Looking for my first synthesizer...

[headonist]

Hi there musicians,
I'm looking for a synthesizer to play around with. I'm not even an amature musician, but I kind of know what sound I'm after. I'm very fond of the Ozric Tentacles sound. I know they've been using Novation synths, but when I look at the video below I also see a Roland synth... I think. And if it can do string-like sounds, for ambient music, that would be VERY good too.

You can see a video here with a synth intro:

Ozric Tentacles, Synth-Jam, HD, Live @ Birmingham Hare & Hounds, 13th May, 2012.

Cheers!

[phobos]

It really depends on what you want to do, just learn to play, learn about synthesis or both.
The synths in the video are I think,  (Left keyboard stand)Roland D50 digital synth discontinued, Novation Supernova or Supernova 2, again discontinued, (Right Keyboard stand) Supernova again I think and Roland X6 Workstation again discontinued.
The differences are the D50 is monotimbral, meaning one sound at a time and a maximum of 16 note polyphonic
The Supernovas are 8 part multitimbral which means up to 8 different sounds at once and depending which version from 20 to 48 note polyphonic. These are great for tweaking sounds in real time.
The Roland X6 is a workstation meaning it can be used to compose complete songs, so it has a built in sequencer, max 128 note poly, 16 part multitimbral, ths model is also capable of sampling.
Feel free to pm me if you need any more info/help

[headonist]

Thanks for the reply, Phobos!

I got a good deal on a Novation UltraNova from a Swedish seller. Looks like I'll be going with that then :-)

I want to learn how to play synth, but also a little programming!

[phobos]

Thats a good choice, 300 sounds midi and usb and built in usb audio interface. You're on your way

[headonist]

I was thinking about another thing. If I want to do droney synth music, like Alio Die or Steve Roach, do I need a bunch of effectprocessors in the chain?

[APK]

Good chance it will have some effects, like reverb and delay. So droney should be possible.
But to get the Roach sound and other stuff you will need to record multiple takes and layer them into compositions ... which means recording software.

[phobos]

Yes you will need effects and as John says recording software (DAW) that will allow you to record audio, as the Ultranova is monotimbral ie one sound at a time, so you would need to record the audio from the Ultra and then record audio from it again using a different sound,  etc etc, or buy more synths of course, or with recording software it opens up the world of VSTi, and there are some very good free soft synths out there.

[Seren]

If you are going for a reverb don't skimp on the cost. Get the best you can afford - it really does make a difference.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

You might consider using soft synths to start.....although theres nothing like getting your hands on real knobs and slider etc.   As mention you will have to get a digital audio work station to record audio but it maybe simpler with software synths as you already have and audiophile headphone setup and some way of getting audio out of your computer.  Add a usb midi keyboard.  That was how I started. From a learning perspective a hardware synth like the novation would be...."hands on"

atb