Keyboard [synth] advise

[Craig Walker]

My wife currently plays a Roland XV-88 keyboard at our church. She uses piano, strings, and B3 sounds 90% of the time.

The B3 sounds are so-so at best on the Roland.

What keyboards should she check out?

Kurzweil? Korg? A different Roland?

She isn't looking for the 'workstation' stuff.......just keyboard within context of a band.

Which one has the best [in your opinion] piano sound?

She likes weighted keys, full 88 scale.

Thanks for all input. http://63.151.115.106/board/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Elgreco]

I play in a praise band weekly and we use a Kurzweil K2500. It has the best piano and organ sounds hands down. You might want to look at their PC or XP series keyboards too (non workstation). But K2500 and 2600 series can be found at great values (don't let the workstation part scare you away).
I hope this helps.

PS, Stay away from Alesis, ours has spent more time in the repair shop than in service! (total junk)

[cSuttle]

I'm a keyboard player first, guitar player second. I use to write all the keyboard articles for Harmony-Central back when they actually had writers.

The problem you are going to have here is the B3 sounds. There is not a single board on the market that does good B3 sounds and everything else. Not sure why that is, but its true.

You may want to concider two boards. An all around board, and a B3 emulator. Roland made a nice one for a while called the VK7. I have seen them used on eBay for about $750. They make a VK8 now, but I haven't had a chance to try it out. Roland also makes the VK8 as an add on midi module. Also, Korg has a new one call the CX3 (I think) that is pretty good too.

Now on to the all around board. The best thing out there right now is the Korg Triton Studio. Real nice by pricey. Your looking at $3K+. If that is out of your budget and all you want is piano and a little strings and such, I would say that the Kurzweil PC series is the way to go. That and a Roland VK7 and you'd be rocking!

Good luck with your hunt and ask me any questions you want.

[Craig Walker]

The Kurzweil K2500 has been mentioned by Elgreco here, and others at the Gear page.....your thoughts on it?

Thanks to both of you.

[cSuttle]

The Kurzweil K2500 has been mentioned by Elgreco here, and others at the Gear page.....your thoughts on it?

Thanks to both of you.
The K2500 is a good solid board. If you bought it, you'd probably like it. It does most things pretty well. I'm not real please with the string sounds, but as an all around board it hold up with the best of them. In this area, the Korg Triton Studio is still the king pin though, but more expensive. The problem with either of those boards is still the B3 sounds. Both boards offer good B3 sounds, but if you have played the real thing (like I have) you will not really be happy with the B3 on either of these board.

Both boards offer a servicable B3/leslie, but both of these board are base on a processing chip that is wave sample based. No wave sample board is going to get a good B3 sound because the wave is too long and too complex. The Roland VK7/8 and the Korg CX3 are function based processors design to only produce organ emulation. In short, it your not too picky about your organ sounds than the 2500 would probably be just fine. Me personally, I want the audience to close their eye and picture Keith Emerson when I play.

Cliff

[bassomatic]

Not a common solution, but Herbie Hancock took out a laptop on his last tour because he couldn't find a better B3 sound than the Native Instruments VSTi plugin. The B4 and NI's The Grand, laptop and midi controller and you're there - of course, it's not the cheapest approach.