NOMAD'S SYNTH PAGE

DSS-1 DISKS

• KSD-001 Piano
• KSD-002 Brass
• KSD-003 Strings & Choir
• KSD-004 Guitar & Bass
• KSD-015 Drums

• [site 1] - KSDU-005 Japanese Instruments
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-006 Indian Instruments
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-007 Bass Groups
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-008 Pianos II
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-009 Electric Guitars 1 & 2
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-010 Acoustic Guitar
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-011 Group & Orchestra Hits
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-012 Brass Hits
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-013 Combined Groups
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-014 Sound Effects
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-015 Drums
• [site 1] - KSDU-016 Latin Percussion
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-017 Percussion
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-018 Strings
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-019 Voices
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-021 Guitars
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-022 Pianos
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-023 Flutes & Harp
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-024 Woodwinds
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-025 Strings, Violin
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-026 Pipe Organ & Harpsichord
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-027 Brass
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-028 Brass & Sax
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-029 Percussion
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-030 Electric Guitars
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-031 Percussion II
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-032 Orchestral Percussion
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-033 Combination Sounds
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-034 Woodwinds
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-035 Vibes, Glock, Piano, Clav
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-036 Strings II
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-037 Mixed Percussion
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-038 Voices
• [site 1] - KSDU-039 Woodwing & String
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-040 Strings
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-041 Wind Instruments
• [site 1] - KSDU-042 Brass
• [site 1] - KSDU-043 Reeds 1
• [site 1] - KSDU-044 Reeds 2
• [site 1] - KSDU-045 Guitars (A.) - acoustic
• [site 1] - KSDU-046 Guitars (R.) - rock guitar
• [site 1] - KSDU-047 Bass
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-048 Electric Pianos 1
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-049 Electric Pianos 2
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-050 MIDI Combos
• [site 1] - KSDU-051 Japanese Instruments 2
• [site 1] - KSDU-052 Orchestra & Video Games
• [site 1] - KSDU-053 Drums & Effects
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-054 Ethnic Percussion
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-055 Voices II
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-056 Performance Disk 1
• [site 1] - KSDU-057 Multiple Instruments
• [site 1] - KSDU-058 Industries
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-059 Synth Bass & Drums
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-060 Metal/Metalism
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-061 Sound Tapestry I
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-062 Sound Tapestry II
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-063 Drums III
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-064 Drums IV
• [site 1] - KSDU-065 "D"-Synth Sounds
• [site 1] - KSDU-066 Performance Disk II
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-067 Rhythm Section & Guitars
• [site 1] [site 2] - KSDU-068 Drum Kits
• [site 1] - KSDU-069 Lore, Comb, Effects
• [site 1] - KSDU-070 Ambient Drums, Timpani

• [site 1] [site 2] - Piano, Strings, Choir
• [site 1] - Fairlight
• [site 1] - Yes
• [site 1] - The Band / Chris Rooney
• [site 1] - Dramatic Symphonic
• [site 1] [site 2] - Jam box, sm. piano, string
• [site 1] - L.A. & Beyond
• [site 1] - DX-Rhodes
• [site 1] [site 2] - Pee Wee & James Brown
• [site 1] - Greenhouse I
• [site 1] - Factory Piano with Bass
• [site 1] [site 2] - Symphonic Strings
• [site 1] - Pipe Organ
• [site 1] - "DA" Choir
• [site 1] [site 2] - Effects
• [site 1] [site 2] - Trumpets
• [site 1] [site 2] - Flutes & Flute Section
• [site 1] - Guitar Yeah! and Synth
• [site 1] - Bruford & Killer Drums
• [site 1] [site 2] - Howard Piano
• [site 1] [site 2] - Roland Boesendorfer Piano & Flute
• [site 1] [site 2] - D-50 new age pads
• [site 1] [site 2] - Distortion Guitar
• [site 1] - Greenhouse 4

REPLACING THE DSS-1 DISK DRIVE

I finally got a replacement drive installed for my Korg DSS-1. It works great.
FYI, the current compatible replacement drive is a Teac FD235HF-A529 (which replaces the -7500 which replaced the -6500 which replaced the original Canon FD).
Make sure you get a -A529 and not a -A291 or something. The A291 is easier to find, but is jumperless and won't work with the DSS-1
Out of several dozen Teac distributors, I found 2 that carried the -A529 and would sell them singly to a private individual. They are Arrow (phone: 800-833-3557) and Bell Industries (phone: 800-buy bell). Bell industries has a $100 minimum order, so I went with Arrow. Arrow charged me $50 for the drive (expensive, but better the $175 through Korg).
The -A529 has jumpers that need to be configured properly. The jumpers are configured the same way as on Korg's 01W and T series as shown on this web page:
http://net.indra.com/~cliffcan/01fdd.htm

PROPHET 3000 DISK LIBRARY

UTILITIES

PROPHET 3000 DISKS

• Internal 3.0B SCSI

DIGITAL KEYBOARDS SYNERGY II

ADDITIONS TO THIS PAGE

MYSTERY WAVE FILES

• Mystery 1 - This one is actually IIRC just the CS15 doing filter FM stuff. Now the entire file.
• Mystery 2 - This one is a combination pad-like sound; the raw sound bed was a CZ101 doing some raspy noise, and the CS15 was used to filter it down (that's where the sweep comes from; the CZ101 sound was pretty static). Now the entire file.
• Mystery 3 - This one is a combination vocoder sound; the vocoder used was the Boss SE-70's 21-band; the carrier here is a patch on the Polaris, and the modulator is a drum loop from the Prophet 3000.
• Mystery 4 - 4 kicks from the CS15.
• Mystery 5 - A feedback pad. The feedback was from CS15 output, to SE-70 set to delay/reverb, back to CS15 input. The sweeping is done by using a resonant bandpass filter and sweeping it with the LFO. The distortion at the end, well basically everything started distorting. Now the entire file.
• Mystery 6 - Just a polaris sweep.

