 a lot. SurgeXT also sounds good and has a gazillion options.

Video was tldw - wazzit do with one oscillator that's notable?

 

[4pickupguy]

Softsynths only for me, due to cost and space constraints. I like the sound of Synth1 a lot. SurgeXT also sounds good and has a gazillion options.

Video was tldw - wazzit do with one oscillator that's notable?

Yep, with you on this. We have a Roland RD2000 for the heavy lifting, but will be doing soft-synths for some iconic sounds on cover tunes.

He demonstrates how powerful the modulation section of the prophet is by using one osc to get a huge warm sound. Super smooth analog stuff. Love the ‘Prophet sound’.

 

[uriah1]

Prophets were around back in 80s as o recall. Like old DX

 

[Guitarteach]

Korg Prologue 16 fan here. Just love that synth. Up there with the Prophets IMO. Can load custom waveforms into them and the minilogue variant.

 

[Skully]

I bought a Behringer Poly D, which is basically a clone of a vintage Minimoog, with all the advantages and limitations -- real analog grit and instability and no ability to save sound settings.

The Poly D can be fun and inspiring, but my got-to is the Arturia V Collection, a broad selection of VST emulations of mostly vintage synths with a searchable library of presets. I also have Arturia's Pigments, a modern granular soft synth. It's really cool, but the sound of the presets (yeah, I'm lazy) tend to be too complex to sit well in a mix.

 

[loopfinding]

i use a modular, and mix and match circuits. i like a roland voice for basslines, and then a 2 operator wavetable FM/PM voice for doing more complicated sounds. some serge style wavefolders and some trashy filters. i don't think there's a "best" sounding synth anymore than there is a best sounding guitar. if moog is like gibson, roland is like fender, etc. they have their strengths and weaknesses. i don't think anything has to be analogue other than signal processors which generate distortion (filters, waveshapers, VCAs).

i like OTA/transistor buffer low passes, and trashy filters like the korg ms-20, or the wasp (state variable with CMOS buffers). in general i really dislike most 12db/oct state variable filters (oberheim SEM type), steiner synthacon type, or really clean filters that use VCA chips/op amp buffers and don't use a good clipping scheme. waveshapers, i prefer the west coast folding variety. VCAs, i'm hot/cold on buchla style gates, anything will work.

i think digital in terms of oscillators and control voltage adds a lot more flexibility. FM/PM is amazing when you have wavetable (less operators needed) and you're not trying to synthesize corny electric piano or bell sounds. i think the only intuitive FM/wavetable synth (via the user modes) on the market right now that actually has analog filters is the korg minilogue/prologue.

so those kinds of things guide my purchases. if i didn't want to do modular, i would probably do the behringer 101 for my basslines and either the korg minilogue, prologue (more intuitive digital modes) or novation peak (better filters) for poly, depending on my budget.

 

[buster poser]

Physical synths: Still love the Juno 60 and would love to have that Juno-X reissue or even that little rack module thing. I know Arturia do a VST for the 60, but I'm waiting for a sale.

Modulars seem like a rabbit hole for sure so I'm sticking to controller + VSTs for my occasional plinking. I have Serum and Pigments which are pretty popular, lots of great presets. I also have an early (v6?) Arturia 'vintage' collection with some fun stuff in it like the Buchla and Jupiter 8.

 

[4pickupguy]

I bought a Behringer Poly D, which is basically a clone of a vintage Minimoog, with all the advantages and limitations -- real analog grit and instability and no ability to save sound settings.

The Poly D can be fun and inspiring, but my got-to is the Arturia V Collection, a broad selection of VST emulations of mostly vintage synths with a searchable library of presets. I also have Arturia's Pigments, a modern granular soft synth. It's really cool, but the sound of the presets (yeah, I'm lazy) tend to be too complex to sit well in a mix.

I love the Poly-D and have my eye for one. The Model Ds have started to come down, but I’d like the sequencer/juno chorus/keybed. They sound fantastic. Their version of the Arp 2600 looks cool too.

