2023 was a great year for me musically. By the end of it I was a part of 3 bands, learning many new songs, and getting more acquainted with my gear. My current setup is the Roland VR-09, primarily for the organs but it is used for many other patches, and I’m still most comfortable editing the patches on it so I typically start there. I was able to pick up a Yamaha MX-61 for a great deal and that has some great piano sounds, and is more flexible for performances. Both boards are on the budget side, and I get access to some ‘advanced’ features via software. The VR-09 is useless without the CTRLR editor. It has not proven intuitive for me, but it has at least given me the ability to stack more than one voice in to each splits, and fine tune some other settings as necessary. And it includes a patch manager, since the built-in system makes it very difficult to rearrange the order of patches.
The MX-61 benefits from the John Melas suite of software. I started with just the performance editor but eventually upgraded to the whole suite, but in the end 95% of what I need is in the performance editor. I have found this software to be easier to comprehend, and it is much easier than menu diving on the board. Visual representation of the splits, easily managing up to 16 voices per performance, and easy access to the AMP settings make it a breeze to work with.
In general, I’ll start with the VR-09 as I learn a song and do some basic patch selection and board configuration (splits/layers). Then as I learn a song I’ll start moving pieces to the MX and use the editor there to fine-tune it.
Recently I got the Oxygen-8 plugged into the MX so I can have access to one more patch when needed. The song list is leaning towards more synth lately so the extra set of keys is proving useful.
https://v-combo.webspace.rocks/vr-software
http://www.jmelas.gr/motif/index.php
https://www.facebook.com/incogneatoband/