Speedy

Unlike many of Yamaha's other products from the time, the VL70-m is very specialized. It exists solely to provide monophonic, virtual acoustic sounds, with an emphasis on highly detailed and synthetic sounds as well as stunning recreations of woodwinds and brasses. It can be though to make it sit in a mix, but the sheer realism and character of it makes it a must own in my opinion, especially when coupled with a WX or EWI.

I acquired a fully decked out Trinity Plus back in late April 2019 and haven't been able to put it down since. Korg ABSOLUTELY struck gold with this one! The 24-bit/48khz sounds are rich and vibrant, the keybed is very fun to play, and the built-in patches are top notch. Even the somewhat dated acoustic sounds are usable now with some treatment, depending on how you apply them. Highly recommended.

I've clocked a good couple hundred hours on my (used) ADA8000, and it hasn't failed or let me down... for what I paid for it. It's not a perfect product at all - the A/D converters are clean but not the greatest ever, some of the ports have a buzz at 60, 120, and 240hz (easy enough to EQ out), and some of the inputs require jiggling to get a signal. Mine may have just been used roughly, but if a unit like this can't handle some roughhousing I'd consider that a major flaw. However, considering you can get these for $100 to $150 used... it's hard to complain about the price:performance ratio.

I use this for all of my music production, along with Logic Pro. It's not the fastest computer ever made or the greatest thing since sliced bread, but the macOS interface is very intuitive, CoreAudio works flawlessly, the keyboard is nice to type on, and it can handle a pretty big workload before running into any problems in Logic.

I use these a LOT when mixing/mastering. They used to be my main headphones, and even after switching to DT-880s I still come back to them to check my high end and clarity. The only problem I have with them is that the 120~200Hz range seems a bit hidden compared to other headphones I've tried... notably the 880s. My masters still sound just fine on them and everywhere else though, and I've heard no complaints from my 7506 made music.

There isn't anything really negative I can say about these headphones. They sound beautiful, detailed, and full of life, and their neutrality makes them perfect for music creation. The treble is a bit exaggerated, but I always double check my work on other sound sources so that's never been an issue. It makes them more enjoyable to use for casual listening, which I think balances things out.

This has been my main audio interface for a few months, and I LOVE it! The mic preamps are clear and nice to listen to, perfect for voice overs. The inputs have no noise as far as I can tell. Syncing to ADAT is very easy to take advantage of the other 8 audio channels not on the unit (you get 8 analog ins, 1 stereo SPDIF in, and an 8-ch ADAT in). The drivers are absolutely fantastic on macOS as well.

I found this at a thrift store for four US dollars and it's been my main MIDI thing ever since. No problems with SysEx, no crashing, no latency, no bad drivers, just a smooth experience on macOS 10.14. The only frustrating part is you need to get drivers tucked away on M-Audio's site - they don't CLAIM to support it anymore but the Anniversary Drivers work great. https://m-audio.com/support/download/drivers/midi-usb-driver-v3.5.3-mac1 I'll be sad if they ever, truly take support away. This thing is cute, small, reliable, and well worth the $40 on the used market.

Ever boot something up and just have it be... fun? That's what Stylus is. It's pure joy encapsulated in a legitimately productive program - Stylus is as enjoyable to use as some of my favorite games. Runs like a dream off of my SSD, has hundreds if not thousands of awesome loops, and fantastic, rich drum kits that are GM mapped so you can easily pop em into a track. It's also 8-part multitimbral with 8 outputs, so you get lots of routing options in your DAW>

Anything I say about Omnisphere is just repeating what others have said - it does everything you could want it to short of some very generic sounds like basic pianos. Other worldly soundscapes? Check. Rocking guitars? Check. Synth sounds an analog could only dream of? Check. Pads? Check. It goes above and beyond with what's available, and that's not even mentioning you get all of the content of Spectrasonics Atmosphere and loads of content derived from their amazing sample CDs like Distorted Reality and Bizarre Guitars.

I'm very, very picky with music software - I couldn't stand Ableton, FL gave me a headache, Cubase had an off-putting business model, and Pro Tools is Pro Tools. Logic was the only one that vaguely resembled the old school MIDI sequencers I was used to, programs like XGWorks and Sekaiju, and so I took the plunge into the Apple ecosystem just for it. Suffice to say, that was the best choice I ever made for my music. Logic has the simplicity of those limited programs with the flexibility on par with any other industry contemporary. Best of all, it runs like a dream even on older Mac computers. Because of all that and the great built in plugins, and more, the title of this review rings true: it's the only DAW I'd ever want to use.

