I’m in the market for a poly synth with full size keys. I’m not a player but I want something that feels nice to improve my playing. The sound I’m looking for is warm and thick analogue tones and I don’t want any menu diving. I don’t have space for 88 keys so I’m looking for something with 3-4 octaves of keys. Budget is about 1000 euros. The Behringers I mentioned in the thread title are ones that seem to fit the bill. Anything else I should consider? The take 5 is an option if I can find one used.
The Deepmind is great, but it does have some light menu diving. It’s quick to navigate once you have a feel for it. Each section (LFO, filter, arp, etc.) has an edit button that has the settings.
I would consider the pro 800 from Behringer with a decent mini controller.
If you progress and want more synths, you can just buy more desktop units and save space and money.
For the record, I haven’t actually played the pro 800 yet but online videos make it sound really good and it’s price is unbelievable.
I‘d have suggested Minilogue (XD) if you wouldn’t have mentioned that full size keys are important to you. Thus, I‘d also suggest Prologue, if you can live with only one LFO. It has a lovely core sound and is very sweet spotty and easy to program. The effects are imo among the best on any hardware synth, especially among analogue ones. If you want to ever try out more crazy/digital sounds, you have that third digital oscillator and the effects where you can find really weird stuff on the internet that you can download for free and install.
Do Prologues really go for 800 these days? Thought they became expensive again after it was discontinued.
Warm and Thick analogue then.
Deepmind is not that thicky.
Would say that the UB-XA and prologue would be the most warm and thick in this price range. Then probably minilogue xd then pro800. And really the prologue by a good margin is the thickiest to my ears.
Definitely not. I think I hinted at this when responding to @Pulsar in the Deepmind thread. YMMV.
When I think of warm and thick, I think of something Sequential.
But I don’t know the UB-Xa, mentioned above, so maybe that would work too. Or the Poly-D??? You really get in bed with Behringer at your own risk, they’re putting out many products while still learning how to be a big player in the synth market; but so far my B2600 has worked fine.
Prologue seems promising, I haven’t played one. Would want to make sure it played in tune, the early ones had a problem with that but IIRC Korg fixed it with an update.
I really like it’s sound, I mean, I make great electic piano and smooth sound on it, which has analogue taste. But you don’t have that thick sound at all, it’s really soft and light. It’s really a good synth well made ! And which does not take too much space in the mix really easy to mix.
My favorite use of it, is long release electric piano, I have around 20 patch like that on it, and/or playing it with the fabulous BOC soundpack.
I had a second hand one, and it take let’s say 10 min to be in tune and require to trig tuning after that 10 min to be in tune. It’s a bit annoying, but… doable, and after that 10 min, it’s rock stable for hours.
For me the 8 voice, is really enough, it can also be well used as a mono due to that thickness level.
The issue I have with the prologue today is the envelope, I lack a bit of versatilty on it. I mean detail on sharp decay is sometimes an issue to be precise.
Curiously the 1xLFO is not the big issue, I workaround that with bitimbral patch if I need to offer more move, and there is some digital oscillator which has plenty of movement.
Both don’t have heavy menu diving, but… you need menu at some point.
Prologue has been my sleeper favourite synth. Owned a bunch of polys and the Prologue for sound is just a giant sweet spot. It sits somewhere in between the UI of a Juno 106, plus bi timrbality of a Jupiter 8, OBish tho def Korg character filter, and then some unique things that not many other synths have. This being voice depth modes, digi oscillators and fx systems.
It’s limitations are def real - minimal traditional modulation options and no aftertouch. But really it’s actually quite deep once you start doing dual layer patches and different digital engines. The analogue oscillators don’t stand out particularly compared to the other big ones out there like Sequential Prophet 5. But in combo with the lush drive and filter, the sound is simply warm, dark and analog.
Get GAS a lot for newer synths but I really can’t fault the sound of the Prologue.
Yeah, I wasn’t trying to trash the DM12, just saying IMO it’s not the thickest sound. I did a big response to @Pulsar in the Deepmind thread, including what it does well, so won’t rehash all that here. I’ve made EPs on it, see what you’re saying—Anything sweet, smooth, and not too bassy works well on a Deepmind.
Isn’t the Deepmind more or less Juno+? If so, it should make good Juno basses.
In general, all of the mentioned synths should be great. But Deepmind and UB probably have a more characteristic sound based on the synths they‘re cloning. So only get those if you like how a Juno or Oberbeim OB sound and can live with their limitation soundwise. Prologue is probably a bit more versatile in sound, especially with the third digital oscillator.
Another thing that could help you decide: if you prefer faders over knobs, the Deepmind is your choice.
The Deepmind doesn’t have a square wave. I had a deepmind 6 and loved it. The matrix mod and fx really make it a well rounded synth. But I missed that square wave bite.
The Sequential Take 5 sounds fantastic and is a joy to use. I sold it as I needed something else more at the time but I’d get one again in a heartbeat.
I had the chance to visit someone which had a Juno 106, and I have not recognised the sound of the deepmind on it’s Juno. I really had prefered the Juno 106, and I say that knowning I really like my deepmind 12 ! It’s more they have the same feature set, but soundwise, they does not sound quite the same. Juno 106 was richer on the oscillator, or at least it was my feeling playing it.
A pulse with PWM which can be lfo, but does not sound like some other square wave on other synth. The good stuff about this pulse-pwm is you can really select the kind of harmonic you want. But it’s not a really rich oscillator in the first place. You can still sum it with a saw but without level.