Whether classic or contemporary, what’s your favorite keytar studio or stage performance? Tell us all about it in the comments, and be sure to check out Sweetwater for all your keytar needs 👉 sweetwater.sjv.io/KeytarSynthesizers
2:00 this has always been one of my pet peeves. When the guitars are playing, the camera is all up in it. But when it gets to the killer keyboard solo, it’s hey….look at the audience….look at the pretty lights….look at the lead singer making faces….here’s a couple of pics of my grandkids…here’s a pic of my toe fungus. ANYTHING but showing the keyboard player. Guess I’m not the only one to notice this!
"We are the keytarist. We have one job, and that is to run around the stage and make the guitarist regret ever letting us get rid of our keyboard stands. That is our job. We are there to upset guitarists who are too full of themselves. Everything else is secondary." (Pink and the Keytar Cat, 2018)
I spent the past year deciding on exactly which keytar was best for me. I even took the journey to Sweetwater just to try them out in person. I ended up with a Roland Ax Edge. I wanted a really good quality, full-size keybed with built-in sounds. My old keytar was the Roland AX-7, which was great but due to it's age was getting stuck notes, which is the nightmare scenario for a keytarist. I love the Ax Edge, although I will say it's fricking HUGE. It's considered oversized on airplanes, so you'll pay extra just to travel with it in a decent case. The Yamaha SHS-500 was okay, and the sounds were good, but the "sustain" button was not a real sustain button, nor did it send a sustain MIDI CC message to control other synths, nor could you change the midi CC of the buttons. The Vortex actually came in a close second to the Roland for me - I almost got it, but it doesn't have on-board sounds, and given my hatred of stuck notes and my fear of BT MIDI, I opted for the Roland instead. The Korg's look/feel just wasn't for me. All in all, the Roland is the most professional of the bunch, but also the most expensive. If you're just wanting to have a little fun with a keytar, the SHS-500 or the Vortex are both really good options for just playing around. If you are wanting a full-bodied instrument that would stand up in a pro environment, probably the Roland or Korg is your best bet IMO. I will warn people tho - guitarists actually get jealous of the keyboard player getting out on the front of the stage. No, I'm not kidding. It's happened to me in two bands that I introduced the keytar to. You're fine behind your keyboard in the back of the stage, but stay in your lane, or they will get upset! Now I do a solo gig. :) Thank you Daniel for your great demos, and for keeping the keytar torch alive!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I gotta say, that's so sad when peoples' egos get in the way of the music and having a good time :( How do you use a keytar in a solo gig? Play to a backing track?
I’ve been using my Reface CS as a keytar for 5 years now, and I freaking love it! It’s the perfect instrument for live gigs, jam sessions, or just pacing around my apartment making music. Also, I like the CS in particular because the controls provide a lot of room for creativity and because the lack of presets keeps my sound synthesis skills sharp. I have my favorite sounds memorized, and I know how to quickly create a new one if a song calls for it or add expressive effects to a solo. If you own any of the Reface models, I HIGHLY recommend you get yourself a strap attachment and rock out with it! You won’t regret it :)
I have the Yamaha SHS-500, what got me is the portable size and excellent keybed. Yamaha's reface keybed is the best smaller sized keys and this one has the same exact keybed, plus BLE MIDI. Don't expect to use anything but the keys and the pitchbend to control other synths. Best for portability. Faceplate is easily unmounted for painting it in an original pattern.
I bought one but underestimated how much I would miss aftertouch for triggering vibrato or swells. It's a fairly serious oversight, in my opinion. Have you found a workaround?
DX100. I moved the strap lugs so I could switch fast between one hand and two hand playing. I wired in a sustain button beside the mod wheel and ran it through whatever guitar amp was available at whatever open blues jam I could get into. I played slide guitar licks with the bender and harp solos using the breath controller. It was my first keyboard and it was cheap and I literally wore it out. Eventually, I got a job and bought a real keyboard.
I have a Roland AX-7 Keytar from way back and a newer Yamaha sonogenic SHS 500 Keytar like in Daniel video but in red. One thing I will say is they sure do hold there value especially the older ones. So a good investment as well. Thanks for the video Daniel
Are you a keyboardist too cause if not I think guitar is probably your best option for song writing unless you want to spend the time to learn keyboard
I have a weird fascination with this instrument. I play keyboard only at home (88 weighted keys), and I have no reason to get one of these, but they're a fun oddity. I think the main reason to have one is so you can act like a guitarist and move around the stage during a performance. My favorite musician to use a keytar has to be Stevie Wonder.
