currently own a Korg SP-500 digital piano. I should have purchased the Korg Triton Studio 88 but did not have that much cash at the time. The Sp-500 has around 400 digital sample but some of them are pretty cheezy and will not cut through the sound of other instruments when played live. The organ samples in the SP500 are very weak. I wish to purchase a sound module/synth and am looking for some recommendations. I have an IBM Thinkpad PIII/700 laptop and I know there are a great number of software synths available. Should I look at the software option? The Korg Triton Studio sound module looks good but pricey. The Yamaha Motif sound generator looks good too and is priced better. Kurzweil? I just need something with a variety of good quality sounds primarily organ(Hammond B3/B4would be nice), pianos, strings and brass. I need to be able to program the instument changes to presets on my keyboard so I can trigger the changes during live performances. I play in a band. We do mainly 70's rock and blues. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Bruce Holm
> Should I look at the software option? The Korg Triton > Studio sound module looks good but pricey. The Yamaha Motif sound generator > looks good too and is priced better. Kurzweil? Well, there are many options. You would do well to research the software tone-wheel clone by Native Instruments called B4. (Info at http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?b4_us) This is an excellent clone, extremely faithful to the original B3. That said, you will need to carefully consider the way you'll use it. I would assume that your laptop, while still typically well built by IBM, would produce too much noise from standard audio outs to use as an instrument. Thus you'd probably like to consider the Audiophile USB (info at http://www.midiman.net/products/m-audio/audiophileusb.php). Also, at 700MHz, I'm not sure how well your system will handle it. If you went down the track of sound modules, you have a number of options. 1. Nord Electro Rack (http://www.clavia.se/nordelectro/) 2. Oberheim OB3^2 (that's "OB3 Squared", couldn't find URL, try http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/Oberheim/OB-3-Squared-01.html) 3. Roland VK-8M (http://www.rolandus.com/products/details.asp?catid=10&subcatid=42&prodid=VK %2D8M) [But since we're in a Kurzweil music group, I've saved the best to last... :-] 4. Kurzweil PC2R!!! You'll get a great piano sound (the kind of sound that's so-close-to-being-top-of-the-range that you almost can't tell), plus all the other PC2 sounds, and the best bit for you is probably the KB3 tonewheel simulation. http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/html/pc2r.html http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/html/kb3_mode.html Finally, there are some great Hammond keyboard clones out there. Korg CX-3, Roland VK-8 and VK-88 spring to mind. The best idea is to actually touch them and listen to them. So be nice to your nearest music store staff... HTH, just my 2%. Matt
