What Discontinued Keyboard Bugs You the Most?

[b3plyr]

Forte for me. I think it was the perfect stage piano. I know, the K2700 has great features (it is heavy, though). But the Forte has glorious pianos, and the 76 is very light, etc. What’s your bug?

[Tom Williams]

All post-Mirage Ensoniq samplers.  The EPS 13-minus had amazing sample editing and real-time performance capabilities, and I assume its successors (16+, ASR) were even better.  My beloved Kurzweils can't touch Ensoniq sample manipulations.

[J.F.N.]

Korg Prologue is a strange story, I have a Prologue 16 so I'm good, but I can't understand why they discontinued it. There was a rumour about some problems with a new EU law regarding electricity and that it had a transformer for its power that was not approved, and maybe they didn't sell enough of it.

 

However, it's ridiculous how bad it was marketed, sold as a polyphonic analogue synth, which is definitely not the full truth and made a lot if people ditch it as it wasn't considered to be up to par with other poly analogue synths on the market, while its real power is instead the unique hybrid thing, with the multi oscillator, making it a fabulous machine!

 

Though I don't understand Korg at all these days, it's like there is no marketing dept. and they just churn out everything they can assembly with the technology they have, without having a clue about what they're doing strategy wise.

[CEB]

1) Pre-1998 Ensoniq.    Great tech in good products that working players could better afford.  That was a great company. 
 

2) The Yamaha S-90 series.  

[wineandkeyz]

1 minute ago, CEB said:

2) The Yamaha S-90 series.  

 

+1

[Paul Woodward]

Had to read the title again, I first assumed you meant what keyboard (that has been discontinued) bugs you the most…I had a long list.

I see now you meant it bugged you because it had been discontinued. Still, nothing lasts for ever eh?

In contrast, what keyboard had the best production run? Kronos is surely up there?

Personally, the Korg Grandstage as it was very well specced and could have been updated, marketed better and sold for longer. This is evident by how little has actually changed (internally) on the soon to be released GS X some 7 years later. Luckily I have a mint one, but I wouldn’t trade up to the newer model if it were to stop working. It also needed a few quality of life features that will now never be implemented on the original.

[Paul Woodward]

On the flip side of being discontinued, look at how many boards are actually getting their life ‘extended’ when they probably should be retired for something new and improved….ahem, Roland RD08, Nautilus AT, Fantom EX…

[eric]

I loved the Yamaha S90 series. I still have my original S90 from 2002 and while it is seldom used, it still works great and the action is awesome. I loved the Master Mode on that board as well, and I loaded mine up with three PLG expansion cards (two PLG-AN and one PLG-DX). I had the S70XS for a bit and while it had a broader sound set, I still preferred the S90 over it. Plus they were the same dimensions, due to the S90 having the pitch and mod wheels ABOVE the keys to save space. I suppose Yamaha's current answer lies somewhere between the CP and YC series, though aside from the organ section on the YC, they don't do nearly as much as the S90.

 

I was also a big fan of Voce products - V3, V5, MIDI Drawbars, those funky piano modules, etc. I still have a V5 in a briefcase somewhere that hasn't been used in years. I was sad when Voce closed up shop and stayed in touch loosely with Dave Amels for years after.

[YashN]

Kurzweil K2661 - Vocoder Mode, internal KDFX, Live Mode, synth action, Triple Mode Synthesis

[Outkaster]

44 minutes ago, eric said:

I loved the Yamaha S90 series. I still have my original S90 from 2002 and while it is seldom used, it still works great and the action is awesome. I loved the Master Mode on that board as well, and I loaded mine up with three PLG expansion cards (two PLG-AN and one PLG-DX). I had the S70XS for a bit and while it had a broader sound set, I still preferred the S90 over it. Plus they were the same dimensions, due to the S90 having the pitch and mod wheels ABOVE the keys to save space. I suppose Yamaha's current answer lies somewhere between the CP and YC series, though aside from the organ section on the YC, they don't do nearly as much as the S90.