MY STUDIO

Current

Synths

• KORG DSS-1 - Lovely sampling synthesizer. Not a sampler, it's a synth with lovely fat filters. Great for taking your own short waveforms and throwing subtractive synthesis over it. It has some harmonic synthesis capabilities you can use with this as well. Make some mayhem with the twin DDLs as well. Of course, if you're at this page you probably already know this :) Slow disk drive, monotimbrality and the lack of memory are its only drawbacks... BTW, this was one of only 2 Korg samplers ever made (the other was the DSM-1, its somewhat-related rackmount module...)...although there are some Korgs that can play user samples (the T2 will read disks made with a DSM-1 for example)...
  Picture: DSS-1
• WALDORF MICROWAVE XT - Wow, what changes since last time i edited this. Most everything has been changed. The analog is (unfortunately) almost all out, replaced with powerful and complicated digitals. Am i more efficient? No. oh well. The XT is a lovely beast, and i absolutely love wavetable synthesis. It has so many cool features. The sound may not be for everyone, but personally I like it. Try the waveshaper, the multiple oscillator modules, the 16 entry mod matrix...
• KAWAI K5000S - I thought i wanted additive, so i bought this from a friend. It really is a wonderful and unique board, though i personally have not had much time to delve into its depth. Just the patches i've gotten from others are so clean, clear, and beautiful, i have high hopes for it.
• YAMAHA RS7000 - I mostly got this to better learn drum programming, since i suck at it. The grid is a vast improvement from my old Q80EX; it is both a sequencer and a sound source. I don't think the sampler sounds as good as my prophet 3000 (but what does? :) Overall, i think it's a good choice.

Effects

• BOSS SE-70 - What CAN'T this do? it's not a master of anything, but all its effects sound pretty good, and it has TONS of them. Including 2 cool vocoders, a ring mod, and many other strange effects. Good on guitar and keyboards, and includes an analog distortion section. An important part of my rig. There are newer units which can probably do a lot more than that and perhaps better (i've heard good things about the newer VF1, which i was told is "as much better than the se70 as the se70 is better than the se50"... which is a decent amount!). But, they are VERY cheap now (not worth getting rid of), and... THE VOCODER! The vocoder on this thing really is nice, it sounds better than the electrix demos i've heard (the only thing cheaper i know of), and the newer VF1, while better in almost every other way, got rid of the 21-band vocoder! Only the 11 band. So this is staying.
• KORG A2 - Just got this, and my first reaction was "noisy!" But with some tweaking of the gain in and out, and now it's sounding nice. Effects with character, that's the strength of this box. And the reverbs are very nice too, some of them are as good as the Reflex below, but bigger sounding. Incredible - if you see one cheap, grab it! There are some interesting new effects too, like "dynamic modulation", a chorus or flange that gets deeper as the sound gets louder. Plus, some very nice tubish distortions, better than the SE70 in this department. I now have the FC6 with it, and it definitely add a lot to it when playing guitar... nice to be able to page through the patches with my foot. I don't use it much for the distortions anymore (occasionally) but it still gets used... the exciter sounds GREAT with the Blues Master for one. The multi-tap chorus is nice as well.
• RSP INTELLIVERB - OK, i got this to get some decent reverb effects and it was cheaper (even cheaper now... i've seen them close on ebay for less than $150!) It's basically an Intellifex, but with an additional (and VERY impressive!) 'Virtual Room' algorithm. It doesn't do much, but the few things it does (mostly reverb, chorus, delay) it does VERY well. Every piece of gear i own has built-in effects now (though not necessarily a full range, most limited: the DSS-1), so i had thought of getting rid of one of my boxes. After all, how many effects do I need? The SE70 was the vocoder, the A2 is still used on my guitar, this one is staying JUST for the vocal reverb. It might not be right for everyone, but it works for me, nice and smooth.
• HUGHES AND KETTNER TUBEMAN - I had the cream machine, and it was great but pretty noisy (it is designed for high gain; clean and slight overdrive it can do but at a price). So eventually i picked this up, one of the 'first' versions (it's black, with 4 presets). It is a pretty nice little box. It sounds a lot better than my A2 most of the time, and it does from clean to a decent hi-gain rock sound. It even works pretty good with my bass! Make sure you put a decent tube in it (got mine from Triode Electronics (not working for them, just a happy customer). I use an Ei 12ax7 in this, and a pair of JJ/Teslas below; none of them were over $10 and they sound great!
• HUGHES AND KETTNER BLUES MASTER - But i always wanted a blues master, finally i got one. It can't go as high-gain as either the cream machine or the tubeman, but for clean and crunch (and medium-gain!) sounds, it is INCREDIBLE. with a distortion in front of it i can kick it up even a little farther. But it's best, and you get the right amp distortion, using it for clean and crunch. I tried using this with my bass, maybe i need to play with it more but i wasn't too impressed so far. I was going to get rid of the tubeman (this is a lot better for guitar), but it's staying for the bass and for higher gain sounds.
• PROCO TURBO RAT - Not an overly harsh distortion, which makes it GREAT to put synths through to warm it up or give it a touch of overdrive. One of my favorite distortions, and usable for much higher distorted stuff than either of the above...
• BOSS ROD-10 - OK, this isn't necessarily my favorite distortion box, but it's very flexible, sounds pretty good, and works well with the blues master for those types of sounds. Really doesn't work well with keyboards though, this just gets used for my guitar.
• ART PRO VLA - A fairly nice sounding and practical compressor, and not expensive. I tried upgrading mine and busted one of the channels, but the other gets used for vocals on occasion and still sounds just as good.
• SYMETRIX 522 - I actually have a pair of these, they are cheap and decent utility compressors. Both of mine are upgraded, which is easy because most of the important stuff is socketed... one got the 4560s upgraded to 5532s (better) and the other to Burr-Brown OPA2604s (perhaps a little over the top, this one is even better but maybe not as much better as 2604s are more expensive than 5532s...) Does a lot, a good tool to have around when i need it. I don't use them too often (i don't always need compression). I used to have these permanently inserted on the XT and K5000s, but i'm more of the minimalist school, and they're just on the patchbay now (ready to be patched in if necessary).
• PEAVEY ROCKMASTER - OK, i've had this for a while too (though it is currently on long term loan at a friend's house). Has a couple issues, so i can only use clean and ultra gain. I don't really use a lot of gain much, and this mostly gets used on keyboards, so just clean even would be fine. Little noisy, but sounds OK. Did some magic on my prophet 3000, but i haven't been really impressed with it otherwise. I haven't gotten to try it with the tubeman or blues master though, perhaps that will change my opinion.

