Electronic Keyboards

[zaneyard]

Would anyone happen to have any experience in using any? Brand recommendation?
Also, how much would I have to spend to get a decent product?
Any other insight is also welcome.


yeah i know it said electronic drumsets a second ago, dunno what i was doing there...
kinda am interested in drum sets as well, but more so in synthesizers and such

in a more broad sense, i'm looking at something music oriented that i can do mostly myself; and i've been getting into drum n bass, and electronic type musics.

i need to think before i post


also, i wonder if this sort of thing would require me to get a soundcard for my computer to record stuff

[copulatingduck]

u wish u were this cool

microKORG XL first impression （マイクロコルグXL 第一印象）

"i couldnt try vocoder. Because shameful in publics"

[zaneyard]

what's funny is that's the exact one i was looking at, price isn't horrible and seems to be favored on musicians friend

sorry i didn't search for "Dear Mission:" before making a post about synths

[Mission Difficult]

Depends on what kind of feel you want. Weighted, semi-weighted, non-weighted, hammer action, or waterfall keys. Most synths are going to be non or semi-weighted. I think a nice beginner synth would be the Alesis micron. Has decent presets and is easy enough to program even with it's limited controls. If you want more knobs the Ion is almost identical in terms of the engine though it runs for a few hundred more. The thing I like about the micron is that it's easy enough to get started on and has features that a more experienced user can have fun with. I'd say for a decent starter synth you're probably looking at $300. For a drum synth the Korg Electribe EMX-1 is pretty nifty and easy to use with the x0x style interface. You can cruise around Nova Musik to get an idea on pricing. They have pretty good customer service too.

As for an interface to record with, make sure you get something with a MIDI interface as well as audio so you can record MIDI sequences into whatever software you end up using. Ableton Live and Cubase are good places to start. Most interfaces come packaged with one or the other. Something like the Presonus Audiobox would be a good place to start. I tend to stay away from M-Audio.

If you're looking for an analog synth you're going to spend a lot more, but that would more likely be something you look into later on.

[zaneyard]

wow, thanks for all the info!
i do have a few questions though
how does the microkorg xl compare to the alesis micron
also, how does audacity work compared to the other softwares you mentioned, or is that another beast entirely?
is a drum synth the same thing as an electronic drum set, just different words?
ill definetly be doing some research when i get some free time tomorrow, thanks!

[Mission Difficult]

wow, thanks for all the info!
i do have a few questions though
how does the microkorg xl compare to the alesis micron
also, how does audacity work compared to the other softwares you mentioned, or is that another beast entirely?
is a drum synth the same thing as an electronic drum set, just different words?
ill definetly be doing some research when i get some free time tomorrow, thanks!

Sonically, I find the micron to be more interesting and flexible than the microkorg xl. It has 3 osc's per voice compared to the xl's 2, it does 8 multitimbral to the xl's 2, has way more program storage than the xl, and much better build quality. The micron also has an analog drift feature that emulates older analog oscillators tendency to slightly detune due to several variables (temperature etc...) which is a rare feature especially in lower end synths.

I haven't really used audacity so I can't say much about that. I know that you can enable vst plugin support in it, but that's about it. Cubase and ableton both do vst as well, which is a type of plugin/virtual instrument protocol. There's a vst editor for the micron, so if you have it hooked up via midi to your sequencer, you can edit all the parameters in your software. Not sure if there is something like that for the microkorg xl, but there probably is.

A drum synth is a typically a synthesizer designed to produce short percussive sounds such as those produced by drums. Most of them have a sequencer built in so you can create all your drum patterns internally. You could also hook them up to your software  sequencer via MIDI and have it play from there. Most electronic drum sets have the pads and whatnot that you hit attached to a little box that converts the triggers to MIDI and usually passes that internally to it's own drum synth/drum samples.

[zaneyard]

do people tend to use both drum machines and synthesizers  in the process of music creation?

[Mission Difficult]

do people tend to use both drum machines and synthesizers  in the process of music creation?

I guess it depends on what kind of music you're making. Technically drum machines are synthesizers. For electronic music most people tend to use both. It all depends on what you want to do.

[zaneyard]

[quote author=zaneyard link=topic=3926.msg125007#msg125007 date=1259876856]
do people tend to use both drum machines and synthesizers  in the process of music creation?

I guess it depends on what kind of music you're making. Technically drum machines are synthesizers. For electronic music most people tend to use both. It all depends on what you want to do.
[/quote]
thanks man, i'll be doing some research about the alesis micro

[zaneyard]

as far as brands for sound cards go? i would just assume creative?


my friend has a mixer, i'll have to check out what that has on it.

[Mission Difficult]

as far as brands for sound cards go? i would just assume creative?

