i was always a fan of the k2000.... definitely better sound than the triton88 that i currently have... haven't kept up with this stuff with the advent of decent piano software (ni's akoustik piano, eastwest's bosendorfer emulator, etc)....

hench, do you have a weighted controller for your software?

you're a bad ass behind the keys, how does key type affect your playing?

I did get the SP-76 and have so far been underwhelmed. The keys feel fine, and it is lightweight and streamlined. But the piano sound is inconsistent. The notes on the low and high ends of the keyboard sound real enough. A few notes in the octave below middle C sound like thumped bass. E-G just above middle C sound thin and fake. I can't figure out why the samples aren't better in the range where they really needed to be.

Kurzweil SP-76, you have called to mind a song 1980s MTV implanted in my brain: "Synthecide," by SSQ.

I may make a road trip to try out the 88-key but still lightweight Roland RD-300SX, which on-line demos and reviews indicate has a good piano sound.

The keys of both Wurlitzers and Rhodes have always felt pretty ideal to me. But I want something closer in sound to an acoustic piano.

Biznono wrote:Does the Alesis Hornsby out?

This is by far the best descriptive shorthand I have ever read on this board.

I will try to use it often.

Thank you , Biznono, for expanding my epithet library. It previously contained "winedark sea" and nothing else.

Biznono wrote:I did get the SP-76 and have so far been underwhelmed. The keys feel fine, and it is lightweight and streamlined. But the piano sound is inconsistent. The notes on the low and high ends of the keyboard sound real enough. A few notes in the octave below middle C sound like thumped bass. E-G just above middle C sound thin and fake. I can't figure out why the samples aren't better in the range where they really needed to be.

bummer. does it change tone on an amp if you run it through and crank the midrange? If it works, you may be able to have the sound hombre boost the mids. it might still sound less than optimal in the monitors, still.

Biznono wrote:I may make a road trip to try out the 88-key but still lightweight Roland RD-300SX, which on-line demos and reviews indicate has a good piano sound.

do report back. I'm not familiar with that model. I'd love to hear what you think.



Faiz

kerble wrote:hench, do you have a weighted controller for your software?

you're a bad ass behind the keys, how does key type affect your playing?

i just use the weighted triton as the controller - it's ok, but i'm really spoiled by all those years of steinways (both my pro upright at home, and the dozens of baby grands/concert d 9footers @ uiuc)... i've yet to find anything from roland/korg/yamaha/m-audio/kurzweil that can match the chunkiness (not quite the right word) & the velocity/response of a steinway, or even a kawai/yamaha concert grand...

i know that pinball is getting harder than ever to find, but the closest tactile analogy that i've found is the feel of williams/bally flippers from the late80s-mid90s versus any other flippers -- nothing feels as fluid or as natural of an extension/bridge between hand & machine.

the motion of the acoustic piano feels more fluid & less binary - there's a springiness there that's lacking in the digital ones too. it's just a given -- you've got a piece of cloth, controlled by several pieces of wood, striking one or two or three pieces of metal - way more moving pieces, way more air, way more texture being thrown into the mix than the digital setup. everybody claims to be repping 128 levels of everything, but it never feels/sounds like more than 16 or so...


as far as how my playing technique is affected by the digital setup - it depends. usually the pp ends up being mp and the fff ends up being f. trills go out the window. generally end up with a harder, more percussive set of movements that work ok for the sort of music that i've been recording but make classical music sound sort of clunky and leaden. any sort of nuanced pedaling goes away too - that shit's just off/on.

that said, my playing technique is more affected by my not playing/practicing seriously for the last ten years...

the pianobar seems like it would be amazing in terms of capturing dynamics & more accurate expressiveness... can't really justify the price right now though...