I'm new to both this forum, and the world of keyboards. I have been playing the piano since I was in early elementary school, (can't remember the exact year). I'm sixteen now, and after taking a few years of a break from piano, a new spark has has been lit this past year or so. My Grandparents had an old, cheap keyboard, that wasn't getting any use with them.....so they gave it to me, and I've been fooling around with it ever since, (got it about a year ago, once again). This has been REALLY fun for me, because it's easy to make the change from piano to keyboard. Also, some of my favorite bands, who play power, or progressive, or gothic metal have been a spark in my keyboarding interest. I am particularly inspired by the band Nightwish, and the work of the keyboardist/composer Tuomas in that band (if any of you have heard of them, I'd like to do the same melodic/symphonic/dark playing that he does). All I know is that Tuomas plays a Korg model of some sort.

Now, my parents recently promised they'd help buy a new "nicer" keyboard, due to my confirmation. I need your guy's help. The world of keyboards is vast and confusing, and despite a lot of research, I'm not positive what model I want to buy.

I'd like to have many of the workstation features (controllers, arpeggiators, etc.). Bells and whistles are great. Programming isn't a HUGE deal for me, however. Also, I'd like the sounds to be fairly realistic and "warm" sounds. But some the the "new-age" sounds and atmospheric pads would be a plus too. I'd like a nice-working sequencer for recording and organizing songs. And MIDI functions as well. The price range should ideally be $1,000 or less.

Can any of you guys suggest some models that would fit or come close to the description I described? ANY help would be SO appreciated! Thank you very much!

[This message has been edited by Silverknight (edited 08-19-2003).]

You're gonna find that any band (electronic or otherwise) uses a lot more than one synth. I mean, they may show one keyboard in the video or have one or two on stage (just to make it look like they're playing them), but when it comes down to recording - it's RACKS and RACKS (I've got tonns of hardware synths and need more). And bottom line is - it's the producers that really take care of the band's sound. Even bands like Depeche Mode didn't exactly create their arrangements by them selves. All they did is write music and lyrics and then it was up to a dozen or so people to take it from there.
My point is - if you want to take the whole synth thing seriously and make it more of a career choice and get into recording, TAKE IT ONE STEP AT A TIME!
So far you're on tha right track - You need a multitimbral synth with a lot of polyphony, sequencer (although I'd recommend a computer for that), wide selection of sounds and sonic abilities (If you don't care about knob-tweaking now - you will later).

If you want something for around 1000 bucks here are some good choices:
Roland XP series (XP50 and up)
Yamaha - way too many to mention but here's a few:
SY series, WX series and if you're lucky the EX (although they are normally about 2000$ used. Check out some of their PSRs too (but that's not professional world).
KORG (great for multitimbral stuff - good voice allocation)
Trinity. (lots of FX, great sounds and room for expansion)
and whatever models of a similar design that came out later. ( I'd go whith the Trinrty though)
Trinity (about 1200$ canadian -dirt cheap for what it does!) is very well built and even though the polyphony is only 32 notes (more if you put in different expansions), It works better as a stand alone workstation than any Roland or Yamaha.

There are a lot more other good synths, but for now - check out the ones I've mentioned.
Also let me know if you need synths for professional use or just to play ( Yamaha PSRs are good for that, but I don't know much about them).

You should also visit your local music stores - BEST WAY TO GO.
There will be a lot of help there.
ED

My one question to you is are you also interested in an arranger, a keyboard with styles?

@3351: Thanks for the model ideas, I've checked out a few of them but need to research them a bit more still.....

As for my keyboard purpose, I'm kind of in the middle ground between playing for fun and professionally being a musician. You see, I want a keyboard that has some good sounds/effects/various bells and whistles on it, and has some way for me to record/arrange songs.....for now I just want to compose my own songs, but in the future I may plan on joining a band, or sending my recording demos around to show my capabilities.....

I don't intend to make this a career choice, but more of a hobby. However, if opportunity permits, I may join a band or record as a side-project.....not for profit but more for fun.....

