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 2007 Korg CX-3 Combo Organ Here's the factory spiel: The classic sound of a tone wheel organ, long considered unattainable even with modern technology, has been recreated to absolute perfection. Introducing the CX-3, the result of KORG's meticulous re-thinking of combo organ sound, keyboard touch, and classic appearance. Using its newly developed Tone Wheel Organ Modeling generator, KORG's advanced DSP technology precisely recreates the unique sound that, until now, could only be produced by a tone wheel organ. Two different tone wheel sounds are provided ("VINTAGE" and "CLEAN"), and the CX3's amazing realism extends to such details as allowing you to add the mechanical noise generated by the tone wheels (Leakage) and the ability to adjust the overtone levels of the tone wheels. Plus, you can connect an expression pedal and control volume and sound characteristics with your foot. MORE My Thoughts: Most of the music I love (and perform live with my band) is anchored by the fantastic sound of the great Hammond B3 Organ. But the synths I use to get that sound are very plain-jane vanilla sounding and offer virtually NO realtime controllers to shape and massage the tones - a key component of playing the B3. Unfortunately, buying one is expensive ($4K and up), maintaining one is a pain-in-the-arse, and carting one from gig to gig is impossible (due to the size and weight - not to mention no local stages large enough to contain one AND the band!). So the only practical solution is a clone-wheel - a dedicated keyboard that recreates the classic Hammond sound using virtual-modeling technology. Weighing just 35 lbs. (instead of 400+ lbs.!), and small enough to fit on any standard synth stand - the Korg CX3 is as close to sounding like the real thing as you can get in a clone-wheel. Real drawbars, a real V/C rotary switch, real Percussion switches... even a virtual Rotating "Leslie Speaker" simulation! Needless to say - I'm in heaven! 2006 Korg Radias Here's the factory spiel: Past, present, and future come together in one thrilling instrument that is every synthesist's dream. With a bold new approach that is at once both daring and familiar, RADIAS exceeds common analog expectations and rapidly takes off for uncharted territories. Based on Korg's cutting-edge MMT engine, this 24-voice synthesizer offers a variety of synthesis algorithms together with multiple effects, new comb filter and wave shaping features, modulation sequencing, as well as new formant-motion vocoding. RADIAS offers an innovative design that can be custom configured to suit your set-up. The control module can be used independently or teamed with the unique dedicated keyboard, creating a seamlessly integrated instrument that delivers the sounds of the future, today. MORE My Thoughts: Ever since selling my Yamaha AN1X a number of years ago I have longed to get another VA (Virtual Analog) synth. My favorite synth sounds are just that - SYNTHETIC sounds, not pianos, horns, strings etc. I grew up idolizing Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman and I loved the spacey 'new' sounds they evoked from their ARPs and MOOGs. Now Korg has raised the bar once again with the release of the Radias, which boasts an incredible synth engine capable of producing out-of-this-world sounds never heard before, in addition to the bread and butter anaolg sounds of yesteryear. I am just getting my feet wet with this one - it is DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! I am enthralled with Techno/Trance/Dance music however and this baby revels in those genres so expect to see LOTS of new songs coming out of the RP studio soon! 2002 Roland Fantom-S Here's the factory spiel: Roland's Fantom-S workstation keyboard is a complete solution for professional music production. The 61-note Fantom-S features seamless integration of audio and MIDI-plus advanced sampling with realtime timestretch, sample chop and new ®Skip Back Sampling.® A Dynamic Pad Bank makes it easy to arrange and trigger audio, while all-new factory sounds, an onboard mastering processor and USB file exchange give the Fantom-S the power to take your music from idea to completion.
