Best under 1k

[Kamin]

Hey guys, Im bew here but from what i can tell, ill be spending a lot of time here in the future.
Anyways, I have about 1000$ to spend on a synth and I dont know a wole lot about this kinda stuff. Ive played the piano for nine years and really want to get in on the prog action, so i need a synth that can produce some pretty good lead sounds. Tell me what you think.

[Over The Edge]

With that kind of money, you can almost buy 2 Alesis Ions.


$649.00


FL
www.franklucas.net

[Bastardo Demono]

I thought the alesis ion was $800-1000? it is adveratise in keyboard magazine as such, any way.

There really arent a lot of synths in that price range, to my knowledge anyway, maybe a used korg karma would be little more than a $1000

I know I paid $800 for my Alesis qs 7.1, if you include the 2 $100 dollar each expansion cards I have for it (which you would probably want, the vintage keyboards and synth cards are great for prog stuff), but you can probably fine that or its bigger brother the 8.1 for 500-600 alone, though it would be used, it is a good deal, Ive found it an just fine for my first non-kiddy synth, and it does have some pretty sweet leads.

maybe you should save a bit and look into some higher level keyboards though, check the synth guide on this site out

[Spacehog]

You could probably get a couple of E-MU's for that price :) Or one with a load of ROMs at the current prices at emu.com. I'd go for the PK-6 with the Vintage, Ensoniq Project and Sounds Of The ZR ROMs, or a PK-6 and a Vintage Keys (a la my personal setup, albeit with additional ROMs). Musician's Friend are doing the PK6 and the Halo (possibly all of the keyboards) for $399, so you could get a couple of ROMs from E-MU as well for your 1000 bucks... mega deal :)

Otherwise, Triton Le, Alesis ION or a Yamaha CS6X (if you can still find one) might be options, or there's a huge second-hand market.

Martin

[maJ estY]

I think you should go more into the details about what you need, what you don't need and what would be nice...

[Tusker]

Remember the Roland XP30? Lots of sound for modest dollars, and a pretty good synth.

I think that we will see a similar budget keyboard version of the Roland XV synths at winter NAMM in January. It will be priced about $1000. This just my speculation, based on the XV life cycle, and what Roland has done in the past.

Meanwhile a used Yamaha S80 would be great if you could find one for about $1000.

Jerry

[Over The Edge]

Anything from the Alesis Q series would be a great bet.

Rumors also are finding their way around the internet that
there will be a huge price drop for the Korg Karma.

Mock me all you want but remember that I am the king of bargains. :P


FL
www.franklucas.net

[Kurzweilfreak]

The Alesis QS whatever can hardly be considered a synth. One lowpass filter without resonance is all you get. Blah!!

For about $1000 you could probably find a nice used K2000 at the very least. That was my first synth. :wink:

[Kamin]

hey, thanks guys...I was looking at the yamaha s08, it sounds pretty good...as in the specs, and itd be easier for me to have one big synth rather than a couple smaller ones..but once again i dont really know much, itd prolly be easier to get a used one as you said, but im wary (maybe unjustly) :? about gettin thing off of ebay, ive heard like 5 stories of people bein ripped off and loosing a thousand bucks, but i think i really will put some serious thought into the used department. thanks again