Ouch... I think some of you are being really mean to Woody here. He explains perfectly well his reasons for letting certain synths go. He swaps and changes synths and keyboards like others do with cars. Try it. enjoy it then pass it on if it doesn't tick all the boxes. We may disagree with some of the choices but we aren't the one's making them. I bought my Electribe from a guy who hated it and couldn't get on with it, whereas I took to it straight away. Horses for courses.
Exactly! Women are always dictating what their man can or cannot do. This is why I don't have a girlfriend and will never get married. I want to enjoy my freedom as a man, hehe!!
Enjoyed a look "backstage" about something we all deal with but don't discuss much. There are lots of videos about whether to buy something, but this is the first I've seen about what to keep or sell. It's very helpful to get your thoughts after you've used something for a while. Good one, thanks.
I know how easy it is to get sucked in to collecting stuff. Especially things that you couldn't get in the childhood/teenage. I collected video games for almost a decade, but now I've sold almost everything. By the way, I love the red Synthesizer stand you have in the video. I bought that one for myself after seeing this video. :)
The JD-Xi is my "if I could only have one synth and drum machine on a desert island" synth. The 128-voice virtual analog is a very deep synth engine which sounds great, especially for pads (the "flanger" can act as a very rich Juno-style chorus). The drums have a lot of variety and the sounds can be significantly edited. The analog synth has quite a bit of that TB-303 vibe to it, while being a good deal more flexible than the 303. The effects add a lot of creative possibilities to the sounds.
Unless you’re a gigging musician, you don’t need a dedicated synth. A good midi controller (like a Nektar Panorama) and a good library of plugins and the DAW of you choice will do it all. I have an ancient Axiom 61 and cheap a Casio hammer action piano. Would love to get a Panorama P6 to replace the Axiom.
Sure is digital, the first digital best-seller. What I mean is : "we" have been about 20 years crying and asking the developers to make again analog synths, and now that, finally they are making them...."we" start whinning and crying that what we really like and want is the DX7...lolz
Well, if it makes you feel better, Gary Numan has also sold off most of his hardware synths, only keeping a couple, and has gone pretty much totally software synth for his latest album! It's funny when interviewers who have only ever heard "Cars" ask about whether he's still using the old PolyMoog, and his response is something like "Naah, that was nearly 40 years ago... Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 is my favourite synth nowdays!"
I own Yamaha TX81Z rack. Great FM synth! Using midi usb cable and free TX editor. Experiment from 1000 of presets. Best producer secret :-D Bevare of ass-crack.
lol! that's interesting. seeing crazy amounts of traffic for this vid aompared with usual mediocre trickle. glitch in the youtube algorithm working in my favour? thanks for stopping by anyways.
no chance, this is the third time i saw this and it keeps popping up for over a year now, but i do have one worrisome question woody: you have no corner in the room to put up your synth?? at least a corner? garage? cellar?
Only just come across your channel, so refreshing to see a synth enthusiast without the analogue snobbery, a digital synth fan and even getting serious about a arranger keyboard. Can you remember the Roland E-series pro-arrangers? Every self respecting pub act soloist had one in the 80/90's
hi lee, appreciate the comment, you know back in the day i so wanted an e86, it was really high end at the time, together with the technics kn2000 if i recall. they probably don't sound great by today's standards though, but if you find one they are cheap, so why not, for old times sake.
"so refreshing to see a synth enthusiast without the analogue snobbery" Are "purer" enthusiasts so uncommon? I thought the analogue snobs were a minority?
i own a Roland JDXi and was contemplating getting rid of but i watched your review the other day of pros and cons of it and swayed me and decided to keep mine and i'm happy you've kept yours too.
Now this is something you dont see everyday wow ! . Woody, i can completly understand and relate to your reasons for decluttering the keyboards/synths. I used to do the same quite often. I must admit ,"thou i hate to lol", emulation software has come on leaps and bounds, and sometimes makes it hard to justify having the space consuming hardware equivelant. I owned the M1 years ago and witnessed a massive increase in the price of PCM and ROM cards so found it hard to keep up. Ultimately i did make the right decision to sell even thou , this was years before the software arrived . Again like yourself My D-10 had to go , i had the JD800 and JV 1080 so to be fair it didnt have that wow factor that made me want to delve deeper with it . (In hindsight , i should have , sone fantastic LA sounds). The only regret i have was getting rid of the hybrid Ensoniq SQ80. I eventually sold my jd800 and later replaced it with the 990 with absolutly no regrets considering the obvious diffrence in immediate control. Anyways enough of my stories. Great video and must say i am little sad you had to sell some of your legendry collection, but hey, ...you have definitly kept hold of some very worthy badboys !!!!
2:48 ha! Just doing a hardcore Dexed vs real DX-7 tests with modern (custom) sounds i programmed. Even right now i can hear some of the sounds are night day difference. However most of those old presets are more less sounding the same. But man those basses on a real DX-7 are to die for when compared to Dexed! Can't wait to make a video. I hope it will be out next week. Will let you know. In fact if you want i can link to your video for those who are more interested in traditional (retro) patches comparison.
i've noticed also that some of the basses were a bit lacking in software but I think they could be tweaked. yeah please go ahead and share link in the comments on my dexed vids, i'll approve.
It's remarkable the prices that a Mk 1 DX7 will now fetch, especially here in Australia...I remember them being maligned as sounding too cold or clinical. They seem to have come back into favour again. I have to agree, I love the industrial look and the build quality. I'm always on the lookout for a good example. I have an SY77, which I loved, until it quietly passed away whilst being stored under a bed (I have quite a *few* synths, and space was at a premium at the time).
hi david, yeah i anticipate a rise in popularity, demand and prices on the dx7 too. it's a magnificent synth to have in your collection but I really didn't really find myself using it very much unfortunately. probably a good time to pick one up though! :) 77 is a great board too.
We had DX-7's back in college. Interesting to play around with FM but extremely hard to get anything practical out of. NI FM-8 is as far as I would go down this road now...
Interesting that none of the DX7 enthusiasts have mentioned the DX200 module (which I have but can't decide my opinion of). I bought it without trying one expecting it to be full of 80s style (love them or hate them) presets but it as if Yamaha wanted to make the presets as far from the DX7 classics as possible.
@F0XYr4bB!T: well, FM responds to parameter editing in a sometimes "nonlinear" manner. Set a modulator to carrier ratio of 1:1, and you get a sorta sawtoothy wave, 2:1 and a sorta squary wave, a non-integer ratio and you might get a belly sound, or just ringing noise. As to what happens when you have one modulator on top of another (and so on), it gets hard to predict. However, once you have modulators/ratios that do interesting things, it is fairly easy to use modulator output envelopes like filter envelopes, and parallel operator stacks like layers with different transients. But playing with operator (carrier, modulator...) ratios *IS* pretty much a black art. I think that's part of why people don't like it. That, and keeping a mental model in your head of what Yamaha's "algorithms" *mean* so you can select operators, parameters and then "slide" them.
Jeremy Thornton does it have the piano quality of nord electro 4? Does it have better sound quality than the motif or montage or Roland g8 or fa 8 ?If so it's worth it
i was hoping woody knew about that while i watched this vid. He's liked your comment so i'm glad he's aware and has a sense of humour about it. Good from you woody
I really wish I had the balls to sell a lot of my gear. Every time I've sold something, I've wanted it back - and in the process, ended up buying 2 or 3 more synths. It's a hydra! All I really need is my spectralis 2 and Access Virus TI - but I unfortunately have way more. Some day - I'll get the courage and sell :/ Good job on clearing house. Enjoy what you kept.
Miss my DX7 .. Was playing a gig in front of Library (outdoors) at Notre Dame in 1987 for Special Olympics.. and the sun burnt it up..must keep them kinda cool...and covered.
I just bought my first keyboard ever - venturing outside of guitar and bass land. I found your channel looking for info on my new Roland JD-Xi and have learned a lot in a little time. Your videos are well constructed, fun and instructional and I'm looking forward to learning more. I bought the Roland knowing nearly nothing about it and have been quite pleased so far.
I had a lot of Analog (was strictly analog back then) Stuff in the 90s.. But I got so SICK of working on everything more than I played the damn things! And I was keeping stuff like the Juno 60 and the OB8 because of just a couple of pads they did. So I just said #$ it !!! one day and cleaned everything up nicely and sold them all on Ebay and Analog Heaven forums. I mean digital has caught up now where it can do just as good pads as Analog gea7r, but it certainly wasn't so back in 1998! I don't regret my choice back then and still don't! I made out well too, as I only bought the best condition gear and the7re was a bit of a craze going on for analog so I ended up with much more money than I bought everything for in the first place!