Other

• STUDIOMASTER 16-2 PROLINE MIXER - An old mixer. Has nice eq. Traded up to this from an Alesis 1622 - features aren't as good, but the board is noticeably quieter and the EQ is MUCH better. I don't regret it at all :) A weird design, kind of: has 16 inputs, the first 12 are mono and the last 4 are stereo. The last 4 also double as subgroups, the fader for input 13 also controls subgroup 1, and input 13 also goes to the 1-2 bus. Has 4 aux sends, but no returns, and no tape in/outs. Obviously intended for live use (but usable in a studio). Mine supposedly came off of a cruise ship :) Decent mic pres (i think, honestly I probably wouldn't know the difference). Serves my needs quite nicely..... Mine has been upgraded from stock to a variety of different improved op amps, this helps a lot. A stock version might not sound quite as good. Though i lost a couple channels in the process :( I also wish it had EQ bypass (remember i'm minimalist?) since i don't use it all the time. It could use a good cleaning again. There's something to be said for reliability... this board has developed a good number of issues, it acts alive. I think a Crest XR20 is calling my name... now, to find a spare $1600 :(
• MAM SLE-82 STEREO MIXER - This is an interesting utility submixer. Mixes 4 stereo sends, 1 rack space. This is pretty much submixing my effects returns; the mixer above doesn't have any and i was running out of channels! It is very basic, just level and pan (and this model has a mono effects send which i don't use), but it sounds decent and has served its purpose well. I think if I were doing it now, i'd probably try to find an Ashly LX308 or something instead (or just get a mixer with returns in the first place :).
• ENSONIQ KMX-8 MIDI PATCHBAY - Good: Easy patching. No pages (like an Akai ME30P), just 8 buttons for inputs, and 8 buttons for outputs. It's got memory, I don't use them though. Bad: No merging. That would be kind of nice. It's useful though for doing sample dumps and remote editing. Very easy to use...
• TURTLE BEACH PINNACLE - A new addition, not much experience yet. Just got the patch editor (Everest) for it, we'll see how it works out. Quieter than my mixing board though. Includes a Kurzweil synth with some strange filters... I really don't use the synth anymore. But i've been pretty impressed with the sonics of this thing. Sure, there are newer and probably better cards out there by this point, and i really should move to something PCI. But this is still working and sounding great; one part of the studio i really haven't felt the need to upgrade. At some point i might try to get something like a Lucid ADA1000, but i'm not even sure it would be an improvement...
• SKB 12 SPACE RACK CASE - Just got these, they seem to work well, although I wish they were a little deeper, just for the MKS70. But they work great, and they have simplified life a little bit.....
• JACKSON JD-R '94 GUITAR - Heh, one day I'll learn how to play this thing. I like it just fine for now though, the lowest pickup was replaced with a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon, and it sounds very different from the other two, for a good variety of tones. Not terribly noisy, and stays in tune pretty well. The more i play it, the more I love it, though i must admit it sounds quite a bit different from a Strat or Les Paul. Fits me though. Probably not for everyone.
• DEAN 88 BASS - A pretty cheap bass. Sounds pretty good though (but what do I know?) Harder to learn than I thought (but i've had it all of two weeks :) It's a bass, P/J configuration, 4 string. More info: It's a basic design, but I like the way it sounds. The low string is not that great (and it's only a 4-string!) but i think it's more my style than the bass, as another guy who's been playing 20+ years tried it out and it was fine for him. he liked its sound too, saying it's better than any of the other cheap basses he'd tried (like Fender Squier P-bass, etc.) the P pickup is better than the J pickup (or maybe i just like its sound better). The EQ doesn't do that much either, i just leave it all the way up. Lots of fun to play though, and suits my needs perfectly. And though i don't have a bass amp, it works ok through the tubeman (or the peavey) and then through the 20/20s...
• EVENT 20/20BAS - Not bad at all! For a while after moving i only had my headphones (audio technica M40s, they are nice headphones but headphones are not ideal). Picked up these locally. They do have a few flaws (they have something weird going on in the upper mids i think) but overall they seem pretty flat, put out enough bass for me, etc. I've been happy with them so far, but would like to get a set of Hafler TRM8s or Paradigm Active 20s, or maybe some mackies one day...
• ELECTROVOICE N/D 757B MICROPHONE - Well, i mentioned vocals, should probably mention my microphones. I don't have anything very expensive. These work great for me on vocals (i have a pair). I'd imagine the 'cone' is a bit tight (they're 'supercardioid') for most other uses, but i haven't really tried. Got mine for $85 each, they are vastly superior to an SM58.
• AUDIO TECHNICA PRO 37R - This is my representative condenser. I first used these at a church, and they were so much better on vocals and guitars than i assumed they were a lot more expensive. Boy was i surprised to find they are not expensive at all! 8th street is/was blowing these out for $99 each (when i got mine). We used these on everything from vocals, to an acoustic guitar, to a pair on a small choir, and it sounded very nice to me! We even used it on the kick drum a few times, it wasn't as good there but worked. There are lots of decent mics nowadays, and i'm not sure this is the bargain it once was, but it is a decent cheap mic. Note that they really don't work for live vocals very well; it's a small cylinder that doesn't hand-hold easily, it should be on a stand for that...

