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Should this put you off? Absolutely not”. Is it identical? Well, it’s very close, but there are a couple of minor points that just seem to make it not quite the same. Far better, in fact, than you would find on a vintage machine nowadays.
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In our review of Behringer’s Odyssey, we said: “It’s a full-blown hats-off homage to the ARP Odyssey and it delivers on many levels as a fully functional duophonic synthesizer, with a build quality which is very good indeed. Behringer’s fully-analogue revival of the Odyssey comes with an onboard arpeggiator and sequencer, MIDI via MIDI I/O and USB, a multi-effects section and three filter types with overdrive. It was equally at home with the likes of ABBA and ELO, with a significant following from jazz legends, such as Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. Best synthesizers under $600 at a glanceĪRP’s 1970s duophonic space-age synth, the Odyssey, could be found in studios and live settings for early pioneers such as Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
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To show you what we mean, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite hardware synths that sit below $600. All these companies, and many more, understand that the modern producer can’t always afford to break the bank on a sweet new synth.
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Roland has created compact, modern versions of its analogue classics. Behringer is recreating legendary synths with a legendary price. Korg is a renowned affordable synth specialist. That sounds a lot less terrifying than the 1983 price tag, which, adjusted for inflation, is over $5,000 today. Yamaha’s modern revival of the DX7, the dinky Reface DX, will cost you just $300. But music technology companies have been working hard to abolish the need to save thousands of dollars for a hardware synthesizer. This used to be an expensive affair – a Yamaha DX7 would set you back $1,995 upon its initial 1983 release. Although software synths are outrageously powerful and affordable, getting hands-on with their hardware counterparts is often a more fluid and creative experience.
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