what’s your favourite synth you own?

Juno6. I have other, more capable vintage synths but I wanted a juno since my childhood and I finally got the first one a few years ago... so it's the juno6.

I only have one synth - I indulged in an OP-1

I'm a folk/blues musician foremost but I also like to dabble in keyboard, synthesis and sampling to break out of my rut.

Music serves me as a means to escape computer screens so this tiny all-in-one DAW-less DrumMachine/Synth/4track helps achieve that. I've got no professional aspirations - Self-soothing, unpolished, LoFi, punk folk is where I'm at.

All my gear is small and portable - I like to travel light!

I only have one, a Casio CT-S100 (a simple synth that comes in at around 100 EUR, and has all the basic functions I need for recording). However, I'm quite partial to pianos rather than synths, having learnt piano since my childhood. My favourite synth I've played before is actually my mum's digital piano, a Yamaha (don't remember the exact model), with at least 500 built in instruments as well as MIDI, and many different settings and capabilities (most of which I haven't even tried). In addition, even the built in instruments, especially the pianos and organs, are extremely realistic sounding!

Moog Grandmother - it opened up my eyes to the importance of monosynths (never truly understood why someone wouldn't just buy a poly synth and play one note at a time until I got it), as well as kickstarted my interest in modular.

Yamaha DX7. I like the feel of the keys

A modern 61+ key midi controller with the click-y feel of the OG DX7 keybed would be a very nice thing. :)

Korg polysix and the green membrane button OG dx7 are in my opinion at the pinnacle of unweighted organ action keybeds. I sometimes regret selling my last dx7 but it's big and heavy and I got a tx7 instead... same exact synth sans keyboard. I like the wsy my polysix plays so much that it's now my master keyboard for trashgodz, i have my prophet slaved to it but with local control on do I can double my left hand with both synths and then add flourishes with my right on the prophet keyboard.

My favorite is definitely my beloved Yamaha DX7 , its a beautiful and highly versatile piece of gear which i feel is just as lush and full sounding as it's analog zeitgeist counterparts.

Hardware synth: Roland JX-3P my review

Software synth: U-He Diva my review

Best hardware synth I ever purchased brand-new: Nord Micro Modular... the construction quality and the SPIRAL-BOUND manual were both industry high-points we may never see again. Great D/A converters too. I think the Nord Lead or one of its offspring would probably be more my speed these days, but I still have so much affection for Nord based on great experience buying and owning that little red Micro Modular.

Remember when all manuals over 10 pages were spiral bound our square bound like a book? Even my 80s dbx 160 manual is in really nice stock despite being saddle bound. Those old manuals contained every tech spec you could ask for, a block diagram and in many cases there were schematics and a full parts list.

Square bound, definitely. I don't recall any other factory spiral bounds in my collection, other than the Nord... but I'm sure they didn't pioneer the practice. More importantly, the Micro Modular/Modular manual is one of the best I've ever read. It's a full class on synthesis, masquerading as a product manual.

My soundtracs console came with a spiral bound manual and I seem to recall SSL manuals used to be spiral bound... certainly G series was, at least 1 of the manuals (there were several lol)

My soundtracs console came with a spiral bound manual and I seem to recall SSL manuals used to be spiral bound... certainly G series was, at least 1 of the manuals (there were several lol)

OG Soundtracs Topaz vs. Topaz Project 8, any opinions?

Same exact mixer. Different colored knobs. I think the 24 channel topaz project 8 has a slightly more robust PSU than the the 24 channel topaz with pastel knobs, but the 32s are the same. I think a few caps are higher voltage in the project 8 but the supplied schematics don't indicate thus. The project 8 is newer and may not require immediate service. Incidentally, the solo series are also identical except for the modular construction and semi-discrete microphone preamps (topazes are equipped with an SSM preamp-on-a-chip, the solo pres are probably just a different flavor of so-so, like most soundcrafts). I was interested in a solo midi but they're bigger and there was a 32 channel topaz project 8 with meter bridge for sale 30 minutes from my house so that's what happened.

The topaz is a first rate budget desk when you need high channel count and routing capabilities that fit in a shoebox control room. If I move into a bigger space I'm going to be looking at something 32:8 inline that's better constructed

Same exact mixer. Different colored knobs. I think the 24 channel topaz project 8 has a slightly more robust PSU than the the 24 channel topaz with pastel knobs, but the 32s are the same. I think a few caps are higher voltage in the project 8 but the supplied schematics don't indicate thus. The project 8 is newer and may not require immediate service. Incidentally, the solo series are also identical except for the modular construction and semi-discrete microphone preamps (topazes are equipped with an SSM preamp-on-a-chip, the solo pres are probably just a different flavor of so-so, like most soundcrafts). I was interested in a solo midi but they're bigger and there was a 32 channel topaz project 8 with meter bridge for sale 30 minutes from my house so that's what happened.

The topaz is a first rate budget desk when you need high channel count and routing capabilities that fit in a shoebox control room. If I move into a bigger space I'm going to be looking at something 32:8 inline that's better constructed

Darn, I was hoping you'd know something about them...

;)

(thanks!)