Here's a list of my synthsizers for the curious. Ive loved these things since I first discovered them waaaaaaay back in 1978. The first one I ever saw was a Roland SH1000, owned by my music teacher, Jim Leonard at Innisdale Secondary school in Barrie Ontario. Here's a pic:  He sold this eventually and replaced it with a Moog Prodigy, a cool little synth with that classic minimoog sound, but with a very short keyboard and not a lot of options. The first synth I owned was a Yamaha CS-10. This little one oscillator, one voice synth was very cool for 1979, but very limited. My next synth was a rather large step up. I went from an entry level synth to what was literally my dream instrument, the Oberheim OB-8.  This thing was absolutely amazing. 8 voices, midi, lots and lots of programmability, and an amazing arpeggiator! I made a HUGE mistake when I sold this thing... :( From that point on I didnt have much money so I started small and bought used equipment whenever I could. The first was a Yamaha TX81Z module. An FM synth like the classic DX7 but with some cool feathures like multiple wave forms for the carriers instead of just sine waves. Of course I didnt have a midi keybaord to actually PLAY it for quite a while! Pictured in the rack below: Rockman Sustainor (guitar preamp), Electro Harmonix Bad Stone phase shifter (an original from the 70's!), Alesis D4 drum module, YAmaha TX81Z synth module, Marshall JMP-1 Guitar Preamp, Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay (An oldie, but a goodie!!), BBE 482 Sonic Maximizer.  Next came the DX7IID. An amazing keyboard based on the original DX7 FM synthesis but with additional features that make it a VERY powerful instrument. Still one of my favorites. This thing can create the coolest sounds ever, and make them sound almost acoustic in nature. I also picked up an old Yamaha CS-20m monophonic synth. This has 2 oscillators and all the basic features of a mono synth from the 70's. It doesnt sound as powerful as a moog or oberheim, but it certainly can sound cool in its own right. Pictured below is the keyboard stand with the DX7IID, and the MicroKorg sitting on top of the CS-20m.  Next came a variety of rack mount synths. The Roalnd U-220 came first, followed by the Oberheim Matrix 1000. Finally I had another Oberheim!! Its an amazing synth, but doesnt quite replace the OB-8. Next I picked up the Roland MGS64. This is an amazing instrument in itself. 64 voices, 32 part multi-timbre, and over 500 very good sounds (samples), incuding 21 drumsets, stored inside!! This instantly became the heart of my system. I often have anywhere from 2-20 different sounds coming out of this thing at the same time! Then I got an Alesis D4 for better drum sounds, and later replaced it with the Alesis DMPRO. I found the Kawai K1r going cheap and added that for some additional new-age type sounds. Seen beloew is: Soundcraft Spirit mixer Alesis Midiverb 4 Behringer Composer stereo compressor Yamaha SPX-90II digital effects Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay Roland U-200 Oberheim Matrix 1000 Kawai K1r Roland MGS64 Alesis DMPRO Marshall JMP1 guitar preamp  Next, one summer day I headed down to a Toronto music store to look at an old polyphonic Yamaha CS-50, but since it was only 1 oscillator per voice, I decided against it. I did, however, find a nice Roland D-50 and ended up taking that home! Turns out this is an amazing synth too! Its like 4 synths all stacked on top of each other. Very powerful, very cool sounds!  A friend of mine had had this Sequential Circuits Six Trak since the late 80's and was ready to sell it, so I added it to my own little synth museum. It's a typical analog synth, although only one oscillator per voice. But it can sound very very big if you use the pulse wave and modulate the width! It has a cool arpegiator and a built in sequencer. Another cool thing about it is the 2 stack mode buttons. These put the instrument into mono mode and you can stack 6 different sounds on top of eachother to creat sounds that are HUGE and very powerful!  The latest synth is this amazing Korg MIcroKorg. This is my curretn favorite. There is a HELL of a lot packed into this tiny package! With its mini keyboard, it looks like a toy. But when you plug it in, WOW!! The sounds are as big as any other synth I have. There are 4 different filters, and since you can stack 2 timbres on top of eachother you can create sounds that you might have only heard from modular systems. The vocoder is an amazing toy, and the external input is very cool for altering other synths or guitars. And the arpeggator is just incredible. Add to that 5 knobs on the front panel which makes it MUCH easier to program than any of the one-knob synths, built in flanger/phaser and delay effects and lots of modulation routings and you get one KILLER instrument!! I have much respect for Korg now!  But wait, there's more!! One more... Korg 05R/W. Nice little half rack synth with some cool sounds. Thats the list for now! I hope to get many more but money is in short supply, as always! Feel free to email if you have any questions or comments! And for more info about Synthesizers, check out the Synth Museum. Or the Synthesizer Picture Archive |