Best Keyboard for authentic sounding Strings

sguitarf

New member
Any thoughts? I know everyone will have different opinions for the best sounding strings, but any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks!
 
As far as stock string sounds/patches, I'm fairly impressed with the older Yamaha Motif 8 (classic) I just purchased. I know newer Motifs have bigger ROM sizes for waveforms, but I don't know how strings sound (at least first hand) on them.

I use Roland stuff too (XV-3080), and have always liked their Orchestra SR-JV80-02 expansion board string selections. This of course is a separate purchase for the expansion, but worth the $$$. These could be found on eBay these days. They do have the newer SRX-06 expansion which includes all the waveforms from both of their earlier Orchestral expansions. I had an Roland XP-80 in the late 90's with this expansion, and later purchased the Orchestral II expansion, both served me well had a very nice variety of quality samples. For newer Roland stuff, maybe someone has heard the Roland Fantom strings selections? I haven't yet.

The Kurzweil Orchestra ROM gets favorable opinions as well. This is included with at least one of their keyboards (if not more), otherwise it's an optional expansion. I know there are Kurzweil users here, so I'll let them chime in on the quality and better details. I've heard MP3 demos, and like what I heard, but I like to hear stuff first hand and play it for a true idea of quality. By playing the sounds/patches, you get a true idea of their expressive or non-expressive nature.

Well, there are options for you from three different manufacturers already. In conclusion, I love the Roland expansions, and have a new found fondness for at least a handul of stuff I've heard on the older Yamaha Motif.

Good luck. I'm sure many others will chime in, and you'll be more confused about which one to get as ever... ;) Just kidding!
 
Any thoughts? I know everyone will have different opinions for the best sounding strings, but any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks!

It is kinda ironic, but I have used different keys than warble2, except for the ol' Roland Xp80 which I still have alot of cards for, and I am guilty I do want a Motif, any year haha. Years ago I went to Ensoniq, after a long Yamaha craze (d7), and still have the Ensoniq ZR76, kinda bad scene since they went outta biz and bought up by humm thinking Emu?...but the strings on the Ensoniq are quite good and expressive. Its probably a good idea just to go to a music store and check some out, even if you do decide to buy used.
 
In my opinion, the best "strings in a box" is the Roland SRX-04 Symphonique Strings board for their XV and Fantom series keyboards. While this board does not have all the other symphonic sounds of their SRX-06 board, the strings are far superior.

At this point, Kurzweil lags far behind the Roland SRX boards when it comes to strings (and many other sounds). I use and like Kurzweil gear, but their sounds have not been updated in a *very* long time.

The best strings available these days are attained by using a soft sampler like Kontakt and a good orchestral library like Kirk Hunter's "Emerald" or the East West libs, to name a couple.
 
I'm with Albert. When it comes to strings, sample kits are going to be far beyond anything you could get with a synth engine
 
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in this day of romplers there's no reason any of them should be bad.... and i still find my 15yr old kurz.. very useable.... that being said IMO the difference has more to do with your technique... and the ability to "think like a string section" is this for a live rig or recording???? one trick for me in recording is to play parts individually multiple times... the natural chorusing of a section cant be beat...
 
I think the distinction between live rig and recording has become blurred now that soft samplers are more capable and reliable. In past years I only brought hardware synths to live gigs, just to be sure of no crashes. But now, after a couple years of experimenting with soft samplers on live gigs, I frequently use them and take advantage of the great sound libraries.

I get calls partly because contractors and conductors know the sounds I use will be high quality. If you are working for money, it's crucially important to use the best available sounds. So to show up for live gigs with sounds that are the same quality as being used to score films is a big plus.

Kurzweils were cutting edge back in the late 80's and early 90's, but since then they have been surpassed by newer technology. The Kurzweil keyboards are still the best for use as controllers on live shows in my opinion, but the sounds no longer compare. It's unfortunate, and I speak as a big Kurzweil fan. At one time I owned seven Kurzweil synths! I still own one of them, and the great KSP8 fx processor.

I'm interested to see what Kurzweil comes up with next, as I believe they are releasing a new synth soon. I was really bummed when they discontinued work on their VA synth a few years ago.
 
I've got an Ensoniq SD-1, some pretty nice string (sampled) sounds in there. The pianos are really nice too...

Eric
 
As far as stock string sounds/patches, I'm fairly impressed with the older Yamaha Motif 8 (classic) I just purchased. I know newer Motifs have bigger ROM sizes for waveforms, but I don't know how strings sound (at least first hand) on them.

I own both the Motif Classic and the ES and I love the strings out of the box. I also have a KORG TR61 that has some nice string patches :)
 
I own both the Motif Classic and the ES and I love the strings out of the box. I also have a KORG TR61 that has some nice string patches :)

I like mixing it up. I have a Yamha, Korg, Roland and a few softsynths. I use all of them, sometimes at the same time.:)
 
I have a juno- g, and would very much like to try the srx-4 expansion board, but dont want to be disappointed if it dosnt have the same quality sound as the phantom. Roland says they both share the same sound engine, but would it really sound the same, or do i need a phntom to produce that superior quality im learning about. Thanks for the help. Patrick
 
Hi, I use the SRX boards with a Sonic Cell and an XV 2020. I think there are only small differences in sound due to different effect options and maybe different A/D converters, but as the samples are not compressed but keep their original waveROM in any of the instruments, I am sure the SRX 04 will sound great in a Juno G, too.
 
Thanks a lot the only thing that's bugging me now is the Juno G doesn't have touch sensitive or after touch, which I think would really dampen the expressiveness of the strings or am I wrong thanks a lot your help and input
 
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