I think I have the sequencer/drum box figured out – I scored a Boss DR-202 for relatively cheap on the ‘Bay, and I’m liking it so far. It runs on batteries(bonus!), seems relatively easy to program, and you can use the footswitch input for a drum trigger (sorta).

Now onto the “synth”. I’ve whittled it down to a few zillion possibilities, and have some definite requirements:

• DC power source. I don’t want to have to heft around a big battery AND an inverter just to power a synth while walking around. This probably rules out all Alesis gear(what’s with the 9VAC wall warts, anyway?), and a good chunk of Roland/Korg/Yamaha rack-type gear. Battery powered would win (Yamaha MU5, I’m looking in your direction), but I’m not finding much within my budget available…
• If I could set a patch that’s a ‘split’ (different parts within the same channel), that would be über-bonus. Since the DR-202 can only do external sequencing on one channel, being able to ‘fake’ multichannel via this would be awesome.
• Keeping cost to a minimum would be good too, or I would have just bought something new. And heat my house by setting $20 bills on fire . I have a pretty strict budget for this, and I should be trying to stick to it.
• A front panel of some sort would probably be good. At least enough to select the current patch. The Korg AG-10 seems to have a good sound, but it looks impossible to do anything with without a computer around, unless you like Grand Piano (aka GM voice 1)

So that’s loosely what I’m looking for. Any suggestions?

With any luck, I’ll be able to try out the rig at Strangefest (the weekend after Memorial day)