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Fiftynerds
4
Mar 14, 2016
I've been looking to get into synthesizers, but I don't own any equipment yet. This seems like a good place to start, particularly with the low price, but does anybody on here with experience have an opinion as to whether this is a good first machine to get or if I should maybe look into something different?
dtard
30
Mar 14, 2016
FiftynerdsAs a first instrument, it's definitely meh. You can read a lot of reviews to see that the sounds are sub-par, but not unusable if you can beef them up with external effects. As a piece of equipment at this price point, it isn't all that bad. If the knobs would transmit MIDI (they don't because they're analog), I'd buy this in a heartbeat, but this is a good price for a 32-step step sequencer.
So as a piece of gear alone I'd say no, but with some other gear it's worth a look. It also looks pretty promising for modding.
lobster
687
Mar 15, 2016
FiftynerdsI have the tom cat which is basically the same thing with slightly different sounds. It sounds great to me--deep rumbling bass in the kick drum. it's a good drum machine and sequencer. It needs to be combined with something else to make music--like a mono or polyphonic synth to play notes. If you look at korg's volca line, the akai rhythm wolf or tom cat would work in place of the volca beats. The volca keys and volca bass help make it complete
Fiftynerds
4
Mar 15, 2016
dtardThanks for the response. I have read some reviews and watched several videos, and from what I can tell without having used it in person I like the sound it has going for it. I definitely do recognize that it has limitations, though, and I would definitely be adding to this later with some other gear (potentially the volca series as mentioned below, or maybe a microbrute or something) if all goes well.
Fiftynerds
4
Mar 15, 2016
lobsterThanks for the recommendations. I've also been looking into some other gear to pair with it, such as the volca keys and/or bass or the arturia microbrute, which I probably should have mentioned in my original comment. I suppose I didn't because I was intending to purchase this first since it's on sale now and then I could get a little taste of what I can do with these instruments before going all out and buying a ton of gear.
Cure-72
5
Jun 16, 2016
Fiftynerdsarturia microbrute, novation mininova, korg microkorg, novation bass station, korg ms20 mini, all great starting synthesizer, this is a great drum machine but not really a good starting "Synth"
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