What are my options for synths with realistic-ish strings?

[Ugly Nora]

You could always try some freebies first to see if they get close to what you're after. That M4000D is damn pricey...

http://www.synthtopia.com/?s=mellotron

Yeah I would need to research all the options and see what is best for my workflow and budget. I just came across them late last night so I haven't done any in depth research or comparisons yet.

[kaeth]

If that's the case, I would also throw my vote to a JV series module. Excellent palette of ready-to-go strings!

[Ugly Nora]

Apparently the expansion modules in the JV's catch fire due to leaky capacitors. That kinda stinks.

[lordgalvar]

K5000w has a built in rompler. K5000s has knobs. Don't know much about the rack version. K5000 is such a great Spacey, atmospheric synth. It can do most anything if you get really into the programming. Can be had for $400 ish.

A lot of string and organ guys used the old kurzweil samplers or ensoniq (romplers or samplers) stuff. That was about 15 years ago though. I think a lot of the classic 1990s and 2000s string stuff were mostly samples of some sort.

I have a soft spot for the streichfett too though.

[Ugly Nora]

Thanks, I'll look into all those as well. I'm not looking for spacey sounds though. Ima in the market for more natural sounding stuff without effects ( so I can my own effects )
There is a 3 hour video on YouTube where a guy plays through every preset on the Jv1080. Lots of usable stuff in there for my needs. So that is still a strong contender despite not being able to use any expansion modules for fear of burning down the house.

[Psyre]

I have a JV-880, it excels at strings, but I'm not much of a "string" guy, so I can't attest to the orchestra expansion, but I do have the "Vintage Synth" and Experience III boards. Powered for hours and hours with no capacitor explosion, but I did swap the caps out, pretty easy despite being surface mount oppose to through hole. There are a few decent tutorials covering the swap out.

JV's are regaining some popularity. I prefer the 880 to the 1080/2080 personally. I paid $50 for my unit, but prices appear to have jumped. I paid just under 3x that for the Vintage Synth expansion, but that's where it's at for me.

Just a heads up that even the 256mb RAM carts are inching toward $100.

[Ugly Nora]

Well I pulled the trigger on a JV-1080. It comes with an expansion board which I guess I'll take to the local tech guy and get the capacitors replaced. Hopefully that's not too expensive.

Thanks for the help everyone.

[Chankgeez]

Get this one next:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjaO2wb-Ueg[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjaO2wb-Ueg

[Ugly Nora]

That thing has lots of mojo, but I already bought my string synth, and buying another would be cost-prohibitive at this point.

Here is the first thing I made with my JV1080. The vibey-bells in the background are the JV1080. The flute thing is actually my new native american drone flute, not the synth.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO-bKi59tiU[/youtube]

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

I dig that!

Reminds me a bit of Joseph Shabason, dunno if you know his stuff (https://josephshabason.bandcamp.com/album/aytche).

[Ugly Nora]

Glad you liked it.

I've never heard that guy before but I checked out a few songs, and it sound real nice. Thanks for sharing!

Nora

[Boxbie]

U mean like this?
https://youtu.be/9a7AsES3LFA

[dubkitty]

"all you can eat parade of meat" totally sounds like a line from a song by the Butthole Surfers, or perhaps Fear.

[Ugly Nora]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frud5RFtTi0[/youtube]

[dubkitty]

i remember the first time i saw Fear, in the Decline Of Western Civilization film...the audience literally LOLed at "Beef Bologna."