Dave Bryce Posted November 29, 2000 Author Share Posted November 29, 2000 Originally posted by The Soundsmith: I have to agree about the Korg M1 (snip) And this was one of the top-selling synths of all time http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif Unless I am mistaken, the M1 is still THE best selling synth of all time...the DX7 and D50 are #2 and #3, I think... Interesting that the best selling synths of all time all come from the same decade... dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweibel Posted December 17, 2000 Share Posted December 17, 2000 My first choice for the worst synth I have ever owned: Ensoniq VFX-SD!!!! After putting the VFX in my quiet studio (late 80s???) and hearing all the noise, hiss etc. that was always present in its outputs, I vowed never to buy another product from Ensoniq. The reverb tails wouldn't smoothly fade into silence, they would get truncated into some digital garble. I went through numerous ROM/OS upgrades but nothing helped the terrible sound quality. Even the display kinda sucked as it was one of those cheap alphanumeric ones instead of the pixel ones like on the Korg M1. I also remember that the ROM samples were probably 12bit when other companies were already going 16bit. I should have listened to the Keyboard review back then when they identified that the string sample had such horrible loop points and gaps within the multisample that it was practically unusable. The other samples weren't much better. I ended up selling the VFX to some live musician who didn't have a problem with its high noise floor. After that, I got a Korg Wavestation that I still own today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderton Posted December 20, 2000 Share Posted December 20, 2000 I realize I'm setting myself up to be skewered, but about that DPM-3... For me, what it was all about was battery-backed RAM, something that hadn't been done before. I was fed up with ROM-based synths at the time, and with the DPM3, I could put in MY OWN SOUNDS!! What a wonderful thing. Great for dance music stuff, because back in those days, you didn't have things like Emu Orbits or Nord Leads. It was samplers or nothing. Can't agree about the filters being thin; I got some monster bass sounds with the thing. You had to be careful not to put the resonance too high, though. What I didn't like: the 1st rev had lousy effects, and they never did manage to fine-tune the attack time, which could give zero attack and a very audible attack, but nothing in between. And the sequencer OS was unnecessarily complex. And Jim is also right about the hype factor; there were several upgrades, but they were quantitative, not qualitative (although the wave synthesis thing that happened in its waning days was pretty cool). But in retrospect, the idea of using general-purpose DSP to create sounds turned out to be the wave of the future. That's basically what virtual synths are all about: crunching numbers with processors to create different synth types. TDM-based virtual synths are probably the "purest" descendents of that technique. Had the DPM actually sold -- it didn't -- I have no doubt other forms of synthesis would have been added. I know they were working on a 4-op FM that never saw the light of day. But the bottom line is this: 12 years after it came out, it's still a valuable part of my rig, and it makes gorgeous sounds. I use it all the time for all kinds of music, and it's the most general-purpose box I have. It shows its age: 16 voices, for example. But I sure as hell hope it can still be fixed if it breaks down. Maybe I should start sampling it ASAP. My favorite DPM story (Jim A., you're gonna love this, although you're not the person I'm citing): I was visiting Keyboard magazine one day, and one of the editors asked what my main setup was. I replied "A DPM3 and an Alesis D4." This was greeted with howls of laughter, and several comments about what a terrible synth the DPM3 was. Six months later, I was visiting Keyboard again. I bought a CD I'd been working on, and played it for the same editor. "Wow," he said, "that sounds GREAT!" Now what setup are you using?" As you might suspect, the answer was DPM3 and Alesis D4. Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderton Posted December 22, 2000 Share Posted December 22, 2000 Wow! Do I know how to kill a thread, or what?!? I can just see y'all out there..."Once someone claims to love the DPM3, all hope is lost. Let's go to a different topic." Sorry, Dave!! Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted December 22, 2000 Author Share Posted December 22, 2000 Actually, I find the DPM3 to be quite an interesting point of discussion. Sonically, I very much agree with you, Craig - the DPM 3 was a pretty decent sounding synth. I was working retail when it came out, and I'm convinced that it's biggest problem was the Peavey logo - folks just didn't have any confidence in Peavey when it came to synths, and there wasn't anything really compelling about the unit to get people to even try it. Nor to get me to sell it. This makes me think of a similar problem from which I think General Music suffers. They actually make some seriously great sounding, powerful synths (plus, they have one of the best demonstrators in the business, Chris Anthony - definitely go and see him if you get