Keyboard dilemma - Please advise

D

DoubleBlade

New member
I'm thinking of getting a new keyboard for both church and personal use.

These are my requirements :

1) $800 - $1.2k budget

2) 61 keys (Since I doubt I can get a 88 key synth for $1.2k)

3) Preferably acoustic/choir/orchestral sounds

4) USER FRIENDLY

5) For church (P&W) and personal use (Band/Composing/Arranging)

6) Onboard user friendly sequencer

Please advise....

Cheers
 
i think your budget a bit too low. dont see any workstation aroung that price.

basically, there are 3 brands. yamaha, roland, korg.

will be useful to have 1 model from each brand for live performance. this way, you should have the best sound palette available. no need top of the range. just the entry level is ok since the top of the range simply have more function. the sound engine is somewhat similar.

1 keyboard - strings/epiano (roland)
1 keyboard - lead/brass (yamaha)
1 keyboard - bells/sfx (korg)

for personal use, can go for the soft-synth way. haiz... nowadays, software are way powerful.
 
Saw the Yamaha MM6 going at 1.2K. Its a workstation kind of keyboard if I'm not mistaken. But since I've not tried it, I can't comment on it.

But don't you think soft synths would be a little bit far too expensive for my budget?

I have an Acer 512 DDR2 RAM laptop for school/gaming use and I understand you need to have a standalone laptop to do soft synth?

I might give some due thought to soft synth as long as it does not overshoot my budget. If its possible then I can achieve better sound quality. And yes that is what I want, Sound quality.

Perhaps one could give me a step by step instruction on what needs to be done (upgrading laptop RAM ,MIDI controller, software etc) coupled with a total estimated cost for me to achieve soft synth.
 
i see some churches getting those top of the range keyboard (with built-in sampler, sequencer, digital recorder), then the player just use 1 Grand Piano patch. haiz... a bit overkill.

on the other hand, if you buy 3 x $400 Casio keyboards, you can have 1 for strings, 1 for brass and 1 for EP.

your live performance should be pretty much covered.

as for the softsynth, there are freeware available. check up on cheez's post.
 
For church use, you may want to keep softsynths out. Church use is a very different thing from live gigs and other uses. You want to be able to set up pack up very quickly with minimal fuss. And it will blow your budget once you throw in a notebook + midi controller. You'll need more than one softsynths to cover your sounds, which will cost you.

As Soft said, workstations are an overkill. You don't need a sequencer for church purposes. Most of it is live playing. If your church ever need sequenced songs to perform something, just record it at home and give them a CD.

What you'll need is a synth. That will narrow down your search. Of course, for acoustic sounds, Roland will be your best bet. MM6 is OK for the price. Consider a Juno-D - not sure the price (anybody?).

Another thing to take into consideration - does your church have a band? Will you keyboard be part of a band or is it going to be a solo keyboardist, or will it be used with a piano etc? This will also affect your choice, in particular whether it is going to be an 88 key or less.
 
Cheez :

I belong to the music ministry in the church and so we have enough members to form a band. Since they are other keyboardist around, we would need to take turns to play in the band and so as such there will be others using the keyboard as well.

They keyboardist will be part of the band. Most probably we'll be using a piano and different strings patches (when come to the solemn parts). That is why I don't want to waste my money getting a keyboard which has more electronic sounds than acoustic sounds. So basically the keyboardist will share an equal role with the guitarist, bassist and drummer.

Also I suppose if one day I wish to venture into some simple sequencing for personal use, at least I have that keyboard to fall on.
 
Doubleblade, what I meant is: do you already have an acoustic/grand piano in your church? And will that piano be part of the band? The answer to the first question is problably yes.

If the acoustic piano is part of the band, then the additional keyboard is mainly backup which means 61 or 76 keys are sufficient and you don't need excellent piano sounds. You'll need, however, a good soundman to get the mix right (piano preferably miced). If the acoustic piano is not going to be used, then it's advisable to have an 88 key to cover full piano range and should have decent piano sounds.

Another question - are you buying it or is your church buying it? It sounds as if you want to get it for yourself and use it for church. That's not advisable - you don't want to keep transporting it. Also, has the band been formed yet and has it been approved? I wasn't sure since you are using future tense in your post. You don't want to jump in getting something that does not fit the need. If you're getting for yourself, then it's a totally different story.
 
Everything has been finalised already. The church does not have an acoustic piano but has a clavinova and we ain't allowed to use it since we're not from the choir. So I guess the clavinova would not be part of the band.

I intend to buy the keyboard for myself and store it in church (Since I already got a piano at home to practice on). Let's say if I need the keyboard for outside church activities, I can just take it from church. The keyboard will be mine and I will have exclusive use of it.

The ministry has been approved a long time ago and from the ministry will then come the band. The members are from the ministry. I'm just joined the ministry as a new member. Everything else has already been finalised.

Actually I was thinking of the Juno D as after some thought, I don't think I would need a sequencer for it would be a total waste of money. But since you mentioned about having a 88 key keyboard with decent piano sounds (we're not allowed to use the clavinova), I think I should change to another keyboard.

A fellow SOFTie has offered me his Yamaha S08 keyboard.

Hope that should answer some of your questions
 
Sorry my bad its a SO8. He quoted 1.2k.

I'm a catholic and we don't incorporate band music into our weekly mass. It's the traditional choir + organist/pianist combination. The "church band" will only come in when we have church functions other than the mass.
 
Your call, Doubleblade. Somehow I felt that getting a keyboard to store in your church to be used for occasional function doesn't seem like adequate use (unless the "functions" you are talking about is on a weekly basis).

If you still intend on getting one, then my advise is that the keyboard either sits in you home permanently or in your church permanently. If you get it for yourself but store in your church, and out of good gesture you let the church use it, and yet you can take it away anytime you want...there is bound to be conflicts of interest brewing somewhere. I would not suggest it.

So think very carefully...
 
Ya loh.....agree w Cheez.

I had a friend who puts his electric guitar in church for use. Things kinda got awkard when he leaves to join another church.
 
Cheez :

I agree with you on the conflict of interest part. I stored my Roland XP-10 in my previous church and kind of allowed my previous church youth group to use my XP-10 for their weekly sessions. I've since left the group to join another ministry (the current one I'm talking about) in another church. Wanted to take my XP-10 back but they were in dire need of my keyboard as the other keyboard was spoilt. To avoid conflict of interest like what you said, I've decided to get a new keyboard for myself and I think its about time I get a better keyboard.
 
Okay anyways I'm heading down to Swee Lee to take a look at the Juno D over the weekend.

One more question I would like to ask :

Since the Juno D has no inbuilt speakers, external speakers seem to be the obvious choice. Can I just get any type of speakers (computer sound blasters,monitor speakers etc) or are there external speakers specially for synths?
 
My suggestion for Juno D is for chuch use as you first indicated. Now that it's going to be for personal use, you may want to re-consider.
 
Okay its going to be more of a personal use than church use. But still I will use the keyboard if there are church functions. I still am not sure whether its time for me to try hand at basic sequencing because I've got my piano stuff to concentrate on.

Was considering a Yamaha PSR 1100 or a S500 since both are equipped with inbuilt speakers and a basic sequencer. But am not sure about the acoustic sounds thou....

Suppose if I were to use it for church use (if the need arises), can't I just connect it to a keyboard amp, load a few patches and voal-lah?
 
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