i am planning on saving up towards a synth to mess about on at home (and try and make weird noises/soundscapes/bad vangelis covers with).

i have a couple on shortlist that i am interested in

would like to be able to do a bit of everything i suppose (would like to try and do some ambient/d n b/trance/soundscape type stuff if i can).

i do like the mininova i have to admit (from watching youtube vids) both sound wise and control layout (also seen it online for £230),but i know that it doesn’t have a sequencer/drum machine. (the roland does but it’s an extra £100+ to buy).

also don’t know much about programming sounds e.t.c so something that was easy to understand would be great also (i think both novation and roland have software for the synths).

just wondering what you might recommend? ta 🙂

If you have an iPad there are some very capable synths to download for only a few notes. Some of the korg ones are well worth a look at.

Not used either of them but if you want to get into programming them having dedicated nobs for all the parameters makes it way easier/more fun IMO.

For proper STW points though you’ll want something analogue. Have a look at the Arturia MiniBrute/MicroBrute.

Are you going to be using it for gigs or just at home? As above there are lots of good software synths and you can control them using your synth or just a MIDI controller. Dedicated synths are better for live stuff IMO.

will only be using it at home (am not a musician i have to say/my guitar playing will attest to it).

i must admit that i was planning on the hardware synth route,but i will look at the vst options as well.

There are some amazing VSTs out there but having a dedicated box is quite nice. Sound quality differences are arguable. 🙂

I’ve got a Novation Nova and it’s a nice little synth for pads, have a play around with some soft synths before you splurge any cash though.

The synth player has the worst haircut

I may be looking at this the wrong way, but for me it would be whatever I could get that spanned the most notes (at least 5 octaves) and most FX/knobs/sliders so I’d have the greatest amount of control over whatever software I was using.

I’m assuming there’s a laptop/pc involved somehow.

I’d be looking at the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch with a midi controller type keyboard, something from ik multimedia, perhaps?

With the iPad, etc you’ve got something to record your work to via audiobus to GarageBand.

Worth dropping by your Apple Store and see if they’ll let you try the korg, arturia and waldorf nave apps on various devices to see what fits or have a gander on YouTube for demos of the iPad/iPod music apps.

There’s some great vids on YouTube of the animoog app which give a fairly insight into synthesis.

Oh, and if you can stretch, connect your synth virtual or hardware to a bass guitar amp.
Still on my to-do list 😀

Check out the minibrute, quite a lot fun when I had a go on one.

Before you splurge on a one-trick box, muck about with Caustic for a bit. The modular synth is ace fun and will do lots of what you’re after, there’s a nice 303-ish emulator thing, and the PCM synth is basically a full-featured sampler. Tons of other stuff in there too, nice effects, mixer, sequencer, etc. Play with that for nowt instead of splurging cash on a one-trick box. It’s free on Windows/OS X and to demo on Android/iOS (save-enabled costs a few quid).

thanks,alas i should have added that i don’t have an i phone/pad e.t.c (my phone is an ancient p.a.y.g from tesco).

i do have a ps vita,but alas there isn’t any synth type software (no music at all in fact for it/a big shame as it would be ideal for plug in type stuff).

The MicroKorg and Microkorg XL are great little synths (little in size, but both put out some big sounds)
The advantage of the XL is that has a USB port, which the original lacks, so can also be used more easily as a Midi controller for VSTis.

I’ve got and still use and original MK. The preset sounds on it are a bit dated now, but you can edit and play around with all the parameters, and for such a ‘little’ synth it really sounds spot on. Though if you have sausage fingers avoid it as the keys are quite small.

zynaddsubfx

iPad synth might be great, but I would prefer real buttons and sliders.
So another vote for the Arturia Microbrute.

..or go all the way with these modules :
http://www.doepfer.de/home_e.htm

I’d buy abelton live 9, and any cheap keyboard(I’ve got a novation impulse 25 key.). Abelton is the important bit. 🙂

Buy the novation, you get live 9 lite with it, which is shite, but worth learning. Then once learned, buy abeltion, 250 quid or so. The suite is better mind you but that’s about 400 quid. Then start googling midi devices.

Have a look at some of the arturia stuff. The microbrutes are great. And the “lab” series run with software to ape some of the classics.

http://Www.arturia.com/products

Oh yeah, plus 1 for ableton! Classic synth pack is awesome.

Ableton is very good. If you’re looking at soft synths then NI Massive is the standard for making ‘EDM’ *shudder*

The reason to buy the suite btw is so that you get the Max for live devices(It’s a visual programming language aswell). They’re pretty good. I’ve no had to look at Vsts since really. Well I use Amplitube for guitar amps, but that’s it..

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNb-RSlmIA0[/video]

you need to know how to do this with one;
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIKlTufWeJU[/video]

personally i wasn’t a huge fan of the mininova – i found it a bit bland and ‘softsynthy’. But it wasn’t terrible, and is probably a reasonable option for the money.

ignore all this guff about the Arturia microbrute. It’s a fine synth but it’s monophonic (i.e. you can’t play chords) and as such is completely unsuited to doing Vangelis style stuff.

Indeed if Vangelis is your bag then bear in mind that both of those keyboards you mention have pretty tiny keyboards – i’d suggest taking yourself down to the nearest synth shop if possible and having a bit of a play. A cheapish MIDI controller keyboard, a copy of Reaper or Fruityloops on the PC and some free software synths might be a cheaper route in…

Reason and a controller (something with pads to get your drum on)

If you’re dead set on hardware, the Mikrokorg is probably a good start