Captain_Scarlet Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Hi, I'm new to the forum. I've been doing a bit of research as to what synth I should buy. I've just bought an Akai MPC1000 sampler and am looking for a cheap 80s sounding keyboard/synth. Sounds I'm influenced by are Yeasayer, Javelin, Passion Pit. something sounding like that. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loomcore Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 microKorg. Don't know about the XL but I've had the original one for ages and it's a beast. It's pretty cheap too, got mine new a few years ago for like £245; you can probably get the same model second-hand for a pretty good price now. Alternatively, if when you say "'80s-sounding" you mean crap/kitsch, go for a Casiotone. They usually go for <£20 on eBay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Scarlet Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 Funnily enough I've just sold my Microkorg. Was looking about at even yamaha pss models as well. Wanting something very cheap as I've just shelled out quite a bit on the sampler. The casiotone looks pretty sweet I think. Any particular ones you recommend or are you not a fan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loomcore Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Oh I am There's the VL-Tone, a tiny monophonic synth that's also a calculator - it's basically a toy but it sounds great, and, weirdly, features a limited means of synthesising your own sounds in addition to the presets. It's immensely popular; see YouTube for videos of people performing with it. There's a MIDI retrofit for it too, but it's like £40. I managed to pick up an MT-68 for 15 quid t'other day, been pretty pleased with that. Nice and cheesy, and excellent with a few FX units (I use it with a mini Kaoss Pad). Of course there's also the MT-40 which is responsible for basically all of ragga - the Sleng Teng riddim comes from the MT-40 - but I think that normally goes for a bit more, not sure of prices though, sorry. What's nice is that they're analogue, but so charmingly crap that they still go for cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Scarlet Posted July 13, 2010 Author Share Posted July 13, 2010 Thanks for your help. I've been looking about. The one that stood out for me was the casio mt-400v but can't seem to find one on eBay anywhere. With the synths you recommended can you modify the preset sounds and also is there a line out for recording? Probably sounds like a silly question but I'm new to all this. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loomcore Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Depends which one you go for - as they're low-end keyboards (as opposed to a professional synth) most of them feature pretty limited modification capabilities. Of the ones I mentioned before, the VL-Tone has a primitive means of synthesising your own sounds from scratch. The MT-68 has various modifiers such as envelope generators and reverb, but no way of making your own basis sounds. Don't know about the MT-40, haven't got one Your best bet is to use some FX units on the presets, or just leave them as-is and marvel at them in all their cheesy glory Insofar as I know they all have at least a headphone jack - it seems that the Casiotone series have line out as well, but the VL-Tone series don't. Either way I've not had any problems recording from mine. Hope that helped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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