BEST VINTAGE DIGITAL SYNTHS and How They Sound!
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
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✨ Uncover the secrets behind the vintage digital synthesizers that set the stage for countless chart-topping hits in the 80's and 90's.
In this video, I delve deep into the archives of musical history to unveil the most sought-after vintage digital synthesizers of all time. From the iconic to the obscure, I've handpicked the crème de la crème to satisfy your insatiable appetite for nostalgic sounds.
📢 Hit that subscribe button, ring the notification bell, and get ready to embark on a journey of musical discovery like no other. The future is now, but the sounds of the past continue to shape the present. Welcome to the world of vintage digital synthesizers! 🎹✨
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0:00 Intro to Vintage Digital Synthesizers
0:41 Greatest Rompler ($435 right now!!)
6:14 My Favorite Digital Synth ($570)
12:21 Best FM Synth ($1,150)
17:07 Best Synth for Making Your Own Sounds ($1,350)
24:07 Best Vintage Digital Synth Of All Time ($2,150) 
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Well, I had just bought an Emax II in 1990. I I was 19 years old. And then I went to work in the music store , they hired me. Then I sampled all the synths.
Ensoniq, Kurweil and Kawai were so in advance in the late 80s - beginning of 90s. They deserve credit for that. Nice collection you have and interesting choice, however the SY99 and JD-800 are above the list. These two are legendary synths! Love them, they have souls.
They really are incredible! Don't sleep on the others though!
Emu and Ensoniq my favorite,especially the ESQ1 and the
PROTEUS 1..
The main reason the late 80's early 90's digital synths sound a bit more gritty and thicker than their modern counterparts is how they were made. At that time a good amount of the components inside were still closer to analog gear as in there were still transistors, diodes, capacitors etc... Also the DA converters were less HiFi than today. Today's boards are just about all chips and micro sized at that. So a very different manufacturing process. Even loading vintage sounds, waveforms etc... into todays recreations of early digital we will not get the same sounds because the components are not the same as back then. I noticed the evolution of change over the years in sound quality and fidelity. While the new synths can have crystal clear fidelity and more authentic acoustic sounds the new boards lack the grit and warmth of the older boards.
Yeah, there's still something like a little magic in those vintage digital components!
I agree, these synths have that character which it was lost in modern hardware synths.
This is certainly evident between my friends first 'edition' DX7 to my MKII D, and again to my SY77. The MKII is brighter and cleaner while the OG is darker and grittier, and also perhaps more iconic. The SY77 sounds great compared to both DX7's, but also doesn't seem as 'organic' if that makes any sense.
Just a note: Yamaha didn't acquire Korg, they purchased a controlling interest in the company. Korg later bought that controlling interest back later on according to what I read back in the day.
Great work and great choice of synths from that era. I should have held on to one of my 800s back in the day. The JD-990 is also dope if you can find one, particularly with the Vintage card installed.
Here are some dark horses that I think could deserve a Part 2 treatment if possible:
1) Emu Morpheus
2) Yamaha FS1r
3) Kawai K5000s
4) Technics WSA-1
5) Yamaha EX-5 (this workstation is overlooked as the powerful synth it is)
Honorable Mention:
- Ensoniq Fizmo for transwave weirdness
- Korg Z1- much more than just a VA.
I think it's fair to say if you own the most stocks that's the equivalent to owning the company. You're right though that Korg eventually bought back their stocks.
Everyone's been saying the EX5 is the one I missed! I'll have to look into it!
Also I had a K5000s but I sold it - for me it the interface was too daunting and the sound of the presets didn't inspire me to dig deeper.
Some of my favorites:
#1 Roland D-50. Nonono Anna and Elsa, I will not let it go. Even without the programmer it's great.
#2 Yamaha SY-85. Rompler, sequencer and many great effects and extensive routing. Play one sound or stack four.
#3 Gem WS2, keyboard workstation. No filters, so not really a synth, but does allow sound editing, programming the arranger and sequencer. Way ahead of is time.
#4 Gem S2 Mysic Processor. Really nice sound editing.
Wish I had time, room and money for one.
The KAWAI K4/R was another super synth beast with an incredibly warm sounding filter.
I've done a video on the K4, amazing: ruclips.net/user/liveP3_QCghj5uU
Been using my SY77 nearly every day for almost 30 years…love it
Such an incredible synth!
And it keeps on going. Keybed still ok? Yes of course, no rubber there. And all of the DX7 sounds are at fingertips, SYSEX.
Just be careful with that effect section. It mangles the stereo in some cases. Opt for the "individual" reverb and delay settings up the ladder. Or just switch it off altogether.
Finally picked up a second hand SY77 for $350 the other week, it really is an incredible piece of kit, I've been playing it every day since then, the dual mod wheels are amazing and the keybed is so good, I use it to control all of my desktop synths too now 😭
I feel like I'm not getting enough out of my SY77. The presets are kind of weak, but the thing has so much potential!
Youre right , i heard that synth on a RUclips channel as they went through some patches or presets and wow the KAWAI K3 sounds awesome.😮.
The Ensoniq ESQ 1 was a monster with a magnificent SEQUENCER.
Love the Ensoniqs!
Awesome I love digital even though I have many analogs.. I brought MOBYS SY 22 from the reverb auction he had the one he personally used to record the strings on GO and many of his other tracks. Its my pride and joy...
It´s an odd and cool feeling when I play it knowing he made all those classic tracks with it.
That's incredible!
The Casio CZ 1000/5000 were really good too.
