What's in your keyboard rig?

[keyboardistmatt]

Ok... great idea.  All keyboard players: tell us about your rig.  We know about Clive's, and lots of you probably know about mine.  But what about yours? 

Those that dont know about mine, it's all on my website.
Feel free to ask questions!

Guitarists, Drummers, Bassists, Vocalists, etc...  can draw up a seperate topic!

Technology is cool!

Clive can contribute too if there is gear that he uses that we don't already know about!

[gelert]

The temptation to post "wireless QWERTY" was almost irresistable...


But I'll behave for a change...LOL

OK, at present, Korg N5, Korg X5D, EMU ESI4000 (fully loaded 128mb + turbo board), Alesis DMPro, AKAI SG01V, 2 x "tame" guitarists, and access to a couple of bass players and a couple of drummers with MIDI and acoustic kits, for noise-generation purposes.

Yamaha 01V (+ extra 8 analogue channels), Doepfer Regelwerk + custom add-on (for morphing Midi controllers), 2 x Doepfer Pocket Dials (Rack-mounted), Miditemp PMM88 v3.1, for realtime control.

Heavily-customised Yamaha DD50, for those all-important "human-feel" drum riffs that only a keyboard player can play...er, it seems...LOL

A pair of Atari Mega4's (one as a back-up) running Cubase v3 + Steinberg MIDEX, for 128 (I jest not...!) channels of MIDI.

And I'm in the process of building my own AMD-based PC, for ProTools...to replace my existing Fostex FD-4 (no laughing at the back, now)....to run alongside the Atari's - no joke...!


Not fancy, but more than adequate for song-demo purposes.

[keyboardistmatt]

I wanted a miditemp patch bay...

But I found a Sycologic MIDI matrix instead!

[gelert]

But I found a Sycologic MIDI matrix instead!

Oh well...

I guess SOMEBODY had to buy one... 

[CygnusX1]

I'm really a guitarist, but I do possess a Yamaha CS1x (actually my brother's - but he shows no signs of wanting it back), which I mainly use as a controller keyboard for a variety of softsynths.  Recently bought GMedia's M-Tron plugin, which is a huge, faithfully-sampled collection of original Mellotron tapes, complete with the pops, squeeks and scratches.  It has has all the common banks like strings and choirs, and also a few more unusual ones like mandolins, a pipe organ and a chamerlin harp!  4 CDs worth of goodies for about £100 - bargain!

When I can get some more cash together I've got my eye on their other brilliant creation, the Minimonsta - a minimoog emulator which includes some patches created by Sir Rick of Wakeman himself. 

There's also a battered Yamaha CS5 gathering dust in the cupboard.

Did I mention I'm not actually a very good keyboard player?

[Stuart]

My gear seems to be in need of some renewal

Keyboards:
Technics Digital Piano as a nice weighted full size 7.25 octave master keyboard
Roland D50
(S50 in a cupboard somewhere )
Rack:
Yamaha EX5R
Novation A-Station
2x Roland U110 PCM modules fully loaded with cards
Yamaha TX81Z
Yamaha TX7
Zoom RT-123

Recently bought a Line 6 Varix 500 guitar and POD XT-Line effects system or recording

Recording via and Akai DPS12, but with the USB capabilities of POD and Varix, Cubase for Audio as well as MIDI is looking a good option.

[keyboardistmatt]

Did I mention I'm not actually a very good keyboard player?

No, but that does'nt matter. We are interested in your gear, and not your abilities!

[Higgins III]

Im not a keyboardist so this is like a different language but you lot don't half sound posh and educational talking bout your Midi thingys and matrix doo-dars and patch panel giggle pins and doo-higgies.

Ok im gonna shut up and leeave you all to it. 

[Sawtooth]

I know this is a really old thread, but I thought it would be interesting to see if the advent of the laptop has tempted anyone away from the multi-keyboard rig.
For example, I use a Powerbook 1.67ghz running all the Logic Pro synths, plus Stylus RMX, Zero G Nostalgia (great for Yamaha CP70B / Mellotron / vintage synth sounds, Korg Legacy (MS20, Polysix and Wavestation) plus loads of effects etc.

