Dr88s

TBH, I used the dislikes as a quick filter as to whether the video I just called up was going to be worthwhile watching. Especially when it comes to music instruction or gear review. In my experience, any video where the dislikes represented more than 20% of the total ratings proved to be factually incorrect, have technically poor video or sound quality, or didn"t address the content advertised in the title.

Indeed this was the problem and you pointed me in the direction to fix it. It took me a while to find the 'Options" screen but there it was. Thanks!!!

Joe D, I"ll only be able to test it out tonight, but this seems like an excellent candidate to explain my problem. The drawbars shift gradually as the mod wheel is engaged, very much like the morph feature works on my Nord stage. This is almost certainly the issue. It"s actually a pretty useful function. I"m wondering if I can use a sustain pedal or other foot controller to assign to rotary speed instead and keep the mod wheel doing the morph?â¦

I"m not sure if I should include this question in the larger thread or start my own; my apologies if it shouldn"t be here. A few weeks back I was lugging around a heavy keyboard at practice and one of my bandmembers jokingly asked me why I didn"t just go with a controller and Mac running Mainstage. Though I"ve tried PC-based VST hosts in the past and hated the experience, I have never used a Mac or Mainstage before and knowing how light and portable the Numa Compact 2X is, I decided to at least look into it. I bought myself an older but reasonably spec"ed used MacBook Pro, downloaded Mainstage, connected the 2X via an old USB cable I had lying around, and voila! It seems to work great with far less latency than I ever experienced with any of my PCs. So far so good. The next step was trying to figure out how to map the 9 sliders to Mainstage"s drawbars. After much trial and even more error, using uhoh7"s instructions earlier in this thread, in zone edit mode I assigned a different unused MIDI cc to each slider (cc 20-28) and used the MIDI learn to map each. Eureka! It works perfectly over USB. So far I"m incredibly happy. The next step was trying to program stick 2 (the mod stick) to control Leslie rotor speed. While I got this to work with MIDI learn, the mod wheel also unexpected changes a handful of the drawbars and for the life of me I can"t figure out why. I went through every single routing option and tried to delete or disable anything having to do with the mod wheel with no luck. The mod wheel continues to (appropriately) toggle the Leslie speed but also pulls out some drawbars and pushes in some other ones and it makes absolutely no sense to me. Does anyone who"s used the Compact 2X or Mainstage (or ideally both) have any suggestions to shed some light on this most frustrating roadblock?

Maybe our http to https conversion broke their site

Interestingly I also sold a Kronos LS within the last month and also had a great experience. The buyer found me on FB marketplace. I had set it up in my garage. He showed up when he said he would, tried it out for five minutes, and bought it without haggling about the price. We chatted for a while and he seems like a good guy and knows a few of the locals here on KC. The cool thing was that within four seconds of his fingers touching the keys, I could tell that he was a Prog rock player, which he subsequently confirmed. He was showing off on a few of my favourites.

If that was printed on a vehicle I was interested in buying, I"d pass and just keep on Chopin.

That"s actually pretty cool. It seems a lot for what it is, but depending on the space you"re putting it in, it is actually pretty cool 'art" to display!

Cheers, MOI. Thanks for your many valuable contributions here over the years.

This makes a lot of sense. Like Stokely points out, I can"t think of a single plastic board with an internal supply. I actually own one (a Numa compact 2X), but the supply had been internalized by the person I bought it from.

Can someone explain to me why expensive boards don"t have a built in power supply with IEC? I get that it adds weight and cost. I can understand why manufacturers wouldn"t put them in entry level MIDI controllers, home market keyboards, etc. But a $2K+ professional board? Are margins so low?

A quick follow up to those kind enough to chime in on this thread. I sold the Kronos to an appreciative buyer and used some of the proceeds to buy an MODX8. I couldn"t be happier. The board seems infinitely more portable to me. It powers up in <10 seconds as opposed to ~1.5 minutes. I have no issues with the keybed / action whatsoever. While not the most intuitive board, I was able to figure out how to create splits, layers, and add effects within a half hour all without having to open the manual. I guess that"s what they mean when they say 'YMMV"â¦!

