jimmarchi1's Electronic Synth Setup

As a die-hard Vox amplifier enthusiast I feel compelled to answer d_foster14's question, "Is the Price justified?"

Yes.

Yes the price is justified for the right model from the right year. While there are a variety of AC30 variants vintage and modern that do different spins on the vox tone (and I really dig some of the variants I've played more than the amps people view as quintessential Voxes), the AC30s to have to get 'THE top-boost sound' are (in order of tastiness) the following:

1) coppertop (AKA candy panel) JMI, early 60s (I plan to be buried with mine if my son doesn't take up the guitar)

2) grey panel JMI, mid-to-late 60s (if you are looking at a coppertop with the treb and bass controls on the faceplate then its pretty much the same amp as a grey panel so save a few beans and scout out a grey panel because only crazy collectors will care about what color the control plate is... even the grey painted speakers are pretty much the same as the blue painted ones from the coppertop period (some will argue) and even the RI blue alnicos sound fab once they break in... if the tone controls were added to the back of the amp, then your coppertop will be a little different and I have a definite preference in this regard)

3) black panel AC30HW2x Korg, current production (I would not sell mine to you, you would have to trade me something better and I already have a coppertop and don't really need a grey panel)

4) candy panel AC30/6TBx Korg, 90s (this is really a tie for 3, I only give the HW2x the edge for its reliably repairable turret contruction and spiffy 'hot mode', but if a PCB doesn't worry you and you want closer accuracy to a JMI for features and voicing get a 90s RI)

5) grey panel Dallas Arbiter, 70s (no tube rectifier, but that's why Brian May likes them, can Brian May be wrong? that's its own forum topic, right there)... I recently acquired one of these but it needs some love as it appears to have been on the road continuously since it was made without being serviced at all. To its credit it still works, its just beat to shit and sounds a bit unhealthy. Defintiely a 'firmer' sound than y other 2 voxes, but a different feel than the matchless. Once I work on her I'll be able to really get a sense of what sets her apart from a JMI and a reissue.

6) grey panel Rose Morris, 80s (multiple PCB facsimile of the Arbiter version... these AC30s can sound quite good and seem to be pretty reliable)

https://equipboard.com/jimmarchi1/photos in 4th and 5th gear porn photos you can see my 2 favorite ac30s, the HW2 and the recently serviced 1962 bass model (not good for abss guitar, just a fatter voicing, it came in treble and normal until about '65.... all front panel top boost models are normal though).... you will also see a photo of the 'JMI product' logo on the control panel. if you see an affordable ac30 with this logo then snatch it up, even if its in bad shape it will be worth your while to restore it. If it has a similar logo with the word vox instead of JMI then it's a crap shoot and you could be looking at 1 of 3 or 4 newer models raging in quality. If it has a VSEL logo then its pretty much made by vox employees with leftover JMI parts and its a winner... if it has no logo under the mains switch then it could be an arbiter, rose morris etc and you'd better do more investigating.

bang for buck... and this has THE sound... its gritty and cutting... Its highly playable... deeper features (and even a few standard features) can be a bitch to access which makes live tweaking patches a pain. Still, it sounds great. My favorite CEM synth on a chip synth hands down, sorry prophet 08 and rev2.

I was never impressed with the polysix until I got one home, but I didn't spend a lot of time with them and mainly did bass sounds. WHOA WRONG. This is like John Carpenter city.... I don't think he used one but everything it does is like a carpenter flick. Real horrorshow. The chorus is cool, the ensemble is wooly and lush.... the phaser is pure horror movie. Okay back this up. Architechture is a juno 6 basically. But it ahs VCOs.... but no high pass... but the modulation is chorus, phaser or string machine ensemble, OTA and BBD stuff, wicked. Dark and moody Also, no simultaneous waveforms, just Saw, Square (adjustable PW) andPWN with its own LFO dedicated. Yup. But no ADSR modulation. Bummer. But still. The SSM oscillators and fitler are midrangey and not upper midrange prophet turn, lower midrange nastiness. And there's this wicked sub oscillator. Divide down 1 or 2 octaves. And and and.... Its simple but capable of snappy plucky, huge strings, pads of weirdness and you name it. anyway. Good synth. I have the kiwi6 mod on mine. I find it to be less abrasive and far more ush than a juno, though less punchy. Don't let anyone say the envelop is less snappy. Its fast and tight. Its deceptive because of the swirly free running VCOs versus retriggering DCOs.

On day 3 I'm giving this another star. Damn does it sound good.

My particular unit is a 1st year juno I bought from the original owner peak pandemic. I even have his receipt from the hollywood guitar center back when it was the only location. She probably needs some general maintenance and professional grade cleaning but worked beautifully right out of the gate apart from a slightly miscalibrated envelope on 1 voice. I almost hate to return to spec because its vibey as hell to have 1 voice drcay and release a little differently at what feels like random times. Lately the chorus has been acting a little weird for a little after power on so I guess it's time for a belltone trip.