Very solid choices! Your subscribers may also be interested to know that Dave Smith also consulted on the Yamaha SY-22 / SY-35 / TG-33 vector synth, which I consider to be a sleeper in the digital category. A silly drawback in my mind to the architecture of the SY-22 et al is that you could only choose from preset 2-operator FM voices on the FM side. It would have been well within the capability of the designers to add support for editing FM oscillators. Even their cheap PSS-680 (consumer grade synth) allowed for editing of the 2-operator FM voice.
Potential honorable mention for 1990s digital: Kawai K4 / K4R. The keybed was not great, but it is very capable in the hands of a good programmer.
Two really great picks! I really hope to check out a K4 in the nearish future!
I think you will eventually converge on the Jordan Rudess look yes?
I wish to be keyboard daddy
And if we are going to talk about "Best", my SCI Prophet VS kills the Wavestation and the ESQ 1. I sold them both after I bought the VS.
Fair enough - but that's a hybrid technically. You might see that in a different video
Yes, the VS is amazing. One of my favorites of all time.
Great video man! This is my favorite category of synthesizer. I agree that these days, nobody has really captured this era of sound. Soft synths have come close, and Korg has been releasing their classic synths as plugins which I think is really cool. I also like the fact that in Omnisphere, you now have a lot of the D50 presets you can call up. In terms of that era, I would have also added the Kurzweil K2000. That was a revolutionary synth with VAST, that mimics a lot of the synthesis types from other keyboards. Very complicated to program, but one of the coolest synths I've ever owned (technically I owned the K2600).
I would love to check out the K2000! Ever since I heard Richard Wright used it I've been fascinated.
I agree about adding the Kurzweil to this list. I have the K2500X and I will never sell it. It can just do sounds that I haven’t heard anywhere else. I keep thinking about getting the daughterboards for it. It might be nice to pick up a rack unit to double my polyphony.
Oh, and the Kurzweil was definitely used on the original Halo CE (on the Xbox).
Really? thats a really cool fact to know!
@@VultureCulture This series ofvKurzweils are brilliant. They are standbys on Broadway shows, where they are used for everything. The last and best version was the K2600. Note that the keyboard versions are huge and heavy and a chore to haul around. Also note that the brand new K2700 still offers VAST and can play back old Kurzweil samples and sounds. I have a new K2700 and vintage K2600rs rack. I'm not selling either one.
Just a great channel - thank you for sharing your knowledge
I appreciate your positivity and I'm glad you're enjoying the videos 🙏🙏🙏
and...any ensoniq.
I LOVE Ensoniq - in my last video I mentioned the SQ-80 so I didn't want to mention it here: ruclips.net/video/hg0d6XPBARM/видео.html
The Yamaha AN1x definitely should be mentioned, as was the Korg Prophecy, which others have mentioned.
Also, what about Waldorf love? Additionally, Technics had some decent ROMplers.
Both of those synths are great, but I think of them more as existing in the classic VA category.
Waldorf was a serious omission here lol
Great video. I especially liked the JD-800 segment that immediately brought me back to the movie HACKERS, a favourite of mine. A movie that was totally techicallyl inaccurate, but caught the spirit of the subculture perfectly. One digital synth that captures the sounds of the 90's, although it was released in the early 2000s is the Roland SH-201. It's one of my favourite keyboards to fool around with that captures the spirit of the 90s techno sound. It's a great part of my home studio.
That's one of those synths I see a bunch in the comments. People really love that one! 👾
I was surprised and happy to see the jd-800 at the end I recently picked one up a year ago because of espen Kraft useing it to control the JD990. To the keys in the keypad seemed to me messed up on what I think is the after touch of the keyboard because when I hook up a separate synthesizer to it to control and play on I don't get any problems I still haven't gotten around to fixing it and bringing it into a shop I think I found one in Sacramento I'll be saving up money I don't know how much you'll take to repair it might be the red glue I'm not sure it does jump to the next key next to it like spreading a virus
If you're not sure about red glue ABSOLUTELY take it in as soon as possible - you might be able to save the keybed but once there's too much damage it's all over for it and you'll have to completely replace it.
I think maybe you forgot about Kurzweil. The K series like the K2000 and K2500/2600 etc. But then, they are sort of still around so maybe can't consider that architecture vintage. Even if it is or was first digital modular in hardware (that I can think of). Sounds great too.
Everyone's been telling me I'm sleeping on the K2000
@@VultureCulture Pick up a rackmount version. You will want to upgrade the floppy drive. You can find unmodified ones for $400 sometimes, although if it were me, I'd try to find one where someone had already done the SD-card mod. I can guarantee you will not be disappointed. It sounds unbelievable. Try to get the manual for it.
I just a comment that someone used the SY77 sequencer for some of their tracks. Cool. My band from 1992-1994 gigged without a drummer for a while so we used my SY99 in conjunction with an RY30 drum machine to be our backing band. It mostly controlled bass and drums but I would use the extra tracks to cover synth parts I could not posiibly play live. It was a big sound coming from just 2 guys! It always felt weird because no one in our local scene was doing this. Synth drums were looked down on in the 90's. It worked for us and got us on stage and playing music!
That's awesome! I too was in a synth band with no drummer and people just did not get it (this was the 2000's when it was really uncool)
Thanks for posting. My first and favorite synth was the subtractive Ensoniq Sq80. Hated to sell it years ago...been looking for another, or possibly a VFX-Sd, Yamaha Sy85 or Wavestation on Reverb
All of those synths are amazing, but the SQ-80 is the only one with an analog filter!
