My Wife got angry at me cuz I bought the Montage M7. Also have a kronos 73 and a nord stage 3 compact. I’m gonna show her that there’s someone crazier than I am. Congrats on your collection. Really awesome
Bruuh your wife let you get all these Keyboards??? 😮 I will be dead for buying all these, so I’ll stick to my MOTIF XF8 also to stay alive ! VERY GOOD COLLECTION by the way !
That's it. Im telling my Sweetwater rep to put me on the M8x list. It was between this or the F8 or the Pa5x. Not going to lie I love the breadth of capability to one-man-band it with the Pa5x for home fun, and the 808-like sequencer on the F8 is a formula everybody else should follow because its button based beat triggering is so fast and simple. I also think the F8 is the best looking board. But the M8x is the latest and greatest and they really cleaned up their GUI to close the gap on Roland. When it all shakes out however it comes down to what kind of sounds a machine can produce and your endorsement on the Montage here tells me everything I need to know. I just wish they supported their own libraries like Roland does. I think I get a Roland email every week on new libraries and patches they have whether its new drum kits or samples.
Agree. Most scalable solution with almost infinite sound possibilities is something like Gig Performer, MacBook, and as a start Omnisphere, Keyscape, Arturia v9 collection, NI Komplete 14. Look up history of Eric Persing with Roland and software is the future. Look at Roland Cloud, etc. an Arturia mk2 controller or new NI Kontrol 88 mk3 with poly aftertouch pretty compelling solution. I’ve unloaded a lot of hardware last few years. Quality of vsts keeps improving, horsepower of laptops keep improving.
just like this guy, I also had a (home) studio full of hardware keyboards… and then I moved to software and I never found any hardware keyboard that come even close to the quality I get from software sounds… not even mentioning the performance I get with my M1 Max 64GB 8TB SSD MacBook Pro (full with all the best plugins and sound libraries). And even if it was an expensive purchase (same for software), it was surely cheaper than hiss setup… and yet I can now carry my whole studio anywhere I go. I’ve never been happier!
But where is the software that got you all in one for live playing like such a workstation? There is nothing. I tried it with my macbook and the Analog Lab of the V-Collection. Just the handling of the gazillion of sounds was way too complicated. Look at all these buttons, faders and knobs - there is no hardware controller like that yet and probably won't be if you take a look at the new novation controllers. Then if you wanna run multiple Plugins, that's pretty hard to control in performance situations. Plus there is another thing: These workstations mostly will be working in 20 years. I got a DX7 which now is 40 years of age. JX-8 P 38 years, OB M6 R 37 years, D-50 the same. All running like a champ. T-3 and SY99 around 32 years sounding still good only Display needs rework.K2500 XS maybe 25 years old now, has some issues but fixable by a tech. Kronos from maybe 10 years ago - working like a champ. How about the software? Just think of all the incarnations of Macs MacOS and connectivity. My Software from 2010 often just won't run anymore now. Better luck with that on Windows with that but still. Often all these editors just don't run. Or something needed firewire which isn't common anymore etc. How much would I love to run Sounddiver again... no chance. Same will be the case for the V-Collection you bought now in 10 years. That's the problem. The workstations are computers inside sure, but overall they are still dedicated instruments.
@@torbenanschau6641 You are absolutely... 100% right dear.... I had many first hand experiences exactly as you mentioned above with Soft-Synths based... DAWS and .... They are of course absolutely great for studios...and mostly cheaper... 😅😅 But for live performance and live giging, hardware keyboards (Synths/Workstation /Arrangers) are the best choice... also for studio too.... For instance, The feeling of playing on a Korg Kronos 2 or Montage or Fantom 2019...with that incredibe keys and keybed and work Flow... with great touchscreen+ ready button for live performance... Also making new rich sounds by layaring sounds... up to 16 or even 32 voices in one patch !!!! and many many other things.... That VSTs and Soft Synths inherently incapable of doing those...
It is indisputable that a latest generation computer processor with adequate RAM has greater processing speed than a workstation. I have a personal studio with thousands of samples arturia,native, ik multimedia, hollywood, to name a few. However, even Mac fails, in particular I prefer to sample the favorite sounds from my libraries, take 2 or 3 synths or workstation plus a standalone akai mpc and I have the best of both worlds.
Great Video, thank you so much... I haven't noticed a KRONOS among your amazing collection. Is there a specific reason? Have you replaced with the Nautilus? On your honest opinion: KRONOS2 VS MONTAGE M?
@AndyWLMusic kronos is a great and mighty workstation, but it's getting dated and doesn't have a very good DAW integration. The new yamaha montage m is definitely far better and more modern than korg kronos.
I'm commenting only 5:30 into your review, so I may add to this. I want to point out that not everyone has the same needs from a workstation. I'm primarily a guitarist, but I want a workstation for two reasons: (1) Adding secondary keyboard parts in a live performance of a cover song with not much guitar going on but a lot of keyboard layers, and (2) Recording my own music at home on Pro Tools. I don't anticipate doing a lot of original music on my keyboard. I was very close to buying a Nautilus. What changed my mind is the lack of controllers. That might not bother me for purpose 1, but it really bothered me for purpose 2. The sounds on the K2700 are excellent, and it meets the requirements for purpose 2 much better than the Korg. I did consider the Roland Fantom, but was never a big fan of the Yamaha sounds for the most part, though I really looked more at the ModX than the Montage to be fair.
