When Has a Piece of Your Gear Surpassed Your Expectations?

[harmonizer]

The split function in my old Roland XV-5050, combined with the pitch shift by octave, coarse tune (1/2 step), and fine tune that could be applied to each of the 16 parts, with per-note adjustment to each of the 12 notes within the scale on each of those parts. I was astonished at how far I was able to push it. The developers/engineers who built this imposed no limitations on combining them.

[MathOfInsects]

6 hours ago, JamPro said:

Funny: I got a Neo Vent a few years ago, and returned after 4-5 days.  It made all the wrong noise: a very loud increase in the floor noise when simply plugged into the audio system, and a very loud pop whenever the unit was switched into bypass.  I was gobsmacked the unit was so noisy; I couldn't make use of it.

I have the exact same experience with mine, though I still own it, so it can sit on my equipment shelf and mock me with its potential.

[harmonizer]

My old Korg D3200 multitrack recorder. It can capture up to 12 tracks at once, and has high quality preamps for all 12. I used it to record live gigs by our covers band from 2007-2020.

 

I just bought a Zoom L20 to replace it, which can capture 18 totally independent tracks at once - I was forced to, to get past the 12-track-capture limit of the D3200, which was no longer tolerable (5 out of the 7 band members sing, and 2 of us swap between horns and vocals during mid-songs).

 

But the D3200 was great. Long live the king, the king is dead.

[timwat]

Most of my gear...when someone better than me plays it.

 

I've had that experience quite a bit. Someone sits in on a tune, or plays my gear at a jam session, or similar. Man, that sounds a lot better than I thought it did. Oh...it sounds better cause the brother is making it sound that way. Time to go home and shed.

[AnotherScott]

Okay, in the broader interpretation of "pleasant surprises"...

 

The Alto TS308 speakers, while not quite up to a ZXa1 or K8.2, was unexpectedly good for the price. I could gig with those.

 

The Dexibel P3 was much nicer to play than I'd expected, based on my previous experience with TP100 actions. And the speakers are loud enough to handle "unplugged" gig situations. And loading in soundfonts is a cinch.

 

The Korg PA1000 which I didn't buy for its arranger functions but for other reasons, had some better sounds than I'd expected, and sounds that reacted especially well to how you played them. (That's their "DNC" which is their version of Yamaha's SA2 or Roland's SuperNATURAL Acoustic.)

 

There are some boards that just make me smile when I play them, I guess it's that old "finger-to-ear-connection" thing. Ones that come to mind are Korg SV1 (actually, with the older pre-Japan RH3), Yamaha YC73 (now that the velocity response is sufficiently tweakable), and surprisingly some of the old Casio Privias. (I like some newer ones too, but somehow, the earlier ones clicked better under my fingers.)

 

The K&M 18880 stand, for its light weight, fast setup, and ability to be adapted to almost any combination of keyboards I'd want.

 

The iLoud Micro Monitors... they really do sound remarkable for their size.

 

Tiny boxes which, as they say, punch about their (literal) weight... Roland SE-02, Roland Sonic Cell, Gemini module.

 

Nord Lead 3... not so much a surprise except to the extent that it actually works exactly the way it should. Which, when buying keyboards, it seems is so often not the case, instead giving you periods of scratching your head and wondering why they implemented something the way they did. Okay, I guess I could point out one limitation of the NL3... patch navigation could be better. But I have to cut it some slack, it was 2001. And today, you can work around it with your smartphone.

 

Kurzweil PC4-7 does so much in such a lightweight box, and has so many great sounds and great capabilities. I guess it's also not so much of a surprise except for indeed largely meeting my expectations, though I could call the action a pleasant surprise, in that I was prepared for an action that I wouldn't necessarily like as much as I like this one. It could still use some help in the interface department!

 

Roland Fantom-07... it's too soon to tell for sure, but so far, yes, I'd say pleasantly surprised. There are times where I've gone, "I hope this will work the way I expect it to..." -- and it usually does, which alone is enough to qualify for a pleasant surprise! There are definitely quibbles (and I understand that some will consider the action too big a quibble point, but I find it manageable), and there were shortcomings I knew of going in (no ninth slider, no aftertouch), but within those constraints, it seems to actually be doing everything I'm asking of it pretty nicely so far, though it has thrown me some curves.

 

Vox Continental... I didn't keep it, because it didn't really fill a gap I needed filled, but I have to give it kudos for having one of the best semi-weighted actions, great sounds, great build quality, in a super lightweight board. There are some things that really could have made it better for me (like less finicky slider operation, a display that let you see the name of the sounds, some more flexibility to the organ section, including maybe the ability to load in my favorite Kronos CX3 sounds instead of only being able to use the ones provided). But if I were looking for the absolute lightest board I could happily use as my piano-centric board at a gig, this would be the one.