Hi, i am not a member, but could i purchase your D50 patches?
I'm still working on them - but if you're subscribed and hit that 🔔 you'll see an announcement video when they finally come out!
@@VultureCulture waay ahead of ya :) I'm looking forward to it!
Kurzweil K2000/K2500 is the best digital synth of all time...
The SY77 and SY99 need a VST ASAP, very unique sound and synthesis, omnisphere can't replicate them.
I will try to make one! 😜
THis is also my favorite category of synth and I agree with most of th choices. However, I do have some comments:
1. EMU Proteus. These are great, but my recommendation is for the Proyeus 2000 or Proteus 1000 rack which has te widest range of sounds and best usability. Be careful with any old Proteus, as they do seem to be prone to technical issues, which are fixable, but a nuisance.
2. Korg WaveStation. This is a classic. But I have to point out that Korg sells iPad and VST versions gthat are absolutely spot-on and have all of the add-ons. I have a real WaveStation SR, but almost always use one of these instead.
3. Yamaha SY-99. Another great one. The floppy disks on these are driven by rubber belts, which usually fail. You can replace them, but a better option is to get a kit to swap in a USB stick. This lets you keep the whole floppy library of sound disks online.
4. Roland D50. Another classic. For this instrument, my recommendation is to buy a Roland V-Synth XT instead. The V-synth includes an absolutely perfect emulation of a D-50 as a boot mode. It also has a great Vocoder mode. And th main synth produces some unique and very useful sounds, which you won't find elsewhere, even on newer synths.
5. Roland JD-800. This one I have to disagree on. I would LOVE to buy one of these. But the JD-800 is flawed by the well known "rede glue problem". Basically, the keyboard contacts use a red glue which softens and keeps keys fro working. The solution is to laboriously clean and fix each key, which is expensive and difficult. As great as this instrument is, it's a problem waiting to happen.
And My #5 to substitute would be the Yamaha EX5 (or EX5r rack). This was a flagship synth with multiple physical modeling engines and unique effects. It sounds awesome and like nothing else. Yamaha followed it up with the boring Motif 1 rompler, but this is Yamaha at its innovative best.
As always your comments are great and informative!
I would love to check out a Proteus 2500 one day. And I agree, I use the Wavestation VST quite a bit. And I'll have to check out the EX5!!
The Ipad App and VSTi sounds quite exactly like the WS SR, but sadly not like the WS AD or WS ex! Give it a try. Many of the factory Presets sounds WAY better on the vintage big ones. Same goes for Wavestate vs. WS ex. I currently own and use a Wavestate and a WS ex and the VSTi.
@@tihinter I think that the iPad app is a little better than the VST, but they're pretty similar. Since I already have the SR, a WaveState, the iPad app and the VST, I doubt that I'll buy another one. These kinds of super-subtle differences tend not to interest me very much.
Yes the EX has a certain crunch to it I love
Great Video!
I, too, am a huge fan of early digital!
Sure, there are others that are in league with these:
- Roland JP-8000/8080
- Kurzweil K2000/2500
- Korg Z1/Prophecy
- E-MU Morpheus/UltraProteus
- Clavia Nord Lead
- Casio CZ Series
As for the instruments you described, I don't have a first generation Proteus, but I have an E-MU MP-7 into which I added the XL-7 ROM and the Composer ROM from the Proteus 2000. It covers quite a bit of the Proteus sounds and has a huge variety of filters including many Z-Plane filters similar to those in the Morpheus and UltraProteus.
I do own a Wavestation EX and a Wavestation SR. You're absolutely right - they ROCK!
I've always appreciated the SY-77 and SY-99, but I have never committed the real estate to them. They are huge and heavy and I really don't have the space. I do, however, have my classic FM covered via an original TX7 while merging some FM with vector via another Dave Smith influenced instrument - the TG33. For years I thought of the latter as my "poor man's Wavestation" but it really has a voice all it's own and I'm so glad to have it.
I owned a D-50 w/PG-1000 for over 20 years, but I sold them off when trying to finance another project. I never really liked programming on the PG-1000, but I've had different software that worked fine for me. Only a year or two after selling the pair, I realized how much I loved and missed my D-50 so I got a D-550 and I've been in heaven once again. Though I loved the original keyboard, having the rack unit fits my space much better these days and I still have that wonderful Linear Arithmetic sound! I couldn't agree more with you about to sound of the D-50/550. It is greater than the sum of its parts and it sounds so fat and lush for a digital. Truly a unique instrument!
As for the JD-800, I agree that it is a marvel. For me, interface is every bit as important as the sound of an instrument. It either encourages you to plummet the depths of a synth or relegates it to a preset-only box. To those who worship interfaces, Roland's re-discovery of what we loved about programming is practically worshipped. A bandmate of mine had one and I loved playing it in the early 2000s. However, he decided to let it go because he faders started to fail and he found that maintaining it would become prohibitively expensive. I have spoken to many colleagues who either let theirs go or have them, but can no longer consistently program them because of fader issues. Though I love them and find their sound absolutely heavenly, I have decided to pass on ownership. Also, they are BIG - especially their depth. I went for a less robust option, but I found that I have gotten the kind of sound I wanted from the JD-800 via my JV-2080. I picked it up for a song ($150) and got 8 specific expansion cards that allowed me to build out a unique instrument that suited my needs. I acquired those during a slump in the interest of them and paid under $500 for all 8 cards!
Sorry - didn't mean to babble so much. Once again, great video! As much as I love modern instruments and vintage analog, there will always be something special about the vintage digital to me. Keep their memory alive!
