Jim Roseberry

Kronos 73 and 88 probably wouldn't work for you. 73-key Kronos weighs 46.5 pounds 88-key Kronos weighs 53 pounds Boot time can take a long while (depending on exactly what you have loading). I'd say the better part of two minutes. The Kronos 88 is a bit smaller than the M8x (somewhere in-between the Stage 4 and M8x)... and weights about 9 pounds less. The beauty of Kronos is the samples stream from SSD. The downside is that it's been discontinued. Getting your own samples into the Kronos is far my cryptic than with Stage 4 or Montage. Korg have said Nautilus is now the successor to Kronos. I had a Nautilus 88 AT for a brief period. The UI (screen jumping) didn't click with me. Much prefer the Kronos UI (and more controls). That said, I prefer the Montage UI to Kronos. Had the K2700 two separate times. Tried hard to live with the awful UI the second time. When I got deeper into programming, I found a problem with Portamento. It's really hard to describe in words, but it just sounds wrong... like the pitch slide curve isn't correct. It almost sounds like a glitch. I have to cover a lot of mono Moog'ish sounds... and that absolutely ended it for me. Pardon me for totally derailing the AstroLab thread!!!

Montage has a lot of EQ options. Element (loosely an oscillator): Each Element has it's own EQ Part: 3-band pre A/B insert effects 2-band post A/B insert effects A/B Insert Effects: Insert effects can be many different things... including EQ Master: Master out has a 5-band EQ Elements make up a Part... and Parts make a Performance. Every sound (patch) on the Montage OG and M is a Performance. There's no Single Patch and Multi-Patch. If you just need a single Part (sound), it's a Performance with just that one Part. Each performance can use up to 16 Parts.

Like Dave, I've never used any of the Nord presets. I've always programmed from scratch. Wasn't overly impressed with the stock Stage 4 library... but it's relatively easy to add your own (Sample Robot to the rescue). Went to see Night Ranger last night. Eric Levy plays a Motif XS on bottom with an organ as second tier keyboard. Sounded great. Helps that he's a great player. 😁 I'm not huge on B3, but I find the Stage 3/4 to sound ok. I know what you mean about the fast Leslie. I was going to mention the Ventilator... but you've already got one. Montage M has the new Leslie VCM effect (recently ported from their Stage Pianos). Take some time to get familiar with it. You can control Leslie speed with the Ribbon (stop, slow, fast). I use a high-pass filter on the 2-Band EQ (post Leslie)... to pull out a lot of bottom end.

