Keyboard for piano sounds and Synth Bass please? Roland Gaia SH-01 perhaps?

[xilddx]

Anyone got any experience of the Gaia SH-01?


Thanks all,
Nigel

Edited January 23, 2012 by silddx

[Chris2112]

The Gaia SH-01 might not be the sort of thing you're after. It's an analogue modelling synth, designed to work sort of like old synthesizers did when they had proper analogue workings inside. It strides the gulf between proper synthesizers and synth/samplers. It's definitely more focused towards analogue sounds though, so will do a great synth bass sound (Roland have always been really good at this). You won't get it to make a convincing piano sound with just the analogue modellers, though IIRC it has a general midi soundbank of sampled instruments that will no doubt include a piano, but these can be pretty hokey sounding. Go and check one out before you buy it and see if it will suit your needs.

[xilddx]

Thanks very much Chris. I actually starting coming to the conclusion it might not be what I need after watching some YT demos. The modelling sounds good but I think I may actually need a workstation perhaps? I was thinking a Juno G might be cool.

[Mike]

Hi Nigel. I just bought one and it's sat next to me here. Piano sounds are not its strength, but pads and leads are great. Lots of nice basses, and I've made some great sounding dubstep ones.

I'm going to use it primarily for teaching subtractive synthesis as I like how it's laid out. Sounds fab and if you're in Essex you're welcome to have a play!

[xilddx]

Mike, thanks so much, and I really appreciate your very kind offer!

I am having to think hard about what I really need, and probably need to do some more research and decide how much I can afford.

Thanks again.
N

[JakeBrownBass]

I've had a Gaia for almost 3 months now & really love it for what i need.

It's exactly as Mike says, great for pads & lead sounds, especially synth bass. But not so great for piano/strings/keys etc...

It does have gm midi sounds in it but these are only accessible via an external midi keyboard connected the the Gaia.

For live use it's absolutely amazing, every things hands on, you can see what your doing to the sound rather than twisting loads of dials with a small lcd display.

When i need piano & string sounds i connect it up to my laptop & use it as a controller with Kontakt.

The Gaia Sound Designer software is a worthwhile investment IMO, it may seem a little pricey but it can make programming even easier as well as saving and edit list as your creating a sound so you can see what you've changed & when so you can go back and see the sound you like after you messed it up

My keys player has a Juno G & a nord and as good as the stuff sounds on these, the Gaia was perfect for my needs & wants.

Any other questions feel free to message me

Jake

[Green Alsatian]

This one depends on whether you want to program your own sounds or not, or rather, how [i]easily[/i] you want to.

If you've taken a shine to the Gaia for an easily-tweakable hands-on synth and still want piano sounds, you could do a lot worse than to hook up an Alesis NanoPiano to the Gaia via MIDI.

The NanoPiano can be had for around £100 on eBay (I recently sold mine for £120 in a clearout) and the pianos (and EPs/organs) are very good on it, being based on the Alesis QS8's pianos. Best of all, the NanoPiano is smaller than most stompboxes and wouldn't take up much room.

I've owned several Roland Workstations from the XP-50 to the Fantom, their JV and XV-series modules and the Juno-D and while they are a great source of sounds they are fiddly to edit. The Juno D locked out most of the parameters for a patch, making it a lightly-tweakable box of presets. The Juno-G follows suit (or keyboard player has one), but with better quality samples on-board and extra useful features such as a song recorder for jotting down ideas. There are numerous synth bass sounds on the Juno-G, but I didn't think they were particularly interesting, but then I prefer using analogue or virtual analogue synths for bass.

If you're not fussed about programming/editing but have pianos and loads of other instruments on tap, the Juno-G will give you what you want.

If you want more control over the sounds, creating your own, the Gaia should suit you, but you'll be needing a separate module (or software) for piano sounds. If you go for the Gaia with external piano sounds, will 49 keys be enough for playing piano for you? (the Juno G has 61)

Juno G synth bass sounds from 3:40 in this demo:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAd0QKoSoA8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAd0QKoSoA8[/url]

On the subject of bass synths, this has recently caught my eye:

[url="http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/minibrute/intro.html"]http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/minibrute/intro.html[/url]

[LawrenceH]

Are you after the thing just for the sounds, or do you plan to play the piano voice via its keyboard? (ie not sequencing or using a separate controller).
I ask because I've come to the same conclusion a pro piano player once told me, that if you're concerned with actually playing it then more important than the piano sound per se is the quality of the action on the keyboard. Playing piano parts on semi- or unweighted keys is rubbish and feels unmusical IMO. Even with weighted boards, a truly decent hammer action mimic is hard to find and a personal thing.
Synth bass is fine for me on a cheap sprung board tho!

[xilddx]

Jake, Green and Lawrence, thank you so much! Fantastic advice and I really appreciate your advice and opinion.

I think it's going to be my finances that are going to limit my choice. A proper weighted keyboard is way out of my league at the moment. I think I can live with something of lesser status, but be enough to learn keyboard technique and theory on, and play live synth bass. I like the idea of creating my own sounds, so I'm gravitating towards the Gaia again, and will get a software piano to use in my DAW on a MacBook Pro.

[Chris2112]

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1327361160' post='1510147']
Playing piano parts on semi- or unweighted keys is rubbish and feels unmusical IMO. Even with weighted boards, a truly decent hammer action mimic is hard to find and a personal thing.
Synth bass is fine for me on a cheap sprung board tho!
[/quote]

Yes, this is absolutely true. I used to have a Roland SH-201, and whilst it sounded great and was brilliantly laid out for tweaking your sound on the go, the keys were proper flappy-paddle items, which didn't feel great. But then if you want a synth with a really good keyboard on it you'll easily pay thousands of pounds for one!

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1327343106' post='1509668']
I am having to think hard about what I really need, and probably need to do some more research and decide how much I can afford.

Thanks again.
N
[/quote]

I've got a Korg N5 sitting around at home doing nothing, If you want to use it just let me know.

[xilddx]

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1327410606' post='1510682']
I've got a Korg N5 sitting around at home doing nothing, If you want to use it just let me know.
[/quote]
That's a wonderful offer Dave! I will PM you.

Thank you!