Past residents of the nomad studio

Synths

• FENDER CHROMA POLARIS - The heart of my rig. Well, it's at least what I've had the longest. A great box, somewhat harsh though. A midi analog with enough sliders to keep you busy for a while. The sliders all transmit midi CCs as well (and receive), so you can easily sequence your tweaks. Plus, this thing is 8-way multitimbral! (but only 6 voices) and the sliders can be tweaked on all the channels. It has all kinds of sync options for use to sync to/from midi and to/from regular analog sync, and can tranlate between the two. And it sounds great....
  Picture: (b&w) Chroma Polaris
  One of my favorites for a long time, this is sadly now sold. But i think it will work out for the best. In the meantime, enjoy these short rough samples:
  • 3 bass hits
  • Bb strings
  • Deep bass
  • E-piano
  • Feel the bass
  • A short, rough, resonant sequence
  • A short, rough, squelchy sequence
  • Thin sweep (small PW)
• SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS PROPHET 3000 SAMPLER - The "other" heart of my rig. All my drums are coming out of it right now (disk to go up when it is finished :). My only wish is that it had more voices/memory. SUPER easy to use, decent modulation, GREAT filters with lots of resonance (gets whistly at the highest values though). The only better than one of these is...two of these :) ... This one was really hard to let go of, but I used it mostly for drums, and it just wasn't happening for me, I still have trouble with drums. So this helped pay for the RS7000 above. As much as I miss the sound, i think it will end up being a good thing. But there really isn't anything i've ever heard that sounds quite like a Prophet 3000.
• SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS PRO ONE - What? more sci gear? actually TWO things from the same manufacturer? :) This is a GREAT sounding monophonic classic analog. I had to clean the key contacts when I got it, a common problem in these old beasts, but at least it was the J-wire version. The sound is huge, as you'd expect, and using Osc B as a modulation source sending it to the filter cutoff makes some wild sounds! It also has a filter input, although I haven't used it much. No midi, but midi/cv converters aren't that hard to find. Huge basses and wild leads will probably be its use in my studio...
  Here are two files which were the results of a sampling session one time. The first is just a few basses; the second was intended for my sampler; it has the raw waves of the pro-one, as well as some filter sweeps, FM movement, etc. I haven't edited it in any way, so you might need to skip around, but it might give you an idea of what this sounds like.
  Pro One Basses... Pro One Misc
  
