Nord Wave or DSI Prophet 08 - or something else?

[threlf]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at changing my style of music making from dance music to more electropop/indie rock - especially playing with live bands. I'd like to get a hardware synth (preferably analog or virtual analog). At the moment I'm thinking either a Nord Wave or a Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08.

The kind of stuff I'm looking at playing and writing would be influenced by Alex Metric, Editors, Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Radiohead, Two Door Cinema Club, Van She etc. Also, David Bowie ala "Low" era.

What kind of synth would you guys recommend? A polyphonic keyboard is a must.

Thanks

Andrew

[Hanon_CTS]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at changing my style of music making from dance music to more electropop/indie rock - especially playing with live bands. I'd like to get a hardware synth (preferably analog or virtual analog). At the moment I'm thinking either a Nord Wave or a Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08.

The kind of stuff I'm looking at playing and writing would be influenced by Alex Metric, Editors, Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Radiohead, Two Door Cinema Club, Van She etc. Also, David Bow ala "Low" era.

What kind of synth would you guys recommend? A polyphonic keyboard is a must.

Thanks

Andrew

Hello threlf,
Welcome to the forums

Hi Andrew,
do you have a specific budget in mind?
Do you envision ever needing Piano, Electric Piano, Clavs, and Organ?

Cheers, Hanon

[sakari]

access virus?

[threlf]

Hey Hanon!

For a synth, probably around $1,500-2,000 Australian dollars (similar to US). I'm also getting a Nord Piano 2 soon. I'm a trained pianist, so I prefer with weighted hammer action board for playing piano at gigs.

As far as the synth goes, I want something with more character and a hands on approached as opposed to using soft synths.

Thanks, Sakari, I'll check out the virus

[threlf]

Would you say the Nord Wave is capable of really analog sounds like the synths in this song?

[Hanon_CTS]

Hello threlf,
The Wave is a very capable synth.
I'd have to give the nod to the Prophet 08 for this one.

The advantage of the Wave would be that in addition to good synth capabilities, it can also use samples as a sound source to be processed through virtual synth architecture.

Whereas the Prophet is just a great synth.

I watched a couple videos of the Editors live.
It looked as if they had a MIDI'd acoustic piano, Moog Minimoog Voyager, Korg Microsampler on stage.

I agree with sakari that an Access Virus could be a good possibility.
I've owned the Virus KB and it was great.
The TI2 may be on the upper edge of your price range.

Cheers, Hanon

[mjbrands]

If you're thinking about getting a Nord Piano 2 but are also interested in a Wave, maybe you should have a look at the Nord Stage 2? Yes, the Nord Piano 2 has a synth section and can play samples, but it is rather limited. The Nord Stage 2 gets you Nord's organs (which you may not be interested in) but also about 60-70% of the functionality of the Nord Wave (as far as the synth section goes). Note that the Nord Piano (both 1 and 2) does come with the tripple pedal as standard, while it is an optional extra for the Stage (increasing the price difference).

[BiscoMix]

If you are looking into DSI products, would recommend considering a DSI Tempest. It has a powerful analog part together with digital oscillators (in a sense, it's an "evolved" evolver), a nice sequencer and many hands-on controls. And future upgrades are said to make a full-blown 6-voice, 4 oscillator-per-voice synth out of this little beast.

I own both the Wave and the Prophet '08, they mix well together. One should mention however that the sound of the Prophet is rather harsh, not "Oberheim-smooth" (as compared to my OB Matrix 6).

[thom0720]

i would rather compare the Prophet to a Nord Lead over the Nord Wave... if it's analog you want...