Nice to see that your main keyboard now is a Yamaha. I have two; the SY-55 and a PSR-540. Got the SY-55 in 1990 and it has been a tremendous workhorse all these years. The PSR-540 has a lot of excellent sounds (800 altogether). I also have a fabulous PSS-270, a mini keyboard (4 octaves) with 100 super cool sounds. So, I guess I'm a Yamaha man! Well, I do have a Roland D-2 groovebox as well. Nice unit with great sounds. Anyway, thanks for the fun video. Keep on playing!
“BUGGER OFF!” Thanks for not editing that out, Woody! I don’t know. Seventeen years ago, the DX7 was one of the synths I daydreamed of owning. If I got one, it might’ve been easier to hold onto than an M1, especially with the tutorials on here about deep editing. On the other hand, It’s hard for me to imagine getting a dozen synthesizers in 12 months or less. Having difficulty choosing between an Odyssey module and a Theremini.
Totally approve your keeping the Electro 4. I just sold my Roland Gaia SH-01 which just didn't get much use, but last year I bought a Nord Electro 5 HP 73 and I love that as a piano/organ/samples player. Lovely action and so light, a great halfway between a synth and a stage piano. Love it.
Don't worry too much about the JDXi, if I remember right, Roland sells new replacement keybeds for less than $20 and it seems easy to do... Read this on a forum.
I had a Mrs, but I had that many synths, I no longer anywhere to put her, Well they have their shoes and, handbags. She had to go. I know how much you loved the D50 and DX7. I bet you get another. I love my D50. I could never part with any of my synths. I could never afford to replace them. The prices have gone through the roof as I'm sure you know. Bought mine secondhand at the right time. love your keepers. I have five Yamaha boards. underrated quality.. I have a Roland guitar synth, I had my house burgled, What no-brainers, they took all my cables and power supplies, but none of my synths.?. I was quoted £400 for a new power supply, pickup, and midi cable for Guitar synth, more than the synth is worth. Hope they enjoy the cables.I've heard of stamp collecting, but cable collecting?. Woody, the world has gone mad, it's so hard to keep sane. that;s why I drink lots of sanity juice.
synths might have been too much bulk to carry around, hence they took small things like cables it has happened to some of my relatives, smaller stuff gets stolen while the big things are too bulky and impractical
As a former owner of a Roland D-10, a Roland JV-35, an Oberheim Matrix 1000, a Korg Poly-800, Yamaha DX7-IIFD, Nord Modular G2X, Yamaha SY99, Yamaha AN1X, I do regret selling them all. I just kept my CME UF7 MIDI keyboard (with the Waldorf nano board), an E-Mu Classic Keys module and a Yamaha A5000 sampler. I wish I kept the Oberheim and the G2X.
You had some sweet synthesizers. I enjoy all of mine. I enjoy the sounds of vintage Roland Synthesizers. I haven't found anything like them. The first time I played the Juno 106, Jupiter 6, and Juno 60 I was so impressed. However, when I played the Jupiter 8 my mind exploded. I finally have most of the synthesizers I'll keep. I may get rid of a few as well. Anyway, take care and keep up the great videos. :) Take care, Sam.
There was a time when I owned several vintage synths, and then, I sold them. I have since regretted it and am now wishing I had held onto them, seeing as how much they are worth these days. My first synth was a Korg DW6000, which I bought right after it came on the market. I was in my first rock cover band shortly after and that was my main synth. That synth ended up getting stolen however. I had since also owned a Juno 106, a Roland D-20, a Crumar Performer, a Roland digital piano, a Yamaha DX11, and several others. I am now without a keyboard and the one I have always wanted to own, is the Yamaha DX7, which is astronomical in price these days.
Here I was, sitting nice and comfortably taking in every word, when all of a sudden BUGGER OFF!!!! Lmao, Cheers for that Woody, I almost fell off me chair!
Love these videos. What you need is a fully restored Fender Rhodes piano from the early 70's. That is, if you want the most organic music machine ever made. You will feel a connection to something very real, if you like that sort of thing.
Keep the gear, sell the wife. You'll find another one. ;-) Have you ever tried any of the Kurzweil series? I have a PC3K7 and love it for all the same reasons you love your Nord electro 4 - great pianos, electromechanical and Hammond sounds, plus thousands of other instruments, a full blown synth, sequencer and you can load your own samples into flash memory with virtually zero loading time at boot up. A great Swiss army knife of a keyboard.
I have a Kurzweil K2000rs (rack version with sampling interface). Some of the built in sounds are cool and it's easy to download more with a USB floppy drive, but sadly the interface is pretty counterintuitive for making and editing your own sounds, which is why I got it in the first place. On paper the machine can do all kinds of crazy and unique things to whatever sounds you sample into it, but in practice I find the process a bit too time-consuming and unintuitive to do as often as I'd like. For playing sounds from Kurzweil and 3rd party libraries it's great though
I have a PC3K8 and a K2600RS (yes, I have a very bad case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Anyway, Kurzweil sounds awesome, especially the strings, brass and guitars. Pads and synth sounds are also nice. I'm not sold on the Fatar keyboard on the PC3K8, which is noisy and too light for a weighted action. But it's an awesome keyboard, especially, the setups that you can assemble from program sounds. Very highly recommended.
I've got a PC3K6. IMO it is the best Virtual Analog synth ever made. (& I own a dozen+ VA synths) Of course that is debatable, (best VA) but what's not debatable is that the PC3K & Forte have w/o question, the absolute best effects processors ever put into ANY synth or workstation, period. I've got a Korg Kronos X & it's effects processors are amazing, but Kurzweil's KDFX are in a whole different league. KDFX is easily on par with high end Eventide, Lexicon & TC Electronic processors. (I own a PCM81, H7600, M2000, and also a KSP8) Kurzweil has a sound all it's own, and that's why most people buy their synths.
geoffk777 Yes the PC3K setups are extremely powerful, especially the MIDI routing, with up to 16 assignable zones which can be used for splits, layering and channel rerouting. I use it as the lower keyboard in a two-keyboard and bass pedals setup, with Roland pedals underneath and a Tyros 4 above. It can accept MIDI in from my bass pedals on one channel, and route it either to one or several of it's own internal sounds or send it out (on completely different channel/s if necessary) to drive the Tyros. It can also route controller information independently from notes, so my expression pedal can adjust my PC3K7 and my Tyros4 simultaneously, for example. I assign one zone to send the relevant program changes to the Tyros, so as I flick through setups on the Kurzweil, the corresponding registration memory on the Tyros comes up automatically. I absolutely love how versatile it is. It's one shortcoming is that you can't change time signature mid-sequence, so I use Tyros for drum sequence programming.
Doesn't matter if you got rid of the DX7 Mark 1. Just keep what makes you happy to make beautiful music. All these keyboard have a learning curve. Some of the rare synths now are getting astronomical prices because of collectors (not musicians necessarily) driving up the market. I'm keeping my DX7 for now. It sounds crap compared to anything made today but the keyboard action is much better than any cheap keyboard made today (using real mechanical switches , not resistive contacts; aftertouch). Yes , the PSR is more of a bread and butter workhorse synth than any expensive one trick pony reissued 8 voice analog keyboard or an ancient digital synth. You'll get sounds coming from the 80's because of the hardware was from the 80's. A Let's face reality and the times here. You can get better sounds even with the stock Logic Pro X plug ins EXS24 and Alchemy with the right programming. Thanks for all the nostalgia , Woody!
Yeah, I guess you could sell all of them and get a simple controller keyboard and a laptop running VST's. But for me that's just not as much fun as real hardware. I like the knobs and sliders :)
You had me at the Roland D-20! 😄👍 It's great to hear from another fella who spent countless hours enjoying the same synth I "cut my teeth on" as a teenager, so to speak! Cheers and thanks for the great vid! 👌
I have two Yamaha Montage M series (M7 & M8) at home. Difficult to part ways with one of them as the different key actions between the two offer unique benefits to both.
you're right. good value compared to a tyros, you lose the hard disk (i prefer usb thumb drive anyway), get a cheaper build and keyboard, but gain in portability and built-in speakers. i guess you get more sounds and styles with tyros too, and better screen. i couldn't really afford or justify the price of a new tyros.
Wow! You sold 3 classic synths spanning 12 years last year. Time moves on, but somehow these synths have a timeless quality about them. I think because they inspired (or at least influenced) new styles of music. Nice channel, Woody.