Peace.
Babble away! I love reading about people's journeys with synthesizers!
One of these days I have to try out a CZ-1!
I still have my original CZ-101 that I got in the mid ‘80s. Really interesting instrument. No filter, but using the resonant waveforms with those multi-stage envelopes creates the illusion that it does.
It’s a wonderful synth. I will never sell mine.
Maybe include modules as well?
Mainly for space reasons I started purchasing vintage 19 inch rack modules a few years ago. Some synths don't have a direct rack version (Roland Jupiter 8 and MKS-80 aren't quite the same; Yamaha AN1x doesn't have a rack), others do (Roland D-50/D-550; Yamaha DX7II/TX802), and some are only available as a 19 inch rack, such as the E-Mu Proteus 2000 and its many variants, the E-Mu Morpheus, the Yamaha FS1R, the Korg Wavestation SR (basically a Wavestation on steroids, in an impossible to edit box), and quite a few others.
Because other people appear to have the same consideration, rack modules can often be more expensive than their keyboard counterparts.
I would consider doing a rack mount video in the future, but because I don't have any I didn't want to give my opinions on something I don't have first hand experience with.
I just upgraded the disc drives on my SY77 and SY99 to USB. I also own the Wavestation EX and am eyeing the Wavestate. I always drooled over the JD 800. Has anypne tried the the new JD 08 by Roland?
I haven't - I suggest Ander Jenson's video comparing the JD-800 to JD-08. In the mix they're pretty similar but on their own you can really hear the differences
Great video! The late 80's early 90's was a very special time, fond memories of those sounds indeed! =)
Thank you! 🙏
Any special sounds or synths you want me to cover?
@@VultureCulture I think you covered everything! Especially love the JD800, I was going to pick one up myself but got scared off by the Red Glue of Death! Hopefully yours is ok? On the VA side, it would be nice if you can cover the Novation Supernova. Cheers!
Mine's had the red glue problem fixed. I hope to check out a SuperNova then!
The Yamaha sys line had good sequencer too, like the “song mode” sequencer I mean, not making arps, in mid 2000’s when I was first working on my old album that I released in 2010, I was in this weird mid spot of my musical journey where I had sold my mpc and other analog equipment prior year, cause of $ issues, and I needed something to start working on next album to get my ideas down, but hadn’t fully grasped what was happening with daws yet, a lot of us thought the computer thing was gonna be dud back then, who knew lol, but I ended up buying sys77 from pawn shop for like 500$ at time, and because of necessity I learned it inside and out, and started making full blown productions with it, and 4 of those tracks still are on the album to this day, rest I ended up re creating in reason, but I was paying for studio time to record vocals at a major studio, and I just brought the syn77 there, I’d have whole beat sequenced, all drops, automation done right on keyboard, and they would hook it audio to ssl, and 1 at time I would solo each “track” of song on sys77, and hit play, and they recorded each sound, for entire song length of my performance, each to its own track on pro tools, in real time, and they would improve mix for me, but it all still holds up n sounds great, still have those songs on my RUclips/apple/Spotify whatever, that keyboard did a lot for its price, and while I’m glad to be moved on to bigger n better things, it will always hold special place in my heart lol, it became my whole studio briefly when I was in bind🤷🏻♂️🤣
That's the beautiful thing about that era of vintage digital. They really could be your one shop stop synth, and to this day they sound really great!
I completely understand your passion for old digital synths, I feel the same way. They are far more colorful to me than any analog. I'm a bit short of the Kawai K4 in your list, with probably the best digital filter ever made ...
I've actually covered the K4 since this video: ruclips.net/user/liveP3_QCghj5uU?si=qb-DihB9g3FHjT7x
I think you missed the Korg M1 and Roland JV series. But kudo's for your video. Fun to watch.
I recently covered the M1 pretty extensively, but definitely want to check out a JV sometime!
So Sequential goes under and some people go to make the Wavestation and some go to make the SY22/SY35. You also mentioned the SY99. My question to you is what are your thoughts on the SY22/SY35 boards?
Really awesome value for your money! I almost might prefer it - the SY99 is such a monster it's intimidating to program.
@@VultureCulture Nice! Yeah they are usually pretty cheap. I love the ability to save your vector movements into the patch too. Such a fun synth to play and program.
Yeah - kind of incredible when you think about it. I know the SY99 has basically everything in the SY35 in it but it's so much more of a chore to program.
@@VultureCulture I imagine that might be the case given you're adding a whole DX7ii and additional waves to it.
Good feature, the “analog is only real synthesizer “ thing does get a bit old. If you’re after digital, pads sort of FM but not...a think worthy inclusion (and total bargain) is the Kawai K5000. And frankly even if you hardly use the synth you get a really high build quality keybed / arpeggiator (S version) to use as a midi controller!
I did a video on the K5000: ruclips.net/user/livexA-ecnabxD8?feature=share
I think it's an amazing synth
Before watching, I just knew the SY would be on the list. I only have the SY77 but I absolutely love it, best $50 I ever spent.
$50⁉️ that's amazing
@@VultureCulture I know, I couldn't believe it. A young couple had bought a house where the previous owner left a bunch of stuff and the SY77 was part of it. They couldn't get it to work and just wanted it gone fast. All it needed was a new battery and a factory reset. Still probably my best gear score!
