Student seeking advice

[sethgreenesamuel]

I'm a very inexperienced keyboard user.

 

I've been using a Yamaha PSR-540 for a while now, and have found its large assortment of orchestral, synth, percussion, bass/guitar and organ/keyboard sounds very handy and vaguely realistic from time to time. I've been using the keyboard in conjunction with Sibelius -- a music notation program -- that plays back what I've written through the keyboard via MIDI.

 

Long story short, I'm looking for a keyboard to replace my PSR-540.

 

I'd love a keyboard with higher quality orchestral, synth, percussion, bass/guitar and organ/keyboard sounds.

 

I'd like to stay under $700 if possible.

 

I was eyeing the new Roland Juno-D, which is right about in my price range, but that keyboard's not been embraced around here as far as I can tell, though maybe only because of the popularity of its Juno ancestors. (?)

 

Any recommendations?

 

Thank you,

Seth

ssamuel@oberlin.edu

[Reverend Rhythm]

You can use a plug-in (Kontakt) for your sounds: http://www.sibelius.com/products/kontakt_player/

 

I think you would be very happy with the quality of these sounds. Have you looked into this.

[Yoozer]

Originally posted by sethgreenesamuel:

[QB]

I was eyeing the new Roland Juno-D, which is right about in my price range, but that keyboard's not been embraced around here as far as I can tell, though maybe only because of the popularity of its Juno ancestors. (?)

The Juno is an exact duplicate of the RS-50 with slightly different cosmetic features. Reason it's looked down upon is not because of the features it offers - as a matter of fact, for the price it's a really nice board - but more because the name is "abused" for a synthesizer whose ancestor has achieved quite a legendary status. In other words, had Roland named the Juno-D the ZL-5 or something, you'd hear nobody about it.

 

Since Roland hasn't made any virtual analog synth since the JP-8000 (and seeing that it has been quite a popular machine even though it had a number of shortcomings) it could be that a lot of folks simply expected the new Juno to be a virtual analog - only bigger and better - too.

 

What you'll be missing is the sequencer / accompaniment rhythm part of the PSR (in a way, the Juno-D makes up for that). Other suggestions would be the slightly older Yamaha S30 or the XP30, both secondhans. Anyway, if the Juno-D's not in a store near you yet, you can check the RS-50, too.

[sethgreenesamuel]

Originally posted by DKeenum:

You can use a plug-in (Kontakt) for your sounds: http://www.sibelius.com/products/kontakt_player/

 

I think you would be very happy with the quality of these sounds. Have you looked into this.

Thanks for the tip. I have the kontakt player already. I'm Looking for hardware right now -- softsynths gobble up my computer's processor power (Or whatever it is that makes computers run incredibly slow).

[sethgreenesamuel]

Originally posted by DKeenum:

You can use a plug-in (Kontakt) for your sounds: http://www.sibelius.com/products/kontakt_player/

 

I think you would be very happy with the quality of these sounds. Have you looked into this.

Thanks for the tip. I have the kontakt player already. I'm Looking for hardware right now -- softsynths gobble up my computer's processor power (Or whatever it is that makes computers run incredibly slow).