Hi Woody, On the matter of broken keys on the JDXI, as a tip... I used (many) basic Roland PC900 controllers in live work (with a strap on it believe it or not) triggering my EMU E64 and Ensoniq KT76. I used to break a lot of keys - more precisely breaking the tiny tab off the keybed chassis that actually stops the spring loaded key from rising beyond it's "flat" level. The bottom of each key has a little plastic loop that slots over the chassis tab, the tab itself usually has a little rubber cushion wrapped around it to provide a soft landing. The problem is that if you hit the keys hard enough to bend them downwards the key can hit the tab and break it off, then the key springs back upwards until it's sticking out above the keyboard deck at about 30 degrees. You can still play it, but I usually found I had to snap them off and chuck them into the audience to finish a song, at which time my crew were on stage with a spare and we had spare internals backstage to swap into the controller with the strap on it within 5 minutes. SO... The fix... After buying a dozen or so PC900's and becoming overstocked with spares we decided to look for a "plastic surgery" option. We tried a few options, but eventually the best fix was this... I obtained some 0.4mm stainless steel rod and a 0.5mm drill bit. I could then fix the little plastic tab back into place with super glue (this is always able to be found rattling around inside the keyboard), then SLOWLY drill a 0.5mm hole down through the centre, cut a 6-8mm length of the wire/rod with strong clippers - make sure you catch the small piece in a rag or something because the wire fires across your bench when cut - then you coat the wire in a tiny drop of 5 minute Araldite (2 part epoxy adhesive) and insert it into the hole.Even bashing this little PC keyboard playing timbale to dance music, I never broke a repaired key again and was able to recycle my spare chassis' through another 700 or so gigs without having to buy a replacement. If you suffer a broken key, we found this the only way to repair the plastic to make it as strong (or stronger) than before. All our other methods failed. Greta Vid btw. thanks.Brad
glad you liked the vid and thanks for sharing. i believe construction of mini-keys is even more primitive than you describe, there are no springs, or hinges, it's just bendy plastic. at least the parts are cheap to replace.
I totally understand your reasoning for selling the vast majority of your synths. I personally am contemplating doing the same with all my games consoles and retro computers. They just take up too much room and quite frankly look shite on a modern tv (unless you have a CRT lying around, which i dont and do not intend on obtaining. Again, just sheer clutter). My reasoning is that i don't have the time to play them anymore and hate shit just sitting around when somebody else could be getting enjoyment out of them, plus i'm supposed to be saving up to either go traveling or for a mortgage deposit lol. Might keep my SNES and some of it's key games though cos it holds so much sentimental value... Synth wise I only own a microkorg and korg volca beats so just gonna keep those, not doing any harm haha.
interesting point, yes, the retro gaming scene is similar to old synths in that you can emulate every old console and all the games, cheaper and more convenient than hardware,. Remind you of VST plugins. The sentimental value is huge factor though, if you bought something new as a kid then yeah, i wouldn't be able to sell it after so many years. all these synths i picked up pre-owned just a few months ago, easy come easy go :)
Ahhhhh I see, well with a lot of computers like the Amiga, ST, C64, Spectrum and a few others along with consoles like the Saturn, dreamcast and a few others I have picked them up over the past 7+ years from starting Uni and living in my own place so don't really have much ongoing sentimental value for me (in fact I didn't even grow up with the old micros other than the amiga!). But the Snes, N64, PS1/2 hold so much sentimental value because it partly developed who I am today. But again, if i come back to most of this stuff I feel underwhelmed at how clunky they feel and just a faff to set up. Nostalgia is a powerful force and It's so much easier just to have an emulator set up :P Legality wise I used to care, now couldn't give the remotest of a toss haha.
madcapoperator I know exactly what you mean. I got rid of my Nes, Snes and Genesis and instead am just using RetroPi. I'm a guitarist so now I'm thinking of getting a fractal or Kemper for an amp or just use some other type of emulation. I think it's fantastic the world we live in now, I see it as long as it sounds great then I don't need the physical equipment.
I do think they're is something in owning physical hardware/software, just not too much of it. I'm no longer into collecting for collectings sake. I used to be mega impressed when I see somebody with rows upon rows of Video games, consoles, computers etc etc or like a complete US NES or Genesis collection and now just think that type of setup looks crass and wasteful. Collections like that should really be the reserve of a museum or maybe even a library type setup open to the public. I personally don't need that kind of collection in the home.
Interesting evolution, so to speak. Great detail. I was surprised that you got rid of your Arturo, but if you did not like that feel of it, it tells me not to be interested in getting one. I was considering going more with a good controller, and using plug in sounds.
hi rich, i've never found the workflow of controllers and softsynths to be very enjoyable, it's just too awkward to map up the knobs and controls. however it's much better situation with plugins that don'r require much manipulation of sounds, like pianos.
I just fell onto your site by accident and I liked what I saw. I still have many of my 80's boards and now I find that I start to need them again. The emulations are not bad but you can't beat the real thing heavy as they can weigh. I would suggest for an amplifier that you either get a keyboard amp or a bass guitar amplifier. I have been playing since around 1971 or so and I have had a lot of amps. The bass ones are the only ones that can handle the bottom end and top in some instances that a good keyboard will hit. I have a keyboard amp currently and like the others plan to add a bass speaker to it. They just can't do the range that is required for 70's, 80's and 90's Classic Rock songs. That little fender is likely enough for your living room but you will max the range of the speakers very quickly with the range and some volume. I also have my old Leslie 910 for organ. I have a newer Hammond SK73 and the Leslie sim is not bad but again the real thing can't be beat. Pianos too edgy also. Keep it up I am enjoying your clips.
cool you are hanging on to that leslie! yeah, bass amps are killer, i used to gig through one myself, but in this era of stereo synths and HQ piano sample libraries it won't cut it. Well, you get a lot of oomph but no fidelity. guys are often using a pair of active PA speakers these day.
Gave the PA speakers a try but with the board, speakers and stands it was just easier to stay with the Keyboard amp. It has stereo sends and with a bass cab added it will do pretty much anything. Of course the Leslie has to be there for the Hammond. It is an old 910 Leslie so 2 pieces make it easier to carry. I can overdrive the Hammond through it if needed. If space is an issue I have to settle with out the Leslie but I try not to. You should try to get one to try! Or not, once you hear the difference there is no going back.
Well, if I would sold everything i think personally i would keep: -kurzweil pc3k7/8 most powerful synthesizer ever period...has the most autenthic analogue emulation engine with tons of modulations, tons of dsp for processing samples and internal va oscillator....so it's a complete enviroment for developing own sounds, and acoustic samples are really amazing they always fit in the mix well better than other brands...so with this instrument i can really get every sound i would. - an analogue polyphonic instrument....my fav choice in modern offer is prophet 6...i have it and it is gorgeous a little bit limited in options but it sounds great. -If i could take another and budget would be high i'll go to real arp2600 just because has quite unlimited possibilities and it is something you buy today and gives you years of learning and discovering. in alternative i would say dsi pro2...I have it and love it all the way, has memories and give tons of room for experimenting. these are maybe my instruments of choice for a desert land experience xD (obvioulsy....with a mac running a daw for recording and mixing....my desert land daw would be maybe logic because it has all tools inside and once installed you have all you need to do a production, mixing, mastering and even scoring a good orchestral piece, great score editor inside.)
I had a Atari ST 1988 but the limited amount of software for it, saw the ST buried in the closet for years until I sold it sometime in the mid '90's. No love lost there
In the last 2 years I've sold half of my studio gear: Roland Juno 60 & Juno 106, Sequential Circuits Sixtrak, Arp Axxe, AKAI MPC 3000, Fender Rhodes 73 Mark I, Technics MK2, Marantz PMD recorder, two AKG C451 mics, Sonor Force 2003 drums with Istambul handmade cymbals and currently I am selling my old Emulator sampler ESI 4000... I regret for selling most of it... analog stuff is really worthy, more each day
+1 on the "I let the M1 go because I have the KORG Legacy edition! - great value those, especially if you get them thrown in for a small controller keyboard. Me, I only kept the Wavestation EX from that Korg era...
Hey Woody,, i agree with the PSRS970,, is too cool,...but i have the electribe,, i love the looks of it, i once wanted to sell it off,, but changed my mind,, but to say i neve used it at all,, still cant decide to sell it or not,
Hahahaha, I knew that you would keep the PSR 970 in the end!! Wise choice ;-) I just regret for you selling the DX7, the "panzer" of FM synths!! LOL but as you mentioned, maybe come back in the future. I guess you're orienting now toward the instant playing/ performing that's very logical, as you don't play in a band, YOU are the band! :-)) With all the great VSTs we have, it's a bit silly keeping the original hards if you're not a collector. Cheers, Gareth.
So pleased you kept the JD-Xi as I'm thinking of getting one, seen so many people do vids of them covering Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Petshop Boys, Duran Duran and even Dr Who! It's very impressive and I've been looking for a clever Synth that can record and in a, sense overdub.
Just had a look at the Roland XM it's a dream! All I need now is a few UA-cam people to do covers of 80s well known tracks then I might be sold. Really looking for sounds like Human League, Gary Numan, Duran Duran and Tears for Fears all in one synth if possible.
