Well, if you were thinking of an XV88 but you thought it was too expensive, then I can tell you for a fact that I *know* the synth that you want.

The synth you want is a Roland RS-5 or an RS-9.

I'm not gonna bother explaining all the features and stuff cos you'll be able to read up on that if you want.

But what I will say is that I've spent quite a lot of time playing around with an RS-5 in my local music shop (on more than one occassion) and I was TOTALLY blown away.

The two things that struck me most about it were *it has rock solid construction* (it'll last 8 years if it lasts a minute!) and also *its ease of use. I can remember in the shop imagining some freaky synth sounds in my head and then within less than a minute I had this thing pumping out the excact sound I was after. On my Korg, that process would normally take me anywhere from about 20 minutes to half an hour! It's dead easy to use.

I'll give you a word of warning though- the RS synths are pretty cheap and because of this (I think) they've been given a pretty poor, almost non-existant write up. The video demonstrations on the Roland website are rubbish and they do the synths no justice at all. I could have done a more impressive demonstration if you just shoved a camcorder in my face when I was at the music shop!

Anyway, I urge you to check one out in person at your music shop. It could save you a fortune and I bet you'll be thanking me for the recommendation.