mab@druil.UUCP (BlandA) (11/15/85)
[reposting, i don't think the first try went anywhere] A couple of weeks ago I posted a request for info about connecting a synth to my Commodore 64 via MIDI - I asked for recommendations as to which synths to consider, and which MIDI hardware/software to consider for the computer, and I wanted to limit the expenses to about a thousand bucks. I received some good responses - thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. As promised, here is a summary of the responses. I've been quite busy lately, so this is a very brief summary. If you want more detail, send me mail and I'll send you copies of all the replies, or maybe I can summarize in more detail later. People commented on the following synths, most were good comments: Roland JUNO-106 (about $800) got high marks from one owner. AKAI AX-80 recommended by several people. Under $1000, probably the cheapest synth with a velocity sensitive keyboard. Sequential Circuits 6-trak was recommended. Yamaha CX5-M (computer + synth, well under $1000) good software. Korg DW-6000 (about $800) second choice of the JUNO-106 owner. Korg Poly-800 ($650) DW-6000 is a better choice. Yamaha DX-7 recommended by several people, but it's really out of my price range. Yamaha DX-9 under $1000. Yamaha TX-7 (DX-7 without the keyboard) about $850. Casio (no model number given, ~$650) "seemed like a toy." I'll be looking at/listening to most of the machines that were recommended. The AX-80 seems like a bargain (according to the owners and the recent netnews postings) but one recent posting said that it could not upload or download patches, making a patch librarian impossible - a big minus. With the popularity of the DX-7, a TX-7 could really be a bargain, if you have a computer or another keyboard to control it with. I don't need a keyboard for my immediate applications, so a TX-7 is certainly a possibility. There must not be many people using a Commodore 64 as a MIDI controller, judging from the number of replies I got on that subject (zero). -- Alan Bland AT&T Information Systems, Denver CO {ihnp4|allegra}!druil!mab