 

 

[stillearning]

Then? Minimoog. I probably spent thousands of hours in front of that thing starting the minute I bought it. I was in awe! 

 

Now? Nord Stage. I smile everytime I slide it into a car! No more vans or trucks!

[RABid]

Rhodes Chroma - Bought sight unseen after reading the review in Keyboard years ago. At a time when I had been flying across the keys on a MiniMoog trying to keep up with a Van Halen mimic guitarist, it taught me to slow down and play the note.  Not just play it, caress it. I finally had a synth that could be as expressive as a guitar or saxaphone. Whomever wrote the original presets for that machine was a genus. The bi-directional twin levers was the best controllers ever.

 

Emu XL-7 Command Station - Ableton Live in hardware, way before Ableton Live. It is the piece of hardware I will never sell. Not becuase I still use it, I use Live now. But because of fond memories. I do occasionally turn it on and just enjoy jamming with the buttons and knobs.

[JoJoB3]

'57 Hammond C3 w 122, playing just like day one off the line.
 

[KenElevenShadows]

Pladask Elektrisk Fabrikat pedal. Good and weird and fun, very original, doesn't sound like any pedal I've ever heard. Sound incredible with keyboards. I especially like it with bells, pianos, and things with attack, but it's good with everything.

 

Korg MS-20. I had no idea how cool this thing was when I purchased it from my friend. Everyone who comes to record in my studio ends up playing it and recording it for their album.

 

Carr Rambler guitar amp. Sure, this is a keyboard forum, but some of us play guitar, and this thing is amazing. Just absolutely beautiful sounding.

 

Mac Pro 1,1 "cheese grater" tower computer (2006). I know this sounds stupid, but this thing still works great. I am running an old version of Pro Tools. I stuffed it full of RAM and have an SSD, and it works better than when I first bought it. Will it make it to twenty years of use? Just four more years. Now if that's not getting your money's worth for a computer, I don't know what is. 

 

Below is a live improvisation with an OP-1 fed through a Fabrikat, Rainbow Machine, and Pigtronix Echolution (the original one). 

 

 

[LX 88]

Several recently.....

 

I got a Casio CTK 4200 after discovering the Rhodes sound on an LK280 that I bought for 5 dollars but had several missing tones.

 

I love the Rhodes on this. It is 61 keys so I transpose it down an octave to play bass lines and right hand chord voicings.

 

I believe the WK 220 is similar. The Rhodes sound I use is 038 DYNO EP.

 

I also am surprised by how much I like the piano sample on the Roland FP 10. They are very hard to get and Roland seems to have pulled them off the market

 

I did an A/B comparison to the Roland FP 30 x and could not hear any significant difference in the sample. I really like the Super Natural sample in these . It is free of unnatural upper harmonics and weird bass string overtones ala some recent Yamahas. No plunkiness as in some recent Casios.

 

I also have the Crumar Mojo module. It is the only Mojo that I know of that has n on board editing screen. The editing is a bitch to tame particularly on the leslie sim but I would NEVER want to try deal with this via WIFI. The Mojo editing begs to be on board.

 

Would love to know how to send midi from Casio usb midi out to Mojo module

 

On another note....how come I can not find the link to post on Garage Sale? Where is it hidden?

 

 

[TommyRude]

Yamaha KX-5.  Durable, lightweight, playable, correctly proportioned, and contributed to my ascension in becoming a world-class keytarist (1)

 

(1) in my own mind

[nursers]

MODX7 - I still remain surprised by quality of the sounds and love the interface.

[LarsHarner2]

I would say so far the Arturia Keylab MKII 61 for some main reasons- it prevents having to reach over to your computer.

It has transport controls, faders, some track select and some nice pads- I still have a lot to learn on it but it is almost as seamless as my Roland Juno that had the 8 track digital recorder was.

 

I also would go with the ES8- it has been solid for me the last 7 years

[cphollis]

Lots of good examples for me in the instrument category: Yam N3, NS3C and there's a nice grand piano in the living room that never fails to please.

 

In the "didn't expect it at all" category would be my new X32 Rack.  It has replaced every mixer and effect one could ever want.  After some practice, I now can quickly dial up mixes on the fly, whether I'm doing this for myself or my band.  I can put sweet mixes in everyone's ears.  I can work with whatever FOH is being used.  I can easily record it all. 

 

Big fun, highly recommended but with a considerable learning curve.

[Justin Havu]

My MODX-7.  That amount of power under the hood, in such a lightweight instrument.