I’ve been using an Alesis QS6 recently, it has some really nice sounds on it IMO but you wouldn’t know from the demos on yt!

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I’m very curious about patch base. You recommend it?

How are your knobs on the XT? Mine are all crumbling so I’ve purchased a big bag of replacements. Changes the look for sure but not the sound.

yeap. Great support with a growing list of synths. Check their facebook page for more day to day updates.

Check this out if you haven’t already

https://www.monstrummedia.com/product/wavext/

The cool thing is you can lock certain parameters before randomization. Which also means you can load a patch of your own and then randomize variations.

Wow, an entire thread about digital synths and not a single mention of Nord…

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does anyone else fondly remember Sealed’s Deep Synthesis Page? (so many broken links now :frowning_face:) – it was a treasure trove of info on then-forgotten-and-mostly-affordable gear, and the demos were gorgeous and weird and showed off some really clever programming tricks.

I’ll join the chorus of Ensoniq fans. I have no intention of ever giving up my ESQ-1, and I loved my EPS while it lasted – recorded an album, toured with it as my main sequencer, switching floppy disks between songs… it broke my heart when my EPS stopped working, not least because it did so by completely losing the beat in the middle of a show and never quite recovered. The ESQ-1 interface is remarkably friendly for a ‘data entry slider’-based synth – basically any parameter you might want to edit is 1-2 button presses away. And I’d be very happy to see VF displays make a comeback.

I love the Wavestation sound (which also features on the album I linked above), but I gave mine up in the end because the bizarre memory architecture, where a small(ish) number of wave sequences are shared between a much larger number of patches, and patches shared between ‘performances’, all without an easy way to tell which other patches/performances the thing you were editing might be used in, made me too nervous to really enjoy programming it. Might consider a Wavestate someday if I ever decide to go full new age keyboardist… has anyone here used/owned one?

Oh, and I’d be remiss not to mention the Yamaha TQ-5, the first proper MIDI synth I ever bought. Took me a while when I was first researching it to realize the photos I was seeing of it weren’t all artistically cropped, it actually looks like that (and from that moment, I was sold). Great internal reverbs. Lots of patches available online, from what I remember; TX81z patches are mostly compatible.

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Mine are fine, except for the main volume knob, which is a bit wobbly.

I think in this case, it’s the pot the knob is attached to, rather than the knob itself.

It still works fine, so I’ve not tried investigating any further.

It seems the XT shipped with several different knob types, incidentally.

Mine has ones like these (not my cat):

Which ones did yours have?

Yeah I have the earlier style knobs which are tall and tapered. The material those were made of is disintegrating for most owners and finding similar replacements in quantity is a lot. It’s freaky the first time it happens - you’re turning the knob and it just splinters into pieces in your fingers. I settled for cheapo generic plastic plated aluminum knobs as it became apparent it was not going to be easy to get anything that looked like the originals. It’s not like anyone sees my set up and I’ve never sold gear, just given it away.

Whoa, that sounds horrible…

I think the tapered knobs are from later runs of the XT, actually.

Mine seems to be one of the early batches, with a slightly protruding clear cover over the display, and a matte, slightly textured coating to the panel.

Your model has a better-quality DAC, apparently (though mine still sounds pretty good, to my, admittedly untrained ear).

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Yes, the tapered knobs are later, and only version 3 supports the 30 voice expansion board.

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Maybe he’s a bit… abrasive, but Jexus has a lot of old synth demos and also reviews on his website. He was dormant for a few years, but his older stuff is mostly 80’s/90’s/00’s. The sounds he can coax out of any synth will sell you on it, but his commentary is also useful.

As for me, I <3 the Blofeld, and second the recommendation of the Reface DX… its modulation capabilities are somewhat restricted, but embracing them can lead to fantastic results. :slight_smile:

I used a ESQ-1, and I think it has a really cool interface, but I didn’t fall in love with it. (Heck, if anyone from Pittsburgh wants it, hit me up.)

The Casio HT-700 is a fun instrument, but frustratingly limited, and with a really annoying interface for programming (like an Alpha Juno where the dial remembers what position it’s at and has hard stops, so you always need to find your place in the parameter list because it’ll be different once you’ve changed the value.) If you can get one cheap, go for it.

Lastly, my old roommate at one point was given an SY77 with some missing keys that had sat out in the rain as payment for reparing a Juno, and… I loved that thing. Sure, it’s a ROMPLER that I never wanted to program, but the presets and the sounds on it are just good and musical. <3

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Yay. Looks ugly but sounds better? I’ll take it!

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The tapered type knobs on my MWXT were crumbling/cracking so I replaced them with the chroma caps ones. Looks pretty good IMHO.

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Wow, you have a Shadow Edition XT, you lucky thing…

Knobs look good!

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Yes - love those knobs way more than mine!

I went with these replacements on my Q some years ago after the original knobs disintegrated.

(Got on a group buy for these, but it was like 8-10 years ago)

Q was 1999 so just barely in scope for this thread :laughing: (well that and it’s virtual analog so…)

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In addition to having multi-outs a newer Blofeld with more knobs I think would be a big win for me.

Maybe you tried it and still found it thin anyway, but I feel like a lot of people seemed to trash it as being thin/cold/sterile, and if I had older Waldorf gear I might feel the same way put side by side, but also a lot of patches and I get the feeling users kinda ignored things like the “drive” function which IMO actually make a VERY big difference in sound. its certainly more hassle to tweak via menu without an editor but trying the different drive functions on different filters with different waveforms and volume levels really offers a lot of control and can be really subtle to fuzzy or blown out clipping. I wonder if the idea there was to give people something that is very clean by default and to let them warm or muddy it up as they see fit.

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Yes, the interface is a big pro to the XT.

I mean on paper the Blofeld seems to have fewer artifacts and higher resolution filters. My guess is the DAC is superior but maybe not the line amps (which is equally important). Certainly the line amps on the Quantum seem a big step up.

In any case, the XT has a kind of low midsy veiled quality going on even when things get crazy which I think is more musical than the Blofeld. You often don’t need the 2nd filter to mellow things out. Can be harsh in patch design but not harsh to the ear.

I also prefer the XT’s digital filters to a lot of recent vst filters, even though the tech is much older.

Of course, like I implied, the Microwave I has the best raw sound, but is limited in comparison in terms of filter type (same with Blofeld to lesser extent) lack of 8 stage wave envelope, and interface again.

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on the Quantum at that price they better be :scream:

I can’t remember what the retail was on the Blofeld when it was first released, or say the XT when it first came out aside from them being high enough I knew I wasn’t going to be getting one at the time. Maybe its just my mind vs inflation but the Quantum just seems nuts to me. but… I’m getting more and more off topic when the Blofeld isn’t even really a 80s/90s synth itself anyway…

Maybe they also aren’t so relevant in the age of cheap modular filters, but I was always curious about the miniworks 4 Pole and the X Pole though.

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