Specific Module Desired, but I don't know how...

[Ponder5]

Hi.
First timer.
Old timer.
But i have a nagging question and was hoping for some help. I need some new hardware. But I'm just not adequately familiar with the latest (last 20 years) hardware and especially not for my specific need.

I have 2 modules mounted together. A Kurzweil MicroPiano and an Voce microB. Okay, easy enough.
Would like to replace them. With something that does all that they do, only better. I'm hoping such a thing exists.
So, i have 1U of rack space to do this. It needs to be:

1. Great Piano. I mean really a full category beyond the MicroP or similar. What's there now is marginally adequate, but not as impressive as i would imagine things to be today.
2. Great Hammond. microB is a good Hammond, but it's not great Hammond. I have used various Leslie peds and a Leslie chop, too. I'd LIKE to have built-in Leslie (something better than a Voce V3, if possible).
3. Then, with all that, all the stuff the MicroP does, too. That would include Rhodes, Clav, Strings, etc. Meat and Potatoes stuff. Shouldn't be too hard, right? That should come along for the ride, really.
4. Compact Organ, too. Old guys play old songs that sometimes have Compact Organ sounds. It just happens.
and the biggie:
5. This all has to fit in 1U of rack. It doesn't have to be one unit, it's two units now, but it does have to fit in a single rack space. Tabletop is out. 2U is out. Voce V5, while great Hammond (sans Leslie) is out, or any similar half-controller top-panel gizmo. Standard rack. Oddly, it doesn't need rack ears -- i'll mount it by its chassis.

I'm not a drawbar fiddler. 10 or 15 Hammond presets, if tailorable offstage, even, will be sufficient. I'd like switchable, not programmed, Leslie. I'd like passable Leslie without carrying a Leslie or a chop. Doesn't have to be perfect but it should be pretty good.

The Piano/Rhodes/Wurli/Clav has to be really good. At least enough to shame the MicroP. Same with the strings and synths

The whole setup can have a million sounds, that's fine, just as long as i can get to them via midi. Say writing into a performance memory or something.

Using two KB, multi-midi input would be a plus, but not req'd. Assignable multi outs (say, one for organ and one for piano, and one for everything else) would also be a big plus.

Cost-wise, while the sky is not the limit, i've been around long enough to know the good stuff costs good money, so i'm not especially scared of that, if it came down to it.

Oh ye of great and recent gear knowledge (I'm pretty good up to about 1995-ish), what say ye? Can it be done? Any help here? It's all appreciated.

Thanks.

Ponder5

 

[Ponder5]

While I'm at it, and for further explanation,

I was looking (online) at a Proteus 2000. It has all kinds of 'sounds', and it's quite affordable. Just don't know how GOOD the sounds are.
Same way with some of the other Emu products. Are the expander boards, like the B3 expander, worth owning? Would such a combo, while conveniently in a 1U package, be a real step UP? or kind of a step "over"?

Sorry, i'm just very overwhelmed with the long trail of choices and possible combinations.

Ponder5

 

[Xdrummer]

I'm also an old timer who often goes to the classic sounds (Rhodes, Clav, Wurly, Hammond, etc.)

I've found that most of the modules that have come out in the last few years focus a lot on reproducing analog sounds (Moog, etc.) vs. samples of classic keys.

If you can find one - the Roland XV5050 was a very good 1 rack module that has about 1,000 sounds including some decent Hammond, Clav, and various Rhodes sounds - if I recall the stock sounds also have a Farfisa and a Wurly sound. The acoustic piano is not great.

However, there are slots for expansion sounds and Roland does have a card for acoustic pianos and a card for "classic keys" - With that module and those cards - you should have everything you need.

The module also has a lot of effects - including a Leslie simulation that is OK (I have not heard many Leslie sims that I find all that convincing. For what it's worth, the Boss RT-20 is a very Leslie sim is a very good Leslie simulator.

I don't this the EMU stuff is what you need. I have a EMU Proteus 1 and an EMU Vintage Keys - and I'm not all that impressed

 

[Ponder5]

XV5050, huh? No i hadn't heard of that one. Thanks for the input.
Yes, i'll start trying to investigate that one. I had looked online at several units. But out here in Nowhere-ville, auditioning one is out of the question.
Like the Motif rack. What a cool looking unit with cool specs. But i don't want all the latest Ga-Ga noises, just solid basics. Really solid.
Or the Fantom rack. Same idea. Is it bloops and bleeps? or good solid sounds? Sure, there's a few online reviews but those are often as useless in their extremes as no review at all.
The Kurz PC2R is an interesting package. I SUPPOSE, being Kurzweil, that it might have good piano. But is it a leap above the already-passable Kurz Micropiano that i already have? And the Hammond? Dreamy? or dreary?
Stuff like Rhodes and Harpsi-Clav oughta be pretty easy for anyone to do. Same with Vox/Farfisa sounds from the old days.
In my brain, as cheap as memory is these days, a good piano shouldn't be hard to find.
Seems a shame to have all the other 'interesting' sounds without a good coverage of the basics, sometimes. The piano, mainly, and then the Hammond, really count for me.

And I agree completely. I got a Vintage Keys into my home studio and was thoroughly nonplussed by the experience. It went back the next day. That's why i don't do that blind-ordering any more. I was hoping Emu cleaned up their act after that.

Anyway, it was nice of you to stop in and chat.

Ponder5