Keyboards around $600

  • Thread starter Thread starter rpe
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rpe

rpe

NM - Land of Excrement
I’ve been researching many different synthesizers in the <$600 range. I’m not a keyboard player but want to add sounds to compliment electric and acoustic guitar recording into my PC. The synths I’ve researched are:

Yamaha S03
Alesis QS6
E-mu’s XK, MK, PK-6
Korg X5D
Roland XP-10

I’m leaning toward the Alesis QS6. May I please have your opinions about this choice?

Thanks,

rpe
 
Get a QSR and an 88 weighted key controller. Perhaps the new Studio Logic?
 
What kind of sounds do you want? Certain manufacturers do certain things well.

I think Yamaha does nice "realistic" sounds and synth lead patches in their latest soundset ... does the S03 use the same sounds as the S90 or Motif? That may be a nice bet for that ...

Roland's sounds tend to be a little "hyped," like they take a sound and either record the sample or process after the fact to bring out something that's the essence of that sound ... for example, a sax sound might not be as full as on a Kurweil or Yamaha, but it will have the bite and reediness really accented ... they process it ... that could either be easier for you, or limiting, depending on what you want to do ...

I think the Alesis sounds are somewhat "plasticky" ... if you do techno/electronica/house/trance this could be EXACTLY what you want. If you do more organic roots-rock, you may have better options ...

Korg has some nice sounds, "processed" sounding in a different way from Roland.

I don't have experience with Emu to comment ...

Have you gone to your local music store, requested a pair of heaphones, and just played several different boards yet? That's a great way to get familiar with the "sound culture" of each manufacturer. Different sound-set personalities definitely come out. Then it's a matter of weighing those sounds with editing features and price to come up with a compromise that works for you.

Sorry for the long non-answer, but more information goes into the decision than we have available. Good luck!
 
thanks GeekGirl. I want to compliment my acoustic guitar recording. Mostly ballads, hymns, fingerstyle. I can image strings or flutes in the background and drum beats of course.

rpe
 
OK, for that stuff I really like Kurzweil sounds ... aside from the ME-1 module with nonexpandable, noneditable sounds, though, their stuff is out of your price range unless you find it used. The ME-1 goes for around $350 new, if I recall correctly. It's just a module so you'd need a MIDI controller, but since you're not a keyboard/piano player you'd probably be plenty happy with a nonweighted 61-key keyboard, and some of those controllers are pretty cheap ... especially on the used market ...

Next on my list is the sound set in the Yamaha Motif/S90 (again, I don't know if this is what's in the S03).

I'd go to a store and compare the sounds of whatever you can. Happy hunting!
 
geekgurl said:
OK, for that stuff I really like Kurzweil sounds ... aside from the ME-1 module with nonexpandable, noneditable sounds, though, their stuff is out of your price range unless you find it used. The ME-1 goes for around $350 new, if I recall correctly. It's just a module so you'd need a MIDI controller, but since you're not a keyboard/piano player you'd probably be plenty happy with a nonweighted 61-key keyboard, and some of those controllers are pretty cheap ... especially on the used market ...

Next on my list is the sound set in the Yamaha Motif/S90 (again, I don't know if this is what's in the S03).

I'd go to a store and compare the sounds of whatever you can. Happy hunting!
Click to expand...

The S03 has nothing in common with the Motif. It is a cheaper version of the S30 with no expandability and has a keyboard with terrible, stiff action.
 
I'm also mainly a guitar player and recently bought the ME-1 module. So far, I'm very pleased with the sounds. The pianos are excelent, and the strings mix nicely. The drum sets are very good for something at this price range (better than many drum machines out there). I use it with a cheap Yamaha keyborad as my controller, but I'm looking to upgrade to a better controller. If you don't need weighted action you could get something like a Fatar SL-161 for about $230. I think that'll be $600 well spent :thu: I went through the same thing you're going through before I decided to go with the ME-1. After looking at the Alesis and E-Mu's I came to the conclusion that: there are simply NO good keyboards with good sounds for the <$600 price range.
 
Lucho said:
I'm also mainly a guitar player and recently bought the ME-1 module.
Click to expand...

Hi Lucho, Redwood City, eh? So did you buy your ME at Gelb?

:)

Not many Kurweil dealers around here ...
 
The guys at Gelb are great and I actually tried it out there but I got a much better price online. I had a gift certificate from MF, that I got for my birthday so I ended up paying less than $250 for it. But I buy all my small stuff (strings, cables etc.) at Gelb and always leave with something at their private sales.
 
I have an RS-5. I'm resonably happy with it. The keyboard action is way better than the yamaha s03. The rhodes and other electric pianos are very nice sounding. The piano is, well, quite terrible on it's own. If you bypass the internal effects and use a good eq and reverb you can get it to sound quite ok, but still not good. I'm also resonably happy with the organ sounds and If you like retro-synth sounds it's got a ton of those.

Don't expect pro quality if you go with this synth. I'm not saying it's bad considering the price payed. It sure beats the hell out of yamaha S03 and on many sounds I prefered it to the alesis qs6. But on the whole, the sounds are a bit cheesy, except for the electric pianos, and the unit is quite noisy compared to my stephfathers yamaha motif.

The editing of sounds can make a big difference but you can't build any sounds from scratch and there are no expansion possibilities.

My main priority when I bought this was electric pianos and for using it as a midi-controller with good keyboard action. For that purpose I'm very happy, but don't excpect anything fancy.

Simon
 
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