I have been looking for a long time for a synthesizer that allows for spontaneous sound/noise timbral improvisation. Synths have either been too option rich and almost without any focussed character, like my experience with modular turned out, or too basic and oriented to keyboard players, which I am not, nor am I a beats guy. On an impulse I bought a Behringer Pro VS Mini and it's turned out to just kick ass for solo synthesizer free improvisation of the kind I do, abstract expressionist sound/noise. It is far reduced in capability compared to the Prophet VS, but in my case the reduced feature set is an advantage. The key elements of wavetables, layering, and morphing vectors are very easy to access. Yet the resulting sounds are complex and surprising to a degree that I am always interacting with the unexpected. It's really a very simple synth based on a basic concept that allows for dynamic pallette changes and spontaneous development of patch variations in real time. So far I have developed a handful of starting patches that are very flexible and easy to expand in the direction I want to take them. My whole system is the Pro VS Mini and an old Arturia Beatstep and a Tascam DR-40X field recorder. So far I haven't felt much need to add effects,other than a touch of onboard reverb from the tascam. After about ten years of messing about and a lot of cash outlay, I am almost embarrassed by how well the $99.00 Pro VS suits me.

Just thought I would share my enthusiasm here, cuz my better half sure don't want to hear anymore about it !