IT's so hard to choose!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Azathoth
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Azathoth

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Hi,

I'm a V-drummer, guitarist and keyboardist wannabe.

I like metal band with keyboard and "ambiant sound" like children of bodom, rhapsody, cradle of filth, stratovarius etc etc

I want to buy my first keyboard but i don't know where to start.. I checked yamaha rolland and korg website but i'm more confuse than ever.

here is what i need.

Good piano sound
Good string and brass sound
I don't think a need a sequencer built in sinc e i can use cakewalk.
I would like something in the 1000$ range (i can adjust if its for a really good reason)
I don't really need all the beats include in some keyboard since a like to play with other human. (so i can live without them to save a few bucks)
I don't really need the keyboard to have built in speaker since a will plug everything in my mixer/monitor system.
Easy to use

Like i said i will use this keyboard fur movie score, classical music and metal. (and maybe for some walt disney song if it can help me having some luck with my girlfriend!)

I don't know if i should go with a controller and module or a all in 1 thing or...61, 76 or 88 key?

I don't want something to cheap that i won't use in a month. I don't know if you can find something in my price range but plsz try. it would be really appreciate.

Azathoth
 
On the same mission myself. It's not only confusing, it's frustrating too. You really need to check out a good store.
For a short list though, cheapest first...
Korg X5D - An old design but still useful. Cheap.
Yamaha CS2X - XG sound set and some knobs to play with.
Roland RS-5 - Sound Canvas sounds
Roland RS-9 - Ditto but 88 note "synth" keyboard (not a weighted piano one)
For soundtrack stuff you might want to check out the Emu Proteus Keys. This has the advantage that you can add extra sound rom cards, all the others are fixed.

It's pretty hard to find one synth that doesn't have some nasty limitation too it though. Piano sounds are very subjective and the trickiest to get right. The X5D pianos can sound great over a track but crap on their own for instance.
String ensemble sounds are usually pretty good in all synths. Solo strings? Well, Cellos do well but violins never work. Brass are usually just awful to my ears. That could be because I don't like Brass anyway :)
 
As always i recommend the Roland XP-30 do a search on these forums TONS of info.
 
Toad Rush said:
As always i recommend the Roland XP-30 do a search on these forums TONS of info.
Click to expand...

Yeah i try to go to a store and try one and the guy there (not very kind) laught at me and said. "Sorry they are no longuer in production. this is an old model" I don't know if he lie to me just because he didn't have any in stock.

On the previous reply there was some suggestion. the roland Rs5 seem's good. Seem's to have all i need. The true test will be the sound.

You suggest me the yamaha csr2 but i think the s03 would be more for me (since i'm not too much into dance and the csr2 seem the to be dance oriented) ...pls correct me if i'm wrong.

Anyway...i'll go for sure in another store to see if i can try a xp30, i'll check the s03 the other rolland that you suggest me.

The keyboardist from cradle of filth use an xp80 and a kurzweil k2000 and the sound is amazing IMO. If the xp30 have the same sounds as the xp80 i guess i would be satisfied (if i had more money i think i would go for a kurz....but they are so expensive...and i'm not ready for that kind of comitment!!!)

Anyway thanks everybody...I guess i really must go to the store and try them now that i have three good candidate.

pls keep suggesting. I really want to buy something that will be suited to my needs (mostly metal and horror movie score...and if i learn to play properly maybe a little bit of classic)


Thanks all!
Azathoth
 
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Yes the xp-80 is the same keyboard, except it has a sequencer.
 
Good call with the XP-30. I did think it was out of the price range but I see it's now being discounted a good bit.
I just d/loaded it's patch list. 5 pages!
It's on my short list now. Does it have a patch editor/library program for PC and does it run under Windows XP?
 
Yes it does, you can find it if you look around on sites. If not drop me a PM or something and i'll send it to you. Yes, it runs on my WinXP professional.
 
Jim Y said:
[B}
Roland RS-5 - Sound Canvas sounds
Roland RS-9 - Ditto but 88 note "synth" keyboard (not a weighted piano one)
[/B]
Click to expand...

Not true. The RS series synths have a "best of" soundset from both the JV/XP and XV line of synths as well as the SR-JV series of expansion boards.

The XP10 shares sounds with the Sound Canvas modules.
 
My bad. I still think of Roland "generic" presets as Sound canvas.
The patch names seem familiar though.

I tried to order an XP-30. No go. Obsolete and no remaining stock.
This is a pity as there is nothing else like it in the range. There is the new RS-50 but that has a fixed and apparently (I can't find patch lists as there are no support files for it yet) limited sound set.