HAHA this guy is full of gems, "a keytar says, "I'm here to make a sound...what sound?" ahahah thats the funniest thing ever, also "one hand is plenty" ahaha both i will use moving forward
I've noticed that nearly everything is assignable on the Alesis - one of the strengths as a pure midi contoller. Wondered if chords could be assigned to drum pads. So you record the chords you want to play first, asign one to each pad, then tap each as you need them, using the keyboard for melody. It's limiting since you have to prepare before hand, (and you're limited to the amount of pads, although 8 chords should be sufficient for a lot of songs) but I wonder how well that would work. I know the pads can be used to trigger sounds in the DOR. The pads would be better situated on or near the arm rather than the other end of the keyboard to use in that way so that might be impractical, but I can see it working by tapping a pad to trigger a chord on sustain until its deactivated later. Actually might work better just to record the entire chord sequence as a track before hand and trigger it once at start of performance, then do the melody in real time. Just wondering about possibilities. (I purchased an Alesis Vortex Wireless 2 recently, and I'm very new to MIDI, etc.)
Very well thought-out points! It's too bad keytars are so button-y. Needs more control like the Moog Liberation. SH-101 is too small and the Vortex 2's eight sliders aren't quite enough.
Pretty cool demo, Daniel 😎🎹 my brother has a Yamaha and a roland keytar and I thought they were awesome. Also that Roland ax and Alesis keytars looks killer. These are some fun and underrated instruments to own.
I have the yamaha reface cp, and no, I never thought of it as a keytar. I also have the roland ax 09, but it's a bit too heavy. not that I ever played keyboards on stage. but if I did, I'd want something small and not hard to carrie. I also have the korg microkorg, which is a synth.
In recent years, I’ve fantasized about a whole band of frontliners, all leading people, the drummer playing a Zendrum in lieu of a kit. If the piano player were holding a Keytar (something like the AX-Edge), that would make that a reality.
Hi coreyoffman. I own (2) AX-1, (2) AX-7, (2) AX-Edge, (1) Sonogenic 500, (1) RK-100S, (1) CTS-1000V, (5) REFACE (with optional strap buttons), (1) DX-100, and a Yamaha KX-5 signed by Chick Corea. -_Daniel_
SeratoDJ and RecordBox old sh*t. Make a video battle of Virtual DJ vs Serato programs. Testing: the scratch sound the scratch filter, sensor settings (Does Serato even do this?) stems sound settings selection of the wavetrack type, zoom and much more Or are you a housewife who can't figure out the VDJ settings?
Modern technology has passed all of these by, why? Because now all keytars should obviously have full touch or MPE Osmose type expression. When is that coming out because if you could bend individual notes using your fingers you wouldn't need all wheels and cumbersome controls which will probably break eventually. The whole point of MPE is to play like a guitar so why hasn't this technology merged with the keytar yet? I think I'll wait for that instead of any of these.
As keyboardists we were always gonna be the awkward one trying to look "cool." This just multiplied the Dork Level by many orders of magnitude. I'm happy to be set way back on the stage and just get the job done. 😉
You? It still tags me once a week here on RUclips. The first vid in my suggestions will be an Allman Brothers Band concert from '82 at the University of Florida and their Keytar player is front & center 🤣. The thumbnail has Dickey in a cowboy hat with a Goldtop Les Paul but I know exactly what's waiting if I click it 🤣🤣🤣
Hi NoQualmsTheArtist. In this video I played piano, electric piano, violins, trumpet, flute, sax, organ, drums, as well as synth sounds. And, although those sounds certainly were used in the '80s, they were also quite popular in the decades before and after the '80s. -_Daniel_
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Whether classic or contemporary, what’s your favorite keytar studio or stage performance? Tell us all about it in the comments, and be sure to check out Sweetwater for all your keytar needs 👉 sweetwater.sjv.io/KeytarSynthesizers
2:00 this has always been one of my pet peeves. When the guitars are playing, the camera is all up in it. But when it gets to the killer keyboard solo, it’s hey….look at the audience….look at the pretty lights….look at the lead singer making faces….here’s a couple of pics of my grandkids…here’s a pic of my toe fungus. ANYTHING but showing the keyboard player. Guess I’m not the only one to notice this!
