Bye-Bye Venom!

I needed to make room for the upcoming MS20 Mini, and to be honest I wasn't using the M-Audio Venom that much.

Why? Well, certainly not because it sounds bad. The Venom is an outstanding instrument, with great value for the price. It can produce very complex grooves and has a character of its own, which cannot be said about a lot of digital synths.

It's really about the interface, or lack thereof : you can't program sounds without the software editor.

By that, I don't mean that it's inconvenient without the software.

I mean to say that you absolutely NEED a computer, because most editing functions aren't accessible through the synth LCD menus.

For instance, you can't select the oscillator waveforms on the synth. That's done with the software editor.

You can select the FX type and its mixing level, but you can't change the FX settings.

And so on.... 

This is really a problem. These drastic limitations mean that you just can't take the synth away and program stuff. You need a computer at all times.
I know there is a way to use an iPad to control the parameters, but I couldn't begin to understand how you're supposed to do that, what with the app and the interfaces needed, and frankly I didn't have the patience when my others synths, well, you just switch them on and you're set to create.

Not having to create sounds on the computer is the reason why I buy hardware instruments in the first place.

That said, if you don't mind working that way, the Venom is a great synth.