Conference napalm::commusic_v1

1654.0. "What would you tell a first-time buyer?" by MIZZOU::SHERMAN (socialism doesn't work ...) Mon Aug 29 1988 12:16

Gang,
    
    I was asked by a friend about what keyboard to buy.  I've generated
    a response that is general enough to possibly be of interest to
    others.  I am, of course, no expert.  I post this here so that y'all
    can respond and for my friend.  Have at ...
    
    
    Steve



There are so many keyboards available costing anywhere from $200 to $50,000 and
up that, as with a software purchase, you need to be very specific about what 
your application is before you buy.  Otherwise, the pleasure of buying a 
keyboard will be very short-lived.  So, the first advice I would give to 
anybody is to know what you're after before you go the the music store.

I've wasted/invested nearly $3300 in a system and expect to waste/invest about 
$700 more before I feal my system is 'complete', assuming such a state exists.  
It's a phenomenal amount of money, but by most standards this is very small.  
Some musicians/hobbyists invest on the order of $10K per year on new equipment.
In my case, I've been careful to select equipment that delivers high bang for 
the buck and have been able to get professional-quality sound for a fraction 
of the cost.  Also, my system represents the first three of the four major 
technologies used in electronic music which I've listed below.  It is the 
addition of the fourth that will add most of the extra cost to my system.

The four major technologies (along with representative equipment that I have
are: 

	1. Phase Distortion - this involves distorting a simple waveform

	   The sounds generated are simple and are good for special effects,
	   organs, flutes, etc.  This type of synthesis was particularly
	   popular during the '60s (the term psychedelic comes to mind).

		o CZ-101 - $250 (can be had now for about $200) - 
		  discontinued but being replaced with a new, 
		  professional-quality line at much higher price (around $1200).

	2. Frequency Modulation - this involves having oscillators modulate
			the frequencies of other oscillators

	   The sounds generated are more complex and are good for just about
	   everything except strings, saxaphones, guitars and percussion.  For 
	   this reason, FM has become very popular over the last ten years.

		o Yamaha TX-81Z - $400 (can be had for about $350) - very 
		  popular rack-mount (no keyboard, just a box that makes 
		  noise).

	3. Sampling - this involves having a sound recorded in memory and
	 		playing it back at different frequencies

	   Samplers have been in existance in one form or another for a very 
	   long time.  What has made them particularly popular over the last
	   few years has been the dramatic drop in the cost of RAMs.  I use
	   sampling to get sounds that I can't get with PD or FM (strings, 
	   saxaphones, guitars and percussion).  But, the amount of flexibility
	   is limited and the sounds tend to be percussive as the attack 
	   portions of the sounds are preserved in the recordings.

		o S-10 - $795 (can be had now for about $600) - discontinued -
		  The features of this keyboard are basically the same as the
	  	  more expensive ones costing more than twice as much.  It
		  was discontinued mostly because it uses a 2.8'' floppy drive
	 	  which is not popular.  Also, it has a four-octave keyboard
		  while the more popular keyboards are five-octave.

	4. Linear Arithmetic/wavetable lookup - this is mix of the other 
			technologies that results in a new technology

	   This technology (if I can lump it into one category) is relatively
	   new and is the obvious next step from the other technologies.
	   It involves taking samples of previous sounds and doing more
	   complex manipulation of the sounds.  If you have seen the new
	   Star Trek episodes, you've heard some LA synthesis in the 
	   background.  These sounds are very complex and intersting.
	   However, like sampling, they tend to be percussive in nature.
	   Also, because the sound generation is so complex, the sounds
	   tend to be noisy (lots of hiss).  This can be good if you want,
	   for example, a breathy flute (such as on the recent Certs 
	   commercials) or an interesting background sound (such as on
	   the recent Honda commercials).  But, it can also become quickly
	   annoying.

There are other ways to divide up the keyboards available.  There are several
good keyboards that just implement the technologies I've described.  But, the
sounds they generate sound pretty bad without some more equipment:

	1. Drum machine - this is a machine that is basically a sampler that
	   only plays drum sounds.  

		TR-505 - $279 (can be had for about $250) - there are better
		units out, but this unit has most of the popular drum sounds.

	1. Sequencer - to play or record all/most of the SGUs and other 
	   equipment in a system.

		QX5 - $450 - a very basic but powerful sequencer packing 
		    features found in machines costing more than twice as much.

	2. Mixer - to get the sounds of several SGUs (sound generating units)
	   to one stereo signal.

		Radio Shack special - $120 - it does the job and isn't noisy.

	3. Special effects - reverb, flange, chorus, delay to name a few.

		Alesis MIDIverb II - $300 - it is a high-bandwidth (20-15kHz),
			high-resolution (16 bits) stereo-output effects unit.

