What keyboard/synth would you recommend?

[Knoopdog]

First post ever. Feels...neat.

Anyway, a good friend and I are working on writing music for an "almost complete" metal band. Not metalcore or any of that Attack Attack nonsense, but legitimate metal and rock. Think Blind Guardian and Helloween.

However, the (frankly excellent) keys player we recruited doesn't currently own a portable keyboard/synthesizer, but may be given money for one as a birthday gift so...

What keyboard or synthesizer, Escapist Community, would you recommend for a player around 8 years experience?

(Keep in mind that the cheaper, the better)

Thanks, all

 

[KaWaiiTSuKI]

Hm... well I'm no expert on keyboards but I use a Casio WK 500 and it's great for the things I like to play. Not sure if that would be good for you but it's got a lot of sounds and stuffs on it and it's considered a "workstation" so that might help a bit.

If not, Casio's always a good option.

 

[Zandarck]

Well kinda depends what you want to do. Do you want to create sounds like soundscapes, stabs and trance related sounds? If so, get a synth. WIth those you also have the learning curve of wavetables and understanding how sounds work and how they're created.

If you want preset sounds of "real" instruments then get a keyboard. Organ, piano, etc.

If you want to go for a synth, I'd probably say the MicroKorgXL is a good place to start. If not, then grab a keyboard, but seeing as I'm not familiar with them, I can't suggest one sorry.

 

[Knoopdog]

I'd say the extent of crazy sounds we'd be reaching towards is any synth you might find on an In Flames album or Blind Guardian song, ala "Only for the Weak" or "Turn the Page" respectively. Anything that can do stuff like below and play a solid piano tone is pure gold to us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dupfXQo269M&feature=fvst

Thanks for the name of that Casio. Looks really solid for the price (and what a price). As for the MicroKorg, I think a buddy of mine (who's in his own band) may use the same thing. I'll have to convince him to give me a demo some time.

Thanks again