Best starter synth for home studio production

May I ask: why do you want external hardware instead of going with a software synth?

You can obviously get a lot more for your money with software, and in terms of sound quality, a license of Keyscape and Omnisphere is going to sound better (in my opinion) than anything Nord, Yamaha, Korg or Roland can sell you these days.

Really? So would you suggest an hardware gear only for live playing?

It depends on a lot of factors, but if you're primarily after great Rhodes, organ, and bass guitar sounds (like in a lot of Mac Miller productions, at least the ones I've heard), and you don't need to play live, software will yield equal or better results than equivalent keyboard hardware.

Because with my novation I stil miss the feel of playing an instrument, and that’s a lick in the nuts for composing and creativity.

For software to feel great, you need a sound card that affords very low latency. What latency are you currently running at?

I have the arturia collection V but everytime I Wanna play I have to open my DAW, then find my sound on the monitor of my computer, and there’s even little latency… I Miss the feeling of an instrument I can actually play. Could I make my self celar? Thank you

Yes. If turning on your DAW kills your creativity, then that's a problem.

What's your level of playing experience? I'm a TERRIBLE keyboard player myself, I never practice like I should, but nobody here will give you a hard time if you don't have a bunch of complex, jazzy chord progressions oozing out of your fingertips yet.

UPDATE: Just listened to some of your Soundcloud. Great tracks! It sounds like you already have some keyboard skill. So are you just looking for something that keeps that same vibe as your most recent productions, but without having to turn on your computer? ... or are you looking to add more traditional analog synth sounds (Moog bass, Juno pads, etc) to the electric piano and organ type sounds you already have in your DAW?

The big deciding factor is the type of sounds you want. If you need something that can produce traditional Rhodes, piano, and organ sounds on top of subtractive synthesis sounds (Moog bass, etc), you'll need to look at keyboards that are sample-based, like Nord's offerings, Yamaha Motif series, etc... if you just need the subtractive synth sounds, then you'll be looking at analog, virtual analog, and similar type keyboards like the Korg Minilogue, Sequential Prophet-08, etc.

Happy to help. :)

All of the following are things you likely already know, but I'll say them in hopes that it might inspire some others to chime in with their opinions:

Nord keyboards hold their value really well over the years, because they're always a bit more than the sum of their parts. Good looks, great sound, great feel, great support. If your instincts are leading you to Nord, then follow those instincts.

The Nord Electro line is primarily focused on just sample-based vintage electromechanical sounds (Rhodes, Wurli, B3 organ, etc). The Nord Stage line has all these same electromechanical sounds, plus better acoustic piano sounds, and a virtual analog synth engine based on Nord's classic Lead series of VA synths. I'm not normally a huge fan of VA synths, but I've always loved the sound of the Nord Lead, and having great Rhodes AND great analog-style synth sounds in one keyboard, with a lot of hands-on control of sound shaping is kind of the ultimate dream... but that's why the Stage costs more than the Electro...

So, you need to make personal decisions on the following:

1. How many keys do you need? Has the 5 octaves of your Novation 61 key been enough so far?

2. What key feel do you vibe with best? un-weighted (light-touch, like an organ -- sometimes called "synth action"), semi-weighted (mild spring-based tension + small weights), or hammer-action (counter-weighted keys with a fulcrum point, closest to a piano feel). Nord gets nearly all their key-beds from a supplier named FATAR. FATAR supplies most keyboard makers. Only Yamaha, Roland, and (maybe) Kawai make their own key-beds. Most of the other companies rely on FATAR. What this means is that there is nothing special about the way the keys on a Nord feel vs. keyboards from everyone else **, BUT you still must know which type of feel/action you want. Nord offers different key feels per model. Note: I owned the same Novation MIDI controller you have for about a week. I returned it to the store because I just couldn't get comfortable with the action... it just never felt quite right for me and I was constantly adjusting the velocity curves, but was never happy. Obviously, you are getting along with it just fine, it's a very robust and well-made controller... but my point is that this is a very personal thing. There is no right/wrong answer. Everyone's hands are different.

3. How badly do you need good analog-style synth sounds in your keyboard? This will be the deciding factor between Nord Electro and Nord Stage (or a keyboard from another maker).

