Gigging keyboard

[AlanB]

I have just joined the forum and looking for advice on a suitable gigging keyboard for a cover band playing functions, pubs etc. Currently, I have a Kronos2 61 and recently programmed the sets on this instrument. Set list was really useful but sounds could still do with more tweaks to cut through mix! However, I feel more comfortable with 76 keys and do I really need to bring an instrument to a gig with Karma and sequencer that I will never use? Then there is the issue of weight and portability. I have a Roland RD2000 but I do not want to take this heavy instrument to gigs! I am considering going for the lightest keyboard which is the Yamaha MODX7+. I do not want to spend twice as much on the Montage 7 just to gig in pubs and clubs! Yes, I know the MODX keyboard is not great and the set list is not as good as the Kronos but I played the MODX7+ in the music store and I think it would be easily transportable, scenes would be helpful when playing live and it has 76 keys! Any views would be really welcome.

[Sean M. H.]

I suppose the Roland Fantom-07 and the Kurzweil PC4-7 would be the closest competition to the MODX7+ in that particular space (76 key lightweight boards)....what type of music are we talking?  Or, more importantly, what types of sounds would you be using most often?

[mate stubb]

And what is your budget? Cause we'll be happy to spend all your money with recommendations.

[AlanB]

HI! The basic sounds are organ, synth and piano. I am playing in an 8 piece band with a brass section which means that the majority of the set will have an element of brass based songs e.g. Ghost Town, House of Fun, Mercy, Let’s Dance etc. To be honest, I could probably just play with my right hand on my 61 note Kronos BUT I get more into a “groove” using both hands. in addition, splits and layering are easier to programme when there are more keys! Hope this makes sense!

[AlanB]

If I was certain the Montage 7 or YC73 was the right keyboard, I would spend the money. I am in the UK so the budget could stretch to approximately £3000. However, in my opinion, the keyboards mentioned above are too heavy for gigging and difficult to transport in the car. The other issue is that I am running out of space at home already having the RD2000 and Kronos set up for use with Cubase. I am thinking of selling both these keyboards and using Montage/MODX for recording and gigging. Total overkill would be to have the Montage 8 at home and the MODX7 for playing gigs. To be honest, I cannot see me playing live with the RD2000 which is a good piano but dated range of organ and synth sounds. The Kronos does the business BUT it is 61 keys and I rarely use Karma or the sequencer.

[Viv Savage]

The MODX can cover it all.  Although it’s not the strongest board for any of the sound categories you mention, MODX7 is a compelling gig board.  It is incredibly lightweight, it covers all bases, and the audio interface / iOS integration is very good, which allows me to use an iPhone or iPad for things like VB3m or B-3x.  The dedicated USB volume knob is very handy too! My current approach is to use MODX7 as my main sound source playing parts 1-8, with a Kawai ES110 underneath acting as a weighted controller to play MODX parts 9-16 (or whichever other parts I want to play, defined on a per-song basis by the Midiflow routing app on iOS).    The Kawai action feels as good as any lightweight 88 I have ever played. For my purposes, the only thing this rig is missing is physical drawbars, but I don’t play a ton of organ with my current band so it’s fine, I just set up presets in my iOS organ apps that are called up by each MODX performance.   

[Baldwin Funster]

Roland DS76. Not the Go To board around here but it's super light, you can set up splits and layers real easy and the piano EP & organ are useable. 

[yannis D]

Facilitate your life: get a Nord. Since there are real horns the Nord engine will be just fine covering all the basic sounds a keyboardist needs in a nice packaging. And it's light (I'm taking Nord electro 5 or 6)

 

[AlanB]

Thanks for the Juno suggestion. While it is light, around the same weight as the MODX7 +, I think that the sound quality may not be as good as the Yamaha. However, it is cheaper and I have not played the keyboard! Maybe the absence of a touch screen and live set lists may be an issue but I will look into it and hopefully have a play on one next week.

 

Thanks to Viv for the endorsement of the MODX7. I agree that it is a good all rounder and covers most bases, maybe not quite as good in some areas but probably enough for my playing needs live. Will also have a look at the Kauai ES110.

 

While I am here, I might as well mention the stereo/mono issue when playing live. I am playing the Kronos through a Behringer amp and some patches sound so different in mono! I wonder how other stereo keyboards, including the MODX, cope with only a mono output.

[timwat]

Hey, AlanB - welcome to the forum! Glad to have you.

