I think you need to focus your videos, talking about stuff like laptop vs desktop isn't worth the time. Everyone knows the difference, same with mac vs pc.

I think you should sell it since its mostly digital ;)

Just because its surface mounted doesn't mean its not repairable. Out of the probably 20+ synths I've owned I only ever had issues with 1 and it was only about 2 years old and other than buying the part I repaired it myself. I don't see failure as a big risk with most gear. Plenty of old digital synths are worth a lot, FS1R fizmo, etc. I think this is the first time I've ever heard someone say digital synths of the same model sound different to each other. I have lots of old vst's that no longer work, 32bit vsti 2's for instance. Don't have to worry about that with any hardware.

Cat puked on my Korg Poly800 earlier this year. I cleaned inside to the best of my ability, but for a couple of weeks, it sounded amazingly weird. Sadly, it works normally again now…?! 😂 (& yes I’ve invested in a high quality cover for every instrument I own!)

I watched this the same day that I did a thorough comparison of my hardware synths & drum machines versus some VSTs. One of the comparisons was between my Korg Triton Rack against the Triton VST. The hardware crushed the VST in the technical, in depth sound comparison side of things. On the hardware side, I found out that every sound/waveform generated is different (even if it's a digital unit! has gotta do with all the components and A/D conversions going on inside the box), sooo different that I can actually stack up two recorded audio files from the Triton Rack of the same preset with same setting and velocity , pan them left and right and it becomes a stereo track with interesting movement going on! :)) Whereas on the software side, duplicating two instances of Triton VST to do the same thing only added more gain without any change in the stereo image cuz it's the EXACT SAME WAVEFORM/AUDIO EVERY TIME! You can see this kinda problem present in many VSTs, not just free ones! One reallyyyy great sounding (and free!) VST that doesn't suffer the same **** would be Vital by Matt Tytel. Tho when it comes to "who's gonna notice it in the mix?" or the average listener's perspective , the difference I mentioned here becomes a bit irrelevant But I'm not against VST. I still use it. Me, like most Gen Z music producers got started with virtual instruments. Total recall of settings and presets, multiple instances of the same thing, no need to bother with cables and having to clean it from dust. It was all fine until OS updates screw almost everything (even the DAW) , and then I gotta "register" again a product that I already own (iLok anyone??). Even today I was going to open up the Surrealistic MG-1 Plus by Cherry Audio (which I hadn't opened up for a long time) and ofc it's telling me to login again and I forgot where I put my login credential. -_- . All these license-related problem makes me feel I don't really own these softwares, well ofc cuz what I really own is just the license to use it. With hardware? Besides I do really own it, me just taking it out of the studio, going to places, cafe or outdoor, turning it on and just simply playing it is really a vibe of its own and can spark new inspirations you can't get when you just clicking with mouse in front of the screen.

You really have to love old synths to invest the money. You're spot on about your advice. About 10 years ago, I bought a jx-3p at an auction. Of course it didn't work when I got home. Too many rum and Cokes spilled on the keyboard. I was able to bypass the key bed traces with ribbon cable and got it working. I still have to disassemble it periodically and clean the contact surfaces on EVERY button including the 66 keys.I still love it, but would rather have a new one. In 1988, I had a chance to buy a d-50 for $700 not knowing what it was. Thought it was too much, so got a $350 Casio instead. Regretted it ever since.

I used to have a sq-80 amazing sounds but it came with problems that i could have fixed warm battery,midi problems,keybed but one day it just didn't work the chips inside probably got corrupted.

Also, when you're saving a patch on a digital 80s synth and if it shuts down during the operation their's a chance they can get corrupted.

I loved my D50

Gear have an expiration date, especially electronics such as synths. My Roland JP-8000 lasted approx 25 years, before it had a heart attack. The gear techs in the music store had to tell me that, sadly, it wasn’t a matter of switching out the internal battery; it was dead. But meh, 25 years; I got my money’s worth out of it. I just consider it a death of natural causes.

