Hi everyone,

I have a fairly simple need - a piano module for my master keyboard.

I used to have a Kurzweil MicroPiano and loved it. Foolishly I got rid of it when I had a sabbatical from playing.

Can anybody recommend something that would be a good replacement for it that has great piano sounds that is fairly affordable?

I'm mostly just after acoustic piano, but appreciate that most modules these days will have a lot more.

Or should I just hang out on e-bay until an old MicroPiano turns up?

Many thanks for any suggestions.

James

I sampled mine before I sold it, just in case...

Kurzweil did do a replacement updated Micropiano, I think it was called the MicroEnsemble or something, might be worth looking into...

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Feb03/articles/kurzweilme1.asp

Beautiful little unit.

Yes, the ME1 would hit the spot I'm sure.

Thing is, like the MicroPiano you can't buy these anywhere, unless you hang around on Ebay long enough

What is available now that I can buy?

Thanks,

James

These days, the amount of modules and hardware sound modules on the market has decreased a lot.

Hardware tends to be boutique synths, or stage-type gear. If you are out playing live, it probably makes more sense to buy a stage-piano keyboard (ie, a keyboard with inbuilt piano sounds) - there are quite a few of these on the market. Simpler to lug around and rig up.

For studio use, most people tend to gravitate towards software solutions, due to the size of the modern sample sets.

If nothing else, you should be able to pick one up on ebay, as they do tend to come up pretty frequently.

Other things to consider: hmm, perhaps one of the Roland XV modules and the SRX piano option board - not exactly a budget option, but it will give you a great range of sounds, or posibly a Yamaha Motif rack unit.

To be honest I'm not really aware of any other hardware modules with decent piano sounds - maybe some other people have some suggestions...

Hi gang,
nice to see my review quoted here!
However, if you're not worried about having a module, I should point out that Kurzweil's own KME61 is the keyboard version of the MicroEnsemble, which I reviewed for Music Mart some months after the ME-1 review.
This addresses ALL of the criticisms that I had/still have about the ME-1. It's a terrific keyboard with all the sounds of the ME-1, a manual that is an object lesson in clarity (the ME-1 manual was 16 pages long, and half of those were in Korean! ) and you've got a data slider that puts out the controller information to access all the extra sounds and nuances.
Hope this helps,
Best wishes,

Dave.



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Lots of Ataris which keep on going, 12 Kurzweil 1000 modules, a bunch of hardware synths. Still recording to tape -the old ways are best.....

There's a Micro Piano on eBay just now at £36 (+£13 for postage). It's been toured and it shows, but the seller says that it still works.

And it's not me that's selling it or anything.