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Quest for a new lower-tier keyboard


Morizzle

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Hi guys,

 

recently I've been playing a few gigs with a Krautrock/Art Rock band, and I've enjoyed it tremendously. It's a nice change to all the jazz playing I'm doing otherwise.

 

My setup so far has been an "L" configuration, the Little Phatty on a stand to my left, and the Motif XS6 below the Nord Electro in front of me.

 

I posted a picture of it in the KC-Facebook group not long ago.

 

I'm very happy with the rig, the only thing that bothers me a bit is the Motif. It's the only keyboard not allowing a spontaneous creation of sounds, and I'm kinda missing that. Also, I bought it for all the extra sounds, but was suprised that the Nord does IMHO a way better job in some regions like the Mellotron sounds and weird soundscapes (because of all the quickly accessable effect parameters).

 

I'm pretty sure I don't use the Motif to it's full potential, but at least for this band, I don't want to spend hours and hours on tweaking sounds at home, I want to spend the time at the gig concentrating on making music without having complicated user interfaces in the way.

 

So I've been thinking to maybe replace the Motif with something new.

 

Here's what I need the keyboard to do:

 

- quick creation of splits and layers by pressing one or two buttons

- good AP, EP, Pads, Strings and Choirs

- I love the action of the Motif, but I'm also thinking about going for a 73/76 keyboard for more piano playing possibilities

 

Here's what I have in the Motif that I don't need:

 

- Transport controls

- Sequenzer

- Arpeggiator

- millions of bass, guitar and drum sounds

- too many buttons for menu diving

- Extensive MIDI controlling capabilities

 

I bought the Motif used for around 1300 Euros, and I'd be glad to spend something comparable on a new board.

 

I've been looking at:

 

- Yamaha MX61... as some sort of little brother of the Motifs, but I remember reading something about the sounds not being up to par?

 

- Korg Krome 73... I've only had one Korg, the R3, which I found relatively shitty, but I've heard good things about the Kronoses and their Krome offspring

 

- I'm intrigued by the form factor of the Kurzweil SP4-7, but I've never liked the sound sets when I checked the Kurzweils in stores (it has been a few years though)

 

- Roland Jupiter 50 - though it looks like it's a bit too much for my purposes.

 

What do you guys think? Any extra suggestions? Is anyone in a similar situation? Would love to hear from you! Thanks!

 

It's not a clone, it's a Suzuki.
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Here's what I need the keyboard to do:

 

- quick creation of splits and layers by pressing one or two buttons

- good AP, EP, Pads, Strings and Choirs

- I love the action of the Motif, but I'm also thinking about going for a 73/76 keyboard for more piano playing possibilities

So it sounds like the only real issue with your XS is the lack of quick split and layer functions, yes? (And you'd like more keys if possible.)

 

I've been looking at:

 

- Yamaha MX61... as some sort of little brother of the Motifs, but I remember reading something about the sounds not being up to par?

 

- Korg Krome 73... I've only had one Korg, the R3, which I found relatively shitty, but I've heard good things about the Kronoses and their Krome offspring

 

- I'm intrigued by the form factor of the Kurzweil SP4-7, but I've never liked the sound sets when I checked the Kurzweils in stores (it has been a few years though)

 

- Roland Jupiter 50 - though it looks like it's a bit too much for my purposes.

 

MX61 has most (but not all) of the XS sounds you're used to. However, on the XS, sound can have more insert effects, so that is one source of sonic difference. I believe there are also alternate articulations on the XS that you can't get on the MX. I would also look at the new MOXF6, which doesn't have those MX limitations, plus you can put in a flash card to load other sounds into it. Of course, either way, you don't have that 73/76 key option, which I agree, would be great for Yamaha to offer in a lighter and less pricey performance board than the Motif XF7.

 

Krome doesn't seem to have a quick on-the-fly split/layer function, the lower end Kross might be better in this respect, though again, you're then limited to 61 keys. (Which is kind of ironic in that a quick split function is more useful on a 73 than on a 61.) I think Yamaha's low end unweighted actions are better than Korg's. I'm also not sure I'd call Krome a Kronos offspring. Other then the KR at the beginning, I think it's more closely related to the M50 it replaced than it is to the Kronos. (Though the piano/EP sounds are scaled down versions of those Kronos sounds.)

 

I like a lot of the sounds of the SP4-7 (especially since you can download additional Kurz sounds into it), but the action is not at all like the others discussed here... it's more of an attempt to provide a better "piano compromise" that you don't need and may actually find undesirable. The quick split/layer function didn't work quite the way I wanted to, but at least it has one. Biggest issue here would be that you didn't like the sounds of the Kurzweils you played a few years ago, and the SP4 still works off the PC3 soundset which has been around since 2008, so you probably won't care for its sounds either.

 

Jupiter 50 is a nice board. I think it has the best feeling keyboard of the bunch, and it has pretty good split/layer functionality. On all of these, sounds are subjective, but I think one of the categories you mentioned, choirs, is particularly weak on the Jupiter.

 

 

 

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