Lame Newb Questions.

[ermghoti]

OK, I'm not a keyboardist, but I have been pressed into service as such. My capabilities extend to holding down chords, and I pretty much lack the time and inclination to progress. In any case, the guy who runs the band is mostly looking for a bit of texture here and there, and he likes my guitar and recordin' chops.

 

Anyway, I grabbed an Edirol PCR M-80, and use it to trigger the synth that comes with Sonar 5 PE. The Sonar synth is 90% fine by me, but dragging the recording rig and an LCD is a hassle, and it's only a matter of time before somebody spills a beer on it, and I go to jail for mass murder.

 

Finally getting to the point: I use a piano, some electric keys/organ/vintage analog synths, a few pad-type atmospheric sounds, and I'd like a good rotary effect. I also use horns and strings. Is there a decent module at a cost commensurate with my lack of dedication, so I don't have to cart around a half a truckful of delicate gear just to doodle some square waves in the wrong key?

 

Would a Kurzweil ME-1 be up my alley, or is it too limited? I see stuff around the $1k mark that looks about right, Yamaha Motif ES, Kurzweil PC2R/O, et al. Are these plug n play, or do you need to do some serious editing to get up and running? Come to think of it, are these guys even intended to be used as a standalone, or do they require a sequencer?

 

What's a rompler, and how does one romple? Does it hurt the first time?

[Paolo Di Nicolantonio]

This forum is divided into "Rompleristas" (a term invented by our Marc Ellis) and "Tweakers".

 

Rompleristas (I'm one of them) are not ashamed of having a few romplers in their racks. Tweakers will only touch analog (or high quality VAs) with hundreds of knobs (preferably modular).

 

A ROMpler is a synth with a sound engine mainly consisting of sampled waveforms stored in its ROM (ROM player = ROMpler).

 

You cannot go wrong with a Motif ES Rack, or a Fantom-XR, or a Triton Rack.

 

If you don't want to spend $1,000+ on a module of that caliber, you could look at the Roland JV-1010, or Korg X5DR.

[Outkaster]

No I would say it is divided by players and tweakers period. At least in the five years I have been here it has been like that.

[Oscius]

Romplers are the easiest way to go, JV rack or micro X or Mo rack ( is there one?) are all good

[Dejavoodoo]

 

Originally posted by Paolo Di Nicolantonio You cannot go wrong with a Motif ES Rack, or a Fantom-XR, or a Triton Rack.

 

 

Indeed. The cool thing about those is that they'll let you delve as deeply as you care to go. I've owned my Pro-X for 6 years now, and I'm still finding out new things about it. They're all editable, so when you feel like tweeking you can.

 

Good luck.

[ermghoti]

Excellent stuff, guys. Keys are my fourth instrument, fifth if you include recording, so price is a concern, but I've learned the "buy cheap, buy twice" lesson the hard way. I'll do some review readin'.

[Dejavoodoo]

I would go to www.soundonsound.com for great articles on products. This mag is straight-on honest. I searched it to find info on my Yamaha AW4416 (which I bought used for $900 - a steal!) and my Korg CX3.

 

Good luck to you.

[jazzwee]

 

Originally posted by Outkaster No I would say it is divided by players and tweakers period. At least in the five years I have been here it has been like that.

 

 

I like your style Outkaster. You sound more like a player, rather than a tweaker.

[Outkaster]

 

Originally posted by jazzwee I like your style Outkaster. You sound more like a player, rather than a tweaker.

 

 

Well I only say this because there have been some heated threads about this but it is the truth, mostly when we talked about having two forums which I was always in favor of. There are only a handful of player/performer type guys on here.

[jazzwee]

I do find that there's little discussion of music itself here. So much talk about gear that sometimes we forget what it's all about. Now I'm understanding your gripes about some of the advice given here. I'm a jazz guy so tweaking is not consequential to what I do.

[sizzlemeister]

Hmm. In a thread asking about gear, someone makes the point of noting there are less "players" than "tweakers" here. Can you say "way off base"? I knew you could. I'm sure ermghoti got A LOT out of that little tangent.

 

Back on topic, just pick the ROMpler which suits your budget and pleases your ears and have fun! They're all the same if you're looking strictly to play presets - these days they pretty much all sound good for live use. A lot of workstation ROMplers come with sequencers and perhaps sampling or recording capabilities - kind of hard to avoid a board having something like this unless you go low-quality, used, or with a stage-piano type keyboard. Perhaps the best board without extra bells and whistles is a Roland XP30.

[sheepshears]

there are no lame questions.

only lame n00bs.

[Outkaster]

 

Originally posted by sizzlemeister Hmm. In a thread asking about gear, someone makes the point of noting there are less "players" than "tweakers" here. Can you say "way off base"? I knew you could. I'm sure ermghoti got A LOT out of that little tangent. Back on topic, just pick the ROMpler which suits your budget and pleases your ears and have fun! They're all the same if you're looking strictly to play presets - these days they pretty much all sound good for live use. A lot of workstation ROMplers come with sequencers and perhaps sampling or recording capabilities - kind of hard to avoid a board having something like this unless you go low-quality, used, or with a stage-piano type keyboard. Perhaps the best board without extra bells and whistles is a Roland XP30.

 

 

Actually the moderator brought it up.