Sound module recommendation?

TexasMusicForge

New member
Hey y'all:

Recommendations would be much appreciated for a good jack-of-all-trades MIDI sound module that will give me some decent strings, piano, organ and a few pads that would be priced for a working musician.

Thanks and best regards to all,

Tio Ed
Austin, Texas
Land O' 10,000 Guitarists
 
The Roland JV series is pretty good.

How much do you want to spend?

The Korg rackmounted Triton and the Yamaha rackmounted Motif are both pretty kick ass.

Carl
 
If I were you I'd buy new, and get a decent module. There are some great ones out there right now.

I'll second the Korg Triton rack and the Yamah Motif. Both those are great sounding modules, and the Motif rack has a street price of around $800-900 right now.

The Roland XV-5050 wuld be an excellent choice, and if you can swing the money, the Roland Fantom XR is killer, a great module.

The Alesis QSR is really pretty much outdated these days, there's a lot better available now. I think the Alesis would be of limited use. Same with the U-220. Really nice modules in their day, but if you are buying now, you really want to get the advantages of all the technology development that has occurred in the last ten years!
 
The Roland XV-5050 has a ton off very good sounds - some useable pianos & organs some very good strings (Roland has always down strings well) and hundreds of pads. You can pop in expansion cards for better sampled piano, etc. The cost comes in a little lower than the Triton & Motiff.

The Triton & Moiffs racks both have great sounds (I like the Motiff just a little better than the Triton for "accoustic sounds".) - but are a little more costly.
 
Ed Dixon said:
I have a Roland U-220 unit that works pretty good.
I second that. The U-220 is one of the first modern sample based sound sources and covers all the bases in question. The best part is I've seen them on Ebay for $125 - $175. A true bargain.
 
The piano patches are not the best, but the string, organ, and horn patches are very good. I've had this one for at least 10 years, and it has been a zero issue unit.

I know there are better units out there, but for $125+ on EBay, you will have trouble finding anything better for that $.

Ed
 
Ed Dixon said:
The piano patches are not the best, but the string, organ, and horn patches are very good. I've had this one for at least 10 years, and it has been a zero issue unit.

I know there are better units out there, but for $125+ on EBay, you will have trouble finding anything better for that $.

Ed

Uh, Ed, you might just want to indicate which unit you are referring to........ ;)
 
Thanks, y'all, for an excellent set of resopnses and suggestions. "Working musician-sized budget" being the biggest determination of what I can get, I'll check out the 220 as being a little more attainable than the Motif.

I've landed a gig as a musical director for a theatrical company and have to be able to produce anything from an orchestra to a goose fart on demand, depending on the production. Of course, this being theatre, I've only got enough budget to hire a couple of other musicians and no SFX staffer to get all this done, so a good MIDI module and a sampler seem to be something this guitarist-by-trade and keyboardist-by-necessity should acquire. I appreciate the guidance.

Best regards,

Tio Ed
Austin, Texas
Land O' 10,000 Guitarists With Day Jobs
 
I play and program keyboards in theater orchestra pits for a living (along with my composing gigs). You might want to reconsider your choice of the U-220.

I'm very familiar with what you are going to need in that orchestra pit. Do yourself a favor and spend the money on a more recent unit like the XV-5050 or Fantom XR. The Fantom XR would be ideal because of those six SRX expansion board slots. The Motif rack would be a good choice as well.

The U-220 is a ten+ year old box, as has been mentioned. It might have some cool sounds for the studio, for songs, that kind of thing. But for pit work, you need great sounds right away, you need a huge variety of sounds, you need the ability to add/swap expansion boards to cover the needs of different shows, and you need to *not* sound like you have old crap gear you bought used off eBay. Believe me, you'll sound dated with that box, and it won't give you half of what you'll need as far as sounds or making the kind of impression you want to on your employers.

There are guys and gals that *don't get hired* because they are still using Korg M1's or Alesis QSR's, or any number of outdated and inappropriate for the job type units. Not knocking the U-220, it's a good vintage digital synth, but it's not right for the job you need to do.

I get hired partly because of my playing and work ethic, but also partly because I bring great gear and keep up on what's out there. I spend the money on whatever I need to in order to have the right sounds (and great sounds) for the show. I don't like spending the dough, but it always ends up paying for itself. Most of the keyboard players I work with do the same thing. I also tend to end up being the official or unofficial "synth guru" on whatever shows I'm doing, and sometimes even get to spend the producers money on synths for their tours or productions.

