Workstation 73 or 81 key, lots of piano and organs needed, sampling not important

[RopingTennis]

Hello, I'm new to this site and new to workstations in general. Ive only played piano for about 6 years and have never used synths. I enjoy playing things like Coldplay, but also listen to a lot of electro-house stuff. I want something that can replicate piano and organs well as that is what I will be using it for primarily, but I also want to be able to dabble in other things, I don't even know what that would be as of now I would like to able to hook it up to my mac, there will be no playing a band involved so thats not a concern.

From what I've seen so far is that the m50 is a good choice, but I definitely want the larger keyboard which raises the price of the m50 considerably. So I guess my question is are there some other good options out there that do the natural sounds really well and have 73 or 81 keys and are somewhere in the sub $1000 price range?

Sorry for the vagueness of this post, I'm open to any opinions and am primarily in an information gathering stage right now. Thanks in advance!

 

[aellison62]

Workstation needed

IMO, the Korg M50 is a great choice but look at Yamaha's products as well. You could find a used 73 or 88 key Motif (original, not ES or XS) for around $1000.

Also the Korg Triton series (LE, Pro, extreme) did a fine job and was #1 selling workstation for quite a while.

88 keys, realistic sounds, sampling = considerable $, so look at all options first.

 

[Skipp]

First you have to notice one thing that plays a major role in your request.

Pianos and organs can't be played well on a single keyboard.
Why? Cause you want hammer weighted keys for the piano, and non-weighted for the organs.

There's a compromis in waterfall action keys found on Nord and Kurzweil keyboards but
those cost waaaaaaay much then you have currently to spend.

Korg has crappy pianos - even today (I own the M3 so i should know), but has very good
organs, pads, strings, e.pianos etc. Yamaha on the other hand (I own a CP33 stage piano aswell),
has great pianos (do not count the PSR series into this), decent organs, good e.pianos, but not so rich pads as Korg.

Either you will need to raise more money or buy some used synth. Once again,
have in mind the key-action. Synth keys won't let you play the piano as expressive as
full hammer keys would.

Same goes for hammer weighted keys and organs. It's almost impossible to play organs
on weighted keys.

Since you said you won't be playing live... you could go for a 73key workstation (used Yamaha motif or Korg Triton)
and buy a MIDI controler with 88 weighted keys. But i think you'll need some extra cash for that

 

[RopingTennis]

Thanks for your input guys. Thats a good point about the keys, hadn't thought of that, very important piece of info. I'm also looking into the motifs now, and i think the triton series is going to be out of my price range.

Does the m50 have weighted keys, how about the motifs? I've looked on a couple websites and one said the m50 did and one didnt specify, I think the 88 key m50 does and the others dont? correct me if im wrong.

 

[RopingTennis]

i also looked at the nord wave and that is just to sick, I wish i had the money...

 

[Skipp]

i also looked at the nord wave and that is just to sick, I wish i had the money...

That's an analog synth - or at least it's trying to be.
Are you into analog synths or something that will give you a wide range of sounds?

Cause the Wave won't give you that

 

[RopingTennis]

no i definitely would never buy an analog synth, i just think theyre pretty sick haha. If I had the money the electro 3 looks badass.

Are you familiar with Justice, Fake Blood and Boys Noize? I would like to be able to try to reproduce their kind of sounds with whatever kind of workstation I do decide to go with. I'm pretty sure they use analog, so I guess my question is can you produce analog sounds with the products I am looking at? Thanks in advance again

 

[Skipp]

Well, since you're limited with the price tag... I'd go for the triton classic.
Even though it's 10 years old - it's still a very powerful keyboard with tons of options,
good overall sounds and bajillion user sounds all over the interwebs.

here's a short demo

Don't bother with the LE version though