im just about to buy a ketron c1 plus but im not sure if its a better buy than the korg pax 1 pro the tyros or the roland g70 just want to know if im making the right choise thanks

Hi there.
Neither keyboard is better than the other as they all have their good points, at the end of the day it's a case of listening to them all and deciding on what you prefer and hear. The Ketron and Tyros 2 are easy to operate, I've not seen the Korg but many users on here seem to love it. My neighbour has the G70 but he didn't like it because the sounds had too much reverb on them, this has been corrected I think as someone stated in a recent post with a new operating system update.
For me I own the SD1, Tyros 2 and an older Roland G1000 (not forgetting a Triton pro). The SD1 and Tyros 2 are totally different. The SD1 seems to have more bass end to it but I prefer the styles in the Tyros 2 as they are more suited for the music I have to play. The SD1 has great sounds and a built in hard drive, the Tyros 2 has super articulation sounds which when you've got used to them and played live sound fantastic.
I notice that you have posted elsewhere stating you do not actually play the keyboard but want to play midi and karaoke files. Depending how much budget you have I would consider something like the Midjay. This doesn't have keys though as its more of a rack unit so you would not have the comfort of hiding behind a keyboard as I know some singers like to have. It is a fantastic product though.
It can be a bit daunting standing at the front of a stage possibly on your own, where as behind a keyboard (regardless if you are playing or not) offers some comfort I guess and more security - think peeps on here will know what I mean.
If you are seriously wanting to get a top end arranger keyboard please consider having lessons so you can learn to play and thus reap the awards of playing your own songs, it has to be far better than playing to pre recorded tracks?
Another alternative would be to get a cheap 2nd hand master keyboard and maybe something like a Roland sound canvas (giving my age away here lmao) or another rack mounted box of tricks/styles and just midi it to the master.
You've loads of options so best wishes with whatever you choose, good luck
By the way I am back for good. After quite a few e-mails and kind words from the likes of Scott Yee on Skype (cheers bud) I've been persuaded to stay as I've been on SZ for about 6 years on and off, so it's a lot to give up just for the sake of some silly misunderstandings/postings.

[This message has been edited by Craig_UK (edited 02-01-2006).]

thanks graig actually im not the singer i have 2 singers in front ,im the one man band
and im a bit to old to take up pianno lessons im 39 i whish i couled play but we play like 30 songs every sataday night in a night club and we get pyed for it i only just started singing after i saw my band m8s sining its a spanish band so i do all the english songs

Thanks for filling me in m8.
You wont go wrong with either arranger what you mentioned then. The Tyros 2 displays the lyrics on screen and they are easy to view. The Solton displays lyrics as well, but my own personal preference out of those 2 for midi file playback would be the Tyros 2. It just seems far easier to set up and string a load of songs together. It's simple to mute and adjust tracks you dont need.
Personally I don't use midi or kar files myself when playing but I do backing tracks for singers and groups using PC and Mac sequencing software then saving them out as MP3 files to a CD, mini disc or dat tape so I know where you are coming from and what sort of thing you are wanting for your band.
The G70 and Korg, I've no idea what their smf/gm/gs etc playback is like. Go for the cheapest The G70 and SD1 with having 76 notes rather than 61 may be more bulkier to carry about?

Thanks for filling me in m8.
You wont go wrong with either arranger what you mentioned then. The Tyros 2 displays the lyrics on screen and they are easy to view. The Solton displays lyrics as well, but my own personal preference out of those 2 for midi file playback would be the Tyros 2. It just seems far easier to set up and string a load of songs together. It's simple to mute and adjust tracks you dont need.
Personally I don't use midi or kar files myself when playing but I do backing tracks for singers and groups using PC and Mac sequencing software then saving them out as MP3 files to a CD, mini disc or dat tape so I know where you are coming from and what sort of thing you are wanting for your band.
The G70 and Korg, I've no idea what their smf/gm/gs etc playback is like. Go for the cheapest The G70 and SD1 with having 76 notes rather than 61 may be more bulkier to carry about?