Lol at least they don't go to the bass player 🤣
@@J.C... bass players may get even less camera time than keyboard players lol!
Use a rotating keyboard stand like Jordan Rudess
"We are the keytarist. We have one job, and that is to run around the stage and make the guitarist regret ever letting us get rid of our keyboard stands. That
is our job. We are there to upset guitarists who are too full of themselves. Everything else is secondary." (Pink and the Keytar
Cat, 2018)
I love that the reason basically just boils down to “it looks dope”
The reason cameras don’t focus on keyboard players is because they stopped wearing badass capes
I spent the past year deciding on exactly which keytar was best for me. I even took the journey to Sweetwater just to try them out in person. I ended up with a Roland Ax Edge. I wanted a really good quality, full-size keybed with built-in sounds. My old keytar was the Roland AX-7, which was great but due to it's age was getting stuck notes, which is the nightmare scenario for a keytarist. I love the Ax Edge, although I will say it's fricking HUGE. It's considered oversized on airplanes, so you'll pay extra just to travel with it in a decent case. The Yamaha SHS-500 was okay, and the sounds were good, but the "sustain" button was not a real sustain button, nor did it send a sustain MIDI CC message to control other synths, nor could you change the midi CC of the buttons. The Vortex actually came in a close second to the Roland for me - I almost got it, but it doesn't have on-board sounds, and given my hatred of stuck notes and my fear of BT MIDI, I opted for the Roland instead. The Korg's look/feel just wasn't for me.
All in all, the Roland is the most professional of the bunch, but also the most expensive. If you're just wanting to have a little fun with a keytar, the SHS-500 or the Vortex are both really good options for just playing around. If you are wanting a full-bodied instrument that would stand up in a pro environment, probably the Roland or Korg is your best bet IMO.
I will warn people tho - guitarists actually get jealous of the keyboard player getting out on the front of the stage. No, I'm not kidding. It's happened to me in two bands that I introduced the keytar to. You're fine behind your keyboard in the back of the stage, but stay in your lane, or they will get upset! Now I do a solo gig. :) Thank you Daniel for your great demos, and for keeping the keytar torch alive!
Hi Bill. Thanks for the great comments!
-_Daniel_
Hello what keytar would you recommend with n ice build in trumpet effects or synths? Something not too expensive? Thank you
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I gotta say, that's so sad when peoples' egos get in the way of the music and having a good time :(
How do you use a keytar in a solo gig? Play to a backing track?
I spent hours watching keytar videos and it breaks my heart because I can't afford to buy one. One day I will... I promise.
I’ve been using my Reface CS as a keytar for 5 years now, and I freaking love it! It’s the perfect instrument for live gigs, jam sessions, or just pacing around my apartment making music.
Also, I like the CS in particular because the controls provide a lot of room for creativity and because the lack of presets keeps my sound synthesis skills sharp. I have my favorite sounds memorized, and I know how to quickly create a new one if a song calls for it or add expressive effects to a solo.
If you own any of the Reface models, I HIGHLY recommend you get yourself a strap attachment and rock out with it! You won’t regret it :)
That organ part you played on the Roland was _real_ nice, man.
I came to sneer, but stayed to cheer! Dan can sell anything!
Well I will say, I absolutely love my Roland AX-Edge. Not something I use all the time, but its a really fun instrument to play.
I have the Yamaha SHS-500, what got me is the portable size and excellent keybed. Yamaha's reface keybed is the best smaller sized keys and this one has the same exact keybed, plus BLE MIDI. Don't expect to use anything but the keys and the pitchbend to control other synths. Best for portability. Faceplate is easily unmounted for painting it in an original pattern.
Korg one looks the most mobile and user-friendly, without being clunky like some others
Patrick Moraz 1985 with the Moody Blues. CS80 on stage and then straps on the keytar for "I'm just a Singer". Geeky and cool.
J'en possède 15 de toutes les générations, et je confirme, le keytar c'est la vie !
Vive le Keytar ! -_Daniel_
Got myself Korg RK 100 S2. So happy.
I bought one but underestimated how much I would miss aftertouch for triggering vibrato or swells. It's a fairly serious oversight, in my opinion. Have you found a workaround?
DX100. I moved the strap lugs so I could switch fast between one hand and two hand playing. I wired in a sustain button beside the mod wheel and ran it through whatever guitar amp was available at whatever open blues jam I could get into. I played slide guitar licks with the bender and harp solos using the breath controller. It was my first keyboard and it was cheap and I literally wore it out. Eventually, I got a job and bought a real keyboard.
