Immediately my mind jumped to the Kingkorg, I mean, that's basically THE on the box description of what it does (ironically, the JD-Xa also fits the bill perfectly, and would probably sound a bit better, but is too expensive like so many people predicted would be a problem), and in my opinion, with the right set of hands the KK sounds just superb. Then I also thought about the Jupiter 50 which, though it isn't very very knobby, has beautiful and fully editable out of the box synths and instruments that have always been so intriguing and lovely to me. But, me being me, I'm curious about other alternatives, especially on the vintage front. I've been doing some research and I'd like to know what you all think about the qualities of some of these keyboards as standalone gigging keyboards, primarily used for synth emulation (preferably with max knobs) but also with some quite nice natural pianos, rhodes, etc.
Some examples of what I dug up (never really having looked into keyboards like this before because I don't mind hauling around a triple stack of specialized keyboards):
Yamaha EX5 (this one sounds pretty infallible to me, like a 1990s Jupiter 50 almost, and is very cheap, coming in around $500 (CAD though))
Yamaha MOX series (a lot of people's secret weapons it seems these days)
Roland Fantom series (though they look kinda cheezy, they sound great, and let you record and process external sounds. These are usually pretty pricey, more on this in a second)
Roland XP 50/80 (predecessor to the Fantom, not as feature laden but cheaper)
Roland Juno G/Gi/Stage (this, according to SOS, is basically a repackaged Fantom in a fashionable case. In Canada these also go around $500 and I can't see the bill being fit any better than one of these guys. The Stage eliminates external effect processing and multitrack recording, which are useful but ultimately unnecessary features for a gigging musician (unless they want to get experimental))
Roland Juno Di (of a different ilk than the G series but still a very nice sounding big box o sounds)
Harder to find: GEM Equinox (I may have lied earlier, I did end up looking for a good all around midi controller not too long ago and it came down to this or a Technics WSA-1 (I got the Technics due to nostalgia). This thing has plenty of knobs and has pretty good sounding stuff, as well as live-editable controls. Good job, Italy)
The Korg Trinity or Triton both deserve mention here, though they can sometimes max out the budget, you can also find some cheaper ones out there too, and Korg makes a mean workstation, as we all know so well.
Sooooo, any thoughts on any of these keyboards? Anybody have anything to add to this list? I look forward to reading any responses!
