MIDI controller versus Roland RD2000

[musicman691]

I could use some help here. As some may know I'm a long time user of an original Motif 7 Yamaha synth/keyboard. After close to 2 decades of service it's giving up the ghost with stuck keys and losing usage of some control. I've taken the beats apart more than a couple of times to clean things up but this last time it lasted barely 2 weeks before going south again.


Been looking at what to do when I finally decide to give up on it and but new. Do I get just a MIDI controller or something that does both MIDI and sound. Even though I mostly trigger sounds via MIDI vi's in PT I still like to just play around with sounds. Such that I don't want to have to deal with the computer - just like a regular piano you know.


I'd long had a fascination with Kurzweil stuff and loved their keyboard action (they use Fatar actions). Played their wares and loved it. What stabbed me in the heart was where their equipment was made and that's China. For reasons best not gone into I'll not debate the whys/wherefors of that. I know Ray so it hurts even more.


Found the Roland RD2000 Stage Piano. I don't need anything in the way of synth stuff having sufficient vi's to cover that but their pianos - nice. Not up there with Kurzweil but damned close.


What I'm torn about is I'd like to take some load off my computer when I just want to noodle around with sounds and most of that goes towards piano or organ. On the other side is if I fall in love with something from the Roland there's no recall from within a PT session (unless I keep manual notes). I'm at the point in my life (71 years and counting) that I don't need any more complexity in my life. I'm on a 2012 MacPro cheesegrater running OSX 10.13.6 with a non-Metal video card. So that's a boundary there.


I love a really decent piano sound and there's some from the Roland that speaks to me. Not having the recall like I would from a PT session makes it a difficult decision. Apologies if I'm repeating myself. I finally have the financial capability of going with either the RD2000 or the Studiologic SL88 Grand with the blessings of my wife either way.


Does anyone have any thoughts either way? I know I have to make my own decision but still would love to hear from the cognescenti (sp?).

[musicman691]

Due to circumstances beyond my control things have changed. The RD2000 is no longer on my radar so it's the Studiologic SL88 Grand (not that that's anything to sneeze at). Thanks for all that have read my screed.

[Tweakhead]

Seems like a sensible conclusion, especially considering that you already own all your essential sounds with the VI world.
I like the non-glitzy simplicity of the Studiologic SL88 design. Very clean and elegant.
My one point of surprise is that it uses an external power brick, which seems peculiar for a keyboard of that amount of heft. Maybe some people prefer that . . . but not me.
Is that typical in the world of controllers vs workstations ?

I also noticed that in the world of dedicated "Piano-type" keyboards with built-in speakers and piano sounds that they never seem to have physical MIDI ports, and provide only a USB port. That might have been a good option for you otherwise.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

Seems like a sensible conclusion, especially considering that you already own all your essential sounds with the VI world.
I like the non-glitzy simplicity of the Studiologic SL88 design. Very clean and elegant.
My one point of surprise is that it uses an external power brick, which seems peculiar for a keyboard of that amount of heft. Maybe some people prefer that . . . but not me.
Is that typical in the world of controllers vs workstations ?

I don't know if it's typical but for something that is available on the international market having an external power supply is a good thing. US power for example is 110/120 VAC and other parts of the world use 220/240 VAC. So rather than having to engineer an internal supply to cover things worldwide (and having to satisfy regulatory agencies like UL and CSA) the keyboard manufacturer just specs different supplies made by a third party supplier.


To cover multiple AC mains supplies and without having end user making changes to switch the power supply to work with their incoming power you end up using a switch mode supply and those can generate wide ranging frequency spurs depending how good the designer is. And those spurs can get into the audio signal. Hence the wall warts that are so prevelant.

[Tweakhead]

Yes, I guess it keeps the heat out of the keyboard too.
Whoever originally coined the phrase "wall wart" obviously enjoyed them as much as I do.
Did you see my cross-edited addition while you were answering ? regarding those standalone piano style units ?
Did you ever even consider one of those, or are they too cheesy ?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

Yes, I guess it keeps the heat out of the keyboard too.
Whoever originally coined the phrase "wall wart" obviously enjoyed them as much as I do.
Did you see my cross-edited addition while you were answering ? regarding those standalone piano style units ?
Did you ever even consider one of those, or are they too cheesy ?

I didn't see the edit until now. I would never ever seriously consider one of those types of keyboards. No MIDI port and the speakers are horrid especially compared to my JBL LSR308's. I need something that also works as a MIDI controller and even if one did (some use the USB port as MIDI) they don't have pitch bend and modulation wheels that I've seen.


Something I've found interesting is that for the most part rack mount sound modules have disappeared. I'm not talking about synths that can be rack mounted like my Moog Voyager Rack Mount edition. The only serious one left is the Roland Integra 7. I know there's a couple of kiddie looking type units but that's it.

[Tweakhead]

yeah, I think the days of rack units were long gone a decade ago, even for live performers. For the price of that Integra (what a terrible name, unless of course there are some die-hard Acura fans reading this) you could buy 5 of the top soft-synth bundles out there.

re Digital Pianos sounding horrible, even something like this for just sitting down and playing like a real piano and not needing to boot your DAW ?
I see it actually even has a physical MIDI I/O port.
Williams-Symphony-Grand-II

and this Yamaha CLP-735 also has MIDI

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

yeah, I think the days of rack units were long gone a decade ago, even for live performers. For the price of that Integra (what a terrible name, unless of course there are some die-hard Acura fans reading this) you could buy 5 of the top soft-synth bundles out there.

re Digital Pianos sounding horrible, even something like this for just sitting down and playing like a real piano and not needing to boot your DAW ?
I see it actually even has a physical MIDI I/O port.
Williams-Symphony-Grand-II

and this Yamaha CLP-735 also has MIDI

Thanks but no thanks. No pitch bend or mod wheels/joysticks. I need them. I actually started looking at used equipment at reverb.com and found a bunch of rack mount used stuff that could work. Looking between Roland and Kurzweil with the latter being my first choice.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by RichardBaysinger

What did you choose?

Korg Nautilus 73 key synth action synth. The RD2000 looked too much like a control panel on the Enterprise or a Tardis.

[albee1952]

My personal choice was to use a Yamaha Motif es8 as I feel it makes a very good controller. The fact that its loaded with a ton of great sounds is simply a bonus