If they see a 

U87, Manley Ref C, Neumann KM184, Neve 1073, UA 610 and a UAD-2

system along with a Motif, Montage, Kronos, MPC, Integra 7 and Virus TI2 with a dual
monitor system consisting of a pair of Neumann 310 with a 805 sub and a pair of
Genelec 8050's with a 7060 sub they'll think "s*it this is the place I wanna record my
sh*t!"

I'm also investing in the new UAD2 Apollo Twin DUO MKII with an Octo accelerator for
my U87 and Manley Ref C. I'll probably link it all with a UAD2 Apollo 8 Duo so I get
inputs for all my synths.

I've sold my UA 610, 1176 and LA2A because I love Universal Audio's emulations, they

sound 99% the real deal. And I also got a fat budget for my new synths/romplers I
wanna buy.

Forever my lady era stuff: D50, D70, TR 808, Moog stuff, Juno's, yamaha DX7

(Here is an article about mr Dalvin talking about the Forever my lady album
process)
http://soulculture.com/features/int...album-forever-my-lady-return-to-the-
classics/

Diary of a Mad Band: Akai MPC 60, LOTS of Roland JD-800/990, Roland JV stuff,
live instruments drums, guitar, piano layered or sampled.

(Here is an article about Prince Charles Alexander working on Diary of a Mad

Band)
http://soulculture.com/features/int...nce-charles-alexander-return-to-the-
classics/

The Show the After Party the Hotel: Any and everything that you might think of...
Emu racks, Ensoniq ASR10, (mophatt, etc) Akai MPC's, Emu-Morpheus, live guitar,
bass, drums, voccoders
(Here is an article where Jimmy Douglass talks about the proccess of creating The
show after party hotel... and all of Devantes keyboards
https://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/fea...r-party-the-hotel-on-albums-20th-
anniversary/

Among other pieces, minimoog, some Studio Electronics, some Korg M1, occasionally

something like Prophet VS. There are more instruments besides these, but the D-50 in
particular got a great deal of mileage because it had two engines. It was released in
86?, and folks from many different genres were still using it well into the 90s.

These examples are more the exception than the rule. Most R&B songs
then were not based on remakes as, "Right Here". Latter half of the
80's saw the emergence of New Jack Swing, (circa 1987-94) born in NYC.
NJS was for NYC in that period, what Post-disco/hip-hop electro-funk
was for NYC circa 1978-83.
Early on, DX7, then moreso, Roland's D-50 ya was a major ingredient in
records rooted on that style, as the D-50's release coincided with
the emergence of NJS. The D-70 was added after that, while JX-8P
and other synths used based on personal preferences.
Afaik, like M-series, O1 also used, and had a lot of
punchy and detailed sounds, but they didn't have resonance on their
filters, Roland did, and thats possibly what made them a bit more
popular, especially if you were programming 70's-style leads/basses.

If you're curious, I would encourage you to take a look at

who the most prominent R&B producers and bands were of
that time, and check the rundown on the rigs they were using.
Keyboard magazine did q&a's with several, circa 1990

Yamaha DX 
Have a hankering lately to check out some synths, samplers or drum machines I may
have missed out on in the early 2000’s, other than usual mega workstations like the
Triton, Motif and Fantom, any suggestions?

Analog: Poly Evolver,

The Octatrack wasn’t until the 10s but in the 00s the Machinedeum was pretty big.

There are some cool little retro boxes from that time like the MFB 522 and Future
Retro Revolution. Little Phatty still sounds great.

MFB looks intriguing, GAS’n for a V Synth now

 Virus A/B/C, Radius, MS2000, JP-8080, 

The E-mu Command Station XL-7/MP-7/PK-7 and Proteus 2500 tutorials

I just sold my Novation KS Rack, ya great synth, just got fed up with it and it's huge.
Can really recommend this or the keyboard versions.

The XT was also released in 1998, and the MICROWAVE II (it's knobless predecessaor)
the year before.

Oh what the hell, the MWXT sounds so good that I shouldn't pick nits at the date. 
(plus XT Keyboard version is from 1999/2000 so I guess that's close enough)

The E-mu Command Station XL-7/MP-7/PK-7 and Proteus 2500 tutorials

Had a PK-7 with the XL-7 and MP-7 Roms for years, finally died on me, amazing
machine if anybody makes a box with that interface, filters and sampling they woul
rule the world lol

An interesting synth that is usually dismissed as a rompler , is the Ensoniq Halo.

