what was your first bit of kit - synth/drum machine?
(excluding dj equipment - turntables and dj mixers)
my first was a Roland JX305. not sure exactly why i bought it as it was many moons ago, other than excited idea of making some of my own music, and the digital bass sounds were ok.
my roommate at the time had a MPC-2000XL as well, which i worked with quite a lot (but didn’t actually own).
i still use the JX-305 today, but really just as my midi Control Surface for VSTs and other apps, and it works great for this.
Mine was a Korg Wavestation, back in 93 or 94 (I was 20/21) I’d been listening to Colin Dale’s abstract dance/outer limits on Kiss FM, & I’d decided I wanted to make atmospheric techno/ambient. I’d been buying Future Music magazine and they had a comparison on a few different synth, the Wavestation being the one that sounded most suitable. Apart from my technics 1200s & mixer, It was my 1st piece of music making equipment.
I just happened to check out some old YouTube videos from mine, and might take it out of midi controller mode for a spin down memory lane…plus I know a bit more about what I’m doing now. maybe will feed my OP-1, ha!
Guess my first one was an amiga 500 when I was around 6 years old, which would be 1990. Can’t remember the name of the music tracker. Some years after that I got a kawai synth, can’t remember the model. an awful thing which I didn’t use very much. After that I didn’t really play anything until 4 years ago.
I started playing electric guitar. Bought me a tiny terror and a godin session. After that, I got the GAS.
But my first actual synth was a microbrute that I bought about a year ago. I wanted to explore other instruments and the most appealing was synths (duh), still have my brute and I quite like it.
Still have my crappy kawai keyboard which serves as a midi whore in the bands repetition place (what’s this called in English anyway?)
Microkorg! Bought it when they first came out and all I knew is I wanted to make G-Funk sounds. People complain about the price of the OP-1, but they were almost the same price new. You get a bit more bang for your buck these days.
For me it was the Amiga 500 and Protracker. After having several keyboards (Yamaha PSR 90) my first real synth was the Realistic MG-1. This was the cheap version of the Moog Rogue. Sold by Tandy/Radio shack. Bought it 2nd hand for 50 dutch guilders. Exchanged it later on for the Kawai K4 because of midi. Still have that one as my master keyboard.
My first synth was a Casio PT-1 in 198x, a Christmas present from my parents But my first bit of proper gear was a Korg EMX-1 in 2007-ish. After that, I got the GAS and, well you all know what happens after that…
Well, apart from DJ stuff (SL1200/CDJ-100), and MIDI controller (M-Audio Axiom 32 in 2007, I think) it was a Korg Kaoss Pad 3 in the end of 2009, followed by the MPC 500 or the Korg R3 synthesizer (I don´t remember which one I got in 2010).
But my first bit of proper gear was a Korg EMX-1 in 2007-ish. After that, I got the GAS and, well you all know what happens after that…