• ROLAND MKS-70 - This box is an incredible sounding box, even more so for the money. Incredible digital and analog thickness, this one can do both. And it's huge sounding. Very smooth, or harsh if you want. I used to have a JX8P, so I'm not surprised by this, but this is quickly becoming my favorite of my boxes....can't believe I got rid of not one, but TWO JX8Ps....this has an optional programmer that is VERY EXPENSIVE ($200-250), but worth it, with something like 56 sliders...so full programmability in a 2U rack...It was nice, and i've love another (as well as another EX-8000, the only two I really miss and would replace), but i wanted a REAL analog, as i had enough of polysynths, and someone offered to trade a Pro One for it. I'm still not sure it was the right choice, but the Pro One is a KILLER synth and I've had a lot of fun with it...see above....
• NOVATION BASS STATION RACK - I got this primarily because a) it has a MIDI/CV converter, which can run on a separate channel from the synth, so it can control my Pro-One, and b) it has a synth attached for not too much more than I would pay for say a Kenton Pro-Solo. I could have gotten a Philip Rees MCV for around $135, but this was only $320, and I get a synth. True, the synth isn't fabulous (it pales when put next to the Pro One, sad because i was auditioning them together) but it's a different beast, it has its own sound and it's better than many polysynths. The knobs on the front panel are a boon, and they will transmit/receive Midi CCs, just like the polaris. I haven't tried a 303 emulation on it, but I doubt it will get VERY close, maybe somewhat close, but it can do quite a bit more than a 303 too. It's actually a nice synth, just not quite a Pro-One. Cheaper than a Pulse Plus, although if i didn't need Midi/CV i probably would have gone with a regular Pulse instead....
• CASIO VZ-10M - Okay, i haven't spent a huge amount of time with this. Mostly because I don't have a lot of time, and the Pro-One and BassStation Rack are more immediate. But I have gone through the presets. They certainly chose a wider range of stuff than the TX81Z. The big LCD screen is nice, and will be helpful when i actually do start programming it. It's got a lot of power, 8 oscillators in pairs with funky modulations between them. The TX81Z had a little bit of "brightness" that you usually associate with digital synths (not necessarily a bad thing), the Casio doesn't really have that as much, but is maybe slightly noisier. i think it is an edgier sound though. More info after i get into it more (whenever that is, I think i'd rather have a K5000s...but those are more expensive....)
• YAMAHA FS1R - I had a beta version FS1R for a short time. Being the freak i am, i thought it would be good to have another synthesis type around (like i even do enough programming on the ones i have!; i did manage a couple clangorous patches on the TX81Z. However, i'm not sure if it was just that it was a beta, or the machine itself, but we really didn't get along that well. At least for the DX7 presets (which i had lost most of the other patches, or they weren't working), it really didn't do it for me. At some time i'd like to give another (non-beta version!) another shot, but after i've learned to program the synths i already have...
• KORG EX-8000 - The DSS-1's earlier relative. However, it is a quite different beast. Still has digital samples for waveforms, they are single cycle though. Very fat. Great in unison mode too, has that classic analog bigness. Wouldn't mind another one, this is a nice sounding box. Perhaps limited in what it can do, but what it CAN do, it does well. It's different enough sounding from the DSS-1 to make it worth having both, although in a limited studio (like mine) they cover a lot of the same sonic territory.
• YAMAHA TX81Z - Well, not much to say about this one. Haven't gotten into it enough to say. Interesting sounding at least. Needs to be programmed, the presets aren't that great...it can do some very weird noisy leads. I think I will like it, once I get into it more....This was replaced with a Casio VZ10M, which is a little more interesting, different sound, more voices, easier to edit (at least easier to change the parameters...it's still a beast).
  Picture: TX81Z
• ROLAND MKS-30 w/PG-200 PROGRAMMER - Some may shoot me for this, but it reminds me of the Juno 106 I used to have. It is quite a bit more versatile though. The DCOs really show here, as the squarewave doesn't sound good very low. There is an upgrade in the works for this box, mail me and I'll point you in the direction of the guy working on it. It didn't work on mine (yet) but we'll see. This is also a very classic sounding box. The metal option can make for some weird sounds too (although I don't know exactly what it is...) I finally heard a JX-3P in a store near me, and I would say that even though the architectures are similar, the MKS30 is warmer, not as "brittle" and "clear" as the JX3P. I actually prefer the JX3P's sound....
  Pictures: MKS-30 PG-200
• OBERHEIM MATRIX 6/6R - I've had both of these, they sound the same. A pain to program, but worth it. Sound was OK - not incredible, but not weak (IMHO). I currently have a 6R that is under repair. They are VERY programmable, and everything can modulate everything (just about). The keyboard version is a real joy; in addition to the pitchbend has a push/pull lever that acts like two levers (both transmit midi CC, in addition to two pedals = 5 midiable control sources including pitchbend, which doesn't HAVE to be routed to pitch...), velocity, release velocity, usable aftertouch, and a nice, synthy feel (not weighted, but felt nice for playing it like a synth). If I get another it will be a keyboard just for this reason....how many keyboard even DO release velocity? Anyway it's worth a look just for the sheer variety of sounds it can produce. And if you want to do something, you probably can on here somehow....envs modulating envs, and all kinds of cool stuff....As much as I try to like this box, I just can't. I don't like it. I traded it for a Peavey SP (bad idea). Not that the SP is bad, just that I ended up losing money on the deal :)
  The matrix really is a programming beast though; not much else like it for reasonably cheap. At least there wasn't; the only other really 'cheap, programmable' option is the ESQ-M. But now there are many more options. A friend had the micromodular; this is far far more programmable than the matrix-6, with (aside from the fact you need a computer) a far easier programming interface. I really wanted to like it, but alas, i much prefer the sound of the matrix even; i just couldn't get into it. I didn't try too advanced stuff, but if i don't like the basic sound of the filters and oscillators... well, you get the picture.