My pick would be JD for it's modern hi-fi /3-d like sound, then WS , for its wave sequences and soundscapes, then d-50 for vintage 80's sound . I had Proteus rack but sold it. Dont have SY yet but DX7 mk1 in a box called TX7
They SY is a great synthesizer because you can use it as a DX7 mk2 or as a SY-35-esque rompler
Whats the name of that SY99 Kate Bush'y preset at 13'00?
Ahhhh I don't remember, I apologize 🙏
i’ve always wanted a wave station but with the plugin version it seems like the sound difference doesn’t justify using the space for the hardware version. Any opinion on it?
as well as the jd-800. i regretfully sold mine but the plugin sounds 99% the same
I think the Wavestation plugin is phenomenal and I use it even though I have the hardware just because it has all the additional rom cards.
JD has a different sounding filter in the plugin. However I don't know if I think that makes enough of a difference.
Aww, don't forget the Kurzweil K2000. I believe they wil be a classic too. Someday :)
I have to try one out sometime!
I have an SY77 and a DX7 mk][d with Grey Matter E! And I love them both. I use the DX7 substantially more only because I have had it since i was a kid in the late 80's. While a friend of mine has a much earlier DX7. It is very interesting to see how they honed the operator engine over that decade. And we sometimes argue about which of them is the better. I like the cleaner brighter mk][ while he prefers the darker grittier OG which was basically the sound of the 80s. And I don't disagree that they both have their charm. The SY77 gets even cleaner and more pristine than the mk][ when doing pure operator sounds.
From what I understand the SY77 was an attempt to try and make up for their lagging PCM tech compared to others coming out before it. Their solution was paring it with a proven and familiar tech to try and create something more than just another rompler. Yamaha finally got their PCM implementation up to par for the SY99 and it played a larger roll in the 'workflow' of the synth. And actually not only did they get it up to par, they had perhaps one of the best implementations of the time. It laid the groundwork for their fantastic arranger and 'entertainer' synths of the last 10-15 years.
And really when it comes down to it, the PCM implementation in the SY77 is quite good in its own right. I don't think its as good as others of the time when taken in isolation, but It's good enough that when paired with an evolved DX7 to fill in the gaps, it stands out as something special. Sales of the unit seemed to prove that too.
It also seems unclear to me with the SY77 which tech was intended to supplement which. While the SY99 and onward, it was the FM meant to augment the PCM. And its design shows that. The SY77 seemed kind of like a "throw pasta at the wall" type of design. If that makes any sense.
Yeah the SY series is a bit more mysterious than the previous DX generation and it's contemporaries like the M1 and D-50
Does the Roland jd 800 Vst really Sound like the Hardware or is it like so often so different?
They didn't bother to emulate the filter and instead used a generic zencore filter. Considering that it's surprisingly close but a - b ing the patches you can certainly hear a difference
@@VultureCulture thx for the prompt answer. This is my general impression with most vsts, they sound good but not the same ☺️
Despite FM synthesis having a bad rep for being difficult to understand and what not, in my area the FM based Yamahas on 2nd hand market are sparse. There are more Volcas FM than Yammies on local auctions. And when they do come up, they hold their price. SY99 sounds like fun - I don't think I've ever seen one IRW, although at that time I was enamoured with the Wavestation, so probably that's why. And speaking of, to me the Wavestation is a quintesense of 0s and 1s in wave sequencing - crystal clear and rigid. IMO Wavestate does a better job for what I need/expect, but then again despite owning the most spartan version of the Wavestation - the SR - I have no intention to let it go.
I keep seeing K2000 being mentioned as the one worthy of consideration.
Highly enjoyable list!
And the day after this video, the prices of D50 went up 🤪
Ahhh! I hope I'm not contributing to the great synthflation 😂
No doubt the WaveState is wayyyy more useful than the Wavestation as far as actually getting stuff done.
Curious why you prefer the sy99 over the dx7?
I wanted the ultimate vintage FM synth and it seems like the SY99 was the goat. However the DX7 mk 1 might have the most character and the mk 2 might sound the best so I don't know really 😂
Great selection. The D50 sounded warmer than I remembered! I think the Kurzweil K2000 would deserve a mention though 😊
I definitely need to check out the K2000!
@@VultureCultureYeah, check it out, the VAST synthesis engine was very advanced for the time.
I've bought a WS Grafitty EX limited edition used in 2000 but that sticky keys issue always destroyed fun playing it. Using that version just as an expander is too tough.
Grafitty EX? I've never heard of it!
Please google. As I did now even a pink one shew up as a result that I wasn't aware about Mine is blue. A/D version was also offered as grafitty version in 1992 by KORG.
Pretty spectacular!
Wow.. I thought I knew everything about the Wavestation, but never heard of those special 'Graffiti' editions. Looks like a simple vinyl wrap on the top. Also suffering some sticky keys on mine .. need to take it apart and clean. Graffiti - makes more sense now I see it (not Graffity).
