diff. between synth. and keyboard.. and what to buy?

[idreamz]

Greetings everyone! Merry Christmas!

I'm new here so I hope I can learn more from all you people. I have a question to ask.

I would like to know the difference between a synthesizer and a normal portable keyboard. I can't find any good references about the differences and their functions and uses.

I would also like to buy a proper keyboard, but not sure if I should get a keyboard or a synthesizer. Thanks!

 

[bongman]

keyboards and synths

halo,

keyboards are referred to Casiotone or Yamha PSR series,
the sounds cannot be edited and they comes with onboard speakers.
But the current trend, keyboards sound as good as the pro synth.
Roland just released a G70 workstation with chord accompanionment.
and it costs a bomb! but the low end PSR series is from S$300 onwards.

Synths are keyboards with sound modules, the sounds can be edited and saved to the onboard RAM. Nowadays, synths comes with sequencer and sampler; eg, Korg Triton, Yamaha Motif and Roland FantomX. These are the top professional synths workstation. They cost an arm and a leg, at least S$3500.

Another area to look into is Soft-Synth, a good one for beginners
is Korg MicoKontrol which comes bundle with 3 Soft-synth. Go City music
and have a look, only S$445. GOOD BUY !!!

 

[idreamz]

___

Hm.. I have some keyboards in mind, please comment. Not sure which to buy. I want a keyboard for.. both general purpose playing, and music creation, but of course I don't have the budget for a top-end professional one. The sound must be good. Because I'm tired of lousy sounds. And it should be good enough for me to create music Here are they:

Yamaha PSR K1 Keyboard
Yamaha PSR 450 Keyboard
Yamaha PSR 550 Keyboard
Yamaha S03 Synthesizer (there seems to be a silver one and a black one which is S03Bl.. what's the difference? It's around a $200 price difference)

Which would be a better investment? How about other models you can recommend? I haven't seen many roland or korg keyboards around. How about the Casio line like WK1800 or WK1600?

Thanks!

and btw, where is music city?

 

[bongman]

synth or keyboard

for the PSR series Yamaha keyboards, chk out:
http://music.yamaha.com/productView.html?groupId=20&hierarchyId=1

generally these are made for home user but they still produce good sounds
using Yamaha sample-playback AWM2 soundchip. The best way to judge is to test them out in Music Plaza.

Yamaha S03 Synthesizer - a entry level but considered professional
sounding.
check out - http://www.yamahasynth.com/

For Roland synth - go to Swee Lee (www.sweelee.com.sg)
chkout: Juno-D, RS-50, RS-70 (pro entry level synth)

Korg synth - go Citymusic (www.citymusic.com.sg)
entry level synth ??? see for yourself
Triton LE ???

another store to chk out - Sinamex (www.sinamex.com)
go for Alesis QS6.2


enjoy urself !!!

 

[seekz]

But i can buy a midi controller and play it in Cubase as a soft soyth right >?

 

[bongman]

yes!

of course you can, right now the trend is moving towards soft synth.

that's why I recommended KORG microKontrol S$445 at Citymusic
UP is $665 - sale until end of the year.

A lot of people is moving towards soft synth and selling off their hardware synths; this is seen as the second major evolution in Electronics Music. The last major change is when MIDI was introduced and everybody was selling off their analogue synth for a digital one, eg. DX7, D50, M1.

But right now all these analogue synth seems to be the value for money items. what goes around comes around ???