I’ll join the chorus on this synth. One of the few I have sold and bought back. K5000S originally then nowadays K5000W. Both have their advantages, and both sound amazing. W has double the poly (though for sample not synth side), additional General Midi soundest and 2 sets of midi ins/outs. Recommend running it through the Analog Heat for some additional presence though as sometimes its just a bit too clean.
My addition to this thread is another Kawai machine, the XD5. 90’s rack drum synth with 4 sample layers per sound, with those weird Kawai digital filters and other modifiers. Around the same time the Roland R8 and Yamaha RY30 were top of the heap, but actually the Kawai is more powerful and flexible with a whole bunch of single cycle waveforms included as well. I have sampled the thing so many times. The midi implementation is a bit old school so sampling easier than dealing with sysex.
The other one that comes to mind is the Korg Z1. Considering the prices people pay for Waldorf Microwaves, Yamaha acoustic modelling synths and Korg Oasis’s these days, its still a bargain if can be found and still does stuff in a hugely flexible and modular way that puts many modern releases to task. Easier to get around than the Prophecy and better control interface.
What’s the difference between them besides the sequencer and interface?
I had the rack and it was great, but I mostly didn’t have the patience to get where i wanted it to go
Skipping encoders: All 3 I had had at least 1 encoder that jumped values, even when brand new. All were white, no idea if the black ones are better.
25-voice-polyphony: not 25 when using wavetables and/or some of the unique filters.
Multitimbral issues: Lag with 8 or more parts in use. Underpowered CPU?
Arp drifts out of sync.
Still an amazing bargain for a 16-part synth. Multi-synthesis engines, deep modulation matrix, sample import with Spectre, good display with graphical envelopes…
Yep. The Microsampler was/is pure genius. People didn’t care for it’s sci-fi looks with all the knobs recessed into the body but I personally loved the “alien” aesthetic. it was like a Digitakt before Digitakt. A very approachable, easy sampler with a lot of power under it’s hood. There’s one for sale locally at the moment for 200€ in pristine condition. I have a hard time not buying it but as I already have the MPC Live and the DT I really don’t need one anymore.
I’d be tempted to say that the Zoom ARQ series is kinda similar in it’s fate. A great piece of gear but disguised as a techno-tambourine it became a source of ridicule for everyone who never tried one.
There’s been some other great gear that somehow missed the mark and the public interest. I absolutely love the idea of the Roland EF-303, a multi effect with a 16 step sequencer to sequence one aspect of the effect. (It even had a crappy drum machine and a TB-303 clone built in) My main gripe with it was that it only had RCA ins and outs as it was targeted at the dj scene. I’d get one back second hand in a heartbeat but there are none for sale as it didn’t sell that good originally.
There are two of the Matrix 6 on Reverb for about £1000. And the Matrix 1000 that was quoted at £300 in the 2012 Attack magazine article about underrated synths (right at the start of this thread) is even more pricey.
Seems like I’m a collector of Korg’s most underrated gear, I have several of the items mentioned above (R3, ER1, microSAMPLER). They haven’t increased in price as much as those oberheims though… still underrated
Oh yes, the EF-303, very cool box, came out around the same time as the SH-32, a rompler disquised as a VA. Really gritty sound, which I loved.
Here in the US, Guitar Center sold both for $100 brand new when they were discontinued. Around the same time, the EMU XL-7 and MP-7 were blown-out by GC for $300. DX200 and AN200 for $300 too. Roland D2 for $100. Those were good times.
Yes! I’ve owned Microsamplers twice and both times reluctantly sold them again. The build quality and physical design - amazing. Indestructible. The key gate and threshold Sampling modes - fantastic. And polyphonic! But that’s not enough when you have awful MIDI implementation, one global effect (on a multitimbral sampler) and the (very limited) sample memory allowance bizarrely chopped up into mutually exclusive banks. All of these could be easily fixed, Korg! I’ll buy a new one if you do!
Blofeld is a classic. An absolute joy to program and sounds like nothing else. Never had encoder issues with mine (the black model). My advice: forget multitimbrality, forget the shonky sample RAM expansion, forget the crappy onboard reverb, and it’s just a fantastic synth
The only other difference is that the K5000W has a General MIDI bank of sampled sounds. The additive engine is the same across all three units. It does require a lot of patience to program thoroughly, but the knobs on the K5000s might help to ease the pain. Alternatively, software editors exist, though I have no idea how well.
I haven’t tried either for some time. I own an up-to-date license of MIDI Quest, but it has always been a rather iffy proposition for me. Sounddiver, O how I miss thee!
All of Yamaha’s synthesis types pre Motif plus sampling in one keyboard.
I literally found parts of one in a dumpster.
I kept digging until I found as many parts as I could. Pulled out everything and reassembled it and got it working again.
The blue monster is in my closet still as I type this. I even have maxed out flash storage, ram, and Zip disks for it
It was a good synth, for sure… though I was not happy when I bought it as Yamaha advertised it as being capable of FM synthesis. I sold my TG77 to get it. Alas, this was not the sort of FM synthesis for which Yamaha had become known, and I was rather bent out of shape when I got it.
Unfortunately, that prevented me from appreciated what a great synth it actually was. Had I bothered to explore it, I would have discovered a deep machine capable of wildly complex sounds. More fool me. Also, if I recall, Yamaha didn’t have the breath-controller assigned as a modulator on the VL patches, so each had to be edited?
Still, it was a lot of power and I should havekept it and bought a TX802 to sit beside it.
Sounds about right. Yamaha really messed up the execution on it. It had/has so much potential and they squandered it.
It didn’t sell well and because of it Yamaha went full PCM Motif boring after the EX-5.
In a way the EX-5 was Yamaha’s potential and turning point. They dumbed down everything for quite a while after that. They could have been making forward thinking synths and expanding off the EX-5 instead.
There’s one of these going for a decent price I considered, but I don’t really need another bitcrusher and the HP cost is too high - but otherwise really tempted.
