Yamaha DGX 660 or Roland Juno DS88

[Fred Coulter]

I dont see a ton of support or youtube stuff on the DS88 which is making me a little cautious of the long term support.

I could be wrong -- it's been known to happen -- but isn't the DS88 an 88 key version of another Roland synth? If so, all the YouTube videos for the other synth apply to the DS88, too.

The Kronos comes in three sizes, 61, 73 (or 76, I can't remember), and 88. But operationally the three are identical. There won't be separate "how to" videos for each of the three sizes. If I'm right about the DS88, then the real issue is that Roland confused the issue by not making the two sizes obviously the same name. But that's a marketing decision by someone in the corporate office.

 

[Fred Coulter]

In terms of a teacher, I will try to look into one as long as I can find one that fits and is within my budget. I do feel like a teacher would be more beneficial in terms of piano/keyboard playing than it was with guitar playing.

When looking for a teacher, make sure that they teach adults as well as children. (Children are the bread and butter for teachers, so there's no avoiding them.) Make sure they're open to you having a non-piano. Get one that isn't tied into the traditional curriculum for new students; with your background, you should already know far more theory than most of their students. You might want to get them to teach keyboard harmony as well as technique. (Keyboard harmony is described starting on page 32 of http://www.musicdevelopmentprogram....es/files/S44_TheorySyl_2016_ONLINE_MDP_V3.pdf. I'm not suggesting that you need to take the RCM's assessments, just that you probably want the teacher to cover that kind of material. Although taking the assessments isn't a bad thing.) If they also teach you about realizing music from fake books, it may serve you well, too.

A couple weeks ago, while working my way through some sight reading in a lesson, my teacher asked me to play a piece of popular music as an accompaniment. (What I would play if someone else were singing.) Even though I think my technique and reading needs lots of work, she seemed to think that I'd be able to accompany someone at a gig.

Remember that you're hiring the teacher. If the teacher doesn't meet your needs, find a different teacher. It's not the other way around.

 

[CowboyNQ]

Editing sounds isn't something the Yamaha is good at. In fact, I'm not sure that you can edit sounds on the 660.

HI Fred, here's my original quote in full context:

The Yamaha is more of a home digital piano, where the Roland is more of a synth/rompler style 'board. Yes you can edit multiple cool patches with the Yamaha and yes you can play some lovely piano on the Roland, but both will be designed to play to their respective strengths.

What I was suggesting is the Yamaha has (for a beginner) quite a few patches and some basic editing capability, although it's more editing of effects such as reverb, chorus etc. than things like LFO frequency, cutoff and ADSR. For a beginner this may be adequate, just as the more basic approach to piano patches on the Roland may be more than adequate compared to the Yamaha.

 

[happyrat1]

I'm surprised no one's asked the Original Poster what styles of music he normally plays and likes?

If his style is lounge music and jazz and latin and showtunes then the Yamaha would be more than adequate.

If his style is more rock or new wave or synthpop or progressive stuff then the Roland definitely has the edge.

What it boils down to is how important are synth sounds to his style?

Yamaha has a good rep for natural acoustic sounding instruments while Roland can handle both the acoustic stuff respectably as well as the more modern synth stuff.

As for the FA-08 for $1350. If it's a factory refurb with a full warranty it ain't a bad deal but really for the extra $350 plus tax all it's offering is a slightly larger screen, an onboard sequencer and a few hundred more sounds.

As for the lack of support for the Juno? It's a newer keyboard and the way it's been designed it doesn't need nearly as much support as all the bells and whistles on the FA-08 does.

But there is a full set of Youtube Tutorials on tap if you know where to look.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=juno+ds+tutorials

Get thru those and chances are you'll never need to open the manual

Gary

 

[SeaGtGruff]

That's correct, the DGX line doesn't include editing of the envelope generator parameters and filter parameters, just basic things like channel volume, channel panning, reverb depth, chorus depth, and (on models with DSP effects) DSP depth. Those other parameters are actually there and the DGX will respond to MIDI messages for changing them, but the only way to use them is via MIDI-- there's even a Yamaha app for the iPad that works great for that-- and the onboard Registrations that let you save your "customized" voice settings do not save those parameters.

