Keyboard recommendation for gigs?

M

mysleepingpig

New member
Hi guys!

I'm looking for a light and extremely portable keyboard for gigs. I hope to be able to use this for long term, mostly playing pop and jazz. Any idea what most people use? It's my first time and i'm very noob in this.. >.<

Here are the conditions:
- semi/unweighted keys
- must be touch-sensitive
- must have many patches
- it is a synthesizer

I have heard of Korg X50 and Nord. What are some recommendations on other brands?

Thanks a lot yeah! :D
 
Thank you all for your reply. :)

I was wondering how to choose between Korg, Nord and Roland. Other than in price, what about the quality in hardware and the sound? Any special tips?
Thanks!
 
You will find very differing opinions from the opposite camps, but honestly at the same price bracket (let's say Korg X50 vs Roland Juno Di, direct competitors) the real difference to the end user is in the experience. Specs wise you can compare numbers till the cows come home but when you're on stage nobody cares.

Of course "true" synth geeks will beg to disagree, but for me it comes down to how comfortable I am using the various features. Even simple things like changing and saving patches. I've always favoured the Juno series so if you have a chance try them out.
 
Hee.. hee ... keyboardist must bring a few keyboards for gigs too. Cannot lose out to the guitarist! But remember to get something light or else you will be too tired to perform.

Look for something that you can store 'favorite' sound and access them via just a button click. Some keyboards has too few buttons and you must go into multiple menu pages before you can select a sound. Bad for live situation.
 
Yes i can imagine when need to switch to different voice in just seconds, the situation will be tricky. On this point, i think the Korg x50 may lose some points cuz i've been so frustrated on it when i can't/dunno how to save the sounds i want and getting to that sound takes a lot of tweaking and time.

Hahah and yeap getting something light is my main objective this time. I do have a portable one- Yamaha P155 but it's 20+kg. =.=

Where can i find these 1st hand/2nd hand keyboards in Singapore?
 
City Music http://citymusic.com.sg/ for Korg
Keyboard Theatre http://www.keyboardtheatre.com for Nord
and of course Swee Lee for Roland

I don't really like the X50's interface either, but it is very popular at gigs here. Don't be too quick to write it off before checking out the manual because sometimes these proprietary interfaces are not immediately obvious, but can actually be quite powerful and suitable to your style once you know how to program it.
 
The sound is the main determining factor. In the end of the day, it's the type of sound you want to produce. And since sound is a very personal thing, you will get differing opinion. For me, Roland is the best for acoustic sounds which you use for jazz and pop, although Yamaha is also getting better esp at the piano sound. I have problem with most of the Yamaha's piano patches in the past, but their newer ones seem to have improved over.

If you are playing live, what carboxymoron mentioned abour ergonomics come in. This is where the Roland stage piano (RD-series) shine above the rest. The problem is that Roland stage pianos are not exactly portable. However, not all Roland are made equal. I recently played the VR-760 live on stage (not mine). It was a nightmare. Changing patches was really cumbersome.

The other factors are really secondary (like 88 or 76 keys).

I would strongly recommend you checking out the Juno series. They are portable in terms of weight. But in the end, it's the sound that matters.
 
I think quick patch changes and real-time tweaking is really important and that is something that is still rather cumbsome on most keyboards that rely on an LCD screen for navigation and paramater displays. in this aspect, I haven't used a keyboard with a better performance-centric layout than the Nord Stage. the current Yamaha S-series looks like it comes close, but I haven't used it live personally so can't comment more.

Cheez! where did you get to play the VR-760!? Always been eyeing one of those V-combos but they never reach our shores..
 
Iansoh, I played it overseas (as you probably know, I'm actually overseas most of the time!). The VR-760 didn't belong to me. We had 2 keyboards. My 88 key Yamaha S90 was played by somebody else. I had to borrow the VR-760 because I'm playing Hammond most of the time + strings (which I hooked up to my notebook via midi). Really didn't like the VR-760. Not only is changing patches a total nightmare (and totally confusing - I use Roland all the time, this is the worst!), the drawbars actually don't recall. Once a patch is changed and you switch back to the Hammond, the drawbars setting goes back to default (88800000), even if the drawbars are in my setting. So you really have to save the organ patches and recall via that. Strings patch not good either (untypical of Roland). However, the newer VR-700 may be better. Hopefully they improved on the ergonomics.

Changing patches is like: hold down two buttons simultaneously (press "bank" button, and press a number button at the same time) - this calls up the first bank number (eg. 1 = 10). Then press a second button (e.g 2, you get 12). And the sequence of the patches are not logical - you really have to recall what each bank number is 10-18, 20-28, 30-38 etc. Everything is mixed up. Pressing the quick button (organ, synth, piano) calls up one patch, then it basically gets stuck in that patch. Hammond emulation is good; only 2 speeds for leslie rotation (fast and slow) + brake. Waterfall keys are comfortable to play with esp glissandos.
 
Ha..ha... Cheez, you need 1 person to flip the score and another to change patches!
 
No lah. No need to flip scores as we use chord charts. But I do need 2 people - one to change patches, and one to hit my head in frustration when I ask for it! :)
 
As for my experience, keyboard should be first of all sturdy, because when one of the keys just falls off, it isn't cool at all :rolleyes: It was more of a transporting problem though... So use hardcases everybody. And I understand weight criterion. There is cool vintage Soviet synth Polyvox:

1016814135745557.JPG


Everything would be great about it if it hadn't weighted almost 30 kg!

As for jazz/pop recommendations, I suggest Roland Juno Stage.
 
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