New guy here, super long introduction

[kitsune]

Hey all, just registered but I do have some history with Roland. My first synth (around the year 2001 or so?) was a Juno-106. I later sold it on eBay for probably $500 or less. Fully functional. D'oh. I've owned a couple SH-101's, an SH-2, a TR-505, and for a short period (before returning) a JU-06a. My dream synth is a System 100m (or 100, I'm not too picky).

I have been drawn to the Gaia ever since it was released. I think I've only played one once and that was about a decade ago. I don't remember my exact thoughts, but I was underwhelmed. Something along the lines of "This sounds too digital." But I probably stuck mostly to presets, and only fiddled with it for 5-10 minutes in a Guitar Center.

Still, every time I'd get the itch to get another synth, it seems like I would watch more videos of the Gaia, hoping for a breakthrough. The form factor is pretty ideal to me. But the sounds never quite seemed to grab me. Even the video for Daniel Fisher's Sweetwater sound bank didn't really do it for me. The internet has been rather harsh on the Gaia, and I'm not quite sure it deserves to have such a poor reputation.

Admittedly I have been a bit of an analog snob myself. I also have tended to prefer monosynths, and generally have eschewed presets. Not because I feel superior in my programming abilities...I just like a WYSIWYG interface.

I have been playing a Moog Subsequent 37 at my church on Sunday mornings. The Moog is a little bit heavy – it seems every weekend I have a neck and/or backache from lugging it around. It is also expensive and there are often children running around...even on the stage after service, and I don't really want it to be damaged/need repair. And to be honest, the ability to go beyond 2 note paraphony sounds appealing, even though I am NOT a piano player (or even a good synth player for that matter).

ANYWAY, this church situation led me to start looking around for something smaller. I have a Behringer MS-1 (as a replacement for my past SH-101s...which it is...OK at) but it wasn't quite right for that situation. I really preferred to add a polysynth to the collection. My first thought was the Gaia. I kind of mentally decided against it and then thought about a Deepmind, or a Korg Minilogue, a JD-Xi or even something from the Yamaha Reface series, etc.

But I kept being drawn back to the Gaia - and when I did my brain switched back & forth between thinking 1) "you've had your eye on this synth since it came out like 12 years ago, maybe it's time to finally grab one" AND 2) "you've had your eye on this since it came out like 12 years ago, and there's probably a good reason you haven't bought one before!". But there just aren't many synths offered with this form factor - 37 full size keys, the ability to be hands on, and relatively simple/not diving in menus.

Last Friday I bit the bullet and went bought a Gaia after all. I can't say how it's going to turn out. I bought it used on Reverb. I still haven't been hands on with in many years...but I'm looking forward to it.

I already bought the Luftrum 6 patch set, which I think sounds pretty great in the video.

Anyway...hopefully my Gaia will show up in a few days, and I'll find I was missing out for all these years! I'm hoping I can also coax out some synthwave style sounds from it as well.

Ironic side note considering having just bought a polysynth with presets: I may sell the Moog Subsequent 37 in favor of moving down to a Moog Grandmother. The Grandmother was announced about 2 months after I bought the Subsequent 37 brand new, and I was bummed. I would have certainly gone with the Grandmother had they both been available at the time. But such is life!