Over the years, I have owned virtually every brand of keyboard instruments.
With all the newest technology, companies are bringing us very realistic sounds.
Most of us are not in a position to A, B the "new" with the "old", but I find myself favoring selected groups of the older sounds over the new...They seem to cut through mixes better, as well , they just plain sound better to me..

I am not just talking about Roland..

As for Roland arrangers, I still find my favorite sounds are resided in the G1000 bank of sounds..and many are in the G800 bank..
The VA sounds do not fulfil me as much[with the exception of the "Scat" voices, and a few acoustic instruments] as the prior banks I mentioned..
Along the same lines, the E-600 had the best acoustic piano to me[playable with dynamics]..

The early Kurz 12[I think that was the model] with 8 bit samples was warmer and sounded richer to me than the rack series that followed..And I just do not like the newer Kurz equipment as much..

Korg, the same, the older O1/W stuff sounds much better than the refined thin sounding samples Korg uses today[that depend highly on effects]..Korg's workstations do not have the same feel/warmth that the older boards had..

Rolands older JV series were richer/fuller than the newer line of stereo sampled instruments[XV/Fantom]

Yamaha with out being specific..same thing, especially when it come to stereo samples..

If you don't believe me..go back and play the older stuff..experiece the fatness/warmth of the Roland JX10/D50/D70..Korg O1/w series...Yamaha SY99 etc..

Don't get me wrong the new stuff is great...it's just that I am missing "old" sound that we use to love...is gone[maybe sterile is the word].

Anyone have any thoughts along these lines?

I know exactly what you mean Fran.
I had the 01wpro and the Trinity pro at the same time a few years ago and always found myself favouring the 01 for some reason. The sounds in there kicked some butt and had plenty of punch to them.
I've had the Fantom which was very good but didn't cut through like the older Roland stuff (eg.D50 was amazing at the time).
I love my Tyros 2 but the reason I didn't partx my G1000 for it was simply because nothing can replace the ease of it's use. There's a style for every occasion in there and there's one that will fit any type of song, the piano sample still sounds great and there's a nice warmth to it that seems to be lacking from arrangers coming out today.
I did like an 88 note Kurzweil synth I had (can't think of name but was a bigger versin of the K2000) had to get rid of it after a few years because it was far too heavy to be carrying about 4 nights a week and people moan about the weight of keyboards today.

yea, iwent thru all the new arrangers(spent
thousands of dollars). got rid of them for
one reason or another. just couldn't find that perfect all in one keyboard that met my needs. so here's what i ended up with after
all the frustration and wasted time programming.
1 korg i5s with my own style programming.
1 yamaha psr 1000 with some styles from
tyros and psr3000 reprogramed to fit
and i agree about the sounds of the new
stuff mot sounding as good.
i ab'd a roland sc33 piano against a
tyros,psr300,korg pa80,60,50 and fantom
and (to me and the tape play back there wasn't that much diference.)
i play for a over 45 crowd and the above
set up is saving me thousands and not
too much of a sacrifice in over all quality.
now on a side note:
i went to my club where i play and last night they had a guitar player with just a
old sounding drum machine (no midi files,
no laptop,no arranger, no bass) just a guitar and a drum machine. they still danced,
and had a good time and this guy get paid the
same as i. go fiqure :-) .....ti's not what you got..........

OK let’s put features and stuff aside and talk about sound for a minute.

There is a phenomenon that you haven't mentioned yet or talked about, but it is part of the equation.

Just like an old chair that you have become sooo accustomed to, we are sooo accustomed to the sound of a KB the longer we have it.
Because of that our brain tells us that this is what it supposed to sound like.

Believe it or not, but that is how our brain works.
I have been through this several times.
When you buy a new board you miss the old sounds and you are just not happy.
But as the weeks and month go by you become accustomed to the new sounds.
Then you go back to your old board and say to yourself mmmmh, pretty good for the time but... and you start liking the new sounds more. Why? Because you have gotten used to them.

