In Reply to: 1st time buyer: Alesis, Roland, Yamaha...? posted by Eric on February 10, 2000 at 19:52:30:
All of these have lots of good features and sounds and a few shortcomings. So decide what you're going to mostly use it for, play each of them for a half hour, get the one that you enjoyed the most, there's not a real dud in there. If you get into the synth thing, you'll probably complement one of these with something else that fills out your soundmaking capabilities in a few years (actually a good computer is becoming a pretty good synth and studio).
My summary:
QS7: great midi controller, very good pianos and organs, decent drum kits and a few good synthy sounds.
A70: isn't this sort of like an unweighted A90? If it's what I'm thinking of, excellent controller, another good choice, pretty equivalent to QS7 if you get the QSR.
Korg: I always like korgs when other people play them, not so well when I play them. Go figure.
XP-80: my least favorite here, since everything it does, something else does better, but if you pay the (too much) $$ to expand it it does can have a solid soundset.
EX5: Really a nice sounding instrument, great synth features. Reported to have poor midi timing, so good to play but supposed to be frustrating to sequence.
Get decent stereo monitors, totally worth it! Good luck, you'll enjoy it whatever you decide.