I have a Roland AX-7 Keytar from way back and a newer Yamaha sonogenic SHS 500 Keytar like in Daniel video but in red. One thing I will say is they sure do hold there value especially the older ones. So a good investment as well. Thanks for the video Daniel
As a guitar player, one of these would be a good songwriting tool for me.
Are you a keyboardist too cause if not I think guitar is probably your best option for song writing unless you want to spend the time to learn keyboard
I have a weird fascination with this instrument. I play keyboard only at home (88 weighted keys), and I have no reason to get one of these, but they're a fun oddity.
I think the main reason to have one is so you can act like a guitarist and move around the stage during a performance.
My favorite musician to use a keytar has to be Stevie Wonder.
HAHA this guy is full of gems, "a keytar says, "I'm here to make a sound...what sound?" ahahah thats the funniest thing ever, also "one hand is plenty" ahaha both i will use moving forward
Keytar Kris approves of this video! 🎹🎸🤟
I've noticed that nearly everything is assignable on the Alesis - one of the strengths as a pure midi contoller. Wondered if chords could be assigned to drum pads. So you record the chords you want to play first, asign one to each pad, then tap each as you need them, using the keyboard for melody. It's limiting since you have to prepare before hand, (and you're limited to the amount of pads, although 8 chords should be sufficient for a lot of songs) but I wonder how well that would work.
I know the pads can be used to trigger sounds in the DOR. The pads would be better situated on or near the arm rather than the other end of the keyboard to use in that way so that might be impractical, but I can see it working by tapping a pad to trigger a chord on sustain until its deactivated later. Actually might work better just to record the entire chord sequence as a track before hand and trigger it once at start of performance, then do the melody in real time. Just wondering about possibilities. (I purchased an Alesis Vortex Wireless 2 recently, and I'm very new to MIDI, etc.)
We have the Lync LN1000 from the early 90s or so. It’s pretty rad. Still works great!
I think Lync released an updated version recently:)
@@margaretpatel3339 Oh wow. Looks cool. Thanks for the heads up.
@@thesolutionband No problem! I've never actually used a Lync; I just really like researching different keytars.
Never owned one but once had a Moog Liberation around my neck, it was pretty heavy...
Daniel! Keytar superstar!
Excellent demo
Very well thought-out points!
It's too bad keytars are so button-y. Needs more control like the Moog Liberation.
SH-101 is too small and the Vortex 2's eight sliders aren't quite enough.
Any love for the Roland Lucina AX-09?
Pretty cool demo, Daniel 😎🎹 my brother has a Yamaha and a roland keytar and I thought they were awesome. Also that Roland ax and Alesis keytars looks killer. These are some fun and underrated instruments to own.
Well, this was good
They are so fun to play❤
CT-S1000V Keytar ..... ambitious Daniel!!!! 😎😁🙌💥💜UK
We have few options today and in Brazil they are expensive! But I consider buying a Sonogenic.
I've got the Alesis Vortex.
It's all good, but for me personally, it's gotta be the KX5 and my favorite fusion piece of all time: Got a Match?
Hi Andrew. I own a KX5 that I had Chick Corea sign when he was here:-)
-Daniel_
I have the yamaha reface cp, and no, I never thought of it as a keytar. I also have the roland ax 09, but it's a bit too heavy. not that I ever played keyboards on stage. but if I did, I'd want something small and not hard to carrie. I also have the korg microkorg, which is a synth.
The Roland looks the biz, sounds good too
The old Casio AZ-1 》80's
Got the Vortex Wireless 2, most flexible MIDI keytar you can ever find these days. And it's super cheap.
For how much?
@@udojikechukwudalu3166 Here it was around 230€, but prices may vary from one country to another.
In recent years, I’ve fantasized about a whole band of frontliners, all leading people, the drummer playing a Zendrum in lieu of a kit. If the piano player were holding a Keytar (something like the AX-Edge), that would make that a reality.
Keytars 🔥🔥🔥
I was hoping strap on an Arp 2600 or a Moog Liberation, and play Frankenstein or Whip it!. : )
Thanks for yet another great demo! Does the Vortex have noticable latency with Bluetooth MIDI?