  Currently, the microwave XT is filling this hole nicely though. The XT sounds incredibly nice if you ask me. Quite different from a matrix; some will have different opinions on the sound i'm sure. But for programming, not only does it match the matrix, it far surpasses it... if you're interested, grab the manual from Waldorf's web site. These are getting pretty cheap now as well, not as cheap as a matrix-6 but in the $650-700 range. Occasionally microwave IIs will go for around $400, and these also have the same features. I know the Q has the same matrix, and i believe the micro-Q does as well (~$450), that might another choice for a 'cheap programmer's dream'...
  Pictures: Matrix 6 Matrix 6R
• PEAVEY SP SAMPLER & SXII SAMPLE EXPANDER - I dunno why they call it a "sample expander", it's like the S expansion for K2000s, it just acts as the A/D converters, the SP doesn't have any of its own. Decent basic sampler. Not a lot of flashy features, but cheap, and sound quality is good. Fulfilled a need I didn't have, so I sold it, and the money went towards the BassStation Rack above.
• CASIO CZ-101, CZ-1000, CZ-1 - The CZ-101 was my very first synth, and a great introduction to synthesis. It's still a good-sounding little keyboard, although I wish there was a rackmount. Multitimbral, too, which is rare for synths of that day. 8-stage envelopes allow it to make some complex sounds, and tone mix allows layering. I still wonder why I traded my CZ-1 away, with velocity and aftertouch it added some much-needed external controls...
  Pictures: CZ-101 CZ-1000
  A few sounds: Misc 1 Misc 2 A "world" sound A single note The Fairy Tale preset.
• ROLAND JX8P w/PG-800 PROGRAMMER - Another one of those that I wish I had kept. I'm hoping to acquire an MKS70 soon, which is two JX8P's in a box. Much more versatile than a Juno 106 for about the same price, even with a programmer. Big sounding synth. Onboard chorus helps a lot too. The aftertouch on many of these though is way stiff, you have to practically break the keys off to get it to engage. There's a mod for this, but I never did it to the one I had. Well, I got the MKS70 - see above!
  Picture: JX-8P PG-800
• KORG DW-8000 - Pretty much the same as the EX-8000, with a data slider. Mine was a Turbo, with the Angel City upgrade, which added some features: duotimbral, random LFO, some arpeggiator sync features. Pretty cool arpeggiator, didn't quite sound the same as the EX-8000..but I didn't have them at even near the same time, and I listened to them through two different monitor systems. The EX-8000 is a bit warmer, the DW-8000 more crisp. It's very slight though....
  Picture: DW-8000
• EMU EMAX I HD SE - Decent filters, but kind of muddy sound, and not much memory. Really should be a sampling synth, not a sampler. Honestly didn't have it that long, sold it soon after I got it to get the Prophet 3000 I now own (which is much better, definitely worth it). They aren't awful, and the SSM filters sound pretty good and different from your average moog or CEM styled variety. But in general it sounds kinda dark, small, and lo-fi. If that's your thing, this might be your box...
  Picture: Emax I HD (kbd and rack)
• ROLAND JUNO 106 - Actually a nice-sounding synth. Warm sound, just didn't excite me as much as I thought it would though. The MKS-30 sounds similar and is more powerful. The MKS-30 doesn't have the same amount of bass, though, so keep that in mind when comparing them. The Juno DOES do better bass, but is that what you're paying $400-500 for?
  Picture: Juno 106
• ROLAND ALPHA JUNO 2 - Nice as a small controller. Reminded me of a weak JX8P. Similar filters, but just didn't have the power. Didn't have this one long either, although the reason was similar to the Emax (found a JX8P cheap - my second - and needed to grab it). It is about the smallest controller with 61 keys and velocity/aftertouch i know of though...
  Pictures: Alpha Juno 2
• KORG DSM-1 - If you've got a filter bank to spare (or a few extra unused synths with audio ins..) pick one of these up. Only 12 bit sampling, but it's clean. It DOES have a filter, but it's kind of weak (no resonant and not very big sounding). Lots of modulation options, though, 4-way multitimbral, 16 individual outs. I didn't need another sampler, and you can see from the list above I have no synths with audio-ins or filters (and I'm not (yet) into the DIY thing yet, not enough time), so it wasn't useful to me (in fact, I traded it for the DSS-1 above). Some of these have SCSI, which makes it nice too. A pretty cool little box if just for the abundance of individual outs. Mono only....
• OBERHEIM OB-XA - I REALLY wish this was not in this section. BEAUTIFUL synth, well worth the price. Not a lot of modulation options, but absolutely beautiful, and a huge sound, esp. with 8 voices and unison mode enabled. No midi though, and no CV/Gate, so unless you can find a midi kit (the only one available now is ~$400) it won't integrate into your setup very well (the reason I got rid of it). Should have kept it for sampling, but I'm better off with stuff I can actually use, don't need any more pretty toys. It's huge, but not too heavy. Definitely recommended....esp. if you see one with midi.....i think eventually i will have another, or its 'big brother' the OB-8...
  Picture: OB-Xa
• SIEL DK-600 (OPERA 6)/MIDI EXPANDER (EX-600) - I've heard bad things about Siel, but this was actually a pretty cool little synth. A strange setup, but a pretty good sound. They are usually cheap. They're midi, they're analog, they use the SSM 2044 filter. great for filter sweeps and some funky strange effects. very clear sound.... The Midi Expander is exactly the same as the dk-600, it's just in a box (not quite a rackmount, though - longer than 19", and angles up in front so you can see the panel. Weird box).... Forgot to mention, this one also has a nice assortment of knobs. The midi spec could be a little better, but how many synths do you know of with midi, knobs, and analog filters for $300?
• YAMAHA TG-33 - Another strange box. Not really a "synth" in the traditional sense, there are up to 4 layers which you can vector between. Includes FM and waveform presets. Actually a nice sounding box. Not much to do with it though. Great for doing pads in realtime though....
• ENSONIQ ESQ-M - It is not quite as programmable as the matrix 6, but I liked the sound better. Much crisper, but still plenty of analog power. Great pads, can slightly overdrive a bit inside the box too. 9-way multitimbral makes it a good basic box as well. 40 grungy samples to play with, more on the SQ80. Much thinner than most of the above, this isn't all bad though.
• KAWAI SX-240 - Well, mine has a couple minor problems, but it's still a good sounding synth. Very cool "ensemble" chorus section, coupled with the PWM makes nice strings. Decent bass, and with its SSM 2044 filter it can scream & howl too....

