And the Korg 61-key Microkey, which should be out soon, apparently comes with a voucher for the full Legacy collection. It will probably retail for between $100 and $200. But, as you say, you could sell the keyboard afterwards.

+1 on CS 80V. I like my New Age to sound like Vangelis.

Aalto by Madrona Labs

Tassman, Synthmaster, KarmaFX or ACE come to mind, though there is a huge range of good synths in this price bracket, especially with all the offers that happen.

LinPlug Alpha 3

Also Wusikstation for amazing programming, Cakewalk Dimension Pro for lovely sampled sounds...

Why not go for the MemoryMoon ME80 instead, just as good and much better price

How much does it cost? We sell the Arturia CS-80V for $78.21 when you redeem the "killerkitty" coupon code:

http://jrrshop.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?search _in_description=0&keywords=cs80v

ME80 is $40 as I remember last time checking the site. The shop is closed at the moment while Gunnar is on holiday until August 1

The price you offer for CS-80V is also very good, just a couple of months ago that plug cost double that from Arturia.

I don't think one can have enough CS-80 emulations nevertheless, the more the better

New Sonic Arts Granite http://www.newsonicarts.com/index.php

SynthMaster 2.5

I am going to say it depends on how comfortable you are with synthesziers. My knee jerk reaction is for you to go with Z3TA, as the waveshaping on it is makes it very flexible. If you really knew what you were doing Tassman is great, and I would say that would be ideal.

You chose the three I would recommend other than absynth. I don't think you would go wrong on the three you have chosen. Especially since it seems Alchemy and Iris are out of your price range.

I'd take synthmaster it can do almost any sound you imagine
or maybe zeta+ 2 it's a bit easier to understand and to programm,
and there are many patches out on the i-net

Zeta+2 is NOT just a 'more trancey' sounding synth...

It does the whole spectrum and is great for anything electronic. anything at all.

It's a great synth, great filter choice, great hands on controls.

You could use nothing else.

Uhe ACE, would also be a great little pick. Maybe not quite as strong for vanilla sounds as Zeta, but the audio rate stuff and the cool seq table allow for some awesome range of sounds.

Saurus just about fits in your price range... but less flexible.

but.... seriously save up a little bit more
Massive
DCAM
Diva
Absynth
probably Zebra (though I don't own this so it's hard to say)
all a cut above really.....


Or... save up just a little bit more still and pick up a second hand waldorf pulse, or mopho etc....

Z3ta's "Waveshaping" and 'New Age' does not go well together, I'd have thought. It can definitely add some nice texture but alone it's not enough. Z3ta plus a good sample based instrument would be a great combination, but not alone. This goes for a lot of the recommended synths here.