The list is quite ok. I wondered a bit about the Proteus (the first modules just don't attractive today) and also a bit about the SY99 because this machine in my experience is just hard to produce really significant sounds compared to Wavestation, D-50 or JD-800. So these 2 I would probably dismiss from the list. And then adding:
- The XP60 or XP80. These are the JV-2080 with pretty good keybeds (76 or 61) with big display, 64 voices, tons of quality sample rom which still is usable today, acknowledged expandability for the samples, enormous flexibility synthwise, good digital filters and 16x multitimbrality. And already at least some slider without scaring as much as the JD. Plus the RPS which can be handy live. Can be had for 500 $ I guess
- Again the Kurzweil starting from the K2000. I'd recommened the K2600 series. They are the concept which is copied by all workstations later, designwise. Display wheel and buttons but 8 Faders and knobs on the left plus wheels, ribbons and wheels. The Samples in these are better than all of the mentioned competitors when it comes to acoustic emulations. But then there is VAST, DSPs which allow you to tweak the synths in crazies manners. You can FM them, you can use 36db Filters, High, Band and lowpass of all sorts, Waveshaping etc. Endless capabilities up until creating virtual analog synthesis and with KB3 a tonewheel simulation which was good enough for Rick Wright. The S versions offer you a professional sampling machine and crazy options to modify these samples. You can build in Harddisks and all sorts of additions. You get some of the very best keybeds with aftertouch as a 88, great grand pianos and also the sequencer is pretty good. The main advantage of the 26 is the KDFX-Unit which is a professional FX with huge capabilities it was a rare option on the 25s. So this is some kind you can get it all. Analog and digital sounding synths, workstation, Hammond, Grand Piano, Rhodes, Drums, Workstation, Sampler and great Masterkeyboard. They are usually a bit more expensive, around 1000 depending on the equipment. But they are worth it. Hope you some day can find one to test it out.
I definitely have to try out the K2000 one day!
@@VultureCulture The K2000 is a step too short. If the big ones are too huge for you, go for the K2661. The successors like the PC series have limited editing capabilities. the 2K saw a lot of enhancement over the 10 years of production and uses the same architecture. But with less voices, less controllers and the samples aren't that quite that good.
I’m currently selling a SY77 and it’s so damn hard to ship! I wish I could keep it, but I get by with my Emax SE, ESQ-1, Opsix, Reface DX, RX5 with RX5USB, and MPC Live.
I also have an old Yamaha EX5 that got broken on shipping, but man is that thing special. It’s got broken side panels and currently sits in my closet for a lack of studio space. I can still make patches, but I can’t save, so I multisampled it a bunch. That thing is the pinnacle of Yamaha romper/sampler/synths.
This is the second comment saying the EX5 is the real Vintage Digital king! I'll have to check it out!
@@VultureCultureI think it's essentially a bunch of older tech bundled into one machine: AFM, AWM2, VA, VL, with a sampler, sequencer etc..
Some say the sy77/99 still has more advanced programming options. I don't know, though.
I picked up a couple of TX816 over 10 years ago for less than $500 each plus the DMP11 mixers, KX88, and FMC1.
One for Brass, one for strings, DX7II for pads or lead styles
RX5 for drums
That's a sick setup! I've always wanted to check out an RX-5!
@@VultureCulture it isn't velocity sensitive on the buttons on the machine, but when you map the instruments to the keyboard, KX88 you do get velocity sensitivity and the keyboard scaling.
It has some cool features.
Also the FMC-1 is the Format converter from the proprietary Yamaha digital format that links the DMP-11 together via large 8 pin DIN to an RCA phono SPDIF output I can feed into a sound card.
These things are getting old though and need a bit of care. New power supplies or recapping the original supplies.
At least they are old style through hole circuit boards and not surface mount nearly microscopic components like modern gear.
I have the tools to work on them such as an old 2 channel 100mhz Tektronix oscilloscope, HP 200CD oscillator, good work station etc.
BTW the HP makes a nice 10 watt audio amp when a switched input is added to the amp stage.
The best future 'vintage' digital and rompler synths IMHO are in no particular order.... Korg Wavestation, Trinity, Prophecy, Z1, Ensoniq VFX, EPS 16 Plus, ASR10, Yamaha SY99, FS1R, AN1X, Roland JD800, JD990, JP8000, Kurzweil K2000, Kawai K4, K5 and K5000, Emu Proteus modules, Alesis Quadrasynth and QS synths.
Indeed the Korg M1, 01W, Roland JV1080 and JV2080 etc etc are very popular but they weren't as overlooked like a number of the instruments listed above.
Regarding the D50 being the first digital synth with built in effects. It is indeed the first synth with a built in digital reverb but the Korg DW8000, DSS1 and DS8 did have built in programmable digital effects for delay and modulation effects.
I love your videos and your genuine enthusiasm! Keep up the great work.
You know, I have a dw-8000 and a dss-1 and never thought of that. Going to make that a trivia question.
A friend had a D50 back in the day and the used price today really is attractive. For the wavestation personally I would probably instead get a new wavestate mk2 for the better interface despite the toy keybed it has. Same with the SY99 where I think maybe a MODX+ could be worth the extra cost to get into that space. JD800 commanding such high prices is weird to me. The Roland boutique is unusably small though... Certainly less popular than these I do think Alesis Ion and Micron could easily also be on this list though technically they belong on a VA list.
WaveState SE is certainly attractive, yet expensive. The boutique JD-08 doesn't have an emulation of JD-800 filter but rather a generic zencore filter, which does change the sound in a nontrivial way.
The line between vintage digital and VA is blurry to say the least lol. I like to think Vintage Digital is most of the synths up to 1994 or so. 1995's Nord Lead popularized the term VA, and I think 95 - 2009 with the last Virus is what I would call the Classic VA era.
@@VultureCulture Don´t know man...but if the hardware Wavestate sounds like software version, the old Wavestation blows them out of the water regarding sound. And by sound I mean PRESENCE and balls. That 90´s era of digital synths have a Sound to them. Crunchy converters and so on...
@analogholic3651 those DAC's are everything
By coincidence, a great digital synth for the iPad called Zking of Digitalwas just released that has a lot of sounds like the ones on this video. The best part is it only costs $3.99.
