module/keyboard/synth

hey, im lookin at replacing my edirol pcr m-50 midi keyboard for somethin with some built in sounds so that i can break my laptop and not worry about having nothin to play over my samples aha. i initially thought of just gettin a racksynth and midi'in it up (korg ms2000r was my first idea) now im leaning towards somethin with some multisampled pianos, strings etc. ive come to the conclusion that perhaps i want a synth with sampled waveforms? thoughts? any models you guys recommend? atm my first choice is looking like it will be the roland xp-50 as ive heard some fair sounds come out of it but i have no first hand experience of it, does anyone have any input on this particular synth or any other keys in the xp series? thanks

I have Roland JV-2080 with Piano, Hip Hop, Asia and Special FX expansion cards.
Cost me 250e + 120e of the cards (~ $480). It does the job, when sketching a tune.
Lots of usable organ/E.piano sounds, quality synth strings, bass and pads.

I prefer to sample best organ parts to MPC and do all the synth parts using Ableton as a sound module.

But I use Edirol PCR-500 midi keyboard to play all that stuff...

thanks for the replies so far, i was interested in a motif but im put of by how widely used they are, i like to have somethin that, although many people will ofcourse have, is a little less common within the hip hop community. i just think that the differences in workflow and interaction with other units will make it easier to craft "my sound". ive heard many good things about the JV, the rack version goes super cheap!!! may just snatch on of those... i am interested in the m 50 but its probably just above what im hoping to spend atm, yeah i dont need to be able to sample my own sounds really tbh i just want somethin that is loaded with some pre-sampled waveforms in the stock package, anyways thanks for the help and keep 'em comin if anyone has anythin to add, peace

PS: ive actually began considering the motif now just for the sounds, however i'd have to get the rack unit as its a long way outa my price range, my electric bill will be huge!

If you're mainly looking for pianos, strings... i think you should get a motif rack. I used to have a JV 1010(same sound as the 1080 but you need a computer to edit the presets). It was ok for acoustic pianos, didn't really like strings and rhodes. You can also look at the e-mu modules(proteus 2000 for example), but from what i've heard in this price range the motif is the best for acoustic sounds.

I think it's better value to get a sampler and use library sounds... can also use it for drums... [most hw samplers will give you fatter drums right off the bat]
S Series Akai samplers have loads of cd roms with pianos and strings that sound alot more interesting than what you get from all those stale romplers..
Emus also have a good library of those kinds of sounds.
...With a sampler ... especially like an ensoniq... you can get amazing results sampling single notes from vinyl and playing them across the keyboard/range.
....With that said, the main advantage of a hw rompler is instant/faster loading of (s*it) default sounds

maximum robot wrote:I have Roland JV-2080 with Piano, Hip Hop, Asia and Special FX expansion cards.

Same here...but it's the JV-1080 w/ hip hop & vintage synth cards that I love using. I like to mix things up a bit, so I find myself rotating between older and more recent models of different modules/samplers to get the sounds I'm looking for.

I found that no matter how often I try to put away the JV, it keeps calling out to be used for something.

are all the sounds on the JV synths or are some synthisised sounds from sampled acoustic waveforms? thanks for the replys, keep em comin if anyone has more suggestions

I'm pretty sure pianos, strings... are sampled.