I realized the other day that the equipment I now have at my disposal for music recording and gigging is rather dated. A Yamaha CVP-59S digital piano that’s useless for live performance because it weighs 100 lbs and is really bulky. And it only has 16-note polyphony. A very serviceable, nice Ibanez electric guitar that was $800 new that still works fine. I gave my only amplifier away to my neighbor because it was broken, and too small for performing anyway. My old faithful green acoustic guitar with a pickup I can install in the sound hole is still here, too, and other than needing a saddle and nut replacement it’s just fine.
I realized the other day that the equipment I now have at my disposal for music recording and gigging is rather dated. A Yamaha CVP-59S digital piano that’s useless for live performance because it weighs 100 lbs and is really bulky. And it only has 16-note polyphony. A very serviceable, nice Ibanez electric guitar that was $800 new that still works fine. I gave my only amplifier away to my neighbor because it was broken, and too small for performing anyway. My old faithful green acoustic guitar with a pickup I can install in the sound hole is still here, too, and other than needing a saddle and nut replacement it’s just fine.
I have an M-Audio 49-key USB controller I use for sequencing, but it’s inadequate by itself for performance use. Besides having to have it hooked up to some sort of tone generator, the small number of keys doesn’t allow for effective keyboard splits or the pitch range that I commonly use when playing. And the keys are kind of plastic-ey. They lack the feel I expect from a good keyboard. However, it might be a really useful secondary keyboard on a rack for when I have to do fast organ runs or something.
So here are my requirements in my next synth:
- Minimum 32-note polyphony. 64 is better. 128 or more is OMGWTFBBQ Drool Drool Drool.
- Onboard sequencing/recording, no matter how rudimentary, is required.
- A fantastic grand piano sample, or the ability to load one.
- Fast and easy patch switching. Even if it takes me a while to learn how to set it up, I want to hit just ONE button to load the patch set I’m using for a song or series of songs. Then to switch between patches within the set, I want to hit just one key. I can’t even do this on my old and venerable keyboards that have more than one patch per button, but it’s a nice dream…
- Weighted keys. I know that playing non-weighted keys can result in dramatic speed gains with less effort… but after 27 years of playing the piano, I have trouble shaking the preference.
- 88 keys preferred, but 60+ is OK too if the price difference is enormous. Given the trade, I’d prefer a lower-end synth to get 88 weighted keys, I think.
- A large display. Touchscreen optional.
- The ability to accept and send SysEx MIDI messages and at least 16-channel MIDI.
- Some way to back up your sample library to external media (whether computer over USB, CD, DVD, or Compact Flash etc.) is a big plus.
- Support at least two pedals.
- Pitch bend and mod wheel required.
- Aftertouch is negotiable. I have never really been that impressed with it.
I realized after looking at my list that really most high-end synths from 1996-2002 would work fine for me. Here are a few I’m considering. My budget is about $500-$1000 for this synth… low, I know, but whaddya’ do when you’re the sole wage-earner for a family of six?
- Korg Triton Extreme
- Pluses: Big on-board storage (160MB) for sounds, fast load times, industry standard, gobs of support
- Minuses: Confusing UI, diminutive screen (if not the touch screen), rough learning curve, mod wheel & pitch bend are on the same joystick, weak default piano samples, getting rather dated at this point though still extremely popular.
- Korg Oasys (also called M3): Ebbeh. Ebbeh. Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. No minuses except it weighs 71 lbs (probably 100 with a case), it uses that combo pitch/mod joystick thingy, and at $7000+ with a substantial discount it makes a nice “whoosh” noise as it blows past my budget. Darn. Its 61-key little brother, the M3-61, is only $2200, but that’s still more than twice the budget.
- Alesis Fusion
- Pluses: enormous hard disk storage capacity for a sampler, superb default sound library, 8-track audio with MIDI sync on-board, USB backup, nice display, nice stock piano sound if you download it.
- Minuses: Slow sound load times. This can be worked around for live play, in that you can pre-load sounds while playing or just load up your most common synth set at the start of the gig, but it takes a bit more work to stay ahead of the load times. Alesis appears to have discontinued the unit with no plans for a successor. It weighs 56lbs, kind of middle-of-the-road for an 88-key synth.
- Yamaha Motif: Out of my league, way too pricey even on eBay. Even the cheaper M08 clocks in at about $500 more than I’m willing to spend at the most.
- Yamaha S08
- Pluses: In my price league. Great piano samples. 700+ sounds. Rock-solid live performance, 88 weighted keys, easy sound navigation, and I already know I like Yamaha keyboards. Light weight compared to others in this category (44lbs). A basic keyboard that suits most live performance needs, and a decent tone generator in the studio.
- Minuses: Not nearly as many features as the Fusion or Triton for similar price. Perhaps a bit too basic. Because Yamaha positioned this as their budget professional synthesizer, they left out a lot of pro features. It’s basically a portable version of the Yamaha CVP-59 I already own, but with upgraded samples and four times the polyphony. No “synthesizer” capability… as far as I can tell, it doesn’t even contain tone generators, but relies solely on a nice-sounding sample library.
- Kurzweil SP2X
- Pluses: Great piano, electric piano, and organ sounds. Nice leslie on the organs (a big plus vs. the weak leslie on the Korg & Alesis), separate pitch/mod wheels. Like the Yamaha, it weighs in at less than 50lbs. Also has a nice weighted action.
- Minuses: Like the Yamaha, it’s not as full-featured as the Alesis and Korg offerings in this price range. It also has the most limited sample library of any of these keyboards.
So what other choices are there in this space of “audio workstation/synth”? At this point, I’m leaning toward the Alesis Fusion 8HD. Having a hard disk is a concern, but I’ve already seen the tutorials on how to replace it, and being a computer geek I’m like “Yeah, OK, whatever, no biggie to fix it”. Plus it’s easily backed up over USB to a PC. That said, I think I really need to sit down with a Fusion next to a Triton and just spool through their samples to see which one I like better. I’m fairly certain that, regardless of my choice, I’ll be pleased with whatever I buy as it will be light-years better than what I used last when I was a professional musician twelve years ago.
This, of course, neglects the fact that I need a new electric guitar amp (well, almost certainly “used” is more my speed) of at least 80-100 watts, as well as an amp or monitor system for the keyboard…
What do you think? If you were newly getting into live gigging (again) on a keyboard with some guitar, what would you want as your reliable go-to instruments and accessories?