Members The Unknown Posted September 5, 2014 Members Share Posted September 5, 2014 Hi! I'm a bass player and I'm looking for a keyboard to complete personal projects and to be able to program drum and keyboard patterns I could use to jam along with. I'm not a specialist when it comes to keyboards, but I think what I'm looking for is a workstation. I'm aiming at something around 500$ new (hopefully). Here are my criteria: What I need : - Good sounds of the following instruments (or most of them) : drums (acoustic and electric), moot-style synth, melotron style strings, piano, organ, jazz organ, realistic strings and fender-rhode style electric piano.- Easy to program sequencer.- Touch sensitive keys (do I still need to mention tho in 2014???)- Did I mention good sound? What I don't care much about : - I won't carry it much, so I don't mind the weight all that much.- I have no experience with pianos, so I don't care about the feel of the keys, the fact that they are weighted or not, etc. As long as they work, I won't know the difference (sorry).- Having too many keys. 49 keys would be more then enough for me. - Having thousands of sounds to choose from, that I'd never use... Can you suggest something, available new (I have no patience for shopping used and won't buy anything without playing it first)? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted September 5, 2014 Members Share Posted September 5, 2014 Your budget is too low for anything that someone might consider a "pro" workstation, but I'd look at the Korg MicroArranger, it gives you a lot for the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Unknown Posted September 6, 2014 Author Members Share Posted September 6, 2014 Is the Yamaha MX49 worth looking at too? The Korg has those small keys now have they? I wonder how my big bass player's fingers would feel with those... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted September 6, 2014 Members Share Posted September 6, 2014 The MX49 is a great sounding board, but it's doesn't have a sequencer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted September 7, 2014 Members Share Posted September 7, 2014 This would be hard to beat for what you want to spend....it has all the samples from the Yamaha Motif ES (1859 samples), a great sequencer and USB storage....this board has a lot of great sounds and great acoustic piano too (including 128 General MIDI sounds it has 640 sounds plus 2 user groups for sounds, each holding 128 sounds so 896 total voices in the board at once plus 256 user performance locations....each performance can be made of up to 4 voices)....I have a Yamaha Motif ES6 and I've never felt the need to upgrade to newer boards....I've had that board for 6 years with zero problems.....buy a USB thumbdrive on Ebay that is listed as a thumbdrive for the Yamaha Motif ES and you're set....not all thumbdrives work as these boards have a limited amount of drivers built in.... The MO6 cannot sample or load sample data and this board has touch sensitive keys but doesn't have aftertouch....they don't sell these anymore so playing one first wouldn't be possible but playing an MOX6 or an MOXF6 would give you the same feel on the keys although these boards have improved sound sets (and are much more expensive)....the MO6 has better build quality than the newer models.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-MO6-S...item19f33322c8 More of them: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...aha+MO6&_sop=3 Demos: Listen to the acoustic piano sound (MO8 has the same sounds) More demos: https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...amaha+MO6+demo Yamaha MO8 demo (same sounds but the MO8 has 88 weighted keys....this is the only difference between an MO6 and MO8) Ebay covers your purchase 100% as long as you open a case with 45 days of date of purchase should there be any problems.....don't let someone talk you into waiting longer than 45 days or you aren't protected.... No matter what anyone says, a sustain pedal is a must....definitely get one....this one doesn't cost very much and has a polarity switch so it can be used with any board and it doesn't squeak like some I've used: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Su...item3ce7a19eaf Thumbdrives that will allow you to backup anything from this board to your computer (backup files to DVD, and not CD.....CD's fail) priced high to low.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/8GB-USB-FLAS...item56692cef1a or http://www.ebay.com/itm/4GB-FLASH-DR...item3ef0dbb217 or http://www.ebay.com/itm/2GB-FLASH-DR...item3ef0dbc1f4 or http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-GB-1GB-FLA...item334e77fd79 Yamaha MO6 Data List (Sound lists and other lists) (65 drum sets listed too) http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/...6mo8_en_dl.pdf Yamaha MO6 Owners Manual: http://www.mltlive.com/wp-content/up...nersManual.