everybody likes Moogs, but only serious synth guys will spring for them (and who can even find a vintage one, even a minimoog) the point of my giant threads is about gear you have owned awhile or borrowed or maybe rented in the studio and really know well.
here's my list:
Ensoniq ESQ1 my favorite digital synth overall HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Yamaha DX7 (all versions, still own a mk2, not for N00Bs)
Roland MKS-50 rack (like a rackmount juno with no knobs, awesome analog DCOs and filters, needs midi control, not for newbies)
Oberheim Matrix1000 (PITA to program, similar to MKS with Oberheim filters, not as fat in the mids as earlier Oberheims)
Yamaha TX81Z (poor man's rackmount DX7, less featured, recently sold, easily replaced with imageline or NI software)
Ensoniq ASR10 sampler (belonged to a friend, awesome sampler with a gritty sound and great filters, awesome for making your own wavetable type sounds by making small samples)
Access Virus 1 (belonged to the same friend, FUN)
Roland Jupiter 8 (belonged to the same friend, always drifting out of tune, HUGE sounding VCOs)
Roland SH101 (borrowed from the same friend, he had the keytar handle, so funny! great little mono synth in the tb303 style with more features and a keyboard, sliders are harder to use for acid basslines than 303 style knobs, but you can actually play her, great portamento)
Roland Juno 106 (a lot like an MKS with a keyboard, thinner sounding, sold)
Korg Poly800 (Korg's Juno106, basically sounds like an 8 voice Polysix that stays in tune and has midi, nice sounding DCOs, mine had patch storage problems, sold but recommended)
Roland Juno6 (owned by friend, unstable VCOs, amazing filters, simple layout great for making fast 80s lead and pad patches, has cool Roland chorus built in too, similar to Jupiter synths with less flexibility, a real player's synthesizer for stage use)
Roland Juno60 (like a more stable Juno6)
Korg Volcabass (recent acquisition, haven't had much time to play with it but it does a convincing 303ish monosynth and was CHEAP, feel chintzy will report back after I use her some)
Korg MS-10 and MS-20 (rented, unique filters, powerful semimodular setup, you can plug your guitar in at a patchpoint after the VCOs and go mad with filters and LFOs on it and for this alone its the bees motherfucking knees, would but one in a heartbeat.... bass is almost TOO fat)
EML Electrocomp modular sound effects synth model 400 (borrowed, I believe this is the synth used to make the sound effects for Star Wars Episode 4 in the 70s, great noise machine, THICK, not good for playing music even with a VC keyboard, must be modded with a MIDI to control voltage setup to be used for western music, FUN FUN FUN, you can treat guitars with it, not worth the buy in unless you are a total collector)
Realistic Concertmate MG-1 (broke and was beyond my ability to fix, sold for parts, alas.... a minimoog by any other name has bass so sweet, getting pricey, but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