 

[4pickupguy]

It would appear that Arturia no longer sells the iProphet or the 2600 for that matter.

 

[erratick]

It would appear that Arturia no longer sells the iProphet or the 2600 for that matter.

Both in current V Collection. Got it half off. Have both. Maybe not sold individually anymore.

Arturia - V-Collection - V Collection 9

This is the most comprehensive anthology of classic synth and keyboards ever made. This is decades of passionate research, modelling, and development....

www.arturia.com

 

[erratick]

I have a moog little phatty. Analog. Has presets/midi and modern conveniences.

Sub37 is probably better/more direct as little phatty has some menu/button diving. But it sounds great, has the taurus pedal sounds in the default. Can sound like mini moog leads.
fun little mono synth. monosynths like the moogs are amazing for bass lines or melody leads. just instant gratification.

Probably need to get a controller and maybe a poly (OB-x8 would be amazing, but not needed right now) at some point.

 

[Old Plank]

I'm at the very beginning of my synth immersion, finally ... as the name implies, this analog Monologue is monophonic; it's a relatively simpler operation for a newbie and has superb sounds at a low price. The not-full sized keys take a bit of getting used to. The first vid is an ad, and the second is some cool jams by a user.

 

[Hey_you]

Never had one of those, but a Yamaha SY-77 is my idea of a good time!

 

[buster poser]

I'm at the very beginning of my synth immersion, finally ... as the name implies, this analog Monologue is monophonic; it's a relatively simpler operation for a newbie and has superb sounds at a low price. The not-full sized keys take a bit of getting used to. The first vid is an ad, and the second is some cool jams by a user.

I have almost pulled the trigger on one of these more than once. Super, super cool synths.

Never had one of those, but a Yamaha SY-77 is my idea of a good time! View attachment 1048223

I had an SY22 back in the day, this thing's VERY small brother, but I had an Alesis D4 and Brother sequencer along with it before replacing the whole thing with an Ensoniq EPS16+. The SY line is very easy to grok iirc, and the 77 had some great sounds iirc.

 

[4pickupguy]

For the moment I have settled on Syntronik by IK MultiMedia. It has a good collection of classic analog synths.

 

[Frontier9]

I owned a Casio CZ-101 back in the '80s. I loved that little synth and especially loved how easy it was to program. It could make some unique sounds. After years of disuse, I sold it and of course came to regret it. However, I was delighted to find that there were some great VST versions out there.
Worth a try.
Here's the CZ-101:

 

[Hey_you]

I have almost pulled the trigger on one of these more than once. Super, super cool synths.

I had an SY22 back in the day, this thing's VERY small brother, but I had an Alesis D4 and Brother sequencer along with it before replacing the whole thing with an Ensoniq EPS16+. The SY line is very easy to grok iirc, and the 77 had some great sounds iirc.

Must be 35-40 years old by now. Still produces GREAT sounds!! Works as new also, sans floppy. No problems. Tough and weighs a ton! I hammer the keys to get after-touch results that ain't heard pushing softly. And I mean Hammer! Ya think something would break. I did have to replace the CMOS. Major PITA just to get to it.

 

[Skyhook]

I'm more into the digital synths of the 90's. I love lots of the old analog sounds but I need versatility from a synth.
Maybe you do too... here's a test: You're playing a cover gig. You can only bring one keyboard.
You've got "The Winner Takes It All" and "Jump" on the setlist. You've also got some Deep Purple and SDG on there.
Some pop songs in there are gonna need a lot of strings and layered pads as well in addition to the sound
for the Jump -riff and a believable grand piano and some reasonably farty Hammond sounds.
There's also that one song where you have to provide some extra percussion sounds.
So... due to reasons you can bring only one keyboard. Believe me when I say that keyboard will not be some
monophonic a-pot-calypse machine because those things will not cut it by a long shot.

My workhorse since 1992 has been the Korg 01/W fd.
It can do all of the above except those classic analog sounds.