This is difficult. Korg have nothing between the ancient X5DR and new Trinity LE. The Trinity may be a good bet but it has a sequencer I don't need. I have heard that the Trinity piano sucks.

Not sure about Yamahas range. I can find very little on the S series models. No-one over here seems to stock anything between the CS2x and the flagship workstations.

Very frustrating. I don't want to go down the module road. They seem poor value for money and I don't want to get into having more boxes and cables than I already have.
 
Yup, like you said i went to an another store yesterday and still no xp 30. the yamaha s03 and roland rs5 was there. I tryed the s03 because it was already hook but i had to try it with headphones. I don't know what was the problem but with the volume at max i could barely hear me in the headphone. This was frustrating because i couldn't really get the feel of the instrument. I tryed a couple of patche but i was not blown away. The one i randomly chose were not that inspiring, not bad but not like Wow this is the sound!!! (i didn't find the grand piano) The only thing that caught my eye is the orange screen! It was very bright and very easy to read. I hate and totally hate when i haveto put my eyes 3 cm from the lcd to read.

I didn't try the roland because i was not there to keyboard shop and i was with someone in a hury but in montreal the s03 is 700$ and the rs5 is 950$ so i can't wait to try both of them with an amp and see the difference.

Azathoth
 
I was in the same boat you're in and I asked alot of questions on this board (and got great help from many) and did alot of research on the web. Finally settled on the Roland XP-30, found it on eBay for $590. It arrived in perfect shape and I love it.

rpe
 
I have the Roland RS-5 and my little sister has an S03.

I would avoid getting the S03! The keyboard action is about the worst I've ever played on. It looks cheap, it feels cheap and it sounds cheap. I'm not really happy with my RS-5 either, but I can tell you it's way better than the S03.

The piano sounds on the roland are not very good. The presets are terrible, but if you tweak the hell out of them you can get an ok piano sound, but I'm far from satisfied. What I like about it is mostly the electric pianos, that I think are very good. If you like retro-synth stuff, it's got loads of these sounds. The keyboard action is great and it feels nice to be able to control the leslie effect on an organ-sound with a controller pedal.

The downside of this board is zero expandability and poor piano-sound (better than S03 though). I'd buy something else like a used roland XP-30.
 
Swede said:
I have the Roland RS-5 and my little sister has an S03.
Click to expand...

Thank man... I'm happy to hear something from somebody who try them side by side.

I was not impress with the s03 and was looking forward to try the roland but i read some reviews on different site and peoples doesn't seems to be totally in love with the rs too. (I'll still try one just to be sure).

I'm not interrested in retro keyboard sound and the e pianos are not important to me at all. If these 2 keyboard are not so amazing i guess i'll have to wait before getting something. I don't really trust ebay and i like me stuff to be new. Or if it s used i still like to see and touch the thing before i buy.

In fact i never used ebay...is there any guaranty that you will receive your stuff? because i don't want to pay like 500$ and receive nothing? (i don't really know how ebay works!) The other problem is i'm in canada...so the price on ebay are us not canadien...i don't know how to deal with that. (i think there is www.ebay.ca but...)

Anyway thanks alot swede!

Azathoth
 
You're welcome.

I bougt the RS-5 a couple of years ago and wasn't very experienced with synths. Now I think I made a big mistake and I am looking for an upgrade. If I was to do it all over again I would have saved up for something like a korg triton LE or looked out for great deals on used equipment. But I don't know about eBay. Seems a little risky to me.

Good luck!
 
Well I tracked down an XP-30 today. Have to say I was really disappointed. The basic piano/organ sounds are no better than my aging Korg X5. It's synth sounds have real resonance and portamento but I found the thing had a pervasive blandness to all it's sounds. Nothing had any guts, even the grungy Hammonds.
Keyboard was nothing special
Looks like I'll have to go the module road after all. Specialist ones rather than a jack of all trades.
Anyone know a good acoustic piano module?
 
To find the piano you like the most do a web search for piano shootout. I was on one of those site with a lot of piano and all the same song recorded in mp3 but all recorded from different piano. I'm not an expert and i never spend enought time near a real pianos to know what is a "real" piano sound BUT...as a musician i know what i like and from all the piano i heard the kurzweil piano was my favorite ( i think is was from a pcr2 or maybe from the k serie)

I like a piano sound to be warm...You know...when you hit the low notes you got to feel something...you got to feel the bass! again maybe i'm just dreaming and maybe this is not a reallistic sound but this is what i like.

I'm curious to see what kind of module you are going to suggest!

Azathoth
 
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Azaroth, check your e-mail. It's not much but at least it's something.
 
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