Revamping my main rig

[Aperkeys]

For years I had quite a stable format - A Nord Stage (EX Compact or 3 Compact to 76 nowadays) and a workstation (Went from Kurzweils to Kronos X73 to MODX8 to Fantom 07 nowadays),

and more recently, I got to the acknowledgment that I barely use the "Exclusive" Nord Stage features, and I mainly use its Pianos, Organs, Clavs, and some occasional Mellotron samples. 

So, selling my Stage 3-76 and getting an Electro 6D 73 instead will seem natural and cost-efficient, I can even get a proper Analog Synth with the funds that will remain. Yet, on the heels of such a move, maybe I should replace my Fantom-0 with a MODX+ or even go back to the Korg route, which is the least favorable option for me due to weight and boot times.

I play mainly Progressive Rock, Funk, Blues Etc. With the Fantom, I could not yet make a proper fat String Ensemble patch with Presence, even with some custom samples and expansions loaded on board. With my former boards, it was a breeze to create such a patch! 

Opinions and suggestions would be more than welcome. 

 

[analogman1]

As a long time electro user, I can vouch that they have some great "string machine" samples available for freee downloads...they actually have just about every one ever manufactured, and they all sound great. 

I'd load those into your Nord, and then build the rig from there. You might be able to get another board to compliment that setup.

Good luck! 

[Aperkeys]

3 hours ago, analogman1 said:

As a long time electro user, I can vouch that they have some great "string machine" samples available for freee downloads...they actually have just about every one ever manufactured, and they all sound great. 

I'd load those into your Nord, and then build the rig from there. You might be able to get another board to compliment that setup.

Good luck! 

I use this sample a lot on my Stage 3  I should have clarified, I talked about Orchestral String patches. My bands require good Orch Str sounds for quite of the repertoire, and I've received complaints from the main band about the Fantom's String sounds. I might bounce back to the Yamaha territory with the new MODX+, with more sample memory. 

[yannis D]

3 hours ago, Aperkeys said:

I use this sample a lot on my Stage 3  I should have clarified, I talked about Orchestral String patches. My bands require good Orch Str sounds for quite of the repertoire, and I've received complaints from the main band about the Fantom's String sounds. I might bounce back to the Yamaha territory with the new MODX+, with more sample memory. 

Just for the record, I would leave the band of I had 'complaints" for any kind of my sounds, especially complaints coming from non keyboardists (unless the band is very hight profile and high $$). The Nord can get you through any sound/patch and it's used by top guys in the business. If they don't like your strong sound let them hire a real ensemble 😉

 

Just my thoughts 

 

[Franz Schiller]

53 minutes ago, yannis D said:

Just for the record, I would leave the band of I had 'complaints" for any kind of my sounds, especially complaints coming from non keyboardists (unless the band is very hight profile and high $$). The Nord can get you through any sound/patch and it's used by top guys in the business. If they don't like your strong sound let them hire a real ensemble 😉

 

Just my thoughts 

 

 

Having not heard the offending strings, I think it is reasonable for bandmates to be able to freely discuss their thoughts about the quality of sound, or lack thereof. I, myself, have played with numerous musicians over the years who sounded less than stellar, and could use some kind feedback. Very often, I have been either the main songwriter or played the "music director" role, and so it was really upon me to sculpt the overall sound of the band. I have also been in bands where I was not the main guy, but there was someone else who had that role. This is probably far more important in cover bands.

 

Is it necessary to buy a new keyboard to allay someone's complaint? Well, I dunno. Probably not. But if you're unhappy with it, then sure.

[Stokely]

I have been gigging with a Modx for a couple years and when I listen to some gig recordings I'm really struck by how good it sounds.   Granted I use an ipad for my organ sound.

Strings sound pretty darn good but I would have thought the Roland ones would be good too...They weren't bad even on my old VR-700.

Besides the audio interface, two big plusses for the Modx over the roland for some would be FM and much more room for sample libraries.  I've improved the already-good rhodes, clavs and wurlis by installing Purgatory Creek.   Flip side, the stock organs on the Fantom are much better than the Modx (without an ipad/iphone) and I'd expect the "analog" synth sounds might be better.  I've had some success programming those types of sounds with the Modx but it's not going to make you think you are playing an Oberheim by any means.

