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Pls suggest a Good Keyboard/Synthesizer

Topic started by Jana (@ ihproxy.proxy.lucent.com) on Mon Aug 13 18:13:56 EDT 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I am looking for a Synthesizer-cum-keyboard with which I can reproduce IR-styled appregiation of vibes & bells, while I can play the modern ARR/HJ type of new sound. I have recently bought the Korg Karma, but I am not satisfied with its sound, especially the choir,strings and piano. With Korg, I could create lots of techno music, but not the sounds I am looking for. In fact, Yamaha's PSR-540 sounds much better in terms of richness of the sound.

I know some of the TFMers are good keyboard players and music composers and I am sure they would have bought some good keyboard. Please give me your suggestions.

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Responses:

• From: Aleem A. Jaleel (@ nc5.emirates.net.ae) on: Mon Aug 20 18:29:34 EDT 2001
  
  Technics KN2000 IS THE BEST K/B
  
  
• From: MS (@ ch-1317.che.sc.edu) on: Mon Aug 20 19:18:14 EDT 2001
  
  PSR 540 and 510 have good strings. But before you ask for suggestions u amy also want to reveal how much u ae willing to spend on it. U may then try to get the best for that price range.
  
  
• From: Swamiji (@ hqprxsrf02.autodesk.com) on: Mon Aug 20 21:23:59 EDT 2001
  
  You already have the Karma, which has the triton engine! What sounds are u looking for specifically? Choir and strings are absolultely cool in Triton BTW - sounds so rich on stage. Plus, it has amazing E.Piano sounds! Piano sounds sucks as u say. You may need an expansion board for that (I am not sure). In any case, it is a wonderful kb for the price you pay. You might probably need a good amp - and you will know it is WAY too good for a PSR!!
  If you were looking for sounds, you must have got the triton which has a built-in sampler. You couldve had any sound you could imagine. of course that comes with additional 700-800 bucks!! But hey, that is value for money!
  
  
• From: Jana (@ 192.11.222.120) on: Fri Aug 24 12:20:03 EDT 2001
  
  MS & Swamiji:
  Thanks for the suggestion. I already have PSR-540 and the only shortcomings on PSR-540 is that I cannot tweak the voice parameters and it does not have appregiator. I like my PSR-540, because of its richness of sound, especially all types of Piano, Strings, Bass and dulcimer.
  
  
  Swamiji:
  The feature of Karma is good and it has great modern drum samples, but the only hitch I think is the quality of the voice. I could not find a good flute, Pan Flute, while it has wide range of techno sounds. I am not using standard amplifier, but using my PC sub-woofer. To play some of the IR songs, I need wide range of flutes, bells and choir. I don't want to spend any money on Karma to buy extra ROM banks, as I already spent 1800/-, but at the same time, I would like to dispose Karma and buy some other gear for the same value with the feature I am looking for.. Have you used Korg N364 or Yamaha's EX-7? I know some of our Tamil MD's assistants use N364. But I could not test drive this in Samash as they don't have one. If you have used any of the above two, please give me your feedback. Thanks!
  
  
  Aleem: I will test-drive KN2K at the local Samash if they have one.. Thanks!
  
  
  
• From: Angeli (@ 213.11.117.254) on: Fri Aug 31 03:27:43 EDT 2001
  
  Jana: I was told by a friend of mine, who knows ARR that he has just purchased a Korg Karma... He also has a Triton and Trinity.... Looks like you have the best stuff.... Also, Karthik Raja uses some Yamaha stuff, I am not techie in this area, but I shall endevour to find out for you.... Happy music!
  
  
• From: Angeli (@ 213.11.117.254) on: Fri Aug 31 03:31:42 EDT 2001
  
  PS: Jana. Did the Karma cost you 1800 Rupees? That seems really cheap... Where did you get it in Chennai?
  