Make no mistake, this isn't a synth you'd ever want to use for music production now. It's old, it's dated, it's cheesy, and pretty much nothing on here is usable beyond turning your tunes into an early 90s budget cover band's live gig. But it's got loads of charm, it's easy to use, and it's the only synth I trust for making General MIDI music thanks to its very well balanced instruments. I keep mine around just for retro game projects and the occasional DOS and PC-98 gaming binge.

I bought this for $25 on sale and I don't think I could have found a better, more musical way to spend that money. This is really fun to play and great for house music, atmospheric, electronic, and so much more.

This thing gets snuck into more tracks than I'd like to admit. Even just the first dozen or so sounds are beautiful and absolutely worth it, beyond that you'll find tons of great pads, leads, crazy synth sounds, and lots of other patches that are very usable to this day.

I use this as a controller for my VL70-m and love it! It's very easy to play and very intuitive, and combined with the VL70 it's absolutely brilliant. Well worth the money.

I bought Trilian last out of the full Spectrasonics suite, thinking "oh, I already have lots of bass sounds, I won't need this!" I was very wrong. Trilian, simply put, is BRILLIANT! The richness, detail, and clarity in the samples is amazing, and you get a wonderful selection of synth basses, fretless basses, electric basses, everything is represented and it is wonderful! Definitely one of the best softsynths in the past decade.

Keyscape is the only keys sound collection I've used that feels truly 'intimate' - playing it feels like you're really in front of a nice grand piano, or Rhodes, or whatever. It's very inviting and exciting to play, and quite inspirational!

I got one of these for $20 at a thrift shop and still pull it out every so often to see how it can change a sound. It pairs really well with any synth or guitar and provides a very nice tone with a decent level of tweakability. Very much recommended!

I made a full soundtrack with this thing and I can't say I enjoyed it much. Trying to do music that sounds rich on it with the assistance of nothing else, like it was so often used, was a huge hassle due to constant note drops. This is without sound laying by the way. Used in addition to other tone generators... eh? It feels like a worse D-50 which it kind of is. I really don't think it's worth the cash now, and if you must get its sound, go buy a D-110 instead which is very similar but way cheaper.

I used this for a while until I got my Triton Extreme 88. Nice starting digital, okay piano sound, pretty mediocre elsewhere. But you can't beat it for the price.

This used to be my bread and butter synth before I got a Fantom XR. The JV synth engine used here is deep and easy to understand, capable of practically any sound, though depending on what you make you probably won't need to mess with it as the default patches are fantastic. The ability to expand the unit with two extra SR-JV boards is nice as well, though I think JUST two expansions is pretty limiting.

I owned this one for a few months and, in my opinion, it's a great piece of kit for particular uses. It has a clean and pristine digital sound that sometimes sounds TOO clean - blends into a mix well, but really doesn't pop. There's a great variety of presets though and the synth engine is as expansive as ever, being quite similar to the JVs and XVs.

This was my bread and butter sounds machine, I used it in nearly everything I do, as well as my main MIDI controller... however, the screen on it is TERRIBLE after some point. Mine became sluggish to respond and eventually gave out to touch response, which both seem to be common flaws. I recommend getting a Triton, but don't get this one.

I've used the SY77 enough to have a solid opinion on it but not enough to have mastered it - so from my experience, it's one that I can recommend highly but keep in mind what you're getting. The PCM side of things is often very dated in a charming way, with not too many waveforms that have stood the test of time. The FM side is top notch however with one of Yamaha's most versatile and impressive engines, and the ability to combine it with PCM means you can make some truly unique sounds.

I had one of these for a few months and loved it! Rich, vibrant, sounds with a very easy to understand UI and flexible synth engine, fun keybed, and awesome built in patches. Whether or not it offers anything over other VAs though, I'm not quite sure. It's got a unique character but I ultimately went for my Korg Z1 for my hardware VA needs.

If you're buying this looking for the greatest modern sounds ever, look elsewhere. If you're buying this in hopes of getting a digital synth booming with personality, you're in the right place. It's goofy, it's dated, but it's got some lovely sounds on it, and if you're trying to make something that feels old, this is a great pick. I did a full review on it here that covers everything in just over half an hour: https://youtu.be/tYP9Ds6ycqM

I've used pretty much every desktop MIDI module in some form - the Korg NS5R, Yamaha MU series, and all of the SC units besides the 55, and I have to say the 88 Pro is still my favorite. It's a collection of classic Roland sounds with lots of patches from SR-JV80 Session and other SR-JV80 boards, in... slightly lesser quality, but it adds to the charm. I highly recommend one of these if you can get it for under $150.