Synth advice: Triton - Ion - MicroKorg or...?

[Jpp]

Seems like time to finally update my synth hardware. My SY77 is well and good, and it's been good experience learning to use it, but I'm ready for something with knobs and a quicker interface. My application has been some light sequencing, occassional pads and leads in the studio.

I have the opportunity to pick up a 61-key Korg Triton (w/floppy drive, no CD drive, just the plain "Triton", not the Studio, LE or Pro model) for about $600. It seems like a cool rig, though it probably does more than I will really need.

The Alesis Ion has had some good recommendations on this board and feels like it would be appopriate for my skill level and the amount of use it would get. And its cheaper than the Triton.

I've also had a lot of fun with a MicroKorg - love the knobs! - but I don't like the little keys. It's actually the unit that convinced me to get something fresh.

So what else is out there that I should consider? Or is there something that is a better deal all around? $500 is about as high as I can go at the moment, and I'm certainly willing to hear about something that costs half that... so lay it on me.

Thanks,

Jpp

[Jeff White]

For virtual analog, how about a Roland JP8000 or a Korn MS2000? Or a Korg Prophesy?

[apropos of nothing]

I like my Ion. I've had to get the keys cleaned like three times in as many years, though, and I've heard of some reliability issues with the knobs, though haven't experienced same.

Triton for $600 seems like a good deal. That's an LE? If its got the sampling expansion, I think that'd be a good deal. If not... eh. Its still got the media slot from which you can load samples, so its not hopeless.

Have you thought about actual analog? You could get a Prophet-600 or a Roland Juno for about that.

I think I'd do the Triton.

[Jpp]

VA is fun, sure, but I do need something polyphonic. Piano, organ, mini-moog, string and noise-based sounds are what I reach for most often.

Jpp

[apropos of nothing]

Take a look at an "Ensoniq" (Emu/Creative) Halo keyboard. They're going in the 3-400 range, and have a freaking awesome piano sample bank. No sampling, but great arpeggiator. Not as hands-on as the Ion, not as powerful as the Triton, but a great deal. Emu's other keyboards are pretty much the same beast but with different sample roms. They're definitely worth a look.

[cyantologist]

the guy who does keys/synth in my band has an ion and i love it (and he's really happy with it too). i don't have a whole lot of experience playing with it, but it sounds awesome and all the knobs it's got means that you won't go through a billion menus to find what you're looking for. and it looks pretty sweet thanks to all those pretty blinking lights. i guess it depends on what you'll use it for. i'm sure you wouldn't be sorry if you got the triton either though. sound-wise, the triton would probably be the better choice for your piano and pad stuff, but the ion is awesome for good fat synth sounds and it's got some really cool patches. cool pads too, but just not if you're looking for the super realistic stuff that the triton is good for.

[lazarenko]

I'm also looking for a synth to venture in the vast world of shaping sounds but it seems not a single person would go for the same synth if they had to take only one to an island and live there forever and never come back. Welcome to the music world, where everything is subjective. Anyway, I've heard a lot of things about the novation x-station, what do you guys think about this one? I would like to buy one of these: novation x-station, alesis ion or korg microkorg. Plus I would get the little phatty for the real analog thing... I would prolly just buy the phatty if it was poly but thats just not possible... It's really funny I also thought of buying one of these monsters when I tried the microkorg, but then theres so much choice.... help

[bed eternity]

the synth i had most fun with recently was the virus ti. but thats out of your price range. i have a microkorg which i use for any hardware synth purposes. it have any realistic pianos (or any pianos for that matter) or horns or strings but it is great for pads leads and bass lines. why not go to a guitar center and test them out for yourself?

[apropos of nothing]

I haven'tt owned a Novation, but I've heard a lot of people complain about them breaking on'em. Seemed pretty fun and functional when I played one in a music store.


Here's the trick with keyboards: they all do different stuff. Some things one will do a lot better than another, some things you can get all of them to do in varying capacities. Analogs and virtual analogs, you can get pads and leads and clav and electric piano TYPE of sounds, but if you're really looking for something that honest to god sounds like a Rhodes, you really need a sample of a Rhodes, or the thing itself. Samplers are the other end. Very few sample-sets of analog synths are very convincing because there isn't enough flexibility and modulation options programmed into them.