And since you have gotten used to them, your brain tells you aah, this is what it supposed to sound like.

Then you hear another board from another company and your brain compares it and it says: that's not what it supposed to sound like.
And before you know it we have the old argument of which board is better.
Just like kids in the school yard.
Yeah not much different......

So in the end who cares as long as we are happy with what we got.
I know for most of us it is not easy to keep an open mind because of what I stated above.

If you bash any of the top brands right now, then you should really look at what I said and have your ears checked...

The G-70, PAX-1, E-80, T2 etc. are all great.
They have features and sounds that 10 years ago were unimaginable.

As I said it before: Of course I have my personal taste, but I always enjoy any contribution from any forum member and their board, no matter what brand.

I don't get it! What is everybody so afraid off if somebody likes another brand and wants to share this with us?????

Instead off being happy for him/her that they found what they looking for they get the run arounds like little children.

I scratch my head sometimes and I wonder if I'm dealing with educated adults here or with kids on the playground.....
Because that what this often reminds me off.

For me there is no greater joy then coming together here and share our music.

When we had our Synthzone jam up in San Jose CA, we were able to share our music from different brands with our fellow members. Oh, and what a blast we all had...
We all enjoyed each other so much and the music we shared.

So come on folks why can't we do this here on this board.
Come on what do you say....
A little love, kindness and compassion hasn't hurt anybody yet.

So I'll start first by thanking ALL of YOU for your continuing support and effort to share your music with the rest of us.

Jam on, and enjoy whatever you are playing.
It's ALL good.....

Eric


[This message has been edited by Eric, B (edited 05-13-2006).]

you're right about being use to a certain
sound,however the sounds i use are picked by
my clients not me. i find it interesting that
they almost always chose the older sounds claiming it sounds warmer, more realistic.
i have no favorite setup/sound/styles/or
arrangers. i think they all are fantastic and
more true are the talented people that play
them. so i don't mean to upset anyone as to
what arranger/sound/style is the better, like
life, music is so much about choices and preferences.

HI ERIK,
I had to play a piano a couple days ago for a couple hours and I had a hard time with it in the beginning because it didn't really sound like a piano and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with this high quality piano that WAS in tune. Besides that my wrists still ache.
I have 11 or 12 keyboards here in the studio and I have been playing the keyboards piano samples for so long that I have actually forgot what a real piano is supposed to sound like.
Your point above is well made. I have to agree.
Best,
Bebop

Eric, No that 's not it..

I actually had both old and new side by side for a while..I am use to the sounds of both[as an example the DisCover5 and G1000], and find my favorite sounding patches are the older technology.
I also had Roland XV5080, side by side with my JV stuff.
Same with the Fantom, Triton Studio..The new stuff seems to be thinner.
Sure we get use to what we own, but our ears still know the difference..and if we have both and prefer the old..our ears are telling us something..

'Old' ears?!

I actually agree with both Eric 'and' Fran . Play & enjoy whatever keyboard makes you happiest.

If you're a good keyboard player, your keyboard chops, artistry & musical expression will transcend just about any arranger keyboard out there. Some people may have the latest greatest arr keyboard out there but can't play worth a sh*t, while I've heard some amazing things performed by other guys on an inexpensive Casio arranger. We all need to keep our priorities in perspective. I keep wishing more people would post & share their music, to stimulate disccusion about general 'arranger keyboard playing techniques' rather than comparing how one keyboard sounds better' than the other. - Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 05-13-2006).]

Fran,

I used to have a friend in Germany who would give me a demo CD of the latest KB each time I came to Germany.

Among the demo CD's that I have is still one from the G-1000, and I must admitt it still sounds pretty darn good.

I often thought of you and whether you would be interested in having it, since the G-1000 is your baby.....
I didn't mention it before, because a lot of songs on the CD are German stuff....

Eric

Eric. I would love to hear it.
Maybe you could upload it to YouSendIt.com

Or convert to MP3...