Looking for an "all-in-one" keyboard

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Thing is, I play jazz with one band, I make electronic music, and I play pop-rock classics on another band. I’m a very amateur player, but I’d like a keyboard that I can bring to rehearsals, and to a performance from time to time.

Ideally, it would have one good piano sound, one good organ emulation, some classic synth sounds, and some MIDI master keyboard capabilities.

I’ve had a Nord Electro for a while. The piano and organ sounds were awesome, the keybed was good, but the synth and MIDI part were very limited (for example, no mod wheel on a 1700€ keyboard).

I don’t need 50 piano/organ sounds, just a good one on each category. I don’t want to buy 2/3 keyboards, as I say, I’m not a professional player, and I’ll probably play different things with different people in a year or two, just to learn and play with people. Just an okish do-it-all keyboard I can carry around.

An obvious candidate is a Nord Stage, but it is very expensive. What would you recommend? Yamaha MODX? Roland VR-730?

#2

+1 for the MODX

The sample-based synth engine may not offer everything a dedicated virtual analog engine would, but IMO it more than makes up for it with a lot of flexibility and also being paired with one of the best hardware FM engines available. As far as piano and organ sounds, you’re sure to find ones you love, and there are some free official sound expansions available to download. It’s also shockingly light for carrying purposes!

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#3

How is the keybed of the MODX? I read that there’s a difference between the MODX8 and the smaller MODX7 and MODX6 versions.

#4

Korg Kronos?

#5

The modx6/7 Keybed feels very small and light to me, but the sounds/fm engine are amazing… you could ultimately pair it with a weighted midi controller for proper piano feel and use the light keys for synth sounds (it’s what I’d do if I had room)

#6

…second hand…two choices…nord stage ones…or timeless kurzweil stage ones…

…actually…THIS one does it ALL…in super convienient and convincing ways…sound and performancewise…all at once in realtime…famous pianos, famous organs, famous e pianos, string ensembles and virtual analog synthesis and fm of the finest…

#7

Just to expand on Tikoda’s answer, the 6/7 have the same lightweight keys and the 8 has weighted. As for quality and feel (of the 6), they’re not the best I’ve ever felt but much better than your typical cheap midi controller.

If I had to complain about the feel of anything on the MODX, it’d be the touchscreen since it’s resistive instead of capacitive and you have to turn off the animations and blur FX to make it feel more instant (again, IMO).

#8

Jupiter Xm seems perfect for your needs.

#9

  • Nord Stage 3 compact is a fantastic keyboard, but very expensive. If I were a professional player, I’d probably go with this. A second hand older model is a possibility. I’m not aware of the differences and limitations of the older versions.

  • Korg Kronos seems excellent too, but it’s also very expensive. I was thinking in a ~1500€ keyboard.

  • I don’t know anything about kurzweil keyboards, and can’t find this “stage one”.

  • Jupiter Xm seems fine soundwise, specially in the “classic synths” part, but it has mini-keys and only 37 of them, which is very limited for the jazz part.

So far, the MODX and an old Nord Stage seem the most appropriate.

#10

Korg Kross has a horrible interface. But there’s not a lot it can’t do. Downright awful keybed tho.

#11

Someone who has used a Nord Stage 1/2 and a MODX can give some insight on how they compare to each other?

#12

What about the montage6? There are a pair of second hand montage6 on my zone for 1500-1700€, which seems quite a steal compared to the 2600€ of a new one at Thomann.

#13

once you get used to using a good weighted keyboard, so many synths are ‘ruined’ :crying_cat_face:

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#14

Can’t comment about the MODX but I recently switched from a Kurzweil PC3 to a used Nord Stage 2 Compact for my cover band and home studio instrument. Compared to the PC3 - which is an amazing instrument for sure - the Stage 2 allows me to do 95% of the stuff I did with the PC3 for a fraction of the time and mental effort. It also weighs 6kg less for the same number and quality of keys, which is important to me since I haul the keyboard to rehearsals on my back.
The reason I went for the Stage compared to a workstation keyboard (like the MODX) is that it only has the features that I need in a band context. I don’t need a sequencer or thousands of instrument sounds (though the Nord sample library allows you to import any samples you want), just the essential keyboard sounds and a good synth engine with easy editing. To me that simplicity and focus was worth the extra money, even though I’m only an amateur/semi-pro player.

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#15

I recently got a MIDI keyboard from synthesizers.com and I’m putting a raspberry pi 4 inside. I wanted a very solid keyboard with metal and wood enclosure (no plastic) and a high-quality keybed, small enough to fit in a carryon luggage and enough space inside to do the mod I’m doing. I want realistic electric pianos, organs (Hammond and Vox mostly), as well as some pads, leads, bass, etc. For now I’m running fluidsynth in the raspberry pi, that uses soundfonts (a sample-based format), and it sounds great. If you don’t want to do all the diy work, a simpler solution would be the original synthesizers.com keyboard plus a Zynthian box.

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image3264×2448 1.92 MB

(Note I had to perform surgery on the rpi to remove the Ethernet port and 3 of the 4 USB ports, otherwise it wouldnt fit in a position to properly dissipate heat)

Small wood&metal MIDI keyboard
#16

MODX. Best bang for the buck.

#17

Oh hell yes. Funny though, the new Arturia Keystep 37 holds up pretty well.

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#18

This is my concern regarding keyboards like the MODX, which otherwise seems an excellent choice.

#19

My friend has a roland FA-08 for this kind of multi-use and he loves it. The weighted keys feel really good and it has a ton of sound options. He found a b stock deal for under $1400 I believe

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#20

What about the Roland A88? I guess you need built in sound, but an iPad and an audio audio interface might give a lot more options though also be more stuff to drag around.

I don’t have one, just curious.