If you have money to throw at it, you can get a multi-trick pony. A good example of this is the Triton series or the Roland V-Synth, which can do sampling and subtractive (VA) style synthesis.

I don't have that kind of cash, so I have three different (inexpensive) keyboards and a few modules and some software, rather than an all-in-one. THere are advantages and disadvantages to this strategy. The plus is that I have all my sound flavors covered, and each keyboard brings certain artifacts to tonal palette. For example, I have three samplers. Each of them imparts a certain sound to samples coming out of them. They can all be big and beefy (though one of them in particular usually needs some bass-boost, but I digress), but because of differences in D/A, they all have different spectral emphases. So if you use multiple keyboards, you're not going to have to either accept a build-up of frequencies in a particular range or sound-design around it. (This situation has gotten a little better as D/A has gotten better).

A friend of mine came up with an adjective coin-age a few years back: he described a track as sounding pretty "workstationy". In other words, a lot of the same type of sounds, not enough variety in timbral emphasis of the patches, and too clean.

That's where analogs and VAs come in. I have a hybrid synth (digital oscillators, analog filter) that usually needs no eq'ing in a mix whatsoever. It doesn't do a super-lot on the realistic end of the spectrum, but when I need a synth-bass that sounds absurdly phat, there is NOTHING else for it.

I like the Ion's arpeggiator a lot, and use it for all kinds of things (try an arpeg on a drum multi-sample set sometime! Good yucks!) The sound is... Okay. I like the fact that it has FM on a knob, which is essentially a make-it-weird-now knob. The synth engine has a signature spectral configuration that's a little... nasal to me. If I run it through an analog filter, I usually start to like it a lot more, I think because of those weird phase properties of analog filters.

So in the price-range, you can go the all-in-one route and get an okay keyboard, or you can get multiple (maybe less-expensive) items over time and have a much broader pallette.

And then there's software. Its getting a lot better.

But yeah, MS2k, Ion, Novation, they're all good options if you want synthy sounds. Trtion, Emu keyboards, some medium-recent Roland stuff, Kurzweil K- series, and like that are going to give you sample-sets.

Think my druthers set-up would be a V-Synth and a DSI Poly-Evolver keyboard. Mmm. Dream on. [/code]

[Jeff White]

My next synth will be a DSI Evolver keyboard, or the Poly Evolver (that's a LOT of cash, though). Thankfully I really like analog mono-synths. I've had my heart set on a Pro-One. My friends own one, and I own a SixTrak (Prophet 610), both are in great shape for being almost 25 yrs old! For the prices of a Pro-One these days + MIDI the Evolver keyboard takes the cake.

Oh, wait, but we were talking about your needs. Sorry.

What about one of the older Roland JV or XP boards? They go for cheapo these days and have a ton of sounds.

Jeff

[vsr600]

you could get a Nord Lead for about that on ebay. Or if you could afford a little more the extra features in the Nord Lead 2 are worth it...

[Jpp]

Thanks, Appropos - that's the sort of perspective that helps a lot. It's really not unlike the questions around "should I get a Strat or a Tele?" - which I have more experience with.

And the keys/synth/other sounds are generally for flavor in my stuff, and keeping the clutter under control is important, so an all-in-one kind of unit is really what I'm after. I hear you on the varied palette and the right tool for the job. If keys were my main thing, I'd certainly diversify a bit more.

Thanks for the opinions, eveyone!

Jpp

[apropos of nothing]

And the keys/synth/other sounds are generally for flavor in my stuff, and keeping the clutter under control is important, so an all-in-one kind of unit is really what I'm after. I hear you on the varied palette and the right tool for the job. If keys were my main thing, I'd certainly diversify a bit more.

That's kind of what I sensed, and why I say if you can get a good deal on the Triton, that's the way to go.

Still, do see if you can find a an Emu keyboard locally to check out. They're pretty cool.

[Meriphew]

My next synth will be a DSI Evolver keyboard, or the Poly Evolver (that's a LOT of cash, though).

The Poly Evolver is my favorite synth out there right now.

[Meriphew]

VA is fun, sure, but I do need something polyphonic. Piano, organ, mini-moog, string and noise-based sounds are what I reach for most often.

Jpp

The Roland JV-1080 goes for about $200 used nowadays. It has some very good 'stock' sounds (ie. general workhorse sounds). It's also expandable via expansion cards. I have 2 JV-1080s in my collection, and I use them all the time.