keyboard i should buy

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alanray

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hi!
i'm big into recording and am looking for a new keyboard. right now i have a boss dr-5 that serves as a keyboard and a drum machine. i'm looking for something better for the keys. i'm looking at synths..... i guess i want something w/ good piano, strings, and organ stuff among others.... it be cool to be able to make original sounds w/ it too..... (i do a lot of different styles) i would probably spend about $450-$600 on it...
also you can kinda hear what i have now at www.mp3.com/OriginalOrganism
thanks~
alanray
 
I would highly reccomend the Roland JV 1010 sound
module and a Keyboard controller, like the Evolution
by Roland/Edirol. Figure $395 for the JV 1010, $120
for the keyboard controller, 10 bucks for a midi cable
(better yet, ask the store to throw it in for free, they
usually do).

The JV 1010 sounds great, really. I am constantly amazed at the sounds I get out of this thing, there are 1000 presets, and for the money there is nothing out there even close to it. $395 is Casio and Yamaha Psr
budget, and this would clobber them.

The main flaw with the JV 1010 is that it is very difficult to work without a computer, and I would never use it live ( I am a violinist, not a keyboard player). With a computer it is very easy, it took me about a half hour
to learn.

Good luck, nice job on the MP3, I wish the vocals were
louder, but I did lo-fi. Cheers David
 
hey, sounds pretty good! i looked into it a little bit and it looks cool. i'm not familiar w/ sound modules, but it looks like this would actually be better for me than a synth w/ keyboard attached because i could prolly control it w/ my dr-5 (as well as an external keyboard). anyway, w/ these sound module things, is it possible to recoerd patterns (w/ multiple instruments at once?) i don;'t know much about them like i said....
 
just a bear...lost in the woods......

Hey DaveK, Alan,!!

What exactly is a "sound Module" ?? I am interested in getting some thing to this effect. By a controller, do you mean like I could get a "basic" keyboard, (I am looking for one with 88keys) and it hooks up to a "Module" (like a processor??), I would only be using this on a PC, and I am looking at making drum tracks, and percussion. I have another post here asking similar questions, but while reading this I thought that I would ask if you could expand a little on this "controller" and "module" theory!! Thanx!!
 
bear, a sound module is basically a synth without keys,
and a controller is basically a keyboard without a synth.
Sound modules save space, and are a bit cheaper.

If you are not a keyboardist ( I am not) you probably only need a 49 key keyboard, and they are very inexpensive, you just plug a midi cable from the keyboard to the module and you are set. The 88 keys are expensive, but if you need em you need em

The drums and percussion sound mighty fine on the Jv1010, there are several kits to choose from.

Alan, multiple instruments at once? Not really, unless you had a fancy controller that transmits over several midi channels, but in general, you record one line at a time. Of course with a sequencer you can record patterns, just lay down the instruments seperately.

I have two modules, the roland and an Alesis, and a midisport 2x2 usb interface, so with a program like cakewalk, I can get 32 channels of midi at the same time, which is about all I need. Cheers Dave
 
at that price range , I don't think anything can touch the jv1010.

THe acoustic instruments are acoustic.
the analog instuments are analog
the synths are synths
everything is just right on it. Very realistic
 
can you teach an old Bear NEW tricks???

Thanx for the education...I have a bad habit of thinking of things and going out, spending a fortune and finding that what ever it is I bought, didn't do what I was thinking.....I find it safer (on my wallet at least!!!) to hang out here and find out what is going on. I will check out the Roland gear, I would like it to all be from the same manufacturer......seems that they would play together nicer........(no pun intended) off to Rolands website!!!!!!!!!! Thank you again!!!!
 
The best for the price...

I would have to recommend Yamaha's CS2X... For the price the versatility and quality is amazing. It was my first synth, I got it when it first came out, still today I am amazed at the power for the price. You should be able to find it for around $600 which is at the higher end of your budget, but it is definitely worth it.

Good music stores should probably have it, play around with it... It has decent filters, and the 8 knobs on there are great. It is best suited for electronic music of all sorts, but it has some decent realistic sounds as well. Its drum kits are rather good, and it has some excellent pads.

Everything you need built into one machine... No sequencer, but you can use your computer for that.
 
