Re: Thinking about buying my first synth...

jgs61 · Post by **jgs61** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:11 pm

I love old analog synths and have always thought about getting one. I like the sound of old Moogs, but that's not really a good place to start. A local guy is selling an old ROLAND JX-3P with the PG200, the MIDI link, and the original manual for $425. Everything looks to be in good condition... he's got the original boxes too. This seems like a fair price from what I've seen elsewhere. I also listened to some demos and it sounds like a pretty cool unit.

What do ya'll think? Would this be a pretty decent synth to learn on?

BenHagerty · Post by **BenHagerty** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:54 pm

Go for it! I started playing with my synth today actually, fun stuff.

jurioste · Post by **jurioste** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:49 pm

i suggest trying out the korg microkorg. that thing kicks butt and has a vocoder!! lol

ymjon · Post by **ymjon** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:03 pm

Why buy one when you could build one

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurb ... stick.html

-2N3904- · Post by **-2N3904-** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:07 pm

I been wanting a little keyboard/synth, a real small one like jack conte uses on some EHX demos.

El Pr0n · Post by **El Pr0n** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:09 am

ymjon wrote: Why buy one when you could build one

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurb ... stick.html

hlysht, is that like a super-lo-fi Ondes Martenot mojo machine?

Elm · Post by **Elm** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:22 am

jgs61 wrote: I love old analog synths and have always thought about getting one. I like the sound of old Moogs, but that's not really a good place to start. A local guy is selling an old ROLAND JX-3P with the PG200, the MIDI link, and the original manual for $425. Everything looks to be in good condition... he's got the original boxes too. This seems like a fair price from what I've seen elsewhere. I also listened to some demos and it sounds like a pretty cool unit.

What do ya'll think? Would this be a pretty decent synth to learn on?

Sounds good!
With the programmer and all that.
Might be a pretty limited synth though? (haven't played it..)
I'd LOVE have a Jupiter 8 so much (although this really is another league of pricing). Think that's been Roland's best Synth so far.

jgs61 · Post by **jgs61** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:49 am

What are some other cool, old analog synths that are cheap and simple? Some of the Juno's seem to fit this bill. Anything else?

dain · Post by **dain** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:23 am

that's kinda what i was thinking. the JX3 is an OK synth, but for that kinda money you have some options. the Juno 106 would IMHO sound a bit thicker but still give you midi and savable sounds and the JUNO60 would loose the midi but give you an even fatter sound. not necessarily "moog like" but definetly thicker than the JX3. the microkorg is a great synth but packed into a tiny space, and in the 400$ range you should be able to find an old MS2000 which will give you WAY more knobs, control and a full keyboard which is pretty nice. I'd still think pretty seriously about the junos though. other great poly synths in that range (or maybe a bit more) would be sequential circuits prophet 600, Korg Polysix, and i just saw a Korg MonoPoly go for 600$ which is an AMAZING synth.

don't get me wrong, the JX3p would be a great first synth, but for that much money you've got a LOT of options, especially if you wait around for good prices.

jgs61 · Post by **jgs61** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:26 am

Right on. I'll look at the Junos some more. I'm not really in a hurry to get one, but this JX3P is local and in great condition, so it seems like a good idea. I don't really want to veer too far over $400. I'll keep looking before I call this guy.

panoramic · Post by **panoramic** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:27 am

i am buying a tabletop chord organ for $25 today, sort of stoked!

Elm · Post by **Elm** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:15 am

O once owned a Moog Prodigy which is super fat!
It's still (relatively) reasonalble priced. If you want Moog Sound....

jgs61 · Post by **jgs61** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:51 am

I got the JX-3P from that guy last night... it's pretty cool! I still need to read the manual. I actually ended up traded him the winch off my truck for it... That's the south for you!

It seems to work great and is close to mint. It has a few scratches here and there but nothing major. The only thing I'm worried about is that the guy is serious smoker so I'm concerned about smoke damage to the components. He did tell me that the synth had been sitting in storage most of the time, but smoke still finds away. :-\

Anyway, I looked at some other synths like the Juno, Jupiter, the Korgs and the Prodigy (which sounds awesome), but since this dude was local and was willing to trade, I felt like it was the best deal. Thanks for the help!

waxcurrents · Post by **waxcurrents** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:07 am

one thing to consider. With some synths, you can run your guitar into it and use the thing as a gigantic pedal, making whatever sounds you want with different types of clipping, waves, repeats, filters, etc.

I was recording an album last summer with a friend, and he had this gigantic synth, Yamaha CS-60, that he was using to get the craziest massive cheese synth sounds. We met up at another friend's house and just messed around with different song ideas for a month and a half. All the time i was there, I couldn't get the sound I wanted (didn't have the right guitar, pedals, amp, etc)

Of course, a month later he told me I could've run my guitar through the thing and made any sound i wanted to with it.

dain · Post by **dain** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:23 am

the JX3p doesn't have a filter in but what it DOES have is a trigger in. now that you've actually chosen it i can tell you all the saving graces for that synth. during recording you can run a hihat out of your recording device into the trigger in, hit play on your recorder and BAM all of your arpeggios AND sequences are in time with your song EVEN if it's a real drummer. it takes a little finesse to get it triggering properly but its an awesome sound.

plus the cheesey builtin sequencer is polyphonic, so you can program little basslines and chords and sync them up to anything that outputs a staccato signal. that synth is the only thing that i know of that has a polyphonic sequencer that you can trigger externally. pretty rare. if you are into modular stuff you can run an LFO into the trigger in and speed the sequencer up so fast it almost turns into a note! i've had a couple of those guys and keep selling them but would give my right nut to find something that could do that but had the sound of a big phat analog. or even something that wasn't a full keyboard (the rack version of the jx3 doesn't have the sequencer)

someday...someday...congrats on a great score though!