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So... I bought a keytar. And it is AWESOME.

MUSHROOMSeAcOw

MUSHROOMSeAcOw

Aug 1, 2010
416
1
Georgia
#1
I was wandering around the local Best Buy this weekend looking at keyboards, because sadly they have the best selection within about 100 miles of me. Anyway, I was leafing through the big boxes looking at a bunch of lower-end Yamahas and Casios when I stumbled upon the Roland AX-09. It was priced at about half of what it's listed on MF, and I snapped it up without a second thought. Maybe I'm too young to remember when these things fell out of vogue, but I am totally in love with my shoulder synthesizer.


-Beyond the obvious mobility advantages and better stage presence, the keytar format is much easier to adapt to from playing the bass my whole musical life.

-The small keyboard is limiting, but that can be a good thing. When you are playing a lead part or synth bass, it keeps you from wandering into the bassist or guitarist's part, respectively.

-I am AWFUL at left hand rythyms, and the one-handed format is a great copout for me. It lets me be more expressive on sax or whirly synth parts on stage using the great feature on the left-hand side.

-The novelty factor of this quirky little machine is great for audience morale :D

Anyway, that's my case for the keytar. At the moment I have transitioned form the bass to the keys in my band and my brother is taking over low end duties.

Any love for this totally goofy, dorky, awesome instrument?
 
#7
I picked up a Yamaha SHS-10 at the Salvation Army for 20 bucks a few years ago after getting paid and just looking to blow some cash on my way home, and because it just looked neat. For the price I figured it was just a cheap-o toy model and learned a couple cheesy riffs on it, like the Beverly Hills cop theme and the main riff to A-Ha's Take On Me, just for laughs. Almost a year later I saw a banner here with a picture of the exact same model here on TB, and after some searching, found out that they go for 250-300+ dollars, and nearly s*** a brick. It turned out to be a pretty powerful little keytar, and after hooking it up to Reason on my buddies computer via midi, hours of fun were had, and though I've been strapped for cash more than a few times and its come close to the chopping block quite a few times I can't bring myself to sell my awesome little 20$ toy. Just too much fun.

I say, rock the the keytar, they are friggin awesome.
 
#8
Only if it looks like this.
l.jpg
 
#13
chuck3 said:
I have eyeballed that model myself. Would it be at all useful for playing bass on keys?
Click to expand...

Actually, yeah it would. It's got a great "special" Synth Bass tone and several nicer Moog patches, plus many of the sawtooth synth patches transfer to the low octaves very nicely for electronica/techno bass sounds. Modifying the tones is super easy and the whole unit is very intuitive to use. The octave controls are very accessible and can be used for wicked sweeps and the like.

The more I play with this unit, the more fun I have with it. it does great sax and violin parts, the latter patch being one of the most convincing models of a real violin I have ever heard. I'm seriously considering starting a synthpop/80s throwback group for the weekends. My band is already tearing through some Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, and Depeche Mode tunes this week.
 
#17
I'm still curious: How does one get gigs for an '80s British/Euro synth pop band...in Georgia? I thought that scene was mostly classic rock, old school rock & roll, country, nu-country, R&B, Gospel, CCM & blues.

Am I missing something? :hmm:

MM
 
#20
MysticMichael said:
I'm still curious: How does one get gigs for an '80s British/Euro synth pop band...in Georgia? I thought that scene was mostly classic rock, old school rock & roll, country, nu-country, R&B, Gospel, CCM & blues.

Am I missing something? :hmm:

MM
Click to expand...

Oh, it is. I HATE the scene around here. All of the older bands are the same classic rock/blues format and the teenaged bands are "grindcore". Anyone in between is, as you said, nu-country stuff. But that's a different story for a different day. point is, there are plenty of smaller venues and parties that would accommodate that kind of thing. We'd just have to see how it works out.
 

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