It has the best of both worlds ( EMU & Ensoniq) , it features transwaves ( a bit limited
though) , DP effects engine and Z-plane filters.

Virus A , JP8080 and  are all 90’s synths.

A6

Dont forget the Waldorf Q+ which came out around 2001/2002 I think?? A 16 voice Q
with a full blown 16 VCFs under the hood. (Basically had the AFB16 inside with no
computer control) Expensive as hell, its no wonder Waldorf went insolvent around then

Yeah I think I got my Virus A in 2001 or so, dude that sold it to me GAVE me his SH-
101 haha. Bought a Juno 106 in mint condition from the original owner around the
same time too for $300. Even had the original manual with it still.

The MS2000 is one of my favorites. The only synth that comes close to it functionally is
the Poly Evolver. Those mod sequencers spoiled me.

In fact, despite Alesis's effort, A6 could not be a mind blower back then for most
people, and it was commercially very unsuccessful. I remember I walked in Sam Ash in
NYC, and saw A6 was sold at a bargain price, but no one even tried to touch the demo
unit. I did, not impressed at all, I actually preferred MS2000. LOL.

I screwed up the labeling on this one string sound, and I couldn't figure out which one
was the Andromeda and which was the Virus. Replacement ASICS were getting harder
to come by, so off to eBay she went. I got a Vostok in its place and that was a much
more satisfying synth.

 Roland’s Juno-106.

Of course, there were plenty of other polys appearing on ambient and IDM records in the
‘90s, such as Roland’s Jupiter-6 and offerings from Sequential Circuits (like the Prophet 5)
and Oberheim (like the OB-8), but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more dance music-
oriented poly than the Juno-106.
 TR-808 and TB-303, helped birth numerous genres, from hip-hop to acid house and
beyond. The SH-101 was another such piece of must-have Roland finery.

One of the reasons that analog was so derided in the ‘90s was the rise of sample-based
synthesis. Machines like Korg’s M1 actually sounded like the instrument they were
supposed to be recreating, with its piano and organ sounds getting particularly rinsed in
dance music. For the average ambient musician, however, the M1 and its successor,
the Wavestation were too expensive. That made Kawai’s K1 a popular alternative.

FM Synthesis

Yamaha TX81Z Rackmount FM Tone Generator 1987 - 1988

29 disponible desde 119,99 $

Just as analog was out by the ‘90s, FM was also coming to be seen as a little old
hat. Sample synthesis and ROMplers were clearly the way of the future (or so ‘90s
synthesists thought). Because of their affordability then, it wasn’t uncommon to
find the occasional FM synth in the ‘90s electronic music producer’s
arsenal. Yamaha’s DX100 continued to be popular with techno producers, while
the TX81Z made a great source for strings, pads and keys.

Originally released in 1987, the TX81Z was a four-operator FM synth and the first to
feature oscillator waves beyond basic sine waves. This expanded its range of
possible sounds, making it more than just another 4-op budget synth like
the DX21. It was used by Future Sound Of London and Astral Projection, as well as
Global Communication, who tapped it for Rhodes-type keys on their song,
"Obselon Minus." Yamaha’s rackmount FM machine is most famous for its bass
patch, "Lately Bass," and this was also also employed by Global Communication
(albeit in edited form) on "7:39."

The TX81Z is still a great bargain. It also doesn’t sound like your typical DX7-style
FM. It’s a bit warmer and darker, perfect for ‘90s-style ambient.

Effects

Alesis QuadraVerb 20k Bandwidth Simultaneous Digital Effects Processor

21 disponible desde 144 $
Affordable hardware effects were few and far between in the 1990s. Most bedroom
producers couldn’t afford fancy reverb units by companies like Lexicon. Instead,
they largely relied on Alesis, whose low-cost effects made digital reverbs available
to the little guy. One of the more popular units was the QuadraVerb.

Hitting the market in 1989, the 1U rackmount Quadraverb combined reverb, delay,
EQ, and pitch effects into one box. The 16-bit effects unit was particularly prized for
its huge chorus reverb—think Valhalla plugins in a box. It was instant ambient and
was put to use on many a famous recording in the ‘90s.

Mark Pritchard of Global Communication even sang its praises on a forum post,
saying, "The signature reverb sound (of the album 76:14) was an Alesis
Quadraverb... It was noisy and detuney." Pritchard also identified the Aphex Twin as
a user. "Richard Aphex used one as well, coincidentally. I knew because I could hear
it on his stuff. He was using DX100 a lot into the Quadraverb.” As he mentions, it
was (and is) noisy but that’s part of its old-school charm.