New guy seeking advice from the wise old forum members and keyboardists

[Robbie McGonigle]

What keyboard should I buy?
I need a pitch/mod wheel, and a decent soundbank and synthesis system.

Thanks.
- Robbie

[calmar]

Ok, I think a can help you a little bit but you must be more clear in your request...

I mean: How much are you willing to pay? There is so a LARGE range of prices in keyboards. You can have a Casio 61 notes for 200$, or a Motif ES 61 notes for 2000$.
Would you want to have a lot of sounds, but with a "so so" quality? Or less sounds but good quality sounds?
Wich kind of sounds do you want? Goods acoustic sounds? Good synth sounds? Both?
Do you want only some good presets to play with them, or want to program your keyboard, program your own sounds and setups (like JR)?

And don't forget: a keyboard with pitch and mod wheels is more "professional". More "professional" mean more expensive. You don't have pitch and mod wheels on a 200$ keyboard. Maybe the pitch wheel, but not the mod.

With these informations, I think we will be able to help you a little bit better.

Dave

[calmar]

I have decided to completely commit to developing my piano skills. At the moment I have an alright grasp of major and minor scales and arpeggios, but not a very advanced knowledge of other scales and chords. I also want to improve my hand control, in order to eliminate my problem with small errors.

I think that with a semi or non-wieghted keyboard, you will not be able to really develop your piano skills. Maybe you will be really good on a semi-weighted keyboard, but when you'll be on a real fully-weighted piano or keyboard, WOW. Good luck. lol. I think that to buy a FW (fully weighted) keyboard was the better choice I've done when I was buying a new keyboard. Now I can say that I play the piano, not the keyboard. It's still a keyboard, but if I want to play piano on a real piano, I can.
Maybe you can see to buy a 88 FW keyboard with some sounds, and to connect an other midi keyboard with more and better sounds. Or only buy a 88 FW master keyboard, but its a little bit more expensive.

Dave

[calmar]

Ok...
First, for under 500$, you will not be able to find a real synth where you can program your own sounds, create patches, setups, effects, etc... That's impossible. (maybe on ebay, but that's at your own risk...)
- BUT - You can have a 61 or 76 notes keyboard, with good presets (but don't expect too much at this price, you know...), where you can add effects, but you can't program your sounds, setups and all the blablabla...
On this kind of keyboard, you can only split your board in 2 layers (usually), or have 2 voices in "dual".
A real synth with very good presets, where you can program you sounds and all your keyboard is a bit more expensive.

If you want more informations, im here!

Dave

[Luca_Capozzi]

Gear Talk? oO

Luca

[calmar]

Maybe you can have synth under 500$ (I don't know all the models...) but it will be very poor quality...
D

[hephiroth]

my advice: save up for longer while you're learning on that acoustic piano. for the time being, just lug your setup for your band. if you can get $1000 or so saved up, you can get maybe a Korg Triton Le 61-key or even a Korg Karma. Maybe even a Korg Triton Classic 61-key on E-bay.

hell, i just looked and found some cheaper (between $500-$700):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7337630624&category=38089&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7337134592&category=38089&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7337735302&category=38089&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7337134592&category=38089&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1

i think the Triton Classic or Triton Le in the 61 key version would be your best bet. It has a ton of great sound, is fully programmable, has a pitch/mod wheel and the Triton Classic even has a ribbon controller.

-Jeff-

[Robbie McGonigle]

Thanks. I think saving and picking up a triton is the best plan.

[Grey Loki]

From skimming this thread, it seems that you already have a few keyboards, which you could use as controllers. For example, you could get the rack version of say a Roland V-Synth (An extreme example - don't take it literally). Because you're not paying for the keys, controllers, displays and other gubbins, it knocks a hell of a lot off the price, bringing proper synth technology to an affordable price.

Just something to think about.

EDIT: For future reference, it's better to post questions like this in Gear Talk rather than Gear Tutorials - the former is a 'general discussion' of gear, whereas the latter is mainly for people to give techniques on a particular board back to the forum.

[hephiroth]

good plan, man! best of luck--keep us posted

-jeff-

[ChristopherBoylan]

I've seen a number of Kurzweil K2000s on ebay for 500 bucks, sometimes completely loaded. I bought one for 450. Buying your first keyboard on ebay wouldn't be a bad thing to do, just like anything else, check out the feedback on the seller. And look around. Check several out; don't buy the first one you see. The K2000 is jam packed with sounds that you can program and re-program with all sorts of synthesis techniques AND it's not diffucult to master. It would give you some well-rounded lessons on synth programming. Continue to practice on your piano and work real hard (usually on the stuff that you don't want to!), and try to spend at the bare minimum of an hour a day doing scales and pracique. Practique books are great for limbering up and developing strength and dexterity. Then, to reward yourself for doing your "homework", work on your K2000 programming!

Best of luck!

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Is the UI on the K2000 better than the K2500 or K2600? Generally, having people learn synthesis on a Kurzweil is like telling someone who wants to learn to fly a plane to hop in and pilot a space craft.

I would recommend saving up more money and doing a lot more research first. We can give you lots of advice and specific recommendations, but ultimately only you will be able to decide what best fits your needs, and the only way to discover what that instrument is is to get at least somewhat familiar with the major keyboard brands and models. It took me a number of months to gain enough knowledge of what I wanted to make an educated decision. I'm slowly building an entire new home and studio rig though, so not everything is applicable. Nevertheless, when I finally weighed all of the pros and cons and got my first few purchases out of the way, I got exactly the gear I wanted for my purposes. It's coming up on 2 months, and I'm still happy with my decision, I wouldn't have done it any differently now. So I recommend spending some time gathering more information and money, and keep asking questions here, it'll be worth it.

[stealth]

Maybe you can have synth under 500$ (I don't know all the models...) but it will be very poor quality...
D

I disagree.. Sure, you can't get a K2600 or anything for $500, but there are plenty of good keyboards out there. On the new side, the Roland Juno-D comes to mind. I've heard some good things about the Yamaha S03 as well.

If you wanna go used, there are plenty of options. A Kurzweil K2000 as previously mentioned can be had for under $500 easily. There are also vintage synths like the Korg DW8000, Ensoniq ESQ-1, etc that can be found for 1-300 and can definitely work for prog rock.

[normthesamurai]

I'm in your position too. I've decided to save up for a triton Le though, unless I can find a triton classic those ribbons look mighty fine. As long as you have a piano to keep up practice I don't think you would absolutely need a weighted synth unless you could afford it. Thats why I've got my eye on a Triton le 76 key.

[Alkemist]

You might also want to check out the EX5, Yamahas flagship a couple of years back.

For a price of about 500$ you get a lot of great presets, and a very flexible synth engine. Check out the website of the synth.

It was the thing to have in 1998 when it came out. Plus youd get to know your way through other Yamaha products, the Motifs and the like.

[Robbie McGonigle]

Wow. I completely forgot about this thread!
You guys have been absolutely great! I'm just now seeing how nice and helpful you all are.
I've not been on for a week or 2 because I've been busy setting up my keys up in my room.
THIS (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=keys0rb.swf) is my current set up.
It's ridiculous, I know, but I'll be upgrading eventually.
:D