You have explained why I prefer the sound of Dexed to the sound of a real DX7

I am a dawless freak. ❤

Yes, let is hope people listens you and sell their old synths for bargain price. We old school freaks buy them instantly.

It's what happened to me with the Korg M50 now, has a capacitor problem and often locks up, now have the Krome Ex. Do kind of want the actual M1 given sounds were often used in big hits of the 90s however have got it within the Korg Collection as a software program, apparently it doesn't do all the M1 itself did but it's quite a good solution. I am wondering now about loading Korg M1 sounds into the Krome Ex.

I have an EX5R. It's a great synth. I bought it because it was dirt cheap (35€), so no regrets.

Since when has computing power determined the effectiveness of a hardware synth? I’m not using vintage synths for computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, or high volume trades so your argument sounds silly. The D-50 (or other vintage synth) is just as obsolete as your skill set as a composer, sound designer, or performer. It’s a synthesizer. It synthesizes sounds. Old ones. New ones. If you don’t like what it is doing, make it do something else. The same can be said of any software or hardware synth. New or old. A poor carpenter blames his tools. The only point I will agree with is vintage synths may sound like a great idea but it’s aged hardware that will need repairs. Keys and buttons break due to cyclical use. Capacitors dry up. Batteries need replacement. Transformer winding insulation break down with temperature and age. Some may even need IC replacements. They collect dust and need cleaning. Hardware enthusiasts tend to prefer tactile controls instead of clicks on a screen with a mouse. Keep in mind that hardware enthusiasts have access to the same computer tools as software enthusiasts. They just prefer the tactile controls. I sit in from of computers all day long. When I get home, I’m not always enthused to do the same. Life isn’t a one size fits all situation. What you value is another person’s trash. How you work isn’t how everyone works. For the vast majority of users, I’d strongly recommend avoiding a vintage synth unless electronics repair is a hobby or something you don’t mind doing. I only own one vintage synth. The Kurzweil K2500RS has no known VST for it. You can get a K2700 new and get all of the functionality and some of the sound but you’ll never get it on your computer.

I think it's so weird having a KZfaq tell me what synth gear to buy & not to buy. No offense but do you think your opinion matters?

Yes, whilst the computer is technically more advanced it is not a musical instrument. You can't just flick a switch and start playing the keys, whilst you might flick the switch on your computer and you may have to upgrade your operating system and then your software synth etc etc.

2 years ago, I bought a DX7s, D-50 and M1, and I never regretted it! For me, it's more convenient to have all the knobs and settings, even if there is a lot of menu diving, directly on top of the keyboard, instead of having to turn to my computer, figuring out where the mouse pointer is, trying to manipulate those small controls onscreen... And yes, I made once the experience with a VST plugin being not supported anymore shortly after I bought it, so I'm not thinking about spending money on plugins ever again... In the end: a VST instrument, I might play with it shortly and never touch it again, the real thing keeps inspiring me. But I get your point about that digital can be fully emulated, and the problem of maintaining the stuff. I have those skills myself and it belongs to me as part of the fun owning these instruments. My D-50 was actually quite filthy when I bought it, so I had to take it apart completely and clean everything... Then also, an opamp on the main board was broken (only one channel had sound), I had to replace that (8 pin SMD IC), that's not something anybody could do. I also used a laptop on stage for a while, to get better piano sounds than the Technics sx-P30 (a wonderful instrument if you want total simplicity!) from the band had. I cannot remember having big troubles with that, but the fear of the system crashing, or my (at that time very expensive!) laptop (I also used for work!) breaking down was always there, so I switched back to the simplicity of the P30, also getting rid of the annoying latency of the SW instruments.

Latency is a big issue with software synths. Plus there are issues that always come with computers deciding that it needs to go into virus check mode, or there's a surprise update that nerfs your DAW or plug-ins. A DJ can just cut to a pre-recorded set from a dedicated player if his computer packs in. A live musician can't.

