A few random thoughts: I was in New York this week to see Cats, the revival of which just opened on Broadway on Sunday. I was wondering if they would try to "update" the synthesizer sounds, which I love... but which I thought some may consider dated. The original premiere was from 1981, and I believe they used 3 or 4 Prophet 5's. I keep thinking that the Prophet-6 (or Prophet '08) would be perfect to recreate these sounds in the new revival. Unfortunately, the pit of Cats is completely hidden from the audience, and so I couldn't tell what they were using. But I'm happy to say that at least the new revival sounded like the old vintage sounds.
While in the city, I also stopped by Sam Ash and one of the two Guitar Centers. My hope was to get my hands on a new MiniMoog, but neither store had one (even though they are on their websites). I did get to play a Prophet-6, which was sitting atop an OB-6 at Guitar Center on 44th. At Sam Ash, they had neither... only had a Prophet '08 from DSI. They did have a Model 002, and an Access Virus. Several months ago, I was considering a Access Virus, in no small part because of the rave reviews of the keybed. While I do not regret my decision to get the '08 instead (the Virus display is very uninspiring), I must say the feel of the Virus is probably the best keybed that I've played on a non-hammer action synthesizer. The keys are about 3/8" longer than that of most keyboards. I silently played the keys of an '08 and then those on the Virus, and the contrast was striking: the DSI keys were noisy and cheap feeling, and the Virus was much quieter, with a feel of much greater quality. If such keybeds cost significantly more for the manufacture, I wish the better keys would be available as an upgrade.
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