HI WOODY... How about the Waldorf Blofeld desktop + licence OR an old Yamaha TG33 module so that you have 3 keyboard instruments and 1 module. These sound very interesting synth models and I might try to get one of them one day... VERY AMBIENT SOUNDING... We have similar tastes... Best regards
AS you say though, the Yamaha PSR-S970 is an arranger keyboard and definitely not a synth. I have a PSR-550 and PSR-740 which I gig regularly and are early versions of the arrangers. Older keyboards, but quite adequate for me.
Woody. Late to party on this thread but interested with your opinions on Electribe vs JDXi. I've had a JDXi for c2yrs and love it to bits. First synth and couldn't have made better choice. Looking to expand on DAWless recording and Electribe caught eye as really portable (more than JDXi) and appears to have greater scope with number of 'parts' that can be sequenced - 16 vs JDXi's 4? Which means you can create a fuller sounding track (+ you can now chain link patterns in Electribe). This is the wall I'm hitting with JDXi - 3 parts and a drum track is quite limiting if your're determined to avoid DAWS for as long as you can!
Didn't skip to the end, and sure enough there were some good ones you let go, and for sound reasons. But I'd lie if I said I didn't expect something beefier at the end. I would probably have bought the JD-Xi if not for the mini keys.
If you miss the DX7, want hardware similar to it but can easily be taken with you, you might want to get the Korg Volca FM. I have it, and it's a fun little thing. If you wanted, you can load in the 32 original DX7 patches, OR create your own with a VST plugin OR an iPad app (which the name of has left me). It's an inexpensive thing, too! I got mine for around $200 USD with a 2-year protection plan.
Woody - what Midi controller do you like for your software? You answered my question - @2:00m yep - why you've sold your synths! And I've just come from the Korg Collections page after watching your review of the Wavestation (May 2017) - it's perfect for me - and I need to produce a certain sound quality for my upcoming Mutnauqs' Point channel. (Wavestation + moogthereamini! will do for the sensory backbone.) Love yer vids.
I've not watched many of your videos (yet, just subscribed) but I was surprised at the Yamaha PSR. Such instruments have quite an "easy listening" image, and yet are really capable instruments with great sounds - and just as importantly, are great fun just to sit and play! I have a Tyros 4 so in a similar mould. The only thing I missed was having a synth with knobs, so I pair it with a Roland Gaia which covers that aspect.
Oh yeah, great video. I'm looking at some useful synths, among some other gear. I had an old Arp Odyssey at one time, and now have a microKorg. Looking for something still a bit more versatile. Wondering about great stands too for more than one synth.
Thanks for the insight Woody! Are you aware of the replacement panel that Roland has made available? it's white lettering on matte finish... no more glossy red!
Well Woody..... I suppose in some ways, I admire your guts for selling all that stuff..... That is where you and I differ.... :-) Me - I'm a hoarder : Over the years, I have sold/parted with *very few* keyboards - and only one of which I now regret ( a Korg Mono/Poly, which partly financed my DX7)..... But all the others, I still have. Some get used only on rare occasions and some haven't been used for years - but I know they are always still there if ever I need to use one for a gig or recording. The downside of this is, as you say, the space needed to store them.... But somehow, I cope with that.... so far !! lol I just can't bear the thought of having to dispose of any.:.. I never know when one might come in handy !! Still, I suppose if this means you have funds available to buy more interesting keyboards to share with us on your channell, then so be it !! :-)
yeah i get stressed if i have stuff i don't regularly utilise. luckily my father is the opposite, his house is a time machine. he's wiser than me, he's still got our vintage juno and korg which I am so grateful about! so think twenty times before you part with any of yours!
Woody Piano Shack Much as I'd like to see you review/demo those old classic analogues, I am now a bit concerned that if your Dad got them shipped over to you, you might then sell them a few weeks after making your videos..... which no doubt we would all regret !! lol I reckon they are safer left back in your Dad's loft ;-) hehehe
Nice Video! I have two hardware synths, Miniak and Gaia. I've since moved to Virtual synths, but I also have tons of guitar pedals and a Bored Brain Patchulator got give me my modular fix. I also have a Reamp pedal that I can use for anything. I cringed when you started on guitars, as that's a slippery slope! Luckily I primarily play bass, so I set up my rigs as Biampable Racks with separate Pre and Post amplifiers. Take care that you don't kill the guitar speakers with the lower bass frequencies of the Synth. I love running tube amps, and getting tube bass head or a pre/post rack setup allows me to run my synths as well. Works for Death From Above 1979 and other multi-instrumentalists. Cheers!
I've tried that PSR, and take didn't like the keys or the synth abilities of it. The JD-Xi felt soooooo cheap to me, I'm can't imagine how you'd pick that over a Nord, which is almost the pinnacle of playability.
I've owned or routinely gigged with many of these synths, and I currently own ZERO of them. Yep. I've been entirely virtual for over a decade now - and my BACK thanks me every time I have to haul gear... not to mention that I don't haul a Hammond w/ Leslie, Wurli or Rhodes either. I only miss the "feel" of the old instruments. But as far as "sounds" go, the virtual instruments can handle everything I've thrown at them - combined with virtual amp modeling - most peoples' ear will NEVER know the difference.
Did doctor mix buy them all
Ouch... I think some of you are being really mean to Woody here. He explains perfectly well his reasons for letting certain synths go. He swaps and changes synths and keyboards like others do with cars. Try it. enjoy it then pass it on if it doesn't tick all the boxes. We may disagree with some of the choices but we aren't the one's making them. I bought my Electribe from a guy who hated it and couldn't get on with it, whereas I took to it straight away. Horses for courses.
Lads, if the misses doesn't let you have just 1 room dedicated to toys, she isn't the one.
Exactly! Women are always dictating what their man can or cannot do. This is why I don't have a girlfriend and will never get married. I want to enjoy my freedom as a man, hehe!!
Exactly. Mine actually encourages me to buy more. She actually bought my last one as a “just because” gift.
living tha life
@@stuffedpeppersinc.andmore.1221 ok
That's right, also the other way round in my opinion. It should be more accepted that women can be nerdy and have toys as well ;)
Enjoyed a look "backstage" about something we all deal with but don't discuss much. There are lots of videos about whether to buy something, but this is the first I've seen about what to keep or sell. It's very helpful to get your thoughts after you've used something for a while. Good one, thanks.
Yeah but whatever you do, make the exact opposite choice's of this guy.
When a spousse is annoyed by stuff being partner's favorite occupation there is a deep underlying problem. Demand your space!
I know how easy it is to get sucked in to collecting stuff. Especially things that you couldn't get in the childhood/teenage. I collected video games for almost a decade, but now I've sold almost everything. By the way, I love the red Synthesizer stand you have in the video. I bought that one for myself after seeing this video. :)
The JD-Xi is my "if I could only have one synth and drum machine on a desert island" synth. The 128-voice virtual analog is a very deep synth engine which sounds great, especially for pads (the "flanger" can act as a very rich Juno-style chorus). The drums have a lot of variety and the sounds can be significantly edited. The analog synth has quite a bit of that TB-303 vibe to it, while being a good deal more flexible than the 303. The effects add a lot of creative possibilities to the sounds.
Unless you’re a gigging musician, you don’t need a dedicated synth. A good midi controller (like a Nektar Panorama) and a good library of plugins and the DAW of you choice will do it all. I have an ancient Axiom 61 and cheap a Casio hammer action piano. Would love to get a Panorama P6 to replace the Axiom.
Omg...It has started already...now that the developers are making analog synths again, people start crying for the DX7...I knew it xD
great point, quick, buy the DX7, 01/W and D70 whilst the prices are rock bottom :)
lol, maybe is a good time for speculation over the vintage digitals, really :p
I've been buying the digital's for 4 years now and yes the price's are going up.
I thought the DX7 was a 16 bit all digital FM synthesizer? I had a DX9 a few years ago that I gave to a friend for safe keeping until he stole it.
Sure is digital, the first digital best-seller. What I mean is : "we" have been about 20 years crying and asking the developers to make again analog synths, and now that, finally they are making them...."we" start whinning and crying that what we really like and want is the DX7...lolz
Well, if it makes you feel better, Gary Numan has also sold off most of his hardware synths, only keeping a couple, and has gone pretty much totally software synth for his latest album! It's funny when interviewers who have only ever heard "Cars" ask about whether he's still using the old PolyMoog, and his response is something like "Naah, that was nearly 40 years ago... Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 is my favourite synth nowdays!"
that's a really interesting comment about one of my all time favorites :) thx for sharing, it makes me feel better
Kraftwerk did the same and went VST. But to my ears, it is a downgrade in sound.
Ultravox did the same, with Currie keeping only his Arp Odyssey and OSCAR...the rest on the Brilliant album was VSTs.
