Be warned this might become a wall of text.

First of there is 2 choices...
-Masterkeyboard..
-a normal keyboard...

Masterkeyboards don’t add any sounds, just keys to controll the sd90, and buttons and more to controll certain functions trough sending cc’s.. however.. if you want 88 keys this could be a way to go.. however for 76 keys or 61 keys, i think the sd9 and sd60 are easier options


But in my vision, the sd90 really shines when you combine it with another keyboard that offers a different sound and different functionallity.. for example an Organ or hammomd clone... or in my case an 88 key piano klavier with hammer action...

There is 2 things very important in my choice...
1st, you need to be able to controll and play the left hand and the right hand parts of the sd90 over 2 sepperate easy accesiblle midi channels, with option to set the keyrange.. so you can split and layer the 2 ketron parts with the sounds on board of the instrument
2nd, these midi settings should not be global, but you should be able to set them for each performance..

On top of that, i plan this to be my final setup for the years to come and will further expand on it using vst’s in combination with the hardware.. and even controlling sounds on modules trough the mac is an option, i still plan to add some of my current modules, with just 1 keyboard, modules are much easier to reach and play with then with a dual key setup..(currently i own a Gemini, and integra and a motif xs rack).. but then, i think i can live witouth them with all those vst’s..

This leaves me with a choice of options..

Korg Kronos, which i own...
Does everything i would need, and more, it adds karma to the mix, and you can also control VST’s at the same time. However, out of all the options, its the least userfriendly option.. its not the easiest keyboard to mix and match sounds, programming Karma is really hard.. also while still very good, other keyboards have better keyboard action..

Yamaha Montage, ... which is top of my list...
It adds the typicall yamaha sound, which works well in combination with the sd90’s sounds.. it also adds yamaha’s arps and motion sequences(which i like more then karma both for usabillity and userfriendlyness) ..but where it shines most, is accesibility and userfriendlyness.. yes it misses some of the engines of the Kronos, but with my emphasis on expanding the setup further trough vst’s... thats not really a big thing anymore...

Yamaha MODX, new duck in the pool,
allmost the same functionallity as the montage.. but misses half the knobs and sliders, but also the whole 32 buttons to the right which make an incredible tool for daw integration.. also the keybed is least of all the options and misses aftertouch.. if weight was an issue, that would vallidate this as a choice, but for me it isn’t

Nord stage 3,... eassy accesibility and real time controll..
A very nice keybed and incredible nice onboard organ synth and piano sounds, however misses the veratallity in its sound pallette that genos and kronos have... no multisamples for example.. so this would make me much more reliable on the sounds of the sd90...or vst’s..and thats where it breaks .. you can only assign 2 midi channels... with left hand being a must for one of the channels... you would have to choose between vst sounds and ketron right hand sounds... also it misses the luxorious yamaha arps or karma...which could be overcome by adding the motif xs i own to the setup.. maybe the Nord 3 ex will have 3 or 4 channels... which would change my view on this instrument.. but for now both kronos as well as the montage offer more for vst Controll(not just channels but also assignable knobs, sliders, buttons)

Roland RD2000
Lovely keyboard, lovely action, but misses the aftertouch and the arps/karma

Kawai MP11
Best action, least onboards sounds.. also misses aftertouch and the arps/karma

Casio px-5s
Okay action, no aftertouch, but has some nice sounds onboard, and comes with an arpeggiator thats very flexible, also works well as a daw controller

I don’t think there are any other options, where it comes to applying to the main features


This quastion has been bugging me since the release of the sd90, and i am currently thinking of replacing the kronos with a montage 8.. for above reasons.. i will make my decision after winter NAMM 2019.


Any input untill then is welcome...