Siel • DK 70
The DK 70 is a fully programmable, battery powered portable synthesizer featuring subtractive synthesis using DCO, VCF and VCA technology (similar to Roland's Alpha Juno series). It has a polyphony of 8 voices in normal mode and 4 voices in dual mode. There are 50 memory patches (40 preset, 10 user) but that could be expanded to 100 with additional ROM or RAM cartridges. Editing and creating sounds is a behind the scenes affair - that is, not for real time or live use. With only a handful of press buttons for all data entry, editing is very tedious and boring.
So stick with the presets or pre-program and store your own sounds for later because this synth is otherwise aimed right at the live user - battery powered, lightweight, built-in guitar strap hooks and an optional "Stage Set" Grip with pitch ribbon, modulation depth, program change and octave +/- controls. The 49-note keyboard does not have velocity sensitivity. It also has a chorus effect and a simple two track sequencer which can store up to 200 notes. This cheap synth is great for string sounds, pads, bass and strange noises. Although similarly designed synths like the Roland Alpha Juno and Korg Poly 800 often seem more popular, many users have found the DK 70 to have warmer and more 'analog' qualities from its VCF and VCA sections. The DK 70 is probably an underrated synth and definitely worth checking out if you ever come across one.
The sound editing is quite tedious indeed, but in under 4 days i came up with some really dope DnB basslines, a very fat detuned reese and some bubble basses. It makes also great funky leads, and if you have one, visit this site >> http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~smeyer/sie l/ << it explains you how to mod the mother board and add two cool knobs, sort of additional filter unit (resonance, cutoff and a gain knob that punches the main output to a higher level and makes the sound even warmer). This adds some fun while playing it live, as it creates very wide and cool sweeps, if you put the internal resonance around value 10-12.