koyamoro's Reviews

Meh

It's alright. I didn't grab mine until early 2022. Seemed like everyone loved it. Maybe I'm using it wrong but everything basically sounds the same. I can get it to make good noises but it wasn't worth the $500 I paid for it new. It's cool but not used that much in my studio.

Best Buy in the last decade

I always wanted a Prophet 5 because all my favorite musicians ( Tony Banks, Nick Rhodes, Toto, etc ) had one. But I didn't want another vintage old synth. This came out and I jumped on it ( a year later they re-released the Prophet 5 but this is still good enough for me ).

I actually use this as my main controller in my DAW, I have the Spectrasonics Omnisphere and sync this with their amazing software to get all kinds of awesome sonic possibilities with layering and stuff.

I also bought the Matt Johnson and J3PO synth patches and I've made and saved my own patches as well, it comes with 000-499 ( editable patches ) and 500-999 that are uneditable ( write protected ). I paired this with my Big Sky Midnight and whooosh !

Legend

I think I heard that this finally passed the DX-7 ( I never liked that synth, I actually gave it away to my buddy back in '87 ). Any ways, the microKORG is awesome ( even without the vocoder ) and it's fun to use and tactile big knobs are fun to play live and fiddle with the parameters. It even has a computer editing program that you can use to save changes. This is the best selling synth ever, and it's actually STILL in production you can buy it NEW today ( 2022 ) from Sweetwater, Musician's Friend or Reverb. I think that says a lot. It has really good sounds.

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Entry Level

This was my first synth back in '84. I practiced on my grama's Conn Organ every day for a year before my parents felt I was serious enough to earn a new synth. I wanted to Jupiter 8 but of course, that was way out of our price range, but I was more than happy with this gift. I still have my original keyboard from almost 40 years ago! I play it every now and then, but it's just for memories. Easy to program digital DCOs and gets you into basic sound design and editing. Nothing special for today's kids. It's probably worth $50 but mine is priceless and I'd never sell it. :)

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Always in the Front

With all the FREE software updates available, this DAW is by far the BEST one out there. I tried Presonus Studio One and AVID PRO before deciding on this one. I love it, anyone who says that Pro Tools is the "industry standard" is a little behind the times. Any studio I've been uses Logic Pro ( even though they also might still have Pro Tools ) and if Eddie Van Halen used it to record and write music, that's all I need to know! If you want to see a great YouTube guy, search for "music tech help guy" he's an expert at Logic Pro and constantly makes new content to match any upgrades or versions currently available.

Unique

This was created in the early 2000s when everybody wanted digital workstations, including me. Alesis wasn't ever a huge name in the synth circles I was in, so I completely missed it when it came out. Then I saw an interview with Nick Rhodes on YouTube and he said it was his favorite synth of all time ( even more than the ELKA Synthex or Jupiter 8 ! ) so I had to get one. I'd like to get the A6 Retro with black panel that the guy in Germany just made ( only 6 in the world ) that has an adjustable rear panel and wood case. That's nice but 10K is too much for this synth.

It has some unique sounds if you're not into "presets" , you can really get into sonic explorations !!!

80s Nostalgia

I bought one of these for fun. I hardly play it, it is covered under a sheet and is fun to get out sometimes to jam.

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Overrated nostalgia

I bought this synth after meeting Nick Rhodes ( Duran Duran ) back in '05 in Vegas. We talked about his sounds and unless you pair this with an MXR Jet Flanger, you can't get the same sound. The raw sounds alone are not that impressive, I think it holds more in a reputation than it should.

I also have Logic Pro and several AU ( VSTs ) of this synth and I never even turn on this unit other than to keep the 40+ years old battery charged and maintenance is a pain in the ass. I have to pay a tech to constantly check the unit and am probably going to sell it before too long.

I bought it for $3000 back in 2005 and it's currently worth about $25K to a "collector". Realistically, I wouldn't buy another one for more than $5000 today.

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