iceman2130 wrote:I play in a band once per year. Looking for it to fit in my suit case and avoid a road case. I currently have a Yamaha P-80 that has simple click to switch sounds - Strings, Piano, Jazz Organ, E Piano. That's really all I need. The venues we play provide a piano, I just need something small for these auxiliary sounds in some tunes.
If I go with something with an iPad app - is there a latency issue? How does that work? Thanks for the replies so far everyone! I haven't gigged in about 20 years, and the tech has changed!
i've never used one of these apps in anger, but i did try the basic version of Korg Module on my iPhone just to see what it was like, and i was quite impressed: the sample quality is good and there was no noticable latency or stuttering or other audio issues. you've also got some high quality virtual instruments (pianos, organs, etc.) on iPad now. i tested with a Yamaha P-125 digital piano, which has a built-in audio interface so all you need is a USB cable (i wish Nord had this, it's so useful...), but you can buy dedicated iPad/iPhone audio interfaces that include MIDI in and audio out; you connect a MIDI controller to the MIDI in, and the audio out goes to your mixer / PA / whatever. over on the MPN forum there's a number of people who are using iPads on stage now for extra sounds. (edit to add: you can also use normal PC/Mac audio interfaces like Focusrite or Behringer with iDevices - the advantage of the dedicated iDevice ones is they're a bit smaller and use less power, so you don't need a powered USB hub.)
CountFosco wrote:Casio SA-77, Yamaha PSS-F30...never looked in this part of Thomann's keyboard range before - cool
i've seen quite a few good reviews of the newer low-end Casio keyboards - they're not the first thing that comes to mind for "professional quality sounds", but maybe it would work for what OP needs, especially if a piano sound isn't a requirement.