  
• From: UV (@ 138.88.78.10) on: Fri Aug 31 07:44:34 EDT 2001
  
  Angeli
  its $1800 (dollars) and not Rs 1800 please
  even a toy keyboard like casio costs you more around 1000rs
  Triton cost around $2000-2400 and korg around $1500plus
  
  
• From: UV (@ 138.88.78.10) on: Fri Aug 31 07:46:44 EDT 2001
  
  I dont know if you can get good synth in india and if at all you won't get anything for less than Rs.60,000.
  
  
• From: srikanth (@ 12.5.10.153) on:
  
  Just saw this thread.
  
  Intersting to read a Yamaha psr sounds better than Korg.
  
  
  As far as sounds good goes by my experience,
  for piano kind of sounds, Yamaha rules, they are the best. Right from DX7...they have mastered the piano sound. Triton or karma are way behind.
  
  For tones like flute,sax Korg does have very good flute sample and they are the best in Sax, but however I felt Roland has much better samples for flute tones than korg, since it adds more legato to the multisample. Kurzwell also competes here, but it is very expensive, we can get the same with couple of thousands less in korg or roland.
  
  Strings : imho Best is korg, triton kicks _ass however porteus modules also very good they are specilized modules for strings. (strings=violins, cellos etc)
  
  Brass: Once again korg infact the good old o5w or 01w had good brass tones, roland is also good.
  
  Percussion: Yamaha is good, Roland is much better, Korg is the best!....infact indian samples are better in Triton, however Roland is also very close. Alesis, Proteus are some of the other moudules you can give a shot at.
  
  So if you are serious about sounds you can get modules from different brands and mix and match them.
  
  finlly,
  One of the most important thing is the way you play, if this is handled properly, we can come with good stuff with a casio!.
  
  
  I dont agree with people who call a keyboard techno oriented etc, after all it is a tool, we have to use it properly to get the best, if properly used we can get anything we want. I can create a sound texture using triton for a hard core carnatic concert!...belive It is possible.
  
  Jana, I like to know your goal for getting a triton! or karma , what kind of music you are aiming at ?, I can give you more proper advice if interested!
  
  a Calculator looks simple to use when compared with a computer, which requires programing to just add 2 numbers, but anyday we all know computer is superior to a calcualator, they can do more if properly programed!
  
  
  
• From: UV (@ 134.113.201.69) on: Fri Aug 31 12:46:52 EDT 2001
  
  Sri Super !!
  
  
• From: Jana (@ 192.11.222.116) on: Wed Sep 5 17:15:15 EDT 2001
  
  Srikanth:
  
  Thanks for the suggestion. Great information. The reason why I was saying some of the voice sounds better in Yamaha PSR 540 is due to its built-in hi-fi speakers, whereas I have connected the Korg to the Sub-woofer. Yes, you are right, Karma's string, Sax and Brass sound good, but Flute does not sound great. I can't do sampling in Korg Karma (I should have bought a Trinity or Triton). IMHO, PSR 740 has few extra flutes those sound better. But again, pardon my ignorance may be I will have to tweak the param to get a better flute sound in Karma. Of course, as you said Korg's piano sounds plastic..
  
  My goal is to reproduce some of IR's old styled music, where he uses great flute piece, strings and bells. I am not a professional player, playing music is my obsessioned hobby.
  
  Angeli:
  
  Thanks for the info. Karma costed me 1800 dollars and not Rupees.
  
  
• From: Kitcha (@ 129.188.33.225) on: Wed Sep 5 18:21:55 EDT 2001
  
  Srikant: While you are in the 'advice' mood, direct some of it my way too...
  
  I'm planning to buy a Triton...I visited the sonicstate.com site and the user comments pretty much convinced me of its sound quality.
  What about drum programming? I'm an amateur at this, so don't mind the silly questions.
  Does the Triton have in-built drum loops which I can play in different tracks producing a "fresh sounding" rhythm loop? I remember having this software called "Hammer" which did just this and came up with some pretty cool patterns.
  If the Triton does this pretty well, then I'd have no doubts about buying it!
  
