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Tips on Buying a
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Check on the status of the Newest Boards Coming Soon The New Fantom G Korg M3 61-Key Synth Workstation Sampler
Tweak: This is a spinoff of Korg's ultimate synth, the oasys. In addition to the touch screen, the M3 features second generation Karma technology
Tweak: Coming soon!
Tweak: A synth is this caliber is for those who need to be on the cutting edge of sound creation. Roland is a leader in warping sounds in pitch and time. This is the second generation V-synth.
Tweak: Inexpensive and light, the MM6 has a hot sound. Good for hip hop and dance music.
Tweak: After you play the MM6 you might bemoan the use of lightweight plastics. Then go play a lil Phatty. Superior knobs and feel, indestructible like a tank. One voice analog synthesis--old school style.
Tweak: The Motif ES is history; long live the XS. Largest waveform rom of any of the synths of this class; largest sample memory too (up to 1GB). Connects by ethernet to your computer. 6,000 arpeggios. 88 key version has a built in mLAN firewire interface.Other Recent Boards
Roland VP550 Tweak's Picks from zZound's Keyboard Department See the Current Price List See the Comparison Chart of Multi Timbral Synths
Yamaha MO6 61-Key
Music Production Synthesizer
Roland Juno-G 61-Key
Synthesizer Keyboard
Korg TR76 76-Key
Synth Workstation
Roland VP550 49-Key
Vocal Designer Keyboard
Yamaha S90ES 88-Key
Weighted Action Synthesizer
Korg Triton Extreme 88-Key Synth Workstation
Roland FantomX7 76-Key Sampling Workstation
Alesis FUSION6HD
61-Key Semi-Weighted Keyboard
Yamaha S08 88-Key Programmable
Synthesizer Bang for the Buck Multitimbral Boards
Roland Juno D 61-Note
Keyboard Synthesizer
Kurzweil KME61 61-Key Keyboard
Alesis QS6.2 61-Key
Synthesizer Keyboard Specialty Analog-Style Synths
Alesis
ION 49-Key 8-Voice Analog Modeling Synth
Korg MicroKorg
Analog Modeled Synth/Vocoder
Clavia Nord Lead NL2X
49-Key Virtual Analog Keyboard
Clavia Nord Lead
3 Keyboard |
Fortunately, there is such a wealth of keyboards, new and used, available now you don't have to break the bank to get something that will fit a working person's budget. Yet at the same time you should not settle for anything here. A keyboard is something that ideally, grows with you as your primary axe, much as guitarists develop a long lasting relationship with their instruments.
The Juno G is a low cost alternative to hi-priced workstations. Records audio as well as MIDI.
You should take time to find one you really
like. One that sends a signal to the brain, when you play, that says "ahh
cool".
Yet, simply buying a top of the line Kurzweil, Fantom or Triton is not necessarily
going to turn out great music. There are so many ways to get quality sounds
in the mix these days, with soft synths and soft samplers, having a great sounding
keyboard is not an absolute requirement.
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Browse Keyboard by Size in Tweak's Keyboard Showroom |
What is a requirement is that the keyboard
actually works. You press a key and a note on event is sent over MIDI.
Be careful buying a used keyboard. Test it. Make sure all the keys work
evenly. Lots of old synths with have a note or two that is temperamental.
If one note is significant louder/softer than all the rest, pass on it. Beware
of buying synths in online auctions. Old synths do fail. Their internal
rom batteries die, displays flicker and go out or just get dim. Unlike wines
and vintage guitars and violins, synths do not get better with age. Like your
car, they are only more likely to fail with age.
"Synth action" keyboards come in 88, 76, 61,
49, 37, 25, even less. Here's the page on
small controller keyboards. If you're strictly doing stuff that just requires a small
range, like samples, or need a small footprint cause your on the road, you might
be able to get away with a small controller. (Lots of pros with massive rigs keep
a little mini keyboard next to their computers so they can quickly send off a
ditty or two.) But assuming you only want one keyboard, and you want
to do typical melodic stuff, pads, leads, and sometimes pretend like you are playing
a piano, then you need at least 49 and larger boards are definitely better.
Classical composers and hard core tweak heads
will agree: 88 is best. It maximizes the number of notes you can have on
a channel and allows you to make more useful zoned presets. At 76 keys the classical
dudes/dudettes start shaking their heads, wondering how in the heck they can do Penderecki on 76 keys <smile>. But your your typical hardcore tweak is still enthused
with the great feeling 76 key boards from Kurzweil, Yamaha, Korg...in fact, its
hard to find a good feeling reasonably priced 88 key with synth action, they all
seem to have piano action. So, if you want quality synth action, look at
the 76-er's, the QS 7.2 being low cost and Kurzweil being on the higher end with
a very sexy synthy feel, touch strips (great feature!), onboard arpeggiators,
etc.
