What keyboard should I buy considering my purpose?

[westermane]

Hi all,

As of now, I know nothing about keyboards. Most of my time is spent recording songs on my multitrack. But now, I feel it is time to add some extra sound to my songs. I need a keyboard that has some good backing effects for songs (such as strings, etc.). I've used a keyboard once, that had one feature that I'm looking for - when you would hit a certain key, instead of just playing the note, it would play more like a chord, so it sounded very full - like you had a string quartet or something (I told you, I really know nothing about this subject!). Anyway, I'm not interested in a bunch of fancy features that I'll never use. I want a keyboard that has some good effects to back up a song, and that feature which I'm doing a bad job describing. Can you guys suggest a keyboard that is not too expensive for this purpose?

Thanks!!!!!

 

[mikeh]

If you don't actually plays keys and you are looking more for single note string lines or pad sounds which you plan to simply record the analog sound from, you should look into a used "consumer" (home keyboard) like a Casio or Yamaha. Many of these have decent sounds and you could pick one up for maybe $100-$200 (maybe less). If you want somethinng you can grow with - then you should look at a performance keyboard like a Roland XP30.

Keep in mind that although you may not be a keyboard player now, the more you use a keyboard the better your chops get and the more you expect the keyboard to do (MIDI apllications, sequencing, layering sounds - which requires mnore polyphonic capibilities, etc.)

 

[still-learnin]

Mikeh is right on the mark.

I got into sequencing accidentally. I bought a "consumer" keyboard for a couple hundred bucks just to do homework on (music major). It served my purpose at the time, but as my keyboarding abilities grew, I began to realize that it was a real piece of crap. Basically, I outgrew my equipment.

My advice - go with a Roland XP-anything. I have an XP-50, and it's great. Check out Ebay, and you can get one for maybe $400, cuz it's been replaced by the next-generation XP-80. Right now, you don't think you'll need all those "fancy features", but I think you'll change your mind once you start foolin around with it.