My Thoughts: Wow! I once thought that I would never need another hardware synth - that softsynths were the way to go (see softsynth section below). But now that I am un-retired and playing in a classic rock band again, I needed to get a new board because the SY85 is getting a little flaky (disk drive & switch issues), plus I needed a backup in case something terrible happened. After much research I narrowed my choices down to the Roland Juno-G, the Alesis Fusion 6HD and the Korg TR61 which are all about $1,000 new. Well, while browsing at my local Guitar Center I spied this used Fantom-S for $699 - surely a mistake as they typically fetch $1K used. Well it WAS a mistake and they tried to back out of selling it by saying that something "is wrong with it" and whatever - but I said "Hmm - it seems fine to me, I'll take my chances" (I had put it thru it's paces for quite a while with no issues). So I traded in a few guitars and some cash and took it home. At first I thought it was just a fancy-ass hiphop/dance machine but after digging deeper I discovered that it was a very versatile keyboard that could do just about anything I would need it to do. And after discovering the built in phrases, rhythms and arpeggios I was making some seriously awesome tracks in no time. So I did a bit more research and found it to be quite a respectable synth with a huge support base. It has since been replaced by the Fantom-X series which offer a larger sample ROM, 128 note polyphony (versus 64 in mine) and a few other enhancements but at $2,000 for the 61-key they are out of my price range. Down the road I'll probably trade up but for now this one suits my needs just fine! 1993 Yamaha SY85 The Yamaha SY85 gets my vote for one of the best Workstations ever made. Its features are numerous and its sound is incredible. The quality of the samples was remarkably good for that era (early-90s) and the effects are simply awesome - especially the Rotary speaker! I have been using mine since 1992 and will never part with it - it's just too good! Here's a cool piece. This DJX is a total groove station®complete with a built-in sampler, way-cool real-time control knobs, 100 very happening groove Patterns and 283 incredible Voices. There's a lot you can do on this 61-full-sized key sample-synth. Switch from one groove pattern to another with ease. Hook up a mic or CD player to the sampler and you®ve got the entire world of sound at your fingertips! Record your guitar, your favorite breakbeat or your mom yelling "turn that down!" and put it in your music. And the analog-style control knobs are oh-so tweakable! Turn the knobs and hear the sounds and rhythms mutate before your ears. There are knobs for Groove, Bass Boost, Cutoff, and Resonance (for mad filter sweeps!). Plus, Yamaha added an Assign knob, where YOU call the shots. Slide your finger along the Ribbon Controller for tons of crazy sound changes. Punch the Beat Reverse key for wild, syncopated, stuttering effects. And there's the built-in Arpeggiator. Hold several notes on the keyboard, then let the DJX work its arpeggio magic®automatically creating funky, hip patterns based on the notes you play. Best of all, it's super-easy to record the grooves you create. Layer up to 6 tracks to make your own original songs. Finally, the DJX is fully MIDI and computer compatible so you can hook up, turn on, and groove out with other MIDI units or software. Probably one of Yamaha's most underated sound module ever! Over 1,500 Hi-Quality XG sounds, 32 part multitimbral, 20MB of sample ROM, 7 effects processors (yes SEVEN!), 64 note polyphony, quad outputs, 2 discreet analog inputs, Physical Modeling plug-in board, Harmonizer plug-in board, the list goes on and on! The sounds are fat and accurate, the controls are simple, there is a free editor out for it and all in 1 rack space with a large LCD display. Ya' gotta love it! 1991 Kawai K4r The Kawai K4R is getting very long-in-the-tooth but still makes some sounds like nothing else. Beautiful pads, searing leads and nice EPs are on tap as well as decent basses, strings, and even drums. The effects routing is convoluted to say the least and the 16-bit samples have a rather unpleasant graininess to them but still it is usable in certain situations and isn't worth much money so why not keep it in the rack? I fire it up maybe once every other year and it never fails to boot and make sounds. Lots of patches were available but I was never really that fond of it so I never collected many of them. Perhaps some rainy Sunday I'll rediscover why I bought it in the first place! 1989 Roland D-550 The D-550 is the rack-mount version of the legendary D-50 synthesizer from Roland. It has an open glassy sound unlike anything else made, and was the first synth to use samples plus synthesis to acheive a more realistic sound. The sound is classic and it has been used extensively on many albums over the years; you can hear it all over many of Michael Jackson's biggest hits from the late 80s as well as many other artists work. I received it recently from a friend in unworking order and quickly got it fixed and have been enjoying exploring the huge library of sounds available for it. For the price (free) it was a godsend. Whether it finds a permanent home in the studio is a foregone conclusion - it sounds GREAT! SoftSynthsI have amassed an incredible collection of software synthesizers that I could NEVER afford in hardware form and it is SO inspiring to hear these accurate recreations of the synths that I grew up lusting after. Here's a list of what I currently use: Applied Acoustics Lounge Lizard - Rhodes, Wurlitzers, etc. Arturia Moog Modular V - Moog Modular Arturia MiniMoog - Moog Minimoog Cakewalk Session Drummer 2 - Drums/Cymbals/Percussion FXPansion BFD - Drums/Cymbals/Percussion Korg Legacy Collection - MS20, PolySix, Wavestation Native Instruments B4 - Hammond B3 Native Instruments FM7 - Yamaha DX7 Native Instruments Pro53 - Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 Native Instruments Electrik Piano - Rhodes,Wurlitzer RGC Audio Pentagon - Virtual Analog Synthesizer I think it's safe to say that I will probably never be able to afford REAL versions of these hardware synths! These synths look great, run fine on my laptop or desktop, are WAY more stable than the old analog gear and sound just as good as, if not better than, most all modern ROMpler based synths. If you haven't tried softsynths yet you don't know what you're missing. All you need is a reasonably fast PC (P4 1.6 Ghz or better), a good quality sound card, and a decent MIDI controller and you will be in HEAVEN! The Arturia CS80 is my favorite and the B4 is a ton of fun too. Download a demo of one today and "see the light" as I did! Arturia LoungeLizard 
Arturia CS80
Arturia Moog Mod
Arturia MiniMoog
Cakewalk Session Drummer 2
FXPansion BFD
Gmedia Oddity
Gmedia impOSCar
Korg Legacy
NI B4
NI FM7
NI Pro53
NI Electrik Piano
RGC Audio Pentagon
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