The best way to get answers to all of the above is to go to a musical instruments store and play as many different keyboards as you can. Spend hours. There is no substitute for playing an instrument in-person, obviously.

Do you have the ability to play some Nord keyboards in-person in your part of Italy?

** everyone else, other than Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai, of course

Arp odyssey?

Edit: I always pitch the odyssey lol. But it sounds like you don't really want a programmable subtractive synth so much as a tweakable all in one that can also cop some of those 70s 80s sounds adequately.

When looking at hardware that really does it all the buy in Is steep on a good keyboard with comfortable action that will sound better than plugins. That said i was playing a used roland fantom the other day and the action was great and i was making some really interesting patches, it's got some nice bread and butter pianos and organs with decent analog synth sounds... for me it was tempting because you can apply all the fx, virtual analog modulation and filtering to any sample so there's some amazing patches waiting to be unlocked from ethereal to industrial. The interface was fast and intuitive for a veteran synthesist but may be tricky at first for a new guy. It also may wind up being a rompler for you and if you're not using the hands on advanced feature set it's really no better than a rompler plugin. And some plugins offer much better acoustic and electromechanical sounds... most school the stock synth presets. I almost bought it if only for the nice keybed which has a good semi weighted feel... splits the difference between hammer action and organ/synth action.

But ymmv. You really aren't gaining anything if you're just looking for bread and butter sounds like a hammond and maybe a synth pad... on the other hand, if you want to quickly recreate the piano from ashes to ashes or a Rhodesthat's also a pad? BOOM. Maybe you don't have a really professional interface for your plugins and its throwing you're performing off or you just can't get down with a mouse anymore, maybe the grass is alwaysgreener and you need to stick with what works already. You gotta feel that out. But the roland fantom in my book is a surprisingly good instrument for the coin.

This is a HUGE market, because it overlaps with the needs of most gigging keyboard players. All the big brands make multiple models for this segment.

The market is too crowded to decide based just on features, or just on sound demos. You need to play these instruments in person and decide that way. There is no alternative approach, in my opinion.

Re: the older Nord keyboards, they're all good. They never made any bad models, as far as I'm aware. The main difference between the newer and older is that the older ones (we're talking like 10 years ago or more) couldn't interface with a computer via USB (for sample loading, firmware updates, etc), and the older ones didn't have nearly as much sample memory, so they can't hold some of the newer sample sets that require several gigs. As long as the Nord model you pick can interface with the latest Nord sample-loading software, I think you'll be ok.... and even if it can't it will still most likely sound good, and play nicely.

Re: competitors from Korg, Roland, and Yamaha. They all sound great too, unfortunately -- and the key action on some is as good or better than what Nord offers. The big difference between Nord and the others is mainly that the Nord has a more hands-on interface that doesn't require as much menu-diving and manual-reading as some of the more complex products from the big Japanese brands... but all these brands make great keyboards that will sound very nice and be a joy to play... that's why you just need to go play some in person and decide based on personal taste and instinct.

The rational approach would be to just make sure your audio interface had very low latency, and keep making great music with Arturia V collection... getting a hardware keyboard, when you already have a great DAW setup, is an emotional decision, not a rational one. You need to play these instruments in person, and let your emotions continue to guide you... this is about feel, more than features, and feel, for a product segment this refined, is a really subjective thing.

Nothing anyone can say here on the internet can decide this matter for you.

...but we'll keep talking and helping anyway, because it's what we like to do. :)

Re: competitors from Korg, Roland, and Yamaha. They all sound great too, unfortunately -- and the key action on some is as good or better than what Nord offers. The big difference between Nord and the others is mainly that the Nord has a more hands-on interface that doesn't require as much menu-diving and manual-reading as some of the more complex products from the big Japanese brands... but all these brands make great keyboards that will sound very nice and be a joy to play... that's why you just need to go play some in person and decide based on personal taste and instinct.

I was really surprised sitting behind that used roland fantom how easy it was. I dialed up a plain piano and just grokkedthe interface immediately and made a ashes to ashes sound... pulled up strings, fiddled with the loop points, got filtering and made an ethereal orchestral pad, no trouble at all. I made a slew of original patches and saved them in case I go back to buy it for my arsenal.

