Haven't been back to this thread in a few days, and there seems to be a few recurring themes. One is about the weight of the Mx8 making it unsuitable for gigging. I've noticed that a lot of guys may have an 88 at home and then bring a 6 or 7 keyboard to gigs because it's more portable. You don't get weighted action with most manufacturers, but life is ever the exercise in trade offs.
That said, and with apologies to real keyboard players everywhere, I came to keys late in life after decades of gigging as a singer / guitarist, and back in the days when dragging Marshall 4x12 cabs, 100 watt amps, etc. was still a thing. So perhaps I can be forgiven for having little sympathy for keyboard players who complain about the weight of their gear. Unless you have a real B3 and Leslie. I've moved those suckers, so feel free to whine if you gig with one. I'll whine right along with you.
The original post about people selling M8xs isn't really surprising. As a guitarist, I'm well acquainted with gear churn. I can't imagine it would be any different with keyboard players. "Ooh, look - shiny!" Buys product A. Then product B comes out. "Ooh, look - shiny!" Wife says no more budget, you want B, A's gotta go. Such is life as a musician with limited disposable income. Also, as one of the guys pointed out, many of these listings are dealers and / or part time gear traders. All of this makes me reluctant to accept the premise that people are "already dumping" a keyboard that stores can't even keep in stock. But of course, this is just my speculation since I obviously don't know what the facts really are.
As for Montage not being suited to the studio, I think that depends on the breed of studio rat that you happen to be. I own a Kronos, a Fantom and an M8x, and I don't gig anymore, so I'm the definition of a part time studio rat (we can discuss my preferences in cheese some other time). For me, all three are suited to studio use, because the centerpiece of my workflow is a DAW. The M has best in class support for Cubase, so that's a convenience for me, but when I want to do anything but sound design or play keys, I'm sitting in front of a computer, not a keyboard.
I suspect the intent of that observation was for people who want a DAW-less setup, and should that be the case I doubt they'd use a Montage, Kronos or Fantom since it's an afterthought for all three. From what I've seen, they typically go in the direction of hardware dedicated to a DAW-less workflow, such as an MPC or other such things. Consequently, I don't believe this is a shortcoming of the Montage, it's a weakness inherent in all flagship keyboards. For the many, many studio rats out there who are DAW-centric, the Montage is as good as any other keyboard in this regard, because you're going to use it as an instrument, not as a computer substitute.
As for computer science degrees, I've been paying the bills as a software developer since the late 80s (and I don't even have a degree!). Even in the 70s, everyone knew that if you were a keyboard player, you had to have some geek chops. It's an instrument with a lot of technical power, so every keyboard player on the planet should have RTFM tattooed on their posterior.
And yet, I've owned a Kronos (which currently has the geekiest, clumsiest interface of all synth manufacturers) since 2018, and I've done shockingly little geekness on it. I've been trying to build keyboard chops, so instead of doing sound design or sequencing on it, I've just pressed a button on a sound I liked and played the instrument. No degree required. I submit that it's even easier to do that with the latest Montage given all their UI and usability improvements. Just because there are a lot of things you can twiddle under the hood doesn't mean that you have to do so in order to enjoy playing the instrument. And I think that's what a lot of people tend to forget. At the end of the day, the Montage is not a computer. It's a musical instrument that just happens to speak computer as a second language.
And for those who don't yet know me, all the above is offered in the best of spirits, even when I make fun of my legitimate keyboard playing brethren for complaining about things like lugging around their tiny little keyboards.![:)]( "Smile")
That said, and with apologies to real keyboard players everywhere, I came to keys late in life after decades of gigging as a singer / guitarist, and back in the days when dragging Marshall 4x12 cabs, 100 watt amps, etc. was still a thing. So perhaps I can be forgiven for having little sympathy for keyboard players who complain about the weight of their gear. Unless you have a real B3 and Leslie. I've moved those suckers, so feel free to whine if you gig with one. I'll whine right along with you.
The original post about people selling M8xs isn't really surprising. As a guitarist, I'm well acquainted with gear churn. I can't imagine it would be any different with keyboard players. "Ooh, look - shiny!" Buys product A. Then product B comes out. "Ooh, look - shiny!" Wife says no more budget, you want B, A's gotta go. Such is life as a musician with limited disposable income. Also, as one of the guys pointed out, many of these listings are dealers and / or part time gear traders. All of this makes me reluctant to accept the premise that people are "already dumping" a keyboard that stores can't even keep in stock. But of course, this is just my speculation since I obviously don't know what the facts really are.
As for Montage not being suited to the studio, I think that depends on the breed of studio rat that you happen to be. I own a Kronos, a Fantom and an M8x, and I don't gig anymore, so I'm the definition of a part time studio rat (we can discuss my preferences in cheese some other time). For me, all three are suited to studio use, because the centerpiece of my workflow is a DAW. The M has best in class support for Cubase, so that's a convenience for me, but when I want to do anything but sound design or play keys, I'm sitting in front of a computer, not a keyboard.
I suspect the intent of that observation was for people who want a DAW-less setup, and should that be the case I doubt they'd use a Montage, Kronos or Fantom since it's an afterthought for all three. From what I've seen, they typically go in the direction of hardware dedicated to a DAW-less workflow, such as an MPC or other such things. Consequently, I don't believe this is a shortcoming of the Montage, it's a weakness inherent in all flagship keyboards. For the many, many studio rats out there who are DAW-centric, the Montage is as good as any other keyboard in this regard, because you're going to use it as an instrument, not as a computer substitute.
As for computer science degrees, I've been paying the bills as a software developer since the late 80s (and I don't even have a degree!). Even in the 70s, everyone knew that if you were a keyboard player, you had to have some geek chops. It's an instrument with a lot of technical power, so every keyboard player on the planet should have RTFM tattooed on their posterior.
And yet, I've owned a Kronos (which currently has the geekiest, clumsiest interface of all synth manufacturers) since 2018, and I've done shockingly little geekness on it. I've been trying to build keyboard chops, so instead of doing sound design or sequencing on it, I've just pressed a button on a sound I liked and played the instrument. No degree required. I submit that it's even easier to do that with the latest Montage given all their UI and usability improvements. Just because there are a lot of things you can twiddle under the hood doesn't mean that you have to do so in order to enjoy playing the instrument. And I think that's what a lot of people tend to forget. At the end of the day, the Montage is not a computer. It's a musical instrument that just happens to speak computer as a second language.
And for those who don't yet know me, all the above is offered in the best of spirits, even when I make fun of my legitimate keyboard playing brethren for complaining about things like lugging around their tiny little keyboards.
Statistics: Posted by ChrisDuncan — Mon Aug 05, 2024 3:38 pm