Generalmusic S2 Turbo

Since this was my first synth, maybe I overrate the ease of use. However, I have used it since '96 and I must say that though my synth list has grown a bit, the S2 turbo is in full control of everything. It's the heart of my (small) studio. The sounds are rather limited, though there's some great pads and the added sound-disks do contain some great additional sounds. Percussion, especially Drums is rather weak as are the piano sounds. But I have other sources for them. I have both the dutch and the english manual. The dutch version is rather limited, but I had use for it in learning some difficult technical terms. The english version is useful, and explains in detail how to work with it. Even as absolute newb, within half a year I was familiar with most of it's edit features. If you do start of with the S2, I suggest you make sure you have a manual, because I started from scratch and found the manual to be a must. The edit features are easy accessible, and the quality of results obtainable are, given the S2's age, sufficent to be creative. Even inspirational at times, IF you like experimenting with some of the standard sounds. I know I do. All in all, the S2 turbo is my workhorse. I can't imagine living without it anymore.

The S2 turbo has a polyphony in single mode (with single osc.) of 32 notes. In both dual osc., aswell as dual crossfade mode the polyphony in single mode is 16 notes. Tracks can have several playing modes for you to use sounds in: single, layer, split and multi. Polyphony depends on these modes aswell.
The quality of the built-in effects, given some exceptions, is good. Editing them is a piece of cake, but the possibilities are also somewhat limited for todays standards.
Ofcourse it features the most useable MIDI capabilties, and the feeling of the keys is exact and 'real'. You can, for example, work wonders with the filters in an external (computer)sequencer, though the use of and the effectiveness of some effects is limited when working with external sounds. Again, I prefer to use the external devices which create the external sounds to edit those sounds anyway. So that's no minus.
The on-board sequencer is a pain in the ***. It's over complicated, however, I hate using hardware sequencers anyway. If you consider using the S2, consider using it with a software secuencer or cancel your holidays the following 2 years in order to learn it's on-board sequencer.

As I said before, the sounds are good, but the percussion and piano sounds could've been much better. There's not that many sounds, which does limit the S2's 'creative' use in the long term. Some extra sounddisks do make a welcome change, but it's not enough. The spinningwheel has a live of it's own sometimes. But is still very workable.
I've used the S2 for dance/trance/hardstyle like music, and especially the S2's pads are great for that. Some sounds are even inspirational at times, IF you like experimenting with them. I know I do. Also, you can load .wav/Akia files from disks, which is a welcome feature.
Editing the sounds is very simple. Sliding bars are used to edit some features. Others simply by numbers. The editing of ADSR envelope's is simply done by moving dots which resemble the amount of attack, sustain etc. It's very easy to obtain satisfying results. Though, again the S2's age makes for a limited amount of possibilities editing wise, it's still sufficent to be creative and inspiring at the same time.
It's reaction to your playing is very precise. velocity and aftertouch are good.

It has never let me down. Though I don't use it live, the metal casing submits a solid and reliable feeling in my studio. It's me homey in all situations without a doubt. :)

GeneralMusic hasn't supported the S2 and the S3 that much. When I originally bought it (somewhere in '96) the GEM website had only a few extras and info for the S2. Nowadays, support has totaly vanished. There's a S2-site which seems to be a bit of help. But don't expect sparkling activity there.

The overall 'feel' of the instrument is that the ease of use and reliabilty gives you confidence. This confidence has always been of use in my way of composing, in that I could easily adjust my sound and creations according to my wishes. This is very important to me. My results are much better if I feel at home -with- and in total control -of- my setup. And that's exactly the feeling which the S2 turbo still gives me every day I use it. Maybe it's because I have used this machine for all those years that I have fallen in love with it. I certaintly wouldn't change it for any comparable synth!!!
It is let down only by the very standard and limited amount of sounds. But in the controlling area, you can easily use it as your main workstation. I'm sure you won't ever feel sorry you used it for that purpose.