Effects

• LEXICON REFLEX - Better reverbs than the Quadraverb. After using other reverbs, this is impressing me more. Decent depth, terrible front panel programming but midi editing makes this decent. For the casual user you don't even need to edit it....will sync delays to midi. I recently re-acquired another one, and it reminds me again. BEAUTIFUL reverbs. Reverb tails die to nothing without noise. OTOH, they aren't very "huge" sounding, a little delay with it helps. It sounds great, but not as much character as the Korg above....Traded it towards a Peavey amp. Probably a bad idea, but I find i don't miss it too much.. not that it was bad, I just didn't need the extra reverb much. Probably will get an Intellifex instead if i ever do get another effect....
• BOSS HM-2 - Pretty good distortion pedal. Lots of gain with a not-too-harsh overdrive, nice for synths. Maybe not right for guitar though.
• ADA MP-1 - This is a rack tube preamp. Sounds nice, but I don't like the chunkiness of the controls or the editing interface (no knobs, just up/down buttons). Changing tubes helps the noisiness of it some, although it's not that bad to begin with (what do you expect from a distortion unit?) Great tube cleans and distortions, the solid state part wasn't that great. Also has an OK chorus. I would probably go with something different now. So I did. This was traded for the Dean Bass mentioned above. Definitely a worthy trade, the bass has been a lot of fun and I like the way it sounds. And there are better tube preamps out there...I would like to try another one though, and replace the 2nd tube with a 12au7, my Cream Machine has this configuration and it sounds GREAT for tubish amp-type distortion. I'm not sure how much the tube type contributes to the sound (as opposed to the overall design) but it might be fun to try it...the MP-1 does have EQ (for what it's worth) so if it could sound as good as the Cream Machine it might be worth it....
• ART MULTIVERB III - Decent delays, not too decent reverbs. Some cool special effects considering how cheap they are, and multitap delays. Really chunky reverbs....
• ALESIS QUADRAVERB - Better than the multiverb, but not by too much (IMHO only!) Warmer, but still very chunky. Didn't have this long, traded it for a lexicon reflex.
• BOSS CE-3 - Don't use it. It's not a very deep chorus, IMHO. It's OK, and may sound better on guitar. The RCE-10 is much better, and I can even get decent choruses out of my delays if I try hard. But maybe none of these are "real" choruses....they are all digital.... This was sacrificed to the MKS70 as well, which has a very nice chorus :) Time for some DYI work to get all those effects back....
• ALESIS MIDIVERB II - I actually like this thing. For as cheap as they are, they're worth it for the reverse reverbs & blooms alone. OK other effects. No feedbacking delays, you'll have to do the feedback in your console...and only one effect at a time...and funky midi spec...but cheap....
• ALESIS MIDIVERB III - It has one really nice reverb, the PT4 algorithm. That's all the nice things I have to say about it really. Pretty noisy, great for guitar though. Definitely a lot of character, i guess that's a good thing....
• HUGHES AND KETTNER CREAM MACHINE - Wow. If you're looking for true amp distortion, here it is, in a 1/2 rack box, for about $100. No kidding. Ok, so I haven't played guitar for long, and have never played a true tube amp. But this has the sounds I was looking for. You can get metal distortions, crunch, tubish blues overdrive and even clean if you try hard enough. it's not very noisy. I'd like to try replacing the first tube with a 12au7 and see if I can get even better tube amp type distortion. Haven't tried this on synths yet, but it is positively amazing on guitar..... ended up not using it very much. but see above.
• DOD FX-17 WAH/VOLUME/EXP PEDAL - I'm really just using it as a CV pedal (it outputs CV 0-5V through a little minijack on its side), it was cheaper than an EV-5 or any "new" pedal I could find. It doesn't really feel that good, but it doubles as a wah/volume as well. The wah is quite weird, not crybaby-like at all. I didn't like it a whole lot, but it works well as an expression pedal, so it's staying around....
• MISC BOSS EFFECTS Ok, I have a bunch of these 1/2-rack effects. They all sound pretty good: Boss RPQ-10, Boss RCE-10, Boss ROD-10, Boss RBF-10, Boss RDD-10, Boss RPH-10, Boss RPW-7. The ROD-10 is kind of harsh to my ears, and the RBF-10 I've never really used, but the others sound good to my ears (except the RPW-7, which is a power module :) The cool thing is the modulation bus: all of them take an expression pedal you can use to modulate something (even the delay can modulate delay time with the pedal). So lots of expressiveness possible. And I liked the ability on the phaser to set the phase depth to 0 and sweep it manually up and down, or leave it set, which just kind of fuzzes the sound a little bit. These aren't too expensive either, the misc effects are usually <$60 and the delay is usually <$80. I think it's a little warmer than the digitech (and it's got a tone knob), but only 400ms delay... The only one I have left of these is the RPH-10, the rest of them were sacrificed to the MKS70....
• BOSS RCE-10 CHORUS - The first of a bunch of boss 1/2 rack effects in the series. I used to have more, but they got sacrificed to the MKS-70 :) A very nice chorus. Seems to work better on guitar than synths, but is nice on both. Finally given away because I wasn't using it.
• BOSS RPH-10 PHASER - Another of the 1/2 rack effects. This one has a footpedal input you can use to manually sweep the phaser. Not quite as "crisp" as the Small Stone I used to own, but much more versatile, and it does still sound good. Three modes. Ended up giving this away too.
• DOD FX82B COMPRESSOR - A little pedal. I never really used it, so I can't judge it too much. I got rid of it though, i guess that says something....
• ARION SAD-1 STEREO DELAY - A very strange little pedal, you don't see them that often. It's cooler than most delay pedals though, for two reasons: 1) the sound. It's not necessarily crisp, or "warm", or any given catchphrase, but it does have character, and one that I like. 2) It's the only delay pedal i've seen that does ping-pong delays. That by itself is worth the price of admission, usually very cheap. Only got rid of it when I got the Korg A2, this paid for a small part of it...and the A2 does delays too..
• IBANEZ DL5 - Might have been a DL10, I never did get it straight. A soundtank delay. This is the opposite of the above - It had no character of its own, the purest delays I've heard out of a stomp. What you put it is what you get out, with almost no coloration. Good when you don't want any change in your sound. Went for the same reason as the above....
• PROCO RAT - The older brother of the Turbo Rat, and sounds good just the same. Pretty much the same, except the "drive" doesn't go quite as high. Gave it to my sister when she started guitar, who needs two of the same sound? :)
• KORG A5 - This is nothing like the A2, but cool just the same. It's definitely nice sounding for a cheap pedalboard. Not very programmable, and the distortions are very chunky (think punk, you won't get very good tube sounds out of here :), but chunky in a cool way. At least it does cool things to keyboards. The reverb is pretty cool too, nothing like a lexicon but cool in a lo-fi sort of way. Left same way as the Rat.
• DIGITECH RDS-1900 - I had an IPS-33B once, and thought I've never have another Digitech device as long as I live. Then I found this cheap, wanted a second delay, and thought "what the heck". I'm glad I jumped. This is a cool little box, with knobs for all you modulators. Adjustable delay time from something like 1ms-1900ms, modulation rate/depth, feedback amount, repeat hold, inverted feedback (for reverse-reverb type effects). Has a phase out for pseudo-stereo as well.I run all my stuff through it now, and got rid of my reverb - it has its own sound. Recommended if you can get it cheap. I have enough effects though, this was traded for the racks, which hopefully will be more useful (i've been neglecting studio furniture for a while...)
• BOSS DS-2 - Haven't had it long enough. Harsher than the Turbo Rat. We'll see...this has been on vacation for a while. Yep, still not great, but OK. My second-to-last pedal, this one disappeared not long ago.