Thanx for the input

Howdy all.......I went and checked it out at MusFriend, it is currently 700.00. A little more than I would like to spend, but I am a firm believer in the fact that you get what you pay for. Thanx for the heads up, still not ready for a key board, still getting used to Cakepro9 and simply laying down tracks, etc. I have been doing research heavily on the boards though.

How do you like the drums on it? Drums and percussion is one of the main things that I am looking for, and how record friendly is it?? I appreciate your help, the more the better.
 
dead link???

seems like the link is deaaaaaaaaaaaaad. Could be that they are working on their site but the forum page was up. I will try it again on another day!!! Cool forum......looks like this type of forum software is rather popular!!! I started reading some threads, appreciate the input
 
The jv 1010 is a good sounding unit.If your budget is flexable try to scope out a used or blowout price kurzweil k2000.It doesnt have as much polyphany but it offers 4 oscilators per voice of different types of synthesis to bulk and change sampled sounds and waveforms, so you probably would have plenty with it. My advice would be to buy used, and make sure you get the owners manual in the deal.
If your more into synthesis scope out a used yamaha an1x or korg z1, either of wich are great except as dsp analog modelers thet are limited(10 notes and 11 respectavely), but in otherways unlimited.

Most likely the jv 1010 or a used k2000 would knock your socks off.The k2000 is also a sampler and sequencer, so no shortage of sounds.
If you have a pc you can also expand your palette with soft synths. There are a few out there for peanuts:
http://www.maz-sound.com/synths.html

The k2000 used, maybe the rackmount version could be in your pricerange, if not oops. So would the jv 1010. Those 2 stand out in my mind
 
Another synth that you could find mused is the kawai k5000. It is a workstation with sequencer that combines sample playback with additive synthesis. You can really do interesting things with a board like that, its a trip. Its a few years old(96), I bet you could find one for $600us if your lucky. The kurzweil, the roland, and kawai are all different beasts. The Kurzweil and kawai each allow unique ways of synthesis to combine with sampled sounds wich the roland does not. As far as in the box sampled sounds the roland has the upper edge,but the kurzweil reads sample disks, so you can be flexable. Both the kurzweil and kawai have built in sequencers.
 
cool!!!

Wow!! Lots of info, I have been checking them all out, it helps to play them. Going to check more out next weekend. Can't tell ya how much I appreciate the input.......so many musical instruments.....so little time!! Gilwe....I will try again!!! Later
 
I would get a XP-30 it cost more but you get all the sounds from the JV2080 + Techno,Orchestral,Session expansion boards with two expansion slots free.



Danny.
 
AIEEEEEE! Careful.

Re: JV1010

The actual drum sounds on the DR-5 are excellent. In fact, the exact same quality and, in fact, the same samples as many Roland modules. You will get a little more control with the 1010, but the actual quality of many of the samples you already use might not change. The differences between the two may be marginal. If you consider the 1010, bring the DR-5 into the store to A/B them. The differences may not be worth the cost.

Re: Yamaha CS1x/CS2x

Excellent keyboards for generating your own alalog-type sounds. However, the CS1x has shit sampled tones (I can't comment for sure about the CS2x). If you want authentic sounding instruments, stay away from the CS1x. If you want to layer sounds with cool filters, then it is a fun synth.

I personally use a JV-1080 which is decent. Also, the price may be dropping to your level because Roland has so many newer modules available.


Me
(Who also owns a DR-5 and a CS1x).
 
BBB brings up a valid point, the Boss and the Roland probably have the same drum sounds, Boss and Roland are the same company. I dont use the JV1010 much for drums, and if that is a
reason for looking at the JV1010 then BBB is right, it is overkill.

However, the JV1010 has lots of great non-drum sounds, and it is
still a great bargain.

R jaybird brought up the Kurzweil K2000. I had one of those,
and if you can swing the money, I agree, that is a killer machine.
Good Luck
 
A few sites to aid your research:
www.vintagesynth.com
www.sonicstate.com
www.synthzone.com

Also there are cool software synths:
Reaktor
tassman
Dreamsynth(its affordable)
Orion(its affordable too)
absynth
reason
waldorf ppg wave
native instruments b3
I beleive tassman is included with sonar xl. By its self its $399, so if you have a windows machine that package may be a great recording solution(sonar is the latest cakewalk).
 
ummmmmm....

Kinda lost me there....are ya'll suggesting a "Boss DR-5"? Is that a keyboard or a drum machine? Going back to surf Rolands site, and see what's up. laterrrrrrrrrr
 
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