I have heard about the GEM WK8 and have been looking into getting one for a while now. Basically what I am waiting for is anyone who has any real experiences with this keyboard. On the GEM website, reading about this badboy is very interesting and quite convincing. An onboard ability to read samples, HD version, Oriental version, EXPANDABILITY!
The only thing that holds me back is that if it is so good, why aren't more people using them? And why havent they gotten a lot of recognition from this board especially.
Please reply with your thoughts on this keyboard...
Thanks
-Alfred

There is nothing wrong with the WK8, it is a
very good instrument. The number of comments
and messages does not say anything about the
quality.

macbabbi,

There are three reasons why it is not as popular as it ought to be:

1) It has steep learning curve. However, after you learn it, it becomes easier and very convenient to use. In other words, you pay at the beginning but after you get to know it, it gives you more. I love my keyboard whether at the studio, at home or at the stage.

2) Lot of newer keyboards are coming out and usually forums concentrate on the new keyboards. But in reality no new keyboard has emerged to truely require those who own WK8 or sk880 to consider change of keyboard.

3) Sounds and styles are opinions. I might not like what you like and you might like what I dislike.

How to be confident about WK8.

Go to the store.
listen to the sounds and styles.
Do you think they are the great? Buy the keyboard.

How to be MORE confident about WK8.
Go to the store.
listen to Solton X1, Yamaha PSR9000 and others.
Do you think they are superior to WK8? not really? Buy the keyboard.

I used to play GEM keyboards and I thought they where very easy to operate.
The styles are great and you can use lots of user styles. The board I owned last was a SX2, the pro version. The keys felt great, very similair to the roland pro keys, not that plastic feel at all.
One of the big advantages for me was the option to expand your sounds with new samples. In those days i bought some awesome sounds from GEM.
The only thing i did not like was that in some sounds did not sound good all over the range of the keyboard.

When I moved to the US i had to sell al my gear. I recently got a Roland G1000 but when I was looking i tried to check out GEM.

I think they are very good keyboards but the reason that they are not that populair is bad marketing in the US. Nobody has them in stock, their agent in the states in now Peavey.

Strange though if you know that General Music owns their own PA company (LEM) back in Italy. I used to have a mixer, amp and speakers from them who sounded real good too.

I am sure that a lot more people would use General Music if they would improve their marketing strategy. The SK880, SK760, WK6 and WK8 are high end instruments with about the best specs in their class

My advice, try to find one, try it out, fall in love with it and buy it.

I have a friend of mine that use the wk8 and I had the chance to try it several times, in conclusion I say this keyboard is not bad but when you try it for example next to an X1 or a psr9000 then you will tell the difference and you will see that the wk8 is good but not enough to compete with these two keyboards.

Ahmad,

None of the dealers in my area carry X1 or PSR9000. But if PSR9000 sounds anything close to PSR8000, there is no comparison. GEMWK8 truely beats it.

I had the same experience as yours. I listened to GEMWK* and it sounded like a cheap casio. I do not know why but maybe it does not have good speakers. However, if you try the sk880 and the yamaha on the same amps. There is no comparison. Sk880 shines big time.

Concerning oriental stuff, I never found any musian who does not think that GEMWK8 is number 1 in oriental styles and sounds.

by the way, I have not listned to X1 yet and many of my friends think highly of it.

Hold on SK880 user. You have said that you haven't heard the PSR 9000. The PSR 9000 is way beyond the PSR 8000. So not having heard the PSR 9000, you cannot say that the SK880's amplifier runs rings around the Yamaha.

I was able to try out the SK880 where I live. If my impression is correct, the SK880 is like the WK8 but with no speakers and more keys. I found it very difficult to maneuver around, and I wasn't very excited with the way the styles sounded. I didn't play it for very long, but I soon realized why people said that it isn't in the same league as the X1 nor the PSR 9000.

Maybe the keyboard would grow on me, on the other hand. It's true, the best thing would be to try every keyboard. But if the distance is too great ... maybe you have to take a chance on a keyboard everyone is raving about (like the X1 or SD1)and make sure you can return it if you don't like it. You'll lose over $100 on shipping, but ce la vie.

I owned an X1, got rid of it because it wasn't suited like the PSR 740 for my job and performance style. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful keyboard, and if I could have afforded to own two keyboards, I would have kept it.

Beakybird,

Yes, I have not heard PSR9000. You claim it is lot better than PSR8000. This might be true but I want to verify it myself. You are right about WK8 and SK880. However, when I tried WK8, it sounded like a cheap casio keyboard. WHY?

I also own some yamaha keyboards. I noticed that yamaha has some of the best speakers. I played my sk880 with the yamaha speakers of one yamaha keyboard, and SK880 sounded lot better. So there is the speaker factor when comparing quality of sounds.

Finally, before I purchased Sk880, I tried WK6 which is the same engine and quality sound of WK8 and SK880. I tried it for half an hour, here is what my impression:

1) Sounded purely garbage and ugly
2) very difficult to use. I barely could do anything with it.

what do I think of sk880 and wk series?

1) after you learn it, it will be truely the easiest to use and the most convenient at stage.

2) I found that some of the feature (little ones) were vital for studio recording.

3) Excellent styles and Excellent sounds... EXCEPT THE PIANO... but all other arranger keyboards suffer from lack of good piano anyway.


In conclusion, I believe that WK8 must be given a fair chance in testing and that the reports here that claim that it is not that good are actually not objective for many reasons. Many people do not know how to use it, others do not compare it critically with others, and finally somepeople just do not like those particular styles.

I have not listened to the newer keyboards because the stores around me do not carry those keyboards and because I am not shopping for one anyway. But when I do, I will surely post a lenghty post here of what I think.

Cheers.