Other

• HAFLER DH200 POWER AMP - Sounds good to me...100 watts/side. Not rack-mountable, it's got the heatsink fins on the sides. Pretty cool...still operates for several seconds after you cut the power....true class A. I don't use anything near the full power of this thing yet in my small studio....
• TURTLE BEACH MAUI - Decently quiet, decently easy to use. Basic sampler, no filters but lots of modulation abilities. Hardly has been explored. I sometimes use it as a basic sampler, but don't use it much at all anymore...This thing is NOISY though! Beware!
• PEAVEY KB100 AMP - Speaking of which, I forgot to mention it. These are cheap, have 3 inputs including 1 mic input, fx loop, reverb, 4-band EQ, 15" woofer + horn. They're not exactly hi-fi, but they do the job. I got one of them for $100, and it's at least worth that. They can double as a bass amp in a pinch too. I have two of these, until i can get better monitors and/or afford separate monitors and PA gear (i use one of these for playing bass at church too, so i can't just sell them both and get some Paradigm Mini-Monitors for instance). They're decent for bass, for full range they are missing something, and the bass is overly heavy. But they work OK. They seem very reliable. Not much else to say I guess.
• ALTEC LANSING BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS - Ok, they're not monitor quality, but they work OK. Good enough for now, I'm not ready to record an album yet....
• MIRO CONNECT 34 WAVE - Well, I guess it works OK. Noisier than the Maui, but decent frequency response. I don't use it for recording, though....(i'm not convinced it's actually noisier anymore :)
• YAMAHA DD12 DRUM PADS - Kinda like an octapad I suppose. they have 8 pads + a kick drum input with a dinky little pedal (momentary-on I think, you could probably use any sustain-type pedal, converted to mini-jack like theirs). This is currently on loan with a friend. And my sampler was on the fritz when I got this, so I didn't get to try the midi stuff too much (it does work). The triggers can be set to just about any midi note by setting up your own kit. It has a funky "scratch" ribbon on it too that doesn't transmit midi, good for those old skool "scratch" effects heh :) (it's just a sample, btw...don't get too excited...) Lots of other useless features too, thankfully you can turn them off...rhythms, SSP (super session drummer, plays along with you or something), ABC (auto bass and chord, it will play a whole song without you! no talent needed!). decent for a basic midi trigger unit. the pads are 4" each and seem to have decent velocity response. It has some internal sounds too, and a midi input, although they are really nothing special. I'm getting this back soon, and hope to try my hand at playing drums live.....over midi of course....
• SHURE SM-58 - I know this is the 'standard' for live vocal microphones, but i just don't like it all that much. It's not awful, it just has this 'grainy' texture that i'm not particularly fond of. It also has an awful hump in the upper midrange that paired with the wrong vocalist can lead to a very raspy and harsh sound (and that has happened a few too many times!) These are incredibly reliable though, which is probably why they are still around.
• YAMAHA G100-II AMP - This is a 2x12 guitar combo, solid state. I'm using it currently as a keyboard amp. It works pretty well for this purpose, although the speakers will overload a little if you throw too much bass at it (maybe new speakers are needed - they're whatever Yamaha originally installed with the amp). Pretty clean sounding, distortions don't go all out for guitar but sound decent. Not bad for as cheap as they go.... Really couldn't handle the bass of synths, so I sold it and replaced it with a Peavey KB100. It was a good decision, although I really wish I had kept the amp, I didn't get much for it and I really did love the way it sounds. It can go loud pretty clean if you want it to, and with the Cream Machine above I think it could take care of any amp needs.....

CREDITS

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