Help choosing a keyboard/synth?

Some of my random thoughts:

I like Roland or Yamahas for their key action. Yamaha S90 is perhaps one of the most popular piano sound/controllers right now, though pricey.

M-audio is not so good as their keyboards have poor action, and are a poor level of quality compared to others.

 

Dunno, man, I think M-Audios are plenty good. They have really good sampled sounds, but don't have speakers built-in (for some, that's bound to be a non-issue anyway). I don't much like Yamahas, though. Never have and never really will. The feel just fades away quick on their traditional pianos; if that's any indication, it can't bode well for their keyboards.

 

Diversity of onboard sounds is important if you'll be using it often while away from the Mac. Otherwise, let your Mac's sequencing/DAW app make the sounds with software synthesizers. I wouldn't worry much about sampling capabilities, either. You can purchase sampling plug-ins for many DAW applications that easily rival hardware samplers.

I agree that the Juno-G is a nice board, especially for the price (I'm a big Roland fan--I have an XP-10 and a JV-880). Have you looked at other Fantoms? The x7 is 76 keys and has many of the x8's features at a somewhat lower price.

You could pick up a used D-70 for much cheaper, though.

 

Have you taken a look at any Kurzweil controllers?

For a while, they were the "gold standard" in weighted 88-key controllers... coming about as close to a real piano hammer action as you could get.

If what you want is a great feel keyboard, don't buy a synthesizer... get a standalone controller and expand its capabilities via MIDI hardware and/or softsynths.

I have a Korg Triton 61-key non-weighted, but it has a solid feel that I've grown accustomed to and adapted my playing style toward so that I can get faster response than out of a traditional keyboard without the crummy feel of a cheap Fatar controller. Later Korg models, like the Korg Triton LE and Korg Karma sucked.. with a key action that feels cheap and springy like a Playskool toy.