  
  
  
• From: Kitcha (@ 129.188.33.225) on: Wed Sep 5 18:30:11 EDT 2001
  
  Addendum:
  
  Alrite my budget is "upto 2500$".
  So do you suggest I buy a lesser priced keyboard like the Karma and with what remains buy a drum machine or something which would provide me with a myriad of pre-programmed loops?!
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.25.204) on: Wed Sep 5 19:07:23 EDT 2001
  
  Folks - u may wish to check out the deals at ebay.com too before u plan to buy a synthesizer. I remember having seen a PSR 540 in excellent condition for $305. U may get very good deals there.
  
  
• From: Krish (@ 209.110.182.92) on: Wed Sep 5 19:33:31 EDT 2001
  
  Flute in Triton is not at all bad... As Srikanth said, it's all in the way you play it. Appropriate use of Portamento and Pitch bend with a tinge of modulation will greatly enhance the quality of output particularly when playing flute. They have to be used APPROPRIATELY though. Yes, it is very tough to get the real quality otherwise.
  
  
• From: Swamiji (@ 198.102.112.201) on: Wed Sep 5 19:47:17 EDT 2001
  
  Kitcha:
  Sorry for jumping in.
  the Triton has RPPR(Realtime Pattern Play Record) and the arpeggiator. The arpeggiator is used to create/play your own drum loops (with a step-grid drum programming tool), while RPPR can trigger realtime phrases from the keyboard or to any external MIDI device. You won't need another drum machine.
  
  Jana: You can make the flute sound so much better if you create your own combi. The kind of flute used in IRs songs mostly have a different EQ setting compared to the one in triton. You can play around with routing IFX and see what you can get. In fact IR songs sound so much better with the Triton (IMO).
  
  
• From: Jana (@ 199.35.7.247) on: Wed Sep 5 21:17:32 EDT 2001
  
  Kitcha:
  
  If you have budget upto $2,500, Triton would be the best bet (IMO). While doing some test-drive on Korg Products, I have finalised on Triton, Karma and Trinity. But with my budget constraint I had to go for Karma (which I could get it for 1799.00), whereas Triton would cost around $2,000 and above. Triton is field-proven whereas Karma has to prove yet even though Karma has the same Triton engine inside. ( I found some of the voice sample produces static noise in Karma and they have released new OS for Karma which fixes bugs). Good Luck!
  
  Krish & Swamiji: Let me try tweaking those EQ, IFX route etc for the flute. Thanks for the tip!
  
  
• From: srikanth (@ 65.9.136.158) on: Wed Sep 5 22:41:26 EDT 2001
  
  Kitcha/Jana,
  
  in simple words, triton is a work station!....
  its got lot of features for professional musician.
  triton is monster!...keyboard.
  
  Jana, I get the idea for that you want to sequence old (ir) songs right away i think triton is a over Kill. You might not get the same tone out of the box, need to tweak a lot to get 80's sound where they had junos or dx kinds of keyboards. Sounds have changed lot since then.
  Triton uses AI2 while 80s are often FM kinds of keyboards.I like to know how good is your knowledge about synths. Do you plan to do new sounds ? etc etc.For example can you create your own sounds.? do you know the various parms of synths.
  
  If you want to just jam by selecting a tone number and beat number..triton is not for you.
  
  If you just want to sequence for stage shows, triton is a over kill.
  
  I just not discouraging you here. $2500 is a big deal for an amature to invest on a keyboard when you can do the same with lesser priced keyboards.
  Just think how drastically your quality of output will increase by using triton. Think lot before getting this monster in your room. You need to feed it properly else it will be a couch "urulai"
  :)
  
  also Jana if time permits, please check my forlorn track in http://www.mp3.com/jsri
  I have used triton flute!,
  
  
• From: Kitcha (@ 136.182.2.221) on: Thu Sep 6 11:51:52 EDT 2001
  
  Srikant: What you say makes sense. Also could you send me your e-mail id...I'd like to bombard with atleast a couple more e-mails about what my other options could be. TIA.
  
  MS: Is ebay reliable in general?
  
  

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