 

I was also a big fan of Voce products - V3, V5, MIDI Drawbars, those funky piano modules, etc. I still have a V5 in a briefcase somewhere that hasn't been used in years. I was sad when Voce closed up shop and stayed in touch loosely with Dave Amels for years after.

Exactly VOCE and the S90 Series. I thought they would have come out with an S-90 XF.  I had the XS and that was the last one.  The VOCE stuff still sounds great tone wise.

[Delaware Dave]

Voce Key5 and the Ensoniq SD1 and TS models.  I bought the last Key5 but when it arrived at the store the cabinet was damaged in-transit beyond repair and since it was the last one it could not be replaced so instead I bought the Voce V5+ (which is the sound source for the Key5).  Tone-wise it still competes with today's clones, the chorus could be better and the C/V isnt splittable upper/lower. Still use it occasionally and still impressed by its sound. My SD1 and TS-12 were my favorite keyboards, the SD1 had polyphonic aftertouch and a lot of features not found on todays keyboards that i loved. Mfg was "local" and i could always take the boards directly to the factory for repair.

[jpgxk3]

Never owned one, but saw a band recently using a Korg X-50 in Camo. What a great backpack “all in one” board. Searched the web and realized long gone. 

[16251]

Roland FP4 action.

[Delaware Dave]

1 hour ago, 16251 said:

Roland FP4 action.

 

My General Music Equinox's Fatar TP20 keybed.  STILL the best piano action I have ever encountered on any keyboard (plus the 88 has a great piano tone). Can literally play that keyboard all day.  The keybed alone weighs more than many keyboards which i assume is why it is no longer made.

[ABECK]

Roland JD-800.  They should just make that in perpetuity.  

[johnchop]

1 hour ago, 16251 said:

Roland FP4 action.

That WAS good, wasn’t it?

 

I was hoping the PHA4 would be more like that, and it’s fine (I have an FP30x), but the FP4 was just smoother.

 

I’m going to throw the Kronos 61/M361 action up there, too.  The newer Korgs don’t have it, do they?

[TommyS]

yep.......The JD-800       

[Stokely]

JD-800 is "in" the Fantom, no idea how close it is to the original   

I was sort of out of the keyboard thing for a long while, skipped that whole generation or three.

I have to say the brief time I spent with the Yamaha M8X left me with the impression that it may be the best weighted action I've ever tried.  Too short a trial period to really say that however.  Too bad that thing is the size and weight of a small Buick.

I still hold my old Virus kb up as my favorite synth action.  Fatar tp-9 I guess so not unique but perhaps it was also in the patch design.  It was so easy to control the sounds with velocity and aftertouch on that keyboard.  I regret selling it to this day.   I also remember the Korg M3 action as being great.

[ABECK]

1 hour ago, Stokely said:

JD-800 is "in" the Fantom, no idea how close it is to the original   
 

Which is definitely tempting.  But I'm a sucker for the controls and layout of the original.  A thing a beauty.

[Dave Keys]

Korg Kronos. If you’re going to scrap a flagship groundbreaking workstation, replace it with something as good if not better. 

[16251]

3 hours ago, johnchop said:

That WAS good, wasn’t it?

 

I was hoping the PHA4 would be more like that, and it’s fine (I have an FP30x), but the FP4 was just smoother.

 

I’m going to throw the Kronos 61/M361 action up there, too.  The newer Korgs don’t have it, do they?

It was Budda.

[RABid]

Access Virus - It was THE virtual analog for so long, improving with every version. Then the focus was moved to Kemper amps and the Virus was done.

[Paul Woodward]

1 hour ago, Dave Keys said:

Korg Kronos. If you’re going to scrap a flagship groundbreaking workstation, replace it with something as good if not better. 