Before I moved to the Nord Stage 3 (and then Stage 4), I used the OG Montage. Played a lot of gigs with the OG Montage 7. Over time, I grew dissatisfied with it's analog synth capabilities. In particular, it lacked accurate voice-priority/articulation for monophonic analog synth sounds. I got the Stage 3 after seeing Toto. So many touring players were (are) using the Stage 3, there had to be something special about it. The local GC had the Stage 3 in-stock... so I gabbed one. Up till this point, I'd always used workstation type keyboards. I never thought I'd be happy using a "Stage Piano". I was worried that the Stage 3's two Synth Engines wouldn't allow me to cover things like "Here I Go Again" or "Turn Me Loose". Quite the contrary, I was able to program our entire four hour show in two days. Ironically, the Stage 3's two Synth Engines are in some ways more flexible than the three Synth Engines on the Stage 4. ie: To cover the Intro for "Turn Me Loose" (G5add9), we need four notes each playing a sawtooth wave. Each of the Stage 3's Synth Engines allow you to select a pair of waveforms... and tune each waveform individually. I programmed Synth Engine 1 to play the G root and the 5th above it (both sawtooth waveforms). Synth Engine two is playing the G octave above and the 9th above the root (both sawtooth waveforms). On the Stage 4, I have to use all three Synth Engines to achieve the same thing. Each Synth Engine allows a pair of Waveforms... but you're limited to preset 5th and octave intervals. To get a 9th, 3rd, or 7th interval, you have to use a Synth Engine just for that singular note. Nord keyboards are great in many ways... but some limitations are head-scratchers. We get an additional Synth Engine with the Stage 4, but sometimes have to burn it to achieve the same as Stage 3. Another thing to know about the Nord Stage 3 and 4; user-samples in the Synth Engine are single velocity (there are no velocity splits). I was initially extremely concerned about this limitation. A couple years back (playing NYE), we had to cover Garth Brooks' "Friends In Low Places". We're a Rock band... but it was requested. I had to cover the violin melody on keyboard. I was thinking that was going to be pure unadulterated CHEESE. Still had the OG Montage, so I called up it's solo violin sample. OMG, It was awful. No way would I use it. Called up the solo violin sample on the Stage 3... and even though it was a single velocity, it sounded far better. At that point, I stopped worrying about the single velocity limitation. On to the Stage 4: I was one of the first in the US to get the Stage 4 (pre-ordered the day it was announced). Stage 4 basically doubles the user-sample space, adds another Synth Engine, and has expanded effects/processing. As with all keyboards, you don't discover the dirty-details... until you dig deep. Is that an AC/DC song? 🤪 I discovered an issue with broken Portamento on Synth Engine 1 (and it's intermittent). Some have tried to convince me it's a hardware issue... but it's not. If I flash back to firmware 1.06, Portamento always works as expected. Nord introduced a bug at firmware version 1.08... that persists in the latest firmware 1.24. I've contacted Nord twice about this issue. No response/address after many months. It's a real pain when you have to cover things the intro for "Turn Me Loose"... where I have to use all three Synth Engines to generate that G5add9. When the issue happens, Synth Engines 2 and 3 do the two octave glide up... and Synth Engine 1 immediately plays two octaves up (no glide). This isn't as bad as playing a half-step out of key... but it's a close second. 😉 For me, Portamento is a fundamental function. It should be fixed. I should also mention that many of the samples that came with the Stage 3 do not come with the Stage 4. If you're going to migrate, make sure you keep the Stage 3 until you've fully migrated. I had to sample a LOT of the sounds I needed from the Stage 3... and also sampled various instruments to supplement the stock Stage 4 samples. This took a couple months. My transition to the Stage 4 was far more time-consuming than the transition to the Stage 3. The Stage 4 is expensive... and my patience with Nord is wearing thin. Enter the Montage M. Though not as immediate as the Stage 3/4, the UI now offers much more realtime control. Takes time to set it up... but you can control drawbars, percussion, noises of a B3... similar to the Stage 3/4. The M adds AN-X (VA Synth Engine with 16-voice polyphony). This addresses many of my concerns with more authentic analog synth sounds (especially polyphonic). Where AN-X falls a bit short; the Filters sound somewhat generic (not a lot of character)... and monophonic note articulation. Nord's VA mono articulations are more flexible. ie: You can have the Filter (only) retrigger based on velocity... while playing monophonic using Portamento. AN-X can't do that. I use this on the Bridge for the synth melody on "Feels Like The First Time". I'm playing a mono (Moog'ish) synth sound... and I like having subtle control over the timbre of each note (based on velocity). Yes, I could play it without, but it sounds flat/sterile. Ironically, Montage M can do this when using the AWM2 (samples) Engine. The Montage M doesn't have many of the odd limitations that you'd find on a Stage 3/4. Montage M has far more user-sample space (3.7GB vs 1GB on Stage 4 and .5GB on Stage 3) Splits can be anywhere you choose (they're preset on Stage 3/4) User-samples can use velocity splits (limited to a single velocity on Stage 3/4) Programming, the M has far more "granular" control A single Montage M part can consist of up to 128 Elements (loosely an oscillator). Combine that with trigger conditions... and the M is the closest we have to Kontakt in a hardware instrument. If Yamaha would have provided disk-streaming for samples, it would have been game changing. Polyphony was never an issue with the Stage 3/4... even on things like "Here I Go Again" where I use four layers (Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano, Synth Pad, Vocal Pad). The Montage M has even more polyphony (up to 400 voices). Yamaha have released the first version of ESP (a true 1:1 virtual instrument of the Montage M). This version doesn't have full editing (only quick edits). The next release will have full/deep editing. Montage M8x certainly isn't an inexpensive option, but it's $1200 less than the Stage 4. If you get a Stage 4, some of the included samples are pretty lame (brass, choirs, strings, guitars)... especially if you're used to a higher-end workstation. You'll have to supplement these with your own samples (or source from online venders like Narfsounds). For "Addicted To Love", I sampled a brass layer I created in Montage... and layered that with one of the included brass samples. That made a huge difference. For "Dirty Laundry", I sampled the Vox organ I was using from the OG Montage. I didn't have to do this... as the Stage 3/4 have Vox organs... but it sounds more authentic (to the song). If you grab a Montage M, you won't have to sample much (if anything). I have to cover Malcom Youngs guitar on "Thunderstruck"... on keyboard. Didn't want to sound like absolute cheese, so I sampled each of the guitar chords/notes... and put those into the Stage 3/4 and Montage M8x. The Strings, Horns, Choirs on the Montage M sound very good. Acoustic Piano and Electric Pianos are (IMO) pretty much a wash. Nord has distilled the Stage 3/4 to those features which are absolutely necessary. Some limitations leave me wondering why... but I will say that I've always been able to cover what's necessary. The Montage M is going to be a deeper dive. It'll take longer to program... but the possibilities are FAR beyond the Stage 4. If you've ever played the OG Montage 6 or 7, the M7 keybed is identical. If you've played Korg's unweighted Kronos keyboards, the action is identical. IMO, The Montage M is currently the best all-in-one keyboard/workstation. It's not perfect... but none of them are. Downside for many (myself included), the M8x is HUGE and heavy. Stage 4 88 weighs just a little more than the M7... and you have 88 weighted keys. Much prefer weighted keys for playing Piano. M8x action is slightly heavier than the Stage 4. Stage 4's keybed is light enough that you can move pretty fast. In a perfect world, I'd like the Montage M8x in the size/weight of the Stage 4, the Nord's VA Engine, and no odd limitations. If you've read this tome, both keyboards are amazing and annoying. Choose the one who's limitations you can most easily live with (or work around). Hope I haven't confused more than helped! 😁

