Korg microKorg XL +

Arguably one of the best analog modeling (VA) synths in the market with respect to its sound color and character. It provides a great range of control parameters to tailor the sound to your taste. Make sure you check the additional Korg patches/presets (MicroKorg, MS2000, MS2000B, Korg US, Korg UK). It definitely sounds "warmer" than Mininova (especially its pad patches). The other big opponent in this price range is definitely Roland JD-Xi mainly because of the PCM drum kit and the sequencer.

Not as good a build quality as the older models. But the vocoder is very usable and it's nicely responsive. I only bought it for little sound bites of vocoder so will keep in the studio.

Good and sturdy packaging in comparison with the microKorg which feels more like a plastic/children's toy. Also i think it has bigger keys too.. In general they both sound great, high sound quality palette in theese two. I think it is a must for every keyboardist!

ps: Maybe its personal but i always wanted a black edition of the microkorg and then this finally came out!

ps2: I am in love with the vocoder.

I didn't expect that good of a sound from it. It's super-light and super-portable. Emulation of Wurlitzer and organs are very nice and clean sounding. I was really afraid that the XL+ keys would be bad but fortunately the KEYS ARE BETTER from Microkorg and Microkorg-S. The big disadvantage is the lack of reserved user-patch memory which means you cannot save your own created patches without overwriting existing one. I also think that the unit is overpriced.