What can you say about the juno6? It's an icon because of its twangy DCOs and snappy envelopes. Its got that classic era roland filter sound. Most importantly it's a live performance instrument with a decent keybed, simple but versatile architecture and an all slider programming interface that provides immediate visual feedback like the arp odyssey. The arpeggiator trigger is a v-trig that will work with almost any source that approaches 5v with a fast rise.

It predates midi and doesn't offer patch storage. It doesn't have Roland's din sync technology so adding midi requires hole drilling. Wouldn't a juno60 be a better buy for the storage and easy midi retrofit to the existing din jacks?

NO!

Why not? High pass filter. The 60 has a 4 position switch masquerading as a slider for the HPF due to 80s processor constraints imposed by the patch storage. The juno6 has a continuous HPF that allows for bandpass style manual sweeps not to mention the obvious benefit if getting exactly the low end response you need rather than compromising it using external eq. You don't need patch storage on something this basic and obvious. If you can't get a sound back on a juno6 manually you need to give me yours.l as a backup. Also, as great as the 60 sounds, whenever I've had a 6 and 60 side (and this was before I owned mine) the 6 just had the sonic edge to my ear when set very similarly. Just a little fuller, faster... the 6 soubds better with the chorus iff. The chorus is sweet on both but i dont absolutely require it on the 6. It's an always on thing for a 60. I dunno. Its subtle but I bought a 6.

While the juno family as a whole are not the best at anything, they CANNOT MAKE BAD SOUNDS. The limitations make this synth all killer and no filler. All Juno's have a distinct family vibe that's easy to love and the 6 is the best sonically PERIOD

this simple utility box divides your midi signal 8 ways and buffers it and corrects and glitches before sending it out.... all channels go to all outs so don't get it messed up! but its really useful for a static studio setup where every channel is permanent. This thing just works great and runs off the power from the output device!

I got this well below retail as a black Friday deal. I don't always use sweetwater, but my sweetwater rep really looked out for me this holiday season. Shoutout to Jim Black!

First off, I wish I had gotten the bigger 16 voice. The couple extra features like the compressor I don't miss, however, voice stacking is kinda weak when you go down to 4 voices. For the jump in price though I really wish Korg had added a fully variable high pass and that burned me on sending the $400 extra for the big one.

On to the synth. The main engine is a bread and butter early 80s poly. It falls a bit short of the Jupiter8 having only 1 fitler mode (12db/oct) and 1 LFO. it schools it with wave shaping on each VCO and a nice ring mod in addition to the hard sync option. To my ear the fitler character is Japanese at lower resonance settings, very Yamaha-ish (does a good cs80 impersonation) and as resonance creepy toward 50% it gets oberheimy. This synth has very primitive routing capabilities. Its backward looking in a cool way (most of the time). The analo engine architecture makes me think OBX. Not the OBXA with extra features, but the original OBX. The sound is right there in OB/CS turf. Preset 1 is blade runner brass and its actually really good. Most Vangelis based presets suck. This does not. The synth has THAT sound.

This thing wouldn't have been worth the asking price to me if it weren't for the array of digital options. The user oscillator is genius, although the limited modulation routings mean that each oscillator type is only as good as the internal modulation capabilities programmed by the developer be that Korg or a third party like Mutable Instruments. All that said, the ability to load wavetables (!), various TX81Z like FM oscillators of varying complexity, additive modules and physically modeled plucks etc eally expands the versatility. And you always have that ebating analog heart of the VCOs, filter and VCA to reinforce all that. This is a true hybrid. The stock waveshapes are really analog and the digital oscillator is as versatile as all get out assuming you're willing to drop a few bucks for add-ons that go beyond the freeware options. I have got a lot of cool stuff in my user oscillator right now. Of course, if you need a plain old saw so you can tune one VCO as a sub and detune the other an octave up? The user oscillator can do that. Its a digital saw, but surrounded by all that VCO goodness? Its okay!

The digital effects sound stunning overall and if you want a more analog sound there are 3rd party addons that can provide that. There'ssoem good choruses out there as well as a fixed frequency rng mod, comb filters, you name it. Of course, any digital effect without a mic control is fully digitizing your analog synth, but the conversion is great to my ear and we're all digitizing our stuff when we record into a computer anyway, right?

This synth needs another LFO. Period. It also needs a few more routings for the envelopes. This could be achieved with the shift key. Hopefuly now that all the bugs are worked out in firmware 2.0 korg will see fit to add these features. I'm still docking it a star for the limiting architecture. Limits are good, but a little more deep editing would help me a lot in patch creation. Sorry Prologue, you have a great sound, but when I'm trying to realize a sound I'm imagining using your more modern features I'm wishing the whole time I was using a Peak. Maybe if I buy a Summit I'll be happier with this synth as-is. Its not an apples to apples comparison so I shouldn't make it.

