Here is one of the questions that has no real answer, but perhaps will provide some ideas for me to look at. On other forums (lookin’ at you gslutz), this would be met with some, umm, cynicism, and probably rightly so. But people here are definitely a cut above.
Ultimately, this is really just a thinly disguised excuse to buy a synthesizer, so I think everyone can get on board with this. It would be cool, though, if it resulted in a synth that meets some desires/expectations.
I share synth duties at my church and would like to supplement the keyboard with some different sounds. The music at our church probably can be described as “pop” in sound for the most part (think Chris Tomlin style for those into this genre). It is piano driven (very nice 7 foot Yamaha grand). A small orchestra sometimes (trumpet, trombone, French horn, a couple violins, clarinet). And a pretty decent Yamaha drum kit to keep things in sync. My wife plays the drums and is much cooler than I am (worthless bit of data here but just sayin’ in case she reads this).
The keyboard at the church is a Yamaha S90 XS (88 keys, weighted, old motif type sounds). I helped pick it out some years ago, so even though I am not a fan of it now, I can’t really complain. The synth player is really mostly expected to play big pad chords and fill in the base (and bass) sound behind everything. I sometimes bring in my Prophet 6 and use that to provide a different sound than what the S90 can do. I always end up just setting the P6 by my side but slightly out of reach and using MIDI to play it from the Yamaha S90. There really isn’t enough space to do anything different. And changing up the workflow isn’t practical given that it is a shared duty and the other synth players (while excellent musicians) are not really into the technical side of keyboards.
So the ideal synth would be some kind of smaller desktop style module that is portable and can do nice pads. My Prophet 6 is pretty great for this, but there are shortcomings. First, the keyboard version is not helping me in this environment. Plus I think it confuses most people in the church. WHY DOES HE HAVE THAT KEYBOARD THERE AND NEVER PLAY IT? The black magic of MIDI is beyond the average person as it turns out). But it also does make the transport that much more difficult (remember that I am looking for a synth buying excuse here). But there is also the tuning issue. I’m not sure if my P6 has issues, but this last week was a good of example of it being a PITA. We had a practice on Wednesday. And it was tricky to get tuned to the piano. I ended up working with it after (using a tuner app on my phone) and realized it the pitch wheel was whacked out. I recalibrated that and got it back to where it needed to be. Then on Sunday, I had to recalibrate the synth at the start of practice. And by the end of practice, it was off again. I ran the recalibration again and got it back on pitch. And I tested after the service and it was still on pitch ... but yikes. That is more pressure than I need. I don’t have a good ear for pitch and so don’t know if the keyboard is off while I am playing, but the other musicians there do. They are professionals (as in they make their living as musicians). I am a software engineer ... ‘nuf said.
So that entire previous paragraph was meant to convey my reticence with using an old school analog synth in this situation. I want something that I can be sure is going to be spot on with respect to tuning. But ... I really want someone to explain to me why the new Prophet 10 module is the exact one I need and won’t have this problem.
You can see where my desires lead me.
So some of the basic needs/wants/requirements driving this:
- Portable, keyboard not useful, so desktop/module unit
- Pads are the main need. Perhaps a monster pipe organ sound for a hymn but not required.
- Fit in with my P6 at home and my Nord Stage 88
- Lots of blinking lights to look cool (hehe - just kidding ... well okay I do like lights)
I am, of course, really thinking that I want some kind of Sequential/DSI type of synth. I so love the sounds. Things I have looked at:
- P12 module. I better hurry. Can I still get one?
- P10 rev4. Mmmmmm. But will it have tuning issues in the middle of a church service?
- Rev2 module. This seems like a solid choice.
- Access Virus. Some of the pad sounds are pretty nice. But Armin Van Buuren doesn’t go to my church.
- John Bowen Solaris module. The idea of this is super cool. The sounds I have heard don’t inspire me. But ... man this seems so super cool. Did I say super cool already? But it kind of sounds like my old Yamaha DX7.
- Nord Wave 2 desktop. Sadly, this doesn’t exist. I do like Nord products, though.
- Sequential OB6. Wow this would be great, but I’m not sure it would fit in our church style. Maybe?
- Your choice here. What would you recommend?