dstok Posted September 15, 2002 Posted September 15, 2002 I play in a band that does 60's / 70's rock, R&B, occasional jazz, and blues. My current set up is an Alesis 7 , vintage Roland Juno, and Roland KC500 amp. Currently, great piano, organ, and horn sounds (e.g. Memphis horns on Sam & Dave, Tower of Power) are my main focus. But I want to have a set up capable of electronic techno, full jazz with strings, and the new synth heavy sounds. This would be used for performance, so I'd like to keep to a max of (3) keyboards, maybe with a rack mount synth and/or PC, and mixer / amp rig. What would be the best rig for about $5k .... or if money isn't a problem? All experience and opinions are welcome.
sbrock1san.rr.com Posted September 15, 2002 Posted September 15, 2002 Yamaha S90 for piano and horns/brass Korg CX3 for organ Roland JP-8000 for techno and synth
dstok Posted September 15, 2002 Author Posted September 15, 2002 Thanx for your thoughts, I'll check these keys out. Any suggestions for mixer - amp - speakers?
SurrealMcCoyJazz Posted September 16, 2002 Posted September 16, 2002 Originally posted by dstok: Thanx for your thoughts, I'll check these keys out. Any suggestions for mixer - amp - speakers?Depending on how much gear you want to haul/setup; for a mono combo amp, I would suggest the Barbetta Sona 41; for a stereo combo amp w/rotating horn, the Motion Sound KBR3D. Otherwise, you could go the mixer/powered speaker route.......so basically, you would have your own PA/monitor system. Alot of players on this forum prefer the Mackie SRM450 powered cabs for this kind of application. I personally will be using the new Yamaha S90 (as soon as it arrives) w/Kurzweil PC2r & Korg CX3 thru a Mackie 1202 mixer into 2 Yamaha MS400 powered cabs (stereo). In addition; I use various outboard gear for processing (sparsely)(EQ,tube preamp, compressor,BBE). Surreal Surreal
Superbobus Posted September 16, 2002 Posted September 16, 2002 I'll second that S90. It's gonna be a number one hit. For organ? Korg CX3 or Roland VK8. I'm gonna check out the VK8 this week because it just arrived at my music store. Techno? Too much choice out there! Check out Nord, Virus, Waldorf, (Super)novas, JP8000, Yam AN1x and CS6x, Korg Z1 (despite of what some people say, I like it) and all real vintage boards. http://www.bobwijnen.nl Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life.
Dave Pierce Posted September 16, 2002 Posted September 16, 2002 Originally posted by SteveRB: Yamaha S90 for piano and horns/brass Korg CX3 for organ Roland JP-8000 for techno and synthI recently went shopping for the piano side of the equation. I absolutely love the S80 (predecessor of the S90), but I found the action way too stiff. I ended up with the Roland RD-700, which has realistic horns, great pianos, and awesome electric pianos. The weighted keys feel very realistic to me. I'm glad I went with the Roland, although I don't think the Yamaha would be a bad choice if your wrists are up for it. --Dave Make my funk the P-funk. I wants to get funked up. My Funk/Jam originals project: http://www.thefunkery.com/
dstok Posted September 19, 2002 Author Posted September 19, 2002 The S90 seems to be a good bet. I like the idea of a mixer / powered cabinet set up. The S90 looks by it's specs to be a Motif 8 without the sequencing and performance "workstation" type functions. My Alesis 7.1 looks to have some control capability, so I am also looking at using a sythn module for sequencing to pick these functions up. Any thoughts?
Monkey Mouse Posted September 19, 2002 Posted September 19, 2002 I'm not a keyboard player, but know that there are some boards out there to have: Triton rack with expansion modules (or a Triton with keys). Roland with expansion (Fantom possibly) E-Mu Proteus 2000 with 3 additional modules Motif Maybe a analog like a M2000 or Access Virus Would cover just about everything with those. Live 6, Battery 3, Project 5, Atmosphere, Albino 2, Minimoog V, Oddity, Nord 2X, Proteus 2K ***I can't play for sh*t, but I can sequence like a muthaf*ck*r***
Postman Posted September 19, 2002 Posted September 19, 2002 It soooo passe', but you can't go wrong with the Kurzweil K2600xs. It doesn't lack for anything. It's only $3500 these days. The Barbetta amps are great, too.
