Quatschmacher

Thanks! I’ve not got loads of free time at the moment as I’m doing a bunch of beta testing and gearing up to launch a MIDI controller I’ve been co-developing for the last couple of years. Just submitted some corrections to the web copy so might have something to share in the next week or so, maybe sooner.

Do you mean detuning one oscillator against the other to get beating/phasing? Yep, that’s cool. At some point I should go back and program some more sounds for the C4 but I’ve been mega busy with other (cool) stuff.

The C4 doesn’t do PWM (which was a big oversight). FI does.

These were superseded by the MP7SE which is still in production.

From what I read, there was undesirable key wobble on the ES110. With all these things, get yourself somewhere where you can try them all out and see what is acceptable and works for you. Bonner’s has three sites and is decently stocked. For controllers, check out stuff by Arturia (Keylab), Novation, Native Instruments, Studiologic, etc and see what speaks to you in terms of feel and features. If you plan to go all-in with VSTs then the Kawai VPC paired with something like Synthogy’s Ivory II or Modartt’s Pianoteq gives better sound than onboard digital pianos. (Personally I like being able to play without having to use a PC, though I do use Ivory for recording.)

Yes, there’s a lot of sense to this. Although I have a few synths, I’m getting the most enjoyment out of practicing and writing on piano and have been getting much more compositions finished that way. I was actually looking at using my MP11SE to control synths as it has decent MIDI capability with zones and pitch and mod controls but the long piano keysticks and the low trigger point don’t really lend themselves to typical synth playing. It is nice when layering and to have the extended range compared to a 3- or 5-octave keyboard though.

The ES120 corrects a complaint that users of the ES110 had. The Kawai actions are very good. Also worth looking at Roland FP30X at that price point. None of the models you mentioned have pitch and mod wheels as they are aimed more at piano rather than synth/controller functionality. There are other devices you could add to get that functionality but weighted piano keyboards aren’t always the best solution for playing synth parts.

Don’t underfeed the pedal otherwise you risk losing presets at some point. I learned the hard way.

So I feel I nailed it.

It looks a bit like the tuning spring on Rhodes piano tines.

I see, the split capability will help narrow the field down. The PB keybed isn’t rubbish, it’s just noticeably lesser quality than the Fatar ones on Sequential. It’s probably on a par with the Summit’s keybed. I find them both too light, especially as I’m playing a lot of piano these days. Definitely worth trying them out. Had Polybrute come out a month sooner, I’d have probably got one; I’d been saving for a 5-octave poly (and didn’t gel with the Rev 2) and went with the Summit. Still tempted but it’d be overkill to have both I think. Real shame about the Prologue being hard to come by new as it’ll do most if not all of what you’re asking. There are a few on eBay at the moment. (Sledge 2.0 has split function and the black version has a better Fatar keybed than the yellow one.)

Six voices isn’t terrible. Most of the chordal stuff I do is 5-6 notes at a time though sometimes I stray higher. If you intend to use long release times and want the overlap when switching to a new chord then a higher voice count is needed (though often this can sound messy). There are still a few B-stock prologues around in some stores from time to time. How important is the keybed feel to you? Personally the Polybrute one is disappointing, especially as in their Keylab MKII they use a decent Fatar one. Sequential’s current offerings all use nice Fatar ones. The Rev 2 is a very capable synth, though has DCOs so you’ll need to dial in some looseness. Creative Spiral has done some amazing work in using the gated sequencer to create parameter offsets which replicate vintage voice variance behaviour and really brings the synth to like. A couple of things to note, the Rev 2 filter isn’t as nice as their other synths and the knobs suffer the problems as on P6 and OB6 in that they often become wobbly due to their not being mounted to the chassis. I totally get not wanting a separate module and am that way inclined too, though the P6 module is actually more logically laid out than its keyboard counterpart; the opposite is true of the OB6. Don’t discount stuff like the VA Studiologic Sledge.

If you can get your hands on a Korg Prologue 16, that’s worth a shot too. No aftertouch but ticks a lot of other boxes and quite reasonably priced for what it does.

There a few of us on here who play synths and stuff comes up from time to time.

Doug McKendrick is a good source of used keys: https://www.klassickeysgb.com

Have you thought about a Prophet 6 or OB6 desktop paired with a controller keyboard of your desired length? Summit is lovely, though the factory presets aren’t to my taste. The digital oscillators are very tight so if you want some analogue “sloppiness”, a judicious use of the oscillator and filter Diverge parameter adds some nice movement. I recommend checking out Matt Johnson, Creative Spiral, GEOSynths, J3PO and Luke Neptune to get a taste of what various synths can do in the right hands as they are all talented programmers. The Take 5 is very playable, despite its short keyboard due to the ingenious Low Split feature. They should add that to all their synths. I was surprised - I don’t like using boards with fewer than 61 keys but this one worked well, even more than a 49-key model.

There’s a UK TB user called GMC (I think he may be on here too but under a different name) who has got right inside this pedal and produced a lot of “normal” drive sounds, modelling them after various pedals. Worth checking out his presets, which mostly include clips I think.