Rank these monos?

[Rust Creep]

Awesome post! Dont know the DV but will submit a list

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[flat earth]

Never actually owned any of them, but played and listened to demos, so ...


MiniMoog D
Pro-1
ARP Odessy
SEM
DV-800
SH-5
MS-20
Oscar
CS-30
SH-101

Interestingly, I was watching a vid about that chap from Portishead, and he said he was a big fan of the DV800 (Maxikorg). Never heard anyone talk badly of it, but I think not many were made, so it didn't get much exposure.

[rafkey]

The DV800 is a double korg 700
I had the pro 1, but I still prefer the sound of my sh101

MS20, I always fought it harsh and difficult to make musical lines with it.
at times, I bought a cs15 which I still play;
the minimoog is way too expensive, luckily there is the amazing little phatty

I would like to try a sh5 and an old sem; the others don't interest me;

thus:

1) moog (lp)
2) sh5 / sem
4) sh101
5) cs30
...

[ozy]

MiniMoog D (love it or hate it. I loved it, never really could live with it. Too intrusive)

SEM (loved it and still do)

ARP Odissey (used it and liked it, not my piece of cake now. Objectively a good machine no matter what my taste)

MS-20 (don't like, but is a good machine)

anything else in the world...

... Oscar (bottom of an imaginary cosmic list --> junked)

The others I didn't play extensively, will not comment.

[OntarioHydro]

I haven't tried a cs-30, sem, or oscar so im leaving them off. My ranking factors in price and functionality not just sound

Pro-One - 2 super fast adsr evelopes, multiple waveforms, reasonable price, seq + arp
ARP Odyssey - great sound, lots of modulation options, great s/h, not too overpriced
Minimoog - overpriced, sounds the best, not very interesting modulation routing
800DV - raw gritty sound, unusual features, lots of character
MS-20 - overpriced, slow envelopes, unusual features
SH-5 - overpriced, slow envelopes/lfos, weak/thin sound
SH-101 - sounds great, no 2nd osc so no sync/crossmod, has sub osc, has seq/arp

rankings like these are kind pointless though because depending what you want to do with it the list changes dramatically. I like having 2 full adsr's that snap and audio-rate modulation so pro-one wins easily for me. also the seq can be transposed with one hand (sh-101 u have to hold another button).

[OntarioHydro]

although i ranked it last the sh-101 is really pretty good. for basic leads and basses its good enough. between the sub-osc and the fabulous sounding pwm it can hold it's own against a minimoog imo.

the korg monopoly can hang with any of these synths too. the envelopes are kind slow and it's sound isn't the greatest but it has a lot of tricks up it's sleeve.

[triplizard]

Odd that you left the Synthi off there. Right up there with the Mini and MS-20 as most distinctive monos.

On that list I own or have owned an MS-20, Mini, Oddy, SH-101 and Pro-1. Not on that list, but also a Wasp and MS-10. Super subjective, but I might rank them like this (and, of course, it would change based on how I felt on any given day):

SH-101 - I have a bit of a soft spot for it since it's the first synth I ever owned, but I personally love the sound and consistently have more fun playing with it than any other synth.
MS-20 - amazing synth, really distinctive and versatile, but can be harsh and hard to get musical sounds out of it.
MS-10 - less versatile and distinctive than the 20, but lots of fun.
Pro-1 - love it, but makes me want to play the Prophet 5.
Oddy - great sound but the sliders on both of the ones I used to own were so fussy that it made it really difficult to use. I've played around with 4 of them and all had futzy sliders.
Mini - Probably up there with the Synthi as the most amazing mono of all time, but it always sounds like a Mini to me, and it's been used so much that I never really felt like I could make it "my own."
Wasp - Okay sound but not brilliant. So fragile I was afraid to breathe around it so I sold it to some guy who wanted to put it in a museum, where it belongs.

[xanderbeanz]

no Mono/Poly!

[natrixgli]

I can only rank the ones I've played or owned. I would rank them:

Pro-1
ARP Odessy
SH-101

The Pro One and Odyssey are very close for me but the arpeggiator/sequencer edge the Pro One out slightly.

[binman_uk]

I only own the SH-101 in that list so can't comment really. Love the 101 though.. very fun machine. I've also got a Creamware Pro-12 which is a Prophet 5 emulation... they're pretty similar to the Pro-1 aren't they?

[oldgearguy]

Originally Posted by thong

Pro-1
SH-5
DV-800
MiniMoog D
Oscar
CS-30
MS-20
SH-101
ARP Odessy
SEM

In the early 2000's I owned all these and even more all at the same time. In some ways, they're impossible to rank because they're all slightly different.

Do you judge them on ease of integration with the rest of your gear? Flexibility? Purely by sound?

Others of note - PPG 1002 and 1020, Polivoks, VCS3, Teisco 110F, Jen SX-1000, Roland SH-1, SH-2, SH3a, Korg 770. All good in their own way. Buy any of these and experience the joys of a monosynth.

(at the end of the day, I still own a Pro-One and MiniMoog...)

[marino]

My extended list:

MiniMoog D "R.A.Moog"
MiniMoog D
Pro One
MicroMac
GRP A4
ARP 2600
SEM
SE-1
MEK
MonoPoly
Sinthi/VCS3
CS30
MS20
DV-800
SH-5
SH-101

Many polys would produce a very satisfying mono sound.

I would also place the current Vermona and Analogue Solution stuff around the middle of the ranking.

