ok so i play keyboard in a punk/grind band and all i have is a *Poop* casio keyboard that is obviously not suited for live shows. i am looking to by a good synth that can get a good retro 80's sound like nintendo games and cheesy sounding effects and such. I don't know really anything about synths so it needs to be something that isn't tooo insane to learn, but i still want a good quality keyboard. I looked at my local pawn shop and can get a Roland E-20 for $200. i don't know if thats a good price really and i can't find much info about it online. know anything about that keyboard? also i was thinking maybe a juno 60. also i would need to be able to switch from different sounds very quickly, is there some sort of pedal or anything for switching on the fly during live shows? ok enough rambling.
wrote: > ok so i play keyboard in a punk/grind band and all i have is a *Poop* > casio keyboard that is obviously not suited for live shows. i am > looking to by a good synth that can get a good retro 80's sound like > nintendo games and cheesy sounding effects and such. I don't know > really anything about synths so it needs to be something that isn't > tooo insane to learn, but i still want a good quality keyboard. I > looked at my local pawn shop and can get a Roland E-20 for $200. i > don't know if thats a good price really and i can't find much info > about it online. know anything about that keyboard? also i was thinking > maybe a juno 60. also i would need to be able to switch from different > sounds very quickly, is there some sort of pedal or anything for > switching on the fly during live shows? ok enough rambling. I'm not a person who knows a lot about synth's but I've seen lots of Roland keyboards as I'm addictied to their stage piano RD series and now I own their RD 700SX But for what I know the E 20 is a simple keyboard on which you can not edit a lot (that is to my knowledge) I would recommend a second hand JV keyboard and try to get an expansion board with some retro sounds. These keyboards have sound which can be easily edited and you can save them. The expansionboards for the JV series are also nice. The SR-JV80-04 includes synthesizer sounds from the Minimoog, Oberheim 2-Voice, Sequential Prophet 5, as well as most of the classic Roland synths. Maybe the budget have to adjusted but this way you do it only once. Otherwise there might be a change that you post another topic next year.
<> wrote > ok so i play keyboard in a punk/grind band and all i have is a *Poop* > casio keyboard that is obviously not suited for live shows. i am > looking to by a good synth that can get a good retro 80's sound like > nintendo games and cheesy sounding effects and such. I don't know > really anything about synths so it needs to be something that isn't > tooo insane to learn, but i still want a good quality keyboard. I > looked at my local pawn shop and can get a Roland E-20 for $200. i > don't know if thats a good price really and i can't find much info > about it online. know anything about that keyboard? also i was thinking > maybe a juno 60. also i would need to be able to switch from different > sounds very quickly, is there some sort of pedal or anything for > switching on the fly during live shows? ok enough rambling. > Good + giggable + cheezy 80s + $200? Your best bet is a Casio! CZ1000, CZ3000, CZ5000 or CZ-1 Under $200 from Ebay. I recon $200 is a lot for an E-20. If that's really what you want, you should manage to buy 2 off Ebay for that, and have change. If you're looking at Juno 60 budget, don't buy a Juno 60. You get get something newer, lighter, more versatile, less prone to problems, and less fragile. A Korg MS2000 would probably fit the bill nicely. If you're OK with the limited polyphony. There are other virtual analogs that will do what you want as well. You might want to look for multi-timbral and split keyboard so you can have 2-3 sounds mapped out and not need to change them.
well thanks for your help dudes, but i just stumbled across the deal of a lifetime that i just could'nt pass up. A Juno-106 for $200 and a yamaha psr-8000 for $300. These keyboards work great as they were both bought new from my friends grampa and he said he hardly played them. So I got both of them and so far the juno-106 is working out nicely to be my new stage keyboard.
Since most of those cheesy sounds are from FM synthesis, you'd want one capable of that. Im guessing however that if your into those sporatic, energetic type sounds, you may want to look into a TB-303 or any synth capable of emulating it (like the virus c, which is quite expensive, but definitly worth it, especially if you get the keyboard version which supports channel after touch and also emulates FM synthesis). Other than that, theres always the yamaha DX-7, or the roland jp8080, which I still have yet to get. Your best bet is to start with one of these, they have all the qualities and complexities of newer synths.