Hi MarkusCologne. I didn't have any trouble at all with it, but some musicians are more sensitive to slight amounts of latency. -_Daniel_
What if you're a left handed keyboardist? Are there any left hand models?
I have a Yamaha SHS-10
If these are so great, why dob't you sell them? I got a Roland Lucina AX-09 from Sweetwater on sale and I like it
does handedness matter? will i still be able to use one of these if i’m a lefty?
I want to see someone play the Goldberg Variations on a keytar. You know, for chuckles.
Hi Jordan. There's a right tool for every type of job. This would not be the right tool for the Goldberg Variations;-)
-_Daniel_
Four is enough, thank you…✌🏻😎🎹🌴🌞
Do any of these have built in speaker / take batteries? Interested in a walk around instrument
All of them take batteries.
The Sonogenic and all of the Reface models have built-in speakers. Idk about the others.
I'm still waiting for a left handed model. 🧐
Right-handed musicians could use a left-handed keytar to do bass lines. -_Daniel_
That red & blk Keytar is for the ones who say "I only play the white keys" 😂
We (keyboardists) dont call them keytars. I always hated that word 😆 I have the Korg RK-100 and still use it today. RK = Remote Keyboard
Have you considered calling them a Guitorgan?
I need a keytar.
are there any keytars with the notes on a neck? so that left hand could also play something?
Daniel do you still own keytars in your studio?
Hi coreyoffman. I own (2) AX-1, (2) AX-7, (2) AX-Edge, (1) Sonogenic 500, (1) RK-100S, (1) CTS-1000V, (5) REFACE (with optional strap buttons), (1) DX-100, and a Yamaha KX-5 signed by Chick Corea.
-_Daniel_
... and I'm crafting a handle and strap buttons for my Hammond M-SOLO so that I can wear it as well. _-D_
@@sweetwater where do you keep those? My faves are the rk100s and the kx5
"The 80s Allman Brothers Band's Keytar player enters the chat..."
🤣
Not me watching this to persuade myself to get one
I have yamaha SHS 10. Can the jack headphones out sounds be put on a novation 49sl mk3 usb controller via some cable?
I need a video about why I need another keytar. 😊😂
❤
SeratoDJ and RecordBox old sh*t.
Make a video battle of Virtual DJ vs Serato programs.
Testing:
the scratch sound
the scratch filter, sensor settings (Does Serato even do this?)
stems
sound settings
selection of the wavetrack type, zoom
and much more
Or are you a housewife who can't figure out the VDJ settings?
Oh wait, just add a strap to the Osmose and you can destroy all of these by wiggling individual fingers. EE should adapt their design to a keytar.
👍I LOVE ! 💙⚪❤
increíble, vine para ver tocar el alesis vortex y ni lo toco XD
Modern technology has passed all of these by, why? Because now all keytars should obviously have full touch or MPE Osmose type expression. When is that coming out because if you could bend individual notes using your fingers you wouldn't need all wheels and cumbersome controls which will probably break eventually. The whole point of MPE is to play like a guitar so why hasn't this technology merged with the keytar yet? I think I'll wait for that instead of any of these.
I love you guys, but....no. No dude. Just no. I still have trauma from the 80s. 🤣
Yeah, too dynamic, sound, resonating and sharp.😁🤘❤️✌️
As keyboardists we were always gonna be the awkward one trying to look "cool." This just multiplied the Dork Level by many orders of magnitude. I'm happy to be set way back on the stage and just get the job done. 😉
@@geekmastermind Nah crowds go nuts for these now!
Devo said it many years ago: “Dare to be stupid!” C’mon, take a chance; why let everyone else have all the fun (and attention)!
You? It still tags me once a week here on RUclips. The first vid in my suggestions will be an Allman Brothers Band concert from '82 at the University of Florida and their Keytar player is front & center 🤣. The thumbnail has Dickey in a cowboy hat with a Goldtop Les Paul but I know exactly what's waiting if I click it 🤣🤣🤣
But why do the sounds need to be stuck in the 80's 🤣
Hi NoQualmsTheArtist. In this video I played piano, electric piano, violins, trumpet, flute, sax, organ, drums, as well as synth sounds. And, although those sounds certainly were used in the '80s, they were also quite popular in the decades before and after the '80s. -_Daniel_
You need a Jew's Harp or a Kazoo more Homie
Why a keytar? Cause you don’t know it’s lame.
It's just not what a keyboard is supposed to be. It's wrong hehe