Yamaha MX61 Saving and calling up performances instantly.

[anotherscott]

MX61 or Kross 2? Juno DS costs more here in India. Kross 2 is Rs.47,000, MX61 is Rs. 50,000 and Juno DS is around Rs. 62,000.

If switching sounds seamlessly is important (which is what it sounds like from your other post about using a DAW), and you don't want to stretch the budget to the DS, then the MX at least gives you some of that capability, more than the Kross does. Another possibility in a lower price range could be the Casio XW-P1. It has pretty good seamless sound transition capability (also called "patch remain" and described at https://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/12589-patch-remain/ ) and has nice synth, organ, split/layer, and MIDI functionality. The downside is that its acoustic instrument sounds are probably weakest of the bunch. There's also the new Casio CT-X series which is less flexible, but has a newer sound set that probably sounds better. (I haven't played a CT-X myself.) It probably has the seamless transitions as well, since Casios usually do.

 

[GeorgeAbraham_Kerala]

If switching sounds seamlessly is important (which is what it sounds like from your other post about using a DAW), and you don't want to stretch the budget to the DS, then the MX at least gives you some of that capability, more than the Kross does. Another possibility in a lower price range could be the Casio XW-P1. It has pretty good seamless sound transition capability (also called "patch remain" and described at https://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/12589-patch-remain/ ) and has nice synth, organ, split/layer, and MIDI functionality. The downside is that its acoustic instrument sounds are probably weakest of the bunch. There's also the new Casio CT-X series which is less flexible, but has a newer sound set that probably sounds better. (I haven't played a CT-X myself.) It probably has the seamless transitions as well, since Casios usually do.

My priorities are as follows:
1. Excellent acoustic sounds, especially pianos.
2. Good sound tweaking (layer/split) and saving it to user memory.
3. Switching sounds during live performances.
4. Decent keybed and build quality.

 

[anotherscott]

My priorities are as follows:
1. Excellent acoustic sounds, especially pianos.
2. Good sound tweaking (layer/split) and saving it to user memory.
3. Switching sounds during live performances.
4. Decent keybed and build quality.

If piano is priority 1, I would say that nothing mentioned is great simply because the actions are not amenable to piano playing (lacking good dynamic control and/or pretty consistent response over a good portion of each key).

 

[GeorgeAbraham_Kerala]

I don't need the action, I just need good piano samples (dynamic enough), especially at the lower notes.

 

[anotherscott]

My priorities are as follows:
1. Excellent acoustic sounds, especially pianos.

For that, I prefer MX to Kross, but it's subjective.

2. Good sound tweaking (layer/split) and saving it to user memory.

Both boards let you save 16-way layers/splits. Kross can do it from its own menus, MX requires using the computer to set up splits/layers of more than 2 sounds. Also see https://usa.yamaha.com/support/faq/keyboards/9088.html

Side note... if you'd like your splits/layers to include external sounds (for example, from an attached iPhone/iPad, a sound module, or another keyboard), Kross is set up to do this, MX is not.

3. Switching sounds during live performances.

Kross has 16 select buttons for Favorites, switchable among 8 banks. Each button can call up a Program (single sound) or Combi (combination of up to 16 sounds). Either way, hitting a button to select a new Favorite will always cut off any remaining held or decaying notes from your previous sound

MX has 16 select buttons, which can be used in two different live sound selection modes. One, "Performance Direct Select," is similar to the way the Kross works... there are 8 banks, each button calls up a Performance which can be either a single sound or a combination of up to 16 sounds (though assembled via computer if you want to hear more than two at once), and hitting a button to select a new Performance will cut off any remaining held or decaying notes from your previous sound. The second mode instead uses those 16 buttons to select from among the 16 sounds WITHIN a Performance, and in this case, switching to new sounds does NOT cause previously held/decaying notes to be cut off.

4. Decent keybed and build quality.

Keybed is subjective. I happen to prefer the overall feel of the Korg keys, but am put off by how quickly the keys get a lot less responsive as you move toward the back, which makes it hard to control velocity dynamics when playing passages (or in keys) that require hitting keys in their back halves. Build quality is probably comparable, they're both plastic chassis, and I've seen no reports on Yamaha or Korg forums of frequent breakages.

 

[GeorgeAbraham_Kerala]

Thanks for your reply, but is the Performance Direct option actually useful, as you only use one 'scene' in one performance? The other method, wherein you can assign scenes to different parts of a performance (not going over 16) and switching between them without getting cut is what I guess is more useful. If 16 gets filled, do the rest on the next performance. Right? Does performance direct have any advantage?

 

[anotherscott]

One advantage of Performance Direct is the number of split/layer combinations you can get to quickly. Within a single Performance, as you point out, " you can assign scenes to different parts of a performance (not going over 16)." But what if you need to go beyond a total of 16? Even if you keep each Split or Layer to its smallest possible number (2), a Performance gives you quick access to a max of 8 split/layer patches. Fewer if any of them have more than two sounds. Performance Direct selection gives you quick access to at least twice as many split/layer patches (16), each of which can have up to 16 sounds instead of as few as 2 sounds if you wanted to hit your max of 8 combinations within a Performance. Put differently, within a Performance, the 16 buttons can call up a maximum of 16 sounds in various combinations; in Performance Direct mode, the 16 buttons could theoretically access 256 sounds (in 16 independent combinations of up to 16). Admittedly, 256 is not a realistic scenario, but needing more than 16 certainly is.

Another advantage of Performance Direct modes is that it's the way to do quick switching between split/layers WITHOUT using a program like Vycro.

People have different needs, and Yamaha provides different options. You may have no need for Performance Direct mode, that's fine too!

 

[anotherscott]

One more difference that popped into mind... Within a single Performance (i.e. your set of 16 switchable sounds where sounds don't cut off when you change), only 4 of your 16 sounds can have their own effects. So for example, if you set up 8 splits/layered pairs within a single Performance, most could not have their own effects, whereas if you set up 8 splits/layered pairs as 8 Performances available to select with Performance Direct, each of the sounds could have their own effects.

 

[Laserman]

Hi George,

I had a Yamaha MX 49 and to me there was nothing easy about doing things especially in a live situation so it would not be my choice of a live instrument, I have just changed to a Roland Juno DS61 and have to say the keybed is great compared to the MX the voices are also great and you can save favorites for a quick selection plus there is also built in sequencer too, may be worth a look


Brian

i've always played roland keyboards but am tired of lugging my 37 pound G6 around. So I got a Yamaha MX49 on ebay and could not sell it fast enough. hated the feel of the keybed. can anyone tell me if the keybeds of the roland Ds61 or Juno Gi are like the roland G6 ? I don't need sampling nor sequencing.

 

[anotherscott]

Fantom G6? That's 32 lbs. But it does have a much nicer action than you'll find in the lightweight boards you're looking at. Lighter-than-G Rolands that still have above average actions are the VR-730 and the (discontinued) Jupiter 50 (though the two are still quite different in their actions, sounds, and capabilities). If you leave Roland, Korg's Vox Continental has a very nice action, but again, it has its own particular set of capabilities which may or may not handle what you're looking for. If you're trying to keep the budget down, the Numa Compact 2 and 2X are above average feeling for their price/weight range, and also have aftertouch, which your G6 has but none of the others mentioned do.