the KEYBOARD-GUITAR

[bgroscost]

I am looking for modern keyboard-guitars...you know what I am talking about, popular in the 80s. I saw Herbie Hancock use one a couple years ago with the Headhunters reunion band. Anyways, looking for a contemporary version of this, primarily as a controller. Anyone know of anything light and of good quality?

[Dasher]

Roland makes a lightweight strap-on controller. The keys feel like cheese, but it's actually pretty sturdy.

 

Dasher

[zeronyne]

I think the Roland AX-1 and AX-7 are the most recent. There have only been three strap on keyboards (that have some sort of control neck) that have actually had sounds in them: the Moog Liberation, the Roland SH101, and a little Yamaha consumer board (it was red). I don't count the ones that just happen to have strap buttons on them, such as the Gleeman Pentaphonic, the Korg Poly 800 and 707, etc.

 

Here's a very brief rundown of remote strap on controllers and some comments (I've owned or do own most of these):

 

SCI Prophet Remote - only works with Prophet 5 and 10. Pree MIDI

 

Korg RK100 - 41 keys, weighs a ton, no velocity.

 

Lync LN4 - Very powerful controller. Very light due to rack mount breakout box. Probably the best on ever. MIDI and power from a 4 pin XLR. Company out of business. John Lawry, previously of the band Petra, owns all the spare parts, and he ain't sharin'.

 

Oh, and Jonathan Cain had a problem with his...turns out his spandex pants caused the Lyunc to short out.

 

Lync LN1000 - Cut down version of the LN4...piece of crap.

 

Roland Axis - Not bad, but program changes use the keys. a bit uncomfortable to play.

 

Casio AZ1 - Cheap...Thomas Dolby's favorite. Falls apart if you look at it.

 

Yamaha KX-5 - Mini Keys. Chick Corea made this one popular.

 

Yamaha KX-1 - Full key version of the KX-5. Very rare..I have one, but I'd kill for a black one. Heavier than 2 Les Pauls.

 

Roland AX1 and AX1b - Highly recommended comes in Red and Black. I'd rather have two wheels instead of the pitch strip/mod trigger button combo, but it's OK.

 

Roland AX-7 - Current Product. White only. Same as AX1, but it adds a D-beam.

 

I'm sure I have missed a few, but you get the idea...

[Salyphus]

I believe the technical term is 'strap-on dork'

[marino]

Originally posted by zeronyne:

Casio AZ1 - Cheap...Thomas Dolby's favorite. Falls apart if you look at it.

My experience is different. I've had the AZ1 for a lifetime, and it still works. It never failed. Plus, its keyboard beats hand down every Roland (I've tried them all). I find the keys on all Roland strap-ons impossibly mushy and light.

The Casio also has a good MIDI implementation, three wheels, and good ergonomic balance. I've bought it after considering most others, except the Lync which is non-existent in Europe, and I've decided that I liked the AZ1 best. The keys offer resistance, and the aftertouch is very playable.

The Yamaha KX1 is nice too - but try to find one.

[zeronyne]

Originally posted by marino:

Originally posted by zeronyne:

Casio AZ1 - Cheap...Thomas Dolby's favorite. Falls apart if you look at it.

My experience is different. I've had the AZ1 for a lifetime, and it still works. It never failed. Plus, its keyboard beats hand down every Roland (I've tried them all). I find the keys on all Roland strap-ons impossibly mushy and light.

The Casio also has a good MIDI implementation, three wheels, and good ergonomic balance. I've bought it after considering most others, except the Lync which is non-existent in Europe, and I've decided that I liked the AZ1 best. The keys offer resistance, and the aftertouch is very playable.

The Yamaha KX1 is nice too - but try to find one.

My apologies, Marino. My judgement was, of course, anecdotal, but I should have said so. I've had two of them...one brand new and one from ebay. I got the one from ebay just for the parts and as a back up. Both of them are dead and gone now.

 

My favorite thing about the KX-1 is the breath controller, since none of these type of boards have aftertouch.

[elephantking]

I'm also very interested in these keyboards as they look incredibly funky. How do they sound for actual piano parts where sensitivity and good quality sounding piano/ electric piano is needed?

 

Can you attach them to a seperate sample box for the sounds you want? and can you use them with two hands on the keyboard or do you always have to be holding the neck to keep them on?

 

Thanx a lot

[Mark Zeger]

Originally posted by zeronyne:

Yamaha KX-5 - Mini Keys. Chick Corea made this one popular.

IIRC, Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam are seen using these in the Janet Jackson "Control" video, looking way too slick for words.

 

Oh, and Jonathan Cain had a problem with his...turns out his spandex pants caused the Lync to short out.

Stop it. I just spit coffee all over my computer keyboard.

[zeronyne]

Originally posted by elephantking:

I'm also very interested in these keyboards as they look incredibly funky. How do they sound for actual piano parts where sensitivity and good quality sounding piano/ electric piano is needed?

 

Can you attach them to a seperate sample box for the sounds you want? and can you use them with two hands on the keyboard or do you always have to be holding the neck to keep them on?

It's just a regular ol' MIDI controller so the sounds are a non-issue.

 

Velocity sensitivity IS an issue, since these keybeds aren't the most high quality (they are going for weight reduction over feel).

 

That said, the keybed on my KX-1 is as nice as any unweighted controller out there. Of course, it weighs a TON.

 

Piano is probably not the best thing to be playing on one of these dues to the limited number of keys, but more importantly, think of why you are strapping one of these things on. It's probably not to play a thoughtful solo piano rendition of Round Midnight.

 

You can play with two hands quite easily on the Rolands and the Lyncs...I think the Lync is the best for that purpose, since the neck doesn't jut out, but the key limitation is the main factor.

