Bad: Plastic buttons, useless presets, noisy output, arbitrary selection of what parameters are on front panel vs. buried in menus, programming is cumbersome (at least at first).

Ugly: Mine crashed 10 minutes out of the box - seems some units don't play nice with MIDI. However, my problem is quite fixed now. Also, the manual is one of the worst I've seen.

Overall: it ain't perfect, but at the price ($150 new), it kicks ass. The sound is unique (and there's ample amounts of it) and holds its own in a mix with a Nord Mod and an MS-2000. Sonically, it blows away my other budget synth (EA-1). I've already gotten some great Oberheim-ish pads and aggressive de-tuned lead sounds with it, and I already have lots of other ideas of what to do with it. Very good addition to my band's setup.

Personally, I do like it. A friend of mine lent me his to fix because it supposedly was turning itself off randomly. Ended up just being bad PS and, replacing that, I had about 2 weeks solid to experiment with it before I had to return it. Now, I've owned my share of real analog boards (Polysix, Juno, v/a Arps, CS-5, SK-30, and on..) and played with even more. I've also played with most VA's out there and owned a couple too. That being said, no, the Darkstar does not sound analog. It will never replace your old Roland SH-101, and bears very little in relation to a SCI P600, as one fan claimed. It sounds very digital...a bit like a DX combined with a Casio CZ series. But, that doesn't mean it sounds BAD. Yes, the presets ARE bad (waaay too wanky for me), but once you get around them and the admittedly awkward interface and become comfortable with making your own, some really nice tones can come out of it. I do electro-industrial and it naturally supplies that grit and grime I need. People looking to do new age or pop with it are not going to be happy because of this, but I think other genres, like industrial, Dn'B, hard techno, or EBM can definitely make use out of the Darkstar. I was able to, within minutes, whip out some funky bass and lead sounds with a voice or so to spare for FX. I've since returned it to my friend, but in the meantime bought one for myself. For me, it's all a matter of use. I'm not looking for something to wank endlessly on. I want something I can work out some sounds quickly on, use easily in a multitimbral setup, and enchance my songwriting process and the Darkstar has done that for me in spades. Again, it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for those who are willing to give it a chance and go into it NOT expecting "real analogue" tone, there is a decent board to be had.

Patrick

I have been playing synths since the mid 80's, and have owned a lot of gear, including the Yamaha AN200(which I promptly returned..it didn't suit me.. I don't do dance/techno).

The DS is great if:

1.It is not your only sound module..I layer the DarkStar sounds with my Virus C and my Karma.

2.You have effects to route the DS sound thru.. it is rather raw on its own.

I like this so much, I am considering buying another one.

Lars

I am obsessed with 1970s/80s analogue synths (have owned twelve in total) and within five minutes of switching the DarkStar on I made amazing sounds which I have NEVER been able to create on any of my other machines. The first time I touched it, I made the most amazing warm, fat slow-sweeping tone which gradually disintegrated into amazing random bubbling and crackling. It took about two minutes before two fellow analogue-lovers came over to have a go, and pretty soon there were three of us fighting over it/playing it at the same time.

Addressing a few previous comments...

1. It's only digital-sounding if you want it to be, or you don't know how to manipulate the sound. You just can't make assumptions on first impressions, especially if you're not prepared to play with it. Presets are for demonstration, you're not actually obliged to use them!

2. Compared to other virtual analogues, including the Novation K-Station, the DarkStar *honestly* does so much more and is much more loyal to its predecessors, sound-wise, despite the K looking better on paper. If I had the choice I would buy another DS over a K (the only thing I would miss is the arpeggiator). Novation is trying to convert the analogue lovers to its' (very good) modern equivalents, and until I got this instrument I thought they were the be-all and end-all of VAs just because of the 'proper keyboard'. But I am now a total convert. I have no vested interest in dissing Novation, I just think the DarkStar is a better product for the same RRP.

3. No problems at all with noisy outputs or hiss, even through a cheap amp with no EQ. Maybe those units were faulty??

4. The controls are not as immediate as a less compact synth, because so much is crammed in to one space. You need to read the paperwork before you dive in, that's to be expected. If you buy one without a manual you might struggle with the more complex functions but the process of creating a sound should be obvious.

5. If I had paid the RRP of £395 for this I would have been disappointed in the display... it does not do the unit justice and makes the learning curve quite steep. But I paid £180, which I would consider cheap (and US$200 would be an absolute STEAL - if you see them at $200, PLEASE buy two... or buy three and send me one of 'em!). For £180 it's totally value for money, and the build quality and size suggests it's rugged enough to be toured (another reason why it's better than the K Station).

Finally, Mr/Miss "no one" (below) is talking absolute crap when s/he implies that anyone "serious about making music" would not want a DarkStar. How patronising!! This is the one and only problem with the synth reviews on SonicState - the high number of lesser-known synths that are damned by those who only care about having the most fashionable collection of numbers and letters on their equipment. I've never even heard of RedSound before - I just know a good synth burble when I hear one and my first impressions of the DarkStar tell me it's one of the best burble-makers I've ever heard... my SH09 is sitting lonely in the corner right now. If you're interested in a unit like this, you NEED to go out and try one through a quality amp... don't rely on what other people say... I nearly did, and I could have missed out on an amazing piece of kit. And besides, you have to see it in action just to witness the booting sequence (makes the thing look like a flight deck!) and the Knight Rider-style edit lights.

As with anything, it's not only about what is does out of the box, but also about what you can bend and shape it to do. With a little tweaking I had some fantastic trance style basses, chords and thwips (yes, thwips is a word !) and even a pretty close CR78 sound alike drum kit.

Of course the real clincher is the price £199, which is a bit of a bargain.

