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Originally Posted by Don Solaris  Partial alternative is a combo of: Microwave I, SQ-80 and Wavestation A/D. In fact you can buy all for the price of VS and still keep a lot in your wallet.. |
^^^ This is great advice.
The mention of the Yamaha TG33 and Kawai K3 are also spot on.
Honestly, nearly any Ensoniq or Kawai synth would be a good and inexpensive option.
I would also suggest considering a Roland D-50. A very different synth but very capable of the sort of sounds that you're after. It along with a few of the others mentioned would provide all you could really ever want for darker textures.
One combo I am very fond of is Korg's Wavestation A/D and Z1. The Z1's X-Y pad is a perfect vector controller for the Wavestation rack and the A/D version has a set of inputs so you can process/vector external audio sources. Plus the Z1 is an incredibly interesting and unique synth on its own.