i realize this post occurs every 2 seconds here, but i have searched the forum with limited success. Feel free to beat me up, if you must, if that results in an informative reply..........

I want to purchase a workstation for my studio and need some help from all you people who are more familiar with them than I, from a practical point of view
From what i have read and heard i'm leaning towards a Kurzweil product, probably k2500s or k2600s, but need to hear from amyone who has experience with these. Pros and cons.
Also, your opinion on competitors, ie. Korg, Yamaha, Roland, would be appreciated. I used to be up on all of these companies when iwas in the music business, but that's been awhile.

Thanks for any help you can provide!


[This message has been edited by rhp52 (edited 10-10-2004).]

[This message has been edited by rhp52 (edited 10-10-2004).]

It all sucks! Get a harmonica instead!
Or a tuba! Everyone loves the sound of tuba. ļ

Okay, Kurzwell is alright. I am not a big fan of Kurz synths though because I am fed up with their service. Taking Kurzs on the road sucks too. Turns any tour into some kind of repairs marathon. Lots of guys go for them because they supposedly sound "the best"¨ and all that crap. Trick is, Kurz know how to EQ their samples and outputs. They are not afraid to crank the highs and lows to make it all sound like a million bucks.
Thing is, I can do it too. So all this myth about "great sound" is for bozos. Sorry! ļ

Now Korg is cool. But they got a little too repetitive with their Triton series. Almost to the point where you can¡¦t tell one Triton model from another. Like this Triton Extreme.Oh, tell me what is so damn extreme about it? You still have to go through this annoying "copy combi/program FX" shit.. I better not get into it!
They are cool though. Loud, reliable guys.

Now, Yamaha. A totally different company. I Have been using their stuff ever since DX years. Dig it. Motif seems like a pretty cool board. It does not really blow me away with its sounds ( I hate presets, GM shit and all the piano/organ granpa stuff ) but I am very impressed with its features. The only thing that I hate about it is lack of FM. But looks it I am the only one here to mess with FM anyway.

Hope this all helps. Keep in mind that I am is much into programming and sound design as your next dorr granpa with an arranger into playing.
My opinion is shallow. LOL

-ED-



[This message has been edited by 3351 (edited 10-11-2004).]

lol.....we're all bozos on this bus. thanks ed- of the three you mentioned, who has sequencing tuba-ized?

[This message has been edited by rhp52 (edited 10-11-2004).]

LOL!
Sequencing is best done with the software. No matter how cool they all seem all the hardware sequencers are A. NOt that different from one another, B. THey all suck! comparing to software sequencers like Logic, CUbase, Cakewalk etc.

NOw, I think I forgot to mention Roland. Hmmmm... Nevermind!
Today's Roland workstations bore me to death. I only like the V-Synth. SOme older ROland stuff, but not the new workstations. Nope.
SOrry ROland. TRY HARDER!

-ED-

thanks- i was hoping to avoid getting my computer involved. no one would ever see me again. I'm a computer tech so that should explain. thanks

What a refreshing reference! But really, don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers...

This is just me, but I decided, after researching kbs such as the Tyros, ES7 etc., to have everything on the computer. Am running a soft seq (Sonar) and a soft synth/sampler (Kontakt.) I really believe that one can build a sample library collection that blows away anything you can get with a stand-alone board in terms of pure sound. Am playing my sonic samples with 2 kbs, a P120 for the graded hammer action, and an Evolution MK461c for the assignable controllers.

If you work in computer tech, I can entirely understand you not wanting to sit in front of a screen and mouse to make music, but with a decent midi controller you can assign stuff so that most of what you do is on the kb. Plus, your tech savvy may well make the learning curve easier for you than it's been for me.

But the practical advantages of a stand-alone are obvious, and I still want to save my nickles for a kb once I get the soft-based DAW all together. It's just on the back burner for now. Good luck. Just my 2 cents.

what?! you don't want to count the elevator boy? God almighty I'm hungry!
I know what you're saying makes sense, thanks

Ed,
Yamaha makes a PLG-150DX Plug-In board for the Motif's and S30, S80 and S90. The DX card is the engine from the DX7. 6 operators and what-not. You do need a software DX editor though. But the software is probably so much easier than the old DX& interface anyway.

My point is, you can easily have FM in the Motifs. In fact, I had bought a used DX200 , took the PLG-150DX card out and used it in my S90 for a while. It was cool. Alas I had to sell the DX200 to help pay for the ES7 I just bought. But although FM programming was cool, I wasn't using it enough.


Peace
Bob
<><

Well now I like the Motifs even more!
It's too bad you can't edit the sounds right from the front panel though.

-ED-