emusonacid! legacy

What is the best/worst piece of musical gear you've ever owned?
Also, what are the machines you'd simply love to own?

I'll start:

Best: E-mu E4K, Yamaha DX7, Korg Wavestation
Worst: Roland D70
Dream machines: Fairlight CMI Series III, Roland Jupiter 8, E-mu Emulator IIHD, Synclavier

Best: At the moment, I'm in love with my Waldorf MicroWave IIxt (fierce burnt orange beastie, insane control with the 44 front panel knobs) and my DSI Evolver mono-module (screaming analog filters, triple delay, feedback, and distortion, all in one box! it can make even the stalest old digital synth patch (I'm looking at a Kawai K5m here) sound killer in seconds)

Worst: Hmm... haven't really had a "worst" yet. A month ago I would have said my Boss SE-50 which absolutely refused to remember any program settings even after changing the battery. But I took it apart recently and fixed a problem with the battery coming loose in the clip mounting, and now it works fine. Nearest to Worst is my Kawai K5m. The power connection is slightly loose on the swiveling connector panel, so at the moment I can only use it as a desk-top module instead of rack mounting it. And I haven't really invested enough time to get anything good out of its additive synthesis engine. The sounds in it now are just ... very pedestrian (unless its run through the Evolver, in which case it starts to get interesting).

Dream Machines: Right now, I'm lusting after a Yamaha SY-77 (or SY-99 if I can find one). And that's about it... OK, if we're talking pie-in-the-sky dreaming here, then a Doepfer analog modular system, or maybe a Metasonix S-1000 Wretch Machine.

The Rest: And honorable mentions go to the rest of the rack... E-mu PX-7 Command Station, E-mu E6400-Ultra and E6400-Classic samplers, E-mu Morpheus, Korg Wavestation A/D, Casio CZ-101 and VZ-10m... I really can't say I've been dissatisfied with any of them... except that Kawai K5m...good thing it was dirt cheap...

Best: Pro one, TR-808, MPC1000, Yamaha E-1010 BBD delay, Korg Oasys PCI, Muzys, Making Waves, Ableton live...

Worst: Motu MIDI timepeice II, Korg Oasys PCI

Wish List: Dave Smith Evolver, Sherman Filterbank II, Korg 800DV, Korg Synthe Bass, various preamps, ReNoise, a good linux music solution...

Best:
Roland Alpha Juno 1 - King of the rave! Amazing hoovers and stabs, also nice for bass and pads. Very unique sound which cannot be recreated on other synths
EMU E5000 Ultra - Obviously
Sherman Filterbank 2 - Outstanding analog beast!
Roland JP-8080 - My favourite VA, I just love the sound of this one, i also own an Access Virus but after getting the JP ive realised i dont actually like the virus sound as much

Worst:
Electo Harmonix Distortion pedal - It had a tone control which i thought would be a low pass filter, but when i got it home it turned out to be a sort of band pass filter instead.. meaning i couldnt get a full distorted sound at any one time. It went straight on ebay and i got my money back

Dream machines:
I'd like to try out loads more classics such as a Pro One, Juno 106/60, TB-303, TR-909, 808, SH-101, Jupiter 8.. in fact most old Roland gear!

BEST: E-mu Esi-32, Roland SVC-350 Vocoder, Electro-Harmonix Golden Throat Talkbox, Alesis ION, Yamaha AN-1X, Korg Minipops 120, Dubreq Stylophone 350S?


WORST :Definitely, Roland D-20 and Alesis QS-6


DREAM MACHINES:Moog Minimoog Voyager or vintage Model D, Moog Little Phatty, Emulator II or III and Emax II, CMI Fairlight, Moog Theremin.

Best: Waldorf Q, Novation Nova and Emu e6400 Ultra (with rfx32)

Worst: "Oberheim" OB12, Korg M1r, Access Virus Rack (useless interface).

Wishlist: Access Virus B, Waldorf Q (or Q++ .. i had to sell it)


The oberheim ob12 had some bad oscillator which didnt sound right at all.. not my thing..

Best : E4 XT with RfX , Lexicon 300 , SPL MK2, TC 1128 , Lexicon JamMan, Focusrite, SampleCell,

Worst: Roland D 110, S-50, MidiMan,

Wishlist : Prophet 5, Fairligt CMI, Syntclavier,Eventide H8000 FW, PCM 81

Best: Emu E6400 Ultra with RFX + Kenton Control Freak as controller, Korg ER1, Sherman Filterbank, Bass station rack, Sequential Six trak, rm1x, Musicman Stingray 1989 4EQ.

Worst: Hmm, can't really think of anything that I didn't try before buying so nowt here. I can't beleive there are so many Roland D??'s in the worsts. Mine was a laugh, good for the Rob Hood early stuff (who?) but without an external controller they gave you RSI

illinformed wrote:I can't beleive there are so many Roland D??'s

D110/D20 : I have used them but never owned them and I didn't like the sounds, which were simply no match for their big brother, the D50.

D5/D10 : as above.

D70 : that's basically just a U220 with a keyboard, a half decent synth engine and the worst user interface ever. It's - along with the Akai XE8 - the only machine that you simply cannot use without the manual. Great MIDI controller though.