Korg TR 61-Key Synth Worksation
Yamaha MO6 61-Key Music Production Synthesizer
61 keys are good for those if money is
an issue (and it usually is for 95% of us involved in the MIDI enterprise), or
for those putting their money on the sound, like in with a Triton, Motif or Fantom,
or for your second synth if you are expanding. And they are not as big,
and that is sometimes good if you have lots of items competing for your prime
studio real estate. Using the transpose function on your sequencer you can
always get around the few problems you will encounter by your choice just by setting
the midi thru to plus or minus 12 semitones. With 49 keys you ARE going
to run out of notes playing solos and bass, and it can be frustrating, especially
during an impassioned recording and you run out of keys! I know. I
started with a 48 key Six-Trak. But with creative pre-thinking of what you
intend to play, even these can work well.
If you are planning to do sound development you
should bite the bullet and get the full 88. Most pros use 88 keys, and if
you want to sell sounds to them you better know what's going on in the nether
regions of your keymaps. Boards for live use also benefit by 88/76 keys,
especially if you are called on to comp with a bass part as you pound the keys.
This refers to the feel of the board.
There are many boards that feature 88 key "piano" action. They do
cost more. This does not mean they are better for you. If you are
a trained pianist, you may want to go this route, but if you are a guitarist building
a midi studio,
you're going to have a train a whole new set of finger muscles.
With a synth action keyboard there are some advantages. You can usually
play faster and easier. Much like the difference between an acoustic
guitar and an electric axe. Doing synthy and stuttery techno stuff and super-fast
drum flams, the fast light snap of synth action is better suited. But of
course, if you have dreams of playing Beethoven's 5th, better go for the weighted
keyboard as the impassioned percussive strike of power just does not feel that
passionate on wispy plastic keys. One cool thing if you do get a board with
piano action is that, even if you can't play piano now, after you find your way
around and your hands get used to it, you will be able to walk up to any piano
and play.
If you like to work with the keyboard
without
a computer, or take it on gigs, then having a sequencer is important.
If you are running a computer sequencer you really don't need another.
It might come in handy on occasion as a scratch pad, but most of the time it will
go unused. The arpeggiator, which strings notes you are momentarily
holding down into a cadence, is a different story and is a welcome addition in
any board. Those that are particularly useful for sequencer applications
are arpeggiators that will sync to the MIDI clock coming from the sequencer.
You press record, switch on the arpeggiator, slam down a chord and, viola, instant
sequence. Especially for techno, trance, space music, ambient, the arpeggiator
will get used and you will be glad you have one. But if you don't have one,
don't sweat. Sequencers like Logic, Sonar, and Cubase have their own software
arpeggiators that can be set up in a few seconds. I prefer to write my own
arpeggios on sequencer grids.
Velocity, which makes the sound more pronounced (louder) the harder you play, is absolutely critical. You have to have it. Even if you are just buying a tiny little board just to trigger notes, make sure it is velocity sensitive.
Aftertouch (also called pressure sensitivity or channel pressure) is a controller that is activated when you hold the keys down a press them into the keybed. Often the effect is subtle, and is used mainly on long sustaining sounds like synth pads and strings and to add a nice touch to leads. It does very little for drums or piano like sounds. One can get by without it, however you will be missing one of the more expressive ways to control a synth. I wouldn't work without it, but that is me. Aftertouch nearly always puts you in a higher price bracket. If this is your first synth, don't let the lack of it prevent you from proceeding. You can get the same sound that aftertouch provides by using the mod wheel.
Velocity is usually routed to loudness and timbre. Aftertouch may be routed to volume, timbre, vibrato, FX, depending on the patch. Many composers turn off aftertouch using sequencers because they generate a lot of events and can clog the midi bandwidth. In the early days, sequencers were limited to a few thousand events and you had to turn it off. Nowadays, its usually not a problem to leave it on all the time.
A workstation is a marketing term for keyboards that "do everything". This typically includes sequencing, sampling, effects, and mixing, though recently workstations are adding the ability to record audio tracks. Having on board sampling in you main keyboard is always nice, but isn't always necessary. You can always run one of a great variety of software samplers on your computer, such as Kontakt, Intakt, Gigasampler, SampleTank, or a real outboard sampler. You will note that once sampling is added to a keyboard the price goes up somewhat.
Some of the older "workstations" with synths and sampling options are much harder to use than a synth and a software sampler. By older I am referring to the Yamaha EX series and others of the 90's but also the original Tritons. The sampler in these "combo" boards may be compromised by slow SCSI interfaces (which may require that you add hard to find cd roms players and hard drives) and simplistic editing features. SCSI is the "old way" we connected samplers to computers. Beware of what you are getting into.
But modern workstations are making a turn around. I date the modern era of workstations to have started with the Fantom S, Triton Extreme and Motif ES. The Triton is being replaced by the new Korg M3, The Motif is now on model XS and the Fantom is now at model X, soon to be G. The manufacturers have realized that ease of use is important and we now have keyboard workstations that have great samplers onboard. The Fantom X series is really great here and super easy for one-shot samples. But not so easy for building new complex instruments out of raw samples. Being able to port samples to and from a PC, using USB and memory cards is a relatively new thing here, and its great. Read specs carefully. Never assume a workstation has a sample transfer feature unless they spell it out. The older ones simply don't have the feature while the newer once may want you to add an optional card.