 

I've gigged an original Kronos 73 for 10 years now. It's certainly overkill for meat & potatoes cover band work; more functions and capabilities than I've ever used - a lot like most computer software.  But it sounds great, and I've always gotten compliments on how it sounds. There's a reason they are so popular, backlined so much, used by so many touring bands. I just saw the Stylistics at Yoshi's a while back - their orchestra consisted of 4 KB players with two Kronos each. 

 

Anyway, there are a lot of different ways for you to skin your cat - and we're happy to spend your money for you. But sometimes, like automobiles, the cheapest car to own is the car you already have. 

 

Yes, it's 32 pounds and 61 keys. But the keys on the Kronos 61 are satisfying to play (much better than the MODX unweighted, IMO), and I'm not sure you're going to get much better sounds from anything we're talking about here. And you don't really need more LH real estate in an 8 piece band.

 

Maybe get a Gator case or similar with backpack straps, two PA speakers with 8" drivers, and call it good. Next thing you know, you'll be supplementing with a Keytar.

[ImproKeys]

With my Nord stage the mono function comes in handy, and it would cover your needs. It is not cheap but I would never part. So as a Long Time Investment it is Not that expensive. 

[AlanB]

Thanks Timwat. Everything you say makes perfect sense. You obviously have taken the time to read all my comments and effectively dealt with all my issues. The Kronos is programmed with my sets and I am unlikely to stop using it right away which gives me time to consider my options.

 

I have not seriously considered the Nord option ImproKeys. However, when I did some research a few months ago, there was some discussion about the Nord build quality and reliability. Obviously yourself and Yannis would disagree with any negative comments about Nord keyboards?

[AnotherScott]

3 hours ago, Sean M. H. said:

I suppose the Roland Fantom-07 and the Kurzweil PC4-7 would be the closest competition to the MODX7+ in that particular space (76 key lightweight boards)

Yes... and here's ye olde comparison chart... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iQtFcxZ_BDkwn9Onr7JsEM0adTvccxBAsplEmdSuGjo/edit?usp=sharing

[timwat]

15 minutes ago, AlanB said:

I have not seriously considered the Nord option ImproKeys. However, when I did some research a few months ago, there was some discussion about the Nord build quality and reliability. Obviously yourself and Yannis would disagree with any negative comments about Nord keyboards?

 

I have gigged a Nord Wave for many years (in conjunction with the Kronos - it makes a great two-board rig as they sound completely different from one another, and complement each other well). I have nothing but good things to say about Nord build quality in my anecdotal experience. It's been rock solid for me, all metal construction, no problems.

 

Now, granted I've never owned any Nord other than the Wave. But IMHO the Electro and Stage bring a significantly different approach to live gigging than workstations like the Kronos (Fantom, MODX, etc.). The Electro and Stage present dedicated knobs, panel areas sequestered for meat & potatoes piano and organs (and synth, in the Stage's case) that approach the use case differently. Not nearly the control of synth, or variety of internal engines and the like. But for so many whose needs are mostly EP, AP and Organ, they're a solid option and obviously the choice of many pros and backlines. I've been tempted to add one many times over the years. But I never did; for piano work (AP & EP), I'm still a CP4 guy (and a Casio PX3000 for difficult schleps). For real analog synth work, I'm OB6. And for a lot of money gigs, the Kronos and Wave have been getting me that dirty money for years now.

[Delaware Dave]

You've come to the right place.  This group is great at helping you spend your money.

[EricBarker]

Frankly, for a cover band, I don't know why you'd possibly need more than the Kronos61. In my experience: "the bigger the band, the smaller the keys". The bass player isn't going to want you down in the basement, and you can always octave shift for higher material. You should rarely only be needing 2 patches at one time, for easy splits. Any more, and you're just doing it to have fun. I'm totally guilty of this, working out complex choreography with multiple splits and mid-song patch changes, just for simple 80s dance jams. That's fun, it's why we play keys, but 99% of the time it's totally unnecessary. The guitarist will be stealing half your lead lines anyway, guaranteed, and the room acoustics will likely barely be able to differentiate between a sawtooth and square wave, so you can cool your jets about getting that "PERFECT OB6 LEAD TONE!"