This is all controlled with an M-Audio Keystation 88Pro running all the synths with key and velocity splits and loads of twiddly knobs and sliders to use real time. Seems pretty stable unless I stack the sounds too much.

Cheers,
Sawtooth

[jeffMc]

My studio setup:

Korg Triton Extreme w/ MOSS option

M-Audio KeyStation 61

Roland D50

Yamaha 01X mLan control surface

iDrum software drum machine

Logic Pro 7 Sequencer/recording software

Various VST plug ins

Mac Pro Quad core with 2-23" monitors

Gibson melody Maker guitar (electric)

Guild acoustic

[aswas]

yeah it is way old, but I want to share the big mess that I have been saving up for years

Arp Odyssey
Seq Circuits Prophet 5
Korg DS 8(2of them)
Korg Micro Korg
Alesis QS8
Triton Extreme
Korg M3
Korg Radias
Roland XV88
1912 Steger Grand Piano
Mackie 14 track mixer
Beringer 16 track mixer

[PH]

Wow impressive! All I have is a cheap Yamaha DGX-205...
And an electric piano in the living room...

[Manatee]

I've been known to (sometimes) walk past a piano without stubbing my toe.  Other than that, the closest thing I have to a keyboard rig is an Emerson, Lake & Palmer LP.   

[aswas]

some of the stuff is still over my head. But that is what is so cool. Always learning expanding creating

[keyboardistmatt]

Wow! This thread is still alive??

Awesome!!!

[aswas]

Hey Matt,

My rig as previously written is cool enough for me. But I feel like I could be getting alot more out of them. I am 55 and the teckno has passed me by. They are great instruments. I like the Triton Extreme the most. I get the most out of it. I like the sounds I have made for the Alesis QS8 over the years. The analogs are the bomb. How is your new Kurzweil. Please review at your convenience my stuff, and give me an honest response of my problem, if you want. Thanks

[keyboardistmatt]

Hey Matt,

My rig as previously written is cool enough for me. But I feel like I could be getting alot more out of them. I am 55 and the teckno has passed me by. They are great instruments. I like the Triton Extreme the most. I get the most out of it. I like the sounds I have made for the Alesis QS8 over the years. The analogs are the bomb. How is your new Kurzweil. Please review at your convenience my stuff, and give me an honest response of my problem, if you want. Thanks

Well, I sit down with every piece of equipment I get and get to know it as well as I can.  Try programming some test sounds into your gear, something simple; then just fiddle about with them.  I think the way to get the best out of a keyboard rig is to get it to do as much as possible.  Keyboards like Triton EX are built to work - so make them do loads!  I did this, and ended up removing keyboards from the rig altogether because I no longer had any use for them!

I used to have 9 keyboards and loads of modules, now I have 5 keyboards and the same modules.  If I get even more powerful keyboards, this number will probably go down again!  I'm at the point where lugging loads of stuff around is something I cant be bothered with anymore.  And stretching across the keyboard rig, although it looks cool, I feel that it can have a negative effect on my performance.

For gigs, I go through the setlist and build the keyboard rig up song by song depending on what I will use. 
So, I start with the Kurzweil, (The most powerful keyboard I have) map out the sounds across the keyboard so that I can play them without changing patch numbers.  If that is not enough, I'll go to another keyboard, Roland JD800 for example, and find sounds on that.  So sometimes I only need the Kurzweil, while other times I'll need something more.

For example: I'm in a Heavy Metal band right now, and for that I use Kurzweil as a sound source and as a MIDI controller, Roland JD800 as the lead synthesizer, and various rackmounts for all the backing ambient sounds and samples.

For Aliped, I use 5 keyboards and the rackmounts, because Aliped sound is bigger.

When you have taken the work from a few keyboards perhaps you could get 'redundant' keyboards to do something else...?

Anyway, I hope that helps you out.

