At first, I was quite dissapointed. Many of the presets didn't really do it for me. I agreed with many of the writers on this forum about the overall novation gloss on the sounds. They (the presets) seem to have a certain "cleanliness" about them which can be annoying.

However....

I have since found it IS possible to mash up these sounds and once I started programming my own, I really couldn't stop playing about with the machine!!

Things I really like about the SNII:

- Ease of Use - Flexibility in programming - Individual effects processing for up to 8 parts(Whoa!!) - Programmable arp - After a bit of work, top quality sounds - Great vocoder

A few things I would like to see added to it:

- Randomize functions on parameters for writer's cramp! - Multilevel undo - Reverb quality needs improving - More OS upgrades!! (Just being greedy now....)

It is my first VA and compliments my studio well.

I will give it a 4.5/5 only because the synth really should pack the initial punch of its competition, out of the box. A little less patience and I may have sold this monster, something I would definitely regret now.

I have a room devoted to synths in my studio, but I always end up coming back to this monster.

Its an excellent synth, and so is Nord Lead 3/2 and the Access Virus A/B/C