 

I come from years of playing nothing but weighted-88s in cover bands... and I think I was a blooming idiot for doing so. What was wrong with me?! I've stripped it back to a handful of good solid patches that will suit my needs, and then I rock out with them and make it my own. Half the time, I end up playing cheesy 80s synth leads on Vox Continental or B3. Crummy electronic piano sounds on Rhodes ("You Make My Dreams Come True", for example). If your band plays a huge array of eras, like mine did, my recommendation is level out the style a bit, so you're not bouncing back and forth through the eras of sound quite as much. Keep playing Elvis right after The Killers, that's fine, but find your band's sound, and work the covers into that sound. That's my perspective anyway. This is controversial, but from my years of playing, if you have a good solid band that feels the original, the audience will love it, even if it's not identical to the original. After all, the same vocalist is going to possibly sound exactly like Freddie Mercury and sound like Tom Petty, and the listeners are going to be tuned the vocals more than anything else. So why should the keys do the same? As long as you've got the hooks down and a modicum of similarity, the energy and performance are what make or break the show, not complex patch switching.

 

Just my 2 cents!

[AnotherScott]

2 hours ago, EricBarker said:

Frankly, for a cover band, I don't know why you'd possibly need more than the Kronos61. In my experience: "the bigger the band, the smaller the keys". The bass player isn't going to want you down in the basement, and you can always octave shift for higher material. You should rarely only be needing 2 patches at one time, for easy splits.

 

I'be done 2-way splits on 61s (including LH bass, which wouldn't appear to be an issue in this case). It's do-able, but not my preference. Too easy to run out of keys for a part (so you compromise the part, or accidentally cross to the wrong sound). Most boards (including Kronos) don't allow for easy on-the-fly octave switching of just one side of your split. You may have to end up making more copies of the same 2-part patches just to have quick access to them with different split points or different octave shifts. It's a nuisance. But a bigger board isn't the only solution. Going with two boards instead of one makes a big difference here. Or you can at least choose a board that lets you easily shift the octave of the sound(s) on just one side of your split, on the fly. I've talked about that before, it's not as common as it should be, but there are boards that can do it. (Which is not to diminish your point about the value that can be had in not necessarily slavishly sticking to the parts and sounds you started with!)

 

But back to the OP, I think the issue isn't just that he'd like more than 61 keys (based on his current usage/style of playing, where he apparently does feel constrained by it), but also that he'd like something lighter than the ~30 lb Kronos 61. (He also said that a YC73 is heavier than he'd like.) Otherwise, I'd also suggest looking at a Nautilus 73, which is very Kronos like (so taking advantage of what he's already done and is familiar with), while giving him the extra keys at a much lighter weight than the Kronos 73 was.

 

5 hours ago, AlanB said:

HI! The basic sounds are organ, synth and piano.

 

Getting back to the MODX7/Fantom07/PC4-7 comparison...

 

If you're trying to cover all that with one boards, one of the big variables here is the action. It sounds like you're already okay playing piano on the Kronos 61, so you're not too fussy about piano action, but of those three, I'd say Kurzweil feels best for piano, Fantom-0 feels worst. MODX will need some parameter tweaking, but should end up feeling okay. 

 

In organ sound, I'd probably rank Roland first, Kurz second, Yamaha third. (Kurz is the only one of the three with a high trigger option and 9 sliders.)

 

For synth, all 3 give you sample-based synth, and if you care, Yamaha and Kurz also give you FM (like the Kronos MOD-7 engine), while Roland and Kurz also give you virtual analog (like some of the other Kronos engines). In terms of ease of synth sound editing, I'd rate them as Roland first, then Yamaha, then Kurz.

[AlanB]

Thanks Timwat. Everything you say makes perfect sense. You obviously have taken the time to read all my comments.
Thanks to Eric as his comment about bigger the band, the smaller the keys!

AnotherScott suggested the Nautilus 73 BUT I think that is quite a heavy beast.

 

I want to thank you all for your constructive comments particularly those related to playing parts in a cover band. I want to play WITH the bass and lead guitarists not against them. In addition, I want to enjoy the playing experience by producing the right sounds for each song. I think the point about cover bands acquiring their own identity enables bands to “interpret” songs so that the “live version” swings a bit more or has a slightly more funky feel etc.

 

Which keyboard(s) do I need to perform well in an 8 piece cover band?
 

For now, the Kronos2 61 certainly does the job with some songs having a couple of splits and layering in combis. At the moment, I like tweaking programmes into combis and saving them to the excellent Kronos set list. When playing live, I just press the correct slot, follow my playing notes and play! I can mute, adjust volume, experiment with the joystick and ribbon controllers but mostly I just play each song as planned. At this stage, I am not sure that I want a Nord or YC with all the control available on the front panel! On the other hand, I have not really tried either of these keyboards and that is what I plan to do after all your helpful comments.

