How well do you know your keyvoard/workstation, etc

[DaveAronow]

What percentage of your keydoard's features or abilities would you say you are very well familiar with? How much and to what levels do you really get into the nuances the features it is capable of, and which features, functions, "things" do you use most and which do you look for as being priority importances in your personal use of keyboards. Im interesred in all types of users, from bedroom noodler to complete live performance or studio pro. Just curious how some of the answers relate to my own uses.

[progfan]

I own several keyboards/workstations, most of which I have only scratched the surface of. Having said that, there is one I feel I know inside out, and probably know or have used nearly every feature of at one time or another. It is my 'go to' piece of gear for programming, sound creation, and live use. A Korg 01/W ProX. I'm actually looking for another, just for a back-up, in case.

[midinut]

I've only scratched the surface with my Kronos as well. My relationship with korg started with a Karma, then a M3-73, and now the Kronos. I had a good feel for the Karma and the M3 and most of what I learned or knew about them can be applied to the Kronos but again, I still have much to learn!

[JazzMastaJim]

I think I know just about all the ins & outs of my Roland JX-8P... of course, I've had it for 30 years and it's not that complicated compared to modern keyboards!

 

From that, I went to an Alesis QS8.1, and I may have learned about 50% of its capabilities in the 13 years that it was my main axe. I bought a Roland Jupiter 50 (JP-50) last year, and I might have about 30% of it down. With both the QS8.1 and JP-50, I've just been learning what I need to as I go along, building sounds for specific songs that my band plays. I don't really have the time to get into them any deeper than that.

[Etienne Rambert]

I've only scratched the surface with my Kronos as well. My relationship with korg started with a Karma' date=' then a M3-73, and now the Kronos. I had a good feel for the Karma and the M3 and most of what I learned or knew about them can be applied to the Kronos but again, I still have much to learn![/quote'] KARMA is a great tool. I know very little about my M3M. But I did learn KARMA well enough to use it - despite a malfunctioning touch screen.

[koolkat]

Probably don't know any of my keyboards as well as I should. In fact, the more I get to know my iPad, the more I'm convinced that the keyboard sounds are superior in general to my Mox6.

[DaveAronow]

Karma was my first keyboard and I knew it pretty well. I'd say overall I was pretty comfortable with about 80% of its features. That being my first keyboard was pretty frustrating because I knew zero terminology and the manual seemed like it was a little unorganized and was poorly translated to English and seemed like it wasn't very friendly to users thst knew nothing of Keyboards or the terminology in the manuals. I eventually through brute force and trial and error, figured it out pretty well. I bought it for a gig I got writing theme music for a T.V. show. If you have ever seen the show "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures", I did that entire theme on the Karma. I have great memories of that keyboard and now I want another one!

[kbeaumont]

I know about 70% of my MOX8 , but only because I bought a DVD from motifator.com showing how to access the features.

[Paolo Di Nicolantonio]

I usually read the manual from cover to cover when I get a new piece of gear, I'll typically wake up on a Saturday morning, get some coffee, and dive in. If the OS is fairly good, I can usually get most of the functions - let's say 80% - without a need to consult the manual later... most of the things stay the same, just better or done a bit differently, but at the end the main parameters are always the same - then again, I've been using synths for 30+ years so I like to think I got the hang of it :-D

[SpaceNorman]

I usually get to know the features that I use pretty well ... however, there are often facets of features/functionality that aren't part of what I do which go untouched by me. In my current rig - I feel like I'm reasonably well versed on the ins and outs of my CP300. I use my Motif ES Rack unit primarily as a MIDI controlled voice library to augment my CP300 - and I've learned very little about it other than how to navigate to the "stock" voices that came with it. I've gone deeper into my Kronos 88 than any synth / workstation I've owned before - and feel pretty adept at working with it. I use it as a live board - and am pretty comfortable creating "Combi's", tweaking voices, adding effects and working with layers, splits, etc. for the purposes of "ergonomics" so that I can put the sound I want where I want it on the keyboard. I also do a little bit with the Kronos' recording capabilities - but primarily as a personal practice aid. However, I've barely scratched the surface of it's recording/sequencing capabilities - and haven't touched the Karma features at all.

 

The thing that limits my mastery of my gear tends not to be technical issues associated with working thru the interface and/or the mechanics of the keyboard - but rather the fact that from the artistic perspective - I simply don't have a lot of vision around sounds to create. That's not the keyboard - it's my limitation as an artist - and the reason why I tend to be a "preset jockey" at heart.

