i bought this thing called a yamaha mm8

[daJungKI]

and i know nothing about keyboards, nothing at all, all i know is that i want a decent keyboard for around $1000 and it was on sale for $880 (normal retail price $1200). i mainly want to use it for midi sequencing, recording, and composing. probably not so much live performance but i would like to leave that option open. i like the weighted keys although i hear it's missing that "aftertouch" thing.

i'm not looking to be the most professional high-tech guy out there, my question to you experts and gearheads is, is there a significantly better deal i can get for a keyboard of that particular price point?

[OverCoat]

you bought it and NOW you want to know if you can get a better deal on it? and you "think" it's missing "that aftertouch thing" ... you sure have a lot of money to burn don't you?

at least you bought a decent keyboard, but damn, if I were spending that much money I would research enough to justify paying that much for anything. Aftertouch, btw, is how much pressure remains on the keys when you play them. Here's some more info on aftertouch.

I'll refrain from talking about the MM8 since I've never actually seen one, but I can tell you that fiscally, if you just want midi sequencing, recording, and composing, and you already have a decent computer, you don't have to pay a single dime. You might be able to sync up the MM8 with your PC and some free software [and a few bucks for a midi interface with cables, unless your keyboard has USB out on it]. I'll tell you how if you're interested. Still, I don't want to get you on the wrong track if the MM8 has decent sequencing built into it.

[Skrypnyk]

you bought it and NOW you want to know if you can get a better deal on it?

that's what I thought after reading the original post too...

[big giant circles]

and i know nothing about keyboards, nothing at all, all i know is that i want a decent keyboard for around $1000 and it was on sale for $880 (normal retail price $1200). i mainly want to use it for midi sequencing, recording, and composing. probably not so much live performance but i would like to leave that option open. i like the weighted keys although i hear it's missing that "aftertouch" thing.

i'm not looking to be the most professional high-tech guy out there, my question to you experts and gearheads is, is there a significantly better deal i can get for a keyboard of that particular price point?

Eh, not really that I can think of. The MM8 is somewhere between a watered-down MO8 and a beefed up YPG-635. (MM actually stands for "Mini-MO"). It's probably not going to be that easy to sequence with if you plan on doing it all entirely on the keyboard, but it'll work just fine if you're hooked up to a DAW and using it as a MIDI keyboard. $880 is probably about as reasonable a deal as you're going to find on it. Plus, if you return it (assuming it's still in the 14-day return period), they're likely to charge you a 15% restocking fee, so I'd just go ahead and keep it.

Aftertouch is similar to having a pressure-activated modwheel built into every single key. It's great for live performance, but you said that's not an issue. Plus, not that many things use a lot of after touch, so while it's a nifty bell/whistle, it's not all that necessary most of the time, so I wouldn't worry too much about that either.

Also, never ever ever ever base "a good deal" on the MSRP. NOTHING ever sells for MSRP, so really, it's pretty misleading from the start. GC is pretty good about not flaunting that crap, but places like Sweetwater make a huge deal about it, and it's a bunch of BS. "Save $429 if you buy NOW!!!". Rubbish.

[Harmony]

Plus, not that many things use a lot of after touch, so while it's a nifty bell/whistle, it's not all that necessary most of the time, so I wouldn't worry too much about that either.

Maybe this is more of a personal thing, but I actually find it invaluable, since you can usually map the aftertouch to something else other than mod, like filter cutoff, pitch, or lfo frequency. You can even get a little more creative with it and link it to a level on an FX send and get a really cool dynamic distortion or reverb thing going.

In general, it opens up some amazing possibilities for expression with a keyboard that are otherwise just not possible. Yeah you might not use it as often as the pitch bend, for example, but in the $1000 price range, it would be something that I'd have to have.

[Zephyr]

I love aftertouch, it's a ton of fun, however I actually don't use it terribly often. I usually map it to the mod wheel so I can do mod stuff without wasting one of my hands.

[daJungKI]

you bought it and NOW you want to know if you can get a better deal on it? and you "think" it's missing "that aftertouch thing" ... you sure have a lot of money to burn don't you?

at least you bought a decent keyboard, but damn, if I were spending that much money I would research enough to justify paying that much for anything.

if i'm allowed to mention my boring personal life here, i am your average piss-poor college student who barely gets by on a day-to-day basis. money is something i simply don't have, especially any amount beyond 1k. however, i spent the majority of the summer teaching english in korea and saved up a good amount, and the absolute first thing i wanted to buy was a keyboard. why? because i've wanted to use one for composing for years but never had the money. in junior high i used to use freeware programs like anvil studio to sequence midis for vgmusic, and maybe i'm just lazy, but it's damn hard inputting every single note manually with your mouse. after awhile i just couldn't handle it.

so anyways, i was planning on buying a keyboard but the GC sale was completely unplanned, a friend of mine just happened to invite me saying that there were surely good deals on keyboards to be found. i ended buying the mm8 after talking with a bunch of different folks at the store that seemed knowledgeable on the subject (i also purchased komplete 5).

but then i thought to come here, cuz this is the kinda stuff i wanna do, i've been coming to ocr for nearly a decade on a regular basis and you guys know your shit. i haven't opened the box so i wouldn't even be charged a restocking fee at this point. so thank you all for your input. since i probably won't have "money to burn" for a long while, ideally i would like to buy a keyboard that has enough fancy bells and whistles to last me, well, a long while. aftertouch sounds quite useful to have, but i'm also loathe to pay more than $1500 for anything, unfortunately.

bgc--hear you on the MSRP. thanks for the reminder.

