Harpsichord / Organ sound?

[looper7]

Hi guys, I need to get a keyboard which:
1) Is portable
2) Has a stand
2) Will make a good harpsichord and chamber organ sound (it's to use with a classical orchestra)
3) Is incredibly cheap (!)

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[leandrusi]

Hi guys, I need to get a keyboard which:
1) Is portable
2) Has a stand
2) Will make a good harpsichord and chamber organ sound (it's to use with a classical orchestra)
3) Is incredibly cheap (!)

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Since you didnt mentionet weighted action keys, i suggest you get a low price keyboard, the cheapest you find (regardless of the quality sound) and a decent module for the sounds. This way you save money on the instrument itself(the keyboard you will play on) and aim to have a nice sound.
For the cheap keyboard, may be a casio, wk 8000 perhaps (asumming you nedd all 88 keys), less keys will get yet less expensive.
Now picking the module is gona be more dificult, because is about the sound it´ll come out, and after all (yeah maybe a good feeling keyboard is nice but..) its ALL ABOUT HOW YOU SOUND. Look for second hand Kurzweil, Roland or Yamaha modules. Those are in my opinion, the best sounding keys, in that order.
Chek shops, newspaper or ebay, try listening to several, there are many demos available on the net. Do some search, Ill just trow you some models, to get you started: Roland jv800,jv1010(handy small size), D-50, Alesis nanopiano, Kurzweils and Yamaha´s module models I dont know very well wich are best for keys but im sure they are good. These are really low budgets (around $100-200)modules, if you can spend some more you may get modules with some really really good (perhaps even some real profesional) sound. Always look for modules dedicated to "keys" (pianos, harpsichords, organs,..) there are others that aim on pads, fx,winds,drums,and other stuff.
The best part is, with a decent module you can sound really really good with a low budget, but the bad part is you need an amplifier to get the module sounding (obviously this little boxes dont come with speakers...lol), but maybe you already have one, or someone in the orchestra, but most probably you will need it anyway so the orchestra doesnt totally cover you up.
In case you really want to avoid the use of a module and want the sound and the keyboard in one piece, chek the brands i mentioned and find the right model for you.
OK I hope I was helpful, and good luck! dont forget to write about it when you have tryed or buyed something! Bye bye!

 

[looper7]

Module?

Thanks! Firstly I think I do want weighted keys if it's not a big hike in price. Second, I don't really get what a module is (sorry if that's a really, really basic thing!!) ... Do you mean get a keyboard which is just a 'dummy' which will work through the module to the amp?

 

[leandrusi]

Thanks! Firstly I think I do want weighted keys if it's not a big hike in price. Second, I don't really get what a module is (sorry if that's a really, really basic thing!!) ... Do you mean get a keyboard which is just a 'dummy' which will work through the module to the amp?

Thats ok, your regular piano teacher often forget to tell you what a module is, among teaching you Bach, Mendehlson, Scriabin, Chopin, etc etc lol These kind of things we ignore very often, couse they are very specific to musicians. Here is some info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_module
Theyre just little boxes that can make sounds, you have to plug your keyboard to it (thru a midi cable) and amplify them. Some are as big as, say,a video casset player, while some others are about just 8 inches widht. These lasts will be more comfortable to you i think here are a couple http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html, http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/alesis_nanopiano.cfm , you can just lay them on top of the keyboard and play, otherwise you would have to get a rack (cant find a good pic on the net) just go to any music store and ask, racks are just boxes that contain the modules, often they have legs so that the module is at the right hight.
If someone recommends you one particular module here you got some pages to listen to the demos: http://www.boduns.starlink.ru/MUSIC/DEMO SYNTH/ , http://www.synthmania.com/.
Anyway, you got my suggestion just right! Get one "dummy" cheap kbrd and one not so cheap module, so itll sound great within a low budget.

 

[looper7]

Thanks!

Just to say that I'm fixed up now. I ended up getting a new Yamaha NP30, which is pretty good value I think (has 10 good quality basic sounds too). Then I got a Yamaha MU50 module from eBay. For now that will do me very nicely. If I get more into it I'll look at investing more money in a newer module, but right now this will do the business very nicely!

Thanks for your advice!

 

[PianoMan]

Thanks! Firstly I think I do want weighted keys...

If you're going to be playing harpsichord and organ... why do you want weighted keys? Harpsichords and organs don't have weighted keys, and this seems to be your priority...

 

[looper7]

Good point

Yes, good point about organs & harpsichords ... the trouble is I want to be able to do other stuff too for which I will need weighted keys ... trying to to have my cake and eat it! The NP30 seems fine for the job, as you can alter the responsiveness of the keys.