Help please! Looking to buy first 'vintage' synth

[timcreighton]

I desperately need some help as I am looking to purchase my first synth/ keyboard and am lost. I am looking at various models from the 80's/ 90's under £50 on e-bay, namely Roland D50, U20, XP10, etc., but the differences are beyond me.

I want something I can get straight into so it needs to stand alone (I understand I need an amp), with a decent piano sound and some nice atmospheric strings. I have looked at several videos on youtube and a D50 looks nice? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Any advice would be greatfully appreciated!!

 

[goz211]

Hello Tim, welcome to the forum.

£50 is unlikely to be enough money. Sorry, bet you didn't want to hear that.

Can you play another musical instrument or do you have a friend who can get you started?

 

[The Y_man]

I've got a Juno 106 and an Ensoniq ESQ-1 that both need some TLC for free if you can pick up...

The Y-man

 

[ootini]

A Roland D50 is actually quite a sought after bit of kit, no idea why as I think they're horrible little things.
The Roland U20 is a very basic "Rompler" synth, again nothing to write home about.
The Roland XP10 is again, basic, but it uses a lot of the sounds from the JV1080 series synth and they're actually quite impressive, it's a totally different kettle of fish to the D50. As a basic starter synth the XP10 is ok, but you're never gonna get one for £50, double that and maybe.

 

[YeahDoIt]

I want something I can get straight into so it needs to stand alone (I understand I need an amp)

Do you need an amp? My keyboard has a 5 watt amplifier built in. I typically use about 0.2 watt.

 

[ootini]

The vast majority of vintage and professional synthesizers have no on board amps or speakers.

 

[timcreighton]

Thanks for your help, I ended up with a Roland D5 for £30 and am loving it if anyone wants to know..

 

[goz211]

Good to hear.