Synths under £300...whats the best?

THE FREEEK · Post by **THE FREEEK** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:39 pm

I have been given a budget by my girl(bless her) to get a synth for christmas...

I have basically got £300.00 to find the best synth I can for the money!

I have been looking at the novations and they do look great, but there have been other recommended to me by alesis and Korg.

Basically my question is...

HEEEELLLPPP!!!!

Any recommendations and experiences would be grately valued by you, the ableton massive.

THE FREEEK

Cryptic UK · Post by **Cryptic UK** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:44 pm

Zebra 2 has recently blown me away you wont need any other synth.

you could Get that and a controller for £300

brightonalex · Post by **brightonalex** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:06 pm

..but you'll have to explain to her that its a synth you can only see on your computer, and she'll think you've spent the money on crystal meth and whores instead.

gerard · Post by **gerard** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:09 pm

Are you talking hard or software?
My vote for that price range goes to the microKorg. It's a hardware synth and it sounds fat. It has 2 arpeggiators, about a 100 presets that can all be modified and saved and even a vocoder that's relatively good.
Otherwise Reason is a good alternative. Reason 2.5 synths were pretty lame in my opinion, but since they got the scream-rack in Reason 3 (latest version)you can push/distort/enhance every sound you create. And the Rex machine is awesome!!

punkdISCO · Post by **punkdISCO** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:28 pm

[quote="gerard"]Are you talking hard or software?[quote]

Yes, key question. Also, you will need to let us know what you have planned for the synth. Is it bread and butter sounds you are looking for or maybe something more specific etc..?

see you,

itook4lefts · Post by **itook4lefts** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:29 pm

yeah... i love my microkorg too. it sound's excellent. though if you can find a novation k-station, that'd be more tempting for me (more knobs - that5's the only thing that does my head in about the microkorg, other wise it's an MS2000).

do you want keys (or a rack mount)? what about secondhand from e-bay? you could maybe get something like a novation rack (a-station?) or a rackmount MS2000. or a waldorf (what's orange one called?)? or a waldorf pulse...

ikke · Post by **ikke** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:37 pm

Virus A, no doubt

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:50 pm

If hardware I'd go with a Clavia Micromodular (and a BCF controller).

Soft... maybe Shortcircuit (Vemberaudio) or Sampler and Absynth or FM8. The Zebra demo was cool the last time I tried it.

-M

difference · Post by **difference** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:54 pm

Reason 2.5 synths were pretty lame in my opinion, but since they got the scream-rack in Reason 3 (latest version)you can push/distort/enhance every sound you create. And the Rex machine is awesome!!

The Scream unit was introduced in 2.5.

gerard · Post by **gerard** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:10 pm

difference wrote:
Reason 2.5 synths were pretty lame in my opinion, but since they got the scream-rack in Reason 3 (latest version)you can push/distort/enhance every sound you create. And the Rex machine is awesome!!
The Scream unit was introduced in 2.5.

Oops. Perhaps it wasn't included in the reason adapted version? Anyway at that time I didn't know it existed and I thought the synths sounded poor.

Kodama · Post by **Kodama** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:13 pm

Xio Synth + Zebra (Controller/hard Synth/Sound Card/soft synth)!

STRATEGY_510 · Post by **STRATEGY_510** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:17 pm

gerard wrote:Are you talking hard or software?
My vote for that price range goes to the microKorg. It's a hardware synth and it sounds fat. It has 2 arpeggiators, about a 100 presets that can all be modified and saved and even a vocoder that's relatively good.

Based purely on the stock sounds, I would go for a Micron over the MicroKorg. I went throught the built-in sounds of both and heard more usable stuff on the Micron.

You're mileage may vary..

STRATEGY

theque · Post by **theque** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:29 am

alesis ion, very good for the money

Enots · Post by **Enots** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:57 am

Kodama wrote:Xio Synth + Zebra (Controller/hard Synth/Sound Card/soft synth)!

This is perhaps the best solution posted.

With the Xio, you get a true Novation hardware synthesizer (if it's anything like my X Station, it's definitely worth the look), plus it's a controller for Zebra which again is a great synth that would practically cover everything the Xio misses, synth-wise.

but of course, it all depends on your current settup. We're all just making stabs in the dark.

What do you currently have? What style of music do you create?

Komplex · Post by **Komplex** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:18 am

brightonalex wrote:..but you'll have to explain to her that its a synth you can only see on your computer, and she'll think you've spent the money on crystal meth and whores instead.

hahahaha