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.