I would agree, there certainly is a lot of pomposity out there. I would also agree that you need to be very rich to afford a number of 'clasic' analogues (certainly beyond my means).

I guess I am in the wrong forum here anyway as I don't actually own a single peice of Roland kit (I used to have a D50 which I quite liked but it was a pain in the arse to program). I have nothing against the likes of Roland at all, they have produced some great equipement I just did not personally fancy any of it.

My main concern with 'digital' equipement of the 80s is not the sound that can be achieved (even the modest D50 was capable of some awesom sonic out). The problem was that you had to edit it through a tiny little window with just a couple of buttons. This tends to somewhat limited the pleasure of experimenting the the unit.

The two synths that I work with the majority of the time are the Yamaha AN1x and a Nord lead 2 Rack. I absolutely love both of them and, to be honest, items like the Pro One have not featured since these arrived.

I think the Nord is quite well recognised and deserves it's solid reputation. It's sound is wondeful, it's easy to edit and it's a four part synth with four seperate outs. Perhaps not cheap but my new one cost less than the second hand price of a TB303.

As far as I am concerned the Yamaha AN1x is the most underated synth I have every used. It is only realy a one part, 10 voice unit (though 2 part is possible) but it's built in effects, note sequencer and controller sequencer (free eg) really allow it to perform. Sonically I believe that it can easily outperform the Nord (though the Nord can undoubtedly produce a rawer sound).

My AN1x cost me £449.00 brand new and my friend has just purchased one second hand for £345.00. Absolutely outstanding value and the free PC editor is the best I have ever seen.

On the genuine analogue side we tend to work mainly with a Novation Bassstaion and a Waldorf Pulse. Both of these excellent mono-synths are now available for under £250.00

In my opinion those of us who like working with analogue style synthesisers have never had it better. Prices of new equipement is comming down and this tends to drop the prices of second hand gear for those who wish to buy it.

Personally I believe that the smaller companies like Clavia, Novation, Waldorf and one or two others have really leapt ahead of the major manufactures. Any large corporation has to produce goods for the mass market and this tends to lead to a certain blandness as the products on not focused on a specific requiremnt.

The current exception to this is possibly Yamaha. I never anticipated owning much Yamaha gear a few years ago. However, the AN1x is really good and the A3000 appears to be a great budget sampler. I recently purchased an 01V which, despite a rather heated debate, I really like.

I like to think that the future of truly great items of music equipement may lie in smaller companies producing specialist items. The growth of internet sales and distribution allow tiny companies to reach a huge customer base.

In relation to the JX-3P I wasn't trying to suggest it was a great peice of kit. I have plyed on one a few times as they are one of the more common second hand items that come up. I think it's Ok but with the cost of so much great new equipement comming down so quickly I have very little interest in older equipement.

My real reason for getting involved in this in the first place was the lack of appreciation out there of what the EMU E4 range can do. These are totally serious machines. EMU really need to get more information into circulation on the capability of these products. The information provided on their web site goes no way towards decribing these units.

I look forward to the next round of products form the leading manufacturers. This gives the specialists something to beat.

Now, whats all the fuss about this Supanova and the Nord Modular ??

Paul