Guitarist needs help picking out a keyboard

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beyond Reason
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Beyond Reason

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I hope someone out there can help me. Just found this site a couple days ago. This is my first post although I have been lurking around for a while, kind of catching up.

I am primairly a guitarist and bass player. I do songwriting and recording with a couple friends of mine both of which are also guitarists (somewhat overloaded in the 6-12 string department!). We are looking to expand our sound a little. My one friend and I both can play some keyboards. We are seriously considering the Alesis QS8.1. It's a little more money than I'd like to spend (about $1,500.00) but we're willing to stretch a bit. I played one recently and found the action to be great!! The one thing I don't like about keyboards in general is the plastic, cheap, keyboard feel. To me the QS8 felt like my upright piano (which I'm very used to).

So, enough prattle, on to the question. Are there other keyboards I should be looking at? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
I for one love the QS8.1 but it's more of a midi controller/sequencer than a performance keyboard. Now don't get me wrong, it tracks well and has some good voices on it, but if you're just looking for something for composition and practice, you won't need all that other stuff.

I posted a message here recently (within the last two weeks) about the Generalmusic Pro 2 asking if anyone had heard/played it and received no replies, but I've been told that the action is unbeatable and the piano voices are the best in the industry. It's got a good sized price tag too, but if you want top notch piano tones (at least from what I'm told) this is the keyboard for you. It's also got some good organs and elec piano tones as well as strings. (this all comes from their website www.generalmusic.com ) The Pro 2 is also midi oriented, but is more of a studio instrument. The Pro 1 is a cheaper version of the pro 2 with the same action and piano tones and less of the midi sequencing power, so this (Pro 1) may REALLY be the keyboard for you. If I'm not mistaken it goes for about 1000 smackers. The only drawback of the Pro 2 as compared to the 8.1 is that it has no modulation wheel, so there's no Leslie effect on the organ tones. So check it out and keep me posted.

Hope I've helped a little.

--Tax
 
Good - more homework!!

Yeah! You helped out a lot. At least I've got something else to check out and compare.

Anyone else?

Thanks
 
I know what you mean!!

Hi
I hadthe exact same problem (originally guitar player too). What I did was buy a Fatar weighted 88 Key Midi Controller second hand (£400) and bought a good sound module to use with it. The benefit of this is that you have the feel of a piano and you can also change or add more modules but maintain the "feel"

Regards
 
Thanks. I never thought of that. I will check it out. Anyone else?
 
The Ensoniq ZR-76 Composition Keyboard is worth checking out. It can be had for $1700.00 which is more than your budget but it's worth it IMHO. Good luck!
 
Since you are a guitar player why don't you a guitar synth? The Roland GR-33 is pretty good I've heard. It is driven by the JV-1080 I think. If you don't like the sounds on it you can always get another sound module and use the GR-30 as a controller.
 
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