synths

Im interested in buying a syth for under £300.
I also need a vocoder.
I have seen the micro korg and this looks like the generall area i want.

Any ideas??

zakiman

hey zakiman, ive got a microkorg and its a nice synth, ive found it hard to program but mainly cos i get bored reading the manual, the vocoder decent too altho the mic that comes with it is pretty flimsy, better to use a proper one but it does do the job.
small keys too, but all in all im really pleased with mine.
apparently you can put anything in and synthesise it, like a theremin or guitar or whatever but i havent done that yet so not entirley sure what that would be like. may try it tomorrow.

http://www.myspace.com/kevinsinnott

I like the Alesis Micron, too.

It is not really an analog synth but it digitally mimics one and has a lot of great patches.

whats the differance between a analog synth and a digital one??

micron looks good.

[i]Here is a quick answer to the analog/digital synth question[/i]

An analog synth contains oscillators, filters, amplifiers and control circuitry that produces and processes discreet electrical signals.

A digital synthesizer contains a CPU chip, memory, and software that perform mathematical operations on digital data (ones and zeros). The resulting data is converted to a (audio) signal via an internal Digital-to-Analog (d/a) converter.

A sampler is a form of digital synthesizer that contains an Analog-to-Digital (a/d) converter that allows external sounds to be converted to digital waveform data that can, in turn, be processed.

Many analog synthesizers are one-note-at-a-time (such as the Moog Voyager) whereas digital synths are polyphonic.

Modern analog synths allow MIDI control and may have computer memories to store different sounds (patches) for instant recall. Vintage analog synths such as the MiniMoog, ARP 2600, and older modular synths have no computer memory to store sounds.

If your Theremin has Control Voltage outputs, then your Theremin can be connected to an analog synth (to, in turn, control the synth). If you have a MIDI Theremin, then you can control any MIDI-capable device from your Theremin which would include modern analog synths, digital synths, even lighting equipment --- indeed, ANYTHING that accepts MIDI input can be controlled.

thx

ive been looking at these so far

Alesis ION Micro-Q Fizmo Novation KS cz101 micro korg, Alesis photon x25

i have the korg ms2000 from which the microkorg is derived.

it is easy if you are into analog and very versatile. the vocoder is nice but really that sort of thing is more of a giccick than a useful musical tool. you can plug your theremin or anything else into the audio input and use the synths filters (high pass, band pass, and low pass and you have plenty of sequence options which make it ideal for accompanying your theremin playing. you can also use the onbard digital delay for your theremin.

it comes with a limited ability to patch components to emulate analog patching.

you can get the ms2000 in a rack mount version and plenty of them are available on ebay used for a price that fits in your budget. the ms2000 has the advantage of having full size keys.

it is easy and intuitive to program and once you have the patch and sound you want you can modify it while you are playing and bring it back to the original patch due to a feature which lets you know when you have returned the knob to its orginal position with an led.

it;s a great pleasure to paly with this synth esepcially if you are into sequence based electronic music from tangerine dream to morton subotnik.

Ok

what i dont get is if you get a rack thingimebob how do you control it with only some knobs and no keybord?

zakiman

with the korg ms2000 under the sequence knobs are buttons which are used to select parameters. there is another button off to the side which toggles its function between selection buttons and a "keyboard" - not touch sensitive. the same is true for some drum box sequencers like the korgs and yamahas.

a real keyboard is worth the extra bucks unless you really need something compact and light.