allan_evett

Returned from Colorado last week and have been catching up on things here. As mentioned in another post, there is no such thing as a 'free lunch'. First heard that one as a teen in the 1970s - from a fellow keyboardist and mentor; stills rings true, especially today. For what we get from this forum, $50 per year is a bargain. Subscribed, today!

I just picked up a Juno D8 demo model yesterday. It's for a particular gig, and I'll be doing some programming and setting up Scenes over the next several weeks. I played through a bunch Scenes last night, but didn't delve too deeply into the Progam level. Will be looking to see if your issue comes up on my unit. I did notice that the Scene selection doesn't scroll or step smoothly across instrument categories; it appears to be tied into the 'instrument select' buttons; in other words, selection stopped when I reached the end of a category, then I had to select the next category to continue scrolling/stepping up. I haven't experienced that with previous Roland instruments, so perhaps their sound selection design is a little different for the Juno D - across all levels of use? I'll post more here once I spend a little more time exploring the keyboard.

What an amazing life. And the level of craft and soul he brought have been a constant inspiration. Thank you, Mr. Jones!

This new Juno D Series looks great - for both newer players and pros. Guessing Roland will sell a bunch of these.

Yep. My first synth was a Yamaha CS-50. Cool synth for many things, but shortly after buying it I had the opportunity to tour with a variety/rock act. The keyboardist for another act - which was under the same management group - had a Minimoog, which the others raved about - for it's lead and bass sounds, etc.. Then a friend of our guitarist bought a Prophet 5... By the time I left that gig it was time for two-osc's per voice. I picked up a used OB-SX, eventually upgrading to an OB-Xa. Also had a Prophet-600 for a while. I did briefly explore the single-osc-per-voice Junos, but never purchased one.

Yep, chorused Wurli. I pick up a strong, 'Supertramp' vibe from that intro.

I have a Nautilus 88 in my home workspace; if I need heavy-duty synth layering/splitting, it's worth taking out live. But...most of time my CK88 is great for live piano/basic layering coverage, and it is much more 'transportable'. It's likely the best 'bang-for-the-buck' stage piano I've ever owned. Plus, I can put my super-light organ/synth - Stage 4 Compact - up top, if two keyboards are needed. Other than the Nautilus, the rest of my gear is scattered between two churches and a teaching space. The CK88 works great for piano and church organ, plus it's easy to grab for an outside gig. I've been experimenting with different 3-way layers that combine pipe organ, 'church organ' and even the tonewheel section. A lot of fun simulating bass pedals with my LH - easier for now, as I'm not trained on traditional organ pedals. The CK88 has been great for a handful of band gigs I've done over the past half year or so. While not quite as involved as the synth models in other instruments, it's still quite good for pads/layers. I've even coaxed a passable 'Mini' lead out of the thing.

But since I'm the Alpha... this guy, on stage-right, does report to me:

Well this is awkward...

I had a VR-760 about 20 years back. Sounded great, and I liked the action a lot. Perfect 2nd tier keyboard to have on top of a digital piano - especially for local and and road, country gigs. But eventually I needed MIDI control functions, so I went with a VK-8M - MIDI'd from a Triton Extreme 76. The lack of a L/R organ split was limiting, and IIRC the VR-730 I tried in 2017 was similarly limited. The deal breaker on the 730 was that there was no way to split organ to the left side/piano to the right - with rotary effect assigned to left side, which I needed for smaller, single-keys gigs. I even looked into putting a Ventilator on the organ section, but the VR had no section-to-separate output option. So began another Nord Stage journey...

David, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you. I'm also an occasional sufferer of cranial-rectal impaction, and quite experienced with overthinking and missing the obvious. I have a book of Murpy's Laws, somewhere; it's the 'EX' version - which includes Sattingler's Law: It works better if you plug it in. And I just found a 'Laws of Engineering' link, which may be helpful to many of us here: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/the-laws-of-engineering/386223

It's been at least a year since alternating between both devices, since my previous 3x per week gig had been solely on piano - up until July 1st. But Stokely's experience appears to track similarly to mine: The KL does have more gain available when needed. Though knowledgeable FOH engineers have never had a problem compensating for any output differences the Pro D2 may have presented; and my powered monitor has no trouble with that either*. I'm planning to take the KL out again, once I get back into some kind of stage gig. My new accompanying gig is Sunday mornings only, so that frees up Saturdays for band gigging again. * Added thought.

My rig is similar, though I usually run in mono. For single-keyboard gigs, I'll used one of the channels on my old, Radial Pro D2 - which, oddly enough, now only has one working channel. I then send the Thru out to my powered monitor. For two or more keyboards (kind of rare, now), I'll use my Key Largo. The Key Largo could also come in handy if I ever need a USB connection to run my MBP or iPad live.

Big fan of the CT-S500 here. It's gone with us on several trips. Great, compact keyboard for hotel room use. Works well with my iPad. Will definitely be taking it on a longer road trip planned for his coming fall. I've also gigged it several time - using it for strings, brass and a few other sounds - 2nd tier above my NS 3, 76. The sounds are solid, and it's super helpful for small rig situations. The piano tones are very playable and expressive; for that, this one punches well above its weight. No serious tonewheel organ coverage, but for a live rig that's not needed - especially having the Nord modeled organs. Plus, in a pinch I could always use B3-X on my iPad - if the CT is the only keyboard in use..

+1 on Dave Weiser's Kurzweil sound set. Good idea to check those out before offloading your PC4, kaptainkeys. That keyboard's been on my short list to play/test, since I've been working toward an upgrade of my live 88-key instrument. Oddly enough, I'm having similar feelings about my CK88's inspiration factor; planning to keep that though - as a home studio controller and back-up keyboard. Since you're exploring a variety of options, you may want to also consider a Korg Nautilus 88. I'm also taking a long look at that one. From prior experience with a 61-key Kronos (and briefly a Nautilus 61), I found the current Korg sounds to be quite inspiring to play - and a vast amount of practical Programs/Combinations for cover band playing are included as well.