The Soulsby Atmegatron, a nasty little open source 8 bit synth. Love this thing.
I hope he’s still making the keyboard version.
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The Micron was my first hardware synth. I did most of my patch programming with a patch editor (MicronAU I believe) but I learned to use the shortcuts over time as well, which is not that bad once you get the hang of it. My biggest problem with it is the quality of the hardware. Noisy pots, shitty keybed and weird output volume problems make it a fickle thing to use. It can sound absolutely lovely though.
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but only if master clock restarts.
so, if you have Squarp Pyramid — you have a workaround. activating continue sending MIDI clock on project change option prevents triggering this bug.
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Thinking I might buy a faderfox to control some of the parameters on the K5000w–might get a lot more use out of the synth if I didn’t have to menu-dive so much. Any other suggestions, anyone?
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…oh…i loved and hated this one…
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…and waldorfs pulse 1 one was mentioned here…
i had two of those…and same as with my old mpc 2000, i have no idea where and when they’re gone missing exactly…along my sonic journey…but those were dope…
and it’s still uptodate gesaffelsteins most favourite synth… 
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Totally agree on the Matrix 6. We coaxed some great sounds out of my buddy’s. I’ve been wanting to pick up a Matrix 1000 for years but I’ve not seen one in good condition and at a reasonable price.
Agreed. The time at which this synth was released made it special too. We weren’t so blessed with new analogs as we are now. I still have a Pulse+ and the thing can pump out some ballsy sounds. The matrix editing was a dream come true coming from the deep menu diving that was common at that time.
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…allthough, i must admit…waldorfs matrix never got me for real…
Have you owned many romplers from the '90s?
…askin’ me?
yesh…pretty much all emu romplers were mine at some point in history…
loved them…in special…mo phatt and the protheus+…
but beyond emu, i was not into romplers at all…no wait…
i also had a matrix 1000 rack unit for a while…that was also nothing but a rompler…
and…uargh…one quasimidi rack unit…forgot the name…but that was truu crap…
and while sayin’ this…flashback alarm full on…i had 309 from quasimidi too…looked a bit like old elektron boxes that came up half a decade later…and this 309 was also crap…but good crap somehow…and again…i have no idea where that one is gone…???..fuk…
Yamaha EX5: SCSI expander was broken (hardware), transfers from CD & SMDI were usually corrupt (loop points), and slower than molassis compared to the EMUs. Stereo samples? Sure, 1 for the Left channel, another for the Right, assemble them after importing.
Not to mention only one AN and VL timbre, limited poly for those. FDSP was nice but it’s no Kurzweil KDSP, which they clearly ‘borrowed’.
Underpowered CPU. It sequencer’s timing drifted noticeably.
Sounded good though. At least its encoders didn’t fail after a year like the A3000.
Motif with the PLG DX/AN/VL cards was imo a big improvement, though a computer was required to edit them. By that time, NI with FM7 & Pro-Five was taking off.
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I agree that it was Yamaha that screwed up the EX5. Some of those issues were fixed but not all of them.
To me it was more that they could have expanded on it and improved those things in subsequent versions rather than abandoning the majority of what they innovated (or borrrowed).
I should pull it out of the closet some day and see how it sounds in 2021 (yes that’s most likely the year I’d have time for it). If anything I’ll be cleaning it up to sell it eventually.
Though shipping will probably cost a few thousand dollars since it weighs about 14,200 lbs.
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They wanted to but that was around the time that their money problems started. They got some help, but ultimately Yamaha was forced to stick with what kept them out of the red, which was the players market, not synthesists. It’s sad for us synthesists, but it’s the same old story. Back then I installed (and later removed), mLAN and many of their digital mixers. They had a lot of good ideas, but a lot of the innovators were let go.
Later had a CS6x, which was sort of an EX-5-lite, but it sounded muddy compared to the EX5. EX5 & FS1r had a much cleaner sound, compared to the CS6 or TG77, etc.
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AFAIK the Oberheim Matrix-1000 was an analogue synth with DCOs, if there was not another with the same name 
http://www.vintagesynth.com/oberheim/mat1000.php
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…right, technically it was not a rompler…but have u ever tried to program any sound on it…?
it was a desaster…so i ended up, using some of it’s wannabe analog presets for a while and then got rid of it soonish…was way more into resampling games with sd2 back then…sort of analog vibes were soooo outdated in those times…
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Oh … never … I don’t have one, but it was intended to be a preset machine anyway.
I have a Prosynth. AFAIK it’s the successor of the matrix-1000 after Oberheim went out of business and Marion Systems was founded to continue with Tom’s ideas. The UI is minimalistic, but the options are quite interesting. If DCOs are okay, those machines have quite interesting capabilites, just buried deep in user-unfriendly menus.
I’ve got MIDI Quest for my old machines and AFAIK there is a matrix-1000 editor included. If I get one some day, I might progam it eventually
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This… and also the fact that 400mA is unbearable in eurorackland.
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Exactly. Every time I see a Demora or Scooper for a good price I’m tempted. But then I remember I’d have to get another PSU as well… I know they can be used standalone, but that comes with its own issues.
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I’d like to throw in the Yamaha SY22, of course just because I bought one a week ago.
They are ridiculously cheap - I paid 120 EUR for mine in mint condition with additional ROM card (which is neglectable) and even a printed manual, whoo!
Manufactured in 1990 it sounds at first glance quite cheesy for sure and the absence of a filter does not really make it better. But the combination of FM and Samples makes it quite versatile and unique. Even though FM is limited (compared to DX etc.) the synth is a lot easier to program plus there are still software editors available for free to make it a breeze.
Combining it with your favorite FX - hardware or plugins - makes it really shine. I love how it sounds with Waldorf D-Pole filter plugin (a beast!), NI’s Replika and sometimes a bit of TAL Chorus. Highly recommended for strange industrial and scifi pads and scapes. The vector control is awesome and even sends MIDI CC.
Oh, and did I mention that the keys are really great to play? If you do not need knobs and faders or have them in an external box like LaunchControl XL or something like that, it is a really good 61 keys master keyboard with aftertouch.
So what’s there not to love … okay, maybe the lack of further MIDI CC but seriously c’mon …
Cheers!
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This is a good point worth remembering next time I see one available…