I disagree, the noise of those is clearly unnoticeable, the D50 has a 24bit dac, even if the DX7 is using custom register dac a bit noisy, the tx81z or tg77 are quiet as hell, very few digital synths are clearly noisy, also you confuse regarding the power, although they often use very slow cpu as system, they come with several integrated chips, try to vst A tx81z fully (eight part)+D110 fully (9 part)+a D50+DX7+JV5080 32part+SC880 32 part, and i think that if your 13700K can handle this, you couldn't barely add something more, using hardware outside daw let you use the processing power for effect, and clearcly that's all you will do with a 48 channel motu 25mghz fully loaded on cubase!

Rationally, there is no point buying old digital hardware whose will have dac far less good that actual common 192Khz/24bit sound card through VST! This said they are some people who's just can't work virtually, handle the computer day to day change, with vst support drop, constant os , and software upgrade as computer hardware, etc,etc,etc, (computer it's a never ending story) need some connection, limitations, well characterized sound, as well as the older synth grail the sysex remote control with plenty of bcr2000 whose will make them "close to" a powerful analog synth army using an hardware sequencer, stability, hierarchy in hardware, and finite setup in summary good for look no computer and that's solid and stable like a rock with a reduced space use, than if you had everything analog (Rack version)! This again said, the sound of these will definitively need processing like analog mixer, effect, filter, reel to reel in summary anything which will cover for much of them a really bad sounding era (1996-2018) full of aliasing! So it's more the way you want to do your music which can justify this priceless setup! Alternatively most of them are VA; so today analog clone would make the job much better, and with far less preparation (controllers) and much more creativity and productivity. However the concept of those is to sound like analog synthesizers but with a more complex voice structure so they for some can still be justified! Personally i started virtually, and never enjoyed the experience despite going up to 192Khz and now through motu 25Mghz dac which produce certainly a digital sound trough VST that never a digital hardware will be able to reach (as today), so i went back to old best, much more engaging, however the sound clearly isn't there and the complexity of them can just destroy any creativity even with a controller (this to say that a vst software of an hardware is generaly not the whole thing even if the voice mode can be close), so the left me the covers hope before trashing everything even if it's as powerful as few computers (vst aren't processing free), and finally finish where i should probably have only started if only berhinger did it 15 years ago, with an army of analog clone, to feed the analog effect and mixer, in order for the reel to reel and me to enjoy an aliasing free ready to use, productive and creative musical adventure without any computer brain alienation! (2 years of preparation between device panel and bcr program/layer) Regarding newer hardware digital, well there also no point, most of them are just computer in box, whose can do everything like a computer, but without something that's will make eye shining of someone like your dx7 or D50! Some of them whose are more specialized and hybrid why not but i don't think that the days of famous hardware (used specifically by artist) whose will remain forever known will come again!

These old digital synths are just going the way of retro computing, a potential time/money pit of third party addons, FPGA replacements for chips etc. You can still have a lot of fun of course but the upkeep is a part of the hobby too.

I have old Kawai K1 (older than me actually :D). It has it's flaws, some bad contact in keys and buttons, higher noise floor than computer. There is a software version called Nil's K1v which sounds pretty much the same (minus noise floor and little differences in mapping of certain parameters) which is also freeware, but I like my physical synth and I use it as a MIDI controller too. I do not consider it waste of money and I actually bought it after I tried software version and liked it's sounds.

I’m a huge junkie and fall out of love with gear just as quickly as I fell in love with it. I view gear purchases like renting. When I sell it I’ll likely lose at least a little money relative to what I paid for it, but then you just take the difference and it’s like ok, I rented this thing for 10 cents a day, not so bad. Can’t do that with the software I dropped significant cash on and no longer use. I have a JV-1080 as well and a JD-990 which is probably my favorite digital synth. The one digital synth I’m on the fence about replacing with software is the JP-8000. Idk if I did that I’d probably end up buying a Virus or something a year later. I got the TAL-pha soft synth recently which is really awesome, it’s not 100% there sound wise but I can use it as an editor and layer sounds with my MKS-50. No dumb online licensing BS with TAL stuff either.