Although it didn’t ‘bug’ me, it definitely baffled. I understand having Nautilus and Kronos, but why scrap the better of the two leaving the AT less Nautilus as the flagship? The Krome was another strange keyboard when put next to the Kross. It just had that touch screen making it look like a budget Kronos.

[CHarrell]

24 minutes ago, Dave Keys said:

Korg Kronos. If you’re going to scrap a flagship groundbreaking workstation, replace it with something as good if not better. 

 

I was legitimately surprised when the dust settled and the Nautilus turned out to be the de facto successor and not just a stopgap release...still wondering what Korg's next big play is. Though they've released a lot of their tech in software, it's still hard to imagine they'd have Nautilus as their hardware flagship swan song.

 

 

For me, this is technical because it's not discontinued as far as I know, but after getting a PX5S recently, I've gotten really nostalgic about gigging with Casio instruments in the  2010s (my first gigging board was a PX130, which had me thinking every keyboard I was gonna get would be that easy to take around...this was soon shattered when I got a Triton 88 from online, without checking dimensions and weight first...). I'd love to see Casio reignite that stream of portable, affordable, professional keyboard such as the PX5S and 560 that would just totally blow people away with the quality and price vs the competition.

[D. Gauss]

Wurlitzer 200a (or 140/145) by a mile.

[Motif88]

6 hours ago, Stokely said:

JD-800 is "in" the Fantom, no idea how close it is to the original   

I was sort of out of the keyboard thing for a long while, skipped that whole generation or three.

I have to say the brief time I spent with the Yamaha M8X left me with the impression that it may be the best weighted action I've ever tried.  Too short a trial period to really say that however.  Too bad that thing is the size and weight of a small Buick.

I still hold my old Virus kb up as my favorite synth action.  Fatar tp-9 I guess so not unique but perhaps it was also in the patch design.  It was so easy to control the sounds with velocity and aftertouch on that keyboard.  I regret selling it to this day.   I also remember the Korg M3 action as being great.

I’m fortunate enough to have an M8x in my home studio and love it. Having owned a bunch vintage synths and moving to weighted key beds since the 1980’s starting with the KX-88 after my Dyno-My-Piano Rhodes 73, I’m happy to play the M8x daily. If I were playing gigs and moving gear, I’d happily go for a Fantom 08 or Nord Stage 4 due to the weight. After 40+ years, I find most synth action keyboards lacking… play what best suits you and your style.  One size does not fit all…

[David Emm]

6 hours ago, Stokely said:

 I also remember the Korg M3 action as being great.

 

That's one of those blink-&-its-gone moments. It felt comparable to the D-50's, very inviting. I haven't played a Keystage, but if it feels like the M3, I'm likely to lean in more seriously. They were fine for synth/organ, but unlike some, I didn't find them prohibitive for piano, either. Best of Show, unweighted category.

[Old No7]

12 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Had to read the title again, I first assumed you meant what keyboard (that has been discontinued) bugs you the most…I had a long list.

I see now you meant it bugged you because it had been discontinued. Still, nothing lasts for ever eh?

 

Gee, I'd have to say that I've always wanted a "new"...

 

HAMMOND B3

 

...but my SK Pro is so much easier to lug than even my chopped M3 ever was -- it's about the same weight as the custom pre-amp box that I'd built.

 

Old No7

[Moonglow]

Generalmusic. I still have my Pro 2 piano and a good friend has an Equinox which I enjoy playing. Would love to have seen ongoing development/contemporary versions of these products. I met a gentleman at NAMM 2016 (at the Redkey lounge!) who had just bought the company, but sadly, I don’t think much ever became of it. ☹️

[BluMunk]

Maybe not a specific board, but the Alesis quadra/qs/fusion line.

 

I’m certainly biased as QS was what I had as a youth and I didn’t have much to compare it with. But they had a wealth of usable sounds, solid construction and feel, and 16 channels of layering.

 

It would be great to see what their version of a gigging musician’s rompler (plus VA?) might look like in 2024.