As far as listening to others, were their complaints made after hearing a gig recording or by what they hear in monitors?  For one thing, if you are playing stereo in the mains and they are monitoring with mono wedges, you can get some pretty different results (not to get into a whole mono vs stereo holy war).  Or it could simply be that the monitoring is not really showing the true quality of things.  As I said above, doing a direct-to-disk recording of each track can sound quite different from what the band hears, and of course also what the audience hears since that is coming from yet a different set of speakers and gear!

[Moonglow]

I share your band’s perception of Roland orchestral strings on the Fantom. I think they are fantastic for smaller to mid-size string sections, but for huge orchestral strings, I find them lacking. I use a Combi in the Kronos called “Grand Legato Strings” or “Grand Legato Octave Strings” for that purpose. For extra lushness, sometimes I’ll even blend in a Jupiter 8 string patch via Midi to these Combis.

[yannis D]

9 hours ago, Franz Schiller said:

 

Having not heard the offending strings, I think it is reasonable for bandmates to be able to freely discuss their thoughts about the quality of sound, or lack thereof. I, myself, have played with numerous musicians over the years who sounded less than stellar, and could use some kind feedback. Very often, I have been either the main songwriter or played the "music director" role, and so it was really upon me to sculpt the overall sound of the band. I have also been in bands where I was not the main guy, but there was someone else who had that role. This is probably far more important in cover bands.

 

Is it necessary to buy a new keyboard to allay someone's complaint? Well, I dunno. Probably not. But if you're unhappy with it, then sure.

Οf course the MD has the right to express concerns or to give ideas to each and every player. It's always the "how" that matters IMO. You can give some advice in a band setting, but the word complaints sounded too strong to my ears...

And yes, the answer lies to your last sentence. I strongly believe that our modern day keyboards (or the vsts for that matter) are more than adequate to cover pretty much all bases without complaints. 

 

[Aperkeys]

That's kind of Yannis to take on a defending stance on my side, no worries  It's my main band (partly active now) for 7 years, we're all friends and basically, we do our music for ourselves, although we had some peak years of success. We feedback each other in honest and communicative and good ways, with a mutual goal to do our best while sounding the best we can. With this band, I used Kurzweils way back, until the Kronos, and last year when I had my MODX8 we gigged with it once. The Bandleader simply asked the question of what happened to my Large String Ensemble sound, and rightly so he claimed the patches have no presence in comparison to my other boards. 

As Moonglow pointed out exactly, I had a PF Cover gig we played The Final Cut on its entirety. The smaller Chamber Sections were stellar there. When I got to bigger Orchestrations with Horns and so, the sound lost its power although it was passable and everyone was happy, yet not overwhelmed.

I might go back the MODX+ way, although I find it hard it doesn't have proper VA as the Nord will be Electro-ized, and I want to keep my right light. 

 

[yannis D]

4 hours ago, Aperkeys said:

That's kind of Yannis to take on a defending stance on my side, no worries  It's my main band (partly active now) for 7 years, we're all friends and basically, we do our music for ourselves, although we had some peak years of success. We feedback each other in honest and communicative and good ways, with a mutual goal to do our best while sounding the best we can. With this band, I used Kurzweils way back, until the Kronos, and last year when I had my MODX8 we gigged with it once. The Bandleader simply asked the question of what happened to my Large String Ensemble sound, and rightly so he claimed the patches have no presence in comparison to my other boards. 

As Moonglow pointed out exactly, I had a PF Cover gig we played The Final Cut on its entirety. The smaller Chamber Sections were stellar there. When I got to bigger Orchestrations with Horns and so, the sound lost its power although it was passable and everyone was happy, yet not overwhelmed.

I might go back the MODX+ way, although I find it hard it doesn't have proper VA as the Nord will be Electro-ized, and I want to keep my right light. 

 

If it's your main band then thing change. Through them some old Triton strings and then come back with your electro patches, you will see that they'll be happy 😃😉