That's awesome!
I spy a DSS-1 under your SY99. God I love that synth/sampler! Regret selling mine.
One of my absolute favorites!
Hey, you know, that deep string sound at 3:17 would have a great effect when played Allegro or staccato. Think String quartet, in the style of the intro from When I Ruled the World by Coldplay!
Yes! One of my favorite string patches of all time
I would add the Yamaha EX5/EX7/EXR. Also the Emulator II+ and of course the Emu Emax SE. Finally, the Kurzweil K2000/2500/2600.
Everyone's saying the EX5 is the real sleeper synth!
@@VultureCulture It is a monster in size. For this reason, people often only sell them locally, sometimes for as little as $500. The racks go for around $800. As a synth denegerate, I hunted one for years and found one recently here in NYC. It's pretty sick.
The Korg Wavestation EX was one of the favorite synths I had. Unfortunately it broke down too many times. So I had to sell it. Unlike many people say, the Wavestation is actually quite easy to program, with all the macro- and compy functions. The Korg 05R/W I bought to replace it was much more difficult to program. Not due to the lack of buttons, but because of the operating system.
I bow to you if you find the WS easy to program lol
Wavestate is the new replacement.
Unfortunately WaveState just doesn't have that classic Wavestation sound for me. Incredibly powerful, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't have the grainy, vintage digital character.
@@VultureCultureyes you are totally right. First the Wavestate has to many presets, you feel like in the Jungle, and the sounds are so overdriven, to much of everything isnt good. And btw the old wavestation gives me many dejavue experience with a few presets. I Focus more on the music than trying out hundrets of presets wasteing my sparetime, and NO sound Design isnt my hobby, I am a player, making music ist the most important for me. So the old wavestation ex is relevant. 😅 But Wavestate as Vst nice to have, but not more. In this case, a Vst is better than having a bad piece of Hardware with 37 keys is indiscutable 😅. This is just my experience
I could listen to a record and reprogram the sound by ear on the Wavestation. With later synths it was a lot more complicated.
Bro ☺♥ Amazing video ☺♪
So glad you found it helpful!
I totally thought you'd say some other FM synth as the top. I own the SY77 and you are 100% correct about it (SY77/99/TG) as the best FM synthesis. Spot on sir. Also - I just shaved my head so I've joined the club. It looks good on you - it looks awful on me. My daughter came home from school and almost cried when she saw me D:
When I first shaved my head my girlfriend at the time cried when she first saw it too 😂
I think the 77 might be the best, as it has a little more grit and character to it.
The Ensoniq VFX, SQ2 and Fizmo were great sounding synth.
I desperately want to find an Ensoniq TS-10 to try out on the channel
@@VultureCulture .
I gave away my own ts-10 when the output was dead without sound. I had the older SQ2 and Sd-1 synth.. Great sounds sitting beside the jv1080 rack in my studio.
How do you think the Sd-1 compares to the TS series?
The proteus keyboard sounds better than proteus module??
I don't think so, although some of the patches are different.
I still use a JV-880 regularly! People should never sleep on the tiny budget romplers. :)
Put a rompler into an analog filter... Thank me later. 😊
People sleep on the romplers way too often!
Hell yeah!
@@robbrobb5543 YES! I have an Electrix Pro Filter Factory for this. That thing's filter sounds so juicy! :) Though sometimes I do enjoy the quirkiness and stepping from the digital filter. It all depends on what I'm after.
I believe You've got a very well put-together list here! According to some, the Kawai K3 also was an underrated digital gem of the 80s. I used to own a Kawai K3m in the early 90s but found it underwhelming myself. Perhaps I was just too ignorant of the potential. I had much more respect for the Kawai K1 which could produce some seriously unique sounds if you tweaked around with extreme parameter values for a while!
I've done videos on both of those synths and I think they're both incredible. Would really like to try out a K4 sometime
That proteus piano string combo sounds VERY Zelda breath of the wild
While I suspect they used more modern samples, the v i b e is the same 🌳🦌🏞️
I'd like a few of the synths in the video if I had the money and the space needed. But I'm more than happy with my MC-707 so far and it's got some really nice PCM capabilities as well as a lot of VA firepower. I feel like the romplers and many of the PCM synths of the 90's are in general a little overlooked by many in this era especially when you get into the more hobbyist side of things, hell even the new ones are kind of half ignored by many on this platform. I think it's a damn shame to because there's a lot of stuff you can squeeze out of many PCM synths that pure VA doesn't capture and hey some times I want my strings to only sound so realistic and not like a huge sample library.
I agree with that! At some point I need to check out a later 90's rompler
Ya the JD-800 is my fave vintage digital. D-50 is nice. But another 2 digital synths I love are the Akai K3 and the Ensoniq ESQ-1. The best sounding Rompler ever is the Roland JV-1080.
Akai K3? Do you mean Kawai K3? Because I love that synth as well! Great picks!
@@VultureCulture yes Kawai, I have too many synths. I have some Akai synths and samplers also.
The jv1080 sounded awful alongside my ensoniq SD-1, plug into Mackie vlz1202 direct out to studio monitor.
Korg Wavestation just like the
TG 33 by Yamaha.
Not "just" like it. Pretty different in most ways.
Got JD 800 on a flea market for bloody 120 euros with key issues. Still cant bealive. Its amazing synth but imho best vintage digital synth is Kurzweil K2000
Everyone is telling me I have to check the k2000!
The red glue problem is an easy and cheap fix as long as its just the keys that are affected
What price do you think the average user can expect to pay to fix it?