I'll miss the DX7, I think you could've shown a lot more of its true potential beyond the presets
Check Power DX7 for that. Amazing channel.
bradley, i totally agree. i only played the presets, i should have done more with it. don't worry, we'll get another one some day.
Get Yamaha TX7 rack
I own Yamaha TX81Z rack. Great FM synth! Using midi usb cable and free TX editor. Experiment from 1000 of presets. Best producer secret :-D Bevare of ass-crack.
How?? with such a HORRENDOUS interface?
The best video ever, finally someone who has seen sense.
Very interesting combination of synths! My top 3 would be A Roland Gaia, Roland V-Synth GT and an Access Virus Ti2.
There. I finally watched this video. Now can UA-cam stop recommending this to me?
lol! that's interesting. seeing crazy amounts of traffic for this vid aompared with usual mediocre trickle. glitch in the youtube algorithm working in my favour? thanks for stopping by anyways.
lmaoooo
no chance, this is the third time i saw this and it keeps popping up for over a year now, but i do have one worrisome question woody: you have no corner in the room to put up your synth?? at least a corner? garage? cellar?
I just bought KORG Monologue yesterday. I absolutely love it. Only a few knobs but massive amount of possibilities.
We recently purchased a Motif xf6, amazing bit of kit, will take years to delve into, the sounds are terrific!
Only just come across your channel, so refreshing to see a synth enthusiast without the analogue snobbery, a digital synth fan and even getting serious about a arranger keyboard. Can you remember the Roland E-series pro-arrangers? Every self respecting pub act soloist had one in the 80/90's
hi lee, appreciate the comment, you know back in the day i so wanted an e86, it was really high end at the time, together with the technics kn2000 if i recall. they probably don't sound great by today's standards though, but if you find one they are cheap, so why not, for old times sake.
"so refreshing to see a synth enthusiast without the analogue snobbery"
Are "purer" enthusiasts so uncommon? I thought the analogue snobs were a minority?
i own a Roland JDXi and was contemplating getting rid of but i watched your review the other day of pros and cons of it and swayed me and decided to keep mine and i'm happy you've kept yours too.
I got rid of my Jdxi and don't miss the thing at all.
I feel you on the dx7 too. Loved to program mine back in the day. Now I want to buy one again!
Now this is something you dont see everyday wow ! . Woody, i can completly understand and relate to your reasons for decluttering the keyboards/synths. I used to do the same quite often. I must admit ,"thou i hate to lol", emulation software has come on leaps and bounds, and sometimes makes it hard to justify having the space consuming hardware equivelant. I owned the M1 years ago and witnessed a massive increase in the price of PCM and ROM cards so found it hard to keep up. Ultimately i did make the right decision to sell even thou , this was years before the software arrived . Again like yourself My D-10 had to go , i had the JD800 and JV 1080 so to be fair it didnt have that wow factor that made me want to delve deeper with it . (In hindsight , i should have , sone fantastic LA sounds). The only regret i have was getting rid of the hybrid Ensoniq SQ80. I eventually sold my jd800 and later replaced it with the 990 with absolutly no regrets considering the obvious diffrence in immediate control. Anyways enough of my stories. Great video and must say i am little sad you had to sell some of your legendry collection, but hey, ...you have definitly kept hold of some very worthy badboys !!!!
2:48 ha! Just doing a hardcore Dexed vs real DX-7 tests with modern (custom) sounds i programmed. Even right now i can hear some of the sounds are night day difference. However most of those old presets are more less sounding the same. But man those basses on a real DX-7 are to die for when compared to Dexed! Can't wait to make a video. I hope it will be out next week. Will let you know. In fact if you want i can link to your video for those who are more interested in traditional (retro) patches comparison.
i've noticed also that some of the basses were a bit lacking in software but I think they could be tweaked. yeah please go ahead and share link in the comments on my dexed vids, i'll approve.
Don Solaris Agreed, can't beat the original hardware
Have you compared against FM8 as well? I thought Dexed was nice but a bit weedy in comparison to it.
DX7 v1? I quite like my DS8 over the tx81z, but don't have a hardware 6OP. Also waiting for your MW1 soundset :)
Oooh will anticipate much!
It's remarkable the prices that a Mk 1 DX7 will now fetch, especially here in Australia...I remember them being maligned as sounding too cold or clinical. They seem to have come back into favour again. I have to agree, I love the industrial look and the build quality. I'm always on the lookout for a good example. I have an SY77, which I loved, until it quietly passed away whilst being stored under a bed (I have quite a *few* synths, and space was at a premium at the time).
hi david, yeah i anticipate a rise in popularity, demand and prices on the dx7 too. it's a magnificent synth to have in your collection but I really didn't really find myself using it very much unfortunately. probably a good time to pick one up though! :) 77 is a great board too.
We had DX-7's back in college. Interesting to play around with FM but extremely hard to get anything practical out of. NI FM-8 is as far as I would go down this road now...
Interesting that none of the DX7 enthusiasts have mentioned the DX200 module (which I have but can't decide my opinion of). I bought it without trying one expecting it to be full of 80s style (love them or hate them) presets but it as if Yamaha wanted to make the presets as far from the DX7 classics as possible.
why does everyone claim that the dx7/fm is so hard to understand
@F0XYr4bB!T: well, FM responds to parameter editing in a sometimes "nonlinear" manner. Set a modulator to carrier ratio of 1:1, and you get a sorta sawtoothy wave, 2:1 and a sorta squary wave, a non-integer ratio and you might get a belly sound, or just ringing noise. As to what happens when you have one modulator on top of another (and so on), it gets hard to predict.
However, once you have modulators/ratios that do interesting things, it is fairly easy to use modulator output envelopes like filter envelopes, and parallel operator stacks like layers with different transients.
But playing with operator (carrier, modulator...) ratios *IS* pretty much a black art. I think that's part of why people don't like it. That, and keeping a mental model in your head of what Yamaha's "algorithms" *mean* so you can select operators, parameters and then "slide" them.
Get a Korg Kronos. You just can't go wrong with it. I've got a version 1 and am still learning about all it can do.
Jeremy Thornton does it have the piano quality of nord electro 4? Does it have better sound quality than the motif or montage or Roland g8 or fa 8 ?If so it's worth it
yamaha's new flagship workstation looks way better than kronos imo...if i were gunna get a kronos i'd just get an m3 for cheaper
I see you kept the Asscrack-01.
How's the action on that?
i was hoping woody knew about that while i watched this vid. He's liked your comment so i'm glad he's aware and has a sense of humour about it. Good from you woody
I really wish I had the balls to sell a lot of my gear. Every time I've sold something, I've wanted it back - and in the process, ended up buying 2 or 3 more synths. It's a hydra! All I really need is my spectralis 2 and Access Virus TI - but I unfortunately have way more. Some day - I'll get the courage and sell :/
Good job on clearing house. Enjoy what you kept.
midera thanks, will do, have some regrets about the dx7 though, but we'll find another one perhaps.
Miss my DX7 .. Was playing a gig in front of Library (outdoors) at Notre Dame in 1987 for Special Olympics.. and the sun burnt it up..must keep them kinda cool...and covered.
I just bought my first keyboard ever - venturing outside of guitar and bass land. I found your channel looking for info on my new Roland JD-Xi and have learned a lot in a little time. Your videos are well constructed, fun and instructional and I'm looking forward to learning more. I bought the Roland knowing nearly nothing about it and have been quite pleased so far.
I had a lot of Analog (was strictly analog back then) Stuff in the 90s.. But I got so SICK of working on everything more than I played the damn things! And I was keeping stuff like the Juno 60 and the OB8 because of just a couple of pads they did. So I just said #$ it !!! one day and cleaned everything up nicely and sold them all on Ebay and Analog Heaven forums. I mean digital has caught up now where it can do just as good pads as Analog gea7r, but it certainly wasn't so back in 1998! I don't regret my choice back then and still don't! I made out well too, as I only bought the best condition gear and the7re was a bit of a craze going on for analog so I ended up with much more money than I bought everything for in the first place!
Nice to see that your main keyboard now is a Yamaha. I have two; the SY-55 and a PSR-540. Got the SY-55 in 1990 and it has been a tremendous workhorse all these years. The PSR-540 has a lot of excellent sounds (800 altogether). I also have a fabulous PSS-270, a mini keyboard (4 octaves) with 100 super cool sounds. So, I guess I'm a Yamaha man! Well, I do have a Roland D-2 groovebox as well. Nice unit with great sounds. Anyway, thanks for the fun video. Keep on playing!
Glad to hear you are keeping the little jd-xi. I finally got one recently and it's amazing how you can quickly sketch out music ideas!
aha, congrats on your xi. yes, it's really good for that!
“BUGGER OFF!” Thanks for not editing that out, Woody!
