Re:Ten years of OP-1
by moron4hire on Thursday April 15, 2021 @10:34AM
(#26821014)
I love my Korg Minis, both the monotribes and the kaoss pads. They don't have a lot of features, but I see them kind of like musical Lego. You just plug them into each other in different ways and then just play around all day. And I think buying all of them, plus enough cables to connect them all, would only set you back about $800 total.
Korg Mini/Monologue and Volcas, any Behringer analog stuff, Arturia Mini/Micro Brute/Freak, Roland Boutique, Yamaha Reface CS/DX, Modal Electronics Skulpt, Waldorf Rocket....
And Teenage Engineering has a more affordable OP-Z, and not to mention their Pocket Operators that are wonderful machines for $60 or so (I use PO-12 as a drum sequencer for jamming).
And that's not even going into the old/used gear market. I got a Soviet analog polysynth for under $500 off Reverb last week. However, I feel like getting started, the newer stuff is both cheaper and better. We are living in the synthesizer renaissance era.
If I were to pick just ONE synth to recommend, it would be Korg Monologue. It's a masterpiece with a lot of depth, but simple to get started on, and super hands-on. For other recommendations, see articles like [1].
[1] https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-cheap-synthesizers