MOTUnation.com

Recently my 88 key controller just went haywire, and since it was off warranty, it would cost me a couple hundred bucks to send it off, maybe get fixed, evaluated, etc. So, I decided to get a brand new keyboard. There's now a Yamaha Motf 88 and a Roland something that both have 128 voice polyphony, good sounds, and are both workstations. I went to a nearby "Guitar Center" and played them both. Even though the Roland was easy to use, I didn't like the "feel" of the keyboard. I went with the Yamaha and have been "playing" with it for the past few days.

The main reason I'm writing this is to make the observation that my computer samples now "play" better with my new keyboard than they did before. I was perpetually looking for a better piano samples because none "worked" right. I thought the problems I was having had to do with the large memory requirements of some of the sample instruments (synthogy, etc.). In particular, fast repeated notes would have weird spikes. I would play jazz solos, and unplanned notes would spike out in volume. I thought this was just the nature of the beast. It turns out that all my sample instruments are "playing better" with my new yamaha keyboard than they ever did with my old controller. So, the moral of the story is that the actual controller affects the sound of these virtual instruments sometimes as much as the actual quality of the virtual instruments!

Yea, that's hugely important. I will fuss with curves until they really feel like they are responding the way I want. I don't compare it to a real piano (in my case), rather I just set up the range of soft & loud and then how I want the shape of all points in between to feel. Trial & error galore.

It sounds like your controller also had some contact issues, or just the bouncing of the keys with repeated notes was interfering with the response.

Congrats on the new rig. You might still be able to sell your broken one for a decent price.

I like the Yamaha weighted keyboard action, too. My main axe is an S90ES.

I've been using a Casio PX5s for the last few months with DP and, among other things, I really the action. My Kurzweil PC88mx has been sitting in a corner for a while. Time to sell it, I think. No aftertouch on the Casio, however, and no expression pedal input. I've got that covered with a MIDI controller pedal.


Frank Ferrucci