I am going to put it much simpler for people. in 2024 ALL you people need to do is purchase these completely libraries of, Native Instruments Komplete 14 collection Arturia V complete collection Korg Complete collection UVI Vintage Vault 4 UVI Synth Anthology 4 U-He complete collection Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2.8+ collection Spectrasonics Keyscape collection After buying these collections, YOU do NOT need anything else, besides SERUM itself. 🤷‍♀ You would have a plethora of amounts of synths and sounds to create any type of music imaginable to last you your entire lifetime. 😉👍 With the exception of being an Orchestral producer, then you would need Orchestral Libraries. But the rest of mere mortal humans creating regular music, it's all you need.

The external controllers can be a bit pricey for digital synths that don't have a lot of knobs.... Unless you know what to buy....... I mentioned the Roland PG1000 controller in your last video, and they are still very expensive, about $600 us... There are far cheaper, and better alternatives to that... One of the best options out there is probably the Alesis VL49 that gives you 12 rotary knobs, 36 buttons, Daw control buttons, 16 drum pads, pitch and mod wheel, 49 key velocity and aftertouch keybed, USB midi and Midi din plug, etc. It can be programmed for 24 different setups and changes in seconds from one to the other. It will also support up to 16 synths, in real time, on the same setup.... One controller, for 16 synths just by changing the input channel of the synths for cc listening, and setting up the controller for all of the synths.... You don't need expensive gear to program a synth that the UI is terrible... You just need to program a cheap decent midi controller for all your synths that the UI is terribly lacking on....... One $200-300 dollar controller, will handle 16 synths in anyone's setup.... If you have less synths to program for, you can use multiple program slots for one synth, and literally be able to do everything on it... $200-300 to more than likely control and program all of your midi synths far easier, is a no brainer... And that is not much to pay at all if you only have one synth that sucks to program or change things on the fly.... Far to many digital synths have very limited controls, tiny screens, and suck to program........ My main keybed in my setup is a Juno DS88, and my main controller for synths with limited controls is an Alesis VL49, for a very good reason..... Learning how to use midi is a good thing, and your wallet will thank you.....

SO many of those older digital/hybrid synths have great sounds, I wish they were all fully modelled and available. Like I'm probably never going to buy a Fizmo but would i use a Fizmo VST on a ton of tracks? Probably very yes.

There are of course some digital synths that don’t exist in today’s plugin world. I used to own a VFX, and ended up buying a used SD-1 in order to recreate some old tracks. None of the modern day digital synth emulations could get me that same aggressive sound.

I’ve compared the cloud version of the JV-1080 with tracks I recorded using the hardware version back in the day and hardware version sounds better to me. Wider frequency response and stereo imaging. The old analog signal path and DACs apparently added some magic to the sound.

Regarding live playing with software, not only Jordan Rudess but many many professionals are all using software on Stage. Because it's easier to manage if you use appropriate software like MainStage or GigPerformer. Regarding licensing with online activation it is a very valid point. If this is a concern for you just buy software with a licensing system like u-he where you just need to insert the serial number. As long as you don't lose the serial you are good.

I would like to mention something interesting. You say your JV1080 is antiquated. But in fact is far from that. I have a JV2080. People are releasing new sound banks now for some quite old vintage digital synths. These sounds are completely new, fresh, cinematic and rather exciting indeed. They breathe completely new life into these older synths. Its well worth investigating. There are also new Kurzweil K2000 sounds out there too and they too are quite incredible indeed. People are pushing the boundaries now eg VAST in the Kurzweil to new heights that they were not doing back then. They did not understand it so much back in the day but some have been learning and going very deep into the architecture lately. Same with the JV2080.

What the D50 can do that the computer cant is to play with no latency

Anytime you get the keyboard version of something, the sounds will have the intended response from that specific keybed. You also sometimes have product- specific front panel controls like the vector stick on the D-50.

