In Reply to: Re: 1st time buyer: Alesis, Roland, Yamaha...? posted by sam on February 11, 2000 at 02:29:56:

: All of these have lots of good features and sounds and a few shortcomings. So decide what you're going to mostly use it for, play each of them for a half hour, get the one that you enjoyed the most, there's not a real dud in there. If you get into the synth thing, you'll probably complement one of these with something else that fills out your soundmaking capabilities in a few years (actually a good computer is becoming a pretty good synth and studio).

: My summary:
: QS7: great midi controller, very good pianos and organs, decent drum kits and a few good synthy sounds.

: A70: isn't this sort of like an unweighted A90? If it's what I'm thinking of, excellent controller, another good choice, pretty equivalent to QS7 if you get the QSR.

: Korg: I always like korgs when other people play them, not so well when I play them. Go figure.

: XP-80: my least favorite here, since everything it does, something else does better, but if you pay the (too much) $$ to expand it it does can have a solid soundset.

: EX5: Really a nice sounding instrument, great synth features. Reported to have poor midi timing, so good to play but supposed to be frustrating to sequence.

: Get decent stereo monitors, totally worth it! Good luck, you'll enjoy it whatever you decide.

I think the QS series of synths are hard to beat for the $$. I own a QS7 and it is always impressing me in some new way. I do have some problems with the way Alesis practices business, but nothing to do with the quality of thier synths. Forget about on board sequencers as part of your buying criteria, the QSs come with some crude sequencer software that probably works as good as others onboard seqs.Look into Power Tracks seq software for $29.99, this is an excellent sequencer that also records audio, in addition to rendered effects....very intuitive and easy to learn and use. Find PowerTracks at www.pgmusic.com. You can find a QS7.1 at Riks Music(www.riksmusic.com) for $899.99. Good Luck -Michael