HELP me find a suitable synth/keyb

CrispyEgg

CrispyEgg

New member
Hi i'm looking for a synth/keyboard within the budget of 1k

(for those of you who know me and wondering why, i'm helping my keyboardist ask around n find out more options)

1) 76 keys
2) good PIANO sounds
3) good STRING sounds
4) ok ORGAN & PADs for rock/pop playing
5) Layering of sounds
6) Splitting of keys

So far she's considering the Yamaha Portatone DGX 220, i told her about the Roland Juno-D but it only has 61 keys. any suggestions? Thanks lots in advance guys =)
 
ahaha it's for gig use AND home use i guess... more for gig use.

yeah she's quite small built so it'll be tough to lug around something too heavy..

We're going down to look at the Kurzweil SP76 @ city music later today (today being wednesday) hope it's a good buy...
 
the sp76 isn't light. and 76 keys are generally not portable, and nowadays few 76 keys are not so common. your best bet is korg X50 or yamaha MM6. dunno if juno-D can layer sounds.
 
Juno - G better than all...Value for money and good key feel and features in that price range... :D
 
You might want to check out a used Yamaha EX5 too :)

It has 76 keys on a nice key bed, pretty good sounds, can do splits/double and will fit within your budget. But it is a darn heavy machine but like what iansoh has already mentioned, most 76-keys generally don't like to move around too much.

Have fun! :)
 
haha in the end, she realised that 61 keys might be sufficient...

JUNO-G is out of the price range dude, u might've been talking about the JUNO-D.

Went down to try a few out, the final verdict is the KORG X50 for budget and sounds. Problem? U can't do quick-switching between sounds!! lets say u're playing strings then suddenly you need a piano sound, u gotta be able to key in the bank alphabet (1) and then the digits of the patch (1-3) which means a total of up to 4 key-presses. other than that, everything else should be okay.

I personally prefered the Juno-D for it's sounds and ease of use, i prefer to use a D-pad (up/down/left/right) because there's more control over the selection speed (i can tap it fast to jump to a patch far down the line, or run through patches to look for suitable sounds quickly with just 1 key-press) rather than using a wheel, which i notice, even for seasoned keyboardist, the wheel tends to over-scroll and u'll have to scroll back a few steps very slowly to get the correct selection you want. and the Juno-D's layered sounds were easier to programme and a few string patches come pre-layered.

Well yeah, the final verdict ended up with the X50. i think we're gonna go get it tomorrow! haha!

Thanks lots to those who replied, =) greatly appreciate the fast response!
 
X50 has pretty good sounds more than the regular bread and butter ones. for performing i would had really recommend it.(tried in Lcube once) X50 also comes with a software that allows you to use the X50 as a plug-in for any DAW. i did not use the X50 in detail therefore i do not know that it cannot change btw sounds easily. but anyway thats seems to be kinda an important function to leave up. i mean you do need to switch sounds fast some times.

the best part about X50 however is you can slip it with a strap and use it like a keytar.

but anyway if i am not wrong the JUNO-G retails for 1500? if i would you i would had save up the additional 500 to get the JUNO-G. AND if i am not wrong again it has an inbuilt sequencer inside. roland sequencer layouts are pretty easy to get along with. for the price of 1500 JUNO-G really had too many of the features that you wouldnt want to let go off. do reconsider. i mean for 500 it might be just another month of work or something.

too bad you miss it when piano-ex was selling his X50 for 800 i think? :]
 
CrispyEgg, most modern synth allow you to store USERS BANK. meaning you can edit the sound to your perference and line them up in sequence.

you can even layer sound, set controllers, split point ...

for example

USER 01 - Bells
USER 02 - EP+Strings
USER 03 - Strings (lower split) + Alto Sax (upper split)

so you just press the UP ARROW to go to the next patch throughout the song.
 
i had to disagree with the MM6 though, generally as in seriously generally,the presets in MM6 are not crisp and fat enough compared to the korg X50 or the JUNO-G.

well at least MM6 still couldnt compare to JUNO-G who utilized the fantom x series engines. and the best thing about JUNO-G is that it had a built in sequencer, that yes, record audio as well.

and with only 500 different (this if i am not wrong, one of my friend brought it from swee lee he say he brought it for roughly 1500) but i presume he is right, than JUNO-G might be the best bang for the buck sythn here, which provide both versitily features and sounds.

i dont think JUNO-G interface lacks up with the MM6 in any case though.
 
as i said i presume btw sweetwater retails it for 999USD so meaning swee lee might sell in the 1500 price range anyway.
 
-soft

I don't remember seeing "USER banks" on the X50... just banks... i didn't really have time to meddle around with it, my keyboardist is the one buying it so i let her test out the sounds first. The salesperson said that the X50 and KORG TR both do not have "user presets" for quick changing between sounds. =(

P.S. for those reccomending the JUNO-G and a few others, they (1) go over the budget mentioned, (2) have features i'm not looking for, e.g. sequencer. thanks anyway ;)
 
u're true in a way that there are no specific empty slot for you to put your sound ..

but NO! i must say that it doesn't limit us from setting our sound for quick change or even trigger with foot switch ...

here's how i do it last time ..

I save all the original preset in my comp ...

then when i need to go for a gig ... i'll store all my personal patch in the order that i'll do for the particular gig ... overwriting the original presets .... so having freedom with patch changing with my footswitch ..

after that ... store all my presets in my comp .. and load all original presets inside .. depends on what i need ... =)
 
Ohh okay! so basically the X50 can be linked up the the com and you can re-arrange the patches in the com? you gotta teach me how to do that one day lol...
 
aint you once in MusTech?

just call it up as a software plug-in in your DAW. ( as i mention in my above post already ).
well nowadays software that came bundle with sythns intergrate the sythn as part of a plug-in, instead of having to do cumbersome stuff like assiging an audio track to the MIDI input of the sythn track to be able to hear whats going on with your MIDI.

after installing the software, your DAW should recongnise X50 as a virtual instrument instead, thats whats cool with JUNO-G and X50. which is really good, it save you the trouble of calling up alot more useless tracks.

http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=X50&category_id=1
(look into here and cliick on the streaming video, it should teach you how to link it up with your DAW, also click under software (you will be able to download the software to call X50 as a plug in) if city music do not provide it )
 
yeah, how'd you know lol. i'm not much of a fan of the computer side of mustech, i prefer to do production, live production, recording, etc~ which explains my noob-ness in this area =P

Anyway the X50 ran out of stock. it's at teh warehouse and they're not gonna make any special deliveries or orders so it'll take a week to get to the shop, the only place we can get it at. tsk.
 
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