I don’t know. Seventeen years ago, the DX7 was one of the synths I daydreamed of owning. If I got one, it might’ve been easier to hold onto than an M1, especially with the tutorials on here about deep editing.
On the other hand, It’s hard for me to imagine getting a dozen synthesizers in 12 months or less. Having difficulty choosing between an Odyssey module and a Theremini.
I have a PSR-S910. It's a little dated, but it's still an amazing and fun instrument to play.
Totally approve your keeping the Electro 4. I just sold my Roland Gaia SH-01 which just didn't get much use, but last year I bought a Nord Electro 5 HP 73 and I love that as a piano/organ/samples player. Lovely action and so light, a great halfway between a synth and a stage piano. Love it.
Don't worry too much about the JDXi, if I remember right, Roland sells new replacement keybeds for less than $20 and it seems easy to do... Read this on a forum.
ok, thanks for that info!
I had a Mrs, but I had that many synths, I no longer anywhere to put her, Well they have their shoes and, handbags. She had to go.
I know how much you loved the D50 and DX7. I bet you get another. I love my D50. I could never part with any of my synths. I could never afford to replace them. The prices have gone through the roof as I'm sure you know. Bought mine secondhand at the right time. love your keepers. I have five Yamaha boards. underrated quality.. I have a Roland guitar synth, I had my house burgled, What no-brainers, they took all my cables and power supplies, but none of my synths.?. I was quoted £400 for a new power supply, pickup, and midi cable for Guitar synth, more than the synth is worth. Hope they enjoy the cables.I've heard of stamp collecting, but cable collecting?. Woody, the world has gone mad, it's so hard to keep sane. that;s why I drink lots of sanity juice.
synths might have been too much bulk to carry around, hence they took small things like cables
it has happened to some of my relatives, smaller stuff gets stolen while the big things are too bulky and impractical
As a former owner of a Roland D-10, a Roland JV-35, an Oberheim Matrix 1000, a Korg Poly-800, Yamaha DX7-IIFD, Nord Modular G2X, Yamaha SY99, Yamaha AN1X, I do regret selling them all. I just kept my CME UF7 MIDI keyboard (with the Waldorf nano board), an E-Mu Classic Keys module and a Yamaha A5000 sampler. I wish I kept the Oberheim and the G2X.
super gear list! i like them all. you kept the classic keys...? huh :) those G2X crazy expensive these days, don't understand.
You had some sweet synthesizers. I enjoy all of mine. I enjoy the sounds of vintage Roland Synthesizers. I haven't found anything like them. The first time I played the Juno 106, Jupiter 6, and Juno 60 I was so impressed. However, when I played the Jupiter 8 my mind exploded. I finally have most of the synthesizers I'll keep. I may get rid of a few as well. Anyway, take care and keep up the great videos. :) Take care, Sam.
hi sam, thx for watching, it was enjoyable for me to recap and ponder on all the great synths we've covered during the last 12 months.
There was a time when I owned several vintage synths, and then, I sold them. I have since regretted it and am now wishing I had held onto them, seeing as how much they are worth these days. My first synth was a Korg DW6000, which I bought right after it came on the market. I was in my first rock cover band shortly after and that was my main synth. That synth ended up getting stolen however. I had since also owned a Juno 106, a Roland D-20, a Crumar Performer, a Roland digital piano, a Yamaha DX11, and several others. I am now without a keyboard and the one I have always wanted to own, is the Yamaha DX7, which is astronomical in price these days.
Here I was, sitting nice and comfortably taking in every word, when all of a sudden BUGGER OFF!!!! Lmao, Cheers for that Woody, I almost fell off me chair!
Love these videos. What you need is a fully restored Fender Rhodes piano from the early 70's. That is, if you want the most organic music machine ever made. You will feel a connection to something very real, if you like that sort of thing.
we're on the same page, i love playing the rhodes, even wrong notes sound right...
Keep the gear, sell the wife. You'll find another one. ;-)
Have you ever tried any of the Kurzweil series? I have a PC3K7 and love it for all the same reasons you love your Nord electro 4 - great pianos, electromechanical and Hammond sounds, plus thousands of other instruments, a full blown synth, sequencer and you can load your own samples into flash memory with virtually zero loading time at boot up. A great Swiss army knife of a keyboard.
I have a Kurzweil K2000rs (rack version with sampling interface). Some of the built in sounds are cool and it's easy to download more with a USB floppy drive, but sadly the interface is pretty counterintuitive for making and editing your own sounds, which is why I got it in the first place. On paper the machine can do all kinds of crazy and unique things to whatever sounds you sample into it, but in practice I find the process a bit too time-consuming and unintuitive to do as often as I'd like. For playing sounds from Kurzweil and 3rd party libraries it's great though
k2000 with usb floppy sounds awesome, on my bucket list :)
I have a PC3K8 and a K2600RS (yes, I have a very bad case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Anyway, Kurzweil sounds awesome, especially the strings, brass and guitars. Pads and synth sounds are also nice. I'm not sold on the Fatar keyboard on the PC3K8, which is noisy and too light for a weighted action. But it's an awesome keyboard, especially, the setups that you can assemble from program sounds. Very highly recommended.
I've got a PC3K6. IMO it is the best Virtual Analog synth ever made. (& I own a dozen+ VA synths) Of course that is debatable, (best VA) but what's not debatable is that the PC3K & Forte have w/o question, the absolute best effects processors ever put into ANY synth or workstation, period. I've got a Korg Kronos X & it's effects processors are amazing, but Kurzweil's KDFX are in a whole different league. KDFX is easily on par with high end Eventide, Lexicon & TC Electronic processors. (I own a PCM81, H7600, M2000, and also a KSP8) Kurzweil has a sound all it's own, and that's why most people buy their synths.
geoffk777 Yes the PC3K setups are extremely powerful, especially the MIDI routing, with up to 16 assignable zones which can be used for splits, layering and channel rerouting. I use it as the lower keyboard in a two-keyboard and bass pedals setup, with Roland pedals underneath and a Tyros 4 above. It can accept MIDI in from my bass pedals on one channel, and route it either to one or several of it's own internal sounds or send it out (on completely different channel/s if necessary) to drive the Tyros. It can also route controller information independently from notes, so my expression pedal can adjust my PC3K7 and my Tyros4 simultaneously, for example. I assign one zone to send the relevant program changes to the Tyros, so as I flick through setups on the Kurzweil, the corresponding registration memory on the Tyros comes up automatically. I absolutely love how versatile it is. It's one shortcoming is that you can't change time signature mid-sequence, so I use Tyros for drum sequence programming.
Doesn't matter if you got rid of the DX7 Mark 1. Just keep what makes you happy to make beautiful music. All these keyboard have a learning curve. Some of the rare synths now are getting astronomical prices because of collectors (not musicians necessarily) driving up the market. I'm keeping my DX7 for now. It sounds crap compared to anything made today but the keyboard action is much better than any cheap keyboard made today (using real mechanical switches , not resistive contacts; aftertouch). Yes , the PSR is more of a bread and butter workhorse synth than any expensive one trick pony reissued 8 voice analog keyboard or an ancient digital synth. You'll get sounds coming from the 80's because of the hardware was from the 80's. A Let's face reality and the times here. You can get better sounds even with the stock Logic Pro X plug ins EXS24 and Alchemy with the right programming. Thanks for all the nostalgia , Woody!
You got all those nice classic synths that you all sold, but you kept the one with the 'toy' keyboard, and the home keyboard, really? wow!
have more use for those at the moment, simple as. :)
Yeah, I guess you could sell all of them and get a simple controller keyboard and a laptop running VST's. But for me that's just not as much fun as real hardware. I like the knobs and sliders :)
You had me at the Roland D-20! 😄👍 It's great to hear from another fella who spent countless hours enjoying the same synth I "cut my teeth on" as a teenager, so to speak! Cheers and thanks for the great vid! 👌
Sorry to see the DX7 go, but thrilled you kept the JD-Xi. I recently picked one up myself and I love it to pieces. So much potential and applications.
Wow, glad that you kept the JD-XI, I found your channel by searching that model since I bought one.
way to go, that's awesome, congrats on yours, still one of my favorites.
I have two Yamaha Montage M series (M7 & M8) at home. Difficult to part ways with one of them as the different key actions between the two offer unique benefits to both.
Lol @9:30 (amazing actually tho, because it sounded like a true expression of how much you love the sequencer).
Hi.I've watched several of your electribe vids as I bought one last week,thanks for the help and inspiration.
The PSR-S970 is the not-quite-a-Tyros. Considerably less expensive, for almost all the features.
you're right. good value compared to a tyros, you lose the hard disk (i prefer usb thumb drive anyway), get a cheaper build and keyboard, but gain in portability and built-in speakers. i guess you get more sounds and styles with tyros too, and better screen. i couldn't really afford or justify the price of a new tyros.
