Members scramiflu Posted December 12, 2014 Members Share Posted December 12, 2014 I have reached a certain level of proficiency I am happy with on my little midi keyboard I play through Logic Pro. I've mainly just concentrated on dexterity and pretty much gave up early trying to get a decent midi guitar sound out of Logic Pro. But I want to take my new found playing ability and apply it to something that will give me a great sound cheaply and relatively with few headaches. Is there anything anyone can recommended that will give me a good sounding board for my keyboard playing right out of the box or with only a few adjustments that is also relatively inexpensive? It can be a midi program or a synth, I don't care. I am just tired of playing well but getting crappy sound. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted December 13, 2014 Members Share Posted December 13, 2014 Get a VR-09. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JeffLearman Posted December 13, 2014 Members Share Posted December 13, 2014 What's your budget? What kind of music do you play and what kinds of sounds do you use? For example, many of us keyboard players play piano. That's one of the harder and more expensive sounds to do well, and we also generally want to play it using a "hammer-action" keyboard, which feels like a piano, and gives us much better dynamic control than a typical synth keyboard. Another sound lots of us like is Hammond organ. There's a GREAT and inexpensive Hammond organ simulation that I highly recommend: VB3 from Genuine Soundware, for 69 Euros IIRC. Can't say enough good things about this bit of software; it kicks ass. After that, there are synthesizer emulations, and sample players. The former sound like synthesizers (obviously), and the latter try to sound like existing instruments, and meet with varying success (mostly because they work from recorded samples, which can never capture all the articulations of a flexible instrument like a guitar, violin, or saxophone.) There a lots of software plugins that do these, but I don't use them so I can't recommend anything specific. The other option you're considering is a hardware keyboard with built-in sounds. (Of course, you can also use most of these to play sounds on your computer, so it's not an either-or proposition: you can do both, as many of us do.) There's a huge variety, from a few hundred dollars to may thousands. At the bottom end, obviously the sounds aren't the greatest. There's a lot of worthy stuff between $500 and $1000, and cheaper if you're wiling to buy used. We'll need to know more about your situation to help much. BTW, my understanding is that Logic Pro has some pretty good sounds built-in. (IIRC, its hammond organ has a good reputation.) So, more info on what sounds in Logic Pro you're not happy with could be helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scramiflu Posted December 13, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2014 What's your budget? What kind of music do you play and what kinds of sounds do you use? For example' date=' many of us keyboard players play piano. That's one of the harder and more expensive sounds to do well, and we also generally want to play it using a "hammer-action" keyboard, which feels like a piano, and gives us much better dynamic control than a typical synth keyboard. Another sound lots of us like is Hammond organ. There's a GREAT and inexpensive Hammond organ simulation that I highly recommend: VB3 from Genuine Soundware, for 69 Euros IIRC. Can't say enough good things about this bit of software; it kicks ass. After that, there are synthesizer emulations, and sample players. The former sound like synthesizers (obviously), and the latter try to sound like existing instruments, and meet with varying success (mostly because they work from recorded samples, which can never capture all the articulations of a flexible instrument like a guitar, violin, or saxophone.) There a lots of software plugins that do these, but I don't use them so I can't recommend anything specific. The other option you're considering is a hardware keyboard with built-in sounds. (Of course, you can also use most of these to play sounds on your computer, so it's not an either-or proposition: you can do both, as many of us do.) There's a huge variety, from a few hundred dollars to may thousands. At the bottom end, obviously the sounds aren't the greatest. There's a lot of worthy stuff between $500 and $1000, and cheaper if you're wiling to buy used. We'll need to know more about your situation to help much. BTW, my understanding is that Logic Pro has some pretty good sounds built-in. (IIRC, its hammond organ has a good reputation.) So, more info on what sounds in Logic Pro you're not happy with could be helpful. I guess, from what you've said, I already know what I have to do. I'm just reluctant to shell out the dough. A mini synth with a nice palette of sounds is what I'm looking for..(piano sound not that important to me)...and that means something like an Alesis Micron or MicroKorg, etc... I have Logic Pro on a 2006 Mac desktop with signs it is getting rather long in the tooth. Maybe that's why the sound in Logic Pro seems lacking? I was just hoping there was a solution that didn't involve plunking down $300-$400+ but I guess that is not realistic. A new computer is out of the question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scramiflu Posted December 13, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2014 I should add I could connect my midi to my iPad and use an app to tide me over, which I do. But GarageBand is only so much fun before you want more guitar sounds. All the other apps I've chosen don't seem to do it for me either. Maybe you know of a really good app? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted December 14, 2014 Members Share Posted December 14, 2014 Not to put too fine a point on it, but I have $300-$400 invested just in *stands* for my keyboards. I wish it were, but this stuff just ain't cheap. Also, you're never going to get good guitar sounds out of keyboards. You need guitars for that. Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scramiflu Posted December 14, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 14, 2014 Not to put too fine a point on it' date=' but I have $300-$400 invested just in *stands* for my keyboards. I wish it were, but this stuff just ain't cheap. Also, you're never going to get good guitar sounds out of keyboards. You need guitars for that. Wes[/quote'] Well, I do know a way to get great guitar sound out of keyboards. Electri6ity. But, of course, its expense means I will have to wait to get that. In the mean time, I am just looking for something that sounds good "out of the box" without too much tweaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted December 14, 2014 Members Share Posted December 14, 2014 Not to put too fine a point on it' date=' but I have $300-$400 invested just in *stands* for my keyboards. I wish it were, but this stuff just ain't cheap.