The term "synthesizer' covers a broad range of boards. Some synthesizers are not suitable for piano playing and the like. But a keyboard like Fantom or Montage (which are also synthesizers) are fully capable of covering a full range of acoustic and electronic instrument sounds.I've been watching synthesizer videos and realized they're mostly used for electronic music. I mainly play acoustic pop classics like "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Make You Feel My Love," "Hallelujah," "Let It Be," etc.
Sometimes. But the advantage of more parts isn't just layering. It's also splitting different sounds across the keyboard, or using some parts to play backing tracks or sounds triggered externally (from a sequencer or another keyboard), or being able to bring different parts in while playing (e.g. a MODX performance might have 8 sounds in it, but it doesn't mean you're playing all 8 sounds all the time... which ones are sounding can depend on things like which notes you're playing, which scene you've activated, where your various part volume controls are).The CK can layer up to three sounds. Do people layer more than that?
I'd sum it up this way: Philosophically, the CK is about making it as easy as possible to do the things most people most often need to do. The MODX/Montage/Fantom are about letting you do almost anything you could imagine... but the trade-off is that doing those "things most people most often need to do" is more complicated than on the board that is designed specifically to do those fewer things much more easily.And what advantages do the Montage, MODX, or Fantom have over the CK?
But everything is a generalization. Locating and selecting your favorite sounds from the MODX/Montage/Fantom touchscreen is easier than navigating the screen of the CK, for example. Or for another example of what might be an unexpected roadblock on a more limited board, I recently wanted to do a combination on the CK with a 2-sound split, where a third sound would be layered under both sides of the split, but the CK doesn't support that particular arrangement of 3 sounds. Very do-able on any of those others.
A board you use is better than a board you don't. Download manuals and look up videos of how various things are done on the boards you're interested in. If you think a board seems overly complicated, then I'd say you should buy something else, even if it doesn't do everything under the sun or everything you think you might ever want to do. As long as it does the things you know you want to do now, you can enjoy it. If you outgrow its capabilities, trading up some years from now is not a disaster, and a lot better than buying something that you never use because it frustrates you.I like the look of the Fantom and Montage, but I'm worried they might be too complicated...Sorry for being wishy washy, just trying to avoid making the wrong decision.
Statistics: Posted by anotherscott — Tue Sep 24, 2024 6:51 pm