[Yoozer]

Your MM8 can do the same. I'd say it's a good entry level board with enough sounds on board to keep you busy for a while; in order to record audio too, I'd also start looking at an audio interface.

The MM comes with Cubase AI so that may be of use too. Check the goodies on the CD.

[Malcos]

Did you have a play around with any other keyboards at roughly the same price point? Then you can be 100% sure about your decision. I love Yamaha stuff (I have a motif xs 8, so I would say just open the box! lol. Have a look at reviews (at places like http://www.harmony-central.com/), play around with some keyboards at your local store. Something like an Korg M50 could be within your budget if you're willing to compromise on the number of keys, or there is always the possibility of getting something like a second hand motif es8, MO8 or s90es which would have slightly better sounds than the MM8. However for your budget, if you want a new 88 key synth the MM8 imo is the best way to go.

[Zephyr]

Komplete 5 too? Wow haha! I wish...

[big giant circles]

Don't mistake me fellas, I LOVE aftertouch, I'm so thrilled that my Axiom just happened to have it before I really even knew what it was.

What I said was "it's not all that necessary most of the time."

I didn't say "it's not an awesome feature to have and opens some cool doors". Big difference between awesome and necessary

(Though I suppose that for this topic, "necessary" can be pretty subjective)

**********

Also David, since you were fortunate enough to snag Komplete 5 (I bet you still got it for $399, right?) is there a particular reason that you wanted a keyboard with built-in sounds? Nothing at all wrong with that if you do, I guess it just depends on how often you'll be playing it without your computer. Komplete 5 boasts somewhere between 7-8000 sounds right out of the box, and it pretty well covers every instrument category there is - pianos, synths, bass, guitar, pads, drums, organs, strings, ethnic, you name it. Also, if you're planning on using Cubase as your primary DAW software, you could always take your MM8 back and grab something like the Yamaha KX8 (if your store still has 'em). It's an 88-key weighted MIDI controller, it actually looks identical (in shape) to the MM8, and it's set up to work pretty well with Cubase. (Still no aftertouch, though, if I'm not mistaken.) But it's only $300, so while you'd be forfeiting your MM8 sounds, remember, you still have thousands of sounds to play with in K5, plus, you'd score about $600 back.

Also, I'm kind of in the same boat as Zephyr when it comes to using aftertouch. I can't deny it's a hella fun feature, and as Harmony said, it definitely can open some new paths for you, but speaking only from my own experience, I just rarely ever use it when I'm actually recording/sequencing. Of course, I'm much more of a mouse and piano roll guy, and Harmony can (quite obviously) rock out the keyboard for his sequencing

[daJungKI]

mr. bgc, thank you so much for your feedback. you are spot on about me snagging komplete 5--i probably wouldn't have purchased it if the GC guys didn't tell me it was a rockin deal, and that the cubase that was included with the keyboard was kind of a lite version anyway. (as you may have noticed i'm a pretty gullible guy)

it's tempting to return the synthesizer and get a midi controller, but i do think that i would still like to use the keyboard outside the studio. my primary instrument is actually drums, but i can play guitar and keys a bit as well, and i love jamming with random people. having only a midi controller would render such experiences impossible! even though i could do so much with $600........like buy a ps3 or go on some fancy dates or buy a decent suit.........

and about the whole aftertouch thing, hey, if i can make mixes as awesome as bgc's without it, i think i'll be all right.

[Zephyr]

If you've got a laptop, I'd take midi controller + DAW for performing any day, it's more versatile IMO than just a keyboard with stock sounds, you can play along with songs, use customized sounds (and use komplete 5). Of course, that's provided you learn how to work your DAW.

And like we've said, don't worry about the after-touch, because as far as I can tell, if you've never had it, there's no way you'll miss it.

[daJungKI]

thanks to everyone who took the time to read the thread and offer some advice. i've decided to keep the keyboard and bang it for awhile. she's a sexy thang after all.

now, i'm faced with the monumental task of figuring out this "komplete 5" business...holy shit. it's enormous. i may asking for you guys' help again real soon.

[big giant circles]

yes, but it's a worthwhile monumental task!

[Zephyr]

You'll want to take on komplete one beast at a time, I'd recommend Kontakt as a starting point, it has a wide variety of sounds and isn't terribly difficult to figure out. Are you using a DAW or the standalone version? I think you mentioned it comes with cubase right?

[daJungKI]

i have no idea what a daw is. (google is your friend!) so i looked it up. uh, still don't really know what it is, but the keyboard came with cubase ai4, which i'm installing as we speak. i'm excited to start makin some tunes.