[zeronyne]

Originally posted by Mark Zeger:

Oh, and Jonathan Cain had a problem with his...turns out his spandex pants caused the Lync to short out.

Stop it. I just spit coffee all over my computer keyboard.

Oddly enough, I read about this problem he was having in Keyboard Magazine. He had a tech with a big "All Notes Off" button to fix his stuck notes. I would probably have switched to jeans instead, but that's just me.

[marino]

Originally posted by zeronyne:

My apologies, Marino. My judgement was, of course, anecdotal, but I should have said so. I've had two of them...one brand new and one from ebay. I got the one from ebay just for the parts and as a back up. Both of them are dead and gone now.

Well, if you have owned two, your judgement is more than anecdotal. On the other hand, I've used the AZ1 last year, and it still works perfectly.

I just wanted to add my perspective - no apologies needed.

My favorite thing about the KX-1 is the breath controller, since none of these type of boards have aftertouch.

You caught me here. I was swearing that the AZ1 *does* have aftertouch. Mine is in the storage room now, and I don't have the time to install it and check right now - but you surely got me puzzled.

[Frayo]

Keytars rock...

Besides they are very very useful, cause I tried to strap my DX-7 to me with duct tape one time....

 

well it failed miserably.

 

The Casio AZ-1 looks the coolest...Its got the "so 80s" look about it.

 

But they arent chick magnets...Believe me, Im only 17, but Ive tried...

[deadman9]

Go Here: http://www.vintagesynth.org/misc/perfkeys.shtml#az1

[Dasher]

Roland AX1 and AX1b - Highly recommended comes in Red and Black. I'd rather have two wheels instead of the pitch strip/mod trigger button combo, but it's OK.

I have to add I bought the AX1 partially because of the pitch strip. I love using a ribbono for vibrato control, rather than the mechanical LFO. OTOH, the rib in the middle hides a small 'dead zone', so rocking the finger over the area does not give a smooth vibrato, so it's still an issue. (Kurz 2500/2600s don't have that problem, but they weigh a TON!)

 

Dasher

[Jeff Irok]

Originally posted by Marino and Zeronyne:

My favorite thing about the KX-1 is the breath controller, since none of these type of boards have aftertouch.

You caught me here. I was swearing that the AZ1 *does* have aftertouch. Mine is in the storage room now, and I don't have the time to install it and check right now - but you surely got me puzzled.

The AZ-1 **DOES** have aftertouch.

 

I have one myself. Sadly, it's not as reliable as yours, Zeronyne. But I'm still holding out hope. I bought it 'sorta' new about/around 1987. It had been taken out a couple times to be tried out by others before purchased, but I was the first purchaser. It worked very nicely. I put it down for a couple years, however, and when I went back to it, it had this nasty note-sticking problem. http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/crying.gif Mu first inclination was that it was a bad cord, but I soon disproved that theory. I brought it to a repair guy who insisted he jammed on it for 1/2 hour and didn't have the problem. But he's also tried to fix a keyboard of mine, charged me $135, and I still had the same problem, so I don't have much confidence in his opinion. But there's no one else around here that I know of who even has a clue about electronic keyboards. It still has the probalem to this day. I think it may be the jack. I doubt it's the keyboard, though. But no other problems, however. ....Anwyay, I still have hopes one day that it'll be fixed, and I can once again enjoy being tethered to my keyboards instead of chained to them...

 

But I digress.

 

Yes, the AX-1 has aftertouch.

 

[zeronyne]

Now I think we're all confused.

 

Jeff, I think Marino is the one with the reliable AZ-1. The two I had were bad.

 

Secondly, You first say AZ-1, but then I think you mistyped in the last sentence.

 

If the AZ-1 has aftertouch, then that was another thing broken on the two of mine.

[Jeff Irok]

Originally posted by zeronyne:

Now I think we're all confused.

 

Jeff, I think Marino is the one with the reliable AZ-1. The two I had were bad.

 

Secondly, You first say AZ-1, but then I think you mistyped in the last sentence.

 

If the AZ-1 has aftertouch, then that was another thing broken on the two of mine.

Indeed, you're right. I mistyped. Sorry! I always referred to it as my 'axe' (even though Roland took the "AX" for their keyboard's Axis model). I meant AZ-1.

 

Anyway, about aftertouch. I'm dead certain. I never had much use for it back then, since I didn't have any other synths at the time that had it. So I don't know how responsive the aftertouch was. But I do remember hooking it up to a midi monitor on my Commodore 64, and watching the monitor go crazy every time I pressed a depressed key harder.

 

But don't take my memory at its word. (I know I wouldn't!) I'm home now (wasn't when I wrote the above comment) and I have all of my synth manuals about 7 feet away from me. So a little stroll over to the book case....I don't know how much they go into the aftertouch as there's not a whole lot about it, but on the second line on the Specifications page (page 28) it says "Keyboard: 41 keys (C~E). Initial/After Touch" Lessee if there's anything else....Ah! Page 13 under Basic Functions -

 

"(2) After Touch

 

"AFTER TOUCH data is transmitted when a note is initially played at a given touch strenth and then subsequently pressed harder...." yadda yadda yadda. Hopefully, this clears up the confusion I caused!

 

One of the things I like the most about the AZ-1 was its ability to transmit over 2 different channels simultaniously. At the time, only the Roland Axis could do that. (Actually, I think the Axis beat the AZ-1 by transmitting over 5 or so channels at the same time.)

 

But now, it also sticks notes over 2 channels simultaniously.

 

PS - I just looked at the Vintage Synth Explorer link that's above, and it also descibes the AZ-1 as having aftertouvh, along with the Roland Axis & the Yamaha KX-5.

 

Sorry, zeronyne! I guess you may have had that problem as well...