The other reason I dock it a star is because I like windows at home and the midi drivers and patch librarian (which controls transfer of oscillator and effects as well as patches) is very wn10 unfriendly at this time. Its a frustrating process getting it to work and every other time you try to use the USB you wind up having to start from scratch and reinstall, reassign midi ports. I'm sure its better on mac. I'll try it eventually. Then again, macs aren't so USB friendly these days LOL Korg needs to get their shit together in this regard because we all know Microsoft won't. Work AROUND win10 guys... they won't work with you.

The prologue also has a really fast and comfortable keyboard with modern sharp edges to the black keys. You really know what key you're hitting when you perform live on this thing. Like my DSI Mopho, this synth has the modern placement for its pitch and mod wheels and that annoys me, but now that I'm using 2 synths with this arrangement I'm getting used to the wheels being up by the synth engine editing knobbies. It'll cease to bother me in by summer '20 I'm sure.

Al in all I'm really fond of this synthesizer. Out of my current production synths its totally unique. Even used only as an analog poly it really has a totally different voice than my DCO based DSI. Is it a Prophet6 or OB6 killer? No, but neither do those synths beat on this one. They're all nice. Up against the Mopho its softer and more lush, darker, mysterious.... capable of very Japanese sounds from Yamaha to roland that my Mopho struggles with because it has so much presence and punch. Patch creation is a breeze compared to the mopho that ahs layers deep editing if you want it. I would recommend this synth to anyone. Even a beginner can easily start with an init patch and build a great sound with no hassle and minimal shift/menu use. Its a fast synth in every way that is geared towards playing. I would not sell it unless it was to get a 16 voice one.

this synth was fun right out of the box, but with some extra patch cables and some hardware sequencers? damn. It came with enough peripherals to enjoy right in the box, but more is always better, right? It feels like if roland decided to make an ARP2600 clone in the 80s. Its both an instrument and an intimidating sound fx generator... both musical and alien and it bridges the gap between 70s and 80s subtractive sounds perfectly having the cutting power of an Odyssey, a filter that can go from roland to oberheim and a lushness that makes me think mono Jupiter. I'm absolutely in love with this thing and I own a lot of synths. It feels awfully sturdy for a Behringer product. The value for dollar is insane. Expect an extended review with demos published on Equipboard soon.

Setup was a bit of a hassle and having to update firmware via ethernet is a pain having gone laptop now but overall a great interface. This has a little bit of everything as the centerpiece of your home studio. Lightning fast thunderbolt, decently fast USB, a couple really transparent mic/instrument preamps, 8 line ins and outs for synths.... stereo FX send (you have to use line ins to record and monitor the return though)... dual headphone amps. MIDI. Onboard DSP which I haven't fiddled with too much yet. Expandable with other motu products over AVB or with anybody's preamps and converters over spdif, ADAT/smux or AES/EBU. Paired with a good rack of focusrites over SMUX this thing can do a lot... I'll probably be getting a new one to use as my gateway to the computer with this slaved over AVB when MOTU gets around to making a thudnerbolt3 version. I highly recommend this interface to anyone who doesn't want to get caught up in the apollo plugin racket. If your PC is fast enough to run all your plugins native in real time and you're using a lot of hardware synths like I am at home? Get a MOTU.

these monitors have fantastic low end, the best of any 6.5" monitor I've ever used. They're clear and detailed when driven by high end converters. They're powerful but sound good at low volumes. Lots of thoughtful fine tuning on the back which coupled with price point makes them a perfect home studio option. Top end? Whoa, its detailed. They seem to have a slight midrange dip which is not a problem but I don't personally like it. They also throw a really wide and diffuse stereo image so I wouldn't mix on them without another playback system. I actually am using them mostly for tracking ebcause the sound off axis sitting at a keyboard is so sweet versus my preferred passive tannoy and yamaha mix monitors that have a small sweet spot because of their accurate stereo imaging. Coupled with an NS10 or PBM6.5 and amp setup I'm really happy with these. I have the big sound for tracking and checking a mix and I can also use my midrangey, directional passives to really get the balance right. Its great to switch to these when soloing in place to get a really detailed and defined representation of a sound that's not sitting, make some tweaks, then go back to the B setup and listen, then un-solo. I highly recommend these for a small room. These replaced my trusty Events that have served me since time out of mind. Never looking back.

imagine a a sophisticated softsynth like serum that has hands on control and better sound quality.... and then some. Big learning curve but worth it.

Update.... I've had it for a week as of tomorrow and every day I like it more.

I have an i9 10th gen, 64g ram, 1tb SSD, Intel optane enabled.... yada yada

this PC is a nightmare to optimize for audio. Plus Win10 loves to fuck with you, even when you do manual updates... I almost regret not going mac. If I had it to do over again I would either get the equivalent macbook pro or try a customized precision workstation, although this was quite a savings compared to those 2 options, particularly the dell precision. I really saved less than a grand versus the apple when both companies were running promotions, but I really don't like the way apple wants to make me their bitch.... Its my machine, damnit. Plug n play when new, but next thing you know you have to trade her in for a loss to run the new OS properly so your interface will work and and and.... this is also annoying. I dunno.

I miss the Atari ST and tape machines sometimes.