	4. Limiters/Compressors - mostly to avoid having a sudden attack of
	   one sound drown out the others or to avoid saturation.

		MXR Stereo Limiter - $220 - I got this used from a recording 
		studio.  New, something like this costs about $400 to $600.
		

If I were to put together a starter system today, I would get the same 
equipment except that I might get a TR-626 instead of the TR-505 just because
it has more bells and whistles.  I lucked out in getting the S-10.  For the
features it packs it's a really good deal.  But, it's getting hard to find
them now.  No other sampler even comes close as far as bang for the buck.
I've chosen to 'build' the system over time and don't plan to sell any of
my equipment.  I'll probably upgrade only as things break.  The addition I'm
planning for the system will probably be the last big addition unless something
drastic happens (not likely, IMO).  This is a departure from what most 
musicians/hobbyists do, which is probably why they spend more than I do for
comparable results.

I've chosen to go the route of getting separate pieces of equipment to satisfy
these needs.  Again, I've gone for the most bang for the buck.  Another way
to go is to get an all-in-one kind of unit.  There is a risk in doing this in
that most such units are lacking in one or another feature.  Also, they do 
not usually represent more than one technology, which can be important when
a certain type of sound is desired.  Among the popular all-in-one units today
that you might want to check out:

	o Roland D-20 - $1300 - LA 

	o Ensoniq SQ-80 - $1600 - Wavetable

	o Korg M1 - $2000 - LA

These are all MIDI (Musical Instrument Device Interface) compatible keyboards.
That means that they can talk to each other.  Everything I have is MIDI'd 
except the mixer and the limiter.  If I had to take my choice of these, I
would pick the Ensoniq SQ-80.  By the way, these prices are mail-order.  If
you go into a music store, you can expect to pay about $200 to $400 more.
But, the music store will be willing to give you more 'support' whereas
a mail-order place may be less supportive.  This is a highly debatable issue.
I've gone with mail-order for most of my equipment and bought from the music
stores when I suspected I would need the support they offered, and to keep
good contacts.

You can also take a look at non-MIDI equipment.  Musicians tend to avoid buying
anything electronic that does not support MIDI nowadays.  However, if you have
no interest in eventually having a synthesizer talk to other equipment, you
can check into the lower-end of keyboards.  Also, I might mention that most
professional keyboards do not include speakers (but there are usually headphone
outputs).  You can probably pick up a satisfactory non-MIDI keyboard for under
$500.  But, be careful as the manufacturers have all but abandoned efforts
to pack these with features that 'real' musicians would want.  Basically, if
it has MIDI, it probably is designed with the musician in mind.

One last note, with the addition of a computer, a musician need not buy a 
separate sequencer.  However, there really is little cost savings as the 
software for a computer can cost as much as a dedicated sequencer.  But, a
computer can yield greater flexibility.


Steve

    A coupla things.
    
    First, phase distortion synthesis, at least as implemented by the
    Casio CZ family does not date back to the '60s.  The CZs use an
    all digital implementation, and such hardware simply did not exist
    back then, and there is no analog analog, if you get my drift.
    '60s era synthesis was strictly analog, probably subtractive.
    
    LA synthesis is a Roland proprietary name for their form of wavetable
    synthesis.  The Korg is *not* LA, I'm sure Roland would be bulls**t
    to hear you describe it so.
    
    While virtually gone from current product offerings, subtractive
    analog is an important technology that often provides the conceptual
    basis for more "modern" synthesis techniques (e.g., both PD and
    LA synths are organized along subtractive analog lines).  But, units
    the Oberheim Matrix-1000 keep subtractive analog's hat in the ring.
    
    There's also additive synthesis, mostly from Kawai.  
            
    len.
    
    

>    < Note 1654.1 by DRUMS::FEHSKENS >
>                -< Distortion Was Big in the '60s, But NOT PD >-
>    '60s era synthesis was strictly analog, probably subtractive.
This is not correct.  Perhaps you are referring to products, which always
    lag invention.  FM was invented in the 60's, and all-digital synthesis
    (up to the output amps) waas done in the 50's as an amusement, and
    more seriously by 1964 certainly.
    Tom

    Good points.  I knew there would be holes.  I guess I left off additive
    synthesis because I was thinking of Wendy/Walter Carlos' applications.
    In my mind, additive synthesis seems like a hard, uphill battle.
    That's why I don't list it in my 'top four'.
    
    And, yeah, I apologize to Roland, seein's how I'm hoping the D-110
    will continue to drop in price.  Also, apologies to any noters who
    might feel that I imply that they spent too much for their goodies.  
    (Is it even possible? :^) )  And, if there is *anything else in the 
    world* that I should apologize for, I do herewith apologize. ;-)
    
    Steve