I need help kind people! Just walked in the world of keyboards.

[LeanLeft]

Hey!

First of all, I read the buying guide from moderator, searched forums and some youtube, but still I need help, even more now. I never tought there were so many different keyboards.

Okay, to the point. I am a guitar player, looking for first keyboard. What do I want? I am not sure exactly. I like keys in Yes, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Santana, Led Zeppelin, Jazz. Organs are the main wish. I read that Korg has the best organ sounds? Antoher thing I like is to manipulate with pitch, I think thats a must. Budget = 600 €. I will use them just for personal use at home and jams with friends. Overall I prefer better sound quality and ability to manipulate with sound(pitch, envelope whatever thingy,...) and dont need no one-man-band functions(or do I?).

For better understanding my taste, here is video what I really like:

I still would like to play piano sound, so around 61 keys would be nice.

Short: good organ sound, around 61 keys, classic rock, Yes, <600€, personal use, pitch wheel.

Did I forget something? Please ask.

Thank you very much!

BTW, what would happen if I plugged keys to my guitar amp Roland Cube 30x? Would it be okay?

PS: sorry if my English bothers you, its not my primary language.

Edit: I was looking a bit in my local online stores, and kind of like KORG X5D at first sight. Any toughts about those keys? What about Roland E-09?

 

[The Y_man]

How about Casio XWP1?

http://www.keymusic.com/en/product/Casio-XWP1-Performance-Synthesizer

The Y-man

 

[happyrat1]

+1 for the XW-P1. It's a very versatile machine that is a virtual Swiss army knife of sound. I own one and love it. Good organ sounds with real drawbars as well as vintage synth sounds and PCM patches as well.

It also comes in well under your budget.

 

[LeanLeft]

Wow, it looks VERY interesting, thank you, I will look into it!

 

[happyrat1]

There's a massive review with a few tutorials over at Harmony Central on the XW-P1.

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2900825-Casio-XW-P1-Performance-Synthesizer

There's also a semi official blog on the XW's run by a Casio employee as well.

http://xwsynth.wordpress.com/

I think you'd be quite happy with one.

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, if you plug a keyboard into a guitar amp, it won't exactly play well together. Keyboards output much higher voltage levels along with having a much larger tonal range so you'd be cut off at lower frequencies in all likelihood.

I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but you stand a realistic chance of blowing out a guitar amp with a keyboard.

Better off getting a a proper keyboard amp or mixing console and PA or monitor setup.

 

[The Y_man]

BTW, if you plug a keyboard into a guitar amp, it won't exactly play well together. Keyboards output much higher voltage levels along with having a much larger tonal range so you'd be cut off at lower frequencies in all likelihood.

I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but you stand a realistic chance of blowing out a guitar amp with a keyboard.

Better off getting a a proper keyboard amp or mixing console and PA or monitor setup.

Actually the Cube 30X will be ok - has an AUX in (I have a 20X)

The Y-man

 

[LeanLeft]

So far I cant find better keys that Casio XW series. You guys nailed it. I am just curious about difference between P1 and G1 models. Can I plug regular Genius speakers and get full experience? Since I can play on headphones right? Is there anything else I should be looking for?

 

[happyrat1]

The G1 has no Hex Modes or Drawbar Organs, substituting instead a sampler. The G1 is more of a Deejay keyboard while the P1 is more of a performance mode keyboard.

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "Genius Speakers."

The P1 and the G1 both have 1/4" unbalanced line phone jack outputs intended for a professional mixing board or keyboard amp or studio monitors.

In a pinch though, you could hook up a set of 2.1 computer speakers with the right adapter plugs. You'd need a 3.5 mm stereo female to two mono 1/4" phone plug male Y adapter to make it work.

Something like this.

http://www.adorama.com/HOYMP434.html

Would allow you to plug this unit directly into a set of computer speakers if you want to keep things cheap.

As for headphones, any standard 1/4" stereo plug audiophile headphones would work fine.

 

[LeanLeft]

Forget about Genius, its a brand, no important here. Sorry.

Okay, then its obvious I want P1, not into Deejay stuff.

I was thinking about this option: http://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_kt108.htm
A cheap amp, thats is I suppose better, than speakers, I would throw 70€ more for this amp. Good idea?

 

[LeanLeft]

Oh happyrat, since you own one of them, I would like to know more about organ sounds, which is very importan for me. Can you achive Deep Purple, Santana like sounds? Raw, vintage, heavy organs.

 

[happyrat1]

As far as the Behringer amp goes, there's nothing wrong with the one you listed, though you might want to pick up a second one and feed each stereo channel to one.

As far as the organ goes, I'm not really qualified to say either way how suitable they are since I bought mine more for the synth and pad sounds and not so much the organs or hex modes. Still it has about 50 stock Organ programs as well as user banks where you can store your own tweaks and patches. I'd say if you were trying to emulate any particular organ voice from the 70's you'd be able to find something suitable in there and if not you could tweak one to sound exactly like what you need.

 

[LeanLeft]

Okay, this is what I wanted to hear. I am so excited^^

 

[happyrat1]

I'm happy for you. I have not been disappointed by mine. Of course the best way to test any keyboard is to go to a vendor and audition one live in store. Drop us a note with your first impressions when you finally make a decision.

Gary

 

[LeanLeft]

I just came home from music stores. All three stores had very few keyborads, so I couldnt try Casio XW-P1. BUT, I had a lot of fun for almost two hours on Roland Juno Di. I am very impressed, dont have a thing I dislike. As for Casio, there a many functions I dont need(beats, "Deejay" oriented things,..) Salesman who also plays synth and organs, told me that I cant get better keys for that amont of money. Well, I dont think he knows everything, it just made me more curious about this amazing Roland keys. What do you think? Its too bad I cant try Casio in person, damn.

 

[happyrat1]

What country are you in? Take a look at Casio's international website and try and find a dealer near you so you can take one for a test drive.

http://casio.com

 

[LeanLeft]

I live in Slovenia. I looked at CASIO Sales Distributors list and there is no Slovenia on the it. There is one catch I didnt mention. I havent found a single online store in Slovenia that sells Casio XW. If I want to buy XW, I will have to order it online from thomann.com, thats +25e for shippment I think. That sucks. I dont think I would like to buy an instrument I didnt tried it before buying it. Its too risky. I will call some other music stores and see if someone else got XW, that would be awesome.

 

[The Y_man]

The Di is not a bad machine - but here in Australia, it cost about $100 more than the Casio.

The Y-man

 

[LeanLeft]

Hey, I bought Roland Juno Di and I am super happy with it. I couldnt ask for more with 600€, its perfect.

 

[The Y_man]

Hey, I bought Roland Juno Di and I am super happy with it. I couldnt ask for more with 600€, its perfect.

Excellent - hope you can record some tracks for us to hear!

The Y-man