[triton76]

I know the Triton very well. the hardest thing is programming the arpeggiator. confusing, never got the hang of it. I like simple arps anyway. it has a ton of patterns but I would be happy with 5.

there is a feature called in track sampling I have never used either. it's using the sampler to capture a performance in the sequencer. never needed that.

I love the sampler for making my own sounds though. and Love the MOSS synth with 4 LFOs and 4 EGs

[dan88z]

I can get pretty deep with my S70XS, I've programmed some sounds from scratch, create complex performance sets all the time, and I have "mastered" Master mode. That said, I've probably only scratched the surface, as I haven't gone into complex modulation routings or anything like that. The rest of my boards are simple and I was in their deepest settings the 1st couple days I owned them.

[RockPianoman]

When I had my Yamaha SY77 back in the day, I learned that inside-out......unfortunately the SY77 had timing problems with the sequencer.....my best board now is a Yamaha Motif ES6, and even though I haven't completely learned it yet, I've come pretty far and have learned a ton about it......what's kinda tricky about the Motif is jobs, the utility function and other things change depending upon the mode you are in....it makes sense to do it that way but it takes a bit of getting used to....the Motif ES6 has no timing problems with the sequencer, but the original Motif rack did when it was driven by a sequencer, but they corrected that with an operating system update (you need to connect it to a computer to do this.....I have that rack and did it).....

 

Maybe the timing problems with the SY77 could have been corrected with an operating system update too....I never tried it....I no longer have the SY77 (I bought the rack version, the TG77 to replace it)..........save all your patches before doing an operating system upgrade or you will lose them all....

[delaware dave]

I have a Kurzweil PC3. If anyone knows anything about VAST it is that it's probably one of the most complex applications to master. That being said, from a KB3 and leslie perspective, I am deep into its complexity. I was able to develop a dual organ with independent drawbar control of the upper (KB3) organ and lower (VAST) organ using a double leslie. I'm quite certain I've gotten more out of the KB3/leslie than most of the users. Conversely, on the VAST programming side I've more than scratched the surface but there is still tons of stuff I have not touched on the keyboard and I run into things all the time where I can't understand how certain things 'happen'. The FUNs functionality (Bollean logic) baffles me and I've used Bollean logic before (with SAP software).

[RockPianoman]

I have never owned anything Kurzweil so I have no idea....

[zoink]

I've had the Kronos for a couple of months, and I can see that it's going to take some time to really plumb its depths. There's just a LOT there.

 

It usually takes me a year or two to really gel with a new workstation, since they're all so feature rich these days. The M3 was one of the easier workstations to master, as was the Fantom X7. The K2500 and PC3X took a bit longer.

 

One thing about workstations these days is that they're made to be used in a variety of ways. I've noticed that five different PC3X or K2500 owners will each have different work flows and different reasons for owning them.

[Randyman]

The most difficult board I've owned was the Motif XS. Beyond customizin sounds, which was reasonable with the John Melas editors, the file and sample management was a nightmare (which I think they at least partly fixed with the XF). Really didn't care for the sequencer, was too 'constructionist' for me, and overall I spent more time fussin and learning the board than actually playing and enjoying it.

 

When I got the Nord Stage I was really happy, didn't realize I didn't need a million bells and whistles. However, I'm tempted to get the new Roland FA08. The one thing I really don't like about the Stage is it has no recording capability, even simple things like record the keyboard to a stick or play back files from a stick or audio input. And I've heard that Roland is very user friendly on the sequencer/recorder side of things, so I may give that a go and see if I'm willing to put in the effort with the Roland approach to things.

[doct_J001]

As I get older I seem to learn less about my keyboards. My first Roland SH 101 I I used to program loads of different sounds for the 80's bands I was in....same with the Juno a friend of mine owned that I used for a year (wish I had bought that off him grrrrr). Then I got a Roland D-10 and really learned a lot about using it multi-timbrally though I had no need to program sounds....mainly used the presets (maybe 50% understood). When I finally got a workstation, a Triton Studio 76 I again learned a lot over years about making songs with the presets and built in sequencer and arpeggios and even sprung for the Karma computer program which I could never do anything but use presets with, and that if I was lucky (maybe used 70% of features)! heheh Next I got the Korg M3 88 and though I love it as a controller for piano (especially for Ivory3 and Pianotech and other plugins) I again used mainly presets and never really dug very deep into it (maybe 30% understood). Now I have just bought a Kronos 61 to use also with Roland Integra 7 and feel almost lost! Trying to program the various engines in the Kronos varies from very simple to where I don't have a clue what I am looking at! hehehe But, I have vowed to put a bit more effort into mastering more of the tools of my current gear but it is so easy to get distracted just going through presets and hours have passed....I have a Tyros 4 for when I want the keyboard to practically write the song but I feel as if anything I write on that isn't really mine so back to the Workstations and Logic and soft synths to try and be original. Now if only I could play drums on a keyboard.....oh well nothing worthwhile comes easy!

