First Post! Need advice on the right keyboard PLEASE!!!!

[sashua]

I am a bass player in a band but my background is in keyboards. I am now looking at adding some synth into our sound and I have very specific needs but nobody to help me address them. The folks at Sweetwater and Musician's Friend are nitwits that don't know the product they are selling.

Having said that, here is what I want:

1. Light and easy to sling over my shoulder in a cushbag.
2. 76 or 88 keys (velocity sensitive but weighted or not I don't care)
3. Lots of SERIOUS vintage synth sounds. Strings, Hammond, etc.
4. MUST have an up and down arpeggiator
4. Price $300-$800

I am open to buying used and here is the last piece of imformation:

I own a Roland JV-1080 head with no expansion cards already so I can buy either a controller and the vintage Synth expansion board or a full-out keyboard and ignore the JV1080. I was thinking of possibly using a Roland XP-80 workstation or even going older and buying a Jupiter 6 or Oberheim OB-8 but they are offly heavy and not expandable.

What to do? Would love to hear suggestions from you seasoned pros!

Thanks,
Russ

[masyst]

When I played in band I mainly used a Korg N-264, it had nice strings, organic pads, hammond sounds and heavy leads...
It sounds it's in same class as Korg M1, in fact, it have some of the same sounds.
A Roland synth would'nt be a bad choice