 

Once again, thanks for all your advice and insight. Will keep you updated!

[AnotherScott]

28 minutes ago, AlanB said:

AnotherScott suggested the Nautilus 73 BUT I think that is quite a heavy beast.

Well actually, I said I would have added it to the suggestion list, except that, based on the rest of your comments, even at its reduced weight compared to its Kronos 73 predecessor, it would still be too heavy . :-)

[stoken6]

I sympathise with all those who say "stick with your Kronos" - but if you want lighter and more real estate:

- MODX7 and DS76 don't have proper organ models, is that important to you?

- Fantom07 does (but no physical 9th drawbar, on-screen virtual)

- Kurzweil PC4-7 does - overkill?

3 hours ago, timwat said:

IMHO the Electro and Stage bring a significantly different approach to live gigging than workstations

This is a good point. You may want to consider more performance-oriented boards. For the kind of stuff you're playing, I would add the Korg Vox Continental to your list. If your horn band is anything like mine it's: piano, rhodes, wurly, maybe clav - and organ. The Conti also has a smidge of synth in it as well. Roland VR730 is a valid alternative, with (I think) better split capabilities. Plus Franky's CTRLR editor gets the board to sit up and do circus tricks.

 

Of course the money-no-object choice is a Nord Stage 3 compact. Build quality is not an issue - only price.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[lsj]

everyone that has a certain keyboard that they bought will always be the best to them.  I have always been a Yamaha person, so I like the MODX

[AnotherScott]

8 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

If your horn band is anything like mine it's: piano, rhodes, wurly, maybe clav - and organ. The Conti also has a smidge of synth in it as well. Roland VR730 is a valid alternative, with (I think) better split capabilities. Plus Franky's CTRLR editor gets the board to sit up and do circus tricks.

Yes, the Vox Continental would give you a bunch of Kronos-type pianos, organs, and synth sounds, in a super light 73-key box with a really nice action. But yeah, it can't really do splits, and there's limited ability to create any sound that veers too far from one of its presets.

 

The VR-730 does have better (though still not extensive) split capabilities, probably beating the Vox in tonewheel organ and synthy stuff, while I'd say the Vox beats the Roland in pianos (especially EPs, if that matters) and action, and travel weight.

 

Both are better if the number of patches you need for a gig is not too great. Patch navigation is not a great strength of either board (nor can you even store a whole lot of patches for that matter... IIRC, there are 100 user slots in the Roland and 64 in the Vox).

 

Really these are very different kinds of boards than Kronos/MODX/PC4/Fantom-0... but that's not to say they might not work.

[cphollis]

Yeah, you've come to the right place ... lots of great perspectives here.

 

If I were in that 8 piece band with horns -- and I didn't have the Kronos which is plenty good for what you are doing -- I'd stay in my lane.  I would want solid APs, EPs and clavs, strong B3 sounds, and samples of strings, synth pads, etc. as needed.  I wouldn't expect to be playing any concert material, nor having to solo extensively.  I would want dedicated knobs for important stuff.  

 

Being a long-time Nord fan, that would be the Electro 5 or 6, unweighted keybed.  I do like drawbars, and the ability to load thousands of samples is your "get out of jail free" card in case something strange comes your way.  Like *all* the sound effects on Uptown Funk.  BTW, Nord build quality (and resale values) are noticeably above average.

 

I did not particularly like the unweighted keybed of the MODX, but like its Roland counterpart, there's a lot of bang for the buck there.

[Sean M. H.]

Regarding the MODX, PC4 and Fantom-0, I should mention that I actually own all 3 of these families of boards currently...my general thoughts are as follows:

 

I actually prefer the organs on the PC4 to Fantom.  Now, I typically run in mono, so maybe running in stereo would make a difference, but I feel the PC4 has more "balls," and fits in better with the rest of the band...the Fantom has a good organ engine of course, but the following quirks/shortcomings annoy me: the fact that only channel 2 can utilize the organ engine (the other channels can only access "regular" sample-based organs)...and missing the 9th slider...

 

The MODX does not have an organ engine, but I actually find the basic sound of yamaha organs to be pretty solid...where it suffers are things like leslie sim, chorus/vibrato etc and trying to manipulate those things in realtime..real-time...

