x0d's Electronic Synth Setup

Ahh... the synth that everyone loves to hate. I refuse to sell mine, just to make plebes cringe! =)

In all honesty, I only bought this synth to have a semi-weighted MIDI keyboard controller for less than $300. In that respect, it's the most solid-built one that I could find at the time, in that price range.

As for the sound, eh... I expected it to be lackluster, and it pretty much met those expectations to a tee. The step sequencer is useful if you don't have one, I suppose. I would use the TB-03 to sequence it, more often than not, and that did provide some incentives to use it for sound, but rarely do I find myself doing that.

The keys are nice, and the machine itself is built solid (like a tank). I do like the wood side panels, too, but I can understand the haters on this one.

I owned a TB-303 for many years. I miss the original one, but at the current prices, this is fine.

Pros:

1) USB+MIDI+CV/Gate - Very handy for hybrid (digital/analog) sequencing, especially in ableton with multiple VSTi and external MIDI or CV/Gate devices. In ableton, for instance, you can have layers of VSTI or MIDI instruments playing the same pattern for an orchestral chorus of synths.

2) The 'Tune' knob throws CV pitch changes to keep any receiving synth in-key with it. This was not something the original TB-303 did, nor is something I've ever really seen praised or mentioned, but is really kinda cool.

Cons:

1) No DIN Sync.

2) The sound on this is NOT even close to the original when you get into the higher frequency cutoff and resonance ranges, but you can work-around that.

3) The built-in fx are a joke, let's just be honest. If you don't have anything else at your disposal, then I suppose they're tolerable, but eh.