Korg Forums

[marton]

Hello,

First post but I've been reading the Kronos forum pretty regularly for a while in anticipation of buying one someday.

I have a live controller question for people and I'd appreciate anyone who has other ideas or models I've overlooked.

For some live gigging I will be doing, I have a need to do some "piano" playing. This is an 80s pop type "piano" so imagine Peter Gabriel and CP-70s with chorus and delay FX. Piano only, no synth sounds BUT I plan to stack stuff on top of the keyboard such as a MicroKorg and an iPad with a NanoPad to get synth sounds. The change over between bands is pretty quick so I want to be able to stack everything on top and just roll it out. I've got a Yamaha P50M module for the piano sound and then a Line6 M9 for the effects so I only need MIDI out with sustain pedal. I don't care about the sound abilities or non-abilities of the keyboard.

I've looked at a Roland MKB (nice deep top and wooden keys), a Kurzweil K250 (might have to build a box over the top of the slanted interface) and a Roland RD250 but I'm nervous about complaining I've seen about the RD250 contacts giving out over time. Newer RDs seem to have a similar design and there was a Rhodes re-badging of the RDs as well, I think. I looked at a K1000 online but I don't think it is deep enough.

Seems like all these boards have a nice deep depth to them which would facilitate rolling the whole thing out quickly with the gear stacked on top of it. Another thought was a trashed Rhodes or CP-70 that I could gut and put a 76 or 73 note controller inside where the original keyboard was but that seems like a lot of work just to get a nice platform to put other gear on (but it would up the stage vibe value....). I don't want to deal with the tuning and lugging of a real CP-70, BTW.

Any other thoughts or models I'm missing? I know I'm going cheaper here but that's because I don't want to risk something newer and nice getting dinged up in a live setting.

Thanks.

Matt

[billbaker]

Thoughts:

A "gutted Rhodes or CP" is a... well, it's a box; a cool vintage looking heavy-as-$#!+ box and provides no advantage in mobility I can think of.

You could do a quick roll out with an X stand easier, and cheaper.

-- or --

Build your own "coffin" for a controller, you can make it light-weight, choose the optimum depth and paint it psychedelic-bus style without guilt.

Put a string of recessed LED lights underneath so it looks like it's floating on blue light. Talk to a theater guy/chick about masking it or giving it stage "weight". Stonehenge!!

------------

For what its worth I've found QUICK to be a function of planning more than equipment selection. I can go from box/cases to 2 keyboards on a stand + monitor, sub-mix, mic and DI (self-contained keyboard rig) in just under 5 minutes from "go" to "ready for downbeat"... less if my gear is out of the cases.

My signal cables are labeled or color-coded and snaked. My power lines are pugged in to multi-tap and stored that way - also snaked. DI and submixer stored together with power adapter and necessary cable. That pre-planning reduces 7 pieces of gear that include 5 signal cables, 3 power cables, mic, monitor, and F-O-H connections to just 3 prepackaged units that are set up the same way every time we play.

Sound guys appreciate the connections being in the same place every time.

If you aren't doing at least some of this already you need to start; you'll be surprised how fast stuff starts coming together.


BB
_________________
billbaker

Triton Extreme 88, Triton Classic Pro, Trinity V3 Pro
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