Years ago, I created the first collection of IRs of the 480L (sold by SEK'D America as Samplitools IR). Later, I redid them and sold them as ReverbTools. At that time, software based algorithmic Reverb was not particularly good... and was CPU intensive. Convolution was the only way to achieve higher quality Reverb. The limitation with Convolution is that it doesn't capture any of the modulation in the reverb tails. Flash forward to today... Relab's LX480 plugin is bit-accurate recreation of Lexicon's 480L. What comes out is identical to the real 480L. Convolution and IRs can/do produce great sounding ambience. If you're looking for authentic 480L ambience, check out the LX480. https://relabdevelopment.com/lx480-dual-engine-reverb/ The downside, it's not free. 😉 If you're into the Bricasti M7: Seventh Heaven Professional sounds fantastic. https://www.liquidsonics.com/software/seventh-heaven-professional/ We have numerous TV/Film composer clients using it.

My solution to Song Mode isn't super elegant (wastes a lot of patch space)... but it works equally well for me. I've had an issue with broken Portamento on Synth Engine 1 (intermittent) since firmware 1.08. Contacted Nord twice... and heard nothing from them. Only solution is to flash back to firmware 1.06 (where Portamento works exactly as expected). If you haven't, check out the Montage M8x. It's a huge/heavy beast, but it's a really nice instrument. Weakest spot is the AN-X filters (which are a bit generic). I may replace my Stage-4 will the M8x (still haven't decided).

Other than the envelope, I don't see a lot of correlation. A lot of modern virtual-instruments have similar UIs (Icarus, Avenger, Serum, Pigments, etc). If you look at guitar processors, Line-6's Helix almost defined the current generation's UI (Quad Cortex, GT-1000, Headrush, etc). IMO, looks closer to Tone2's Saurus:

Having 88 weighted keys would be more appealing... but (for me) not with the same limited specs. Also, not crazy about Arturia's 88-key weighted action (very stiff/sluggish) If you have to play something like the organ solo to Carry On Wayward Son (moves *fast*) that's nigh on impossible. It's tough on M8x and less so on the Stage-4 Side Note: After playing other more stiff/sluggish 88-key keyboards, the Stage-4 almost feels organ like. If you have tendonitis, the Stage-4 keyboard is wonderful. There's enough weight to play with nuance... but there's not a lot of resistance (less wear/tear on tendons).

