Recommendations?

famous beagle

Well-known member
Hey everyone,

My band just recently lost our keyboard player, and I ended up playing all the keys parts on our album, using the Rhodes and Hammond organ at the studio. After some thought, we decided to just find another guitarist instead and go the Radiohead/Beatles route of having several multi-instrumentalists as opposed to one dedicated keyboardist because there may be songs where we'd need 3 guitar parts.

Anyway, so now the problem is that we need to buy a decent workhorse keyboard. We already have a Moog to handle the analog synth sounds, so the main sounds we need are acoustic piano, Rhodes/Wurlis, and organ.

I've seen what's available new, and I'm hoping to save some money by going the used route. But I'm hoping to save some time by hearing some good recommendations.

I'd like to stay in the $500 - $600 ball park (I don't need a Nord or anything!).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
Hey everyone,

My band just recently lost our keyboard player, and I ended up playing all the keys parts on our album, using the Rhodes and Hammond organ at the studio. After some thought, we decided to just find another guitarist instead and go the Radiohead/Beatles route of having several multi-instrumentalists as opposed to one dedicated keyboardist because there may be songs where we'd need 3 guitar parts.

Anyway, so now the problem is that we need to buy a decent workhorse keyboard. We already have a Moog to handle the analog synth sounds, so the main sounds we need are acoustic piano, Rhodes/Wurlis, and organ.

I've seen what's available new, and I'm hoping to save some money by going the used route. But I'm hoping to save some time by hearing some good recommendations.

I'd like to stay in the $500 - $600 ball park (I don't need a Nord or anything!).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

What about a sampler? Get the parts loaded and modeled, then use as required. It would only be cheesy when there are large synthesizer/keyboard parts. Guy working the Moog could work the sampler. Just another view of the problem.
 
I've got a really old Alesis and I love the piano patch on it. I'd say go to your local music store and try out the different keyboards and listen to the pianos on each. I think it's the hardest instrument to accurately recreate. Once you find a ballpark product, shop on eBay or CL.

fwiw: My Alesis does a nice Rhodes patch also, but it ain't so great for the Hammond B3. Go figure.
 
I use a Yamaha 635 got nice Grand piano sounds and the rest of the banks are not too bad
 
DM60: I've never worked with a sampler before so that would be a learning curve for sure, but I may look into it if nothing else works out. Thanks!

Thanks for all the suggestions y'all. But I was thinking of something more like these ... only slightly older models that I could get for less.

Roland V-Combo VR-09 61-key Stage Performance Keyboard | Sweetwater.com

Roland JUNO-Gi 61-Key Synthesizer | Sweetwater.com


It seems that, in the new market, they're a bunch in the $1K - $1.5K range and then they kind of jump up to the $3K range and above with the Nords, etc.
 
I've heard a lot of good things about the Juno, I have always been a fan of Roland keyboards and sound modules for many years. I think their piano sound is as good as anyone's. I purchased for my daughter the RD-300NX, she play an upright as well and I/she are pleased with the key action and the piano sound coming from the machine I think sound rather good. (I worried the keyboard would give her issues with the acoustic piano from a playing stand point)

I believe the Juno shares a lot of the same components, plus if you ever incorporate more into your sound, this will allow you to expand. Not as simple as a sampler, but it would do the trick. Lots of flexibility with the Juno.
 
Back
Top