Question: does the M8X have the detailed editing capabilities in the sequencer that the ES8 had? I heard it did not. With the ES8 you could edit velocity or place the note anywhere within 479 counts per beat of music. Thanks
It does have a very comprehensive pattern sequencer. However, you get a free download of Cubase13 (basic version), which you can edit ,sequence, and record easily easily on DAW.
@@synth.s I have no idea what those are. I am, however, interested in knowing the specific details about the in-board editing capabilities within this particular work station.
thanks for the wonderful review. for those who are still choosing this will be a good helper. My K2700 has amazing sound, but you're right, the controls are like sitting in a helicopter, especially the sound synthesis. Who will be the first to insert AI into the board to control through speech? :)
I would agree the 88 kb action on the nord stage 3 was not the best, but the Nord stage 4 88, and 73HA has a very nice feel, much improved. I have owned an rd2000 pha50 action very nice, as well many other 88s,, but my nord stage 4 73 hammer action one of the best, particularly for live work and only 37lbs so quite portable.
If you perform on stage with a band and just need a few voices like piano, Ep, and some pads along with a very smooth workflow, definitely the stage piano is the way to go, however there are some light weights synthesizers with great voices to use for that purpose as well.
Nord is a stage piano, kinda' like the YC series. It doesn't have anywhere near the overall capabilities of keyboards like The Fantom or the Montage. They are different classes of instruments. I agree with Monarch that Nord is way overpriced - at least in the US.
Seems like you are not too crazy about the Kurzweil k2700. Why bother keeping it? I had a Kurz pc3x, but difficult getting it serviced in canada, so sold it few years ago.
I have the 88 key Kronos 2, a Fantom 7, a 76 key Pa5X, as well as an old 88 KeyTrinity Pro 3 and an. Even older Yamaha PRX 4600 (my first MIDI configured keyboard) back in 1992. I also use an Arturia 61 key MkII for my Integra 7 rack mount. I was saving up for the release of Korg’s eventual replacement of the Kronos, but am now considering the Montage M8x instead as a first priority. Maybe there wont be a new Korg flagship. BTW, iI also use CFubase as my go-to DAW (but also have Logic Pro and Abelton Light installed into my “Trash Can”. A couple of other more synth style keyboards I’m considering later are the Polybrute and 76 key Jupiter X. Do you like those more modular featured synths? You don’t seem to have one in your studio.😊
Since I'm originally a piano player, I don't really care that much about the modular synthesizers, as far as korg, as they announced, Nautilus with AT is the successor for the kronos, so there won't be any other Replacement to kronos (at least not anytime soon).
Roland PHA-50 vs Yamaha GEX - can you comment in more detail? I have a RD-2000 with PHA-50 and bunch of software synths. Trying to decide if I should replace my RD-2000 with an MX8 or Fantom 8. Not easy to play the Fantom 8 or MX8 in music store without booking a flight. Thx!
Fantom 8 has the same keybed as Rd2000, but of course, the Fantom is a very powerful work station/ synthesizer, where as, the Rd2000 is only a stage piano, even though the PHA50 is one of the best keybeds and really piano like, the new Montage m8x has far better keybed, since it feels lighter to touch and easier to play fast but still have authentic piano feel to it.
Thanks for the quick reply. I use Logic Pro and a bunch of soft synths. I was down the workstation path for 20 years before I moved to the RD-2000, Logic, software and had some of the best analog synths in the 1980's. I miss the immediacy of hardware. Using: Roland RD-2000, Hydrasynth Deluxe, Mac Studio, Studio Display, Logic Pro, Arturia:V Collection 9/Cherry Audio:GX-80, Dreamsynth, Quadra/ G-Force: OB-E, Oddity3/VPS Avenger/Korg:MS20,Triton/Native:Komplete 14/Roland Cloud Pro/Spectrasonics:Keyscape,Omnisphere/uhe:Diva,Hive,Zebra2/HZ Sold: Korg:Kronos 88,T3,MS20,Yamaha:Motif XS8,Motif ES8,Motif 8,KX88,TX7, Oberheim:Modular 8 Voice,OBXa,OB8,Prophet 5,Roland D50,Dyno-My-Rhodes,Crumar T2 @@synth.s
What!??? You can't do the simplest task with your Kronos!!! Probably you are not used to work with Korg operating system at all.... Fantom is great undoubtedly BUT... Kronos 2 was/is the first choice of the most high-end professionals in the field of music industry from 2010 to onwards.... and before that it was Korg Oasis...
I made some some sound and keybed comparison today in a music shop I my opinion K2700 and Montage are the best, Nautilus the worst... but it is just my personal opinion
Many people on the Internet say the same. I really like the video but there should be some comments regarding the sound, where Kurzweil and Yamaha stand out.
unrelated to the video content but i have to know your accent.. it sounds like southeast asian of some kind but learned english in the UK? i could be totally off
@JuliusDeBerryJr yes just seen a video a guy was stacking sounds together as if playing in church example rumbling you know as the preacher get the word out and the sounds was going out I'm good on that period that not good video called fantom problems I'm sure
21 plus minutes and... not even a note played?. I guess people wants more than specs... do you play or are just a keyboard hoarder?. Sincerely curious about this
I've been a piano player since the age of 10, a keyboard player for almost 30 years, and graduated from music school back in 1992 These videos are all for educational purposes to help players like you choose the best keyboard for their budget. If you really wanted to hear these instruments to the best, I recommend visiting your local music store and playing in person. That's the best way to judge a keyboard by its sounds.