Ok, if you want a DX7, D-50 or M1, than you might as well use a VST. Even the Roland JV-1080 or XV-5080, the PPG Wave, the Synclavier and Fairlight all have good VSTs now. But what if you want the unique DSP on a Yamaha EX5? Or the time shift capabilities of a Roland V-Synth? The fact is that there are unique older digital synths that don't have VST equivalents. Sure, they could be ported to VSTs (probably), but they haven't been yet and may never be. So, if you have a good VST than don't bother with the old hardware (this applies to most analogs too). But there are digital synths that you might want for legitimate reasons other than nostalgia.

good luck on finding a D50 in good condition with a PG-1000 for $1000 🤨

lol, in the studio you should use the daw to control midi routing, not the mio. The issue with usb is because devices connected to the mio need to be usb class compliant. Also the best way to use the mio is via RTPmidi in a remote rack to connect an entire rack of gear via one cable that may be longer than the allowable usb cable length (not midi cable length!). If your going to see latency with the mio its going to be with real time midi messages like clock, etc. not necessarily note data.

I love the arguments that are nothing but opinions but then are called "truths" or "facts".

I loved my Roland D50. It was simply very practical on gigs for someone who wasn't an expert sound creator. Eventually it became unuseable.unusable. these days I pretty much only play an acoustic piano.

I must disagree with this. Just because a synth is digital does not mean we should replace a digital hardware synth with a vst. I have no plans on replacing my Waldorf Q or XTK with Waldorf’s latest synths. Even Romplers like Roland’s JV/XV series are great.

Be careful with Kurzweil's especially the K2500. After a certain period of time they sort of loose their mind and they become impossible to repair. The K2000 is better in this regard but they changed the way the OS was updated in the K2500. And in doing so it has the very real potential of failing and not being able to boot up etc..Its due to a lot of reasons but it is classic example of a synth that could set you back quite a lot of money and play and sound great for a while but there is a very real potential there for it to fail in time and never be workable again. It will end up in landfill for sure.

Hi, I'm new to Voltage Modular, and I have a question about one of your Micro Modules. I think they sound great, and they are indede super useful. However, I am not sure what to do with the Micro DC Source Poly. Could you give some tips as how i should use it?

Totally agree. people buy these units not understanding they need servicing and often spend far more on bidding wars to get them only to end them up as landfill after they go wrong.

You make some good points. My DX7IID works just fine (today!), is a nightmare to program of course and the keybed isn’t great, but for £400 it wasn’t a bad purchase. It’s fun to own a little bit of history I had wanted for 35 years.

I have a D-05 and I'm already getting worried about whether I could get it repaired once something fails. I'm not so much a fan about VSTs, and definitely hate subscriptions.😂

I like old digital synths. Some of them anyway. Old Kurzweils are cool (like the K2000 maybe). Some old Yamahas and Korgs and Rolands are also pretty cool. But yeah I hear you. The thing is though it may not be as straight forward as just porting the code though. Modern development environments are all floating point math. Old synths from the 80s might have been fixed point math. That's actually probably where all the bodies are buried when people talk about differences in modern versions of old digital synths. It's pretty hard to emulate a fixed point environment in modern floating point. Cool overview though thanks.

i am such a arturia shill that i genuinely believe their vsts and other effects plugins are a immensely better investment than even one hardware synth

I still can't part with my cs1x, I know it's a rompler but it's sounds lovely

Roland JD800 is not a cold sounding instrument all the time. It can be but its also one of the fattest analog sounding synths you will ever hear also. It is exceptional like that. So is the Kurzweil K2000. Its an all digital instrument but it excels at doing all analog sounds too. Ideas exceed all of this talk anyway. A great idea using any instrument will always sound much better than a poor or mediocre idea on an all analog setup.

The roland d05 works with the controller, hAs all the sounds and works. The d50 does fail often. Why would you by the d50. Because you want keys? I got the alpha juno 2. The d05 sleeps on it fine. But then you will need a second pg controller so you can tweak both 😎