Need Help to find the right devices, Thank you ;)

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Dear People,

I'm a Piano player and 2 years ago, I bought the Roland FA08 workstation to have fun with it. This is a great machine but did not quite fit what I wanted to use it for. I was frustrated not having the real "Ekeyboard" feeling, sound (with integrated speakers) and spontaneity. I could not really create and modify sounds myself either. Interface complicated to use. That's what I sold it and I am now trying to buy 2 devices that would fit my needs :

  1. One more classical EKeyboard with few basic features and midi, to basically just play Piano, good keys, good sound. (Thought about Yamaha P series or something similar..)
  2. One synthesizer that would allow me to have more freedom to create some sounds, modify them etc... (thought about Kingkorg or Korg Minilogue)... one that could also via midi be connected to the Ekeyboard.

Sequencing etc would be controlled with computer.

Do you know any other clever alternative that might fit my needs ? Does that make sense to buy 2 instead ?
Do I have a similar "freedom" in the process of creating sounds with a Kingkorg than with a Minilogue ?

Thank you very much for your help, I appreciate it ;)
Hope to hear from you soon !
Axel.
 

tjw

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For what it's worth...... I don't think you will go wrong with Yamaha and just good piano. I bought one with a lot of features besides piano, but have rarely used any of them. I don't know how to use them, for the large part. I also bought a Yamaha for stage, for the same reasons, good action, good sound. I also wanted internal speakers. I loved to "just sit down and play" like I did when I had an acoustic piano.

I think you're better off with soft synths. There's lots of control, and if you experiment and find something you like, you can save it. They also "upgrade" when you improve your computer. Your sequencer can drive these with midi channels just like they were in an outboard box.
 
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For what it's worth...... I don't think you will go wrong with Yamaha and just good piano. I bought one with a lot of features besides piano, but have rarely used any of them. I don't know how to use them, for the large part. I also bought a Yamaha for stage, for the same reasons, good action, good sound. I also wanted internal speakers. I loved to "just sit down and play" like I did when I had an acoustic piano.

I think you're better off with soft synths. There's lots of control, and if you experiment and find something you like, you can save it. They also "upgrade" when you improve your computer. Your sequencer can drive these with midi channels just like they were in an outboard box.

Hey man, thanks for your answer !

Yep that's right, the "just sit down and play" is for sure important and somehow what I am looking for as well. I found some good Stage Pianos as well, but most of them don't have internal speaker. Should I still consider it as an option and buy speakers separately maybe ?
I have no idea if that's a clever move or not especially.

Otherwise I'm still interested to invest in a synthesizer as well, to be able to have the instinctive relationship with the set up / buttons and so on, assuming I'm not good enough on the computer to have the patience to practice enough with softwares and so on...

Thank you !
Axel
 

SeaGtGruff

I meant to play that note!
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Internal speakers are nice if you're just going to be playing at home. There are some digital pianos that have internal speakers, if that's what you want.

Otherwise, a decent pair of studio monitors or other external speakers should do the trick.

What is your budget for a digital piano? There are some digital pianos that have synth capabilities, and some synths that have digital piano capabilities, but as far as I know they usually start at about $1000 and go up from there.
 

tjw

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If you are not going to move your piano from place to place, some external speakers will act just the same as internal ones. If I were going to take this approach, I'd get myself a used 1/3-octave equalizer on Ebay and put it in the line outputs of the piano.

I bought my studio piano because I really liked the sound Yamaha had crafted into it, with their well-designed speaker enclosures and speakers and amps chosen just for the piano.

The piano, played alone, sounds much better through it's internal speakers than through my studio monitors using the line-level outputs from the piano. I have had all very poor results trying to record my piano with microphones. I even have a pretty well-treated mixdown room that it sits in, I like my mix results in my room, I "know" it, I guess, The piano is too large to move it into my dead vocal booth.

I did a project few years ago on which I played string bass. I learned, through trying to mike the bass and get a good recording, what my problem was. The modes in my room were intractable. Some notes were 10 dB louder than others ! Yamaha's engineers did a great job on that speaker system, I'm not sure what the "magic" is. I think it's the power and equipment of experimentalism. They have the budget !!

I use a sampled piano sound for my product mixes, consequently. But I still love to play that piano, alone.

I completely understand your desire for the hardware synth. I like knobs, too :) I have no suggestions for you on that, though, I just don't have familiarity.
 
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Internal speakers are nice if you're just going to be playing at home. There are some digital pianos that have internal speakers, if that's what you want.

Otherwise, a decent pair of studio monitors or other external speakers should do the trick.

What is your budget for a digital piano? There are some digital pianos that have synth capabilities, and some synths that have digital piano capabilities, but as far as I know they usually start at about $1000 and go up from there.

Thanks for your answer !

Assuming I might need some good speakers at some point anyway, I think I might not stick too much to the importance of having internal speakers.

As I wrote in the intro, I had a Roland FA08 which I sold, and I'm looking for a decent Ekeyboard for just playing with a good feeling a few basic features (88 weighted keys), and next to it I would like to start working more on some sounds through a small poly synth.

My Budget is not the main problem, I saved quite a lot for it and I could spend up to 2'000 all together (Ekeyboard / Synth / Speakers).

I haven't find yet a really comfortable Ekeyboard to play with synth features yet and that's why I considered investing into two separate ones, even if it's slightly more expensive, but having proper roles and designs. (The idea to plug synth through midi to the Ekeyboard would be a good option too !). Another question that might show up : would I have advantages buying just box as synth (Audiothingies Micromansta for example), without keyboard, and plug it to the "main one"...

These are in my "favorites" yet :

EKey : Yamaha P series, Yamaha stage cp40, Korg SV1, Roland FP 60...

Synth : Behringer Deepmind 6, Waldorf Blofeld, Micromonsta...

Do other devices come to your mind ? Which combo/strategy would you yourself consider interesting ?

Thank you very much for your help ! I appreciate.

Cheers, Axel.
 

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