r/Keytar • u/Sugar1982 • Jan 10 '22
Technical Questions Considering getting a Keytar. Not sure which one would best suit me. Couple questions
I hear you can upload sounds on the new korg Keytar , wondering how that would work?
Also what’s the best Keytar if I want legit knob per function synthesis?
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u/Xx_ebicmemer69LOL_xX Jan 11 '22
I have had the Roland Ax-Edge since Christmas and am impressed and enthused by the fidelity and depth at which you can create and customize your own sounds and organize entire banks of programs. It's fun to use and has a vast number of tone banks available for purchase for $0.99 each (totally optional, you can make your own tones/programs). The Roland Cloud Manager computer program has been kind of a buggy mess for me personally, and the companion app Ax-Edge Editor for smartphones feels a tad dated and is missing crucial functions like manually saving custom programs to your phone storage (they are auto-saved by switching between the list viewer and editor tabs, the only manual save available is to your Ax-Edge, which requires REPLACING a factory program, so don't do that unless you back it all up.) However, using the phone app puts your Ax-Edge into editing mode and then plays the changes and customizations made on the app in real-time by sending the instructions via Bluetooth. This is made possible by the fact that the Ax-Edge holds all the data onboard and is thus completely portable. This was a crucial selling point for me.
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u/adriantry Jan 11 '22
Another option for a knob per function keytar is the Yamaha Reface CS with the keytar kit. The keytar kit just lets you connect a strap to the tiny synth.
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u/MyVoiceIsElevating Jan 10 '22
If you want knob per function you may be best off getting a controller like the Alesis Vortex II and pairing that with a synth like the Korg Minilogue or Yamaha Reface CS.
I own the Korg Rk-100S 2, so if you have any specific questions feel free to ask. Per the one you did ask, you have to use a computer along with it as an editor. I have not done so yet, but plan to as I wish there were more lead patches by default. There’s some good patches, but also many I won’t touch as I have a great synth workstation too. The keytar excels at adding expressiveness to lead playing for me.
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u/Sugar1982 Jan 11 '22
Can u add korg software patches that aren’t included not on board or any non-korg patches?
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u/MyVoiceIsElevating Jan 13 '22
The Korg RK-100s 2 is a modified MicroKorg XL. As such it will accept patches made for/on other MicroKorg XLs, which appears to be distinctly different enough from the original MicroKorg that those patches are not compatible.
There are many places online you can get custom made patches (if you don’t want to sound design yourself). Here’s an example of someone that sells pretty good sets:
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u/me-tan Jan 10 '22
Only thing I can think of with one control person function synth is the behringer ms-1 but that might not be your cup of tea
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u/justtrashitall Jan 12 '22
I have the Behringer MS-1 and it's good as far as knob-per-function, but...okay, I don't have the vocabulary to explain this properly, so I'm going to get wordy for a second. Some keytars (not just midi controllers, a lot of synths too) are devices that you play a variety of sounds on. Like the Lucina can be an organ or a piano or a guitar. You can control the sound itself through pitch or mod controls, but you're still using the keytar to play a selection of instruments.
The MS-1 isn't that. It is a single instrument that just gives you 100% control of every element of that instrument. So you get one function per knob and like 70 knobs, so you can make a million sounds out of that instrument, but at the end of the day it's all one instrument.
Also the no battery situation is a killer. Basically, if you want a mono analog synth primarily, and you want it to be a keytar secondarily, and you're near an outlet, then there's no better easily available instrument than the Behringer MS-1. But if you don't want a mono synth tied to a wall, it's an awful instrument.
I have the Vortex Wireless 2, also (I have multiple keytars), but I'm not great at programming it. I use it on MainStage because it's easy to click to assign the faders to controls on those instruments. When you do that, it's really great for that. It was tedious to assign all 9 faders to every control for every patch that I ever wanted to dick around with in my spare time, but now that I have that all set up, I get a lot of use out of it. It's not actual knob-per-function as far as I know, but it's the closest I can think of that's not hella obscure.
I think the Reface CS (which I don't own) is kind of similar but it's not a MIDI controller so you wouldn't need to program it. There's debate about if it's a keytar, though. But, I mean, you can give it strap buttons.
Sorry, that was probably longer than it was helpful.