Help me buy a synth! Well with my money

[Psyre]

I am looking for a smaller table top style with good presets. I am wanting it to be in the $375 and under range preferably, and thats a bit on the high side for me quite honestly. I was eyeing the microKORG... any suggestions?

Also I want to be schooled on drum machines!!!

[bob the r0bot]

I have a microkorg and like it. It doesn't have super awesome presets but, you can find a few you like (and prefer A50-57 if you do get one) and the others will should only require minimal finagling to get a workable sound. As for drum machines, the new cheaper alesis ones look good but I like a level of cheese that can only be found in 80's models. Also, if you want a more beach house/super corny drum sound, you can get an old casio or yamaha and (thanks to the magic of 1/8 to 1/4 adapters) use those as drum machines.

[nieh]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Micron/

[bob the r0bot]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Micron/

Only if you like going through menus on a tiny screen. The microkorg matrix is confusing at first but, after you get a hold of it, very quick.

[Holy Schnikes]

I was looking a couple years back in that price range and it came down to the MicroKorg and Micron. I went with the Korg due to ease of editing and browsing menus. Both sound great and Alesis presets may be a bit superior but the Korg's can be easily tailored. Micron menus are a fucking nightmare to navigate, especially for someone new to synths.

I have the "small key" version which I prefer. The newer MicroKorg updated to full size keys like those used on the Alesis.

[univalve]

ipad2?
Really!