[dougt]

Hmm I actually have all of those except the SH-5 (had an SH-7 but didn't like it too much)... So I would say -

Pro-One
Minimoog D
Oscar
CS30
800DV/MaxiKorg
SEM
MS20
Odyssey
SH-101

[marino]

Updated:

MiniMoog D "R.A.Moog"
MiniMoog D
Pro One
MicroMac
GRP A4
ARP 2600
SEM
Voyager
SE-1
MEK
MonoPoly
Sinthi/VCS3
CS30
Little Phatty
Mono Lancet
MS20
Leipzig-S
DV-800
SH-5
SH-101

[clusterchord]

minimoog odl osc board or ram
SEM (original)
system 100 model 101+102
pro one
multimoog
sh2
source
oddy mk3
oddy mk2
sh101



i dislike ms20 as mono. but as a very nice processing unit it shines. havent had experience with vcs3, DV or SH5 (tho latter is similar to sys100 from what ive heard). didnt count in 2600 as its already a (semi) modular, but its somewhat represented in the list with oddys. likewise, aside from 2600, of all other ARPs, i prefer the original Pro-Soloist for tone, but again, didint list it as its not a full fledged mono. more like a preset synth with some little performance tweakings avail.

wish i picked up one whilst they were cheaper. damn those tony banks wannabes and genesis cover bands rising the price..

[dionysiananarchy]

i havent used too many, but i always just stack my studio electronics omega 2, ,,, its only 2 voices , might as well be a super mono, 4 oscs with 2 subs, sounds good to me,,,,,

[thong]

Yes semi pointless just a bit o fun
but
I do find others rankings and more so their comment interesting.
Yes
no mono/poly already 2 korgs + its a hybrid,
and
2600/vcs3 are considered more a modular than monos
and
forgot to say 'vintage'
as the se-1x and voyager etc could fit into this list
but then we'd need a top20

like someone posted i could change my ranking on any other day.

[ozy]

Originally Posted by thong

2600 is considered more a modular than monos

Frankenstein?

Black Market or Birdland?

Ms20 "in", arp2600 "out"?

[thong]

Originally Posted by ozy

Frankenstein?

Black Market or Birdland?

Ms20 "in", arp2600 "out"?

yep imo thats the way, as someone posted the oddy is similar to a 26 and so their definitive mono.
there was no ms-20 without patch points and ext processor but a very well known mono, I'd bet half the current owners dont use the patch points much or at all.

did have a ms-20 ms-50 combo for awhile and it could match it with a 2600..............imo

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by thong

Pro-1
SH-5
DV-800
MiniMoog D
Oscar
CS-30
MS-20
SH-101
ARP Odessy
SEM

Almost impossible, prolly left somethink out too!

for me
DV-800
SH-5
SEM
MS-20
MiniMoog-D
Pro-1
Oddy
SH-101
Oscar
CS-30

Personal taste is to a degree the only thing separating many them imo.
and there's a few that missed out

More power than a F1 grid

Yeah, but to rank by what?


See here (very useful): Malcolm Gladwell | Video on TED.com

[spider]

OB-1 anyone?

[dougt]

Originally Posted by spider

OB-1 anyone?

Had a few of those. I'd probably rank it near the bottom between the Odyssey and SH-101. The SEM with it's wonderful sweepable multi-mode filter is so much more interesting to me...

[ozy]

Originally Posted by spider

OB-1 anyone?

[krushing]

I keep reading the thread title as "rank these morons". Carry on.

[Ned Bouhalassa]

SH-5 - overpriced, slow envelopes/lfos, weak/thin sound

Clearly, you don't have one.

It's my number one on this list, BTW.

[OntarioHydro]

I had an Sh-5 for 3 months played it pretty much every day. here is my reasoning for the low rating compared to the other synths.

- compared to a pro-one or sh-101 the envelopes were too slow. it doesn't have 2 decays so you can't do a punchy bass as well as other synths.

- compared to a minimoog or arp odyssey it's sound is thin and weak... not very punchy or in your face.

- compared to the ms-20 the main filter was boring and thin, it doesn't cut deep or howl like the ms-20. the resonant highpass didn't boost the bass like I wanted. The extra bandpass sounded good and boosted bass like I wanted but no cv control over it made it annoying to use.

- only 2 vcos with no suboscillators/no multiple waveforms. pretty sure you cant even pwm both at the same time.. at least not with triangle or sine.

- lfo 1 only offers up and down saw and doesn't go into audio rate. not very useful

- limited performance controls.. that little bender thing wasn't the best to use and there was no way of kicking in modulation over there.

- kinda big, i like smaller synths like the pro-one, ms-20, sh-101, octave cat, etc because you can put 2 of them side by side on an a-frame stand.

I still liked the Sh-5 it has some cool features. It lets you run external audio through the filters and ringmod.. the s/h was nice... clean pure squarewave sounds it did well.

[Ned Bouhalassa]

I believe that you can always find a better synth for every aspect of a synth one is rating, but for me, it's how everything that the synth offers works together: another synth may have faster envs, for e.g., but it's oscillators are duller; another may have more PWM, but no ext audio input, no osc sync, no ring mod, etc.

And I would never in a million years qualify the SH-5 sound as thin and weak. That's like saying that the sun is cold. Finally, the 2nd filter, BPF is one of the sweetest sounding in all of synth land.

LFOs are only really useful if they go into audio rate? False. Sure it's a great bonus, but not the main point of an LFO, after all.

Here are a couple of pieces I made to showcase the SH-5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJgWMloEPmw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF1kwoQNW9w

[OntarioHydro]

The sh-5 was thin and weak sort of like the jp-6 imo. they are both good but if you're after minimoog and ob-x thickness you wont find it.

[Ned Bouhalassa]

I'd like to stop now, but since I have both an SH-5 and a JP6, I can attest that they have zero in common sound-wise. Go on, if you must, but I'm done.