Product: Peavey Spectrum Synth
Price Paid: US $250 used
Submitted
09/08/1999
at
02:24am
by
DJLord
Email: panusa at kase<dot>fi
Ease of Use
:
7
I payed $250.
Of course not the easiest machine to use because there is only couple of knobs in front panel. It's bit sysex learning here.
First impressions when u look it: "Looks like crappy little sample machine". But when u learn to use it, it has killer engine and nice raw sounds for the price. When I added some delay/reverb it really started to live (of course). Very strong basses and some weird stuff. Sometimes I use it for basses even I own Waldorf Pulse, of course they don't have allmost nothing common.
Editing is hard if u don't get PC1600 or something similar.
Manual was really that good.
Features
:
9
Polyphony (12) is ok. It's enough for me. There is no effects inside, but this is really budget synth and so cheap that u can get usable outboard effecs without losting all the money. There is no expansion capabilities.
Soooo MIDI-capabilities in CC -part is little skimpy (continuous controllers). Only couple CC's, like Volume #7 and legato switch(most important). Synth recognize velocity and aftertouch. Some sounds aftertouch effects to LFO or cut-off filter. Fortunately there is 15 destinations and 15 sources and nice are two assignable CC's. Like u can select CC #14 to control resonance and CC #15 control cut-off. It's just sysex machine so it's little pain at first.
I was very impressed of filter section, 2- and 4-pole filters.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
9
Damn nice sounds: moogs, syncleads, some strings and weird stuff. Like I said before I have used it for bass sounds even I got Waldorf Pulse.
Cool machine for electronic music, techno and similar. Great if u r in budget
Reliability
:
No Opinion
No problems yet.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Haven't use.
Overall Rating
:
9
Product: Peavey Spectrum Synth
Price Paid: US $349.
Submitted
10/30/1998
at
11:59pm
by
Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
The Peavey Spectrum Synth is a simple synth to use.It comprises only a couple of buttons and a volume knob on the front panel.However when used in conjunction with the PC1600 Midi Controller it is like having a synth with sliders all over it.(you need the PC1600 for editing sounds anyway).The manual is vague which is O.K. since it is easy to operate.The sounds(255 of them)are pretty good.Mostly bass and sync type sounds.The internal filter is awesome when accessed via sysex.Probably the best I have heard on a modern synth.
Features
:
9
Polyphony is only 12 but it sounds best when used in poly mode as opposed to multitmbrally anyway so this is not a problem.It does not have any internal effects so it sounds pretty raw.The only type of expansion is the PC1600 which the synth will download a series of preset edits into.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
8
The overall sounds are pretty similar.It seems to be good at bass synth and weird effects.I use it to play techno and it has a killer filter section.
Reliability
:
9
I have had the synth for a couple of years.It is built well and seems reliable.I get it locked up occasionally but it fixes with the touch of any front panel button.It has a wall wart power supply which is not the most convenient.
Overall Rating
:
9
I really like this piece for the filter.It is great for those blurps and bleep type sounds that vince clarke always uses.I would strongly recommend spending the extra couple a hundred bucks on the PC1600 so you can edit it on the fly.It is best used as a single sound module as multi mode sounds too thin.
