Which brand is good, for metal? I have heard amazing things about Korg, *of course* and Kimball, and also Roland

Im hoping for purchase in the future

CorpulentCripple wrote:

Which brand is good, for metal? I have heard amazing things about Korg, *of course* and Kimball, and also Roland

Im hoping for purchase in the future

i use a Korg X5.

its the same keyboard that Mustis uses from Dimmu Borgir

Thats a sensitive subject. Synths aren't like guitars and drums. It doesn't make sense to limit yourself to one brand of hardware. They all have signature sounds that add together to form your collection.

A good alternative (and a very cheap one) is going the software route.

I'm currently using about 8 different software synths. They generally cost about $50-$150 each (which is several hundred less than software) and there are many software ports of classic analog synths that a lot of metal bands are using.

Couple a few good software synths with a good MIDI controller and you've got everything you'll ever need for less than $300!

CorpulentCripple wrote:

Which brand is good, for metal? I have heard amazing things about Korg, *of course* and Kimball, and also Roland

Im hoping for purchase in the future

What's your budget and what sound are you trying to get?

Do you want a keyboard for playing live or gigging with, or just to put down some tracks for recording in home/studio?

If you're just looking for something to add a bit of background type synth work when recording with a computer at home, you probably just want a cheap controller and preferably a PC that is used only for your music work with some softsynths. Depending on what you want to play, you may want a velocity/weighted keyboard or not. Generally ignore the non-weighted and go for a semi-weight unless you are playing keyboard lines which are sophisticated and use a lot of accents and so on, then you may want a fully weighted keyboard. Or just go with what feel you like. Fully weights feel most like a normal acoustic piano. It depends on whether the keyboard is like a featured instrument or is just being used to add in some background noise.

If you want something to tour or play live, or record live, etc, you will want something a bit more rugged and sophisticated. You may be interested in a Roland Juno Stage synth. It's around $1300 US new. Check out the Roland Juno series, there are some <$1000 options. Of course Korg have some similar options as well, you may be interested in the M50 which is around $1000-$1300 new, depending on how many keys you want.

After you've got a decent keyboard sorted, if you want to add in other sounds it just a case of MIDIing in a computer with softsynths or getting a dedicated sample box, some which specialize in certain sounds, or I think with the Juno you can edit sounds on an editor on the PC and then just upload them. Interfacing a keyboard with computer can be pretty finnicky. While it may appear cheaper, at the same time you may want to get a PC designated for the job, not the same one you use for general use. Otherwise you have the experience of things like the computer going online to do updates or virusscans or performing some service at an inappropriate time.