Most of us have made some kind of musical purchase(s) in the past several years. Some were real "keepers" while others were real duds. Tell us what you bought, whether it was a keeper or a dud, and why. Capt. Russ, don't include the stuff you haven't had time to unpack yet (sorry, Russ, I love to tease my fellow compulsive buying gear sluts). I'll start.

Zoom H2 - keeper, perfect for what it does and inexpensive as well.

Nord C1 - keeper, best bang-for-the-buck hardware clonewheel out there, bar none.

Roland PK7a (20 key pedalboard) dudeeper (new word) - well built and has great feature (pedal attack) but expensive (1300.00) and, at 34 lbs, weighs 1 lb more than the organ.

Roland SonicCell - dud. Sounds are okay but no better than (not as good as???) my Motif ES. Small LCD and hard to read in dim club (I bought this to sit atop my C1 for some extra voices - bad idea).

Roland VP550 - keeper. I love this thing. The fun factor is off the charts and it really can do some fairly creditable BGV tracks.

Behringer Eurogrand Digital Piano - dud. Bought at Costco for 500.00 to stick in the rec room (for the grandkids to bang on when they came over, but also to play at home parties, etc.). Built like a tank and looks really nice (solid wood, full back, 3 pedals) and has some really nice features, BUT, sounds like crap. I may swap out the on-board speakers for something better (it has an 80w amp which is more than ample).

PRIOR TO 2007 (but recent):

Hammond-Suziki XKB (I think) - Dud. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Worst clonewheel ever. Traded.

Roland VK7 - Dud. Better than the XKB but no top end (no "balls"). Traded.

AKAI DPS24 - Keeper. Best all-in-one DAW, period.

PA1X Pro - Keeper. I love this board (but not the OS).

TYROS 2 - Dud. I don't hate it, but wish that I'd kept my money in my pocket. Just don't like those Yammie styles (for the kind of music I play).

BEST AND WORST BLIND PURCHASES BASED ON RECOMENDATIONS AND REVIEWS BY SYNTHZONERS:

WORST - TYROS 2

BEST - not yet purchased

PLANNED PURCHASES FOR 2008:

NORD Stage (I like the red color ).


chas