Live Keyboards Help?

[Free rider]

Guys (and gals) I need help.
I have a band that I'm a songwriter in. Making the songs there was a need for keyboards, so it seems that I will play keyboards.
It's a heavy metal band with two lead guitars, so the sounds that I'm going to need are just to fill in the background:

I need string sounds, Wind (stormy and breeze) sound, a hammond rich b3 sound, church organ, choir voices (just aahs or oohs), orchestral hit sound, and a piano. Mostly organ though. I need a useable one.

Other voices that i would need would be like an "choral hit" with soprano type voice. Maybe some flute, a moog spacey sound, a really low saw sound for intros.

Other features needed are programing so that i can assign for example only one key for a wind sound, an octave for slow strings, and the rest is hammond. So I need around 8 patches that I can call up instantly.

The way i figure there are 2 options. GO hardware or go software. Both work for me. I just want it to sound good live.

Is there a program (VST or standalone) that has all these sounds with the ability to make patches that can be called instantly with the computer keyboard. Or is there one that corelates with a midi keyboard controller that has "trigger" buttons on it that can change my presets.

Hardware, what is the cheapest keyboard that has these options. There are yamaha PSR series that have that but I believe they have cheap sounding sounds. The official websites have demos but they play around with drum machines and techno music and I can't find any answers. What are my options if I go hardware?
I don't have money for a triton extreme.
I saw a Roland E-09. Is it good for live?
I could get Roland GW-7? Is that any good?
Yamaha MM6?
Korg x50?
Roland Juno D?

Help me out, thanx...

[Jim vanBergen]

With all respect, are you posting in the right place? There has to be a keyboards newsgroup online that would be more helpful than us, I think.

Originally Posted by Free rider

Guys (and gals) I need help.
I have a band that I'm a songwriter in. Making the songs there was a need for keyboards, so it seems that I will play keyboards.
It's a heavy metal band with two lead guitars, so the sounds that I'm going to need are just to fill in the background:

I need string sounds, Wind (stormy and breeze) sound, a hammond rich b3 sound, church organ, choir voices (just aahs or oohs), orchestral hit sound, and a piano. Mostly organ though. I need a useable one.

Other voices that i would need would be like an "choral hit" with soprano type voice. Maybe some flute, a moog spacey sound, a really low saw sound for intros.

Other features needed are programing so that i can assign for example only one key for a wind sound, an octave for slow strings, and the rest is hammond. So I need around 8 patches that I can call up instantly.

The way i figure there are 2 options. GO hardware or go software. Both work for me. I just want it to sound good live.

Is there a program (VST or standalone) that has all these sounds with the ability to make patches that can be called instantly with the computer keyboard. Or is there one that corelates with a midi keyboard controller that has "trigger" buttons on it that can change my presets.

Hardware, what is the cheapest keyboard that has these options. There are yamaha PSR series that have that but I believe they have cheap sounding sounds. The official websites have demos but they play around with drum machines and techno music and I can't find any answers. What are my options if I go hardware?
I don't have money for a triton extreme.
I saw a Roland E-09. Is it good for live?
I could get Roland GW-7? Is that any good?
Yamaha MM6?
Korg x50?
Roland Juno D?

Help me out, thanx...

[maestro]

I like playing a good keyboard live. Korg Triton (you could go 2nd hand?) has some great sounds. Korgs usually good for 'competing' with guitars (some keyboards have a very hi fi sound).

I love the kurzweil piano sound.

Korg X5D is a great portable synth. You can assign various patches easily on it

What is your budget?

[Tommy-boy]

Two thoughts:

1 - Hardware is probably less likely to cause problems in live settings IMHO.

2 - For budget concerns - consider an inexpensive controller and a decent sound module. You can get a simple keyboard controller and hook a used roland unit into it. I would look into XV-3080s or JV-2080s. These will cover the sounds you've noted with ease and will sound good doing it. 3080s and 2080s are cheap these days. I have two 3080s that are fantastic. they are expandable too if you want to add cards later (most of which are still available on eBay).

If you want to be more up todate and buy something new: Both the Yammy Motif rack and the Roland Fantom rack are fantastic. The fantom racks are the next iteration from the 3080 / 5080s.


-Tom

[fallforward]

Cheap controller and the XV 3080 is the way to go. There are a ton of expansion cards for it as well. All of the XV series as well as the JV series. Specifically for what you need there is a really good Special FX card as well as a few different orchestral cards to choose from.

[Tommy-boy]

I meant to add this to my last post - I would avoid Korg keyboards for piano sounds.

I like Korg keyboards, just not their piano sounds. Yammy, Roland, and Kurzweil are all MUCH better in that area. Of the three - my favorite for piano sounds is Kurzweil, but Roland and Yamaha are also very good.

[bishopthomas]

Originally Posted by Tommy-boy

I meant to add this to my last post - I would avoid Korg keyboards for piano sounds.

I like Korg keyboards, just not their piano sounds. Yammy, Roland, and Kurzweil are all MUCH better in that area. Of the three - my favorite for piano sounds is Kurzweil, but Roland and Yamaha are also very good.

I'm saving up for a Nord Stage 88 myself.

[Free rider]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

With all respect, are you posting in the right place? There has to be a keyboards newsgroup online that would be more helpful than us, I think.

I understand that. It's just that in recent years there has been progress, but reliability was something that you come to gearslutz.

Thanks for the answers.

The budget is around 600 euros or 700$.

[Jim vanBergen]

I hope you got answers you like! Lots of people had solid ideas & suggestions.