Worship Musician April 2018 | Page 13

Kawai ES8 The Kawai ES8 features an 88 key graded action weighted hammer for a realistic experience. On top is a LCD display, and convenient labeled buttons to quickly grab patches, and an easy to use recorder. There are 2 speakers on top for rehearsing without bringing an amp. On back are two headphone outputs perfect for teaching Yamaha Montage 8 The Yamaha Montage 8 is their beastly flagship 88 key, Balanced Hammer Action synthesizer. It is an amazingly state of the art keyboard that’s well suited for all styles of worship from traditional to EDM. On top, the Montage has a large touch screen that does a ton of stuff. The Super knob is a secret weapon to control in real time all kinds of parameters in real time. There are plenty of sliders and knobs that are actually user Alesis Recital Pro Not everyone has a big budget for his or her worship team. We decided to include at least one low cost 88 key alternative. It’s got a nice feeling weighted keyboard. There are 12 onboard voices including: Acoustic piano without disturbing anyone. There are 3 Kawai grand pianos: Shigeru Kawai EX, Kawai EX, and Shigeru Kawai SK-5. Also included are 34 instruments: organs, vibes, strings, choirs, bass, and guitar. There are 100 rhythm accompaniments including pop, rock, jazz, funk, and Latin styles. The Kawai is a great option if you need an easy to use interface with great piano sounds. friendly. Piano wise there’s the Yamaha CFX Premium Grand Piano, which is fantastic. Synth wise, it has almost 10 times the waveform capacity of the Motif. The AWM2 (waveform synthesis) has 128 notes of stereo polyphony and don’t forget the FM-X (waveform synthesis) Yamaha is famous for. There are tons of DSP effects on board, and the arpeggiator has 10,000 presets! Also included is a 16-track performance recorded with a 64-song memory. It also comes with and Electric Pianos, Organ, Church Organ, Harpsichord, Strings and 2 Basses. It almost seems like it was made with the House of Worship in mind! The controls on top are easy to navigate, and another plus are the 2 built-in speakers on top. Perfect for April 2018 The speakers are a plus for quick rehearsing without having to use an amp or fire up the PA. There is an optional stand that has a classic look. It’s a great choice for a traditional worship team. $1,999 kawaius.com Buy at Sweetwater a version of Steinberg Cubase and is great for using Mainstage along with your synth. The Montage 8 is a solid choice if you are looking for the feel of a Yamaha piano and play any style of music. Yamaha also has a great track record for quality construction; it can hold up to multiple players. $3,999.99 usa.yamaha.com Buy at Sweetwater rehearsals. The Alesis Recital Pro is a great bang for the buck. Perfect for a traditional worship band or as a keyboard for a youth band. $349 alesis.com WorshipMusician.com Buy at Sweetwater 13