What is your current sound situation? You might look into an external solution such as the Presonus Firebox or Audiobox (depending on if you have firewire or not), both of which come with cubase. You would plug the MIDI in and out into your synth and the audio out of the synth into it. Then the audio outs of  the interface to another input on your speakers or headphones.

[zaneyard]

i have an onboard sound, standard 6 port headphone style jacks
have usb, firewire, and esata

i was taking a look at an external soundcard like that, i just wasn't sure how good they worked over an internal one

[ribozyme]

I'm going to jump in here because I'm also in the market for a keyboard.

This is the one I've been looking at.  Thoughts, Mission?  Anything you would recommend over this?  Bear in mind I'm just looking for a good introduction to synths/MIDI and would like to stay under or around the $200 mark.

[Mission Difficult]

I'm going to jump in here because I'm also in the market for a keyboard.

This is the one I've been looking at.  Thoughts, Mission?  Anything you would recommend over this?  Bear in mind I'm just looking for a good introduction to synths/MIDI and would like to stay under or around the $200 mark.

That's just a controller, no sounds or synth engine in it. You could use it with a computer and virtual instruments or synth modules. If you're on a tight budget you might want to looking into getting something used, and even then $200 isn't going to get you much. You could get lucky and snag a micron for under $300 though.

[zaneyard]

ugh, i can't decide
going to guitar center on thursday to play around with some

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

tbh I wouldn't  buy a drum machine if I were you.  There's plenty of reasonable drum kit VSTs and Soundfonts out there.

[zaneyard]

Karrde link=topic=3926.msg125458#msg125458 date=1260198067]
tbh I wouldn't  buy a drum machine if I were you.  There's plenty of reasonable drum kit VSTs and Soundfonts out there.

I'm not planning on it, we are looking at synths on Friday however.

[zaneyard]

Picked up the microKorg XL yesterday and i'm absolutely loving it
so easy to program

[ribozyme]

[quote author=ribozyme link=topic=3926.msg125169#msg125169 date=1259979959]
I'm going to jump in here because I'm also in the market for a keyboard.

This is the one I've been looking at.  Thoughts, Mission?  Anything you would recommend over this?  Bear in mind I'm just looking for a good introduction to synths/MIDI and would like to stay under or around the $200 mark.

That's just a controller, no sounds or synth engine in it. You could use it with a computer and virtual instruments or synth modules. If you're on a tight budget you might want to looking into getting something used, and even then $200 isn't going to get you much. You could get lucky and snag a micron for under $300 though.
[/quote]

In that case a synth is probably a bit beyond my price range.

What do you think of that keyboard I posted as far as controllers go?  Also, is there much difference in terms of what you can do with a controller and virtual instruments versus a synth?

[Mission Difficult]

[quote author=Mission Difficult link=topic=3926.msg125180#msg125180 date=1259984075]
[quote author=ribozyme link=topic=3926.msg125169#msg125169 date=1259979959]
I'm going to jump in here because I'm also in the market for a keyboard.

This is the one I've been looking at.  Thoughts, Mission?  Anything you would recommend over this?  Bear in mind I'm just looking for a good introduction to synths/MIDI and would like to stay under or around the $200 mark.

That's just a controller, no sounds or synth engine in it. You could use it with a computer and virtual instruments or synth modules. If you're on a tight budget you might want to looking into getting something used, and even then $200 isn't going to get you much. You could get lucky and snag a micron for under $300 though.
[/quote]

In that case a synth is probably a bit beyond my price range.

What do you think of that keyboard I posted as far as controllers go?  Also, is there much difference in terms of what you can do with a controller and virtual instruments versus a synth?
[/quote]

It comes down to what you want to do with it. Some people want controllers with lots of controls (knobs, sliders, mod wheels, etc...) so it's easier and more intuitive to manipulate the patches whether it be for live performances or just the creative process. Most synths today are virtual analog, so you probably won't hear the difference between them and a virtual instrument. This is partly do to the fact that most synths are little more than virtual instruments running on custom hardware. If you get a controller with extra knobs and buttons and pair it with a software synth you are going to have to map the knobs to the cc#'s of the functions of the software synth, but only if you want to try and manipulate it from the controller instead of using a mouse. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is. If you just want to dick around with a synth, then a controller and a software synth is probably the way to go. If you want to learn synthesis then the only true way to do it is modular, which is very expensive.

When it comes down to controllers, that's mainly preference. The one you posted looks ok, maybe even overkill if you don't plan on using the knobs and faders. If you don't care what kind of keys it has (non/semi/full weighted, waterfall, hammer action) then it makes the process a lot easier. If you took a lot of piano lessons then the keys on the controller you posted might take a little getting used to.