My studied opinion is that if you are serious about sampling, do it on a computer then and get a workstation that you can port your very best, one shot hits and ambient pads that you use in lots of songs. Keep your string sections and pianos in the domain of the soft sampler.
The
Roland VP550 is a specialty synth based on Vocal modeling
The more knobs the merrier. Especially if these transmit midi continuous controller messages. Make sure you check before you buy because on an old board they might not. The bare necessities here are a functioning pitch wheel and mod wheel. Avoid buying a keyboard that doesn't have these. Yes, avoid those 'digital pianos' that leave these off. You need them to make electronic music. Ok there are always workarounds to almost any MIDI data routing problem so if you already have a wheel-less midi digital piano, don't sweat. Just don't buy one if you haven't already. Ideally, your keyboard will have some controllers too--either knobs or sliders that send events out the midi port. These become very useful as you find your way around the midi universe and you can use them to sweep filters and fade FX, not only on you keyboard's sound engine but in your sequencer as well where it can effect anything in your midi system.
But do you
really
need 35 knobs and 16 faders on your keyboard to control your computer creations?
Keyboard controllers indeed are very popular and powerful controlling MIDI. Great
for trancey stuff. But otherwise, don't buy all the hype. Not everyone
needs them. I tweak lots of stuff in my compositions but rarely do I need
more than the 4 sliders and pitch and mod wheels on my QS8. You can usually
reassign whatever sliders you do have to do a task at hand. Synth programming,
believe it or not, is easier done with the mouse than it is with a controller.
It is best done when you have dedicated knobs and sliders on the synth, like on
a MiniMoog Voyager, Radias, or Virus KC or TI.
This is an important thing, and which you should get depends on the type of music you typically want to make. And also depends on what other sound sources you have. If you already have a virtual analog synth of quality, or a lot of "analog" software synths, you might want to get a bread and butter sample playback synth. If you don't want a multiple module studio and only want one keyboard and a computer and nothing else, then yes, you ought to get one loaded with options of different kinds of synthesis. Yamaha really shines in mixing synthesis types under one hood with its plugin cards for FM synthesis, analog, etc. The Triton too, is way up there thanks to its MOSS expansion board. The Alesis fusion also has different types of synthesis, at a really good price. But with the majority of synths you have to make choices. Do you want authentic analog modeling or clean sounding sample playback? Don't let all the "hip dudes" on the net color your thinking away from sample playback synths. If you want realism, plan to do orchestral sounding stuff, mainstream, pop, you need a convincing piano, string section, brass, and dry traps then you need a sample playback synth. The Roland Junos, Yamaha Mo, and Korg TR shine on the low end while the Motif, Triton and the Fantom and Kurzweil hold up the high end.
| Browse More stuff |
| Keyboards Under $200 |
Now if you are strictly doing dance, trance, D 'N B, techno, then yes, the analog modeling synth will do the things you want that a sample playback synth cannot touch. Nord, Novation, Moog, Access Virus and Waldorf on the high end and the Korg Radias and Alesis Ion in the middle with the Korg MS2000, Alesis Micron and MicroKorg towards the low end. On the highest end, perhaps, is the Alesis Andromeda.
This type keyboard is
not for covering all instruments' like brass, guitars, pianos,
organs, etc. These are the modern day equivalents of old analog synthesis,
which makes sounds by shaping a raw waveform with a filter and envelope. While
these modeling synths are "retro" in that they emulate the old beasts of the past,
they also dramatically extend them. The Old synths were mono; they had one voice and
grew to 6 or 8 voices before being replaced by PCM (sample playback) synths around 1989. Today's virtual
analogs have anywhere between 4 and 32 voices. Also, the new analogs have
effects built in that none of the old machines had. The result, real time
filtering controlling massive soundscapes. But of all of them, only the Andromeda
is truly an analog machine, the rest are computer models of analog synthesis.
Can you tell? Yep! But we are quickly becoming accustomed to the new
"analog" sound, and some, when we go back to out old analog synths, find them a
little untreated and dare I say, thin. ("Thin", BTW, is the absolute worst
curse word you can call an synth these days).
Go to the comparison chart
Rich's first keyboard was a MOOG Prodigy back in 1985. Rich currently uses a Fantom S88 as a main controller and has a large rack of synth modules, including a Triton Rack and two emu samplers.
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Cool Quote: "Music can, in a few moments, admit us through vast portals into avenues, courts and halls of infinite extent and variety. Music can suddenly raise up an entire structure and, by the device of modulation, lift it on to a podium, abruptly recess its facades and turn them bodily into the sunshine" John Newenham Summerson (b. 1904), British architect, author. |
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