the chance!). I'm actually convinced that their biggest problem is their name: General Music. It sounds so...generic. As silly as this may sound, I really think it affects the public's perception of them, and contributes to them not getting the due which I feel that they deserve. I remember playing pretty extensively with their S2 and S3 synths - these puppies could stand toe-to toe with any workstation of that era (actually, they had better specs than most of their competitors on almost every level); plus, it had a great feeling keybed and an awesome display. Oh, yeah - they sounded great, too. Bit of a kludgy OS, but that can usually be overcome. Their current Equinox synths are pretty great-sounding as well, and have 8 zillion features to boot. So you can understand that I found it really interesting when Peavey and GM formed an alliance. Is anyone here a GM owner? Tried any of their synths? Your impressions? dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 That's easy. Yamaha DX-9 I've heard better sounds come out of my local Pac Bell operator. steadyb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alon Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 I've had the displeasure of owning a Korg 707. I bought it cheap many ages ago, cause it looked kinda cool, but boy did that one suck. Now it's been many years since I sold it, to some unfortunate bastard, but if I recall correctly, then this particular synth has got to be one of the noiseiest synths I've ever encountered. I don't think I've ever used it on any track or recording that I've ever done. Everyone's coming out with virtual simulations of "vintage/old" synths, but I'd really be surprised if someone came out with a 707 SoftSynth ! Now that would be a lost cause ! . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted December 29, 2000 Author Share Posted December 29, 2000 Originally posted by Alon: I've had the displeasure of owning a Korg 707. Now - I'm gonna need someone who knows Korg history, especially concerning their...ummm...interaction with Yamaha during the late '80s. If I remember correctly, Korg came out with a keyboard that basically WAS the same as the DX9 four-op FM synths . Was it the 707? Or was it the DS8...I can't recall, but I'm pretty sure that it's one or the other. Also, if one of those was four-op FM, what was the engine in the other one? I seem to remember the 707 being available in hot pink, though... Yeesh. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/tongue.gif dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 TTT http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/cool.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Originally posted by Dave Bryce: Now - I'm gonna need someone who knows Korg history, especially concerning their...ummm...interaction with Yamaha during the late '80s. If I remember correctly, Korg came out with a keyboard that basically WAS the same as the DX9 four-op FM synths . Was it the 707? Or was it the DS8...I can't recall, but I'm pretty sure that it's one or the other. Also, if one of those was four-op FM, what was the engine in the other one? I seem to remember the 707 being available in hot pink, though... Yeesh. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/tongue.gif dB Hey! The DS-8 wasn't that bad. :-) I had one of them for 4 years. I can't remember if it was a 6 op or 4 op. I keep thinking it was a 6 OP, pretty close to a dx7, but you only had two algorithms. Being my 1st 'real' synth the way it was layed out made a lot of sense and I actually programmed a lot of mine own parts. I think it was 8 part multi timbral as well. My biggest mistake was editing the patches thru crappy headphones.. a lot of them ended up too bright. The sounds were decent and it did have built effects. Pianos were miserable, but the elec pianos were OK, synth and organ sounds were excellent, acoustic emulations (strings etc) was pretty bad, but I never used those anyways. When I was home last time I found a video tape of my last concert with that (high school grad), and it sounded pretty damn good thru the roland jazz chorus amp I used to run it through (sounded better than the roland keyboard cube I used a few times). As far as being noisy I can't really remember. I guess I was too excited to have it too begin with that it didn't really matter. My only gripe was it the casing was too fragile and some of the keys were noisy after a few months. Too cheaply built, IMHO. I had brought the thing in England, and living in Brazil with no Korg support there, not much I could do about it. I actually sold it 4 years later for more than I paid for it, literally. For the worst synths... most of the early 90's ensoniq's.. I always thought that there was something wrong with them, noisy, shitty keybeds, they almost always seemed 'defective'. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joegerardi Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 I'll reiterate what I posted in the "Worst Synths" thread: The Ensoniq VFX/SD. Total and complete crap. Terrible keybed, weak synthesis, and just plain felt cheap. The only synth I sold that I was glad to see go. Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyman Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Yes, let me move all my stuff from the "Worst Board: to here ! One's trash is always aonther's treasure.. just my .002 . This is my list of the baddie: 1) OB/Viscount OB-12 - People always think this guy can recreate the infamous big phat phuzzy classical OB sounds.. DUH ! 2) Yammy DX-9 - Good for paperweight !- compare to the latter DX-21 & DX-27, the cost of this guy, which is almost comparable to the DX-7, is go to the heavy designed casing. Not a good price/performance ratio at all. 3) SCI singled manual Pro-10(not the Pro-5): What good is the great synth as this one if the tuning is drifting all night long! In matter of fact, the longer you left it on, the worst of tuning drifted. And it's a hot babe !! I mean HOT !! It can also be served as the food ovens if you have a restaurant gig. The cooks will sure love it !! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Keyman P.S to dB, please don't mis-understand that I'm spamming. Because the other thread is gonna die, so I had to move my comment here. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/tongue.gif Hooked on Keys... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 Originally posted by Keyman: Yes, let me move all my stuff from the "Worst Board: to here ! snip to dB, please don't mis-understand that I'm spamming. Because the other thread is gonna die, so I had to move my comment here. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/tongue.gif No problem. dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyman Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com: Ooh! I actually thought of one that was worse than the nord: the Marion MSR-2. The sound didn't work on anything, and there was a lot of latency between note on and audible output. I even sent it back for a mod that was supposed to fix the problem. No luck. I'd give the thing away, but the recipient would hate me forever. Guess the magic of the famed Oberheim is long gone... Even the legendary Oberheim man could not bring it back either. too bad..... and sad. Hooked on Keys... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman1ovation.net Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 Dave, About the following observation: > This makes me think of a similar problem from which I think > General Music suffers . . . I'm actually convinced that their > biggest problem is their name: General Music. It sounds so... > generic. As silly as this may sound, I really think it affects the > public's perception of them, and contributes to them not > getting the due which I feel that they deserve. Can you say Atari ST? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif I used one for years to do MIDI. Even when other processors were speeding up and getting down the road, the ST was STILL sailing. And, there were some things you could do with desktop publishing way back in the latter mid 80s that I *STILL* haven't been able to find anywhere else, and this is even though I've got Pentium and Power Mac stuff that I finally needed get to accommodate digital audio and more hardware-MIDI support musically, and some other chores. It was always VERY clear that Atari should have named the computers something different. (Then, in tiny print it could have said "A division of the Atari Electronics Corporation"... something like that if they just had to.) > Is anyone here a GM owner? Tried any of their synths? > Your impressions? Well, I've got the General Music RealPiano module, and I really like the sound a great deal. Baldwin has digital pianos that sounds really good (it's the GM RealPiano) but all but the RP-200 have action I don't like. Just a personal thing, though... action. I didn't like the GM action on the Pro 1 (or 2?) - 88 keys weighted - so I got the module. I've got other digital piano sounds that or OK for certain things, but if the piano's going to hang out by itself without an ensemble for any time, the RealPiano does really well. I'm sure that as it stands now, the only way I'd change the piano thing would be to do the Gigasampler piano with ALL keys sampled several velocities and no looping. But I haven't heard it, and I'm pleased with GM's piano. They've got some pretty weighty agreement on that, too... Don Grusin and I believe David Foster. Of course one always wonders if these folks get their cars waxed or something!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormhole Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 quote: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com: Ooh! I actually thought of one that was worse than the nord: the Marion MSR-2. The sound didn't work on anything, and there was a lot of latency between note on and audible output. I even sent it back for a mod that was supposed to fix the problem. No luck. I'd give the thing away, but the recipient would hate me forever. I'll take it.. wormholeprod@yahoo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansouth Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Send me an email and let me know where to ship it. I'll go out to the garage and see if I can find it. I think it's stil out there, but I may have tossed it in last year's spring cleaning frenzy. I'll let you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansouth Posted February 21, 2001 Share Posted February 21, 2001 Worm, I still have the MSR2, and it's yours if you want it. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay da cop Posted February 21, 2001 Share Posted February 21, 2001 Hay Dave, I just picked up a used Generalmusic S2R from my old bandmate, who just bought a Triton pro, and I love it!!! It loads samples (not a lot, but it does), has 1000+ sounds, and is very cool sounding, and isn't a bear to edit. Now, the poly800 was my 1st synth also, and I wasn't long in getting rid of it, but I picked up an Alphajuno1 to replace it. I'd say it's a tossup. The VFX I had broke down a lot and was expensive to fix with it's main board replacements, but I have an old SQ80 (got it brand new in '88) that I absolutely love. Too bad it's only 8 note poliphonic. But, I can edit sounds in my sleep with it. With my Peavey analog filter and Quadraverb+ it does some pretty descent analog wanna-be stuff. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted February 21, 2001 Author Share Posted February 21, 2001 Originally posted by JMBA88@aol.com: I just picked up a used Generalmusic S2R from my old bandmate, who just bought a Triton pro, and I love it!!! It loads samples (not a lot, but it does), has 1000+ sounds, and is very cool sounding, and isn't a bear to edit. S2R? Rack version? As I mentioned before, I really liked the S2/S3...great sound set, wonderful feeling keybed, nice filters, big easy-to-read display, 8 sliders, and a big, nasty on-board sequencer with like 250,000 events, or something like that... If they had only used another name for their company... dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joegerardi Posted February 21, 2001 Share Posted February 21, 2001 Dansouth: If Wormhole doesn't want it, I'll take it off your hands. Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vespamusling.dk Posted February 21, 2001 Share Posted February 21, 2001 Originally posted by Dave Bryce: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve44 Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com: Worm, I still have the MSR2, and it's yours if you want it. Dan I never got to hear that thing but was disappointed that it disappeared so quickly.. I guess the only reason why I cared was because Tom Oberheim built it and I love old OB's. It's a shame to hear it sucked. Did they ever come out with the expansion cards for it? If I had abit of dough I might buy yours off you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 My worst-ever experience was with a Roland D-70. It had LFOs that would slow down as you added notes to a chord. Need I say more? OK, I will...it had buggy MIDI and would crash from time to time. My dealer at the time agreed to take it back because I told him I would get something else from him. That "something else" was a JD-800. I was much, much happier. Go tell someone you love that you love them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansouth Posted February 27, 2001 Share Posted February 27, 2001 Originally posted by joegerardi: Dansouth: If Wormhole doesn't want it, I'll take it off your hands. Joe - I'll give Worm another week or so to get back to me, otherwise it's yours. The unit was shipped back to the factory for a mod that speeds up attack times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbrock1san.rr.com Posted February 27, 2001 Share Posted February 27, 2001 I played something brand new that just screams "high suck factor". It's the Roland RS-9. It has dreadful presets, just unplayable, lame sounds. I know it's a lower-price synth but it's a step in the wrong direction for Roland. I wonder what others who have played it think. On the other hand, some of the Yamaha keyboards designed for the home market(built-in speakers) have the most amazing, huge pipe organ sounds I've ever heard. Pretty good samples and touch sensitive keys for 3 or 400 dollars. Not the kind of thing I would buy but just an observation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted March 19, 2006 Author Share Posted March 19, 2006 I noticed someone had been looking at this old thread, and thought it might be a fun bump to hear what the current forum members have to say... dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clavinovaguyusa Posted March 19, 2006 Share Posted March 19, 2006 Akai also made the AX-73, I still have one in mint condition in the box. It accepted samples from the early Akai sampler units. Backing up the memory is possible with a cassette tape machine. It's listed as a much underrated synth. The tuning on it was a real pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F7sound - Posted March 19, 2006 Share Posted March 19, 2006 I'd love to try to circuit bend a Poly 800. I did it to another "suck" synth, the Casio CZ-101, and it's become one of my favorites! Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.F7sound.com http://www.regurgitron.com http://www.LaptopNoise.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted March 19, 2006 Author Share Posted March 19, 2006 Originally posted by F7sound -: I'd love to try to circuit bend a Poly 800. I did it to another "suck" synth, the Casio CZ-101, and it's become one of my favorites! Having heard your music, I completely believe that... Do you have an Evolver, Michael? I'd love to hear what sort of sonic mayhem you'd wring out of one of those... dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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