please help a newbie choose

S

shadowfax

New member
hello all. i currently have an electronic keyboard which i only use for practice. i would describe it as 'the most expensive thing you're likely to find at a toy store.' anyhow, now i've got a PA, so using keyboards with my band is possible, and i'm looking for a new one. I'd be splitting the cost with a bandmate of mine. We can do about 1500 canadian, which translates to just under 1k USD. Buying used is definantly something we're considering... i've been scouring ebay quite often, but i know very little about the models. prefferably, the model we'll settle on would have weighted keys and at least, but preferably more than 61 keys. lots of voices is a plus, but quality over quantity. Please recommend some models in my price range, and in return you shall receive my eternal gratitude and everlasting appreciation. :)
 
If you're looking for something full size and weighted the Korg N1 is a good bet. Nice enough organ and EP sounds if you're into that sort of thing. Full size and weighted aswell. Heavy SOB though.
 
In your price range I would look for an analog modelling synth. That is if you dont need a sequencer. The Korg MS2000 kicks soo much ass.
 
I agree. The MS2000 is bad ass and cheap. It kinda depends on what kind of music you want to do though.
What kind of band is it?
 
Oh and what a controller! With knobs for controlling things you didn't know you had. I grab the cutof knob and twist a Wavetable cymbal into a shred of its former self. This thing is so flexible it'll blow your mind.
 
Flexible and good sounding maybe, but I hardly consider the MS2000 a good solution for every type of music.

First off, you are limited to 4 note polyphony. Then you have the small keyboard (only 49 keys - hardly enough if you have any kind of real piano training) and the fact that you would be hard pressed to get a convincing "real" instrument sound out of it like a piano sound.

The MS2000 may work well for any type of electronic music or anywhere you need an "analog" synth touch, but its hardly an all around workhorse synth like other offering from Roland, Yamaha and Korg.
 
Good points brzilian, I have piano modules and an 88 key controller for that, so I wasn't really thinking about that. I figure if you are using it as a controller the 4 note poly won't mean a thing nor the lack of piano sounds. But as an all around MIDI controller it really stands out. I can take complete control of any module in the studio (filters, resonance, cutoff, envelopes). It really opened the world of MIDI up to me. But the bizzare and nearly frightening sounds and vocoder are truly mindblowing and 4 note polyphony doesn't scratch the surface of what it does.

So it all comes down to what you want...what DO you want?

If it's to be a controller why not just get a nice Roland A-30 or something.
 
first of all, thanks for all the replies! second... we probably wont be doing a terrible amount of midi controling... while the MS2000 looks pretty cool i doubt it would work for what we'd be using it for. although, considering i also do a fair amount of tracking other bands in my modest basement studio, and do some other stuff on my own closer to nin than what my band sounds like (more of a mogwai/sonic youth type thing, if you can imagine...) perhaps i'll get a lot more into the kind of thing i'd need an MS2000 for. for the moment, however, the roland xp series looks like it'll do. is there anything i need to know about it? any experiences? good or bad?
 
I got a XP30, and I really like it. The only thing that kinda bothers me is the hassle you got to go thru if you were to edit the patches/waves on the keyboard itself opposed to do the editing via MIDI. So, I would recommend you to know a little bit about MIDI and edit the sounds in XP30 with the software that comes with the keyboard. Then, you will love it

AL
 
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