Sound-editing would be a plus as well, but is not OVERLY important.....

And all I can afford right now is a single synth, ideally in the $1,000 range, (but don't restrict any model ideas due to that price, I really want to know what's out there).....

And a few questions, what exactly IS a rack? I've come across some but not EXACTLY sure what it is.....

Also, how do you use a computer as a sequencer? What program would you recommend to use?

@SJ880USER: I tryed to find out what an arranger is, but I'm still not exactly sure.....is that where you can record samples or music parts and arrange them in a way you want to make a song? Like the Yamaha Motif? Because that would DEFINATELY be a plus.....

From your answer, I take it you are not looking for one. It is not what you described. It is called also auto-accompaniment where one plays a chord on the right keyboard, and short backup sequence of tracks is played matching the chord you played. The reason I asked is because these keyboards usually have good emulation of acoustic sounds and some are affordable as new. I was going to recommend PSR 2100. But again they it does not synth, but it does have good midi functionality and 16 track sequencer.

How much money are you willing to pay for a software sequencer? You can start small with PG MUSIC.

Silverknight,
I own a music store in Southern California. I'm usually very active on the arranger discussion forum because there is more need for my expertise around there but I'm reading your post and I can offer some opinions.
currently, the price of the Yamaha Motif6 is $1495.00 and the roland RS70 is $995.00. both of these keyboards are true professtional workstations with sequencers, arpegiators and complete sound editing. The Motif also offers amazing sampling and actually sixteen 16 track sequencers so you can record different parts of your song as seperate sequences and then chain them together when you are finished.
A Rack module is the sound source within a keyboard but without the keyboard. In the Yamaha world there is a Motif keybaord and a Motif Rack. Take away the keys, the sequencer and the sampler and you have sounds only and this is the Rack!
If you like contemporary sounds such as synth pads, arpegiators I would suggest more one of the Roland, Korg or Yamaha Workstations and not an arranger. Arrangers have more instrumental sounds and fewer synth sounds and also, you can put together more layers of sounds in synths rather than arranger keybaords.
If you are in the USA and need any other assistance, please email or call me.
George Kaye
Kaye's music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

1. By "Rack" I meant a rack case full of synthesizer modules, samplers. FX and all that gear. Don't worry - you'll have a few of those in the future!

2. Using your computer as a sequencer is easy.
You'll need a midi interface of coarse. They cost anyware between 100 and 2000 bucks.
And some keyboards (very few) connect directly to your computer via USB port.

For a software I'd recommend "Cubase" or "Cakewalk"(I think) if you're a PC user and "Logic" if you are a Mac user (which you should be if you want to do music).
But.... I suspect that you have a PC (windows platform), so I strongly recommend "Cubase". It's very easy to use, and whatever you don't know - you'll learn pretty fast.

3. By arranger they meant built-in (and sometimes programmable) rhythm styles. You know, "bossa nova", "Mambo", "Rock", "Polka", "Funk" etc. they are pretty good for birthday parties, funerals and stuff like that.
That's more of a PSR thing - professional keyboards and synths are normally used with the sequencer. Put it that way, If you want to be in a band - no PSRs! (unless you want to be in a Polka band.....(just kidding)

4. I still think that you should grab a friend and go check out some music stores. Talk to a few sales guys, ask questions about synths. That's how I learned. And ask a lot of questions about everything that comes to mind. People in the music stores (especially in the keyboard department LOVE to talk about synths, sequencers, samplers, vintage synths and all that.
And don't worry about sampling yet. First get good with the sequencer and Midi. Samplers are getting cheaper and cheaper - you may want to pick one up later.
As for other synth models....stick to big companies like Yamaha, Korg and Roland.
Support and reliability is the name of the game.

If you have any quwstions, please let me know.
Ed.

I also recommend cubase as a sequencer. and I do recommend George Kay as music store owner.

Thanks SO much for all the information, it's honestly REALLY helping. I'm fairly busy tonight, but I'll get back to you all soon if I have any more questions.....