What are some cheap but massive synths?

[BONES]

OK, unlike half the people posting here, I bothered to read your requirements before making any suggestions. There is no doubt Rocket is awesome - it sounds great and is completely hands-on. I've had mine for more than two years now and, whilst I still love playing with it, it's lack of patch memory has made it hard to work with in the longer term. I did actually use it on stage at the festival we played at in Germany a couple of years ago, where I found a good sound that I could quickly alter between songs so it didn't sound exactly the same all the time but that only worked because I also had a Korg Monologue I could dial up completely different patches for on other songs. Rocket isn't something I feel I could use on every song in a set, especially live. But if you just want something very hands-on to play with, it's awesome. I'm actually selling mine and I would be happy to do you a deal, knowing it will go somewhere where it's appreciated. PM me if you're interested.

I also have an Ultranova and I think it sounds magnificent. But it's not really very hands-on, although I suppose you could spend a lot of time and effort setting it up so that it was. I imagine the Mininova will be even less hands-on, though, so maybe not what you are looking for.

If you want something that is nicely hands on and sounds good, you might try a Modal Skulpt, although I notice you can't get it from Zzounds. But you can get IK's Uno and I'd rate it as more usable than Rocket and just as much fun. It doesn't have the versatility of Rocket's amazing (digital) oscillator but, as a 2 osc synth it has a lot to offer and it's sequencer is great. I am actually planning on buying a second one, it's that good.

My last recommendation would be Audiothingies' MicroMonsta. Again, you can't get it from Zzounds but it is a wonderful little box full of amazing, huge sounds. It's easy to set up macro controls so you have instant tweakability on any preset, which makes it a lot more hands-on than it might appear. It's definitely worth checking out -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCy8xMTANs8

[Chopper]

Do not underestimate the roland boutique sh01a.

[MuzikFreq]

OK, unlike half the people posting here, I bothered to read your requirements before making any suggestions. There is no doubt Rocket is awesome - it sounds great and is completely hands-on. I've had mine for more than two years now and, whilst I still love playing with it, it's lack of patch memory has made it hard to work with in the longer term. I did actually use it on stage at the festival we played at in Germany a couple of years ago, where I found a good sound that I could quickly alter between songs so it didn't sound exactly the same all the time but that only worked because I also had a Korg Monologue I could dial up completely different patches for on other songs. Rocket isn't something I feel I could use on every song in a set, especially live. But if you just want something very hands-on to play with, it's awesome. I'm actually selling mine and I would be happy to do you a deal, knowing it will go somewhere where it's appreciated. PM me if you're interested.

I also have an Ultranova and I think it sounds magnificent. But it's not really very hands-on, although I suppose you could spend a lot of time and effort setting it up so that it was. I imagine the Mininova will be even less hands-on, though, so maybe not what you are looking for.

If you want something that is nicely hands on and sounds good, you might try a Modal Skulpt, although I notice you can't get it from Zzounds. But you can get IK's Uno and I'd rate it as more usable than Rocket and just as much fun. It doesn't have the versatility of Rocket's amazing (digital) oscillator but, as a 2 osc synth it has a lot to offer and it's sequencer is great. I am actually planning on buying a second one, it's that good.

My last recommendation would be Audiothingies' MicroMonsta. Again, you can't get it from Zzounds but it is a wonderful little box full of amazing, huge sounds. It's easy to set up macro controls so you have instant tweakability on any preset, which makes it a lot more hands-on than it might appear. It's definitely worth checking out -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCy8xMTANs8

WOAH THE MICROMONSTA IS CRAZY SMALL FOR A GREAT SOUND!
Sorry for the caps but hot damn. It's soooo tiny

[BONES]

Yeah, I think MicroMonsta is just about the most under-rated synth there is. I absolutely love mine to death. It has made the Ultranova totally obsolete in my set-up and it's tiny enough that it sits on top of my Analog Keys on my keyboard stand. Nothing I own, soft synth or hardware, has it's versatility, either. The cleverness of putting different algorithms into each oscillator, not just different waveforms, means it can do a helluva lot more than you think. e.g. I can put Casio CZ style wave distortion into Osc 1 and load a wavetable into Osc 2. It's crazy versatile.

[MuzikFreq]

Yeah, I think MicroMonsta is just about the most under-rated synth there is. I absolutely love mine to death. It has made the Ultranova totally obsolete in my set-up and it's tiny enough that it sits on top of my Analog Keys on my keyboard stand. Nothing I own, soft synth or hardware, has it's versatility, either. The cleverness of putting different algorithms into each oscillator, not just different waveforms, means it can do a helluva lot more than you think. e.g. I can put Casio CZ style wave distortion into Osc 1 and load a wavetable into Osc 2. It's crazy versatile.

Might just nab one of these babies at somepoint.