Keyboard sound modules

[Hoss]

Didn't know where else to post this so........

Anyways, i bought my wife a Yamaha P95 keyboard a few months back, and i was thinking about getting her some more sounds for it. Kind of like letting her in on why i like pedals so much...:naughty:

What is the best bang for your buck Sound Module out there for it...i'll go used if i can find it?

Would like to stay as close to $100 bucks as possible.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Mincer]

Re: Keyboard sound modules

Hook that up to a computer and use VSTi's. Much better sounds for your money.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Keyboard sound modules

Can you find a Roland JV-1010 around that price ? (Things are different here, I'm in Australia). The Rolands are great modules that can be fitted with expansion cards. I have the bigger model, the 1080, and am very happy with it. Both these models have been superceded but their sounds still hold up very well, plus Roland is a very reliable brand for keyboards and modules.

Before the JV series modules they made the 'Sound Canvas' series for a long time and there seem to be many versions of those, although i'm not sure if they can take any form of expasion.

 

[MojoMonster]

Re: Keyboard sound modules

What is the best bang for your buck Sound Module out there for it...i'll go used if i can find it?

Does she use an external amp to listen to this or the built in speakers?
That keyboard has MIDI in/out but you'll have to get an amp/speakers for the module to be heard.

I have a keyboard hooked into 4 other synths via a MIDI box, but they all run into a mixer and powered speakers so that I can hear them all at once.

That said, I agree with Mincer.
Hook it up to a computer via a MIDI to USB connector and run it through a VST and the computer speakers.
There are tons of free/cheap softsynths out there.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Keyboard sound modules

Can you find a Roland JV-1010 around that price ? (Things are different here, I'm in Australia). The Rolands are great modules that can be fitted with expansion cards. I have the bigger model, the 1080, and am very happy with it. Both these models have been superceded but their sounds still hold up very well, plus Roland is a very reliable brand for keyboards and modules.

Before the JV series modules they made the 'Sound Canvas' series for a long time and there seem to be many versions of those, although i'm not sure if they can take any form of expasion.

I can second that. I have one too and it's a very easy unit to use and very reliable.

 

[Hoss]

Yes, she does run it through an amp & uses it for performance/live sound.

Is there something i can buy/download on my Mac that can access good sounds...then go from usb into midi and get sounds to the keyboard & out the amp? Or, should i get something tabletop/rack?

 

[MojoMonster]

Re: Keyboard sound modules

Yes, she does run it through an amp & uses it for performance/live sound.

Ok, awesome.
If she doesn't have enough channels to plug in the synth module a simple line mixer will help. Just plug both keyboard and module into it, then that stereo output into the amp.

Is there something i can buy/download on my Mac that can access good sounds...then go from usb into midi and get sounds to the keyboard & out the amp? Or, should i get something tabletop/rack?

If you're talking about home use, I'd get a MIDI to USB dongle, since that keyboard doesn't have USB, and then something like Garageband.
Doesn't Garageband have synths?
Just do a Google search for "free soft synth" and once installed she should be able to access them via MIDI.

It's *best* if you do this thru an audio program like Garageband (I'm used to Windows machines so I'd recommend something like Reaper for that) using a dedicated audio box/card.
But you probably won't have much of a latency issue with your Mac and a dongle.

Now if she wants to use this to perform live, I'd recommend a hardware/rack setup. If it's only one synth module, she can go MIDI straight out of the Yamaha into the module. If she's using more than one module, she'll need a MIDI splitter box. It'll have a MIDI in and then 2-8 MIDI outs which then hook into the synth modules.
Each synth module will then need to connect to an amp.
In my case I use a multi-channel mixer to sum all of the synth sounds to stereo powered speakers.

This kind of setup eliminates the latency that happens if you daisy-chain multiple synth boxes together and gives you a bit of tonal flexibility to tweak the eq or pan the stereo signal from the synth module.
If you patch a stereo effects processor into the mixer, you can add that to selected synth modules as well.
But that's a whole other thang.

 

[Hoss]

Re: Keyboard sound modules

Well...this opened up a real can of worms...: popworm:

I'm torn...most of the modules i've been looking at cost at least as much, & usually more than her current Keyboard.

So now i'm debating on whether to sell it and upgrade to another keyboard. She really liked the Roland FP series back in the day...but even a used Fp7 isn't cheap!

You'd think Yamaha would make a sound bank you could add on to their lower line keyboards for people who couldn't swing it all at one time. :22:

The only thing they currently offer is a $1200 Yamaha Motif Rack Unit!

I could get an altogether really nice new keyboard for that!

:33:

 

[MojoMonster]

Re: Keyboard sound modules

Well...this opened up a real can of worms...: popworm:

Ha, yea, sorry about that.

I'm torn...most of the modules i've been looking at cost at least as much, & usually more than her current Keyboard.

Ebay works well for this sort of thing, but yea, it's unlikely you'll spend less than $100-150 for a worthwhile synth module.

So now i'm debating on whether to sell it and upgrade to another keyboard. She really liked the Roland FP series back in the day...but even a used Fp7 isn't cheap!

Oh, no doubt. You can spend crazy money on full-sized synths.

You'd think Yamaha would make a sound bank you could add on to their lower line keyboards for people who couldn't swing it all at one time. :22:

The only thing they currently offer is a $1200 Yamaha Motif Rack Unit!

I could get an altogether really nice new keyboard for that!

:33:

If you're really looking at getting older synth modules, Vintage Synth Explorer and The Synthmuseum are awesome resources.

How does your wife tend to use her keyboard when she plays live?
Is it just her and piano sounds or does she run rhythm section stuff as well?
Does she want to layer/split pre-built sounds or does she want to get into actual synthesis/sound building?

At this point there are basically two directions you can go in.
Laptop/softsynth and hardware synth.

One thing that can help with both is to look at the keyboard as a separate entity from the synth parts.
There are many very nice 88-key weighted keyboards with no/minimal sounds available that are designed to hook up to computers via USB or other synth modules via MIDI splitters.

Going softsynth means you'd need less outboard gear, but it would be best to invest in a decent soundcard/audio box with a good number of breakout connectors, XLR and 1/4".

With soft synths you would run the modules in something like Reaper and use it as a software mixer to run out of the soundcard/audio box into the PA.

So all of the eq editing, panning/mixing, etc., would be done within the computer environment.

Hardware I described earlier.

Both have their good & bad and it really all depends on what you want to do with it.