Synthesizers: your most loved?, your least loved?

[ThisPoison]

I may well be being unfair to the JP6, but I remember being distinctly underwhelmed by it.

It was in McCormacks in Glasgow in 1984ish, when it was new. I expected a 6 voice JP8, but remember it to be thin and weedy - almost "dry" when the big polys were "wet" if you know what I mean.

I got the same feeling when the sixtrak, max and multitrak appeared soon after - I walked out the shop genuinely not wanting any of them. I had a Juno 6 by then and just didn't see them as "real" SCI synths.

May well just have been the presets - a lot of synths around then were trying to prove they could do everything, which of course they couldn't. There's only so many bells, marimbas, electro toms and plinky pianos a man can take!

In fact I started using two Matrix 6Rs again recently and found the sounds to be terrible compared to my memory. However as soon as I started programming I got great results - maybe it's taste that changes rather than memory !

[Hanon_CTS]

I expected a 6 voice JP8, but remember it to be thin and weedy - almost "dry" when the big polys were "wet" if you know what I mean.

It's interesting to note that the JP-6 used Curtis CEM-3340 oscillators instead of the same chips used in the JP-8.
The sound of the JP-6 had more in common with the OB-8 and Rev 3 Prophet-5 than the JP-8.
There was even a distinct difference between the Rev 2 Prophet 5 and the Rev 3.
The Rev 2 was my favorite of them because the SSM oscillators and filters had a better sound.

I think that the SCI SixTrak and MultiTrak were Siel imports relabeled by SCI.

Cheers, Hanon

[doctorno]

Right now I only have this stripped down synth section in my Nord Stage Ex and some software synths. And although I sometimes miss synths I formerly owned (like the Roland Juno or Nord Lead 2) for the fun of real-time-tweaking, I must say that I can do everything I want with the Nord Stage and a few plug-ins (Tassman 4, Korg Polysix, Korg Wavestation and ImpOscar f.e.).

I love the synth section of the NSEx, it has a wonderfully spartan-like efficiency to it.
I have found that too many choices can lead to indecision.
Some of my most creative sounds were done on synths with limited sets of controls" compared to todays standard".
Cheers, Hanon

[Johannes]

I love the synth section of the NSEx, it has a wonderfully spartan-like efficiency to it.
I have found that too many choices can lead to indecision.

I absolutely agree. While it's very nice to play around e.g., with a Voyager or A6, I keep getting new sound ideas playing around with the NS EX Synth even after three years with it. Very much prefer it over, say, a some low-budget MicroKorg or even the LP (which, on paper, have (arguably) more versatile sounds)!
Plus I love smoothly layering Piano (e.g., Harpsichord) or Organ and Synth sounds on the fly...for this purpose, I bet the NS is the best board out there!

[ADSRLFO]

Strange... nobody speaks about the Oberheim Matrix 12, one of my favorite
The most fun and easy to program whith 5 ADSR, 5 LFO,double large display, 20 modulations ( matrix : source/destination whith almost any parameter )...and a lot of knobs like the NS2

[Hanon_CTS]

Strange... nobody speaks about the Oberheim Matrix 12, one of my favorite
The most fun and easy to program whith 5 ADSR, 5 LFO,double large display, 20 modulations ( matrix : source/destination whith almost any parameter )...and a lot of knobs like the NS2

Hello ADSRLFO,
the M12 is a cool synth when it comes to features, less so when it comes to sound.
I had one over on the right, sandwiched between my Memorymoog+ and Prophet 5.

I was quite disappointed with the M12, "so it's closer to being my least loved".
I had hoped to recapture the power and majesty of the OB-X, of which, my OB-8 fell short as well.
It isn't that it's a terrible synth, just that it didn't live up to the hype and expectations. It had a dreadfully "plasticky" keyboard, not at all like the typical Pratt-Reed keyboard of it's predecessors.

Still, the M12 is a sonic sight to behold when properly programmed to take advantage of it's unusually complex modulation routings.

I nearly brought the roof down several times by midi'ing together the M12, Memorymoog+, prophet 5, and Jupiter-8 "kenton midi retrofitted".

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I had an ARP Quadra, which was kind of a really cool sleeper synth combo that I wouldn't mind having another one of.

But that might simply be "Nostalgic GAS" talking

Cheers, Hanon

[ADSRLFO]

I agree for the sound...It depends the sound you're looking for... the M12 is not a polyvalent or dynamic synth, rather on the warm side, in this way , whith the matrix modulation, it's hard to beat

Cheers !

GR

[DoctorC]

Loved most: Oberheim OB-1
Loved least: Yamaha DX9

[Michael Wright]

I am enjoying an old Korg 01Wfd I bought last year.
Someone mentioned about nostalgia, I kinda miss my PolySix, but it probably didn't sound as good as I remember! I do not miss my JX-8P, but it might sound better than I remember. I had sold my CP-70 years ago, and then it turned up in a piano store last year.
I was tempted to buy it back, but played it and thought well been there, and its hard to move. The flight cased were not with it. For the price I should have bought it
just for old times sake.
Cheers Mike
PS should mention the DX-7 in the basement.....least loved.

[Hanon_CTS]

@DoctorC and ouananiche

That DX series was a (love it) or (hate it) synth.
It's fans and detractors were equally polarized.
I got some great analog synths as a result of the rush to buy them.
People were bringing heaping wheelbarrows full of great analog gear to trade for just one DX-7.

I was only ever marginal at best when programming sounds for the beastie (and I had a DX-1).

I've always enjoyed my 01R/W it's really a great legacy synth from the 90s.

Cheers guys, thanks for sharing.
Hanon