 

Regarding pianos, I'd probably rank them: Yamaha, Kurz, then Roland a distant 3rd.  Yamaha has a nice, lively sound.  The Kurz tends to be a little bit flatter, but not necessarily in a bad way...I'm not a huge fan of the Fantom pianos...they feel a bit outdated (these are not the Vpiano sounds you get with the full blown Fantom)...like there are not enough velocity layers sampled, which, based on the architecture of the sound engine, is probably true.  Note: none of these have a "true" piano engine persay, they're just sample-based.

 

For synths, I think this is really where the Fantom-0 shines...leads, pads, basses...it's got them all, in spades!  Plus you have a couple of dedicated controllers, pre-assigned to things like cutoff and resonance (separate from the assignable knows on the left side).

 

Won't get into actions, because I don't have the unweighted version of all 3.  I'm not a big fan of the keys of my Fantom-07, though I have gotten used to them and they've grown on me.  Can't comment on the other 2 though.

 

Overall, I'd say the MODX and Fantom-0 probably have a bigger, more hyped-sound than the Kurz.  The Kurz is voiced more flat/natural (or I guess you'd say dull if you're not a fan)...but seems to sit in a mix more easily sometimes.

 

If I owned none of these boards and was starting over from scratch, I'd probably pick...hell, I don't know...it's too hard...which is to say: they're all great choices, and you can't really beat the value to price ratio.

[AnotherScott]

1 hour ago, Sean M. H. said:

I actually prefer the organs on the PC4 to Fantom.  Now, I typically run in mono, so maybe running in stereo would make a difference, but I feel the PC4 has more "balls," and fits in better with the rest of the band...the Fantom has a good organ engine of course, but the following quirks/shortcomings annoy be: the fact that only channel 2 can utilize the organ engine (the other channels can only access "regular" sample-based organs)...and missing the 9th slider...

There are pros and cons, and the Fantom-0's organ does have its shortcomings as you say. OTOH, I think its key click is far better than on the Kurz, and it properly does not route its percussion through the CV, unlike the Kurz. And I prefer Roland's Leslie emulation, but of course there's also subjectivity to that kind of stuff.

[Mighty Motif Max]

2 hours ago, Sean M. H. said:

Regarding the MODX, PC4 and Fantom-0, I should mention that I actually own all 3 of these families of boards currently...my general thoughts are as follows:

 

I actually prefer the organs on the PC4 to Fantom.  Now, I typically run in mono, so maybe running in stereo would make a difference, but I feel the PC4 has more "balls," and fits in better with the rest of the band...the Fantom has a good organ engine of course, but the following quirks/shortcomings annoy me: the fact that only channel 2 can utilize the organ engine (the other channels can only access "regular" sample-based organs)...and missing the 9th slider...

 

...

 

I also own all three, sort of (I have the full Fantom vs the Fantom-0). I'm pretty much the opposite with regards to the organs. I had to do some editing to tweak the leslie sim and overdrive to taste, but after that, I substantially prefer the Fantom's organ over the PC4 (and the MODX isn't even close, though Organimation gives you some decent patches as long as you don't want full real-time control - switching banks of 4 sliders for organ sucks IMO). The PC4's rotary sim seems pitchy, the CV is super heavy on most settings, I'm not a fan of the keyclick, but maybe most importantly, to me the overall sound is a bit muddy IMO, even in the basic tone, regardless of the tonewheel set chosen. I don't use enough percussion to really care much about the CV routing thing Scott mentioned. I thought it was rather good until I got the Fantom, and subsequently the SK Pro. The Fantom is the only workstation board that I would consider good enough for fairly organ-heavy gigs. The PC4 is not bad at all, it's just that I much prefer the Fantom's VTW sound. I *would* rate the PC4's overdrive above the others though - it's a much beefier, less digital sound. I will say that I need to spend some time with BillW's improved rotary from the Mastering VAST forum - it sounds better but I haven't used the PC4's organs much since getting the Fantom and SK Pro.

 

Interesting you should also mention that you run in mono - I usually do as well, and I can't stand the PC4's leslie in mono, despite tweaks. It just kind of sounds loud, muddy, and excessively mid-heavy (even with EQ). The Fantom's, with some edits, fares better IMO, but does benefit from stereo too, as does any Leslie sim I'd say.

