One exception might be Blofeld. I sometimes feel I got more than I paid for (£300) with that one.
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Hey, what are your intentions buying a synth ? Do you have a particular music style in mind ? How do you imagine yourself playing with it/exploring it ?
If you have absolutely no idea about what you want, scroll through demos and find the one with the demos/sound you like the best. There are other important aspects to check out, but if you don’t like the sound, you’ll just end up feeling frustrated.
Also, everybody has different ears and you’re the one that’s gonna end-up paying money so, keep that in mind if you’re not sure or being peer-pressured into buying a particular synth 
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I had the monostation for a bit and thought it was really well built for a chunk of plastic :). Probably pick one of those up second hand ?
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Sounds like secondhand price though. I guess should clarify that I meant when paying for new/unused.
That was new (2016). Wunjo Keys - kind of place you can ask ‘what’s the lowest you can do?’ Nice guys
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What build issues have you had with your TD 3? They’re lightweight but so was the OG 303 (800g vs 1kg). The knobs are solid with no wobble, they feel positive in use with a nice amount of resistance. Rotary switches feel good and positive too. I’ve had no issues with any of the jack sockets either? The case is solid for plastic construction; mine don’t squeak or rattle and are very hard to twist.
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Yeah, depending on the sounds you like…
I recommend the Microfreak and the Typhon.
Althought the Typhon is a bit pricier…you’ll get rewarded in no time…yesterday I had a go with it, damn it sounds so lush and fat.
It really is a joy to play with, it added so much character to some tracks laying around that I wanted to finish…
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I am also now realizing you are in the UK and are using pounds. Even in dollars that is still a really good deal. Well done!
Right! I believe Waldorf stuff is really expensive in some countries 
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I know that the OG units were the same light plastic feel, but I feel like I could blow mine off a table with a strong enough fan (only half joking here). As for the knobs I find them far too stiff for my taste, but wouldn’t say they are wobbly. I’ll conceded that this is really a subjective thing as far as its relation to price. I would say overall it’s reasonable for paying a little over $100 for it, but aside from this it feels more toy-ish than any other cheap(ish) synth I own. (Circuit, PO-33, TR09, Microbrute, Drumbrute). I also overestimated how much I actually need an acid bass line in my arsenal.
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Yeah they’re a solid proposition second hand here in the UK. I got my Blofeld Keys for £350 a few years ago. The guy didn’t want to post it so I drove over to Sheffield after work to get it.
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Couldn’t agree more with your last sentence but maybe for different reasons to you. I’d always avoided a 303 style box as I felt I didn’t want to start relying on that sound in my music… It’s sort of been borne out since I got the TD 3’s in that they just sit so well into some of the stuff I write (non squelchy sounds!) that I almost feel it’s the lazy option for me, telling myself I’ve got other synths that’ll give me a similar sound with more scope and control. That’s just me and my weird approach to doing music I think! 
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Music shops in my area do not support synths in store at all. Mostly more traditional keyboards and flagships. Really sad ordeal for myself haha.
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Agree. You only need one good Poly in your life.
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I hear you. It’s not terrible near me but there are pretty much just three stores, two do guitars and drums etc too and the other is a dj’s type store. A drive away are a few other stores. Sadly even between them there are still plenty of synth brands they don’t sell and they don’t carry much stock of what they do sell. I’d love an Andertons’s or Thomann close by!
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I’ve had pipe dreams of opening a synth/electronic production store for a while. I imagine stock is hard to manage with such a niche market. Also competing with the big guys like Sweetwater in the US and Thomann would be next to impossible. Still I dream of a store where I can fiddle with all the products I am GAS-ing over and can talk with like minded people as we do here.
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I like Wunjo Keys, nice guys, used to pop in there a lot when I worked nearby. Gave me the chance to try a bunch of stuff before buying (I really miss that at the moment).
I definitely bought stuff from them that I could have gotten cheaper online, because I wanted to support them.
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I think the synth section is just about still going. You probably know it moved to the basement of the guitar branch, but the last time I went down there there was a lot less stock, and the main synth guy was busy selling a guitar upstairs. Hope he doesn’t find that as boring as I would!
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Yeah, it was in the basement when I was there regularly. They cram a lot of stuff down there though! One time they had a PolySix open, repairing it, we had a good chat about the chord memory on it, and things like how great the DX7 keybed is. Real gear heads.
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I don’t have any on the list, but let me chime in here with this hypothetical scenario. If this was me, it would be between the Modal, or the Volca. You would get a wider range of sounds out of the Modal, but the Volca’s have really fun sequencers, and are made pretty well. I would check out vids of both and see which one sounds more like my inner soul.
And if we are going off-list, then the Monologue is the one get. It sounds good, the sequencer is really fun, and it is a battery powered full fledged analog synth with keys.
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