brianpiano wrote:Hoping someone might advise on a keyboard purchase. I can't seem to find one with these 4 qualities:
1. split keyboard function that allows me to play different organ and piano/rhodes parts at the same time
2. Transportable for gigs preferably 70+ keys (88 seems a bit long for some of the places I need to put it while going to gigs, but 61 is too few for what I need to play) and lightweight would be a bonus as well
3. Some sort of weighted action (I'd be happy with semi-weighted or similar)
4. Sounds include a good piano, organ, rhodes, string, and a horn sound (I don't really use any beyond that)
If anybody has any advice please let me know.
Thanks,
Brian
I was reading the other posts and I agree that the Yamaha Motif rack XS is clearly going to give you the most sounds for the money but has 1 design flaw.....a HUGE flaw......no way to store sounds you make without extra gear....The Yamaha MO6 / MO8 take a thumbdrive in the USB jack....and the keys are included instead of additional....but I think the Motif rack XS gives you 2670 samples in it and you can stack up to 8 with 128 note polyphony, where the MO6 / MO8 give you 1859 sounds with the abilty to stack up to 4 with 64 note polyphony...and The XS rack has no sequencer .....MO6 / MO8 have a 226,000 note sequencer....the sequencer has two modes.....PATTERN for making loops and SONG which works more like a tape recorder.....but data in SONG can be moved to PATTERN and visa versa.....oh....by the way....none of those have breath controller jacks.....but all can receive breath controller & aftertouch data from sources that provide them....but the MO6 / MO8 can use a foot controller that never needs batteries to do the same thing as either aftertouch or a breath controller....and the XS rack & MO6 / MO8 all have quick edit knobs......you can grab a sample or stack samples and instantly add reverb with the quick edit knobs and you have a completed sound instantly.....no keyboards I've ever used with samples are as easy and quick to make new sounds from the sample library....and the Motif rack XS only has 2 MIDI jacks.....one can be either out or thru but not both at once.....kind of a pain in the ass.....but with no USB jack or card reader slot to store your own creations, Yamaha has made a huge mistake.....the two previous Motif rack versions had the same problem....don't mistake the USB jack in the back as a storage option....it is only to connect to a computer editor which can store....but who wants to take a computer to gigs? it also lets you use the rack with Cubase and other programs as well.....The Roland Fantom XR rack has a slot which can be adapted for memory card storage and also has a nice sampler....but once again, no sequencer.....I have been considering getting an MO8 for gigs so I can leave my Motif ES at home....it is much lighter than an ES8 but I would lose the sampler & aftertouch and get cut from 128 note polyphony to 64......on my Motif 8 (1st generation Motif) I notice notes cutting out when I stack 4 sounds.....I hear the MO6 / MO8 don't have this problem.....probably better note allocation.....another thing....I bought my Motif ES6 on ebay for $1000.....but even though I have never gotten stung on ebay, it is always possible.....ALWAYS pay with Visa.....they cover anything that would go wrong & re-emburse you.....and go with a seller with as may transactions as possible....the more, the better....this link gives you free owners manuals for any Yamaha keyboards....a nice way to compare....
http://www.yamaha.co.jp/manual/english/index.php
and go on youtube and listen to them....use headphones to really hear them
I forgot....when you go to download manuals, right click on the icon and select SAVE TARGET AS and select a folder where you want it to go....most manuals aren't named very well so if you rename them, you can keep track of them better