My Church is buying a new keyboard

[allan_evett]

I agree, Ronnie. I've brought my Stage 3 in to play for church, but I'd also spent a fair amount of time programming layered and split mulit-patches - even have a Program called "Instant Hip Church". But I tend to agree with Mike Kent that the Stage 3 would likely be overkill for your church. One of his ideas was the Roland RD-2000, which could be a very good option. Plenty of world-class sounds - pianos, electric pianos, strings, pads, synths...and many useful combinations. Very easy to get around on for a new user.

 

I haven't spent any in-depth time on a PC4 (other than about 10 minutes on a pre-production model at Gearfest, a few years back), but it also looks very straightforward and full of great sounds and combinations. Since you already know the instrument well, I still think that gives the PC4 the edge among the choices.

[rickzjamm]

Get the RD-2000.

I'm the music director at my church playing eight to ten masses on the weekend and that number increases significantly when you add weddings, funerals, etc. We had a Boston Grand & I loved it but it went out of tune regularly with the workload so when the finance council agreed to get a digital board I got the Roland RD-2000 in a piano shell, not crazy expensive & the hammer action is good.

[uhoh7]

As probably everybody knows, the Motif, MOX, MOXF have been very widely used in church settings. Since this church had a MOX, my first choice for upgrade would be Motif XF, which should not be hard to find used, and obviously have great keyboards both hammer and synth.

 

If they were already familiar with the MOX...that is hard won knowledge.

 

Motif is a byword amoung church players. It sounds like a montage would be overkill, and a MODX has the same plastic feel as a MOX....well actually the 88 MODX is pretty good I guess, as would be a 88 MOFX. These are very light.

 

A motif XF 88 seems to go for around $2000. I think the PC4 is good on paper. However a visiting player is far more likely to be familiar with a Motif related product.

[Mr. Nightime]

I was off just a little with the soon to be semi retired board

 

It is an MOXF8

 

The feel is ok, but I've never liked the piano sound. In the situation it was in, it took too much EQ work to get ti sounding right. My MM8 has a betted piano sound In my opinion.

 

Plus, I always hated that you had to navigate around just to get to the main piano sound. Turn it on, and hit a note, and you started some pattern that was immediately annoying.

 

As far as visiting players, that is unlikely. The church is a good size, seating around 800 pre-covid, not including the people tuning in on Livestream, but the pool of players is very small. With the exception of the Music Minister, there are really only 2 of us that play, and I can only do it on the weekends that I don't have a gig. So it would primarily be Karen, the other keyboardist.

 

Again, I enjoy her playing, she just plays like someone that has never played in a club before.

 

And I'm afraid that the Nord will just be too much. Never had my hands on a Motif, so I'm not sure how that would be,

 

 

And having the PC4 already, I can say it is good on more than paper

[Mighty Motif Max]

I was off just a little with the soon to be semi retired board

 

It is an MOXF8

 

The feel is ok, but I've never liked the piano sound. In the situation it was in, it took too much EQ work to get ti sounding right. My MM8 has a betted piano sound In my opinion.

 

Plus, I always hated that you had to navigate around just to get to the main piano sound. Turn it on, and hit a note, and you started some pattern that was immediately annoying.

...

 

Ah, my favorite feature of the MOXF.

 

The way to get around that is to change the master program that is in slot 1. My Motif XF is very similar, and I end up doing all of my final set lists in Master Mode (referencing various voices, performances, and mixing setups) so I haven't had to deal with that for years, but every time I would go into a store and touch a MOXF...yep. "Everlasting Glory" I believe was the name of the electronic trance music arp that comes on by default.

 

You can always set up your favorite few sounds as the first 16 slots in Master Mode too. I'd probably use the S6 Grand in most live cases in a band context, and have the regular Full Concert Grand available as well. Have a few piano/pad layers, some strings, etc ready to go and one would never need to fish around for sounds in the situation you describe.

[Bif_]

Turn it on, and hit a note, and you started some pattern that was immediately annoying.

...

 

Ah, my favorite feature of the MOXF.

 

The way to get around that is to change the master program that is in slot 1. My Motif XF is very similar, and I end up doing all of my final set lists in Master Mode (referencing various voices, performances, and mixing setups) so I haven't had to deal with that for years, but every time I would go into a store and touch a MOXF...yep. "Everlasting Glory" I believe was the name of the electronic trance music arp that comes on by default.

 

You can always set up your favorite few sounds as the first 16 slots in Master Mode too. I'd probably use the S6 Grand in most live cases in a band context, and have the regular Full Concert Grand available as well. Have a few piano/pad layers, some strings, etc ready to go and one would never need to fish around for sounds in the situation you describe.

 

I'm using the Motif XS as my top board at church. I power up, then hit the 'Voice' button, then hit 'Category' button, then 'Favorites'. I've got about 30 sounds there that I can get to quickly, a tad cumbersome but it works. There are two other players that are competent using that setup and know to push the same buttons to get there.

[Bif_]

It is an MOXF8......Never had my hands on a Motif, so I'm not sure how that would be,

 

I own a MOXF6. The Motif XS or XF has a bigger screen but it's not any friendlier to navigate.

 

 

As far as visiting players, that is unlikely. The church is a good size, ....... but the pool of players is very small. .......there are really only 2 of us that play, and I can only do it on the weekends......So it would primarily be Karen, the other keyboardist.

 

I think this is the case in most churches, very few regular players and almost no visitors sitting in. I can't tell you the last time anybody 'visited' and sat in with the band. (FWIW, our church seats a around 2100, running around 1500 on a typical Sunday pre-covid, and still a limited pool of competent players to fill the band.)

 

 

 

Again, I enjoy her playing, she just plays like someone that has never played in a club before.

 

I've found that many of our players have never played in ANY band except in the church setting. I'm sure there's a lot you can teach her.

[Mr. Nightime]

Any visitors that come in would end up playing the Acoustic Grand. It is about a 7' built in the late 30s, and meticulously cared for.

 

A donation to the church

 

It is a Grotrian-Steinweg. The Steinweg portion of the name is Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry Steinway after his emigration to the US where he founded Steinway & Sons)