D50 : now, that's a great synth. I used to have the keyboard version, which I stupidly sold but replaced with a D550. The latter has had its time for me and was recently replaced with a JV1080, which I simply loooooove!

Gilles

OK, time to update the "wish" list (and I'm just really bored, unemployed, and just rediscovered the forum after a long time away).

First, scratch the Yamaha SY77 off my list. I bought one in the fall, and I love it. Admittedly, the disk drive doesn't work, but since I'm using it mostly for control, use a pc editor/librarian program to edit/save/transfer programs via midi, and use either the Emu PX-7 sequencer or my pc (running Reaper... the midi editing isn't super just yet, but it updates insanely often with new features rather than just micro-increments, and has outrageously good audio routing... plug plug ) so not having the SY77 disc drive isn't a problem. Coming from using a CZ-101 as my only keyboard (*caugh... I've never been much of a player, more of a programmer), suddenly getting aftertouch is a whole new world... and not one, but two mod wheels. More pedal inputs than you can shake a stick at (well, ok, four), plus Yamaha's breath controller... I'm building a little box of knobs and switches to sit on top of the keyboard and plug into these sockets, as I have a hard enough time co-ordinating my hands musically without involving my feet.

And so... in no particular order...

Wish List '08
1) Waldorf Q Rack (or a Q+, but that's less likely to cross my path) - I like Waldorf. I like them a lot. And I've read some great things about the Q, with full features rather than the somewhat reduced abilities of the Micro Q. And, if I understand correctly (feel free to burst my bubble), fully five oscillators (three virtual analog plus two wavetable), compared to...

2) Waldorf Bloefeld -- More wavetables and larger tables than the Q or Microwave XT, but only three oscillators (the first two virtual analog double as the two wavetable). On the other hand, for the first time, you can use different wavetables on each oscillator. And it's a really convenient size and looks good too.

3) DSI Prophet 08 Module -- It's a Prophet 5 reincarnated as a demi-god. And now it comes in a sweet desktop module. This thing is probably going to move several thousand units easy... Dave Smith ... damn, there just aren't enough great adjectives for Dave...

4) Moog Voyager (or Voyager Old School) -- Oh, come on... it's a Moog. Anybody who doesn't want to own at least one Moog product has some loose silicon in their head, or is maybe just too young to know any better and should be dismissed with grumbling stories that start with "Why, when I was your age..." and end with "uphill both ways, barefoot in the snow!" If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would be buying at least one of each of their product line (have you heard about their new guitar project?).

5) Alesis Micron -- Well, I've read good things about it. And it's cheap.

6) Korg MicroKORG special edition with reverse color keys -- Purty! And, from what I understand, not bad sounding either.

And finally... an analog modular rig. I guess everybody dreams of eventually owning one. I just can't decide which to go for (presuming, of course, that I could actually afford one). Serge systems are radically different design ideas than most other systems, and so can do some really unique things. Doepfer have a wide selection of modules and there are a number of other people making compatible modules. ModCan are made here in Canada, which radically simplifies shipping and taxes (damn that government, always sticking its fingers into other people's jam jars), they have a wide range of modules, and they even have two different form factors (one based on banana plugs, the other on 1/4 inch). And then there's more exotic/boutique options... Buchla, Macbeth (the M5N looks like a reincarnation of the ARP2600, with some extra features), building something myself with the limited electronic engineering knowledge I managed to retain after dropping out and transferring to English writing & rhetoric...

*sigh* well, back to dreaming...

Well, it's my turn then...


Best: Emu e64, Waldorf MicroQ, Roland Alpha Juno2


Worst:Emu Xl1 ( muffled sounds galore, good drums tho), Cubase Sx3 ( just not ideal workflow to me, unstable madness), Lacie d2 Quadra ( power supply died within 3 months of use, no replacement and HD fried, lost like 200 Gb of work).


Wishlist: Access Virus TI Desktop, Doepfer a100 basic system, Studio Electronics Omega 8 and Code, RME Raydat and Lynx Aurora 16.

Ahh dreaming...

ok, another post to keep this thread alive!
best: emu e4x, future retro 777, tascam dm24
worst: alesis airfx, art tps

not that many 'worsts' here because i tend not to buy gear that i hate. i like to do lots of research before making a purchase

cheers!

BEST: EmulatorII

- pain in the ass for maintenace but the sound is very analog

WORST: DX7mkII

- have to check mkI sometime

Best: Well I like these a lot - however synths are just like types of media to create art - some are like watercolors, others oil paints, some acrylics and some just chalk or pencils - yet the mixture and combination of these media types can be most powerful! SY-77 , XV-5050, D-50, MKS-70, Waldorf - everything I've tried by them, Casio CZ-1, VZ-1, Akai AX-60



Worst: Not even close for me - the easy winner for worst synth ever is the yamaha TG-33. 2 op FM with some pretty bad sampled rom thrown in - I think this could have been something with the real time vector recording - but I tried to program this for years - until I finally admitted to myself that every other board I owwned sounded better than this!!! No NO NO!!! Don't do it.

Best: DSI Mono Evolver Keyboard - fake "polyphony", thick sounds, amazing modulation.

Worst: Ensoniq ASRX pro - horrible implementation, terrible os, nonfunctional sequencer.