Several things keep me on the sidelines (as someone who plays out regularly): Polyphony (48 voices is pretty limited for pianos... especially if you're using a lot of sustain pedal, 8 or 16 voices for the synths). Multi-Timbral (only two simultaneous sounds). Lack of realtime controls. I've been spoiled by keyboards that offer lots of realtime control (Nord Stage 3/4, 3rd Wave, and Montage M8x). Tiny display (this is maybe the must puzzling) I like the idea of having the V Collection in a self-contained hardware keyboard. Even as a second tier keyboard, it would have been more exciting to see 16-part Multi-Timbral and 128-voices of polyphony. There are times where I have to layer 3 or four sounds to achieve the desired result. Two would never suffice. If you want to edit the V Collection sounds, you need both AstroLab and the V Collection. That's about $2000. That's starting to get into "workstation" cost. MODX+ is $1349 (no aftertouch) Nautilus AT is $2200 The AstroLab would be a whole lot more appealing if it offered many realtime controls for V Collection synth parameters. If I have to edit the sounds on a computer, it would be nice to have near knob/button per-function. That would make it feel a whole lot more integrated (like I'm operating a dedicated hardware instrument). If you've ever edited sounds on something like a Nord Stage 4 (almost knob/button per-function)... and then switch to editing virtual-instruments with a mouse/keyboard (especially if you're programming an entire four hour show), it's a whole lot more tedious.

I'm not into hating Behringer. Many local sound engineers use the X32 I've got a UBX-A on pre-order since the beginning of December 2023 Had loads of fun with the Poly D (poor name choice but works great) Have a pair of Klark Teknic KT76 compressors (love them) From what I've heard, this "Vintage" plugin isn't overly exciting/inspiring. Sounds generic to my ears (not a lot of character). UI looks nice...

Hi Max, If you're looking for maximum performance: As was previously mentioned, get a PCIe host card for an M.2 SSD (make sure it supports 4 PCIe lanes). Install the PCIe host card in one of the full-length PCIe slots (requires 4 PCIe lanes). This will yield the full speed of the M.2 SSD. If you've got a M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD that sustains 7000MB/Sec: If you put that M.2 SSD in an external USB enclosure, it's not going to yield the full speed of the drive. USB-3 tops out at about 550MB/Sec (which is about the same speed as a SATA SSD) USB-3.2 Gen1 tops out at about 1250MB/Sec USB-3.2 Gen2 tops out at about 2600MB/Sec With Thunderbolt external enclosure, you'll see about 2700MB/Sec With USB-3.2 Gen2 enclosure (20Gbps), you'll see about 2600MB/Sec With USB-3.2 Gen1 enclosure (10Gbps), you'll see about 1250MB/Sec Connect either USB-3.2 enclosure to USB-3... and it'll limit maximum speed to about 550MB/Sec.

As mentioned before, you can download the Media Creation Tool... and use that to update to 23H2.

My intention isn't to rain on anyone's parade. I've spent nearly my entire adult life using PC DAWs. Started with Quad Studio (virtually unusable), moved to S.A.W. (rock-solid), and then Cakewalk Pro Audio 4.0 (first version to support both MIDI and Audio recording). For those of us who lived thru the first 30 years of PC DAW development. Waiting for rock-solid super low round-trip latency Waiting for realtime plugins And then waiting for high quality realtime plugins And waiting even further for tools like Melodyne, Stem separation, etc Why step backward 30 years? Other than ideology, I can't think of any practical reason to consider Linux as a serious DAW platform. If you want to experiment, solve problems... it can be an interesting learning experience (similar to building a Hackintosh). If you're looking for a practical full-featured DAW (including top-tier virtual-instruments and plugins), you're going to be waiting for a LONG time. I've said this many times: Linux DAWs are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. People complain about Windows as a DAW platform... because it's so wide-open (to support many different hardware/software configurations). Linux has many distros... and for the most part, you're left to problem-solve on your own. Another thing to think about is that there's no real profit in Linux plugin development (because the market is extremely niche). Factor in a tough business economy... and risk-management. If you're the head of a software company... and you're responsible for how development resources are spent, are you going to risk your career on Linux... or go with a larger proven market (Windows/OSX)? All that said, if you're willing to live with the limitations/quirks/eccentricities of Linux as a DAW platform, more power to you.

