One of the Roland Boutiques plus the detachable keyboard maybe?
How about a totally different solution? After all you do not really want a synth but many voices, pianos, organs, some pads etc.
Why not keeping your keystep and consider adding a Roland JV / XV rack to your gear? Depending on the model this would be a cheap and very versatile solution to go. Plus you would get to pick from different sizes (from mini: JV1010, to big rack: XV5080)
After all most of the suggested great pieces of gear do not necessarily deliver as good in your preferred sound categories.
Depending on the size of your desk, the Roland JD-Xi could fit.
Thanks for all the input guys… and great idea @chain25…
Currently on the fence about that suggestion, the korg micro x and the reface DX… I’m actually more impressed with the range of sounds coming from those 2 than I expected.
Wow! That Reface DX sounds awesome! Definitely tempting
Not really sure how much of a keys player you are but you could check out the Arturia MicroFreak. Lots of sampling possibilities there and the ‘keyboard’ is lightning fast apparently. There’s CV/gate out too for extra Rytm manipulation.
+1 for the Reface DX, and the keys are of course mini but really nice to play.
Sonic 8bit or their fm synth. Both very small and full of features
So far in the Yamaha Reface lineup I only have experience with the CS. It’s compact, I can get a lot of sounds out of it pretty quickly, and it has MIDI out. Oh and it does have eight voice polyphony. I’ve only had mine for a month or so but just by moving some sliders around you can get lots of different sounds. I do admit however that I’ve been watching a lot of videos on the Reface DX and it seems like an easier-to-program version of the DX7 and sounds great. GAS never sleeps!!!
I’ve had the reface CS for about five years now and it still surprises me. I find new sounds in it all the time. Sounds amazing through a big system too (I use it with my band). I’ve never seen a video online that does it justice. Great keys like all of the refaces. If I had the cash I’d get them all. Plus there are occasionally great deals on used ones.