Synths?

[Gregg Juke]

FWIW, I definitely did have "Little Yellow Box Envy" the first time I saw a Mopho demo video...

GJ

[Dakota]

My 2 cents - if the OP is just getting into this, agreed that analog synths are the magic thing to discover and explore, despite the limitations. Time later to get pragmatic about reliability and flexibility for gigging. As far as prices - keep an eye on craigslist and be patient for deals. Two good vintage choices in the OP's price range not mentioned yet are the Concertmate/Realistic/Moog MG-1 and the Arp Odyssey (the foil to the Minimoog). Maintenance costs should be factored in as part of the outlay, not that much different than owning vintage amps, guitars, studio gear.

[b3groover]

True, but you could say that about any piece of vintage vs. modern gear; reconditioned microphones, even

Indeed. But the thing about vintage vs. modern gear is that while different, one is not inherently better than the other, despite what we may want to believe. They are just different.

Analog synths have a sound and charm their own, which is not reproducible by any digital synth trying to sound analog. Of course, you don't have to worry about oscillators going out of tune and such on modern gear. I mentioned it because the OP seemed to asked about such things in a specific price range.

GJ

I agree, but they are getting REALLY close with digital emulations these days. Have you played with Zebra? It's pretty amazing sounding and nails the breathy-ness of the classic Oberheim filter.

My point is that the real cost of vintage gear is oftentimes hidden. All vintage gear needs maintenance, some more than others. In terms of analog synths, as a general rule the keyboard mechanisms made today are much more robust than their vintage counterparts. Ditto for power supplies.

Like anything, it's a trade-off. If I was a synth noob, I'd go for one of the modern options first. My two cents.

[kslight]

I just think that the market is wrong to buy most vintage synths if you are a player, and not a collector or independently wealthy. When I bought a lot of vintage synths 10 years ago they were cheap and sounded cool...they required some maintenance at times but they were cheap so it didn't matter much. I would not pay today's eBay prices for a vintage synth...I watch Craigslist for deals and they do pop up occasionally but the hype and maintenance and long term reliability (you should be aware that many synths of old require parts that cannot be obtained any more) of a vintage synth generally doesn't live up to the value of the upfront investment. All vintage synths are pushing 25-30 years, which is pushing the expected lifespan of at least the capacitors inside the machine, and likely you would be teeter tottering on the end of the life on any chips, transistors, keyboard mechanisms, etc... Since most people don't service the machine until something fails then you could pay a premium for something that is doomed to imminent failure if it hasn't been taking care of. I've also received broken synths in the mail, so definitely buy local if you can.

It's not all doom and gloom but something you should factor in when choosing the
model of synth you want and how much you pay for it. I'm all about used gear but I am very careful when it comes to anything vintage, I can't afford to be a collector...my keys have to work on stage.

[red-noise]

In that price range, I really like:

Sequential Circuits Pro-One: Sounds great, very flexible, can route external audio through the filters. Has a built-in sequencer which is fun to play with too. There's no sample & hold function, although it does offer white noise as a source.

Arp Odyssey: The envelopes are not as punchy as the Pro-One, but you can get more extreme modulations for weird sci-fi effects. Unfortunately the faders are often problematic and replacing them is difficult. Note that there were 3 different versions with different filters and options for CV control. Mk1 & Mk2 usually go for more than a grand, but the rev 3 (black and orange) is in your price range, sounds great, and came standard with all the CV / gate i/o.

Moog The Rogue is small and cheap, but sounds good. Some people are also ok with the MG-1 (the consumer version). You can buy one of these to get the classic Minimoog sound for a small fraction of the $$$ of a Mini. Good for traditional leads & bass, but not flexible enough modulations to get crazy new sounds out of it.

All three of these can be controlled by CV/gate (except some early Odysseys), and MIDI retrofits are also available.

[iamthecosmos]

I was looking an MS-10 or other vintage synth, but I eventually got around to buying a Little Phatty to replace a slightly unreliable (as in random patch settings mid-song, rare but disastrous) Bass Station and I'm extremely pleased with it. It's got thick analogue awesomeness but with much more stability. It's expensive for sure but worth the extra cash.

For gigs I'd say get a tuner pedal as it isn't rock solid with tuning unless it's been on for a while (starts sharp usually), but it doesn't deviate much once it's set. It's also been great for adding some super low-end to a distorted bass part using the external input.