The best, most useful and enjoyable keyboard you ever bought?

[miden]

For me, the Rhodes 73 Flattop with Dyno and the Roland JX3P - had more fun with those two than all the fancy schmancy units I've bought since...way too heavy of course, but such fun!

 

Modern units? Probably the Motif XF

[tonybanksfan]

Kurzweil PC3K8, awesome unit, has done everything I have ever wanted to do and more.  Bought it in 2012 for $2700 and are probably selling for that today. Never any issues and only have 1 key that is noisy, probably needs some little pad replacement.

[drawback]

Nord Stage 2 Compact. 

[El Lobo]

Nord 5D

[lsj]

dx-7

 

[dacm]

The centerpiece and master controller in my studio is a KORG OASYS 88.  OASYS stands for Open-Architecture Synthesizer System.

 

Originally released in 2005, I purchased mine in 2008 after multiple sale negotiations with nine different music stores until I found one new in an unopened box. This version and a 76-key edition were discontinued in 2009. By 2011, upon the release of the KORG KRONOS, it was thought to be somewhat obsolete.

 

Far from being at its end-of-lifespan, it is a monster machine, still capable of great versatility due to the multi-engine system and RH-3 88-note keybed. A CD/DVD insert tray holdover from the KORG TRITON STUDIO continues of make this a viable instrument today as it reads AKAI S1000 sample libraries, of which I have purchased many at close-out prices since 2008. 

 

In 2014 upon retirement as a music educator, I reconfigured my studio to accommodate a career as a film, TV and documentary composer. The OASYS continues to produce fantastic results as a stand-alone instrument, in a multi-keyboard MIDI setup and as an input device for my APPLE iMac that runs MOTU Digital Peformer 10.13.

 

Fro more information, please visit http://www.eclecticstudio.net

[KuruPrionz]

A Hammond M1, the wood just to the left of the keyboard had a circular depression worn through the veneers, probably somebody's drink placement habit. 

I paid $60 for it at a thrift store because it worked. It had a field coil speaker with an electromagnet instead of a permanent magnet. 

At a certain point on the volume pedal, it didn't get louder, it just got "juicier". Never had a Leslie to hook up to it but that thing had the Tone. 

 

Since I suck at keyboards and was moving 1,000 miles away, I gave it to a friend who played keys pretty well and never got rid of anything. 

16 years later, I bet he still has it. 

[Justin Havu]

Yamaha MODX7.  I've owned several instruments in the last 20 years, and this is by far the most powerful instrument in its price range that I could think of owning.  Does everything I need it to do, and does it all very well, at about half the weight of the Motif XS6 that it replaced.

[16251]

N2 hands down.

[TommyRude]

Roland D-50.  Although someone called the D-50 the most useless disappointing keyboard they ever bought, and now I'm questioning my entire existence.

[Docbop]

My Kronos 88

[Outkaster]

Korg Kronos probably for most useful.  My Yamaha G3 grand for playing though.

[Pigmeat]

Yamaha YC61

[mate stubb]

Whichever Hammond console I owned at the moment. The all time champ is Cruella, my 1963 C-3.

 

 

[Jwave]

Kurzweil PC4 - everything I need for gigging in a single lightweight board.

[stillearning]

Nord Stage 3 88. It’s the perfect gig board for me.

[Fleer]

Vox. Vox. Vox. 

[AnotherScott]

Not counting a real grand piano or real Hammond organ...

 

I'm currently enamored of the YC73. It's not necessarily the most logical choice, in that it is far from my most versatile board, and sonically I can probably meet or exceed any of its sounds with something else (if not with hardware, then certainly with software), but as Marie Kondo says, somehow, it sparks joy. I think my main gig-rig right now is going to be the YC73, PC4-7, and SE-02. I think I'll cheat and call that entire set my most useful and enjoyable keyboard. Just imagine I've got it all in one box with one of those fake 2-manual enclosures. ;-)

 

ETA:

 

Or I guess maybe I'd say the PC4-7 is my most useful keyboard, and YC73 most enjoyable? Though both are useful and both are enjoyable. The combination is great.

 

I always enjoyed playing the SV1, though rarely gigged with it because of its weight. I need to pull it out and compare it to the YC.

[cphollis]

NS3C -- it changed my whole approach to gigging.  And a bucket-list Bosendorfer.  That changed my outlook a lot as well.  The next game-changing keyboard for me will be my iPad once I figure out to gig with it and avoid perpetual anxiety attacks.

[Dave Bryce]

My K. Kawai KG-2c.  

 

A100 second.  MiniMoog third.

 

dB 

[Ed A.]

Korg Wavestaion EX

[octa]

3 hours ago, drawback said:

Nord Stage 2 Compact. 

same. 

[Mighty Motif Max]

Mine is also a Motif XF, the XF8 specifically. It's the one keyboard I'd keep if I had to sell everything else.

[obxa]

Most enjoyable: um..Obxa.    Most useful: Nord Stage2..  Most fun: Any Melodica.

 

Dave Ferris:  Thank you!!!   You gave me a big smile & fond memories of my trusty Franz Electric Metronome.   The Morning ritual: Hannon's, Coker's Patterns for Jazz, Coffee and that thing.

[TommyRude]

[CyberGene]

Yamaha AvantGrand N1X, I’ve been loving it every single day since I bought it.

 

Honorable mention: ASM Hydrasynth keyboard (original). 

[Mike Kent]

Roland XP-50, the keyboard version of the JV-1080. Well, that's at the top of the most useful ever list. It might sit just behind Jupiter-8 for most enjoyable, but that's comparing apples and oranges.

 

I've owned about 150 keyboards. The XP-50 had the longest life, as a center of everything I did live for 18 years. It sometimes worked by itself, or was often paired with a VK7 then VK-8. Sometimes I paired it with Jupiter-8 (I've had that for 30 years). It played the XP-50 weekly at church and toured my pickup band backing various artists, usually covering most things except organ and piano. Many of the sounds still hold up today. I tried to replace it with several generations of Fantom, but they all fell short in interface for live performance. Roland eventually delivered on interface with FA-06 and that took over most of the XP-50's role (usually paired with VR-09 or Nord). I think FA-06 might be replaced soon with the new Fantom, IF after I buy one and use it at home for a while and ind the interface is fast and flexible enough for live use.

 

 

[yannis D]

Nord Electro series

All of them: NE2, NE3, NE5d (the one i own at the time) 

 

 

 

[Baggypants]

Roland VCombo VR-09. It arrived with exactly the right features and exactly the right price for me at exactly the right time. I still really enjoy it even though I'm more aware of it's flaws.

[Spider76]

Nord Stage 2 EX Compact.

 

Had the NS2 88 and NS2 EX 88 before, I loved them but they were big, heavy, I wasn't too fond of the action and I never really used the whole 88 keys.

 

When I switched to the Compact it was one of those "Why didn't I do it before?!?" moments