Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - First VA or analogue synth buy, comparing contenders, your help is appreciated.

bug2342 · 29th January 2012

I would recommend the Yamaha An1x. It sounds quite nice and has a nice keybed. The interface is a bit ugly however. Not really slow in use, but a bit confusing at first.

I never really liked the Nordlead. The interface is great, but I think the synth engine is a bit too simple and it sounds a bit boring. This is a minority opinion and I never used one personally. Best listen to some demos on the net. If you like the sound and you want to keep it simple this might be the best choice.

You might want to look at some of the old Creamware stuff. The ASB boxes should be in your price range (also sold with a sonic core label: that is the new company after some financial troubles). If you only want very nice sound and you don´t need full parameter access without a computer you might pick up the Plugiator (Use Audio) instead. That´s a cheap box with all the nice Creamware synths inside, but a bit of a shortage of knobs. Most relevant parameters can be controlled by MIDI CC so with the addition of a reasonable controller you should be fine. It allows to use one of the included synths at a time, and normally you have 10 voice polyphony. You get emulations of very classic synths like Minimoog and Prophet 5, so it´s rather easy to understand. Probably still the best sounding VAs till recently (Solaris + Accelerator might be nicer, but all the new super nice sounding hardware is quite a bit above your price range).

Both the Ultranova and the Ion look/sound nice to me, but I´ve not had the pleasure to use them.

For the real analog:
The polyphonic synths in this price range tend to be limited and have a serious lack of controls:

- Juno Alpha is kind of nice, but only has limited real-time tweakebility and only one oscillator per voice.

- matrix 1000 seems nice, but no knobs...

- DSI tetra (might be slightly above the budget): Nice synth, but only 4 assignable knobs for real-time access and editing without a computer is very, very, very painful.

Monophonic Analogs are cool for seriously learning how a synth works. Especially a semi-modular like the Microzwerg is nice. On the other hand I would not recommend to pick up a mono synth as your only synth. That would be very limiting.

29th January 2012	#26
bug2342 Gear Head Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 39	I would recommend the Yamaha An1x. It sounds quite nice and has a nice keybed. The interface is a bit ugly however. Not really slow in use, but a bit confusing at first. I never really liked the Nordlead. The interface is great, but I think the synth engine is a bit too simple and it sounds a bit boring. This is a minority opinion and I never used one personally. Best listen to some demos on the net. If you like the sound and you want to keep it simple this might be the best choice. You might want to look at some of the old Creamware stuff. The ASB boxes should be in your price range (also sold with a sonic core label: that is the new company after some financial troubles). If you only want very nice sound and you don´t need full parameter access without a computer you might pick up the Plugiator (Use Audio) instead. That´s a cheap box with all the nice Creamware synths inside, but a bit of a shortage of knobs. Most relevant parameters can be controlled by MIDI CC so with the addition of a reasonable controller you should be fine. It allows to use one of the included synths at a time, and normally you have 10 voice polyphony. You get emulations of very classic synths like Minimoog and Prophet 5, so it´s rather easy to understand. Probably still the best sounding VAs till recently (Solaris + Accelerator might be nicer, but all the new super nice sounding hardware is quite a bit above your price range). Both the Ultranova and the Ion look/sound nice to me, but I´ve not had the pleasure to use them. For the real analog: The polyphonic synths in this price range tend to be limited and have a serious lack of controls: - Juno Alpha is kind of nice, but only has limited real-time tweakebility and only one oscillator per voice. - matrix 1000 seems nice, but no knobs... - DSI tetra (might be slightly above the budget): Nice synth, but only 4 assignable knobs for real-time access and editing without a computer is very, very, very painful. Monophonic Analogs are cool for seriously learning how a synth works. Especially a semi-modular like the Microzwerg is nice. On the other hand I would not recommend to pick up a mono synth as your only synth. That would be very limiting.