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Hello,
I'm a total keyboard newbie so please excuse my ignorance.
I'm looking for a synthesizer as a companion to a dedicated digital piano with the aim of being able to play and experiment with and to learn about all kinds of different music styles. My main priorities here are to have a wide range of good sounding instruments as well as the ability to play alone with no full band to accompany me.
I was originally looking at the MOXF or perhaps the Motif XF for this. I've seen some great demos of using the on board sequencer for quickly laying down, looping and effectively "layering" patterns for drums, basses and potentially other instruments to act as a backdrop to play the "main performance" against thus allowing you to create rich sounding music all on your own. At the same time I've also read and seen wonderful things about the greatly enhanced sonic and performance abilities of the Montage so it seems like a "no brainer" to prefer that over the Motif/MOXF... (Clarification: I know this is far from being a "no brainer" and they are different instruments for different purposes and all that. But my point being, if one likes the features of Montage, can it be made to "replace" the Motif/MOXF given the details below.)
Now I know and understand that the Montage was not meant for the workflow described above and I'm fine with that. (I've read plenty of explanations on that here.) I'm also not married to the idea of using an on-board sequencer or even using any sequencer at all if it can be avoided. However I would be interested if (and if yes, how) one could/would potentially approach playing the Montage on your own and adding constantly playing background instruments (ones that you cannot yourself play at the same time) to your performance? Again, I'm a total newbie. Sorry if this question sounds stupid to anyone with a basic knowledge about how synths are meant to be played...
Things I can imagine based on what I've read/learned so far:
- The Montage has 16 parts per performance 8 of which are under keyboard control. Could the remaining 8 come from Midi In from tracks previously recorded into a DAW?
- Can one somehow use arpeggiators to trigger long sequences of some instrument at regular intervals to act as "background instruments" instead of a looping separate track?
Or something else entirely?
Any explanations would be/are greatly appreciated!
EDIT: fixed typo, added clarification
Posted : 02/09/2016 10:20 pm
I would definitely take a good look at the Yamaha Tyros keyboards if I were you. I have both the Tyros and a Montage. The Tyros supports a wide range of styles and is quite easy to use. The Montage supports a wide range of sounds and has a substantial learning curve.
Posted : 02/09/2016 11:51 pm
Hello Balazs, I concur entirely with Sidney. Look at the Tyros - a Tyros 3 is the most useful, I think. I presume your stage piano has MIDI capability? The sounds on Tyros are much more performance orientated, and less touchy than the Montage, neither does it demand high-end speakers to sound good (although it has its own speaker set, but you probably want to use your own pa stuff). There is a huge range of well made accompaniments, and you can add your own. It also has a sequencer and both midi and audio recording. The whole thing is easy to use and has a nice big tilting screen you don't have to crouch over (not a touch-screen) and you can add a big monitor just by plugging into the provided VGA port.. You can step through voices with a foot switch if you want (but no SSS). It is not a synthesiser, it is an arranger - which sounds much more what you want.
Posted : 03/09/2016 3:39 pm
Topic starter
Thanks for the Tyros tips. It looks interesting. I'm taking a deeper look...
Posted : 03/09/2016 4:59 pm
if i were you--a newbie--, i´d choose a used korg karma
for US $475.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/KORG-Karma-Music-Workstation-Synthesizer-Keyboard-61-Key-62-Voice-/282156327674?hash=item41b1d3e2fa:g:Vi4AAOSwZVlXsfAG
and save money. a rookie mistake is always to buy expensive stuff.
Posted : 03/09/2016 9:31 pm
I disagree, the rookie mistake is buying cheap - always buy the best you can afford. If you buy a basic model you will need to buy again when you get more experienced.
Regarding the Tyros, the best value model was the T4 but really any of the later psr arranger models would do , they have the same operating system as the Tyros models
Peter
Posted : 03/09/2016 10:32 pm
my point is he might not need more than the karma.
tyros is an overkill for novices imo.
Posted : 04/09/2016 3:01 am
Ok he might not need a Tyros now but he wont always be a novice then he'll want to upgrade so the long term investment has to be the best he can afford.
Posted : 04/09/2016 11:01 pm
