Roland Xps 30 vs Korg Kross 2

[ay11sh]

I am a beginner keyboardist and want to buy a new keyboard along with a output speaker or amplifier.

Where I live, the local stores only seem to have Korg Kross 2 and Roland XPS 30.

Not knowing much about keyboards, I would appreciate some help on choosing between them.

Sometimes I do live performances of cover songs with my band which is a factor for choosing between the keys.

Also, both of these keyboards don't seem to have in-built speakers like the one I already own (Yamaha). So I would also appreciate some help on getting some kind of output.

The local stores where I live don't have keyboard amps, but, do have a variety of guitar amps. Can guitar amps be used with keyboards? Studio Monitors are quite expensive and I cannot afford one right now along with the keyboard.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Biggles]

Hi, two posts in three years, that indicates that you have been lurking here for quite a while so hopefully you have a good understanding of keyboards and functions and you have had three years of practice with your beginner keyboard.

As it is I had to look up the XPS as it is not a standard model here in the UK hence it may well be the same elsewhere but If you can advise on the genre of music you intend to play and where in the world you live that can help us give more tailored advice.

I have a Kross 2 but thoroughly tested out a Roland Juno DS back to back against the Korg a few times before I choose the Kross 2, not because it is better than the Juno but because it is smaller and lighter. If I was to buy one for stage use it would be the Roland Juno.

As for amps, you have them therefore a suck it and see situation would be reasonable. That said I would try each amp you have in clean mode and provide the Fx via the keyboard so you can get a good idea about the actual tone of each amp.

 

[ay11sh]

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it.

I live in Nepal. We don't have many instruments available here. So it's kind of a hassle finding a keyboard in the first place.

I have played for about 5 years now. So yes, I'm aware of basic functions. I'm looking to explore other functions as well to broaden my horizon.

Are there any particular reasons you would choose Juno Ds over for Kross 2 for live performances? I mostly play mostly rock and pop songs. But I'm thinking about getting into jazz too.

As for the output, what are your thoughts on guitar amps as outputs for a keyboard? Are woofers any good? Because we get used woofers here pretty cheap (like around 30 pounds). Just a decent sounding output will suffice.

Thanks again!

 

[anotherscott]

XPS30 is identical in hardware to Juno DS, though the sound set is slightly different, as it includes specific sounds tailored for other (mostly non-western) countries.

Guitar amps are okay, and if it's a good amp, it can even sound particularly good for some sounds (particularly sounds of instruments that were often played through guitar amps in the first place, like electric guitars of course, but also things like Rhodes/Wurli/Clav). Guitar amps will tend to sound poor for acoustic piano and orchestral instrument sounds, though. Not necessarily unusable, but not high quality.

As biggles said, Kross is smaller/lighter, which can be important, for example, if you need to bring your gear around via mass transit. It also has a built-in multitrack sequencer, and more total simultaneous insert effects available (5 vs. 3). Roland allows you to change sounds without cutting off held/decaying notes of your previous sound, handles two way splits more easily (with separate front panel volume controls for each sound, and easy ability to change the sound on either side of the split on the fly without affecting the sound on the other side of the split), and their free Tone Manager software allows you to more easily add your own custom samples as keyboard playable sounds. In terms of MIDI controller abilities, Kross patches can include up to 16 Program changes to send to external gear, but Roland's knobs/sliders provide more flexibility in controlling other gear, so they have different advantages here. So those are some of the key differences, off-hand.

 

[Biggles]

Scott has explained why the Roland would be better for live use, it is the note cut off that can cause annoyance by interrupting the flow of the song when you change the Patch whilst maintaining the key(s) press.

If you have not found them then Korg have their Video Manual series of tutorials for the Kross 2 and Roland has something similar for the Juno DS which is shown as by Product Support. Watching these series of videos will help you in deciding which is best for your needs.

 

[ay11sh]

I will check out the videos. Thanks for your reply.

 

[ay11sh]

Thanks! That was a really detailed explanation. I'm gonna get the Roland. Appreciate the help!