Wow! You sold 3 classic synths spanning 12 years last year. Time moves on, but somehow these synths have a timeless quality about them. I think because they inspired (or at least influenced) new styles of music. Nice channel, Woody.
Hi Woody, On the matter of broken keys on the JDXI, as a tip... I used (many) basic Roland PC900 controllers in live work (with a strap on it believe it or not) triggering my EMU E64 and Ensoniq KT76. I used to break a lot of keys - more precisely breaking the tiny tab off the keybed chassis that actually stops the spring loaded key from rising beyond it's "flat" level. The bottom of each key has a little plastic loop that slots over the chassis tab, the tab itself usually has a little rubber cushion wrapped around it to provide a soft landing. The problem is that if you hit the keys hard enough to bend them downwards the key can hit the tab and break it off, then the key springs back upwards until it's sticking out above the keyboard deck at about 30 degrees. You can still play it, but I usually found I had to snap them off and chuck them into the audience to finish a song, at which time my crew were on stage with a spare and we had spare internals backstage to swap into the controller with the strap on it within 5 minutes. SO... The fix... After buying a dozen or so PC900's and becoming overstocked with spares we decided to look for a "plastic surgery" option. We tried a few options, but eventually the best fix was this... I obtained some 0.4mm stainless steel rod and a 0.5mm drill bit. I could then fix the little plastic tab back into place with super glue (this is always able to be found rattling around inside the keyboard), then SLOWLY drill a 0.5mm hole down through the centre, cut a 6-8mm length of the wire/rod with strong clippers - make sure you catch the small piece in a rag or something because the wire fires across your bench when cut - then you coat the wire in a tiny drop of 5 minute Araldite (2 part epoxy adhesive) and insert it into the hole.Even bashing this little PC keyboard playing timbale to dance music, I never broke a repaired key again and was able to recycle my spare chassis' through another 700 or so gigs without having to buy a replacement. If you suffer a broken key, we found this the only way to repair the plastic to make it as strong (or stronger) than before. All our other methods failed.
Greta Vid btw. thanks.Brad
glad you liked the vid and thanks for sharing. i believe construction of mini-keys is even more primitive than you describe, there are no springs, or hinges, it's just bendy plastic. at least the parts are cheap to replace.
wow didn't see this coming ,tune in next week for woodys fly fishing
I totally understand your reasoning for selling the vast majority of your synths. I personally am contemplating doing the same with all my games consoles and retro computers. They just take up too much room and quite frankly look shite on a modern tv (unless you have a CRT lying around, which i dont and do not intend on obtaining. Again, just sheer clutter). My reasoning is that i don't have the time to play them anymore and hate shit just sitting around when somebody else could be getting enjoyment out of them, plus i'm supposed to be saving up to either go traveling or for a mortgage deposit lol. Might keep my SNES and some of it's key games though cos it holds so much sentimental value...
Synth wise I only own a microkorg and korg volca beats so just gonna keep those, not doing any harm haha.
interesting point, yes, the retro gaming scene is similar to old synths in that you can emulate every old console and all the games, cheaper and more convenient than hardware,. Remind you of VST plugins. The sentimental value is huge factor though, if you bought something new as a kid then yeah, i wouldn't be able to sell it after so many years. all these synths i picked up pre-owned just a few months ago, easy come easy go :)
Ahhhhh I see, well with a lot of computers like the Amiga, ST, C64, Spectrum and a few others along with consoles like the Saturn, dreamcast and a few others I have picked them up over the past 7+ years from starting Uni and living in my own place so don't really have much ongoing sentimental value for me (in fact I didn't even grow up with the old micros other than the amiga!). But the Snes, N64, PS1/2 hold so much sentimental value because it partly developed who I am today. But again, if i come back to most of this stuff I feel underwhelmed at how clunky they feel and just a faff to set up. Nostalgia is a powerful force and It's so much easier just to have an emulator set up :P
Legality wise I used to care, now couldn't give the remotest of a toss haha.
madcapoperator all you need is a Wii U with homebrew so you can play roms 😎
madcapoperator I know exactly what you mean. I got rid of my Nes, Snes and Genesis and instead am just using RetroPi. I'm a guitarist so now I'm thinking of getting a fractal or Kemper for an amp or just use some other type of emulation. I think it's fantastic the world we live in now, I see it as long as it sounds great then I don't need the physical equipment.
I do think they're is something in owning physical hardware/software, just not too much of it. I'm no longer into collecting for collectings sake. I used to be mega impressed when I see somebody with rows upon rows of Video games, consoles, computers etc etc or like a complete US NES or Genesis collection and now just think that type of setup looks crass and wasteful.
Collections like that should really be the reserve of a museum or maybe even a library type setup open to the public. I personally don't need that kind of collection in the home.
For arranger keyboards, the Roland E-A7 is nice. I also have a jd-xi like yours. Keep up your good work, Woody.
Interesting evolution, so to speak. Great detail. I was surprised that you got rid of your Arturo, but if you did not like that feel of it, it tells me not to be interested in getting one. I was considering going more with a good controller, and using plug in sounds.
hi rich, i've never found the workflow of controllers and softsynths to be very enjoyable, it's just too awkward to map up the knobs and controls. however it's much better situation with plugins that don'r require much manipulation of sounds, like pianos.
been binge watching your channel while i'm bored before bed. thanks for the entertainment, man.
glad i could do something about the boredom... :)
Oh the Nord Piano was gorgious. How did you part with that. But as you say, you had fun with it.
I just fell onto your site by accident and I liked what I saw. I still have many of my 80's boards and now I find that I start to need them again. The emulations are not bad but you can't beat the real thing heavy as they can weigh. I would suggest for an amplifier that you either get a keyboard amp or a bass guitar amplifier. I have been playing since around 1971 or so and I have had a lot of amps. The bass ones are the only ones that can handle the bottom end and top in some instances that a good keyboard will hit. I have a keyboard amp currently and like the others plan to add a bass speaker to it. They just can't do the range that is required for 70's, 80's and 90's Classic Rock songs. That little fender is likely enough for your living room but you will max the range of the speakers very quickly with the range and some volume. I also have my old Leslie 910 for organ. I have a newer Hammond SK73 and the Leslie sim is not bad but again the real thing can't be beat. Pianos too edgy also. Keep it up I am enjoying your clips.
cool you are hanging on to that leslie! yeah, bass amps are killer, i used to gig through one myself, but in this era of stereo synths and HQ piano sample libraries it won't cut it. Well, you get a lot of oomph but no fidelity. guys are often using a pair of active PA speakers these day.
Gave the PA speakers a try but with the board, speakers and stands it was just easier to stay with the Keyboard amp. It has stereo sends and with a bass cab added it will do pretty much anything. Of course the Leslie has to be there for the Hammond. It is an old 910 Leslie so 2 pieces make it easier to carry. I can overdrive the Hammond through it if needed. If space is an issue I have to settle with out the Leslie but I try not to. You should try to get one to try! Or not, once you hear the difference there is no going back.
Damn,i would never sell some of those synths ever. You wife must be very happy know that room looks tidy and clean.
and so am i :)
Well, if I would sold everything i think personally i would keep:
-kurzweil pc3k7/8 most powerful synthesizer ever period...has the most autenthic analogue emulation engine with tons of modulations, tons of dsp for processing samples and internal va oscillator....so it's a complete enviroment for developing own sounds, and acoustic samples are really amazing they always fit in the mix well better than other brands...so with this instrument i can really get every sound i would.
- an analogue polyphonic instrument....my fav choice in modern offer is prophet 6...i have it and it is gorgeous a little bit limited in options but it sounds great.
-If i could take another and budget would be high i'll go to real arp2600 just because has quite unlimited possibilities and it is something you buy today and gives you years of learning and discovering.
in alternative i would say dsi pro2...I have it and love it all the way, has memories and give tons of room for experimenting.
these are maybe my instruments of choice for a desert land experience xD (obvioulsy....with a mac running a daw for recording and mixing....my desert land daw would be maybe logic because it has all tools inside and once installed you have all you need to do a production, mixing, mastering and even scoring a good orchestral piece, great score editor inside.)
I had a Atari ST 1988 but the limited amount of software for it, saw the ST buried in the closet for years until I sold it sometime in the mid '90's. No love lost there
In the last 2 years I've sold half of my studio gear: Roland Juno 60 & Juno 106, Sequential Circuits Sixtrak, Arp Axxe, AKAI MPC 3000, Fender Rhodes 73 Mark I, Technics MK2, Marantz PMD recorder, two AKG C451 mics, Sonor Force 2003 drums with Istambul handmade cymbals and currently I am selling my old Emulator sampler ESI 4000... I regret for selling most of it... analog stuff is really worthy, more each day
Oh yeah, I can see why you sold it now. The one you kept is just as cool.
