Keyboard Effects

  • Thread starter Thread starter karabiners
  • Start date Start date
K

karabiners

New member
I'm trying to find an effects pedal console I can use for keyboard, guitar and bass...does such a thing exist? I'm looking at Zoom's GFX-707 or something...
Is digitech's RP-7 any good?
 
Well, most keyboards made in the past ten years or so have their own effects processor built in. The advantage is that you can save the effects settings together with a patch, so the effect becomes part of the patch.

Do you have a keyboard with no effects built in? Are you saying that you want to buy a single effects pedal console that will be the best compromise for all three instruments?
 
Thanks for the reply...

To put things in context: I own a 5 yr old Yamaha PSR310. It has bright coloured buttons and so is a couple of steps away from a toy, but some of the strings sounds are nice.

I don't even know what a patch is.

I'm wanting to get a pedal console with delay/reverb fx for keyboard, vocals and bass, as well as general distortion/tremolo/wah/maybe amp simulators for elec. guitar. - like you say, the best compromise for all of 'em.

Suggestions I've had so far:

Boss ME-30
Line6 POD (I didn't think this had pedals?Out of my price range anyway...unless maybe I import.)
Start witht he GFX707 and upgrade later
The 707 is a digital unit and therefore crap, as everyone's going back to analog.

Maybe I should just try to import a GT3 (those things are $US570 over here in Australia - I here they're around $350 in the US???

Money IS a concern here... Damn this is frustrating.
 
Sorry, in reading back my last post I realized it came off more stern than I meant it to. :) The fact is I wanted to give you some kind of help but I'm not very familiar with guitar effects.

For your keyboard, I think mostly what you want is a good reverb sound, and then after that maybe chorus for sounds like strings. However, the string sound is probably already "chorused' in some way so adding another chorus effect might make it worse. Some of the boxes have a rotary speaker effect, which would probably sound good if your keyboard has an organ sound. If it were me, I would base it on what made the best guitar sound and leave the keyboard as a secondary consideration. All the boxes you mentioned have reverb so it's really just a question of which has the best and smoothest reverb. And that might be a related to the price.

Here are some catalog prices (US) of the stuff you mentioned:
Zoom GFX707 $160
Boss ME-30 $230
Line 6 POD $300
Boss GT3 $400

Digitech has a few, also. And how about the DOD VGS50? There are so many. Like I said, I'm not familiar with the sound of any of these. You might get a better answer asking on the guitar forum. Many people here swear by the POD for guitar. I wonder if it really has a decent reverb sound, though, since they put so much of the emphasis on guitar distortion. Besides, you need to spend extra to get the POD pedalboard. But I suspect that in general, the more you spend, the better the sound will be for keyboards.

Don't get fooled by the "analog" terms they use. Without opening them up, I'm pretty certain all of these are digital. (Although, it looks like the DOD VGS50 does have a tube preamp, so you can call that real analog) When they advertise an "analog distortion" sound I think they mean that they a simulating an analog distortion sound using a digital processor. (It's a program running on a digital signal processor, a DSP) The POD is digital and it's not crap.

You need to be an old fart to know what the word "patch" means. It comes from the old days of modular synthesizers. You would set up sounds on one by connecting (or patching) various modules together with cords (called patch cords). So once you set up a sound you liked, that sound was called a "patch". Since then, synthesizers have become more integrated so that you don't need to connect the different parts with patch cords, but the term has been carried over and we still call a sound a patch. But on something like a PSR310 where the sounds are not editable (I don't think?) you don't call it a patch, just a sound.

Jim
 
Hi I live in Australia too so I am familiar with our imported gear being more expensive than overseas. As the PSR310 is only a fairly basic keyboard wouldn't you be better off to trade it for a slightly better one. This way you would get more flexibility and more up to date sound and it would be cheaper than an external effects unit. The Roland EM20 is now only $650 it sounds quite good for a low end keyboard and you can layer the sounds too. Just a thought but might be more satisfying in the long run.
 
I use an rp-7 for my main guitar pre-amp.
It cost me I think $459 Canadian, so I don't know about Australia. Don't they use beer caps for currency there? (sorry)

Anyway, the rp-7 is the thing I wish I'd had about ten years ago.
It has lots of effects, fully configurable, patch storing to the nth degree, and it is extremely clear and warm.
Adds almost no noise unless you want it..
Excellent compressor and delay, good warm sustain, lots of pitch thingies etc. etc. etc.
 
karabiners, I can suggest this. I dont know how important using the effects are on the output of the keyboard - since you se to keep saying about guitar and bass, I can suggest a roland vg-99. It's a guitar/bass efx processor, however, you can use it as just reverb also. It's a digital efx processor that allows you to chain effects together.

I use the VG-99 with all my keyboards as well as guitars.

Just my $.02

Cheers
 
Nothing like hashing up an 8 year old thread... :rolleyes:
 
OMG!!! LOL I didnt even realize the date until you said that. The guy who replied Kakashi dug this one up out of the grave :D

I notice it is his first post? :confused:

IDGI ?

Cheers
 
Back
Top