Yet another request for keyboards similar to the Nord Electro...

[air]

Hi there, I did a search for this topic and the ones I found were fairly out of date.

In terms of my use, I'm a guitarist looking to add a playing, recording and gigging keyboard that will offer me classic piano, organ and synth sounds. I love the sounds that the Nord offers but the price is a bit much for me in terms of my ability and use. I tried an Electro 4 yesterday and was surprised by the cheap feeling keybed of the SW version. I tried both the new Jupiters and the VR09. The VR was just over a grand and seemed to have a similar keybed to the SW Electro not that that matters much to me. The Jupiter was nice but a bit feature and price-rich for my needs. They had a used SV1 there but it wasn't plugged in to an amp and I ran out of time (it was on sale for around a grand tho). I'm not sure what other keyboards fall under this category of synth. But I'd love your input on some recos prior to heading back to the music store. Thanks

[delaware dave]

The VR09 would make a good fit for you based on your needs and price.

[air]

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. Any opinions on the Korg stuff? I think the new KROSS keyboards share some sounds with the SV1. I meant to play around with one of them too. I remember reading the making the choice between the Electro and the SV1 was that one was better for organ and synth and the other the piano as they both had pretty decent sounds. I'll have to try the SV1 as well, but it seems a bit lacking in features. I like the VR09 because of the ease of live setting changes through the drawbars or an iPad connection

[Etienne Rambert]

VR-09 looks like a winner.

 

But nothing can compete with a NORD, especially a big, blonde NORD with a Viking horn helmet.

Face it, Roland is a Japanese company. Do you think for a moment a Roland could possibly summon up a Goddess like this?

 

 

I own and love Roland synths. But in my heart-of-heart, the NORDs descend

from Valhalla.

[Outkaster]

Hammond SK-1

[wesg]

I personally would not even think about playing organ without dedicated drawbars, easy-to-use Leslie switch and an expression pedal.

 

For these reasons, my vote is for the VR-09 in the "Under $2000 MSRP" category, provided you are shopping new. I also own one FWIW.

 

One of the guys in the Yahoo Clonewheels group recently played the VR09 and SK2 on different gigs in the same venue with the same band. Unfortunately, it's not a studio recording, but it's still interesting. Note that I think he was using a Neo Ventillator ($500) with both organs. Definitely the VR-09. The Vent makes everything better. Some things more than others.

 

https://soundcloud.com/den121961/sets/kim-brewer-band-marleys-vr09/s-JEyYr

https://soundcloud.com/den121961/sets/kim-brewer-band-marleys-sk2/s-Xnmfb

 

I believe the SK2 is a dual manual version of the SK1 that Outkaster recommended.

 

Wes

[AnotherScott]

I'm a guitarist looking to add a playing' date=' recording and gigging keyboard that will offer me classic piano, organ and synth sounds.... I tried an Electro 4 yesterday and was surprised by the cheap feeling keybed of the SW version. I tried both the new Jupiters and the VR09. The VR was just over a grand and seemed to have a similar keybed to the SW Electro not that that matters much to me. The Jupiter was nice but a bit feature and price-rich for my needs. They had a used SV1 there but it wasn't plugged in[/quote']

First you should decide what kind of action you want. The SW Electro action s okay for organ and pretty bad for piano. The SV1 action is okay for piano but pretty bad for organ. Once you choose which kind of action is better for you (one more suited to piano or one more suited to organ), that will narrow down the options. Not that there are any really *great* options for piano+organ+synth at a low price. It will be a matter of picking your compromises. The VR-09 is one of the better values, as is the Casio XW-P1. The SV-1 is a nice board, but is mostly a piano and has very little in the way of synth/organ functionality.

 

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[Outkaster]

SV1 action is really not good at all. Most people I know that had them returned them.

[JeffLearman]

I agree with Scott. The Electro doesn't have a "cheap" keyboard, it has a semi-weighted one, which is pretty good for playing organ, clav, and even Wurlitzer, but not very good at all for Rhodes and piano.

 

As a piano player first, I'd rather play organ on a piano keyboard than vice versa, but either way it's a big compromise. Those of us who are serious about both have one of each.

 

The VR09 is a great suggestion for organ and a number of other sounds, but certainly isn't better than the Electro for piano. But it would definitely make a great starter single keyboard with the goal of adding a piano below it when funding becomes available. Its biggest limitation is the 61-key board, but IMHO, that's not really much worse than the Electro 73's F-to-F layout. I have an Electro. I've played E-E keyboards for so many years, whenever I had it set so that low F was one note above a Rhodes's low E, I kept accidentally trying to use the E that wasn't there. I set it an octave lower and pretty much never used the keys below low C, meaning I had 66 useful keys. (Then I modified my NE to add a low E key, and now I love it!) But I learned that while 61-note keyboards are a limitation, they're not a showstopper, and when they're above an 88, they're ideal.

[JeffLearman]

Another option is to go for the piano first. There, the low-cost options are Casio Privias and Yamaha P105, perhaps others. I've found Casio CDP-100 pianos as low as $250 on ebay, and might have got one but got a CP4 instead, a considerably better piano for considerably more money. But these Privias and Yamahas are definitely decent affordable pianos, and they're very light too. Cheaper than the VR-09, but not as versatile.

[air]

Thanks for all the input. I'm going to see what the local music stores are offering on Boxing Day. I may pull the trigger on the VR09 if the price has come down significantly (or one of the Jupiters if it's the same case). Otherwise, I'll bide my time and continue waiting for a decent priced Electro, as I like the sounds on that the best. I'm not dying for another set of synths, I already have a GAIA and an Alesis Micron. My piano playing (while virtually non-existent) isn't terribly important to the project that I"m working on right now. I'll have another run through all the like models of synths at the music store again and reconsider what works best for me.