I used a bit of money from my annual bonus to acquire another synth. This is from the house of Kemper - an Access Virus TI Snow.
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Just look at how dinky that thing is, it's smaller than a magazine.
It's got all the sounds of the large Virus synth engines, but just half the polyphony. But since I usually use just one voice when playing through it with my guitar, this was not a problem for me.
The sounds are gorgeous. I have a Yamaha Motif Rack XS which really kicks ass when it comes to organic sounds, but this does something entirely different - electronic, digital sounds, with analog warmth. Also, the Yamaha arpeggios cannot be programmed, which I found a limitation when trying to create original music. Why would I want to use someone else's arps? Probably the only drawback of this great synth.
The TI Snows are now out of production, but I managed to find one in mint condition. The plastic is still on the screen.
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Seller was a standup guy, he even gave me a free bag that Kemper offers for this dinky little thing.
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Really happy with it, it has some cool control options as well. Planning to get four expression pedals so that I can achieve full control over it's LFOs and other parameters while also screwing around with FX on the Kemper.
The size and weight are a god send. I'm planning to junk my massive 10U rack box because I found it too unwieldy to cart around. Plan to mount this on a pedal board along with some other FX. Will get a smaller rack to house the Yamaha and maybe some other FX.
Off to a good start in 2017, though I really should curb my gear spending.
If anyone wants sound clips, I'd be happy to oblige!