RABid Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 For me, the Roland Aira System 1, by far. Horrible keys, a pitch bend knob, and most synth releases for it were monophonic. Hard to believe that the System 1 and System 8 were from the same company. Quote This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miden Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 For how I wanted to use it - Yamaha Montage Quote There is no luck - luck is simply the confluence of circumstance and co-incidence... Time is the final arbiter for all things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybanksfan Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Moog Source. Quote Kurzweil PC3K8/ GSI Gemini Desktop/ ESI UNIK 8+ monitors/ QSC K8.2/ Radial Key Largo/ CPS Spacestation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timwat Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 M-Audio Venom. 1 Quote .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawback Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Nektar LX88+ Quote ____________________________________ Rod Here for the gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Havu Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Yamaha DJX-II. I was just out of high school, and I guess I wasn't really thinking at the time. Quote Hardware Yamaha MODX7, DX7, PSR-530, MX61/Korg Karma/Ensoniq ESQ-1 Behringer DeepMind12, Model D, Odyssey, 2600/Arturia Keylab MKII 61 Software Studio One/V Collection 9/Korg Collection 4/Cherry Audio/UVI SonicPass/EW Composer Cloud/Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Trilian/IK Total Studio 3.5 MAX/Roland Cloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NKB4691 Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 58 minutes ago, drawback said: Nektar LX88+ I'd like to hear more about this as I am considering getting one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkfloydcramer Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Kurweil K1000. Bought it for a stage piano and the pianos didn't cut, nor did any other sound. A crackhead at a country dance club in Alexandria VA took it off my hands in '95, winning bid was a brick through the glass of the club while we slept in our rooms. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Magnus chord organ. Some of the reeds were stuck and the fan was noisy. Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16251 Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Nord Piano 3. They sound great when I hear them. When I played it my brain kept yelling at me - Fake, fake, FAke! 2 Quote AvantGrand N2 | ES520 | Gallien-Krueger MK & MP | https://soundcloud.com/pete36251 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doerfler Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 1 hour ago, timwat said: M-Audio Venom. I actually bought 2 of these, one for myself and one for my oldest son. So I can agree with Tim twice here. Did buy them cheap, even as new, and was able to sell them both, so financially wasn't a big deal, thank goodness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrissey Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 52 minutes ago, justin_havu said: Yamaha DJX-II. I was just out of high school, and I guess I wasn't really thinking at the time. Yes, djx-II was a flop, but the original DJX was pretty fun. Packed with features above price tier. Still have one for sentimental value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrissey Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Microkorg, for me. Couldn't get past the mini keys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 I went to Toronto to see Blind Faith, and was so high I thought the RMI Winwood was playing sounded amazing! Ordered one the very next morning. More like Deaf Faith. 1 6 Quote Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightbg Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Casio VL-Tone. The Hammond simulation didn’t have a Leslie sim…… Jake 1 3 Quote 1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP "It needs a Hammond" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Cornish Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Original 2001 Roland Fantom workstation when it first came out.. I adored my XP-80 - still have it in fact. The Fantom had a screen 3x the size but worse controls in every way. Ick. Ironically I bought a new Fantom 7 this fall and I love it - even in most ways over my beloved Kronoses. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfD Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Korg Wavestation EX. No fault of the KB. Just not what I needed at the time. 😎 Quote PD "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16251 Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Korg SG Pro X. Another digital piano I had the same negative experience as Nord. My ears only heard it as fake. Sidebar: I owned a Korg SG1D. It had a sluggish action and didn't sound to authentic but at the time it was original. Quote AvantGrand N2 | ES520 | Gallien-Krueger MK & MP | https://soundcloud.com/pete36251 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed A. Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 27 minutes ago, ProfD said: Korg Wavestation EX. No fault of the KB. Just not what I needed at the time. 😎 Funny, that was my number one favorite synth out of the tons of synths I had over the years. Had mine for ten years, the longest I had any synth. I had a Minimoog I bought new after lusting for one for years, Sold it about a year later for $650. It just wasn't my kind of instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan_evett Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Studiologic TMK-88 Controller, circa 2004. A good concept for a lightweight keyboard controller, but there was a disconcerting issue discovered when it was first issued: The flexible plastic casing had a tendency to warp in warm conditions. Plus the front panel inscriptions were raised lettering, identical in color to the case. Guess it might've worked okay for a home workspace, but it was designed for stage use - with its lightweight, soft plastic design. I sent mine back to Sweetwater within a week. A close 2nd would be the Memorymoog I bought in 1983; it was the first unit in Chicago. Certainly not useless, as the thought of essentially 6 Minimoogs under the hood was drool-worthy. But it Just. Would. Not. Stay. In. Tune. After lengthy repair efforts, I returned it to the dealer for a lightly used OB-Xa 8-voice. Quote 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawback Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 1 hour ago, NKB4691 said: I'd like to hear more about this as I am considering getting one. Keyboard was warped with about a 1/4" higher like a wave, cresting around middle C. Also I should have checked, but no expression pedal input; and there was no way to deactivate the pads so they're either lit up like a Christmas tree, or you have to deactivate ALL the panel lights – then of course the whole thing is too dark to operate. 