XV88 vs S90????????

[deadman9]

I've been playing on a kurzweil mark 12 for quite a while and have recently started looking into a portable keyboard. Most of the sounds I use are piano, organ, and electric piano. The most important qualities I'm looking for are good piano action(like a yamaha accoustic) and quality sound. After many hours at guitar center, I've narrowed my choices down to a Yamaha S90 or a Roland XV88. I couldn't figure out how to work the roland real well, so I don't know if I was playing on the better sounds or not. I was quoted 1700 for the s90 and 1650 for an open box XV88 with orchestral and piano expansion boards pre-installed. After today, I'm leaning towards the S90. Alot of the piano patches on the roland sounded good for a band or rock situation, but lost alot when I played some classical stuff, they sounded almost like the sounds were in a box, kind of tinny or harpsichordish. The keyboard will be doing everything from plugging into the computer, to traveling to jam with friends, to midnight practice with headphones.

 

Are the pianos on the expansion board any good?

What pros/cons does anyone know of for either keyboard?

Are there any special things I should remember about either?

Are there any god expansion boards for the S90?

I'm probably going to buy in the next few days so any help or input is really appreciated.

 

thankyou all in advance

[Marzzz]

FWIW, they are both good boards, but I went with the S90 because the sounds on it are not the ten-year-old Roland JV stuff; I am using it mostly as a controller, but the piano, keyboard, and synth sounds are very good. The Roland orchestral instruments sound a little better, but if I wanted those sounds I would go with samples.....

[Dave Bryce]

When it comes to piano samples, I think Yamaha tends to do a much better job than Roland on general; and, I think that the S700 in the S90 is one of Yamaha's better piano samples.

 

Also, IMO, Yamaha EPs are outstanding.

 

dB

[deadman9]

Is there anything a motif 8 can do that an s90 combined with a sampler like the a4000 can't??? I like the idea of being able to load new sounds into the instrunment, like organs and synthesizers. I'm thiking yamaha will be the way to go, twice so far I've been real inspired by the s90, the sounds seem richer. Does the s90 have a good B3???

[Dave Pierce]

When I was stage piano shopping a bit over a year ago, I ended up with Roland's RD-700. It was the right choice at the time, because Yamaha only had the S80, the S90 hadn't been released.

 

I absolutely LOVED the pianos and EPs on the S80, but the keybed was way to stiff for me, so I ruled it out. I understand that the S90 has a nicer keybed. If that had been available then, I probably would have gotten one.

 

--Dave

[kkrogedal]

I used to have a A4000 sampler, and though I wasn't a poweruser, I thought the time needed to load from SCSI was too long. Better from a IDE-HD, but still quite some time as you'll find if you search the A4000/A5000 forum at Yahoo. There you'll also find that it isn't very well suited for sound designing, but having said this, I liked the sound quality, the filters and the effects. In addition, with S90 and A4000 you won't get the audio/MIDI-sequencer onboard as with Motif. Pianosound on Motif will be enhanced in the new Motif ES.

[Ski 1642606170]

deadman - You asked, "Is there anything a motif 8 can do that an s90 combined with a sampler like the a4000 can't???" Yes. The Motif has the "Integrated Sampling Sequencer", which is like a mini-Logic/Cubase (i.e. it integrates audio and midi). The sequencer and arp on the Motif are, in general, *much* more capable than what you'd get with the S90/A4000 combo. And you CAN load third party sounds into the Motif, just as with the A4000. On the other hand, there are some real advantages of the S90/A4000 combo, too. Examples include the excellent piano in the S90 (not in the Motif classic), and an arguably more powerful synth engine in the A4000 (compared to the Motif).

 

lazy - You said that the A4000/A5000 "isn't very well suited for sound designing." You're kidding, right?! While the other top samplers DO contain some sampling features that the A4000/A5000 don't, the A4000/A5000 have almost inarguably the best synthesis engine of the lot. I'd much rather create sounds on the A4000/A5000 than any other sampler. I was glad to hear you mention the filters and effects. Those are two other reasons that I like my A5000 so much. I don't think any other sampler has better filters.

 

BTW, skip buying the A4000. Get the A5000. It has double the polyphony, twice the effects, and it's only a few bucks more. It looks a little nicer, too!

[Carlito]

Deadman9. Are you sure you got to the expansion sounds of that particular XV-88? The piano sound on the expansion board is great for classical IMO.

 

Any way, those two keyboards are excelent.Just spend more time playing them before you buy.

[Michelle ggurl]

I was recently shopping for a new 'board, looking for quality sounds along the vein of what you are seeking. I tried both the XV and S90 as well as others so I thought I'd weigh in here.

 

I really liked the S90 much better ... the Roland sounds always have a somewhat "hyped" quality to me, rather than realistic -- meaning, it sounds like Roland tries to epitomize what a certain instrument is supposed to sound and perform like, and then they tweak their samples accordingly. This could be good or bad depending on your performance needs. And like someone else mentioned, the Roland sounds are old ... if you like them, of course this isn't an issue, but it could account for the hyped nature of the sounds, I don't know.

 

Funny, I just sold a Roland U20 and even tho the sounds are thinner on that than the JV and XV synths, I swear the newer boards have some of the same sounds. I know the cheaper Roland RS series has some of the same sounds. I couldn't believe it when I scrolled thru the menus on the RS-9 ... "like deja vu all over again" ...

 

But I digress. Sorry, pre-coffee ramblings this AM. If you were concerned about what the pianos sound like sans band I would lean toward the S90. Also the S90 may have an addition pedal-performance feature as well, if I recall correctly ... or do just the new P series pianos have those (anyone)? I think this feature, for whatever boards have it, allow the player to play a sustain pedal pressed halfway down, and the controller senses this, or something.

 

For the record, I ended up with a PC2, but weight and price were the deciding factors between the S90 and Kurzweil (got a great deal on a used one, and the semiweighted action was good enough for me to make the tradeoff for 10lbs lighter to heft around 1 to 2x a week. The PC2x is a full, weighted-action version). But I really think the 2 boards (Yamaha and Kurzweil), IMHO, are on par with each other soundwise -- with different strengths to be sure, but each has an overall excellent soundset.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

 

gg