was reading thru this thread, and noticed that craig mentioned mp3's...if i could pose a question to craig please.....do you reckon mp3's are an easier way to go when playing live as opposed to the midis? for example not having to reprogram everything whenever you change a keyboard or sound module? and if i could impose further could you give me any other pros/cons of going down the mp3/wav road..
thanks

The Ketron Midjay was MADE for what you want to do. You can play styles, midi files, MP3s, WAV files, Sound effects, all individually or together. Built-in hard disk recorder too.
DonM

First of all sorry for 2 posts above, my internet connection went wappy last night so it must have accepted the post twice.
miden the MP3's I mentioned are what I program for singers and groups that have backing tracks off me. I rarely use these myself other than sometimes when I start off and finish a show. Myself and quite a few others on SZ sequence tracks on their computers and use numerous software synthesisers and packages, so I prefer to record songs as live audio that I do for singers rather than producing the simpler midi files. Also with MP3/Wav I can also record live harmony parts so the song they sing sounds more fuller when played back as it's their own voice doing the harmony rather than an effets machine for example.
I know some midi files can have harmony parts recorded in them but I've not heard how these sound. Fair enough it is midi data that I have played in from a keyboard but I also put real guitar/bass tracks down as I believe no keyboard has come close to the sound of a real guitar yet. Tyros 2 Super articulation and the G70 guitars are getting close though
The pros of MP3/WAV I suppose are not needing a keyboard to play them back on, a simple CD player, mini disc or whatever does fine. They also sound the same every time you play them back. As you mentioned, if you change a keyboard or sound module they will have a different gm/gs set of sounds so midi files that may sound great on a Yamaha for example would sound completely different on perhaps a Ketron until you tweak the sounds used. This is obviously boring at times and time consuming having to go through a large set list of songs every time you do an upgrade. I like to record just enough that still leaves the melody for me to play live as there's no way I'd fake anything. Songs such as the likes of Queen, in order to sound as close to the original as possible just have too much going off in them, so some backing is required to pay them justice.
Downfalls of MP3 are that once recorded you are stuck with the sounds and key they are recorded in. You can use software to transpose MP3 (timestretch etc) which does work and keeps the song at the same tempo, but to change sounds you need the master data loaded back into the computer. If you have guitar parts recorded then you decide to get a guitarist for your band, you've had it as all the songs will need to be redone with the guitars missed out.
With midi files a simple press of a button changes the tempo, the sounds used, the volumes of each track, the key its recorded in.... so they do have their uses in that respect.
My personal taste is that I think real live instruments recorded as a MP3 song will always sound better than a keyboards playback of a midi file but it's each to their own. Whatever song I play live I like to pick out all of the instruments being used on the original and then I play it back as near to the original as possible, but I put my own personal stamp onto it

Check out an old friend of mines site. He sells midi and audio files which are of a high quality. Play the demo of the midi file you want and then play the audio demo (without singing if available) you can usually tell that the audio has far more going for it.
Here's his link http://www.songgalaxy.com/

graggi if yo uhave msn mesahger plz add me to youer msn im gibscorpionsf1@hotmail.com anyone with a tyros or a ketron can also add me if they which

hi craig,
thanks heaps for that really informative answer, the ability to have a real gtr in your track would make a huge difference, and i agree no synth has it quite right, they come close, but not quite..and thankyou for the link, i will check that out too...i have a "standing" playlist of around 120 midi files (from a total of around 500) and its a right "pain inthe b*m" to tweak them as i think contrary to manufacturers claims the GM sounds are pretty ordinary compared to the sounds in upper banks, although i have heard that some of the new softsynths are supposed to be really good, (Bandstand for example)...any way thanks again for taking the time to respond, i think i will convert my tunes to MP3, i can even add harmonies, so thats a big improvement...