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I generally use a Korg Triton Extreme (88 keys weighted) for live shows and have been looking for a studio unit... 'cause frankly I'm getting tired of lugging that beast back and forth.

Any ideas out there from folks who use 2 different keyboards for show/studio work? I'm thinking about getting another unit for the studio or live and swapping them out... ideally, I'd like to have the real piano feel during recording, but do I really need it?

Any ideas?

I don't think we can tell you whether you need it. I would suggest that if you're comfortable with the Triton in a live situation, retire it to the studio, where you can work around any quirks it may have developed. Gigs are a war zone, I'd prefer an axe that's under warranty.

I went to a nord electro 61 for gigging. It weighs 12 pounds. If I need 88 keys, I have a kurzweil semi weighted which weighs about 30 pounds. My back forced me to cut down and on those extremely rare occasions I gig, I'm happy I did. I have a big heavy 88 key controller in the studio that never moves.

Mazz

If you need piano action for the gig, the Nord Stage 76 could probably help cut some weight from your rig.

The sadness is really that you can't get anything decent for less than $1k I guess. I had hopes that I could escape the huge investment - having another set of keys basically triples the cost of the home studio...

I'll look into the Nord anyway as I do like the idea of cutting back weight for gigs and ultimately retiring the Triton to headquarters.

The only downside to gigging with a smaller setup is that I'm pretty rough on 'em... I previously had (and traded up) a Triton Pro 76, with the plastic keys... and eventually broke a couple of them after about 3 years. So I guess I need to learn to show thrashing with control.

Is there a reason you wouldn't want to use a controller and software instruments in the studio? I don't know if that might be cheaper, a used controller with current virtual instrument sounds. You might have more options also for sounds.

Being sort of a pure piano player all my life, well most of it, I'm not even sure what the controller+software world is like... is that one of those things that's like an octave and a half with a myriad of cool buttons?

They sure are a heckuva lot cheaper. Definitely interested in how that might work.

The controllers don't have sounds, you use midi, either with a midi cable or a usb cable hooked to the computer. Then you buy software, I have the Ivory Grand pianos, which is 3 or 4 sampled pianos, with hosts of variations, and effects etc.

I think for a couple hundred bucks, it's worth a shot. Some of those little guys look pretty cool and can sit right on top of the desk. I'm looking in particular at M-Audio stuff... anyone with any insight on that purchase?

Well, M-Audio's controllers are cheap, and probably worth the money, but if you play hard, I doubt they'd hold up for long; there are only two companies that make most of the keybeds sold in the US, they're Yamahas or Fatars.