 

[CowboyNQ]

isn't the DS88 an 88 key version of another Roland synth?

Yep. The DS61.

 

[Clean]

Just went to try out the Rolands again and something the guy at Guitar Center told me (which I'm usually skeptical of them anyways...) is that the DS88 can only record 1 bar of music at a time on its on, so not an entire song on its own. While the FA 08 can record for longer than 4-5 mins or a whole song. Is this true? He also said that I'd have to hook either into a USB audio recording interface in order to record on the computer (say in Reaper). Is this true as well? I cant just use a USB cord?

If that last bit about needing a USB audio interface is true, could I just use my Axe FX II to substitute for one and connect the keyboard through there and into my computer?

 

[Clean]

I'm surprised no one's asked the Original Poster what styles of music he normally plays and likes?

If his style is lounge music and jazz and latin and showtunes then the Yamaha would be more than adequate.

If his style is more rock or new wave or synthpop or progressive stuff then the Roland definitely has the edge.

What it boils down to is how important are synth sounds to his style?

Yamaha has a good rep for natural acoustic sounding instruments while Roland can handle both the acoustic stuff respectably as well as the more modern synth stuff.

As for the FA-08 for $1350. If it's a factory refurb with a full warranty it ain't a bad deal but really for the extra $350 plus tax all it's offering is a slightly larger screen, an onboard sequencer and a few hundred more sounds.

As for the lack of support for the Juno? It's a newer keyboard and the way it's been designed it doesn't need nearly as much support as all the bells and whistles on the FA-08 does.

But there is a full set of Youtube Tutorials on tap if you know where to look.

I want something that can be a jack of all trades in terms of sounds since I have a variety of tastes, but I would lean more heavily towards synth, new wave, and EDM stuff.

 

[happyrat1]

You don't need a USB Audio Interface to record.

The Pattern/Step Sequencer can record up to 8 measures and it's used to record a backing beat, not a song.

As for recording? You have many options.

Computer method all you need is a USB AB Printer Cable to connect to MIDI on your computer and for an audio connection to record as WAV or MP3 on your computer all you need is an adapter cable to connect from the stereo 1/4" TS outs to a 3.5 mm TRS stereo in on your computer's soundcard.

https://www.amazon.com/All-One-Printer-Cable-Cord/dp/B01MRBJ3JY/

https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-CMP-159-Stereo-Breakout-Cable/dp/B005HGM1D6/

The only reason for buying a separate audio USB interface is if your computer has an excessively noisy audio card.

Or another method is to buy a standalone SD Card Multitrack
Recorder like a Zoom or a Tascam.

Basically for your purposes, keeping the keys at home and recording at home you don't need to pay for a keyboard feature which your home computer can easily fulfil.

The way they kept the costs down was leaving out the sequencer and audio recorders which are generally speaking inferior on keyboards to begin with.

An inexpensive or freeware DAW program like Reaper or Cakewalk Music Creator will give you full access to all the recording feature's you'll ever need.

Gary

 

[Clean]

Whats the point of the 3.5 mm TRS if I'm recording on reaper and can save it as an MP3 on there for instance?

 

[happyrat1]

The USB Cable sends and receives MIDI data from your computer.

The Twin 1/4" TS to 3.5 mm TRS adapter cable sends stereo audio out from your keyboard to the computer's stereo Line Input on the sound card.

With a DAW program you can record either MIDI data for playback on a VSTi or on a MIDI keyboard OR you can record straight audio tracks in WAV format for conversion to MP3 OR you can record combinations of both simultaneously.

40 years ago a program like Cakewalk would have been the equivalent of a $5 Million recording studio.

Gary

 

[Fred Coulter]

40 years ago a program like Cakewalk would have been the equivalent of a $5 Million recording studio.

I'm not sure you could have replicated Cakewalk with any amount of money forty years ago. Technology changes very quickly. A couple years ago, Jerry Pournelle commented that his handheld computers in The Mote in God's Eye were similar to a normal smart phone. The Mote in God's Eye takes place over a thousand years in the future, but was written in 1974. It only took the real world forty years to make that thousand year jump.