Keyboard/Sequencer - Need a suggestion please

[Kyle Odom]

I am looking for a decent keyboard/synth with a built in sequencer, 61 keys would be plenty. *I want to be able to put down ideas quickly and come back to record them with actual instruments later. *I know I can get a cheap keyboard controller and just use my sound card and Cakewalk, but let's face it, even the larger, supposedly better sounding Soundfonts (SBLive) aren't all that great. *Plus, I use a Roland VS880 to record and prefer it over recording to computer. *I probably will use it a little in actual recording so I want the sound to be good enough to record demo quality material. *Maybe even replace my Drum Machine (Roland R-70 I think.) *Although I'm not completely opposed to it, I would rather have an all in one unit than have a seperate controller, sound module, and sequencer. *I'm looking either new or used in the under $800 range (cheaper if possible.) *I know this is a guitar site, but I'm sure someone can come up with some suggestions.
Thanks!
KO

[bduersch]

I have no idea what these go for used, but have you looked at the Korg Trinity? Since the Trinity, Korg has released the Triton and the Karma, so the used Trinitys may be getting reasonable.

I have a Triton (I was told it's 90% the same as the Trinity but the Triton has a sampler and a lot more options). It is the ultimate workstation. After buying it I immediately sold off my sequencer (and almost sold off the rest of my synth gear). Has a floppy drive for storing songs and an optional scsi port for connecting JAZ/ZIP drives. The sounds are great--there are so many parameters to tweak that it's almost mind-numbing. Onboard effects are reasonably good. The touch-screen interface is the best part... it's really easy to get around, whether you're sequencing, sampling, or editing patches.

Again, I don't know what the Trinitys go for used, but it's probably worth it in terms of flexibility. As for myself, I'll probably never buy another non-Korg synth in my life (actually, I'll probably never buy another synth in my life... I'll just keep buying accessories for the Triton).

--B

[Kyle Odom]

I had thought about the higher end Korgs (as well as others,) but even used they are out of my range. *Used Trinity's are going on Ebay for 1k and above. *I am not a keyboard player, I mean, I can play keyboards enough to get ideas down. *(Thanks for making me go to piano lessons all those years Mom) *Something like that has just Way too many options that I would never use, although I love new toys *What did you use before your Triton?
Thanks for the help!
KO

[bduersch]

Kyle--

My former setup was a Yamaha SY35 running into a separate Yamaha QX5 sequencer. I sold off the QX5 when I started using Cakewalk. I still use Cakewalk for a lot of sequencing, then dump the files down to the Triton for playback.

--B