KBM

[aswas]

You are right about that. Maybe I try to play too many. I like the analogs though, because you can change them realtime in a big way, but mostly because I was grown up on them. Two keyboards that are redundant, which kills me, because I should have thought it through much much more, is the Triton Extreme and the Korg M3. I was happy with the first one, and still am, but buying the M3 was overlap and overkill. Don't you agree? I kick myself in the ass for it. What is your opinion about the M3? Thanks

[keyboardistmatt]

You are right about that. Maybe I try to play too many. I like the analogs though, because you can change them realtime in a big way, but mostly because I was grown up on them. Two keyboards that are redundant, which kills me, because I should have thought it through much much more, is the Triton Extreme and the Korg M3. I was happy with the first one, and still am, but buying the M3 was overlap and overkill. Don't you agree? I kick myself in the ass for it. What is your opinion about the M3? Thanks

I like the M3, it is a very powerful bit of kit with some great sounds.  The sliders on it double up as organ drawbars, which works brilliantly with Korgs CX3 technology built in. 
The Keyboard keys feel nice and sturdy to play, and it lights up nicely so you can see it in the dark. (Except the sliders.)  :-(

However the thing that grabbed my attention was that the screen can be used as an X/Y control pad similar to Korgs Kaoss Pad!

Oh, and if you have the 88 note keyboard, you can put 2 of the modules onto it.  I can't imagine the power that would give!!

[aswas]

Yes, that is is true about the XY function. I am just  learning how to use the function. One last question, another dumb one I am sure, to you, but of the 4 main keyboards, Alesis QS88, The Triton Extreme, The M3, and the Korg Radias, which would you MIDI into which?

[keyboardistmatt]

Yes, that is is true about the XY function. I am just  learning how to use the function. One last question, another dumb one I am sure, to you, but of the 4 main keyboards, Alesis QS88, The Triton Extreme, The M3, and the Korg Radias, which would you MIDI into which?

That depends on what you want to do.

[aswas]

I want To be able to use the Triton as the keyboard I play the most. I want to have quick access to Trons from the M3 and lead synths from the radias. Hell, when I figure it out I will let you know, cuz I have no idea, don't know how, shit it is so frustrating. Thanks again

[keyboardistmatt]

I want To be able to use the Triton as the keyboard I play the most. I want to have quick access to Trons from the M3 and lead synths from the radias. Hell, when I figure it out I will let you know, cuz I have no idea, don't know how, shit it is so frustrating. Thanks again

Well, in that case, I would go:

Triton EX -------->M3--------->Radias

When you daisy chain MIDI instruments a patch change on the first will change the patch on all the others down the chain.  So, if you arrange your patches by the setlist, (i.e. Song 1 uses piano, strings, and saw wave synth; Song 2 uses organ, cello, buzz saw, etc..) you can change the patch on the Triton and everything else will change too.
Bear in mind that this will use up loads of patch slots on all keyboards as you may be storing patches more than once.

There is more you would need to know if you want to do things that way, but you may actually find it simpler to not use MIDI at all!
But that depends if you are playing other keyboards from a keyboard (Playing Radias from Triton, for example)

[dacook]

Whilst this is an old topic, I thought I'd add mine here; advanced warning, I'm a bit of a Yamaha nut!

This is my live rig in Pure Floyd (www.purefloyd.co.uk)

• Roland FC300 MIDI Foot Controller
• Yamaha EX5
• Novation Remote 61
• Yamaha FS1R
• Yamaha Motif Rack ES (with PLG150-AN)
• Yamaha A4000 sampler (rarely used now, just a few samples in some songs)
• Nord G2 Engine (my "secret weapon")
• PC running Cantabile for click tracks, light show and NI B4II Hammond emlation

And in the studio I also have

• Yamaha AN1x
• Yamaha SY77
• A swathe of soft synths

I do all of my recording in Cubase, recently upgraded to V6

[PH]

Phew... I envy you!

All I have is a Yamaha DGX-205. It's more like a toy compared to your stuff. I do play occasionally and I love doing that, but I rather save my money and time for buying and listening to music by people who are a lot better than I am.

I still love synthesizers and keyboards!

So you're in a band. What sort of music do you make (apart from the Pink Floyd covers, obviously!)