Nord User Forum

Hi - looking for a module (or possibly very light 37/49 key synth) to add to my Stage 3. In particular I'm looking for something primarily that can do very good horns/brass, strings, and other acoustic and orchestral sounds and such, is multitimbral w/ good polyphony ... good "synthy sounds" would be a bonus. Oh - and hopefully in $500-$700 or so US$ price range. programmability not a big requirement as long as stock sounds are good and tweakable. I've looked at Waldorf Blofeld and Yamaha MX49 - any thoughts on those or ideas for me? THANKS!

Orchestra definitely suggest Yamaha to me - I personally love the Roland JV-1080/880 modules too. Blofeld is a pure synth for the most part so I wouldn't look to it for ROMpling at all, although it might be able to do it that's not it's purpose or strength. You might also look for a smaller Korg ROMpler. I wouldn't bother buying new - there are so many decent options out there used from a decade or so ago (back when those sounds were the bread and butter of romplers) that sound as good as you'll get from a box short of a computer.

Really, which ones have acceptable sounds and which ones sound "fake" will be up to your ears - I personally can't really stand ANY romplerd orch/brass because they all sound fake, and prefer avoiding the uncanny valley entirely by going fully for synth brass-like and string-like sounds, but I find the cheesy nature of the Mellotron samples in my Stage to be equally perfect, since it's obvious it's not trying to be the real thing (to modern ears, that is - of course back in the day it was high fidelity!). I can only recommend listening online to samples for whatever's available used and at a good price in your local area, and then putting your hands on the unit yourself and making sure it's got what you're looking for. To me, they're all more or less the same nowadays, but religious wars have been fought over that sentiment.

I've used a Yamaha Motif XS Rack for years that has been a great addition to my NS2 in terms of beefing up the rompler soundset and giving me access to a wider variety of sounds. It is great, though there is complexity to using an external module (setting up External mode, sending bank and program changes, managing volume/balance, etc.). It took me a good amount of programming to make it happen, but it was a worthwhile investment.

I've recently acquired a NS3 and am going through the process to reprogram everything from the past 8 years from NS2 to NS3. Along with that, I'm working to retire my Yamaha rack module as I find the NS3 way more capable and I think it should be able to excel in ways that the NS2 could not. I'd encourage you to really maximize the capabilities of the NS3 before diving into the complexity of a separate rack/keyboard unless there's a really significant gap in sounds you need.

I bought used a Roalnd XV5080 for 500$ 8 years ago, I still use it a lot....

kbmatson wrote:Yamaha MX49

Good choice - even better if you find one used. I've got the MX61, it's so light! Sounds are a matter of taste, of course, but I like them.

Don't forget about Kurzweil, even older stuff.
In my experiences with both Kurzweil and Yamaha, I found Kurzweil to have more convincing orchestral woodwinds, strings, and plucked strings; the Yamaha counterparts have too much artificial sheen for my taste.
On the other hand, Yamaha has far better saxes and "pop" brass sections.
YMMV

ericL wrote:I'd encourage you to really maximize the capabilities of the NS3 before diving into the complexity of a separate rack/keyboard unless there's a really significant gap in sounds you need.

i have/do! I'm a Jedi of splits, layers, and switching programs rapidly in song mode LOL, so it's not about a gap in "sound" as much as an occasional gap in number of voices - eg 3,4 synth parts needed at the same time. Just want something cheap, light, good sounding, to cover those extras when needed - I can make good use of the external section!

If you’re looking for a 49-Key synth for the weight, rather than size, the Korg Kross 2- 61 is only around 8lb, about the same as the MX49. The Roland Juno-DS61 is 10lb and has many of the popular Roland string, horn and synth sounds. As a bonus, both the Kross and the Juno can run off batteries, but neither has a 49-key option.

The Roland XV is (was) very good at splits - you can design a "Performance" which assigns up to 16 parts, each having independent or overlapping low and high key limits. I have an XV-5050, which is like an XV-5080 but with fewer expansion card slots and 64-note polyphony as opposed to the 128-note polyphony of the XV-5080. If you pick up a Roland XV, in my opinion you will really need to get an SRX-07 expansion card.
One challenge is that Roland never updated the software for the XV to officially support Windows 7 and above or the latest MACs. You can do a workaround to get their software running on Windows 7 and 8, not sure about 10. I recently decided to upgrade to a Roland FA-07, which has all the XV sounds and includes a 73-key keyboard. The Roland Integra-7 module has all the same capability in terms of splits, but with more built-in sounds. The Integra includes all the sounds that were ever made available for the Roland XV, including those sounds that came on SRX expansion cards, but it will probably cost you over $1000.

The Integra has a great catalog of sounds, but none of the 2nd layer/alternate sounds (brass falls, for example) are accessible without a keyboard that can control those functions. Meaning you'd still need a 2nd midi controller with the right buttons to get access to them.