A universal keyboard

[Lionelsax]

Hi !

I've "played" keyboard for quite thirty years but I've never been really into it except this last decade.
I used to play figured bass during my years of studies, I wasn't technically good at all.
But these last decades, piano is the instrument I play the most, comping songs, sometimes I play one or two standards.
Last year someone wanted a cheap piano and I sold him my digital piano that gave me headaches.
So I bought something else, something else.
I think it's a good instrument if you plug it into an amp.
It's a Studiologic Numa Compact X SE, I wanted serious organ sounds and decent piano sounds.
Has someone ever played it ?

[2bornot2bop]

No. But I was in the market for a new digital after spending 20 years on my Yamaha S90ES, which had some great organs on it. I desired something more modern with great piano sounds too, so ended up buying a Yamaha Montage M8X. 88 keys with the finest keybed of any digital ever built. Just like a real piano.

[Lionelsax]

No. But I was in the market for a new digital after spending 20 years on my Yamaha S90ES, which had some great organs on it. I desired something more modern with great piano sounds too, so ended up buying a Yamaha Montage M8X. 88 keys with the finest keybed of any digital ever built. Just like a real piano.

Yes, great instruments, for the price if they don't sound good... That's obvious they are good !
I'm used to playing on very good keyboard, even if they organ sounds are good it's not so funny to play them with weighted keys, the playing is just limited or frustrating, that doesn't react the way it should.
The keyboard I'm talking about is very light, the keys are between the two worlds, you really can play the organ on.
You can bring it everywhere you want and for the price, it's good for those who don't know what to play, a piano or an organ.
It's clearly not a Hammond clone but it's better than many keyboards I tried.
It offers what many manufacturers don't, except Nord.
Nord is maybe one of the best keyboard manufacturers nowadays but they are too expensive.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

The keyboard I'm talking about is very light, the keys are between the two worlds, you really can play the organ on. You can bring it everywhere you want and for the price, it's good for those who don't know what to play

...or how to play it. You can't get realistic acoustic piano sound or feel without fully weighted action. But weighted, progressive action gets in the way of a realistic B3 experience. Organ keys and piano keys respond to touch very differently, and the way they work is integral to the sounds of the instruments. B3 keys have multiple actions, and the notes do not get louder if you strike the keys harder. They're even shaped differently - the free ends are rounded so you can sweep across them with your palm for a classic jazz organ sound. Piano keys have relatively sharp overhangs. You can't do the palm sweep as smoothly on a weighted keyboard with piano style keys.

Piano keys have only one action and notes get louder with increasing strike force. Organ notes have a rapid rise time and remain equally loud as long as the key is pressed. Piano keys have a less steep rise that changes in response to strike force. Even with the sustain pedal depressed, the notes decay. These and many other mechanical factors shape the way pianos and organs sound.

The same barriers exist for any synthesized or sampled instrument played on another platform. For example, saxophone phrasing, articulation, note separation, definition, envelope, etc are all difficult to mimic from a keyboard, guitar, or other controller because the interplay of breath, reed, mouthpiece, embouchure, resonant tube, and keys is so different from striking a key, plucking a string, blowing into an electronic transducer etc.

If you know how to play the instrument to be mimed, you can overcome many of these limitations. But the basic roadblocks remain. So-called semiweighted keyboard action is always a compromise that's audible in both piano and organ simulations. If you understand the many differences, you can overcome some of them and ameliorate others. But semiweighted keys are jacks of all playing and masters of none.

[Lionelsax]

...or how to play it. You can't get realistic acoustic piano sound or feel without fully weighted action. But weighted, progressive action gets in the way of a realistic B3 experience. Organ keys and piano keys respond to touch very differently, and the way they work is integral to the sounds of the instruments. B3 keys have multiple actions, and the notes do not get louder if you strike the keys harder. They're even shaped differently - the free ends are rounded so you can sweep across them with your palm for a classic jazz organ sound. Piano keys have relatively sharp overhangs. You can't do the palm sweep as smoothly on a weighted keyboard with piano style keys.

Piano keys have only one action and notes get louder with increasing strike force. Organ notes have a rapid rise time and remain equally loud as long as the key is pressed. Piano keys have a less steep rise that changes in response to strike force. Even with the sustain pedal depressed, the notes decay. These and many other mechanical factors shape the way pianos and organs sound.

The same barriers exist for any synthesized or sampled instrument played on another platform. For example, saxophone phrasing, articulation, note separation, definition, envelope, etc are all difficult to mimic from a keyboard, guitar, or other controller because the interplay of breath, reed, mouthpiece, embouchure, resonant tube, and keys is so different from striking a key, plucking a string, blowing into an electronic transducer etc.

If you know how to play the instrument to be mimed, you can overcome many of these limitations. But the basic roadblocks remain. So-called semiweighted keyboard action is always a compromise that's audible in both piano and organ simulations. If you understand the many differences, you can overcome some of them and ameliorate others. But semiweighted keys are jacks of all playing and masters of none.

That's the point, you can modulate your system by adding another keyboard, using it only or not like an interface.
For people who play like me nothing and everything, like you said. It's a good compromise.
Since I plugged it into my QSC CP8 I've been really into organ sounds, that's something. Other sounds are good like electric pianos even acoustic ones only if you mix them a little bit with an electric.
That's not Yamaha sounds at all for acoustic pianos.