Recommend a synth for under $500?

Hey, everyone,

I compose in Cakewalk strictly through my Yamaha PSR520 (using up to 12 tracks) and occasionally add WAV voice. The thing stopped transmitting MIDI, so I'm looking for a holdover replacement that's a step up, but under $500. Any suggestions? I want a good range of voices, strong piano sounds, and a convenient interface.

Also, in Cakewalk, I noticed that my work sounded much better externally (through my keyboard) than it did internally using a nearly identical instrument definition. I'm not ready to spend tons on good monitor speakers, so I'd like to know how to route external synth sounds back to my computer, where I can convert them to WAV/MP3. Is it something to do with an external mixer? If so, could you guys please suggest a good one for my purposes?

I plan on distributing my work over the web, and the subjective nature of MIDI (as it sends instructions, not sounds) is confusing me.

Thanks, guys!

Yeah, I do.

for about $600, you can get a Korg X5D. For about $400, you can get my Korg X5 and I can get a Korg X5D

You are likely going to have the best results by finding a good used unit, perhaps on eBay. Some possibilities that I would suggest in no particular order:

Alesis QS6.1 or 8.1 - These have a pretty wide range of sounds that are, for the most part, quite good. The keyboards have a very good feel and the interface is pretty straight-ahead.

Korg N1 - This will require careful shopping to find one at the $500 price point, but it can be done. The N1 is an 88-key weighted monster that has a sound set best described as the pinnacle of the Korg AI2 series. Some of the samples on this synth are from the SG and Trinity series instruments and stand up quite well even by today's standards.

Kurzweil SP-76 or SP-88 - These are stage piano designs that offer a pretty nice set of controller features(but NO aftertouch). The soundset is limited to pianos, EPs, organs, a couple of string and pad patches. The pianos are from the Kurzweil Micro Piano sample set and sit pretty well in a mix. While the piano sounds are "dated" (Kurzweil's later PC2 series pianos kill them, but a PC2, even used, is above your budget number by a wide margin.), they still sound better than the piano sounds in a lot of newer synths. I consider them very solid, not outstanding and this instrument is a good value for price , especially used.

Korg X5D - As mentioned by another poster, this is a nice all-around instrument. With all due respect to the aforementioned poster, please DO NOT pay $400 for a used X5( if I remember correctly, the difference in the X5 and X5D is a few bells and whistles, polyphony on the X5D is twice that of the X5 and the X5D has a 2 Meg larger sample set. You might want to check specs on both as it has been a while since I used either of these). Bottom line, you should be able to pick up a clean used X5D for about $350 if you shop agressively.

Korg Trinity series - Once in a while you can find a Trinity series synth going on eBay for as little as $400-$500. If you find one at this price, grab it. The Trinity soundsets are still timely sounding even though they are several years old. The Trinity sound are in many cases better than some of the stuff in the (later)Triton series IMHO. The Trinty just sounds sooooooo "thick".

Ensoniq MR 61 and MR 76 - These range from $300 to $600 on eBay and have an excellent all-around sound set, rivaling the Korg Trinity(its contemporary) in many areas. Too bad Ensoniq was absorbed by Creative/E-mu. They made some great stuff.

This gives you some possibilities from which to choose. Any comments about the sounds or the devices themselves should be taken as my opinion(subjective) and not as "authoritative" last-word review. Good luck, hope this helps.

My newest synth is a ROLAND JUNO-D - it cost ca. 490€ at the moment in germany.



It's very good to use with a sequencer, because this synthesizer has a 64voice polyphony and 16 parts multimode and complete GM/GS standard. It comes with lots of drumsets and real good epiano and organ sounds. (Almost all sounds are great, because they have transparency and punch.

The only thing that's missing: You cannot create sounds from scratch - you have to change the preloaded Sounds. But you can store them to a user-bank.

Yeah, it seems almost like a joke, but this particular series from Casio is astounding... for the money. You're right, in retrospect, it's worth the extra $100 for the line out. I baffles me that with everything else that they put into it, why they couldn't put in someting so simple as a line out.

I mainly got this board so that I could do "micro" gigs, where you're lucky if you even have power. This thing even runs on batteries, and (the other amazing thing) the built-in soundsystem is loud and proud. I found that running it through a PA takes a little care, but it can be done. Just keep the volume slider down to about 1/4 of the way max, and use a stereo volume pedal if you can get away with it (preferably an active one).

Anyway, this unit seemed to fit the spirit of the question by the original poster.

Sometimes an inline volume pedal lets you pad the output so that you can turn up the volume at the unit. But that only helps if the noise on the unit doesn't go up with the volume control on the unit.

If it does, there is only one thing you can do: void the warranty and hotwire your own line out. It's not as hard as it sounds. If the volume control on the unit is wired as a volume pad, you can tap the line out from the non-grounded end of the control pot. I'd have done it already on mine if it were a priority, but I don't record with it; I only play live, and only for micro, impromptu gigs at that.

The other thing, of course, is to ebay the one you have and go get a WK3500.

Edit: Thought of one more thing: You can use a noise reduction plugin or process on the recorded audio, or just manually/automatically gate out the noise between clips.