Paul Woodward

Not sure what I think of the design…

I just hope the YC continues to be supported with new features. New boards with similar features (and a lower price point) can see more expensive boards like the YC series left in the dust. Yamaha already reneged on their promise of ‘regular updates’. Been over a year since the last one.

Roland A800 Pro and your choice of sound module or iPad…not an all in one solution, but a modular approach that can be changed to suit your needs.

Part arrived today, all good.

Just got a VR as a practice board and I’m quite impressed, will be sure to have a play with this when it’s released. Thanks

Well, a Spanish company had one white one left for the princely sum of 80 pence. £7 shipping but can’t grumble at that.

Fair point, I will be happy with a black one. £18 shipped is best so far

Cheers Mike, seller in the US confirmed the same, looks like black then… I can get a black one shipped for £18 but, ever the optimist, I hope I might find someone selling an old one for parts at some point.

Thanks, that’s where I got the service centre contact. Will try a few of them. Original owner is also going to check it’s not floating around the house.

Anyone know of a reliable source of parts for the original Roland VR-09 (not the B)? I am missing the red drawbar knob and can't find one anywhere I have looked. eBay (and Syntaur) dont have this colour and even a white one (only one in stock) will set me back around $40!! Wondered if anyone knew of anywhere, ideally in the UK. I have reached out to a local service centre so fingers crossed.

Not sure how it is with the MODX, but the YC has 1.1 up to 1.10, then it goes 2.1 etc. Currently, if I choose any of the first ten, the Module set list changes accordingly, but changing 'bank' so to speak to 2.1 does not advance to the next set list.

Set list in Module changes with the program change on my YC, in fact I had to turn it off as it doesn’t understand the change of ‘bank’, so you essentially just get 10 sets that can do this. Sure there is some way of getting around it though

It’s not an argument, it was a question…

I’m curious, why does no one ever ask a drummer to stand up to play? 😉

Find it strange to advise not sitting. To play piano, and organ to some extent, properly you need to use both hands and feet and hit an endless array of buttons and dials. Almost impossible to do well standing up, and you look a proper idiot wobbling around, possibly even falling over. Once had a band ask me if I could stand up to play as it ‘looked better’. Safe to say I walked away, they rang a week later asking if we could compromise (stand up for Jump, sit down for ballads maybe?) but didn’t (and don’t) want to work with a band who value ‘stance’ over playing well. Pretty sure people want to appreciate your music, not how well you recreate Kraftwerk or (god forbid) Sparks. Just my opinion of course.

I would seriously consider a YC 61 or 73 to integrate your iPad with. They also have stereo audio in should you want to route another sound source through it. Makes for a versatile keyboard, and it sounds pretty good by itself.

GarageBand lets you add external instruments, not in the VST sense, but any other audio app you have. Probably better to use something like AUM though.

I do like Roland gear and haven't had anything for a while. I had the System 1 with SH-101 plug out, but the keyboard was terrible. If this has SH and Juno it could be a nice little module (must stop buying gear....)

That seems like a lot of synth/usb interface for $650 and will probably get near £500 street soon.

This was my thinking. Currys price matched Amazon so got it for £308

Well, if you go for a Yamaha or one of the boards that integrates ipad midi/audio you wont even need the camera connection kit. If I had known I was getting the YC, I would probably have gone for the same as its just a standard USB C to USB B cable so cheaper and tidier 🙂 It would limit you to this sort of board though unless you get into hubs etc.

I kinda get your train of thought. I used to have the 'Rick Wakeman' rig; 88 weighted on bottom for piano, waterfall organ above it, mono synth for leads, a few digital (D50 etc) types, probably a DX too. You get the idea. I quit gigging and looked for a 'one board does it all' and ended up with an Alesis Fusion 88 which was the 'budget' Korg Oasys at the time. It was bloody great but temperamental and, as you can guess, it became outdated pretty quickly. Just about the only tech (other than a computer) to evolve and stay current is the iPad IMO. Korg release some great apps for it (mono/poly, Polysix etc.). Always loved Yamaha for piano (last one was a CP4) but I thought the Kronos was the answer to my dreams. I got a Mac and Logic and never used the Kronos so it went. I realised I just wanted a board like the Yamaha, sounds of the Kronos (always loved Korg for synths) but none of the workstation so you can imagine my joy when they released the Korg Grandtage. RH3 board and Kronos engines...but what a price. So I skipped it until I picked up a mint condition GS73 on Reverb last year with stand and gig bag for £500!! I would say I prefer it to the Yamaha for pianos and the EP's are great. At that price it just became a nice weighted controller for my studio that I enjoy playing. Deciding to return to gigging I added a Yamaha YC61 for the waterfall keybed and great EP's and organs so I am covered for all the 'traditional' sounds. Popped an iPad in there so I can also add synths (Moog, Korg and more) if I need them but without the investment in dedicated (and expensive) hardware synths. In essence, the Korg GS and the iPad is a frankenstein Kronos on a budget as I have most of the Korg apps (MS-20, Polysix) that you get in the Kronos. Rambled on a but there, but bottom line is, no one keyboard can do it all really. Surprised that there are so few suggesting the Nord Stage as an 'all in one', but then its just a great sounding board, not a workstation.

As mentioned in another thread, some Yamaha boards (MODX, YC) have a USB interface for apple (ipad/phone) devices meaning one cable for audio and midi. I use the camera connection kit 3 which has a pass thru charge slot so I can run it on mains power if need be. I also bought the iPad 9 before I got a Yamaha YC61 as it is the last to have a headphone socket and I picked up a little Yamaha AG-03 USB powered mixer but haven't needed to use it yet. Yes, a self contained board that has all you need (for now) is always a great idea, but this 'modular' approach offers flexibility and expandability. For example. I can use the iPad with the YC-61 to effectively turn that board into a fully fledged 'workstation' should I need it, but without having to drag a workstation to gigs knowing I just need a keyboard with sounds (and I save the cost of something like a Kronos). I can also take it with a lightweight Roland A800 to rehearsals and output straight to the desk from the headphone socket. I can also connect the A800 to the YC as a second board to control the iPad and have the iPad sounds mixed with the YV through the stereo outs negating the need for a mixer at all. I always went for the 'one board to do it all' and found that a. I was updating boards every few years to get new sound engines or features and b. took expensive workstations to gigs and used maybe 30% of their potential. By the way, I sold an iPad 5 and put a few hundred towards a brand new iPad 9 and its much faster and responsive. The iPad 5 will work fine, but 'might' lag a bit and be limited to polyphony in some apps such as module.

A keyboard like the A800 will never replace a weighted keybed and I have my Korg Grandstage for when I am gigging or in the studio, but it’s fine for rehearsals and the odd small gig. I tried Module with the Yamaha YC61 and it responded better but I’m fairly sure it’s Module’s piano (or the Ivory one I bought) as I get a good dynamic range with the Rhodes and Wurli etc.

One thing to consider with the YC61 etc. is they can integrate an iPad with just a single cable for midi and audio. While dedicated keyboards will often be limited in what their software can do (even updates will be limited to what they can add), an iPad can load up a wide range of sound engines, loopers, ‘drumboxes’, sequencers etc. so you could access just about any sound you need.