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beatlegs
Mar 11, 2001

I do home recording. I've gone the midi controller route (M-Audio) and am tired of dealing with computers & software. I want to get a standalone, self contained keyboard with good, realistic-sounding, and varied piano/organ/synth sounds. My budget is around $300. Basically no extra bells & whistles (pre-programmed rhythms etc). I could go a little higher if it's something exceptional. Any suggestions? Thanks!

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AxeBreaker
Jan 1, 2005
Who fucking cares?

What you are describing is a low-end portable arranger, or ROMpler. They are kinda cheesy and dead sounding in general. Sound wise, you would be better with your plugins. You CAN get a good sounding synth for $300, the korg monologue is one, and many more decent ones at $500. The catch is that most of them are analog, or are digital "Virtual Analogs" going for the same sound. Generally electric pianos and organs can be done but real pianos can't- low end synths don't include the special engine tweaks that make a digital piano good. That's the realm of the digital piano, the Nord Stage series ($$$$) and the big rear end workstation. About the cheapest thing I can find that doesn't sound like rear end, piano wise, is the KingKorg, which you can find used for around $700, new, $1000. A bit of a warning about that one, it has pretty simplified and kind of limiting synthesis controls, but that might be what you want. Lower end Yamaha workstations run about the same.

MrSargent
Dec 23, 2003

Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

beatlegs posted:

I do home recording. I've gone the midi controller route (M-Audio) and am tired of dealing with computers & software. I want to get a standalone, self contained keyboard with good, realistic-sounding, and varied piano/organ/synth sounds. My budget is around $300. Basically no extra bells & whistles (pre-programmed rhythms etc). I could go a little higher if it's something exceptional. Any suggestions? Thanks!

For the organ/synth sounds, are you just looking for a keyboard that has organ/synth presets, or are you looking to create your own? If you want to make your own, I don't think you are going to find an all-in-one solution for what you want to do. I have the Yamaha YPG-235 (linked below), and while you have no options to make your own sounds, the presets it comes with are pretty solid. I use it pretty frequently when I am just jamming to come up with melodies or interesting progressions because I find it sounds decent for being relatively inexpensive ($250).

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YPG-235-76-Key-Portable-Grand/dp/B003FVB7XA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1492531431&sr=8-2&keywords=yamaha+ypg-235

I should also note that I own a couple VSTi's that I primarily use for Grand Piano. When it comes to organs and synths, I have a Korg Minilogue Synthesizer that is awesome, and also Serum (VST Synth) if I want to do something a little more involved. I guess my point is that I have found the best results from using multiple instruments to produce those sounds.

Drink-Mix Man
Mar 4, 2003

You are an odd fellow, but I must say... you throw a swell shindig.

If you can find a good deal on a Korg M50 (or can bring yourself to spare an extra $200 or so) that'll keep you busy for a while.

I bought mine for your exact same reasons about five years ago and it was a sound investment, since not only did it suit my immediate needs for great keys and organs (including many cool retro patches I downloaded from some Korg forums), but the extra "bells and whistles" I didn't need right up front gave me plenty of ongoing bang for my buck as I grew as a programmer and synth player. Plus it's super light which is great for gigging (unlike some of those huge old romplers and stage pianos).

Drink-Mix Man fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Apr 24, 2017

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