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted September 10, 2014 Members Share Posted September 10, 2014 You might find an old Motif or even early versions of Fantom's in that price range.Maybe an old Triton? But do you really need a sequencer? If not, the range of synthsin that price range opens up considerably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted September 10, 2014 Members Share Posted September 10, 2014 To the previous two posters, the OP specifically said he wants something new and not used. I agree, if he were open to something used, other possibilities open up. Similarly, yes, if he doesn't absolutely need something with a sequencer built in and could perhaps use a sequencer in his computer instead, more options open up (including the MX49 he asked about). Back to the OP, yes, that Korg has mini-keys. Other possibilities with full size keys could be the Casio XW-P1 or Casio CTK-7200 (which are very different from each other, despite both coming from Casio). The sequencing functions of all these boards are very different, so you'll need to do some research to see if they will do what you need. Other than that, the quality of the sounds of all these boards is somewhat a matter of opinion. Realistically, if you want really good quality moog-style synth, mellotron-style strings, realistic strings, acoustic piano, rhodes-style electric piano, and organs, you're lucky if you can find one of those things in a $500 board, much less all of them. But again, it's subjective, and you might be fine with the sounds in one of the boards I mentioned. For synth and organ, Casio XW-P1 probably beats Korg, because it actually has VA synth and drawbar organ functions. For the other sounds, those in the "rompler" category, I'd probably give the edge to Korg. If you happen to own an i-device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), you could also think about using that to supplement the sounds in whatever keyboard you buy. I'm not sure about the others, but the WX-P1 is a pretty decent MIDI controller... you can use its 9 sliders to control MIDI parameters, you can store MIDI Program Changes in its presets, and it even includes a convenient place to rest the iPad. So if the XW has the features and at least some of the sounds you're looking for, you could "fill in the gaps" with an iPad. For example, there are apps with good mellotron sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted September 11, 2014 Members Share Posted September 11, 2014 Doing drum and keyboard patterns that he asked for is a strong point of any Motif and the MO6 is ALMOST a Motif ES6 minus sampling and aftertouch, and 3 insert effects vs 8 on the ES.....it has 64 note polyphony vs 128 in the Motif ES.....it also works well with a computer with free downloadable software....I can't believe these are selling in the $500 range......truly a bargain......a good friend of mine who has a band has told me over and over how much the band loves his keyboard player's MO8 (same board but it has 88 weighted keys vs 61 unweighted on the MO6).....these boards also do great simulations of old analog synths (did I mention the awesome filters?).....they have USB storage unlike the first generation of Motifs before them.....I have played the newer Motifs and have not been impressed enough to upgrade from my Motif ES6 (same sounds as the MO6)....also the 4 sliders and 4 quick edit knobs allow instant editing live.....the MOX and MOXF that followed didn't have the sliders....a huge loss in my opinion....with my Motif ES6 I will challenge anyone to keep up with me live and the MO6 is pretty much the same......it does it all (just being honest)..... I agree with him that a zillion sounds isn't as important as sound quality but with these boards you truly get both....these boards have great category search to quickly find sounds and master mode holds 128 of anything (voice - performance - song - pattern) and there are a zillion arpeggio patterns that are also organized by category I like and use sooooo many sounds in these boards but some sounds really blow you away....just as an example the acoustic and electric pianos beat all my other synths and I have a bunch of synths but the synth leads and pads and drums are amazing too.....I could go on and on....I find many sounds I use in all categories.... I have a Motif 8 still too (an older board...the first generation) and it only has 1 bank of 128 user voice locations.....the MO6 has double that and USB storage that my Motif 8 doesn't have....it's also super easy to move compared to the Motif 8..... Save anything stored in "Master Mode" with an "ALL" file to USB stick.....Master mode can also serve as 128 extra voices (find presets you like "as is" and store them there)......that's almost like having 3 user banks of 128 voices.....(384 sounds).....Master mode is kinda like shortcuts on a computer.... The 4 sliders allow you to instantly adjust volume on the parts that make up a voice or performance without needing to enter edit mode.... The 4 quick edit knobs can do many things and you can toggle between choices of what they do with the buttons to the left of them.... I almost forgot....the MOX and MOXF "step" when adjusting filters with the quick edit knobs.....the MO6 doesn't have this problem.... The display on the MO6 is the same as my Motif ES6 and not a touch screen that is always getting slimed because you have to touch it to do what needs to be done (I really hate touch screens and they look terrible on stage under the lights.....that's the reason I bought a Korg Karma vs a Korg Triton)....another thing about touch screens.....if they ever go out on you, YOU'LL BE SORRY guaranteed......they probably cost so much to replace you might be ahead to buy a new board.....even regular displays are really expensive to replace and a display isn't something you can get by without.....you need it for everything you do..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members workstation M.I Posted April 1, 2015 Members Share Posted April 1, 2015 Just because it's a Casio, doesn't mean it's a "Casio", if you know what I mean: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.