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Try the Minilogue at a shop if you can, it seems to be the best fit for what you want. It can do a lot more than the Reface CS (more oscillators per voice, more sync/etc. options, more modulations, etc.). The CS has more polyphony (8 voices) but 4 voices is enough for what you describe...

I chatted with Oscillateur a bit about his Reface YC, before I got my own Reface CP. ---The CS was the one that I liked perhaps the most, but I also wanted something totally stripped down with no programming or presets to recall. The action on these is the best of any synth/keyboard I've used with mini keys, and of course you can always slave it to an external MIDI controller later on, if you need to. If you don't mind using an external device to recall saved settings, the CS makes some really inspiring sounds. The Minilogue is definitely more powerful, but the CS might be a little easier to get dreamy pop sounds out of.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-03Hd0MBgQY[/youtube]

Man I totally forgot about the Minilogue. Really need to check one of those out, remember soiling my drawers over the pre-release videos.

Sounds like you've gotten some super solid advice; I missed the note in the OP about poly being a must. I will say though—don't rule out monos. They're totally different beasts and you end up writing in new ways with each option. Prob great to eventually have both!

Now I remember what had me me on the fence about it... way not a fan of the mini keys.

So yeah, intention means a lot. For all of my synth banter, I have mostly ever owned and enjoyed mono synths. Well, i guess I have had more polys, but i cams from bass land, home of "if you can't make one note interesting go home." So monos never chafed me. And polys, well, chirds are nice, but without enough polyphony you will still hit note stealing.

But I digress. A microkorg is enough for most people, but along with the minilogue, the key size might ne horrendous for you. I have read mostly positive things about the boutique series Rolands. People seem to love the JU-06. They are not analog, but neither is the microkorg, and frankly the rolands do a better job approximating it (though the microkorg is a pretty old engine at this point). You could do mich worse than a roland boutique. And the whole analog vs digital debate is a tired one. At this point most people in synth worlds recognize that both have things they do better and things the other does better. Go try a few things out. Most guitar centers should have them, at least in big cities.

If you want to look used, there are a lot more options.

Before I bought the OP-1 I was on the same quest, basically. Would've bought a Blofeld if I didn't go for the OP-1. I think one good thing is that you can plug in either a midi keyboard or a midi sequencer (if you want to play guitar along it) and jam with different things. They go quite cheapish used too.

This video inspired my GAS
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yxvDWoU670[/youtube]

If (when) I buy another synth I'm pretty sure it's going to be a Blofeld.

Also -- just checked out Florist and recognized the voice. Emily is an ILFer! Maybe PM her (stripes) and ask what they used.

my first synth was a Blofeld. honestly they can produce some incredible sounds and the keyboard is easily one of if not the best in that price range, very nice action, very sturdy, fairly compact but very expressive. the whole thing is sturdy except the encoders which are fucking rubbish. menu diving is relatively full on though, it can take a lot of work to not only build patches but even out the volume differences between them to build a useable live patch bank, it's a lot of work but i wouldn't rule it out because it's ridiculously versatile and lush.

from what you're saying though, cute and pretty melodies makes me instantly think of the microkorg. something that is a synth but does actual keyboard sounds well. i think something like the reface or the roland boutiques and others mentioned would definitely do well but wouldn't necessarily cover as much ground. but if you're gonna use pedals with it for example, a more limited palette might be a good thing.

also if you have wrist problems, minikeys may be beneficial, depending on the specifics of the problem. full size keyboards wear my wrists out quickly because of the stretching, but minkeys + larger hands can be a bit cramped too.

vidret wrote:my hands are large as fuck and i use the pocket piano the best out of all my synthesizers.

naggers need to deal with it. i can't play on my electric organ for shit.

Hey, I just don't wanna spend over a hundred bucks on something that feels like a toy. To each his own

I mean, for all my synths, i am terrible at proper key playing. I prefer tiny boxes without keys and an external sequencer, but the rackmount ESQ-m is more expensive than my ESQ-1 with an even more limited interface than the keyboard version's admittedly bare bones approach. I have thought about selling it and buildimg an ambika many times in 3 years, but the one time a year i need to bash out chords live, or the times when writing at home where I can jot out huge chords makes it worth it.

But despite their slight (and I mean SLIGHT) overlap, a Blofeld will more than likely be my next poly. Delicious wavetables, and despite its menu diving, a level of patchability and modulation you would otherwise need to go into modular for.

vidret wrote:i was mostly making fun of myself for being the best at playing a really expensive toy rather than having taught myself properly.

Admittedly I feel like a luddite plenty of times with my complaining about the tiny keys. I should probably get over it

My only gripe with tiny keys is basically everyone already has keys and by the time you're throwing tiny keys on there, make it a god damn rack mount. There is a reason why vintage racks are almost always more expensive than their better UI keyboard versions and it is because aside from Moby, no one has space for that shit. Like, seriously, no one can be bothered to make rackmounted synths anymore, but they're great! Give me a tx81z over a Volca FM any day. Sure, its programmability is shit, but I'm just gonna be dumping other people's MIDI patches in there anyway, and it has chord memory?!

Okay, that was a long gripe.

OP, once again, between the microkorg and its brethren (roland gaia whatever, mininova/ultranova), refaces, minilogue, and roland boutiques, there are a lot of small, easily affordable synth entry points. If you want only tr00 analog and don't care one way or the other about polyphony, there's also the Bass Station 2, which i will keep forever, the MS-20 mini, and a myriad of other stuff.

One thing to remember when going the laptop route: come an OS change or format switch, your plugins are worthless unless you stick with that (now insecure) computer for eternity, and eventually you won't be able to get one with the version you need to run the software.

Hardware is forever by comparison. It either works or it don't.

Whatever happened with the synth hunt?