Recommendations for keyboard / synthesizer

[weckish]

hi all,

i need some recommendations. hopefully be able to benefit from the coming city music and sweelee sales.

i am considering the following, korg pa50, korg triton(new i guess).

i need a keyboard that is able to plug in laptop, do midis, orchestrations, and able to record a decent piano sound. overall, the keyboard should be able to handle basic piano gigs, and also help in my recordings. budget wise is below 1.5k hopefully. pardon me for my language as i am a noob in the keyboard field.

is workstation a better choice? or a midi keys will do? i am not that well verse in roland's gears also. please do help me out.

[lowjk]

Originally Posted by weckish

i need a keyboard that is able to plug in laptop,

No. If you want a decent piano sound, workstations are NOT the way to go.
Get
1) a decent controller keyboard (not necessarily new with your budget).
2) a good VSTi that normally dedicates a few Gb to piano sounds. (A workstation at most dedicate a few MBs to piano sounds).

You can have a look here:
http://www.audiomidi.com/master.cfm?CID=224

Of course, all this would mean that you need to bring your laptop for a gig and you need a decent soundcard. Or if money is tight, try if Asio4all works with your laptop.

http://tippach.business.t-online.de/asio4all/faq.html

[weckish]

hi there,

thanks for replying. but i am looking for something more all rounded. therefore my mind was on the workstation. what do u think of a midi player in my case? i guess that could only cost less than $200.

what excatly a pa50 arrange diff from workstation?

thx

[exin]

I'm considering getting a keyboard too. As a bass player and one who is pretty into solo stuff, i realised that learning how to play the piano in general will help alot in my chord changes and arrangement/improvisation structure etc.

I was eyeing the Yamaha PSR275, but i don't mind second hand stuff too, was looking through Yahoo Auctions and found some cool ones, but at the current moment i dont' have the budget to get one, have to wait till next year before i can.

I'm cool with the keyboard tech talk but i'm totally lost with the connection part to your PC. I'd want to do home recording too, but how do i start?

I understand that there has to be some midi input thingy from your keyboard to the PC right? Or will a normal 1/4" jack work fine?

Man .. home studios .. bleahs ..

[binderdonedat]

Ma 2 cents

sorry do differ with lowj workstation versus controller/ computer

but... getting a controller/ soundcard/ pc/ VST and hooking it all together is laborious and just a big pain in the a$%. (Even though it is cool as heck once you get it right), The chance of all being wonderful on your first 15 tries setting it up is very low. I do this for a living and it had taken me almost 3 months to buy/ fix/ buy more/ get drivers/ reinstall yadayada e.t.c... to make my system work glitch free. These are concerns you do NOT need when just jumping into learning keyboards. You need your brain space for the art of playing well.

It sounds like you cats are trying to learn keyboards and do some elemental writing perhaps, so unless you are about to embark on serious recording or need pretty lights all over your desktop, get a good stand alone workstation - second hand on ebay or ask and look around here - Should be between 500 and 1000 SG and they are awesome song palettes as well - in fact some can really inspire creativity and learning.

The piano sounds on high end workstations are fine and some have killer stock piano samples.

Some good second hand workstations to look out for are:
Korg Triton family of keyboards (get the piano card though, stock piano is crap)

Roland XP series - old school now, but has some great pianos that you've definitely heard alot if you have had your radio on in the last ten years

Yamaha Motif - (more expensive likely) hands down the best stock piano sound and some very cool creative functions for writing songs and arranging. This keyboard is a good argument for preferring a keyboard with "stuff" in it over a midi controller with a computer - even when you know exactly what you are doing .

As with anything, the newer the more expensive...

ma 2 cenz

[Cheez]

Hi binderdonedat, I believe lowjk is replying weckish, not the thread starter, who has a totally different need. Weckish needs good piano sound, recording, orchestration etc.

3 months to setup your DAW system is a long time! I took a few weeks - already very long for me. But once it's set up right, it works extremely well. And playing on my 20 samples/note piano is a dream - no hardware piano comes even close. Top of the range Yamaha is only 3 samples/note; top of the range Roland SRV I believe is 4 samples/note. And they are no where near software pianos.

But if using for live, I agree with you. Piano sounds from keyboards are usually sufficient. All release samples and details etc get lost when it is blasted through loud speakers.

[Mobius]

I am a guitarist who is into songwritting, planning to get a keyboard for demo recording. THe sounds that I am interested in is the grand piano sound, synths and strings. Have my eyes set on a Yamaha DGX-220. Tried it with my keyboard playing friend and I liked it.

Just wanna get some opinions from the experts out there how you guys find the DGX-220. Thnks in advance!!

[sadisticnoob]

hey im interested in keyboars even tohugh im on drums... btw i went to yamaha to check out their clarniova stage piano ..blah blah blah ...is korg better than yamaha

[Dahliax]

It all depends on what u kinda stuffs u wanna play.

Go for Korg if u're going for music effects.Their synthesizers and workstations are really packed with a huge variety of effects.But I heard that their piano sounds are not as great.

Go for Yamaha if u're more of a "playing" person.Meaning you dun need as much effects but more of the feel of the keys.I started out as a classical pianist so I like the feel of Yamaha keys more than korg.The effects are good as well,just that i like Korg's sounds more hahaha.Their motif and S series are rather good I would say

Just my 2 cents worth of personal opinion

Originally Posted by sadisticnoob

hey im interested in keyboars even tohugh im on drums... btw i went to yamaha to check out their clarniova stage piano ..blah blah blah ...is korg better than yamaha

[elsonandhistrumpet]

hello people,

i see you people talking about synthesizers, midi players, workstations and keyboards. what exactly are they? do you guys actually have a link that explains what are the differences and purpose of the various equipments?

help would be very much appreciated here. thank you in advance!