Evolver

Not just any. The akai S5000, S6000 and Z series will weather longer due to their USB and Aksys providing you run XP or a VM of XP.

For the chump change you'll spend and the couple hours to setup an XP VM with Aksys something like the S6000 very easily cuts a wide swath through the overgrowth of cheap junky synths out there. it is more than a sampler, load some basic waveforms into it and the synth capabilities will mow down most of what you'll find for the same money. And then it also happens to be a really killer sampler too. Find one with the FX card and now you have something akin to a studio in a box.

And don't forget the SCSI to Cf converter if you're going to sample more than basic waves

I think Alesis Andromeda is the best value. About $3,000 for a 16 voice fully featured analog synth. (far more features than DM12)

And it's fully multitimbral so it can be 16 mono synths each with their own output.

About $180 per mono synth. And those have 2 VCO, 2 sub, 2 filters, 3 lfo, 3 env etc.

Studiologic Sledge , Waldorf powered 24 voice, bi timbral, 3 OSC, one knob per function VA with wavetables, for 1k new for the Black one and $899 new for the Yallow version.

You can't get more synth for less money than a second-hand Roland JV-1080 (you can find them around €120).

Most suggestions in this thread so far seem to come from people with way too much money...

You should try an EX5!

Don't get the Volca bass. It gets boring really quick.

I still have an old Yamaha SY99 that I love to this day. I see some go for cheap on ebay. Very old school FM synth. Was basically the final evolution of FM from the DX7 before sample based synths took over. The outputs on the 99 have something special vs. the SY 77.

The short answer:

Used digital polys (including romplers, VAs, modeling, FM, and softsynths -- it's all digital)

New analog monos

ipad apps

QED.

Yeah, then you can put the disks on top of your Andromeda A6 that's now bricked and unserviceable. You know the one, it's on top of the Juno 106 with the dead voice chips that are no longer available.

I've got an SE30 that still runs. It seems to run the software that was installed when it was given to me just fine, though I never really use it. I've got an old XP Laptop that works perfectly and actually runs some great software synths. I can't imagine that in the 30 odd years I have left on this planet I'll have to worry about such nonsense.

The real reason we don't have to worry about Omnisphere not being supported is that civilized humans will have abandoned this planet after the ice caps have melted and we'll be on a giant space ark jamming out with Ultrasphere programmed by a construct of Eric Persing who's consciousness was replicated in a machine running Windows 42. You, without electricity and fuel, will roam the earth like packs of hyenas, trying to eat the leather end caps of Modal synthesizers.

My best values for the money...

Audiothingies MicroMonsta. 8 voice digital poly that sounds like a hybrid and doesn't cost much more than a plug in.

ATC-X QFS. I got this for $800 and have an SEM, Moog, 303 and Arp filter at my beck and call. More modulation than most analog monos and pretty flexible.

Bass Station 2. Just listening to this thing makes me think it should cost $1000.

Neptune 2: It's like a Model D's mean bastard's grandson who was raised in Switzerland after the war.

and imo nothing is quite like it.

The bargain of the moment is the Novation Bass Station II. So much synth for relatively little. It's analogue, it sounds damn fine and it's pretty flexible.

supported or unsupported in the future, omnisphere always sounds weak and onedimensional to me, compared to the synths it samples originated from. have many of them, and there is simply no contest. a glorified rompler.


best value? few ideas in monosynth dept:

Erebus sounds absolutely grand. Dominion SED too - its less than half price of Dom1 now. same big sound, three osc, pwm, routings, fm etc. bang for the buck.. or Euro.

Makenoise 0 Coast - gateway drug to west coast synthesis, and modular patching. about half price od what it would cost to set it up with equivalent eurorack modules. Imo a fantastic deal and perfect complement to your classic east coast mono moog rand etc

most powerful for the money (number of voices and synthesis methods in single device) - Korg Kronos
below $1K (powerful and affordable) Waldorf Blofeld

Blofeld and Sledge seem to overlap a fair bit. Does the Blofeld have any advantages? (The Sledge's knobby interface is clearly it's big attraction.)

The VFM-but-not-cheap award has to go to the Kronos.

Edited to add: the Bass Station II seems to be the equivalent of the Mazda MX5/Miata on sports car forums - the default answer to proper old-school fun on a budget. I must try one.

Blofeld is 16 part multitimbral - so more options to combine/layer different sounds and it is super compact (module version), thus relatively slightly more power in much smaller footprint and at lower price.

Blofeld has wave tables on the three oscillators, sample loading, more filter models and some extra modulation.

Korg DW8000
Monotribe
Free VSTs like Dexed, PG8X and SQ8L

Probably the JD-Xi and the Volca but I haven't tried them

Most of the older digital synths. Workstations and romplers expecially. You can get so much from them.

05RW for example. Gorgeous.
TX81Z
TX802
D50/550
etc
'90 Korgs, Rolands, Yamahas, Kurzweil, Ensoniq...anything that goes for cheap. All can give some magnificent timbres.

Virus B (dat sound!)
Nord Modular G1
JV2080

Best value hands-down is the Korg Poly-800

Also, why has nobody mentioned the Kurzweil K2500? That'd be the last keyboard you ever had to buy.

Moog Sub 37
DSI Prophet 08

I agree to me a value synth is probably $400 or less, sometimes significantly less.

Alright, that synth taught me synthesis, about acid and about many other things. I grew out of it but only after I had a drum machine and almost a year of playing about with the two of them.

I rarely use it now but for teaching it is most wonderful. And its only a hundred smackers.

If this is a thread of best value for money, most of the 2500's that I've seen (including the one I own) have been overpriced, and there are other synths mentioned in this thread that are a much better value for money, especially when you consider trying to get the sampling and or KDFX cards for the 2500.

p.s. I bought a V-Synth GT after it...and haven't sold any of my other equipment...the 2500 is only one tool in my arsenal.

Waveshaper in MK beats JDXi distortion.

Best bang for the buck?
Can't beat 100€ Waldorf Rocket. Sounds a lot more expensive.

Recently...
Sold a very good Jd800 for a mere £150. It had to go, too big for now.. But what an interface and the coolest looking synth ever made imho.
Bought 2XAkai S2000 32mb ram, one with the 8 out board. £50 the pair.

korg R3. got mine for $160 with a (semi)broken key. They can be had in the US$200's all day. much better value then the microkorg
Microbrute for analog
korg Volca FM
Blofeld> comb filter
Electribe ER-1 drum synthesizer
Ensoniq ESQ1 while still semi cheap
Yamaha TX81Z dirt cheap
Waldorf Rocket cheap hybrid!
Used Roland system 1. even better value with the plug outs

1. Roland JV1080 or JV2080
2. Korg DSS1 or Casio FZ-1
3. Waldorf Rocket or MAM MB-33 Retro
4. Peavey Spectrum Synth or Kawai K1rII
5. Yamaha SY35 or Yamaha TG500

Arturia Microbrute: Always gets the most love of my cheap synth stuff

(spoiler: I dont own every synth above - never had a MB-33, JV-2080, SY-35 or TG500....)