Studiologic Sledge 2.0 61-Key Synthesizer with Aftertouch

Great responsive keyboard with ability to make both standard analogue and sampled sounds, easy to play and program (very fun) ... THEN it goes off on its own, doesn’t receive knob changes (programs freeze while editing). Totally useless in any MIDI chain. Truly. Useless. OS is beyond “buggy”. It’s a joke. 4 years, 3 color variations, and they still have a useless product. Using it on stage would be suicidal. At least every 15 minutes it freezes up, gets notes stuck, then needs a *HARD REBOOT* to get it to function at all again.Don’t buy this. I loved it then was so extremely disappointed when I realized the problem wasn’t me, it was it; and all Studiologic says is “new OS bug-free!”, which is a complete lie.No part of this works. None.

I purchased my Sledge without ever seeing it in the flesh, purely based on what it represented on paper. My first impression after taking it out the box, was that it seemed tough but very light, and it was oh-so-yellow. The knobs seemed pretty solid and although its not CNC-machined from a single block of aluminum, it was still pretty sturdy and good looking.I turned it on and reviewed the presets, and my first impression of the sound was one of horror, as I pictured my $1000 bucks flying out the door. The presets were absolutely horrendous! It's all in the "ear of the beholder" of course, but for me they were so mediocre. As I discovered later after hours of programming, the presets in no way represent what the Sledge is capable of - not even close! Personal preference, but I wish synth manufacturers would stop trying to showcase their synths with synthesized clavis, organs, and brass. For goodness sake! They couldn't spare a single slot to showcase the osc-sync option?Speaking of presets, there were around 100 delivered synth presets and 10 to 15 sample presets. This is insipid on a synth that can house 999 presets. After getting the programming down-packed, it was apparent that 100-120 delivered presets was far worse than insipid. With all those knobs, the Sledge is capable of knocking out a collection of crazy presets in minutes. In a productive session you can easily pump out a good preset every few minutes. During several particularly creative sessions, I would generate around 15 outstanding presets in an hour, with ease. It really is that easy to program.You will often see comments like "It sounds harsh and brittle". "It is incapable of bass". "It sounds very digital and cold"My guess is these comments were made by people who don't own a Sledge, or who didn't spend much time programming it, or maybe they are just horrible sound designers.It can do brittle, harsh, digital, and cold, but it can also do warm, smooth, and huge evolving sounds. It is a veritable multi-tool and sounds amazing, and with knob-per function to boot!Unfortunately quite a few have experienced OS and memory issues with the Sledge, at times requiring the synth to be sent in for repair. The software is quirky, non-standard, and unfinished, and works when it wants to. Many have complained about it not communicating properly with the Sledge, particularly on a Mac. There are problems with MIDI notes getting stuck when one plays multiple notes, it does not like external sync turned on, local note on/off works when it feels like it, splits and layers sometimes lose their minds. A couple of issues require cycling power to get the synth back.That said, this is an amazing synth capable of a massive array of sounds. Standard "analog" oscillators, wavetables, samples, osc-sync, FM, pulse-width, 2 LFOs … and each has their own knob or buttons! Crazy programming possibilities.