Studiologic PRO XP 88 + what for band?

[nicekeys]

I have a midi controller keyboard a Studiologic Pro XP 88 which has the most realistic piano action I've seen in the top end synths and midi keyboards. I currently compose and use Cubase SE The Grand SE to produce sounds. (run it through a laptop and Yamaha P5 speakers and Audiophile Firewire)

Q1) I'm now in a band and need to gig with it. Should I buy a cheap keyboard like a Yamaha PSR of some kind (shame cos I would've like to keep piano keys) or shall I get a sound module. Maximum budget £250.

Q2) Also, is it too complex to buy a sampler and run the controller keyboard through that, because at least then I could keep the midi controller keyboard keys and then have decent sound ..... but latency?

Cheers all.

Nice Keys

 

[Atterion]

Well either of those solutions are viable. Personnaly I would opt for the sampler. Reason being, is that you already have the laptop and for that price you, can get a whole lot more software, than you can get hardware. It would be more versatile, as your only limited to the the amount of sounds you can stuff onto your hard-drive. A software sampler like Kontakt might be worth investigating, and it ship with a ton of sounds, or GigaSampler (And there are literally thousands of sample libraries available). Plus with the laptop you could also use any number of the thousands of free plugin instruments too. Latency shouldn't be that big of the problem for the hardware you have (Not sure how fast your notebook is, and how much ram you have though). Do you get decent latency figures currently?
Of course hardware has it's advantages, such as overall better stability, but if you have your laptop configured properly, stability shouldn't be that big of an issue.

 

[nicekeys]

I agree. BUT

I probably didnt make it clear though, when I'm gigging at pubs n stuff I dont want to take around my laptop, hence why I want a sampler or a sound module (but no I dont have any issues with latency)

I was looking at some second hand modules on ebay and Sound on Sound, seems that I wont get a decent one for the price in terms of quality sounds and lots of them, i only want the basic GM set or XG!

So with a hardware sampler, can I whack in a decent sample library and play my midi controller keyboard via the sampler, sampler into mixer.... without latency issues I.E WITHOUT MY LAPTOP?

(I know llittle about hardware samplers)

Cheers

Nicekeys

 

[Atterion]

Any latency you get in a hardware sampler will be so short you, won't really be able to tell. And yes you can load in many of the same libraries as are available for software (such as AKAI or E-MU libraries). If you just want GM or XG, almost all of the modules by Yamaha will do that, and for cheap used. Or you could look into the JV modules by Roland (But remember XG is specific to Yamaha).

You might look into buying a keyboard such as the Yamaha S03, which is GM/XG + User sounds. It's only 61 key, but you could also plug your 88 key into, and use that. Then you'd have the option to take just the 61 key around too (Much more portable), and you'd have the option to have synth action keys. And you could play both simultaneously (Through the S03), like Studio Logic triggers pianos while the S03 plays synths.