[Sparkytfl]

Not too well on most of them. The fantom just has so many features that I've never needed. I know most of my ms2000r, but never learned the vocoder or the sequencer (and my understanding is that the sequencer is one of it's cooler features too). The Prophet 600 though, I was playing in the dark and knew which knob was which without being able to read the labels within a week. It's fairly simple though.

[WeiserSound]

I've got a room full of keyboards and honestly I haven't the faintest idea of how they work or what to do with them.

 

While my Casio PX5-S has some lovely presets, I still can't figure out how to get it to play dog bark samples like the old SK-1.

 

My Yamaha CP70 has the strangest looking pair of MIDI jacks on the side of the unit that seem to require some kind of 3-pronged MIDI cable. Thus far I have had zero success with getting the MIDIs to come out of this piano.

 

And with my Kurzweil keyboards: For the life of me I cannot find the awesome pong game from the K2500/2600 anywhere on my PC3K. My prototype Forte stage piano also seems to be lacking a video game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7TffABZR9w

 

Can anyone help me?!

 

[Randyman]

I've got a room full of keyboards and honestly I haven't the faintest idea of how they work or what to do with them.

 

While my Casio PX5-S has some lovely presets, I still can't figure out how to get it to play dog bark samples like the old SK-1.

 

My Yamaha CP70 has the strangest looking pair of MIDI jacks on the side of the unit that seem to require some kind of 3-pronged MIDI cable. Thus far I have had zero success with getting the MIDIs to come out of this piano.

 

And with my Kurzweil keyboards: For the life of me I cannot find the awesome pong game from the K2500/2600 anywhere on my PC3K. My prototype Forte stage piano also seems to be lacking a video game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7TffABZR9w

 

Can anyone help me?!

 

I feel for you man, must be hard to have so many great keyboards and be so clueless. Tell you what, bring by the Forte and the PX5-S, I'll take a year to get to learn them inside out, and will give you a FREE tutorial on getting the most out of these terribly technically challenging boards.

 

By the way, how did a newb like you get their hands on the Forte prototype? I thought only sound designers and rock stars got such privileged access.

[WeiserSound]

 

I feel for you man, must be hard to have so many great keyboards and be so clueless. Tell you what, bring by the Forte and the PX5-S, I'll take a year to get to learn them inside out, and will give you a FREE tutorial on getting the most out of these terribly technically challenging boards.

 

By the way, how did a newb like you get their hands on the Forte prototype? I thought only sound designers and rock stars got such privileged access.

 

Ah I was having a bit of fun and seeing if anyone was paying attention (since this forum seems to be a bit quiet these days).

 

Here's my Forte thread on the Keyboard Corner forum - check it out and feel free to chime in while I have a few days left to work on it.

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2591304/Forte_Preset_Ideas#Post2591304

 

Any forum readers who happen to be in (or visiting) the Boston area, give me a shout - you're welcome to drop by and give the Forte a test drive.

[Terry McKinley]

New here, trying to make better use of my Yamaha CP50. In particular, I am stumped--after once knowing how--to separate a Performance so that the piano Part continues -- and I can control volume of the other Part with an FC7.

[Zalvador Dalí]

As a Cubase user from SX, I have spent an enormous amount of time using it with clients and 15 Cds of my own.

By the time it got to version 6 I felt I knew it VERY well and could very quickly and intuitively get around.

Then came Cubase 7...

 

Why change horses in the middle of the stream?

Because of such a change in the layout, getting around is not nearly as quick and efficient.

 

If Version 7 didnt sound better, I would go back to Cubase 6.

[realtrance]

I started with the Roland XP-80 architecture back in 1997, then the JP-8K, and was absorbed at the time with the details of tones and partials and virtually memorized the MIDI control list. It served me in good stead with subsequent Roland gear, as the core architecture remains pretty much the same, so the seeming arcanery of its arrangement in a new instrument is less so to me. I like that about Roland, or sticking with any one synth or synth line for a long time. It left me able to extrapolate to other instruments, sequencers, all the way up to Push, and understand that underlying it all, there are a defined number of controllers that do pretty much the same thing, everywhere.