by Rev Tony Newnham » 08 Feb 2018 11:02
Hi
In answer to Hugh's comment about using one keyboard and splits, this will only work if all the sounds you need are actually available on the instrument, and it does raise a further complication of having to remember where the split-points are, plus for some sounds, the limited compass imposed by split points could be a significant limitation.
I'm going down the multi-keyboard approach at church because I often want to modify things as I play, depending on how well (or otherwise) the congregation are singing - not often an easy task on modern boards where you might have to wade through layers of pages to access the relevant settings. The Roland digital piano at church has a sound category called "other" over 100 sounds in that - so it takes quite a while if the one you want is no.90 for example. Then there's the issue of getting the right sound. My Viscount Cantorum V provides proper pipe-organ sounds, and individual stops, not just the couple of generic "Church Organ" presets on the piano. The VR-09 will give a set of proper drawbars form Hammond sounds - plus I often modify drawbars "live". It will also give me reasonable and quickly accessible synth sounds and a few orchestral voices when I need them. Being a stage keyboard, the sound menus don't have too many items in them, and are accessible from individual buttons, making changes & finding the sound you want much faster.
For concerts, a multi-keyboard rig also has more stage presence than just a single keyboard!
Every Blessing
Tony
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