Watched your entire video, considering your music, your reasoning is sound for what you ditched, though the Yamaha PSR surprised me as a keeper.
+1 on the "I let the M1 go because I have the KORG Legacy edition! - great value those, especially if you get them thrown in for a small controller keyboard. Me, I only kept the Wavestation EX from that Korg era...
Hey Woody,, i agree with the PSRS970,, is too cool,...but i have the electribe,, i love the looks of it, i once wanted to sell it off,, but changed my mind,, but to say i neve used it at all,, still cant decide to sell it or not,
Hahahaha, I knew that you would keep the PSR 970 in the end!! Wise choice ;-) I just regret for you selling the DX7, the "panzer" of FM synths!! LOL but as you mentioned, maybe come back in the future.
I guess you're orienting now toward the instant playing/ performing that's very logical, as you don't play in a band, YOU are the band! :-))
With all the great VSTs we have, it's a bit silly keeping the original hards if you're not a collector.
Cheers, Gareth.
gully, you said it better than i did:)
Thanks, Gareth! :) I love your smart way of using collector synths.
So pleased you kept the JD-Xi as I'm thinking of getting one, seen so many people do vids of them covering Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Petshop Boys, Duran Duran and even Dr Who! It's very impressive and I've been looking for a clever Synth that can record and in a, sense overdub.
Just had a look at the Roland XM it's a dream!
All I need now is a few UA-cam people to do covers of 80s well known tracks then I might be sold.
Really looking for sounds like Human League, Gary Numan, Duran Duran and Tears for Fears all in one synth if possible.
Thanks I'll check it out, let me know if any others thanks 🙂
I would have kept the Jupiter 8 as well, you made the right choice!
so glad you decided to keep the JD-Xi!
HI WOODY... How about the Waldorf Blofeld desktop + licence OR an old Yamaha TG33 module so that you have 3 keyboard instruments and 1 module. These sound very interesting synth models and I might try to get one of them one day... VERY AMBIENT SOUNDING... We have similar tastes... Best regards
I'm going to sell my Nord drum as well. I has potential,but the interface is really bad.
i would love to know how much these went for too. nice to see you kept the jdxi. I've had a love hate relationship with it but lately i'm loving it
i guess it's no secret. you want swedish prices?
AS you say though, the Yamaha PSR-S970 is an arranger keyboard and definitely not a synth. I have a PSR-550 and PSR-740 which I gig regularly and are early versions of the arrangers. Older keyboards, but quite adequate for me.
Woody. Late to party on this thread but interested with your opinions on Electribe vs JDXi. I've had a JDXi for c2yrs and love it to bits. First synth and couldn't have made better choice. Looking to expand on DAWless recording and Electribe caught eye as really portable (more than JDXi) and appears to have greater scope with number of 'parts' that can be sequenced - 16 vs JDXi's 4? Which means you can create a fuller sounding track (+ you can now chain link patterns in Electribe). This is the wall I'm hitting with JDXi - 3 parts and a drum track is quite limiting if your're determined to avoid DAWS for as long as you can!
Didn't skip to the end, and sure enough there were some good ones you let go, and for sound reasons. But I'd lie if I said I didn't expect something beefier at the end.
I would probably have bought the JD-Xi if not for the mini keys.
sorry about the anti-climatic ending!
can you produce more JD XI videos for tutorials or making songs?!!
yeah, perhaps we should. perhaps a live song composition or something. thanks for suggest.
Well I'm happy with the Yam S970 & look forward to some future vids exploring its capabilities.
If you miss the DX7, want hardware similar to it but can easily be taken with you, you might want to get the Korg Volca FM. I have it, and it's a fun little thing. If you wanted, you can load in the 32 original DX7 patches, OR create your own with a VST plugin OR an iPad app (which the name of has left me).
It's an inexpensive thing, too! I got mine for around $200 USD with a 2-year protection plan.
cool, thanks, it's been on my radar, i think i haven't got one yet because of limited poly, but for basses and the like it would be perfect.
Of all of your videos this has the best thumbnail
i tend to agree
Respect Woody. :)
What a lucky man !
Yep! Wishing you good luck woody!
Woody - what Midi controller do you like for your software?
You answered my question - @2:00m yep - why you've sold your synths! And I've just come from the Korg Collections page after watching your review of the Wavestation (May 2017) - it's perfect for me - and I need to produce a certain sound quality for my upcoming Mutnauqs' Point channel. (Wavestation + moogthereamini! will do for the sensory backbone.) Love yer vids.
That Yamaha is on my dream wish list. You earn a subscription.
I've not watched many of your videos (yet, just subscribed) but I was surprised at the Yamaha PSR. Such instruments have quite an "easy listening" image, and yet are really capable instruments with great sounds - and just as importantly, are great fun just to sit and play! I have a Tyros 4 so in a similar mould. The only thing I missed was having a synth with knobs, so I pair it with a Roland Gaia which covers that aspect.
That Gator case is awesome .. it's like the Rimowa of keyboard cases!!
I wish I hung into my DX7 too. But I sold in way back in the 90's
Oh yeah, great video. I'm looking at some useful synths, among some other gear. I had an old Arp Odyssey at one time, and now have a microKorg. Looking for something still a bit more versatile. Wondering about great stands too for more than one synth.
I had that exact ottoman when in college. Do you have the matching chair?
The FA 08??? Come on man! Awesome board.
agreed! maybe the 07 one day.
Thanks for the insight Woody! Are you aware of the replacement panel that Roland has made available? it's white lettering on matte finish... no more glossy red!
thanks strange, yeah was aware of the panel, you saying my tape is inferior? ;)
Woody Piano Shack Hey, whatever works! :)
The psr s 750 i own makes a great sy thesizer also. Lots of dsp and other stuff for you to tweak
I've had my Korg 01/w and Alesis Quadrasynth+ on Craig's List for ages with no takers.
Well Woody..... I suppose in some ways, I admire your guts for selling all that stuff..... That is where you and I differ.... :-)
Me - I'm a hoarder : Over the years, I have sold/parted with *very few* keyboards - and only one of which I now regret ( a Korg Mono/Poly, which partly financed my DX7)..... But all the others, I still have.
Some get used only on rare occasions and some haven't been used for years - but I know they are always still there if ever I need to use one for a gig or recording.
The downside of this is, as you say, the space needed to store them.... But somehow, I cope with that.... so far !! lol I just can't bear the thought of having to dispose of any.:.. I never know when one might come in handy !!
Still, I suppose if this means you have funds available to buy more interesting keyboards to share with us on your channell, then so be it !! :-)
yeah i get stressed if i have stuff i don't regularly utilise. luckily my father is the opposite, his house is a time machine. he's wiser than me, he's still got our vintage juno and korg which I am so grateful about! so think twenty times before you part with any of yours!
Sounds just like me. :) I totally agree with you.
Woody Piano Shack Much as I'd like to see you review/demo those old classic analogues, I am now a bit concerned that if your Dad got them shipped over to you, you might then sell them a few weeks after making your videos..... which no doubt we would all regret !! lol I reckon they are safer left back in your Dad's loft ;-) hehehe
could you put in the description which gear you kept?
Nice Video! I have two hardware synths, Miniak and Gaia. I've since moved to Virtual synths, but I also have tons of guitar pedals and a Bored Brain Patchulator got give me my modular fix. I also have a Reamp pedal that I can use for anything. I cringed when you started on guitars, as that's a slippery slope! Luckily I primarily play bass, so I set up my rigs as Biampable Racks with separate Pre and Post amplifiers. Take care that you don't kill the guitar speakers with the lower bass frequencies of the Synth. I love running tube amps, and getting tube bass head or a pre/post rack setup allows me to run my synths as well. Works for Death From Above 1979 and other multi-instrumentalists. Cheers!
I've tried that PSR, and take didn't like the keys or the synth abilities of it. The JD-Xi felt soooooo cheap to me, I'm can't imagine how you'd pick that over a Nord, which is almost the pinnacle of playability.
but he kept a Nord
@@Jason75913 the Electro isn't a synth
@@TransistorBased 😏
Loved the Vid and agree with most of it, I was disappointed you had no opinions on the Kronos, as I'm currently searching used gear for one now.
I've owned or routinely gigged with many of these synths, and I currently own ZERO of them. Yep. I've been entirely virtual for over a decade now - and my BACK thanks me every time I have to haul gear... not to mention that I don't haul a Hammond w/ Leslie, Wurli or Rhodes either. I only miss the "feel" of the old instruments. But as far as "sounds" go, the virtual instruments can handle everything I've thrown at them - combined with virtual amp modeling - most peoples' ear will NEVER know the difference.
Wow, you had quite a synth selection there....