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I bought a Korg Monologue recently, which is a very decently priced (~260 EUR) analog mono synth. This was my first classic hardware synth and compared to a so
by blub 5y ago
I bought a Korg Monologue recently, which is a very decently priced (~260 EUR) analog mono synth.
This was my first classic hardware synth and compared to a software synthesizer I really like that I can feel how my hand movements change the sound and that I can use both hands to adjust parameters. It has an unusually good sequencer for a synth, so I can either record a series of notes live or take my time punching them in and then once I start the sequencer I can focus on tweaking the sound.
Now this synth is a classic subtractive synth which is great because it makes a lot of sense for beginners, while at the same time offering many possibilities for those that are more experienced. The interface is clear and simple - you have your two oscillators with switches for selecting the waves, then the mixer/volume section with one knob per oscillator and of course the low pass filter with resonance. The envelope section is a simplified attack + decay, but you have a switch which allows you to select between no or full sustain.
And this is all you need to be able to put together sounds! But the monologue offers more: the oscillators waves can be shaped, there's a drive knob and it also has an LFO. And the sequencer can record automation, so that all your tweaks are stored with the pattern.
Now there's also other interesting features that I didn't mention, but one thing that I think is unique (some other Korgs aside) is the oscilloscope, which shows you how your sound looks like and how it changes as you adjust the various knobs and switches. Seeing the effect of resonance, oscillator shape and even different oscillator mixes live was particularly interesting to me.
This is probably the best beginner synth on the market right now and it's also a good synth in general at an unbeatable price.
I can recommend this series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5ReoNK_0eI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5ReoNK_0eI) which explains every parameter of the Monologue in detail.
And once you have a synth and know how the parameters work, you should probably experiment until you think you've exhausted your possibilities before touching a book on sound design...