I have a Numa Compact. I love its portability, low profile construction, and built in speakers for getting things set up at home. As a sound generator the organ doesn"t work for me compared to my NS2. The drive is especially grating. I have used it as a controller for my NS2 in dual KB mode and it played along really nicely. I didn"t try to use its action for organ as I had the waterfall keyboard on top. This probably didn"t answer your question, but in any event that"s my experience.

Exactly my feelings about my Kronos. I couldn"t turn down the deal I got and I know there"s incredible power under the hood but it doesn"t ever call me to play it like other keyboards have.

In 20 years or so of periodically checking out local stores, I"ve seen 3 Kurzweils. It"s bizarre. They have such a good reputation but there nary a floor model to be found locally.

This is all true. I haven"t set foot in a music store since the pandemic hit, but prior to making such a decision I certainly need to venture out and spend some time sitting down for some quality time with any new prospective board. I wasn"t necessarily thinking of a 1:1 trade. I often tend to price significantly below market for a quick sale to be done with it quickly though, and not have to deal with the ton of timewasters and lowballers locally. There"s no way I would ship anything as heavy or fragile as the Kronos.

I"ve never figured out why but Kurzs are super few and far between in local brick and mortar shops. I"m not sure if he able to even find one to sit down at and try. Also, it"s daunting to think about learning a new company"s terminology. Having owned boards from all of the other major manufacturers, I"m kind of familiar with their architecture and terminology. I"ll keep my eye out for one locally, though!

Thanks for the opinion Tim. I find that the weight is no small issue. I tend to reach for the boards that are easier to transport. Sometimes even at a compromise of sound quality, though I really should settle for less than makes me happy. This is true, but because of 1) the schlep factor, 2) the boot up time and 3) the complexity of the menus and editing, I"m just not using it. It can be the most capable board in the world but it it sits in the 'off" position it"s not making any sound at all. Amen. #truth

Thanks for your input. That sounds like a neat benefit!

A few years back I got an incredible deal on a Kronos LS88 that I just couldn"t possibly refuse. It seemed like a do-it-all keyboard and I had previously had an m50 so I was somewhat familiar with the architecture and picked it up. Alas, it has sat unused in its case for 95% of the time I"ve had it. With incredible power comes incredible complexity and much menu divage, and, using a Nord Stage for 99% of my keyboard playing, I just can"t deal with the menu diving. I figured the LS keybed would save a lot of weight also, but the thing is still a beast, cumbersome to move around my house, and ridiculously heavy in a hard case. I still need a weighted action keyboard, so in addition to it I have a Yamaha MX88. While the Kronos still has some value, I"m thinking of trading it for something else. The new Kronos costs about double what the MODX8 costs. The MODX8 is about 10 pounds lighter, and that"s with a weighted keybed. If I was to buy it, I could also get rid of my MX88 for some cash and to make room in my ever crowded music nook. I started to read reviews about the MODX8 and watch videos, but there are so many different functions that may be of interest for many different people that"s it"s hard to sort through. So, cutting to the chase, would the MODX8 be a good choice for a guy who plays classic rock and 80s covers and occasionally gigs once in a while? Would I be crazy for trading my Kronos to get one?

Eclectiastes?

+1000

A vote for locking this thread. I appreciate the original intent of it, at a time when vaccination was novel and uncommon. But by now certainly everyone has developed their own view about it and there's likely nothing in this thread that will sway people one way or the other. All I know is that the thread has veered very heavily into politicized debates and all sort of non-keyboard related stuff.

Wow, it"s like you know me or something

Though far and away the most ubiquitous type of sheet music for pop, I still struggle to understand the utility of PVG format sheets. If one is dependent on sheet music to learn how to play a song, they"ll only learn some hybrid Frankenstein version of the keyboard part (if any), a simplified bass line, some guitar riffs, rhythm guitar, and the vocal melody all mashed up. All of the cool stuff going on that makes the song good gets completely lost. I guess for solo type players or home enthusiasts who want to be able to play the whole song alone it might be helpful.