I always assumed it was a hard device to learn like the yami motif, but it's not. Maybe not as knob and slider laden as a nord electro but it only took me 10 minutes to figure out how to deep dive. There are so many good options these days I'm tempted to tell the OP just to price shop and maybe put the savings into a budget analog polysynth or an arp odyssey (because everyone needs one).

I agree though that a state of the art low latency interface and a really high end controller may just be the best way to go though it violates my hardware lovin' belief system! Unless we're talking live work... then I wouldn't trust any computer... only something like the new receptor distributed by peavy.

And kawai does make their own keybeds for hammer action models and man is it the best feel going. Theirs isn't just a fulcrum point, it has a good chunk of their acoustic piano mechanism behind the keys.

I was really surprised sitting behind that used roland fantom how easy it was. I dialed up a plain piano and just grokkedthe interface immediately and made a ashes to ashes sound... pulled up strings, fiddled with the loop points, got filtering and made an ethereal orchestral pad, no trouble at all. I made a slew of original patches and saved them in case I go back to buy it for my arsenal.

I always assumed it was a hard device to learn like the yami motif, but it's not. Maybe not as knob and slider laden as a nord electro but it only took me 10 minutes to figure out how to deep dive. There are so many good options these days I'm tempted to tell the OP just to price shop and maybe put the savings into a budget analog polysynth or an arp odyssey (because everyone needs one).

I'm really glad to hear that, re: Fantom.

True, it may be cheaper (and more fun) to buy something that just handles nice electromechanical and acoustic piano sounds, and then add a true analog mono or poly, like Minilogue, Odyssey, etc for the synth bass & lead stuff.

I agree though that a state of the art low latency interface and a really high end controller may just be the best way to go though it violates my hardware lovin' belief system! Unless we're talking live work... then I wouldn't trust any computer... only something like the new receptor distributed by peavy.

For live, yeah... different story.

And kawai does make their own keybeds for hammer action models and man is it the best feel going. Theirs isn't just a fulcrum point, it has a good chunk of their acoustic piano mechanism behind the keys.

That Kawai controller is a beast... I'm glad it exists. For me, I see a Roland A88 in my future.

I like the A88 a lot. I've been eyeballing those doepfer controllers in the spitfire videos but it's hard to justify when I haven't worked on my own music all year.

I like the A88 a lot. I've been eyeballing those doepfer controllers in the spitfire videos but it's hard to justify when I haven't worked on my own music all year.

Those Doepfer controllers are the stuff of dreams, just like the Kawai beast. The Bentleys and Rolls of MIDI input. My keyboard chops will likely never get to the point where the A88 is justified, let alone the really boutique stuff -- but I admire your tastes, good sir.

Those Doepfer controllers are the stuff of dreams, just like the Kawai beast. The Bentleys and Rolls of MIDI input. My keyboard chops will likely never get to the point where the A88 is justified, let alone the really boutique stuff -- but I admire your tastes, good sir.

I'm not that good either but the doepfer really has a lot to offer for my orchestra library that I barely make use of now.

@jimmarchi have you had any experience with the Korg SV-1/SV-2?

If we're just talking about a source of vibe-y EPs, organs, an pianos, I wonder of a used SV-1 for like US$1000 might fit the bill? It's only got like 36 sounds, but they're quality, from what I've heard. I haven't laid hands on one myself yet.

@jimmarchi have you had any experience with the Korg SV-1/SV-2?

Thumbsup

I dont know which one it was but I played a borrowed korg digital ep a few times on stage that had the little glowing 12ax7 on it and I loved the sound and feel. It delivered a really nice wurli sound with some hair around it into the PA and the control set was minimal and easy. Hatlrd to get a bad sound. It excelled at wurli & hohner tones with a rhodes sized keyboard. I know steely Dan is the Rhodes and a phase90, but it's the least cool electric piano it's just got the larger keyboards and better action.... and I owned one. The korg had good fender sounds too though.

Maybe this is what the OP needs? I mean, a number of affordable dedicated keyboards tend to do the job better than an all in one... but you lose the ability of the big sample based devices to warp those stock sounds. If you're feeling creative I still stand by something like the fantom.

Thank you so much guys. Every answer is so interesting to read. Anyway, I'll go to play myself some of these keyboard, just as you suggested. But at least I made myself clear what exactly I'm looking for!

Thanks for reading through all of my rambling, Giovanni. I like to type, apparently. :D

Best of luck in your search!