If you exceed expectations on this gig the producers/director will have you back and/or have you work with them somewhere else. Take the long view as far as your gear budget and you will have a better chance of moving on to other paying jobs. Then there will be 9,999 guitarists with day jobs, and one busy full time musician!
 
Roland SK-88 Pro. This was the flagship multimedia module that was built
into a 3 octave keyboard. I have a brand new one if you are interested.
$400 plus shipping(US only).
 
SonicAlbert:

If your pit work is anywhere near as well-organized and cogent as your writing style, I'm willing to be you're not paying the rent by making sandwiches during the day.

Thanks, compadre, for a very well thought-out reply and a word to the wise from someone who is actually in the trenches and earning a living at it. The fajitas and margaritas are on me if you're ever in Tejas, companero...

Tio Ed
Austin, TX
Land O' 9,999 Guitarists and One Guy Making Theatrical Sounds
 
Well oddly enough I'm going to be in Texas next week, in Richardson, which I believe is just outside Dallas. I'm there with a tour of "Aida", Elton John's musical. Don't think I'll be near Austin though, so the fajitas will have to wait...
 
TexasMusicForge said:
I've landed a gig as a musical director for a theatrical company and have to be able to produce anything from an orchestra to a goose fart on demand, depending on the production. Tio Ed
Austin, Texas
Land O' 10,000 Guitarists With Day Jobs

Just curious- What show has a farting goose in it???? You working on a new production of "La Cage" perhaps? :p

For what it's worth, I'd be very careful before purchasing anything Roland. Generally, they have a confusing OS, abysmal manuals and less than stellar customer support. Personally, I'm boycotting their products.

I would give a big vote to the Motif rack. They're getting ready to launch a rack version of the ES so the original rack modules are going to come down in price (they have already come down a couple of hundred dollars, find a "B" stock and you'll save even more!).

Ted
 
tedluk said:
For what it's worth, I'd be very careful before purchasing anything Roland. Generally, they have a confusing OS, abysmal manuals and less than stellar customer support. Personally, I'm boycotting their products.

I agree that their support and manuals are lacking. However their gear seems to work well and last. I have units that are 20 years old and still working as well as when they were new. If you like the sounds, and can deal with the progamming, then press ahead.

Ed
 
tedluk said:
Just curious- What show has a farting goose in it???? You working on a new production of "La Cage" perhaps? :p

If it were, it would be "murder most fowl...." Yes, that's an awful pun, but I had to take a "gander" at it in print. Ahem.

Albert: Strangely enough, there is an Austin-produced version of Aida opening next week. Offer's still open if you want to escape traffic in Dallas. Besides, we have better food...

Tio Ed
El Rey de Sweat Equity
 
tedluk said:
For what it's worth, I'd be very careful before purchasing anything Roland. Generally, they have a confusing OS, abysmal manuals and less than stellar customer support. Personally, I'm boycotting their products.

I would give a big vote to the Motif rack. They're getting ready to launch a rack version of the ES so the original rack modules are going to come down in price (they have already come down a couple of hundred dollars, find a "B" stock and you'll save even more!).

Ted

Not to be contrary, but what do you base this on? I've owned Roland gear for decades. It works as well today as ever. I only just recently purchased a used MKS-70 from eBay. This unit has an old IC chip that prevents the latest software editors from comunicating with it. Roland is providing a new IC chip to me for free. I'm not the original owner and this unit is about 20 years old and STILL Roland is giving me free chips for it. These chips aren't stock surplus either. They burn this chips to order when requested. They've been supporting the MKS-70 like this from the beginning. So I would say that when it comes to support, Roland is certainly going the extra mile.

As for the OS being "abysmal" that's a matter of opinion. I've got an Alesis QSR and a Yamaha AN200. Between them I've only created two patches and both of them were for the AN200. My Roland JX-8P without the luxery of a PG800 or software programmer sports over 200 of my own user created patches (mostly kept on M-16C cartridges).

I really like Roland for the most part. I hate those crappy pitch/mod padals and many of their boards have lousy action, but other than that they are top draw as far as I'm concerned.

Carl
 
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