Hi to all,
Long time reader, at least a year. Want to thank you all for great reading since then. As you might guess from my username I am primarily a guitar player with only basic keyboard skills. I have been playing guitar for over 20 years- 10 years Pro but the last 10 at home and at parties and other occassions (cause they all know I play).
I have been thinking for a while now to expand my musical offerings with an arranger. As a guitarist I managed to surround myself with great instruments; I have a PRS custom 22 and a brazilian rosewood Martin D42 and a Kohno Model 30 classical, Gibson ES150 (1938) and some others of course.
So I know qaulity instruments and wish my background music to be the same. I tried out the Yamaha PRS2000 and it sounded pretty good. I really like the Korg PA-80 also and it has 2 audio inputs, one for my mic and one for guitar- seemed perfect.
But reading your posts I kept on delaying because I really thought your comments were like warnings.
My question is this, the Yamaha Tyros started out with so much excitement but recently there have been some reservations.
For keyboardists, are these different instruments like say the difference between a Fender and a Les Paul for the guitarist? Or maybe a solid body vs. hollowbody? I am trying to understand why everyone would not be happy with the latest greatest from a company like Yamaha, who seems to have more models of arrangers than all the others combined.
Question 2; Is the mic input really useful if you already have say a small digital mixer from Roland or Yamaha with built-in effects (do the arrangers effects for vocals compare in quality)?
Question 3- Can you really use the builtin speakers for satisfy a crowd of say 30-50 that gets louder as they get drunker (I know, more drunk)?
Sorry this turned out longer. WIth a username and a convoluted password they give you here, I hope I can contribute to the forum from a slightly different perspective. I wont be a heavy though, just when I see the opportunity to speak as a musician but not a keyboardist.
Thanks for your answers if they come. Still I read and read and its great to know al your personalities.

First of all, welcome guitarman!

my humble opinion (short and quick):

If you have a good keyboard with good vocal input and onboard effects, it's an easier set up.

(built in) speakers on the keyboards are meant for your personal monitor, or in a small setting of 5-10 people.

KN_Fan

Welcome to this forum.

My opinion regarding question 2: if you have a good quality digital mixer with built-in effects I suspect you won't get improvements using the keyboard mic input.

I get a better vocal sound using my digital mixer than using my Ketron module mic input. Less noise, more variety of effects. But for live use the difference is not noticeable, so I end up using the keyboard mic input and leaving the mixer at home.

-- José.

Hi guitarman,
ME TOO
I have a Guild D55 (right now , that`s it ) ,
And I also have a PSR2000 (Y2K) , getting back to your question about KB`s , yes , too a certain piont. Like one might compare a Y2K to the = of an "Epiphone" and a "Wersi" to a "Martin" or a PRS" ,IMO!
That does not mean that you need to spend >$4000 to get a decent KB it is just a compairison. IMO if your just starting with KB`s the "Y2K" IMO would be almost the perfect place to start. I say almost because your used to quality owning a "Martin and a PRS" (PSR very.... fine guitar ) and a "Y2K" is not going to satisfy your "quality needs" anymore than it did for me, but I have learned to but that aside and I enjoy the KB very much I just wish it had a better "key feel" and or "action"
I have been playing "Hammonds" since the late 60`s and I still have one (needs work- the Y2K sounds a zillion times better than my Hammond at the present time, I the I need to replace a couple of drivers (speakers) ) So yes and no meaning don`t even try too compair KB`s to guitars, most guitars (at least the ones you have ,are hand built, KB`s are "put together in a "mass- production".
O-BTW : "Welcome to our family and the best corner of the web " The people here are great and we all help and support each other, you could not have found a better place
Best of luck ,and let us know how you made out !!
jedi

guitarman,
Welcome home!
We have alot in common already, I'm primarily a guitarist that uses an arranger for my back up band. BTW I have a maple blonde ES 175, as well as other assorteds.

So as for my take on your Q's:

For keyboardists, are these different instruments like say the difference between a Fender and a Les Paul for the guitarist?

That's a pretty fair assessment. Most of what all of us are using is high end so it's a matter of preferences both in sounds and interface. One board is a bit mellower and the other a bit more straight ahead....depending on the listener of course.

Not as much of a difference in solid vs hollow perhaps more hollow to hollow solid to solid.....Martin, to Gibson or Taylor, etc.

The one thing about the vocal inputs on the boards, is the vocal harmonizer that can be very cool to use.

I do not use the line inputs for the guitar, as I see no need to with my setup.

As far as the fervor over different new boards...I'm still very excited about getting my Tyros. But we have discussed it quite a bit already as the new kid on the block and I think now there is just alot of wait and see when some of us in the states get them. As well as there are other good boards we have been discussing as well...Ketron Genesys etc.

About the built in speakers on any of them IMO opinion in a crowd of 30/50 drunks.....if you want to be heard, I would count on getting an external amp of some sort.
again welcome and jam on,
Terry

Hi Guitarman,

I sprung for the PA-80 and have been absolutely delighted with it "out of the box". I'm a Flamenco guitarist in roughly the same position as you; my interest was in using Middle Eastern and Greek rhythms/instruments. and adopting them to Flamenco rhythms.

The sounds on the PA80 are quite extraordinary, and the styles are great (of course, I have the Turk/Arab card - apparently the Egyptians don't like it; I'm in the process of sorting THAT out....:-)

It could have a more intuitive interface, to be sure, but that is because it is so flexible. As I've posted here and elsewhere, if Milan (KAT2000), and Korg can get a working version of the "Collected" files running, it will become very easy to program styles in SONAR......

But there is so much to it, and I really respect the musicality of the styles I don't play...

"Flamenco Chuck" www.flamencochuck.com

As a guitarist - I think the PA80 is your best choice. It offers the dual inputs with separate effects for mic and guitar. It allows monitoring in small venues, and the connection to larger systems as well. The "friendliness" feature that some of us feel is a bit over the edge is not as important to you because you will have both hands preocupied with the guitar. Do all your work at home - tweak and fiddle till it sounds right, and then it's a snap to access midi files, backing sequences and even live drum patterns to strum alongh with. many times, I just turn on the drums and play the guitar as I would in a solo setting.

All the top end units have respectable sounds, but I feel the Korg has more to offer a gigging guitarist in a live setting.
Mostly because of the dual inputs and dual sequencers, and multi outs. No other brand has all three of these features, and sounds this good.

Regarding q2. Higher end arrangers from Yamaha, Korg, Ketron, Technics, and GEM have a vocal harmony effect. This involves intelligent pitch shifting depending on the chord being played. Using the arranger mic input makes it easy to control the arranger pattern and the vocal harmony together. (Of course, you can drive an external vocal harmony unit over MIDI as well.)

BTW ....


The Ketron SD1 has 2 inputs as well . dano

Hey Guitarman ,


What about the ability to trigger chord changes in real time with your feet ?

You could connect midi bass pedals to a Ketron product and have assignable foot switches to help navigate features .


With the Ketron SD1 / XD9 / XD3 you have the ability to play direct from floppy disk or hard drive . You can also instantly removed all parts of a midi sequence except for drums and bass instantly . This could save you alot of time having to tweak or remove unwanted parts of a sequence !
dano
[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 11-05-2002).]

[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 11-05-2002).]