Roland 2000EX Preliminary Thoughts
The keyboard arrived yesterday at lunch, and I had sufficient time and energy to unbox and drag it upstairs (put it in a gig bag and I was able ā¦ barely ā¦ to do it myself, thank goodness for a landing mid-flight and modern housing codes ensuring wider stairs.)
Nicely packaged with a bare minimum of styrofoam (two blocks at each end.) I was surprised to find it did not come with the USB cable. I already had a couple and was using one for my A88, so no big deal.
I succeeded in my initial goal of getting back to my current setup (midi in to computer via USB, use software instruments in my DAW and audio out via the audio interface-to headphones/studio monitor.) I did install Rolandās drivers, mainly as I want to be able to accept its audio into my DAW to use the abundance of instruments and sounds available on the thing (OVER A THOUSANDā¦I wonāt use that many in my lifetime and probably wonāt even sample that many.)
It does great with my various virtual instruments! The keys are solid, move smoothly and quietly and without the lateral wobble that created unpleasant noises on the A88. Very impressed.
I watched the Roland video tutorial on how to set up MainStage. My first take away from that is ā¦ I should be able to use the stage piano as my audio interface ā¦ computer software instrument controlled via midi, sound output via stage piano. I will say that looked complicated (mainly as Iām unfamiliar with the user-interface and the method in the madness of how its organizedā¦) I assume the Garage Band/Logic Pro setup is much the same.
Unless I needed to record an external acoustic instrument, that would mean I would seldom need my Apogee Duet audio interface. Yay, I havenāt had to do that in a number of years, so. more free desk space for cat lounging!
Just recalled, I have the SHURE V88+ microphone that I was using to stream the mandolin orchestra via my iphone ā¦other people have since stepped up to do all of that. So ā¦ is the Duet now a dust-catcher? And, as a member of a now-defunct mandolin duet, Iām part owner of condenser mics and stands, a mixer and loud speakers which thankfully donāt live with me. NO SPACE.
So, todayās experiments ā¦ get the computer audio out to my speakers/headphones attached to the 2000 as well as try out the various sounds on the 2000. After that, get the sounds out of the 2000 into my DAW for recording its abundance of pianos!
