Been with the 3X for a long time now, with many gigs under the belt. I cannot find a more powerful board for sounds, styles and ease of operation. Coupled with the QSC, the sound is very big and full.

However, this downtime has me thinking. Since my recent health concerns and age, I want to lighten my load.

I have never used a midi file live, but think this might be the time to explore that option.

These are my thoughts:

Find a lightweight 76 keyboard that has a sequencer and pads and load in midi files, mute the pianos and play along. Need a board that will allow me to remix, mute parts, etc and save the files. Perhaps use the mic input and eliminate my Zed mixer (Roland Juno series/EA?). I've never liked the 3X pianos and think a better digital acoustic would be fun to play just piano pieces.

Dump the QSCs (probably not) and get a smaller footprint for sound (has to be in stereo).

I believe a smaller setup would open up other opportunities and I NEED SOMETHING NEW - I am getting bored with things, my motivation has waned and I believe this would get me off my duff.

Any thoughts, suggestions? I surely wouldn't dump the current stuff until I made the new work well.

Playing over tracks is not a bad idea, and is more visually interesting to the audience, assuming you're playing full two handed parts. Having to follow the strict form of a track does not appeal to me though, but you could probably learn to use "midi markers" if that's an issue for you?

For smaller speakers, there's lot's choices out there. My battery powered Bose S1 Pro, along with a very small Fishlight power station, has been enough to power up my KB, vocal effects and mixer for the outdoor patio jobs I got for the summer season.

Best of luck to you with your new direction. I admire those that like to reinvent themselves.

Zuki, it seems to be the time to become restless, it’s happening all over. A few questions before I give my opinion.

1-Who are you playing for? (your audience –dancing? – age?)
2-What type of music are you now playing?
3-Have you tried playing over tracks? Did you miss not creating all yourself?
4-Does it have to be 76 keys? Do you play piano?

Doing it this way you will get answers based on you, and not what others are doing.

Playing with tracks and playing live has always been an issue. Both of them are good, what gives you the most of what you want is most important.
John C.

Paul, (Do I have the right name?)

I am thinking of buying another Bose L1 at $875 (sale) or, trading my Bose for a pair of Bose S1 Pros. I am a home player. Need your opinion.

Thank you, John C.

For home playing I'd go with S1 Pro for sure. For many years I used the Bose Compacts and to me both models are comparable, but the S1 Pro are so much more portable, and the Bluetooth feature is awesome. We are always taking the S1 Pro outside just to listen to music while we have dinner on the patio.

There are so many choices, many prefer the JBL Compact which is similar to the Bose S1. Also you should consider some studio monitors. I always thought my keyboards sounding best through studio monitors, but there not good for live playing.

Finally, any good 8" power speaker would work great for you too, like the QSC K.

Hopefully I'm not throwing out too many options, but again I think the Bose S1 Pro would be great for you.

Paul, thank you, John C.

Been with the 3X for a long time now, with many gigs under the belt. I cannot find a more powerful board for sounds, styles and ease of operation. Coupled with the QSC, the sound is very big and full.

However, this downtime has me thinking. Since my recent health concerns and age, I want to lighten my load.

I have never used a midi file live, but think this might be the time to explore that option.

These are my thoughts:

Find a lightweight 76 keyboard that has a sequencer and pads and load in midi files, mute the pianos and play along. Need a board that will allow me to remix, mute parts, etc and save the files. Perhaps use the mic input and eliminate my Zed mixer (Roland Juno series/EA?). I've never liked the 3X pianos and think a better digital acoustic would be fun to play just piano pieces.

Sounds like your describing my Roland BK9. 76 keys, light, great sounds, decent keyboard feel, mic input. You can edit SMF's and put in marker to extend songs. I don't use the sequencer but its in there. Hard to find now but a great keyboard.

I use JBL EoN Ones and love them. For something smaller there are other choices but the JBL compacts with the 8" woofer is a good choice. I wouldn't go any smaller than that.

I've tried the Bose S1 Pro and found it inadequate for my PSR S975. The Bose does not do well with stereo sampled voices, especially piano (which I use a lot). Also each venue is different, so I had to get up from my chair and adjust the knobs several times. That caused me to buy a small mixer, some more stuff to carry and worry about. So I stuck with my Fender 250 with multi directional speakers. The Fender mixer is always close by and no need to get up and adjust. Can do that on the fly while playing. My $0.02

Hello Zuki;

About Juno DS series I can only say that it has good pianos and epianos, but they are not perfect and sometimes it’s not easy to play with right velocity; it has no sequencer (only pattern sequencer), I doubt if it can play midi files.

I guess you’d have to record all midi files as MP3, using PA3X or some good software. To my knowledge, most musicians who perform with backing tracks have abandoned midi files long ago, they try to use only backing tracks which are as close to original songs as possible (often it’s an actual track of an original recording without a lead voice).

Some of the members here use Ketron modules with midi keyboards, which looks really easy to carry.

I want too to think less about carrying stuff and more about playing music.

Thanks everyone for your kind replies. I'm crazy and mixed up these days. I might try the EA-7 and will keep the 3X. I really just need a spark (not for my new pacemaker) to stir up some fresh ideas and to have FUN for a change. Even with no gigs in sight, timing cannot be more perfect. Hope everyone finds some joy in making music again (I haven't touched my board in weeks - so sad).