Looking for versatile 8 voice synth

[twi]

Hi,

I'm interested in buying a synthesizer that is good for playing chords and melodies with one hand, sometimes with two hands.

I looked into the Thomann store and there are problems being reported. The Sequential Pro 3 had crackles and pops in the FX section one user reported, the Jupiter-XM had a midi buffer problem another user wrote. Do you think problems like these are sorted out now? I guess so?

Thomann have all their Novation Summit demos recorded in mono. Don't know why that is, but it's not easy to judge the sound, and on youtube people do different things, so than it's not easy to compare, too.

I was looking for a synthesizer that covers enough synthesis methods. So, when on Youtube people play wavetable patches, I tend to think the gear they show would always sound like wavetables. And the thomann Pro 3 demos make me think there will often be a white noise osc added or so. But it's not really the case unless I use factory patches too often?

I'm looking for a synth to understand and edit patches, and if it has lots of factory patches this would help, but I guess the editing would be a bit more important.

I recently tried smaller things like elektron cycles, behringer td 3, arturia microfreak. These are too "atomic" for me. I get not enough inspiration with very small synthesizers, and they had quite a few bugs for the few features they have.

So... hmm.. I'm not sure what to believe. Usually I can get quite fascinated and happy but my last buys were all flops.

[CausticPuppy]

Take a look at the Modal Cobalt 8. Virtual analog but flexible and appears to be high quality construction. The factory presets are also very good from what I’ve heard.

Also the ASM Hydrasynth, which is even more flexible but it takes more skill to find its “sweet spots.”

[muki]

if you need a 5oct keyboard:
sequential/davesmith prophet rev2

if a small 3oct keyboard is ok:
novation mininova

if no keyboard is ok (because you habe already a midi controler):
waldorf blofeld

[JoeCat]

There's also the Korg Prologue 8.

[rod_zero]

Roland System 8, Novation Summit/Peak would be my choices, provide enough options, not that expensive.

[thecontrolcentre]

If 6 voices is enough, the Polyend/Dreadbox Medusa is worth a look ... 6 oscillators (3 analog, 3 digital), onboard parameter sequencer and grid controller. https://polyend.com/medusa/

[lfm]

The Sequential Pro 3 had crackles and pops in the FX section one user reported,

..to start with it's a mono synth. Don't be fooled by single oscillator paraphonic which shares envelopes.

Suggestions
- Prologue 8 if wanting true analog,8 voices, dual timbres/parts and then 4 voices(16 voice version exist)
- DeepMind 12, 12 voices, single timbre/part, analog path and digitally controlled oscillators
- Nordlead A1 or 2X or 4, VA-synth, 20 voices or so, 4 timbres/parts

All these have plenty room to store patches, and fun to work with making your own sounds.

I often sit down a bit with Prologue and suddenly 2 hours went by. Just lovely sounding.

[vitocorleone123]

Prophet 10

Summit
Rev2
Prologue

Cobalt8
Argon8

Deepmind 12

[Gribs]

If you want a keyboard, I would look at the ASM Hydrasynth and the Novation Summit. I have a Hydrasynth and in my opinion it is the most exciting thing we have seen in a hardware synthesizer in a long time; well at least it was last year when it came out. I also have a Peak, which is like a desktop Summit without the second filter.

Dave Smith's stuff is great (I have a Pro 12 KB, Pro 2 KB, and Rev 1 Prophet 08 rack). You have to like his filters to want to buy one of those boards.

For other things it depends on what you want to spend. There are other more pricey hybrid things like the Waldorf Quantum, Nord Wave 2, and the Sequential Prophet-X.