 

------------------------

 

Back to the OP:

Owning all three (and limiting my Fantom piano opinions to the non V-Piano patches since the Fantom-0 doesn't have that), my rankings are the following, for organ, piano, and synth, since those are what you care about:

 

Organ: Fantom-0 (even with the missing drawbar), PC4 (lesser rotary IMO, less bright sound), MODX (not even on the same tier)

 

Piano: MODX (most natural sounding, lots of options), PC4 (shorter decay on the notes than I like, sounds good in a dense mix though, especially the 7' Yamaha grand), Fantom-0 (if you load in one of the EXZ piano sets, it's usable - I strongly dislike the stock pianos for anything but a very dense rock mix where you want a bright cutting sound). Now the big Fantom's V-Pianos are much better, but you don't have that in the Fantom-0.

 

Synth: Fantom-0 (tons of variety, VA-engine expansions available for purchase), MODX (good variety, the best pads of the bunch), PC4 (a decent selection of vintage-sounding presets, but editing is fairly difficult compared to the other two contenders, and IMO there isn't enough variety in the presets to cover most needs closely enough)

[Sean M. H.]

Good point regarding editing the Fantom's organs....for context, I had the PC4 first. So I haven't spent a ton of time editing the Fantom.  Will have to revisit them for sure. 

[TommyRude]

Welcome to the forum!  I'll help you spend some money - $29.00.

 

If I was to do it all again, I'd get into software much sooner.  If you have a Macbook, chuck up $29 and buy Mainstage.  Once you get used to it, you'll find that it's LOADED with fantastic sounding instruments and effects, super easy to program, splits and players are a piece of cake, and you can midi it up to your MODX or any other superlight controller.  You'll be able to cover anything your band throws at you with amazingly well matched sounds.  This is coming from a guy that has Nord, Korg and Roland boards.  Once you start to experience the richness and accuracy of software sounds, you'll never go back to hardware boards - except for controllers.

 

Good luck!

[nadroj]

Hey Alan, seems we play in similar bands. I’m also in an 8 piece with 3 part brass who cover the songs you mentioned.

 

Incidentally, I have a MODX-7 and a Nord Electro. Sonically the MODX will cover everything you need. It’s probably the only board I’ve ever owned where if I’ve been able to imagine it, I’ve been able to do it. It’s super flexible, and deep if you want it to be. The only thing that will let you down are the Hammond sounds. The Vox organ sounds (used in some of those tunes) are actually pretty good on the MODX, but the rotary sucks. It’s probably passable in a live context though. I don’t like playing my MODX-7 (long story, it’s a great board, just not one I enjoy) but if you like the feel of the keys and the feel of the instrument in general, the MODX will do you well - assuming you’re able to tweak the organs to a point where you’re happy. A lot of those tunes are organ heavy. An iPad with software would fix this. I’ve setup a programme on my MODX where I can just plug my phone/iPad in with a single cable and it will automatically play VB3 while ignoring the internal sounds. The MODX is handy and flexible like that. I wouldn’t do any heavy swipes or glissandos on the MODX keyboard, though! And if you’re anything like me you might not want to bring an iPad onto a stage with 8 people playing non stop up-tempo tunes! 
 

If I was in your shoes I’d keep the Kronos 61. I’ve played that several times and would be more than happy doing this kind of gig on that alone. 
 

Personally my Nord electro does the job for this gig. It’s a bit of a pain setting up custom splits and layers on a keyboard that technically doesn’t do that, but for me in this band, having the build quality and top-notch organs at hand trumps the sonic flexibility the MOD-X would bring me. YMMV. 
 

Really, it depends how much you care about the organ sounds. Kronos will do you pretty well there. Kurzweil have a dedicated organ engine that gets decent praise around here with some tweaks. Roland’s offerings are perfectly ok too - incidentally I played a VR730 last week, and while it wasn’t for me, I think it would do a great job for what you want. The Fantoms have the same organ engine, but lack the feel. They have more flexibility though. The Hammond SK-pro is another contender - good organs and a surprising amount of flexibility underneath the hood. It’s the one I’d probably upgrade to if I had the cash. 
 

We can give you a hundred answers, and the truth is each of them will probably be right - but at the end of the day it comes down to what you enjoy playing, and what suits your personal needs the most 😃

[stillearning]

Like yourself, and a couple of others above, I also occasionally play in a 9 pc horn band and, and do fill in work with a few others. I need pianos, EPs, clavs, good solid Hammond/Leslie, and occasional synth. If money’s not a factor, you can’t go wrong with a Nord Stage. For many songs I don’t even need specific presets per song. I have a few basic go-to presets where I can push a button, tweak a knob or two, and I’m good to go. My experience is the same as others here… I’ve moved up through the Stage line, now using a Stage 3, and they’ve all been reliable.