moogboy Posted September 26, 2002 Posted September 26, 2002 i gotta reply to this one! you got a juno, man! i take my juno EVERYWHERE with. you want techno sounds, beautiful pads, leads, crazy sounds, whatever... i run my juno only through a delay pedal, and its beautiful! oh, the secret - plug a volume pedal to the vcf control ouput on the back of the juno, and you got instant hohner clav with wah, you got everything!
clusterchord Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 Rd-700 for Piano/Rhodes/Brass -also capable of typical roland rompler sounds (nice pads w fx.) Korg CX3 or Hammond Xk Virus KC -analog,teebee,arpeggiation,vocoder,you name it http://www.babic.com - music for film/theatre, audio-post
coyote Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 ONLY $3500 ??? All four of my keyboards together, along wih the pro3T for the Hammond, didn't cost that much.... no wonder "it soooo passe" LOL Originally posted by Postman: It soooo passe', but you can't go wrong with the Kurzweil K2600xs. It doesn't lack for anything. It's only $3500 these days. The Barbetta amps are great, too. I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist. This ain't no track meet; this is football.
Superbobus Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 Yamaha S90 Roland VK8, I've got it for three month now and IMO it kicks CX3's butt real hard. Needs lots of tweaking to get there but when you're there... ooohhh, mama! And your good old Juno with a Yam AN200 connected to it will do the techno part. Or maybe a Triton rack? Soulstars http://www.bobwijnen.nl Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life.
Byrdman Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 Originally posted by Superbobus: Yamaha S90 Roland VK8, I've got it for three month now and IMO it kicks CX3's butt real hard. Needs lots of tweaking to get there but when you're there... ooohhh, mama! And your good old Juno with a Yam AN200 connected to it will do the techno part. Or maybe a Triton rack? Soulstars S90 and VK8 for sure. Got my VK8 a couple of months ago and its great. Still using the QS8 on the bottom - maybe next year for the S90. I have the QS8 midi'd up to the VK8 so I can use it as the bottom clavier. One can set the VK8 to receive on fixed channels so if I don't want the QS8 to sound organ notes, I just change the channel on the QS8 to one the VK8 dignores. (By default the VK8 responds on all channels) I use a pair of SRM450's for amplification.
schmoron13 Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 since the cx3 is mentioned so much, why not go with a voce v5??? Havn't heard one but everyone who has one seems to rave about them...
Stephen Fortner Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 Ultimate back-saver rig, IMHO, would be a Nord Electro 73 MIDI'ed to a Kurzweil PC-2R. You have two flavors of Hammond emulation, and great pianos, pads, and general-purpose sounds on the Kurz. Then, add your favorite 61-key-or-smaller axe on top (say, a Triton LE for all-around sounds, or your Juno, or a VA) and there's nothing you can't cover. My own rig got as big as an S-80, VK-7, K-2000, JD-800, Leslie, and my Rhodes. I'm down to three Kurzweils now: A K-2000 above a K-2600 (76-key) and a K-2000R in a rack for backup and extra sounds. My back is happier and I'm less sleep-deprived. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse
ELP71 Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 Steve - that's a damn good idea - the Nord/PC2r combo. Weasels ripped my flesh. Rzzzzzzz.
Superbobus Posted January 2, 2003 Posted January 2, 2003 If you don't want weighted keys it is a good idea. My idea for a rig is playing pianos and EP's on weighted keys and all other sounds on synth type keys. Steve, great stuff you got there! Soulstars http://www.bobwijnen.nl Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life.
Tusker Posted January 2, 2003 Posted January 2, 2003 With the Nord/PC2R combo you would want to add a third keyboard .. something with a pitch wheel or joystick I would think. Jerry
konaboy Posted January 2, 2003 Posted January 2, 2003 I think the classic Hammond/Rhodes/Minimoog or Prophet5 is still the definitive rig! You could get pretty close to that today with a Nord Electro and Nord Lead for a fraction of the original's price and weight. Isn't technology great! Furthermore you'll have matching red keyboards hang out with me at woody piano shack
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.