[/quote'] There's a whole pantload of truth in Wes's statement! Granted, each of us comes at playing keyboards a little differently (some folks have an approach rooted in playing piano, some come at it from an organist's perspective, still others are synthesists - focused more on soundscapes and "fills"). It's therefore no surprise that each of us has their own definition of what constitutes good - both in terms of what sounds good/plays well from a rig perspective, as well as what impresses us in terms of good playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scramiflu Posted December 14, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 14, 2014 There's a whole pantload of truth in Wes's statement! Granted' date=' each of us comes at playing keyboards a little differently (some folks have an approach rooted in playing piano, some come at it from an organist's perspective, still others are synthesists - focused more on soundscapes and "fills"). It's therefore no surprise that each of us has their own definition of what constitutes [i']good - [/i]both in terms of what sounds good/plays well from a rig perspective, as well as what impresses us in terms of good playing. I like some of what Ronald Jenkins is doing but I don't have the dough for his kind of keys and I've rather keep my keys portable, like between 25 -37 keys. My ultimate goal is to be a one man progressive band on mini keys. So I would like a large palette of sounds. It doesn't have to be the best equipment (unless that is required to get that sound) but I'd like to get sounds I can ultimately use for iTunes uploads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members workstation M.I Posted April 1, 2015 Members Share Posted April 1, 2015 Give this a shot-It's FREE and it never times out. The one to DL is at the top of the page. http://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one/compare-versions Here's something I did on this software: https://soundcloud.com/skyy38/heavy-happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted April 1, 2015 Members Share Posted April 1, 2015 A mini synth with a nice palette of sounds is what I'm looking for..(piano sound not that important to me)...and that means something like an Alesis Micron or MicroKorg' date=' etc... [/quote'] If that is the market you are looking in, I would also check out the Novation line - UltraNova or the mini version of that. I happen to be downsizing my rig and have an UltraNova for sale, although am only open to local person to person sales - I don't want to ship it. I had a microKorg for a while and it was fine, but I like the Novation sounds better. I'm also currently using a Korg Micro X, which is awesome and has the full Triton sound engine with a 2 octave keyboard. They are not in production anymore, but may be available on the used market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Outkaster Posted April 2, 2015 Members Share Posted April 2, 2015 Keyboards are tough to get into if your budget is really tight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scramiflu Posted April 4, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 4, 2015 Thanks. As you know, I have considered the microKorg...Would love to add one to my equipment list someday...But recently, I have been able to get a really good software sound out of Logic Pro 9 with my nanokey2 midi. So I'm kind of back experimenting with the midis. I got my hands on a CME Xkey midi but am struggling to match the sound output of the Nanokey2, which I'm unbelievably happy with at the moment. I've rather use the Xkey for its quality construction and larger key size but the output sound is slightly behind the Nanokey2 for some reason and I'm not sure how to tweak it to my liking. On another front, I noticed the introduction of the Akai Advanced series at Namm, which looks like it adds a lot more capability to midi controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scramiflu Posted April 4, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 4, 2015 Yea, and how!. Luckily, I mostly like mini, highly portable keyboards. That tends to keep the expense involved under control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted April 4, 2015 Members Share Posted April 4, 2015 SampleTank from IK Multimedia is quite a good software synth and there is an SE version of it available for $99. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scramiflu Posted April 4, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 4, 2015 SampleTank from IK Multimedia is quite a good software synth and there is an SE version of it available for $99. Thanks I heard about Sampletank but haven't pick it up yet (although I think I tried the free app way back).. And Electri6ity. And FL Studio. And a MicroKorg. And a QuNexus. And a new desktop...Etc...My wallet can never keep up with all the purchases I add to my wish list... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JeffLearman Posted April 7, 2015 Members Share Posted April 7, 2015 Compared to yesteryear, today's keyboards are dirt cheap and amazing. My first keyboard was a Rhodes 73 stage piano. It was a store demo and had (still has) cosmetic flaws, so I got $100 off the $800 asking price. That was in 1977, and amounts to over $2100 in today's money, for a keyboard with ONE SOUND. My next keyboard was a CP70, which I was super luck to find abused for only $2500 in 1980 (there was still a waiting list to get them new for $4000). That's nearly $7500 in today's money, again, for a keyboard with ONE sound (and which weighed a ton, and took two people two trips to carry.) Today, for $250 (if you watch CL), you can get a used Casio CDP100 digital piano and have a great bit of stageworthy instrument. With pretty much one useful sound, but if you only have one sound, piano is the way to go! Still, it's a commitment. Even cheaper, you can hunt for free software. Sadly for you though, most of the good free software is for Windows. That's pretty well balanced by GB and Logic, though. A faster computer won't make Logic sound better. I suppose Logic upgrades would have improved sounds, but I don't know. But I have heard that the Hammond in Logic is quite good, and that's old news (that is, it was quite good even say 6 or more years ago.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bill5 Posted August 11, 2015 Members Share Posted August 11, 2015 Not to put too fine a point on it, but I have $300-$400 invested just in *stands* for my keyboards. I wish it were, but this stuff just ain't cheap. Also, you're never going to get good guitar sounds out of keyboards. You need guitars for that. Wes Yep. Likewise for a sax, IMO. They just can't account for the many nuances of tonal change or "sculpting" one can do with the actual instrument. Freakin shame too, I'd love to have that option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kbeaumont Posted August 11, 2015 Members Share Posted August 11, 2015 For software synth sounds I can't say enough good things about Synthmaster 2.7 http://www.kv331audio.comThis synth is a beast and its price about $83 won't kill your bank account. I find it comparable to Native Instruments MASSIVE http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/massive ($199) and the much more expensive Omnisphere https://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere $499 If you can't sound good with any of these, then your better off investing in lessons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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