A lot of modern cases have drive cages in the lower section (right in front of the power-supply. This makes it hard to connect power-cables... as there's almost no room for clearance (or getting a hand/fingers in place to make connections). This type of remote-connection box (almost like a stage-box) could potentially be a nice solution.

If your audio interface doesn't provide/expose a WDM audio port/s, you won't be able to hear Windows Sounds (YouTube, WebAudio, etc) thru your audio interface. The solution is to use something like Vincent Burrel's "Voice Meeter" (provides/exposes a WDM port to Windows - routes to your audio interface using an ASIO port): https://voicemeeter.com/ Voice Meeter is essentially the reverse of ASIO4ALL. I use an Antelope Orion Studio Synergy Core audio interface. Has nearly every feature one could want... except... it doesn't provide/expose a WDM port for Windows Sounds. Voice Meeter is an easy work-around. If you have something like a keyboard, guitar processer, etc that also acts as an audio interface... these often provide/expose a WDM port to Windows. ie: I use a Yamaha Montage M8x keyboard... which does exactly this. If you're achieving better audio performance using ASIO4ALL (vs the audio interface's stock ASIO driver), it's almost surely because of extra buffering in ASIO4ALL. Extra buffers can help if the machine is pushing performance limits... but it comes at the expense of higher latency. It's essentially no different than raising the buffer size of the stock ASIO driver. The best solution for a DAW has always been (and always will be) an audio interface with a rock-solid ASIO driver. You'll never achieve better low-latency performance with ASIO4ALL.

Here's a link that'll shed some light on 23H2: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/whats-new-windows-11-version-23h2 I wouldn't spend much time/energy worrying about 23H2. Most patches/fixes/features are already in the latest 22H2. If you're adamant about installing 23H2, you can use the Media Creation Tool (to install the update).

I've moved to Reflect Home v8 (from True Image). If you create a bootable rescue disk (USB Flash Drive), you can actually uninstall Reflect. You can boot any machine from this disk... and backup/restore with all the primary function of Reflect.

If quality of experience is worth anything, forget about USB>Audio Cable as an "audio interface". Latency will be terrible, audio quality sub-par, and you may encounter stability issues. Aside from the computer itself, the audio interface is the next most critical factor in a rock-solid recording (or amp-sim playing) experience. As was mentioned, the Behringer UMC series is inexpensive... and will be an infinitely better solution.

Big shoes are hard to fill. Drummer is literally the heart of it all. Positive thoughts/vibes for your drummer to make a full recovery.

Yep, that Generic ASIO Driver is annoying. You can uninstall it... but it should be an option. Sad to see Magix having financial issues. When SEK'D America was the distributor (Titus and Tilman the main developers), I almost took a job working with them in Santa Rosa, CA.

I've got a pair of WA-273-EQ units. For the cost, I think they're great.

Intriguing at that price point. If it's anywhere close to the 1073 sound-wise, it's a fantastic deal.

If you get into video editing, a RTX-4xxx card is nice. I've got that mini-ITX build with 14700k and a RTX-4060Ti (16GB). Amazing performance for the size...

If low latency performance is important to you, DP is the worst low-latency performer of all the major DAW applications.

The smallest PCs are using mobile CPUs. In short, they'll have the same performance limitations of a typical laptop. If you can work with a slightly larger Mini-ITX build, you can have a i7-14700k CPU... with zero performance limitation. As a point of reference (using Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark): i9-14900k scores 40k i7-14-700k scores 33k You get most of the performance of the 14900k... at significantly lower cost... and zero performance compromise.