cphollis

Yes, as sound tech for my band, I'm building a PA system out of unwanted KC 400s salvaged from the town dump. Plenty to choose from, but they smell a bit off.

Agree completely. Musicians have been shamelessly copying each other forever. I'm sure there will be branded AI-generated music on the shelf for consumers to choose from, just like all the other choices. That being said, none of the AI efforts to date do a good job of sounding like it's human generated: the music, the photo, the movie, the text -- whatever. It's all got a synthetic vibe which people will either like -- or not.

Band members get PDFs from me (chords, lyric, performance notes) with a link to a reference YT video in the title. When I sit down at my instrument to learn something, that's what I need. If someone wants to listen in the car, they can put together their own playlist using their own service, etc.

The synth section on the NS4 is deep enough for me, and there's three engines to work with. The NS3 was no slouch either. Sure, a real analog synth would sound a bit ballsier, much in the way a real Hammond and Leslie combo would be ballsier than its simulated B3 section. It also helps that there's a ton of programs ready to go for popular songs via the forum. Having all the sound generation on a single master board makes it easy for me to step through setlists during the gig vs. coordinating multiple pieces of gear between songs. I remind myself of that every time I start itching for another keyboard.

Guitarists train their ears to recognize certain guitar tones: pickups, effects and so on. Keyboard players do the same thing, we learn to recognize and recreate piano sounds, organ sounds, synth, horns, strings, etc. The suggestion to start with preset surfing is a good one. If you can download an inexpensive (or free!) soft synth, it will likely have hundreds of presets to explore and discover how they were created. Along the way, you'll learn about different wave types, filtering, LFOs and all of that. Just running through an online course likely won't be as satisfying as exploring on your own.

First, use ear protection if you're playing with loud clowns like this. A Spacestation XL is VERY LOUD for a stage amp. If you can't hear yourself, that means the overall stage volume level is wayyyyy unhealthy and unprofessional. If the band PA is miking the drums, it can mic the keyboards as well. I would ditch the stage amplification and use inexpensive IEMs. Also, no way would I haul a SS XL around to gigs -- that thing is a beast. If they won't let you run through the PA, they're not serious about having a keyboard player.

I'm a band leader, and the guideline I've set is "life comes first, then we play music". So family, work, health and other obligations always take priority, unless there's a gig involved. Then hard choices have to be made. Two of our band members make their primary income through performing, the others have days jobs, or are retired like me. Yes, that means we play less often than many of us would like. But when we do, everyone is fully present and is very appreciative -- and can really engage. Sure, we'd prefer to be playing music over just about anything else, but that's not always possible. All of our spouses are very accommodating and enjoy our passion -- within limits. It's working pretty well four years running.

I can turn into a heavy-handed beast when I get going. I'd be worried I'd snap one of these like a twig ...

An extra 15 lbs on a keyboard is like an extra 15 minutes on your commute -- it doesn't sound like a big deal until you do it a hundred times. Then it's a big deal. I used to throw out my back with heavy 88 boards years ago -- no longer. If your primary focus is gigging (vs. home or studio), weight matters, simplicity matters, immediacy matters and so on. For example, I switched to a 73 weighted keybed vs 88 and it was a nice improvement in my overall gigging experience. My NS4C comes in at 23 lbs, my NP5 at 34 lbs. I don't feel compromised on the NP5 action.

I'm mostly a piano/organ player, but when synth parts are called for, the synth section of the NS4 is derived from the Nord Wave 2, which itself a synth more capable than I. Put differently, I couldn't see myself dragging around a dedicated synth unless the music *really* called for it, which is unlikely.

A better sample might help a bit. It appears you're playing in mono? Real-world acoustic grands have a ton of stereo signal information, which will never sound as good in mono. However, you can do additional channel strip processing on the Nord acoustic grand sounds to make them sound really "big" in a live setting, mono or stereo. The built-in Nord features are a great start (esp. on the NS4), but you can go farther with sophisticated EQ, compression, imaging, reverb -- each adds a bit to the sound. My current channel strip is a powered DI to a X32 (band mixer), that gets me access to a nice audio toolkit to shape keyboard sounds, including acoustic grand pianos. Lots of recording and fiddling yielded a great sound that's "big" but doesn't crowd out other mix elements.

I see a lot of these around, and they sound great at smaller venues: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/IP1000V2--turbosound-inspire-ip1000 The Pro 8 looks much better than the L1 Compact on paper. I'm sure it would be fine as well.

You'll find the L1 compact unacceptable for most keyboard work. The response curve has a pronounced "boom" below 400 Hz, and can't be EQ'd away. Annoying as hell. I had one and sold it to a solo singer/guitarist, as it's perfect for that sort of work. There are other non-Bose similar designs that are quite good, but stay away from the low end stuff.

It looks like you loaned the board to a werewolf during a full moon.

Walmart and others have a $699 deal on a M1 Macbook Air. More machine than you'll ever need in the ultimate portable package. Apple is unlikely to obsolete the hardware for many moons. Enough battery life to get through a gig, too. Add a USB-C port expander, and that's my target computer rig.