hey dudes,

I'm looking for suggestions for a rackmount box or desktop module that can emulate organs, keyboards and organic instruments (flutes and the like).

I already have a pretty great synth module (SH-32), so I'd see if anyone on here has suggestions or experience with rack or module units that would do the trick.

any thots?

I use a Kurzweil PC2R and I love it- LOVE IT!
http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/Pro ... product=46

Kurz also makes a less advanced bread & butter box:
http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/Pro ... product=55

That one kinda reminds me of this Edirol one:
http://www.roland.com/products/en/SD-20/

Did I mention I love the PC2R? It is right up there with the Motif & the Fantom and it has knobs! Still have another expansion rom to get for it (classic keys).

cool stuff, handcancel. thanks for posting so quickly. i'll check out the stuffs you've posted up.

anyone else have suggestions of stuff I should check out?

Yo, hate to be that dude that suggests something that you didn't ask about, but Reason or Kontakt or will murder any hardware box out there. Just my 2 cents though.

If you want something cheap you could check out the Proteus 2000 range of E-Mu racks (planet phatt, proteus 2000, vintage keys, etc.. all the same box just come with a different rom card in them) or the roland JV1080 i think it was. they're romplers - and the presets are OK but not fantastic, so you might need to do some tweaking of the sounds to de-cheese them.


Kontakt will probably be easier, and made from full massive gigs and gigs multi samples rather than really short rompler samples from the 90s (and newer so probly alot better sample qual)

@ bridge - naw! be that dude! that's good advice.

but i'm trying to stay away from using my pc for music making, cuz i'm in front of it all the time for work and life. i've been grabbing up hardware for a couple of years cuz i find it more fun. but i'll look into kontact.

@ cartesia - that's pretty cool info too. i looked at the 1080 but didn't realize it was the same box as the other emu racks. will look into it further.

until i win 20 american music awards (especially tough for a canadian) i can't spend gobs of money on this stuff, so cheap is a good option (but not cheesy, so tweaking sounds is important).

great tips, dudes. thanks!

keep 'em coming if anyone has other advice / suggestions.

hey man nah the jv1080 is different, it's made by roland.. all the e-mu ones though (planet phatt, vintage keys, xtreme lead, etc) are basically just repainted proteus 2000 with different rom cards. people seem to prefer the JV1080 for realistic sounds, so that might be the way to go.

I guess the upside of the e-mu ones is they have the crazyass Z-Plane filter system, which would be cool for doing synthetic sounds.

Check the Korg NS5R... it woul'd be not easy to find one but this little box got all you are asking.

I'd look into the Sound Canvass sound modules, SC88, SC50 and so on. Not the oldest of them, but the slightly newer ones are pure golden for their secondhand price (usually under 100-200 bucks).

You could also look into the JV series. Usually has useful stuff, but I've noticed they are pretty expensive secondhand for what you'll get (in some cases even the exact same sounds as older models/older series sound modules, do your research properly! ).


If you have slightly more to spend, you could do what I just did and buy a secondhand Roland Sonic Cell. It comes loaded with a lot of useful and high quality sounds.

Downside is that SRX expansion cards (both new and secondhand) go almost for as much as a secondhand Sonic Cell, which means it could be an expensive option if you want one or more SRX expansion cards.

It does exponentially increase the amount of sounds though when you choose the Dynamic Drums or Studio Expansion for example.

As a cheap first bread and butter module, I got a Roland U110 with 7 PCM expansion cards and must say that has very useful sounds as well, but they mostly sound pretty old school when it comes to reverb and quality (less polyphony). Doesn't matter if you know how to take them to the next level using your SP MFX other other sound FX.

Might want to straight up check out an old Triton or Motif module. If you don't mind cheesy 80's rompler sounds and M1 might be a good choice.

yeah, the triton and motif stuff i've seen listed is pretty pricey. not like it isn't warranted, just i'm pro'lly not willing to pay it. totally great machines, but out of my price range, i'm afraid.

and yeah, the M1 was the keyboard in my highschool jazz band. i had to listen to that thing twice a week, so i'm pretty familiar with it, but unlikely to want it in my home (except to maybe pull an Office Space on it).

If you want Fantom class sounds you might want to look into the Sonic Cell, quality and tweakability is really awesome.

I've seen them go for as little as 350€, which is a steal for what you'll get to be honest. (Retail price is between 600€ and 700€). Not out to annoy you with it though.

What price range are you looking at??

oh yeah ^^ i have no doubt of the quality.

but i'm looking to throw down between $150 and $300 so the cell will not be in the cards, unfortunately.

korg NS5R fits your budget... and it can be found on ebay from time to time.

I see Fauna, yeah, then the more expensive Sound Canvasses might be something for you, or indeed that Korg NS5R (that's the Wave Station series, right? Those are indeed very good for the money!).