Paul,

You have a computer obviously. Perhaps a suggestion. Before you spend the money and then find out you don't like the equipment maybe this would work for you. If you have anything in the computer that would serve as a Vst / Dxi instrument host, you could download a demo of Arturia's Mini Moog V and play around with it to see if you like the sounds. I just tried it and since there won't be any real mini moog here any time soon, I'm buying the softsynth. It sounds awesome.

In fact, I think it's standalone too, so you wouldn't even need a Vst host program. It's a close enough emulation that Bob Moog himself endorsed it and worked with Arturia on it.

Groove boxes.. OK.. try Arturia's "Storm" demo. It's on the low end of the spectrum for software grooveboxes, but it's simple to use and it comes with some preprogrammed beats. Other soft synth / groove machines that have demo's include Cakewalk Project 5, Reason, reaktor, Orion Platinum.. etc etc.

If you like this stuff, then maybe the hardware stuff will be up your alley as well. Maybe these programs will help you to make a more informed decision.

By the way, my Poly 6 couldn't touch this Mini Moog software synth in a lot of ways, but I still miss it and wish now I hadn't gotten rid of it.

AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 02-26-2004).]