shopping.........

[twist]

I'm a guitar player, so be gentle. I know little about what's out there for keyboards. I have read back through the posts a little ways, but I have a few questions.

I know I may be asking for the impossible, but keep in mind as a newbie I won't be very critical or demanding.

What I'm hoping to buy is a keyboard that would be midi capable (of course) and have a good variety of keyboard sounds, but specifically piano (acoustic and electric), organ (the Classic Hammond variety), wierd synth sounds, and typical string sounds, all for about $500. Don't laugh!

I know you can get all this and more for less money from Casio,
but the sounds are just too cheesey, even for me.
I heard an Alesis QS6.1 sound like a pretty decent Fender Rhodes, but can it do the other stuff too? That would be in the price range.

So can it be done with one unit, or should I be looking at two?


Twist

[AlinMV]

The Alesis QS 6.1 might do it for you, but I think that the sounds are fairly cheesy compared to other manufacturers' boards. I would look at the S30 from Yamaha. I don't know what the price is on a new S30, but I would spend $500 on a used S30 before I'd buy the Alesis board new. Roland may also have something in that price range such as the xp-30??? But, IMHO, I would go with the S30. It has the same engine as the S80, and its newer brother S90.

Bottom line, the S30 is a much better Synth than the Alesis. It has excellent Pianos and amazing EP's, the organs are very good, and has synth sounds you can tweak and play with.

I generally like the Roland strings better, but the S30 will do you fine in that department as well.

Good luck

Albert

[twist]

Thanks Albert, I'll see if I can find one to test drive this weekend.


Twist

[Rolando]

Take a look at the Roland RS-5. In that range, with great sounds for the price, 512 presets taken from the XV synths, JV modules, and some of Roland's expansion cards. They also sell an 88 key version called the RS-9 which is a bit pricier.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Great piano sounds are as hard to capture as drum hardware (cymbals/HHs)....

My keyboard player spent $2K on a an excellent digital piano and still the patches aren't comparable to the real thing!

[Badger]

The best piano sounds are modeled, not sampled. And the General Music Pro2 is king. Its also the best rhodes sound out ther, but its a bit more than 500 bucks.

[musac]

keep your 500 and save up for a triton at least that way you wont be dissatisfied

[dafduc]

The Alesis native EP sounds aren't too good (unless you want that Supertramp sound), but their Vintage Keys Q-Card has some good EP patches on it. Q-Cards list for $250, but they're usually way cheaper. I got mine for $50 during their bankruptcy thing.

I like my 8.1 a lot, but mostly for its touch - have to slog through a LOT of patches to find good ones, and the editing interface sux. Don't know what the ".2" upgrade bought you, besides a silver case. DO NOT buy a QS-6 - didn't have the sames guts as the 7 & 8. The .1s and .2s match (I think the 7 is gone, though).

[twist]

Thanks for the info guys, I'm still looking. I found a used yamaha S 03. I was not terribly impressed, but it might do. I'm thinking I'd like to take it home for the weekend so I could audition it a little more thoroughly. It's kinda hard to tell in the store sometimes.

I haven't found an RS-5 to audition yet. Thanks for the tip Rolando.

I hope I can find something that doesn't sound like a toy in my price range. The Alesis had some good sounds, but the strings were pretty cheesey. I found a used one for $425.

Twist

[brzilian]

Originally posted by Rolando
Take a look at the Roland RS-5. In that range, with great sounds for the price, 512 presets taken from the XV synths, JV modules, and some of Roland's expansion cards. They also sell an 88 key version called the RS-9 which is a bit pricier.

I agree that the RS-5 would be a better buy. The Alesis sounds from the QS series have never impressed me.

[PhilMckracken]

I know the answer. The Kawai MP9000 has excellent piano sounds, organ, bass and strings but no synth type sounds. Anyway, I mention this becuase the MP9500 is out and whatever stock is left on the MP9000 is going for about $800.00. You can probably pick up a used one for less and it has 88 hammer action weighted keys. This is a great deal, I am sure becuase I bought one about a year and ahalf ago for more that $1,500. I considered trading it in for the new model but decided that I could live with the original model for now since the paino sounds are great.

Many will say get the General Music pro 2 but now they have a pro 3 that costs even more. Nether one will be available for the price of the Kawai and I believe the Kawai easily holds its own by comparison.

After you have done that, you can get a used roland module or even an EMU Proteus which are going rather cheap these days and for about $1,200 you would have everything.

I realize this is more than you wanted to spend but it can be done it two stages and thus you would never have to spend much more than $500.00 at any given time.

SEriously think about this becuase buying budget never gets it. You end up spending more when you realize that the cheap stuf just does not make it and you need to sell it and get somethign that you can stand to listen to.

Don't be a sucker and buy the extra cheap stuff. Remember, you get what you pay for and nowadays, there are really good keyboards for decent prices to the point that spending the additiona one, two or three hundred will certainly be well worth it in the long run.

Good luck!

[twist]

That's very good advice Phil, and I found out in a hurry that you're absolutely correct. Thanks again everyone, for all your help, as always, I'm still shopping.


Twist

[stonepiano]

I went a looking around for this Kawai board and found John's page about it. you can grab some sounds if you're as interested as I was...

http://home.austin.rr.com/johner/index.html

[microchip]

I saw that someone beat me to it, but I would like to 2nd the suggestion on the RS-5.

It might be slightly out of your price range new, but you should be able to pick up a used one for what you are wanting to spend.

Good luck!

Micro