David Emm Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 I'm snickering just a little bit because I feel sure that more than a few players are using GoKeys as controllers for a cloud full of Zenology. The boggling power you can get for just a few hundred bucks is unreal. Roland would surely prefer that you have a Juno-X and a couple of their modules, but if you embrace a DAW, their Cloud opens some big doors. 2 Quote "Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons and necking in the parlors! Play, Don!" ~ Groucho Marx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieT Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 On 7/7/2024 at 6:43 PM, GovernorSilver said: - Yes, Zencore incorporates both virtual analog and sample playback. Presets that use only VA oscillators is possible. Filter can be TVF or VCF. - I haven't spent hours comparing Zencore EP samples vs. EP samples used in Yamaha, Korg, Kawai, etc. products so I won't comment on that. At first I thought the Zencore EP sounds - as found on the Roland MC-101 and MC-707 - were kind of bland, then I realized you have to play with EQ and gain settings. Judiciously applied FX (there's a boatload of selections) can also make noticeable difference. My guess is Roland tweaked the EP sounds more for the Go Keys compared to the MCs - I don't blame Roland for not assuming that MC users are going to be as serious about EP sounds as user who are shopping for a Go Keys or competing keyboard. I have found that Zen-Core is terrific for almost everything excluding electric and acoustic pianos. This is why their more-expensive keyboards like the RD-88 include Zen-Core and SuperNATURAL sound engines (SuperNATURAL has terrific pianos). For someone who wants a hardware-based setup (instead of laptop or iPad), I agree that there is nothing else that can compete at this price point. Combine the Go Keys 5 with something like the Casio CT-S1 (which has good pianos and key action) for a great, inexpensive, light-weight setup! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 12 hours ago, David Emm said: I'm snickering just a little bit because I feel sure that more than a few players are using GoKeys as controllers for a cloud full of Zenology. The boggling power you can get for just a few hundred bucks is unreal. Roland would surely prefer that you have a Juno-X and a couple of their modules, but if you embrace a DAW, their Cloud opens some big doors. But if the draw is DAW/cloud/Zenology, does the GoKeys offer any advantage over any other board?Okay, a small subset of them are available in the board itself, but some other board would have sounds in the board that aren't even in Zenology. 🙂 8 hours ago, JamieT said: I have found that Zen-Core is terrific for almost everything excluding electric and acoustic pianos...Combine the Go Keys 5 with something like the Casio CT-S1 (which has good pianos and key action) for a great, inexpensive, light-weight setup! I'm still looking to see some first-hand comparisons of the CT-S1/CT-S500 action vs the GoKeys 3/5 action. Related, I'm wondering if if it's possible that the GoKeys action might actually be better than the Fantom-06/07 action. I've been doing some gigs with the pair of a CT-S500 and Fantom-07. The Casio is my "bottom" (although I physically place it on top, because its music rest is a convenient place for the iPad). I'm not sure how much is the action vs. the sounds, I haven't compared in detail, but I much prefer playing the Casio for pianos/EPs rather than the Roland (which is part of the reason I came up with this combination to begin with). And as it happens, the Casio meets-or-beats Zencore for some other sounds, too (banjo is one that comes to mind, Casio's is much better than Roland's). 2 Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peelie Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 8 hours ago, AnotherScott said: But if the draw is DAW/cloud/Zenology, does the GoKeys offer any advantage over any other board?Okay, a small subset of them are available in the board itself, but some other board would have sounds in the board that aren't even in Zenology. 🙂 I'm still looking to see some first-hand comparisons of the CT-S1/CT-S500 action vs the GoKeys 3/5 action. Related, I'm wondering if if it's possible that the GoKeys action might actually be better than the Fantom-06/07 action. I've been doing some gigs with the pair of a CT-S500 and Fantom-07. The Casio is my "bottom" (although I physically place it on top, because its music rest is a convenient place for the iPad). I'm not sure how much is the action vs. the sounds, I haven't compared in detail, but I much prefer playing the Casio for pianos/EPs rather than the Roland (which is part of the reason I came up with this combination to begin with). And as it happens, the Casio meets-or-beats Zencore for some other sounds, too (banjo is one that comes to mind, Casio's is much better than Roland's). this guy actually tests the spring strength in the keys: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Except for organ, I thought the Casio sounded much better than the Roland in each of those comparisons. But his choice for which piano, EP, string patches to use on each board may not necessarily have been the ones I thought were best, so it's not conclusive. Pushing back harder (higher tension springs) seems consistent with what people said about the earlier Go models as well, I wonder if the action on these is any different from those. Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Emm Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 11 hours ago, AnotherScott said: But if the draw is DAW/cloud/Zenology, does the GoKeys offer any advantage over any other board?Okay, a small subset of them are available in the board itself, but some other board would have sounds in the board that aren't even in Zenology. For a newbie or even just a synth-newbie, GoKeys is a gateway drug. Come for the very decent practice 'board, stay for the awe of the Cloud. Sure, you can run Zenology from a Moog One, but that's... unnatural. I prefer to see it the other way, where someone is so taken with it that they buy a Juno-X or Jupiter-X for the Love of GAS & sliders. I'd hate to lose my Roland voices. Owning pieces from several makers is The Way. 1 Quote "Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons and necking in the parlors! Play, Don!" ~ Groucho Marx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieT Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 12 hours ago, AnotherScott said: But if the draw is DAW/cloud/Zenology, does the GoKeys offer any advantage over any other board?Okay, a small subset of them are available in the board itself, but some other board would have sounds in the board that aren't even in Zenology. 🙂 I'm still looking to see some first-hand comparisons of the CT-S1/CT-S500 action vs the GoKeys 3/5 action. Related, I'm wondering if if it's possible that the GoKeys action might actually be better than the Fantom-06/07 action. I've been doing some gigs with the pair of a CT-S500 and Fantom-07. The Casio is my "bottom" (although I physically place it on top, because its music rest is a convenient place for the iPad). I'm not sure how much is the action vs. the sounds, I haven't compared in detail, but I much prefer playing the Casio for pianos/EPs rather than the Roland (which is part of the reason I came up with this combination to begin with). And as it happens, the Casio meets-or-beats Zencore for some other sounds, too (banjo is one that comes to mind, Casio's is much better than Roland's). Zen-Core allows you to download and install well over 100 different sound packs - extremely powerful for this price. Details about the sound packs here: https://www.roland.com/us/promos/zen-core/sounds/ I love the key action on my CT-S1 (for acoustic and electric pianos). I use Pianoteq on my iPad, but for someone who doesn't want to deal with the iPad (or a laptop), I think the Casio sounds are quite good. Combined with the GoKeys 3/5 for all other other types of sounds (synth, strings, organs, etc.) it would be great. The GoKeys 5 is $500 USD and the CT-S1 is $220 so for less than $750 total you would have a great sounding setup with a decent key action (and very light to carry). You could run the headphone output from the CT-S1 to the Aux input on the Go:Keys 5 and then use the two 1/4 inch outputs from the Go:Keys to an amp or mixing board (and also utilize the microphone input on the GoKeys 5, if you sing). Unbelievable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoken6 Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 20 hours ago, AnotherScott said: I've been doing some gigs with the pair of a CT-S500 and Fantom-07 My usual question: are you MIDIing them together? Does the Fantom USB-Host capability work with Casio? Cheers, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 3 hours ago, stoken6 said: My usual question: are you MIDIing them together? Does the Fantom USB-Host capability work with Casio? I have not tried it. The functionality would be pretty limited regardless. IIRC, that Fantom function allows an external keyboard to trigger its sounds, but does not allow the Fantom to trigger (or send Program Changes to) the external board (maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that). And the Casio is not well equipped to mix-and-match internal and external sounds itself. Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deka Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 While watching Masataka Kono's comparison video of the GO 5, CT-S1, and NP-35, I noticed that the Casio piano sounds become distorted when he plays long chords. I also listened to Casio's own demo of the CT-S1 on their YouTube channel and noticed the same quality loss when long chords are played or the pedal is held for a long time. I commented on Masataka Kono's video about this issue, and he confirmed that the Casio sounds do get a little much distorted during long chords. You can still see the comments on the video I don't own any of these products yet, but I'm trying to decide between Casio and Roland. I just wanted to give a warning to potential buyers, and see if you are agree 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphybridget Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 On 7/9/2024 at 5:55 AM, AnotherScott said: But if the draw is DAW/cloud/Zenology, does the GoKeys offer any advantage over any other board?Okay, a small subset of them are available in the board itself, but some other board would have sounds in the board that aren't even in Zenology. 🙂 I'm still looking to see some first-hand comparisons of the CT-S1/CT-S500 action vs the GoKeys 3/5 action. Related, I'm wondering if if it's possible that the GoKeys action might actually be better than the Fantom-06/07 action. I've been doing some gigs with the pair of a CT-S500 and Fantom-07. The Casio is my "bottom" (although I physically place it on top, because its music rest is a convenient place for the iPad). I'm not sure how much is the action vs. the sounds, I haven't compared in detail, but I much prefer playing the Casio for pianos/EPs rather than the Roland (which is part of the reason I came up with this combination to begin with). And as it happens, the Casio meets-or-beats Zencore for some other sounds, too (banjo is one that comes to mind, Casio's is much better than Roland's). . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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