I noodle around with synthesizers a lot. I like to create sounds, tweak a bit, pretend I have some talent etc. :) My influences are Tomita, Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, the C64 Remix Community, the Dr. Who Remix Community, the Myst Soundtrack by Robyn Miller, Daft Punk, Moonove, Juno Reactor, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Pitch Black, Synaesthesia, Kraftwerk, Wizzy Noise, Vangelis, Peter Gabriel, and more.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I worked at a music store, so I got to play with a lot of old synths that people brought in and "traded up" to the newer digital models. While we never had a Jupiter 8 or OBX wander into that store while I was there, many of the other classic analogs made their way on to the racks.

Just before I started working there, I bought a Juno 106 (actually an HS-60, a slightly uglier Juno 106 with built-in speakers, but all the same guts) as my first real synth. It was that purchase that got me in front of store management and eventually got me the job in any case. I also managed to borrow a Siel expander from my high school music department, as well as a Yamaha DX100 for the summer. During the school year, I played with the DX-7, hooking it up to the one Mac (an original Mac) in the school so I could experiment with early sequencing. That said, I hated the sounds from FM synthesis. I'm still not a fan of them today.

After that, I traded in my Juno for an Alpha Juno 2. I didn't appreciate it at the time, so it didn't stay long with me.

A bit later, I traded the Alpha Juno in for a Korg DW-8000, another awesome synth - one of the only Korgs I ever really liked. I really wish I would have kept them both, but I didn't have the funds to do that at the time. When I moved away, the DW moved with me, but eventually it died, and I picked up a Yamaha EX-5. The EX-5 never really inspired me, so I dropped noodling and playing for quite some time. A couple years ago, I picked up a Roland SH-32. I loved the sound (except the very steppy filters), but absolutely loathed the programming model. Seriously, programming that thing was not enjoyable, despite (or due to) all the controls on the surface, and their multiple states, bad LED display etc.) I sold that last year. Also last year, I dug the EX-5 back out, and finally made the decision to sell it off and get something fun. Since then, I've experimented more with VSTs and some other synths.

My current setup includes:

• Access Virus A (this is a bit meh, and is nowhere near as thick and interesting as the TI, C or even the B. I'll likely sell it if I get some of the others on my wishlist)
• Roland M-VS1 Vintage Synth expansion (purchased for a real bargain)
• E-MU Morpheus with a third-party sound set (interesting z-plane pads and odd sounds)
• Novation X-Station 25 (synth that also serves as my sound interface to my computer. It sounds like this)
• Novation Remote 49 MK2 Keyboard Controller
• Midibox SID SammichSID (under construction - it's a kit that uses two Commodore 64 SID chips for sound. Excellent)
• Dave Smith Tetra four voice analog synth module (arriving today!). This can be thought of as four Mophos or 1/2 a Prophet 08
• Spectrasonics Omnisphere 1.5 VST (amazing pads and lush cinematic sounds. One of the few ballsy soft synths)

Here's my wishlist of reasonably obtainable modules and synths I'd like to gather over time

• Roland JP-8080 Module. Love the fat supersaw and the filters on this one (be sure to check out all 4 demos in that series)
• Access Virus TI Snow or TI2. Super flexible. The Snow is more reasonably priced.
• Quasimidi Polymorph (awesome demo). This is great for berlin school (Tangerine dream and others) type sounds. The demo really speaks to me.
• Moog Slim Phatty module
• Synthesizers.com modular system (this is on the border line of reasonable only because you can buy as much as you want)
• Native Instruments Komplete 7 (the sampler alone is considered one of the best)

These are on my "maybe" list, which means that I'm unlikely to get them unless I find an amazing deal

• Korg EX-8000 Module
• Roland MKS-70 Super JX Module (a rackmount JX-10)
• Roland V-Synth XT
• Studio Electronics SE-1 (may not be useful if I have another moog)
• Spectral Audio Neptune II - cool modern analog, no patch storage
• SuperNova II ProX. This still command more than I think they're worth, but it's a nice synth. I waffle on this because Omnisphere can do a lot of what this synth can.
• Vermona Perfourmer - another interesting analog, 4 voice. A bit overpriced and pretty ugly, though.
• Moog Source. I've seen these come up on ebay from time to time. Lovely sound. Since it lacks knobs, it's not as popular so it's more reasonably priced.
• New Oberheim SEM with MIDI to CV Converter (demo) (sweet new version of the old module)

If money was no object, I'd also get these

• Roland Jupiter 8 or MKS-80 and Programmer
• Oberheim OB-Xa
• ARP 2600
• Yamaha CS-80. Vangelis, BBC (Original Dr. Who theme) and much more.
• Alesis Andromeda A6. Amazing modern analog.
• Studio Electronics Omega 8 - yet another awesome modern analog
• Arturia Origin
• Roland SVC-350 Analog Vocoder. This is the vocoder that gave voice to the Cylons in the original Battlestar Galactica series
• John Bowen Solaris (demo)
• Radikal Spectralis 2 ( demo)

I'm sure there are others that are worth picking up. Definitely check out the ones on this list, though, if you're interested in classic analog sounds. Any recommendations on others to check out?