@@VultureCulture As for price I dont really know but its quite a simple diy job, once keys are carefully removed an overnight soak in the right solution is all it takes to clean them, then careful re-assemby and job done.
how about the kaway K5000?
I had that synth and it's stellar, but I didn't feel like it was the right choice for this list. And great synth no doubt but difficult to program and the sound of the presets was not so great.
X files yes 🙌
I agree on the Wavestation, so underrated...But you gotta be a geek, I remember hating it when it came out, was way too complicated for my young *ss. I love the SY77 also
I'm a big, big fan of the SY series
@@VultureCulture yeah, a LOT of people don't have a clue what they're talking about on the internet, you're not one of them:)
The Yamaha MU100R is excellent as a Rompler type machine
I hadn't heard of it before! What year was it released approximately?
I think about 1997? - it's got an amazing Brass sound somewhere (Preset or something #18 perhaps?) and thousands of rompler sounds. Confusing to navigate, but great strings and pianos etc.
The Wavestation is not that hard to program, the soft buttons give quick access to the pages, but it would for sure have benefitted with more knobs and sliders (and you have to try to keep all changes/references to patches/sequences in one bank - which is frustrating) .Compared the Wavestate it's more powerful in some ways as it can layer 8 X 4 oscillator patches (except you can run out of polyphony very quickly), whereas the Wavestate is just a single 4 oscillator layer - yet has a ton more samples and more complex Wavesequencing options + the more knobby interface, modern FX and VA filters. I still have my Wavestation - it in part inspired me to make a multi-layer synth plugin - Hyperion synth - many factory patches inspired by the Wavestation sounds (check my channel for that).
That sounds awesome! I'd love to check it out on stream sometime!
@@VultureCulture I will happily send you a NFR :)
That would be amazing!
You can contact me @ alex@vultureculture.live
You need Casio CZ1
Definitely on my list of synths I want to try out!
@@VultureCulture as FM vs. Analog warm and punch
@@VultureCulture here is CZ patch created be myself - with data sheet ruclips.net/video/NoKLmzFEG70/видео.html
My list is totally different, Roland V-Synth, Korg Z1, Access Virus(B,Ti,Ti2).
I use the vintage cars definition of "vintage" being 25+ years old. So those synths wouldn't count except for the Z1 which is on the line. All awesome synths though.
I thought the proteus only came in a rack format kindof a proteii. 😅
The keyboard has fx as well
You missed the Korg DW8000!
I love the DW-8000 and put it in my top 5 for beginners: ruclips.net/video/q6qXHN4Q2qQ/видео.html
It's not here because of it's analog filter - no hybrids on this list (probably will do a future video on that)
25:30
And then 10 years later I did buy a JD 800 for $600
That's insane 🤯
Many of the moderne "Hardware Synthesizers" are nothing but a Vst synth in a Hardware case. So using a PC or a moderne Synthesizer - there is no big difference. But the old Synthesizers of the 80ties and 90ties are definitly different. 😊😊😊
All worthy choices but this video needs at least a part two, just to list all the Ensoniq synths of the 80s and early 90s ;)
I've put the SQ-80 in my Top 5 synths going up in value video: ruclips.net/video/hg0d6XPBARM/видео.html
@@VultureCulture My SQ80 is my favourite synth. I think they've peaked on value though. Still worth ever dollar I paid to me.
I think they're still going to go up to about the $1,500 mark. Arturia did a lot to bring awareness to the synth
@@VultureCulture That's why I got mine :) The plugin sounds identical, yet still no regrets
In my comparison video: ruclips.net/video/cBLGJ1rWYzs/видео.html I believe you can hear a difference when you really crank the resonance. Still a triumph of a plugin
And yet there is one other, the most versatile of all and hugely underrated, synth of 90's...
What's that? 🤔
Yes, don’t keep to yourself 😂
a child's laugh
Emu Proteus + Wavestation = The X-Files
2 of the absolute best!!
Yamaha SY22
A classic!
The D50 did not allow to filter pcm sounds. Roland rushed the D70 into production to fix this. But wait, let's not sell an external programmer like the PG-1000, 'cause people do not like to program sounds. Four faders would sufice.....
After the D70 managers at Roland slammed their heads into the wall, encouraged by a team of engineers. The same engineers were quick to fix both the wall and the damage done to Roland's image by building the JD-800.
The rest is history.
No Kawai K5000?
While I loved the idea of the K5000S I had, it is so brutally complicated to program I didn't feel like I could recommend it as one of the greatest. I much prefer Kawai's simpler synths.
When do you mean Vintage by? I still have this from 24 years ago:
ruclips.net/video/2NLtThKkiP8/видео.html
Usually vintage is defined as being 25+ years but I think that keyboard counts!
Korg triton
K2000
I've got to check one out someday!
I think there's a bit of a difference of the overall sound between the SY77 an SY99, the 99 being cleaner and more pristine than the 77. For digital synths the 77's can sound incredibly raw and analogue. There's also the TG77 to consider as well.
Yes, I kinda wished I'd gone SY77 because it does have that incredible character.
Thanks, but the playing is truly excruciating
I am terrible at keys 🤣 I appreciate you watching the video anyways.
Any picks for vintage digital synths I missed?
i never quite understand the hate against romplers
Me neighter. The Rolnd U20 would be another classic. Ten Sharp did a whole album with a huge hit song just with an U20 and some brilliant mixing work...
I didn't *love* the U20 when I had it in the studio - probably because the mirage, dss-1 and Proteus all sounded so good