Synths

[Consult%UMASS.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]

Well....I was reading Love Hounds and discovered someone directing
another person into buying very questionable equiptment.....  I am a
student at UMass in Computers, Recording, and Recording Tech.  so I
have played a lot of synths.....my advice is this...don't go with a
synth.....you will probably be bored in a week or two...  especially
if you are a Kate Bush fan....her wonderful textures come almost
solely from Fairlight CMI III sampling.....so...my list of best
buys.....

1. Casio FZ-1...16 bit sampling...lotta time..individual outs...  good
	graphic interface...wonderful..WONDERFUL sound...and at a mere
	$1547.00 (Sam Ash NYC)...a great bargain....

2. Korg DSS-1...12 bit sampling...good time...allows the mixture of
	synth timbres with sampled ones...very clean sound...good
	interface..  about $1200.00 (again SA NYC).

3. Ensoniq ESQ-1...not a sampler...but a good buy....I own one and
	have been fairly happy with it....or go with the Ensoniq
	SQ-80....  a better version of the ESQ-1 with more waveforms
	and a disk drive..  among other features....about $1590..for
	SQ-80...about $1100.00 for the ESQ-1 new ( I don't know where
	John saw it for $900.00, but would like to find out).....

4. In the budget range....Roland MT-32...hot little D-50 in a box...
	includes drums and wonderful percussion....about $575...be
	aware, however, that you will need a keyboard to drive it and
	a computer to edit it......another budget unit of high quality
	is the Yamaha TX81Z....about $475...8 voice multi-timbral DX-7
	in a box...though not as good...you will need the keyboard,
	again, but no computer to edit this sucker.......

My general advice is this...ask yourself a couple basic questions....
1. Do you have a computer to do sequencing on? Otherwise you will have
to either buy a synth with a sequencer or a separate sequencer....  2.
Money....this stuff costs a lot.......don't fool yourself....given the
option...I would wait and save up as much as you can and get a good
sampler..  the prices on equiptment like this is coming down
greatly....so wait....

I think it is also important to realize that anything you buy in the
synth world today will be outdated in a week...learn to live with this
fact....  and my last piece of advice is DON'T buy the Kawai 5 .....
while it has an excellent interface, and MIDI set up, and is 16
voice..the sound is very weak and will remain weak unless you are the
best of programmers...  above all.....learn before you buy.....buy and
read Keyboard and Music Tech magazines.....ask people...try things
out.....  if you have any questions...or if anyone on LH has any
questions regarding anything to do with recording...feel free to send
mail to me at "Consult@UMass"...I will be glad to help you......

Damian Roskill