Buying my first synth for House production: Moog Voyager, Dave smith Prophet 08 or...

[Xonetacular]

So I have narrowed down my choices for my first synthesizer to either a Moog Little Phatty (cheapest option, cna get one for around $850), a Moog Voyager, or a David Smith instruments Prophet 08 Keyboard version for $1500. I think that is a great deal on a Prophet 08 and the little phatty so I am having a hard time deciding. The Moog Voyager will probably be around there or a bit more (I would ideally get the electric blue keyboard version).

Does anyone have experience with any or preferably some or all of these synths? What are the pros and cons of each, I mean ideally I wish I could get all 3 but I have to start with one and it is a big investment. Any suggestions or input? Other synths to look at? Thanks.

[jasonj]

I myself would love a Moog Voyager. I use the Arturia MiniMoogV software and absolutely love it.

[Riot]

well honestly they are all really good stuff, they voyager is prob they best sounding out of the 3 and maybe the simplest to use. The prophet can be stubborn sometimes programming and with midi, (or maybe it was the one that I had the pleasure to work on), but this has to be noted, the moogs are monophonic, where as the Dave smith is polyphonic that means only one note at a time, basslines and bleepy hits and searing leads, just no chords. If this is the only synth you are using that might be a problem.
I would prob go with a different option, esp some thing that works easily with your Daw,
like the waldrof Blofeld or the Virus TI, <- dont hate on me for saying it, it just has really good sequencer integration, they say you can control it as a plugin.

but you are def right, that blue voyager is just down right sexy, and pretty inspiring to work on, and in the end that might just be enough

[Xonetacular]

well honestly they are all really good stuff, they voyager is prob they best sounding out of the 3 and maybe the simplest to use. The prophet can be stubborn sometimes programming and with midi, (or maybe it was the one that I had the pleasure to work on), but this has to be noted, the moogs are monophonic, where as the Dave smith is polyphonic that means only one note at a time, basslines and bleepy hits and searing leads, just no chords. If this is the only synth you are using that might be a problem.
I would prob go with a different option, esp some thing that works easily with your Daw,
like the waldrof Blofeld or the Virus TI, <- dont hate on me for saying it, it just has really good sequencer integration, they say you can control it as a plugin.

but you are def right, that blue voyager is just down right sexy, and pretty inspiring to work on, and in the end that might just be enough

Yeah, I don't know much about the Virus TI, a guy I met who just produced a successful record had one and really liked it and he was trying to show me how it worked with Ableton.... What is bad about it?

That's a good thing to note about the Moogs, I still really want a voyager. The Prophet 08 might be acgood start and then I could always add in a Moog, or maybe the other way around, I don't know. It seems like there are so many options with moogerfooger add ons and cool stuff you can do with it. It seems like a simple thing for a synth to be polyphonic, why can't the moogs handle multiple notes?

[Riot]

its just the trance stigma of the virus, they arent "cool", but really they are amazing, and the ti really took things to another level, esp with something like ableton, I use a novation xstation as one of my many sound cards, the way it works with ableton is a breeze, I would really look for virus, they can produce a huge array of sounds, and they have a great community support, kinda like the vci-100 has here. Monophonic synths seem to make massive bass sounds, I guess cause all the power is just for 1 voice, its also the fact the they were doing a kinda minimoog design, I think, I could be wrong about some of this though, my brain isnt working from last nites gig...

[Tigris]

Just my two cents to chip in; a friend of mine produces Progressive House/Minimal with the Virus and it really doesn't sound any trance'y to me. The Virus is very neat, AU-Plugin is right there to be used from Logic (think it'll be the same in Ableton). For me it's a bit too complex to grasp- you need a lot of time, but then you probably can do anything with it.

[mike_o]

I do nothing but produce & remix myself live, my whole life is synths & gear, I own a virus rack B from 2001 and have never stopped loving it, it has no specific sound, it can do anything, the TI I played on for a few hours at a friends house was even better and I wish I could afford one, it has a lot of trance oriented presets on it because trance is/was the dominant style when the line first hit in 00'/01' and people often just use the presets so that can be a selling point to the preset sound user, it gained that rep because a lot of trance producers use it and love it for its sounds and also its arpeggiator.

as a synth the virus is widely capable of basically anything you want, if software integration is not the most critical point to you you could look at craigslist for a used virus B/C and just easily resell for your cash back if you dont enjoy it.

the best thing about high quality hardware gear is its long lasting resell value, stick with moog, virus, dave smith, waldorf or nord and you can always get your money back, buying these at a good used price can even net a few buck sprofit on a second hand good quality synth when you want to trade out and try a different piece later.
I bought my nord rack 2x from a buddy for $475, sold it about 2 years later for $650.

there were just a lot of used nords around when I bought it, and not that many going around when I sold it, software just does not offer that continued value, keep this in mind when making your purchase and it should ease your nerves about what to get.

EDIT* you could also get the little fatty for $850 and a used virus rack B for about $500 as a polyphonic second synth to compliment the moog and create your layers, that would be a nice combo for about $1300 - $1400

[Xonetacular]

Hmmm, moog and Virus. How does the Virus B compare to the Virus TI? that sounds like an interesting idea. How does the little phatty stage 2 stack up against the voyager? It looks a lot simpler but it is a lot cheaper, I see a lot of people using a Voyager and Little Phatty, what does having both offer? I would think they sound similar and the voyager would be able to do anything the little phatty can.

I'm trying to be careful here, I know some people who had the Virus B/TI for a while and are now switching to something else.

This is slightly getting off my main point, anyway, how are the moogerfoogers and are they worth it? Are there any models that are simply awesome that is popular among house producers and really enhances things? I saw some that looked like they didn't do too much for the price, so I am basically asking which moogerfoogers should I look at down the line? It's hard to tell what will be a worthwhile add on and what wouldn't be.

[Xonetacular]

Looks like I'm going to get the Little Phatty stage II first, I will buy the other two down the road when I can afford them

I really want a Prophet 05, I tested a Prophet 08 and I prefer the old school rotary knobs and not the rotary encoders on the 08, if I got an 08 it would have to be the potentiometer edition, the regular one feels cheap.

[Synaptic Flow]

I suggest that you use software along with your synth, unless you can really afford the hardware only route.