|
Post by Panagiotis on May 30, 2006 20:12:57 GMT -5
It's crazy.....even though I hate it's keyboard feel, and it clicks like crazy in mono mode, and it's really heavy, and it uses a really outdated sucky scsi zip drive, I can't seem to find anything that can replace it!! I went to Sam Ash...everything from Yamahas to Korgs to Rolands...in every imaginable price range SUCKED. There are no keyboards made for people who actually play. Everything has got bells and whistles...arrangers, workstations, drum loops, vocoders, flashy lights and buttons...even one keyboard with a small window that revealed a vacuum tube!! Everything except anything usable. Sounds=crap. Interface=illogical. No easy way to get into the scale tuning (except for the Korg Triton....which had some nice interface things but lousy sounds, as usual with Korg. Korg hasn't built anything decent since the Sigma). Some didn't have quarter tones, some didn't have an easy way to switch on monophonic mode. NONE of them had a decent klarino or violi....not even close. I mean, I don't have a problem with doing some reconstructive surgery on sounds but give me something to work with! Finally, defeated, I went home and really thought about the situation. The K2VX has always been dependable.....it has a killer sound, that cannot be disputed. I have a klarino that kills and also some other very nice Greek sounds. My main beef with it is basically the outdated scsi interface. I know it's going to take a crap one of these days at a gig...I've had one go bad on me already...with all my sounds on it. I don't want to edit any sounds because I'm afraid that by saving them to disk I might ruin my zip disk (they are VERY sketchy). So I decide that perhaps my Kurzweil wouldn't be so bad if I had a better way of saving data and could edit some of the sounds to make them more playable. Well, I went online and found a site that sells NEW data products for samplers and I found a scsi flash media drive that works for Kurzweil keyboards. Well, next to $1200 for a new keyboard, $100 doesn't seem too bad. I bought the unit for $90 and a 6 foot scsi cable for $15. I'm going to squeeze a few more years out of my keyboard. Unfortunately, the way things look, I may never find one that works better for Greek music. Along with my GEM WK-2 and Yamaha PSR-3000, I'm pretty well equiped for whatever I need......oh, sometimes if I'm in a really skilo mood I'll bring along the Minimoog!
Sorry for the rant, Pete
|
|
ousak
New Member
Posts: 25
|
Post by ousak on May 31, 2006 21:01:24 GMT -5
the GEM is cool, our keyboarder uses that one too.
wish i had one at home, play quarter tone music with the bellydance rhythms, mpas kai tin vroume..
|
|
|
Post by Panagiotis on May 31, 2006 22:13:24 GMT -5
It can be addicting. Whenever I hook it up in the studio I find myself jamming for wayyyy too long! ;D
P
|
|
|
Post by taki on Jun 16, 2006 4:19:00 GMT -5
Panagioti, I read your post a couple of days ago and wanted to appropriately respond with my commentary and a sound clip to backup my comments... First off, I totally agree with you about the Kurzweil K2000. That keyboard is still way ahead of its time. The samples that I have and have created throughout the years, its overall touch, and programability, is great..... BUT, GEM keyboards are limited to a certain point too. I own some and have played on the newer versions and worked on them to get more customized sounds. I have a few Arabic keyboardists in tha area that I keep in touch with.... thus, I have some hands on experience with GEM keyboards.... Also, in regards to trying to find a new keyboard that can replace the GEM and the K2VX, the Tirton Extreme, with my limited knowledge of it currently, comes very close. Let me elaborate. It's touch, variability in portomento parameters that many other keyboards do not have, including GEM (the worst in portomento parameter setting) and the K2VX (which is fairly good), are the best I have seen on a keyboard. Of course, this depends on the touch of the musician, but there are many more programable portomento parameters on the Triton Extreme that I have seen on any other brand of professional keyboards here in the states. Now, did you checke out the Triton Extreme with the MOSS card??? I am assuming you did not. Well, you need to check it out with the MOSS card. Also, just the sounds of the MOSS card that are stocked do not do it justice for our style of music. Likewise, you have to read the manual and program your own sounds off the MOSS card. Now, I just spent about an hour or two reading the MOSS manual (have not touched the main keyboard manual yet), and the attached link demo sound I have took me about 5 minutes or so to program, once I understood the manual and experimented quickly with the parameters. But of course, I am pretty experineced in reading these Japaneese translated manuals due to all the years of reading manuls as you probably have. Quarter tones come standard with the Triton Extreme unit... plus, you can program whatever scale you like too... meaning, like some Hiztaz scales with quarter tones I use have 3 cents and 20 cents offsets on notes where the normal GEM keyboards do not allow you to do. I do not know if you have the same preference of Aravika sounds as I do, so you might not like the sound I have demoed... But since you were so adament about how there are not newer keyboards out there that give the K2VX a run for the money, I wanted to show you that, specifically, the Triton Extreme with MOSS card is worth the investigation.... Hopefully, I shed some light on this particular keyboard, and from what I read in some past posts you represent the Yamaha company somehow, I do not want you to get offended in any way. I am just trying to help out another professional keyboardist out... Here is the link.... www.thestigmaband.com/Triton_Extreme_Demo_Araviko.htmTakis Matheou
|
|
|
Post by Panagiotis on Jun 16, 2006 11:20:49 GMT -5
Thanks for the post, Taki. I'm very glad you are still around to add to these discussions. I'm glad that there are still a couple keyboards that fit the bill. I do not have the experience with th new Korgs so I will definitely take your word for it. What is a MOSS card, by the way? I have not heard of that. Also, nice playing on that taxim. That particular sound is something similar to one I have on a D-550 module...but of course, the D-550 needs the ASC-1 for 1/4 tones! I agree that the GEM is limited...but it does hav some nice features and I find it quite playable. Unfortunately, nothing tracks like my Minimoog!! I wish it had arabic scale tuning.....(sigh).
Pete
|
|
|
Post by taki on Jun 16, 2006 11:58:50 GMT -5
Pete, Here is some limited information on the MOSS card... www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=EXBMOSSBy the way, I did not mean to sound condensending about GEM keyboards at all. They have some nice sounds and touch too. I have programmed many more similair lead sounds in the Extreme already, and not even looked at the combination mode yet. I would look for someone that has the MOSS setup at a music store and go spend about a half a day tinkering around with its oscillators. If you are familiar with the sounds that the old Korg Prophecy produces, the MOSS is an equiavelnt piece of hardware.... Have a good weekend...
|
|
|
Post by Panagiotis on Jun 16, 2006 16:42:49 GMT -5
That looks cool. I must admit, though, that I'm not a big user of portamento. I rarely like to use it. I do like monophonic sounds though. I should really post something with my Moog.
P
|
|