I’ve never been truly happy with my rig in Haunted Cat. I’ve gone back and forth with a tiered setup, for the longest time I was using a Triton LE for everything, but it was hard to navigate and the sounds were all very early 00’s…
I lucked into a one family owned Ensoniq SQ-80 earlier this year and it completely spoiled me with the polyphonic aftertouch. I loved it so much I just sold the Triton, and have been using it as my only board in the band…but it does have a few quirks, I worry that transporting it all the time isn’t good for an older synth and it’s pretty hefty to the point that the bag I use for it is getting worn out. Also we have a lot of ballads in our set now, and acoustic pianos are just one thing it doesn’t do well. Also no onboard arpeggiator for the dancier songs.
So I just ordered an ASM Hydrasynth after wanting one since they came out, they were $200 off this month everywhere and sweetwater had 24 month interest free financing. Has the polyphonic aftertouch like the ensoniq, a cool ribbon controller I’m very curious about and generally way more versatility in a synth than anything else I’ve owned
Then I was thinking of what to pair it with…I was between something like a Roland Juno DS or the Yamaha MX/CK line….I remembered playing a CK61 at parkway and loving how intuitive the layout was…no aftertouch or arpeggiator, but the pianos and eps all sounded great, it has the same organ engine as the YC Mini that I owned briefly and sold - you can layer/split up to 3 sounds at a time with their own effects chains and global delay/reverb….the action felt great and it was easy to play, and lightweight.
Comparing demos, the pianos on the Roland just didn’t sound as good, and had more menu diving than I’d like. I hesitate to spend close to MAP price on any rompler, but I found an open box at Amazon Warehouse for about 25% off. But I will be kicking myself if they release a 73 or 76 key version in a few months.
TL;DR I just ordered an ASM Hydrasynth and a Yamaha CK61. At this point my only other boards are an Ensoniq SQ-80,Yamaha DX7-II and a Moog MG-1 which will now stay set up in my studio and not leave the house.
(I still have an Alpha Juno 1 but probably selling that once I get the Hydrasynth, we’ll see)
Will post pics when they arrive, maybe a demo if I’m brave
