What's Everyone Playing?

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mikeh

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I'm sure this has been done before - but I find it interesting to periodically see what keys/modules people are useing.

My rig: (Not the lastest and greatest - but very functional mix of old & new)

Keyboards: Roland XP30, Roland D50, Roland Juno 106

Modules: Kurweil Pro 1200, Roland XV5050, Roland MBD1, Kawai K1r, Emu Proteus 1, Akai S2000

Drums: TD10(w/TDW1), Alesis D4, Sequential TOM
 
mikeh,

Being a guitar player please excuse my ignorance but what could you possibly do with all that gear??!!

rpe
 
rpe,

It sounds like more than it actually is. Part is left from a live gigging rig (which I sometimes use for recording) and some is used as dedicated recording gear.

However, there is a practical application as some keyboards or modules do certain things better than others - in my case the Kurzweil has very good piano and sax sounds, The Juno does analog sounds well, the Kawai has some my favorite jazz organ sounds the MBD1 has very good bass sounds, the TD10 has good drum sounds, the sampler provides sound effect cues, etc.

I do some jingle work and some film post production, (not enough to support the family, but enough to support my studio) so I like to have many sounds available and I like to have 16 to 20 seperate tracks of keys available to fade various sounds in and out.

As a guitar player I'm sure you can appreciate that a Les Paul does things a Strat can't and an ES335 provides yet a different sound. In fact, guitar players seem to always have several different axes - (most of the guitarist I know have at least 6-12 axes) some keyboard players do the same thing for the same reason.

Another reason for so many pieces of gear - I'm a gear slut.
 
I haven't done inventory for a while, so here ya go.

QSR with the Vintage Synth, Jazz Piano, Orchestra and Cathedral cards.

Yamaha AN200

Yamaha DX-100

Rhodes Stage 73

Rhodes Piano Bass (Silver Sparkle version)

Hammond M3 Organ

Roland EP-7

Roland RD-100

Roland JX-8P

Korg CX-3

Korg (Uni-Vox) Mini-Korg "K-1"

Casio SK-1

Optimus MD-1150 (that's right Radio Whack, but it's a clone of a Casio board that cost twice as much, and now I have something I can take to the beach :) )

Hohner Alto Melodica (What I used to take to the beach.

Controllers include:

Evolution MK-125

Kaysound MK-4902

I think that's all of them. I haven't done a complete sweep of the basement or garage.

Yes, they all get used, but not necesarrily at the same time.

Carl
 
Middleman,

When I compare the sounds of the XV5050 to the XP30 (which has the JV2080 sounds in it) I don't find a "substantial" difference in the quality of the sounds.

If you already have a JV2080 I wouldn't think it would be a significant improvement.

The only reason I got the XV5050 was I was able to get it at almost dealer cost, and my other modules are old and many of the sounds are thin. The XP30 only has stereo outs - and I like to have several channels of synths to bring in when needed (the XV5050 has 4 outs).

The XV5050 is not a bad module by any means - just not substantially better sounding than a JV2080.
 
That's not the first time I've heard that the sounds in the 5050 are not that significiant a step up. Thanks for the response.
 
Yamaha SHS-200 used as a MIDI controller and for layering

Kawai K1m Module

Korg EX800 Module

Old and still kicking somewhat. :) UNIVOX Electric Piano
(made by cruenelli - Italy) .

very small yamaha sampling keyboard model = UNK.

Thats it. :)

crush :D
 
rpe said:
mikeh,

Being a guitar player please excuse my ignorance but what could you possibly do with all that gear??!!

rpe
Click to expand...

You telling me you don't own more than one guitar?

Same thing...
 
Mikeh-
What do you think of the TOM?
I have thought about getting one but have always declined.
Is it all analog?
Reliable?
Just wondering in case I stumble upon another one.
 
crush said:

Old and still kicking somewhat. :) UNIVOX Electric Piano
(made by cruenelli - Italy) .

crush :D
Click to expand...

My first keyboard was a UNIVOX Crummar three voice keyboard.

Funky little bastard that thing. Had to give it up when I started craving dynamics (there's no velocity or force sensitivity on that unit).

Still, it had a funky unique sound. Kinda like a hyper compressed Clavinet.

Carl
 
Hey tk421,

The TOM is an interesting little box. I'm not sure precisely what you mean by all analog. I believe the sounds are "sampled" sounds - although this was in the earlier days of sampling, so the sounds are not as realistic as newer machines - but the sounds are not the type of "analog" sounds you hear on the old Roland 909 or 808, etc. The TOM does have MIDI in/out/thru, but the range of MIDI implementation is limited (given what little MIDI was able to do back in the 80's). There are no oscillaters or filters to tweak.

The TOM is very limited - it comes with a basic 5 piece kit (1 snare, 1 kick, 3 toms, ride, crash & hats. I have and expansion cassette which adds latin percussion. However there is a very broad tuning range (you can make the cymbals sound like a gong) but it is still limited compared to the hundreds of sounds you can get on newer machines.

The main reason I keep the TOM is a time synce which works with some of the older synths (like a Juno 60) to sync the arppegiator to a time clock (we use a Juno 60 often for the "analog sounds".

I have found the TOM to be very dependable - in fact I spilled Coca Cola in it about 15 years ago, turned it upside down to drain it (no other repairs) and it has continued to work since.

If you are looking for analog sounds (808, 909, etc) the TOM is not the right machine and candidly if your looking for digital/sampled sounds there are way too many more current machines out there.
 
Brzilian/Mikeh

OK, I get your point. I own 5 guitars and need a few more. Being an idiot in the keyboard department I guess I should have waited for a few of your posts then I would have figured it out.

rpe
 
A Wurlitzer console. Drums by Ludwig and TAMA, and handmade African Djembe. No fake keyboards and no fake drums- ever.-Richie
 
Hey Richie-
Are you trying to slam us for using keyboards?
No need for that.
Anything that produces sound is an instrument.
I guess since I can hear the sounds that come from the keyboards, that they must be real :)
 
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