Dax,
I, like yourself and many of us on the forum, love "vintage" equipment.
That creative and excellent music can still be wrung out of the old synths is in evidence by , for example, listening to what Irminsul as accomplished with his classic keys.
I have had first hand experience , myself, with "state of the art, turned obsolete" keyboards, from ...
Tube and tone wheel organs, (early 60's);
Combo organs, (Farfisa, mid 60's to early 80's),
Clavinet, (late 60's to mid 80's)
Analog synthesizer (PIEA, 70's)
Early digital synthesizers (two Korg DW-6000's, MIDI'ed together , 80's)
Advanced wave memory, compact, combination "work station" (composition, recording mode), live performance, synthesizer (Yamaha SY-55,90 to present)
Vector dynamic live performance synthesizer (Yamaha SY-35, later 90's to present)
That's pretty much my "professional keyboard history")
Now, to the business at hand.....
Any "non keyboardist", who is interested in composing, and, or, recording music, would benefit immensely from the acquisition of a quality "workstation" type keyboard, in my opinion.
If Money is an issue, I personally endorse the good old Yamaha SY-55. As I stated many times before, its an excellent sounding (AWM-2 tone generation still holds up!), versatile music production studio, AND it fits in a Gibson guitar case!
It is also a great live performance keyboard. As far as sound quality, I was in the market for a Korg Wavestation back in 1990. after many trips to a variety of music stores , my wife Cin and I settled on the Yamaha, based primarily on the SOUNDS that it can produce, or reproduce, whatever the case may be.
The 55 features an extensive programmable filter and envelope shaping generator ,and it incorporates pure synth tones, as well as natural instrument samples, so you can create your own sounds.
It has an excellent sequencer so you can compose and (to a limited extent), store a very long composition. (It all can the be transferred to computer)
Some of its excellent natural instrument sounds include full string orchestra, horn section, individual violin, sax, flute, harp, 12 string guitar, etc.
We are people of limited wealth, and any expenditure over a thousand dollars, has always had to be considered carefully. These little unsung gems of still fully functional early 90's synthesizer technology can now be had for little over $200 on eBay. Mine is in "next to dust" condition, and, besides a long learning curve in its use, I also had to learn maintenance and repair , to keep it playing year after year. I'm considering picking up a few more on E-Bay for myself!
Check out what other people have to say before you "take the plunge". (There's a lot of new recording technology that I'm not familiar with that may be worth looking into.) I know that Craig Maxum is in the market for a new keyboard for composition, so maybe he, and others, may come up with some good ideas. I'd like to hear them myself.
Interesting topic,
Howlin'
Synths of those days had a more real voltage (analog) sound to the samples than ones I hear today.
