Keyboard/synth for a shoegazey family at distance project

ewal

Long story... But me and my daughter are talking about a music project we've dabbled with for a while. She lives in London, I live up here, and we are at the early stages of collaborating at distance. We plan to book a cottage somewhere over summer and write and record together.

She plays trumpet and I do everything else, but her main band has recently folded and she's a little down. So I'm thinking she needs a new role in our project and she'd be great at coming up with keyboard parts if she had the equipment.

She's not much in to DAWs, VSTs etc, so I reckon a standalone keyboard/synth would be a nice new interest for her. Would need to be budget/ beginner level (from programming perspective, she knows how to play piano) and portable so she can bring it with her and her trumpet on our music holiday.

We theoretically do shoegazey (me) in to cooler indie territory stuff (her) - Stereolab etc. Something capable of producing combo organ type sounds would fit the bill. Maybe some drenched pad stuff too.

I know nothing about keyboards beyond midi controller type tools. Any suggestions?

PS: Never know what forum section to use for threads like this.

Shark_Eyes

The Yamaha reface series get a good rep and I've loved playing them in stores. Easy to understand and not massive size, they could be the answer. I'm 90% sure they do an organ one, but my personal fave is the CS version, pads and synth brass galore!

stickyfiddle

Roland VR730 is good for organs in particular. 

They used to do a smaller version as well that is probably plenty for your purposes 

ewal

The Yamaha Reface series looks an interesting and fun option, also works price and size wise. Although maybe not so good versatility wise. Roland VR730 looks great, but too big and over budget.

stickyfiddle

The smaller one is the VR-09 - still available new and I'd guess under 400 for a used one. 

Roland VR-09 V-Combo B – United Arab Emirates 

Sporky

Shoegaze-with-trumpet makes me think of *shels.

Not sure if it's already been suggested, but a workstation sort of thing might be a good bet. I liked my Yamaha SY-85 a lot. 

ewal

Shoegaze with trumpet works! I'll share a snippet at some point!

ewal

I then realised that's the name of a band:-) Will give them a listen!

monquixote

The Refaces are great. 

I had the CS which is really fun and probably the best way of learning how to use a synth as everything is on the front panel with no menus.

The only frustration is that it doesn't have a sequencer you can't record a pattern and then jam over it. And for shoegaze no reverb! (Although you can use guitar pedals)

Another option in a similar form factor (although no speakers) is the Modal Cobalt 5S which can sometimes be found very inexpensively.

If your budget is bigger one of the Roland Zencore synths would be a good buy and can do basically anything to a good standard (although will more more menu heavy as a result)

If you want to make songs and sketches without a DAW a simple groovebox like the Circuit Tracks is a great bet and super simple to learn.

Here is a fun video of Jay Hosking using the Reface CS with the Circuit Tracks 

monquixote

Also have a look at the Uno Synth Pro as that's crazy cheap and has a Fatar keybed.

Only 3 notes of polyphony though.

ewal

Thanks for the suggestions! There's just so much gear out there. It's really helpful to have a few starting points.

Sporky

ewal said:

Shoegaze with trumpet works! I'll share a snippet at some point!

I didn't mean otherwise - *shels are a great band. Plain Of The Purple Buffalo is a superb album. 

stickyfiddle

If you want small there’s also the cute little Roland modules - they do a whole bunch you can either use with a midi controller or their own attachable mini-keyboard 

ewal

And a little un-mixed version of us playing about with the shoegaze with trumpet on lead idea at Christmas. Yet to drench to trumpet in suitable levels of reverb 

https://on.soundcloud.com/BBYR9aTLxU5PEsZ8A

ewal

stickyfiddle said:

If you want small there’s also the cute little Roland modules - they do a whole bunch you can either use with a midi controller or their own attachable mini-keyboard 

Something like the Roland MC-101?

PeteBo

Arturia Minifreak is a good one and has a sequencer type thingy which can be handy. it's very tweakble with old style knobs rather than just menus.
obviously you're going to get as many answers as there are respondents to this type of question

monquixote

ewal said:

stickyfiddle said:

If you want small there’s also the cute little Roland modules - they do a whole bunch you can either use with a midi controller or their own attachable mini-keyboard 

Something like the Roland MC-101?

I would go with a Circuit Tracks over an MC-101.

A lot of the Roland stuff is on paper massively capable, but an exercise in menu diving misery.

If you have an iPad something like Koala or Loopy Pro is amazingly fun for just recording yourself and playing with loops etc.

ewal

Definitely not a fan of menu diving or convoluted controls etc. Knobs, sliders and switches please!

stickyfiddle

ewal said:

stickyfiddle said:

If you want small there’s also the cute little Roland modules - they do a whole bunch you can either use with a midi controller or their own attachable mini-keyboard 

Something like the Roland MC-101?

No - I was thinking the JU-06A. They do a whole bunch of them recreating old Roland synths 

according tot the guy in the Roland shop when I demoed one, they’re all just buttons and knobs and sliders like the old ones but with MIDI and presets 

prowla

The Behringer Minimoog clone is great.

Basher

I've just bought a Yamaha CK-88 "stage" keyboard and think it's fantastic.

Really well designed user interface with almost everything adjustable from the front panel, including some funky drawbars for use with the organ models. The sounds are great focussed on piano, electric piano and the organs from the Reface YC. Lots of other sounds too with plenty of synth pads.

There's a CK-61, identical engine but with a shorter, 61 key keyboard with a lighter action than the CK-88 weighted action that's quite a bit cheaper and very light, so quite portable.

I thought of you because of the excellent organs, including Vox and Farfisa transistor models which, along with the electric pianos will give plenty of Stereolab type tones. The effects section is great too with loads of options so you can drench those pads in reverbs, delay, phaser etc. for the ambient sounscape thing.

Obviously it can be used as a master keyboard for playing VSTs and suchlike and it has USB and midi connections and there's bluetooth so you can stream backing tracks, lessons etc. with it. 

The clincher for me is that they have built-in speakers!
Although these are traditionally the province of home "arranger" keyboards (no drums or cheesy rhumba backings here!) they are, for me, a game changer as I can just power the keyboard up and play (I bought it to learn keys) without having to arse about with booting up the PC and loading a VST. They're only loud enough for home practice or very quiet rehearsals but they're great to have, IMO.