Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

My son wants a keyboard with a decent piano. He is 17 and a pretty good player. He is a guitar player but he wants to expand his business and at the moment he uses a Roland U20 but he's restricted to 61 keys and a very light keyboard which I think is great for some things but not for piano. I have found that Ensoniq keyboards are sold second hand for a lot less than the competition and I think that's mainly because they never really did as well commercially as critically. What I would like to ask is how good/bad are KT76 and KS32 and how old are they. I checked Harmonycentral and they love them but compared to what.

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Ensoniq Guy,

     I am not familiar with the models you mentioned.  I think I did one project back in the 
90s on the second one.   I do have an Ensoniq ASR-10 keyboard and overall I have really 
liked it.  It only has 61 keys, though an 88 key model was made, pretty rare I think.

     Getting service for an Ensoniq can be a little challanging.  I believe they were bought by 
Emu .... and who knows if they still exist!  I'd google search to try to make sure you have 
tech/mech support in your area.

     Maybe you can follow an eBay auction,  (use the my eBay function) and after the auction 
you can e-mail the seller and ask them what they REALLY thought of the keyboard?  If you 
ask them before the auction is over they may not respond completely how you'd want.

     Another consideration is to go the keyboard controller route.  He obviously could 
control his Roland or a laptop with Logic (or others).   I think some of the newer, larger 
keyboard MIDI controllers go for about $400.  I usually test drive at Guitar Center then buy 
from sweetwater (no tax, free shipping).  

     Good luck!

        Pete
     

--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, "HKC" <hkc@...> wrote:
>
> My son wants a keyboard with a decent piano. He is 17 and a pretty good player. He is a 
guitar player but he wants to expand his business and at the moment he uses a Roland 
U20 but he's restricted to 61 keys and a very light keyboard which I think is great for some 
things but not for piano. I have found that Ensoniq keyboards are sold second hand for a 
lot less than the competition and I think that's mainly because they never really did as well 
commercially as critically. What I would like to ask is how good/bad are KT76 and KS32 
and how old are they. I checked Harmonycentral and they love them but compared to 
what.

> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Hi HKC,
I used Ensoniq for many years, and they do have good sounds, but they  
are flimsy. Buttons, sliders, and the screens go out VERY regularly.
I'm not knocking them but I think you can go further for the same  
price with either a Software Piano, and an M-Audio 88 weighted key  
controller.
That way if your son wants to expand from Piano to synthesizers, to  
drum machines played from the keyboard he can do that.
A controller will never really go out of style.
A dedicated sound module will.
Good Luck
Ciao
Gio

On Dec 8, 2006, at 2:19 AM, HKC wrote:

> My son wants a keyboard with a decent piano. He is 17 and a pretty  
> good player. He is a guitar player but he wants to expand his  
> business and at the moment he uses a Roland U20 but he's restricted  
> to 61 keys and a very light keyboard which I think is great for  
> some things but not for piano. I have found that Ensoniq keyboards  
> are sold second hand for a lot less than the competition and I  
> think that's mainly because they never really did as well  
> commercially as critically. What I would like to ask is how good/ 
> bad are KT76 and KS32 and how old are they. I checked  
> Harmonycentral and they love them but compared to what.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

Maybe you can follow an eBay auction, (use the my eBay function) and after the auction 
you can e-mail the seller and ask them what they REALLY thought of the keyboard? 



Great idea, and I know about the service but they are so much cheaper than the competition (Roland, Yamaha, Korg etc) that even if I just had to throw it away and buy another one I would have saved money compared to them.

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On 08/12/2006, at 7:19 PM, HKC wrote:

> My son wants a keyboard with a decent piano. He is 17 and a pretty  
> good player. He is a guitar player but he wants to expand his  
> business and at the moment he uses a Roland U20 but he's restricted  
> to 61 keys and a very light keyboard which I think is great for  
> some things but not for piano. I have found that Ensoniq keyboards  
> are sold second hand for a lot less than the competition and I  
> think that's mainly because they never really did as well  
> commercially as critically. What I would like to ask is how good/ 
> bad are KT76 and KS32 and how old are they. I checked  
> Harmonycentral and they love them but compared to what.

The Ensoniq's were ground breaking for their day but they were quite  
famous for poor build quality and general unreliability. I still own  
my ASR 10 rack which hardly ever gets turned on now - but it's  
reliability is helped because it's in a rack in a studio. If was  
still moving around gigging with it I'm sure it would have broken a  
lot more.

My 0.02 cents worth: Stay away. Their sounds were not great by  
today's standards. There was an Alesis from the same era QS6 I think  
- had a decent piano and much stronger and more reliable. OR go the  
software instrument/ modern controller - M-Audio has already been  
mentioned. Look also at CME for affordable controllers.

Kind regards

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Paul Najar
Jaminajar Music Production
www.jaminajar.com



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I've never played an Ensoniq keyboard, but the sound chip they supplied for my good ol' 16-
bit Apple IIGS was pretty damn cool at the time :)