Still, don't take my word for it, try one for yourselves. (Then get out your credit cards !)

if you cant get $200 worth out of this little beauty then, well....good luck to you

Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I can not stand the hiss. I've owned two DarkStars (I thought the hiss on the first one might have been a fluke) and both of them sound the same.

I’m also disappointed that we have yet to see the Mono Synth upgrade. The possibility of this upgrade is the only thing that’s keeping me from tossing it in the trash.

but if i paid 500 i would be bitter, the thing takes like 15 seconds to boot? no idea why. The interface is terrible, best they could do since the darkstar is basicly crammed into a federation effects unit. the filter is thin, and most the presets suck. but some of the sounds this little box produces are amazing. really. buy if for 200, you wont be disapointed as long as you know of its weaknesses before hand. and if you dont like it you can turn it into a vocoder for just $50 more.

very digital sounding.

Review time... Yes, the interface is lousy compared to most analog modellers, but Darkstar offers a ton of modulation and routing possibilities, so if you're already comfortable with subtractive synthesis and you prefer planning ahead to twiddling, it's really quite good...

Weak filter, unconvincing as a true analog modeller. Won't replace my Juno any time soon. Warm and fat it's not, but what it lacks in warmth it can make up in, uh, grunge... Playing it next to a real analog always reminds me of the difference between an overdriven tube amp and solid-state distortion. It doesnt sound cold and thin like an old-school digital synth (DX7/CZ101), just... flat, I guess. Like there's not enough sloppy harmonic distortion. But it's got it's own sound which you may or may not like. Try before you buy, for sure.

Final verdict, in my opinion? If you're still worried about not getting multiple outputs or a fat sound, you can buy six of these for the price of a JP-8000. Then you can stack-and-deture your way to more fatness than you have frequency spectrum, not to mention that you'd get TEN outputs, and FORTY voices. You do the math.

First off, the factory patches are range from being really good to total crap, most of them falling in the semi-crap category. While I'm not one to judge a synth by its presets, its often a good way of quickly judging what the designers were thinking when they made it and perusing the capabilities of the machine. Unfortunately, I think some of these patches were made up by RedSound's deaf accountant.

On to the sound. Its got all the major stuff you'll find in much more expensive units. Plenty of routing versatility and good MIDI support, so you can do pretty much anything you dream up on it. Some people lament the fact that there are no onboard effects, but then again, a Minimoog doesn't have any and nobody complains about that! Anyway, I've never heard any onboard effects that were so thrilling that I couldn't get something better in a stomp box or rack unit. The filter sounds really cool and the joystick is a neat addition that has seen more use than I thought it would on my unit - it has the ability to take a sound you're working on and totally transform it (in a very good way). THe one downside I can think of is the versatility of the oscillators. They seem to hover around one realm of sounds. But that said, they do sound kind of individual to me, which is a good thing. In fact, I'd say that this is a synth that is cut out from many in the pack because it's strong suit isn't strict emulation of the "classics". I'm not saying its going to be a classic itself, but its got its own thing.

The "thinned up" interface gets plus points for its multiple use pots (depending on various "shift" button states) but minuses for the other functions packed away in the button bank at the bottom and the flip flopping LEDs. Actually, the more I use it and become accustomed to where everything is in those menus, its not as bad as it first seemed, but its not a synth I would venture into without the manual! But since so many features and switches are hidden a level or two deep, this isn't the greatest unit to just "twiddle around" on. (You know those times when your creativity is lacking so you just start turning knobs and looking for something new/cool.) For this reason, I think a lot of people might be initially turned off by the Darkstar and turned on by something like the Korg MS2000. As they say, the Korg "gives good demo", but really, the Darkstar has more features where it counts than the Korg. 8 polyphony/ 5 part multi-timbral as opposed to 4/4 (I think). To continue with that comparison, the Korg is an excellent unit for doing a 1 man, 1 synth ambient/house sort of thing very quickly and easily. But, while that might sound cool to you, you'll wind up sounding like everyone else. The Korg is a very smooth sounding synth (most of theirs in the past have been) and great for "spacey" stuff, while the Darkstar has a little bit more "balls". More growl. A little closer to older monophonics like the SCI Pro-One or Moog Rogue. In fact all of my favorite patches that I've made thusfar are either monophonic or duophonic. I hear that RedSound is planning another upgrade chip that will turn the Darkstar into some sort of "mega monosynth". As it is, I think its pretty decent so I'm dying to hear what this could possibly be!

In closing, I bought mine used with the Vocoda chip for $300 which is a ridiculous bargain for what you get. Its not the flashiest or easiest synth to use, but it can sound excellent with a little patience and knowledge. If you're a first timer, you might want to look elsewhere to learn synth basics. Apparently its about $399 new. There's nothing even close in that price range.

This synth fills the bill nicely, and as someone noted it got large amounts of charm and a sound of its own. While the TB have a tendency to make canine sounds this box is more feline. Lots of weird and involving sounds comes spurting out the loudspeakers, and especially worth to notice is the pitchmod'y and noisy sounds - think it's hard to beat them on other synths.

Hate the so called "analogues" with wavetables and cumbersome menus, but realy likes this little beauty! Pitty though that they didn't include the BPM-engine RedSound have been renowned for.

I recommend this synth especially if you like me just owned a sample-playback synth (like my CS1x, which I still love by the way)... The sounds you can make with the DarkStar is simply amazing, especially if you compare prices of some competitors.

Now that I have played with it non-stop for 3 days, I think I can conclude that it was the synth I was looking for.

As I get more experience, I will post a real review.

It is a synth you really need to put some time in, that is one thing I know for sure at the moment... and that's a very good thing IMHO.

My first conclusion is simply that it's EXCELLENT for my purposes, so I will give it a 5 out of 5.