1 Quote ____________________________________ Rod Here for the gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxcvbnm098 Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Chroma Polaris. Not sure what I was thinking..... Before there were Rompler's I wanted something that we now know as a Rompler. I know many here love to program; not me. Minor tweaks is all I need. For some reason I thought the Polaris could be close. I was sadly mistaken..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polychrest Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Nord Electro 3 73 HP. Floor model, Boxing Day special, ridiculously low price. The action didn't feel too bad in the store, not good for organ, but better for piano-centric gigs than the Electro 2 73 SW I already owned....or so I thought. Wrong. Most tiring piano keybed I've ever owned. Mushy and unresponsive. I thought it might be because it had had the crap beaten out of it in the store, so I went back and tried the new one they put out to replace it. Same feel. Buy in haste, repent at leisure. 3 Quote "The more a man looks at a thing, the less he can see it, and the more a man learns a thing, the less he knows it." --G.K. Chesterton. A lazy rationalization for not practising as much as I should Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamanzarek Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 In 1990 I had the opportunity to buy a Roland D70 before there were any in the stores to try out. I figured how could it miss with the D50 being so ubiquitous. It had 76 keys and should have been everything the D50 was and more. I was expecting an enhanced D50 but it turned out to be more of a U20 type ROMpler. I put it up for sale immediately and got all my money back. The D70 was barely in production for a year so I think I made the right move. Quote Gibson G101, Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, Vox Continental, RMI Electra-Piano and Harpsichord 300A, Hammond M102A, Hohner Combo Pianet, OB8, Matrix 12, Jupiter 6, Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, CS70M, CP35, PX-5S, WK-3800, Stage 3 Compact Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 6 hours ago, allan_evett said: A close 2nd would be the Memorymoog I bought in 1983; it was the first unit in Chicago. Certainly not useless, as the thought of essentially 6 Minimoogs under the hood was drool-worthy. But it Just. Would. Not. Stay. In. Tune. After lengthy repair efforts, I returned it to the dealer for a lightly used OB-Xa 8-voice. I gigged with one full time around then. Got the first one in my state. Every Sunday I had to adjust all 18 oscillators for tune, range and scale. It would take me about 4 hours. If I got lazy and skipped a week it would become so out of tune as to be unplayable before the next week was up. At the same time I was playing a Rhodes Chroma. It had an autotune button that worked great. Never had to open it up. That does remind me that my second choice would be the MiniMoog Model D that I bought brand new a few years earlier. Osc 2 would drift horribly. I would use headphones to dial up a sound and quickly tune it right before a song, and when it was time for a solo two minutes later it would be out. 1 Quote This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niacin Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 When I was younger, and poorer, I'd buy a synth on Ebay and if turned out to be not really my thing I'd put it back up on Ebay, and sometimes I lost a few dollars, sometimes I made a small profit. More recently however, 1. Nord Electro 5D. Sounded great in cans in the store. They'd finally replaced the drawbuttons with sliders. Wohoo. Did 2 gigs and found myself pulling drawbars and thinking "Wtf". Love the acoustic pianos and the Rhodes, just not my idea of what a Hammond should sound like. Thankfully red keyboards hold their value pretty well so the gig money covered my loss on selling it. 2. DSI OB6. Cause it's not an OBX/Xa/8. Duh. This may happen again when Behringer finally release their UBXa. Quote Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauriziodececco Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Musically, a Davoli Synth (a very long time ago). https://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/davolisint.php But i got a lot of fun out of it by building a digital connection to a Z80 micro computer, using a parallel port, and writing assembler code to play pseudo random sequences. Yes, pre Midi, pre Atari :). Maurizio Quote Nord Wave 2, Nord Electro 6D 61,, Rameau upright, Hammond Pro44H Melodica. Too many Arturia, NI and AAS plugins http://www.barbogio.org/ https://barbogio.bandcamp.com/follow_me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Burgess Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 I got an Roland XV5050 rack once to replace an ageing XP50 because I couldn't afford an XV5080. Was the hardest to program, throttled, sloppiest timing thing ever. Lasted maybe a week with it till I lost a load of money on it. Could never get the Editor to work, either, if I remember rightly! I was always Roland in those days until the Triton came out - then went down the Triton - Extreme - Kronos route. But I did get a D110 rack at some point and thought it might be fun. It wasn't. Totally uninspiring and nothing like the D50 which I'd hoped. Although, I did have a loan of a D5 for a while and quite liked it?! Then they got it a lot better with the Integra. That's come in handy loads of times! Don't think I'll ever sell that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABECK Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Novation Xiosynth. The velocity control was infuriating and the front panel graphics were unreadable! Plus I never got a sound out of it I liked. Runner up, Korg M50 61 key. The sounds were pretty good, but the interface was overly complicated. Navigating simple changes like routing mod wheel to LFO were way too complex. And the build was toy-like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Thinking back, I honestly made some pretty good purchases over the years and can't really remember any bad surprises. I tend to (over) research stuff before I buy and as you can imagine the internet age means a great deal of analysis paralysis! (It's not enough to get something that works for me, I have to get the thing that works the best at a good price!) I have had a few keyboards with issues, like my JX-10 with keys that kept "going out", and my Poly 800 that would go out of tune. I bought a CX3 v2 from guitar center used and it had a bad double-trigger issue. Again I'd separate technical issues from those where the keyboard was just disappointing in sound or function. With that in mind, I really can't think of much. Perhaps the (lousy) ensemble sounds on my VR700, that was ultimately the reason I sold it along with the bulky size. Currently I'm having issues with my Forte programming. A simple thing like assigning glide to one of the sliders is nowhere near straightforward, since it means going into VAST and then I see a ton of different layers happening (14 on one simple-sounding lead solo patch)...hard to even know where to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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