Hi all! On a different tack, entirely. Our band has a short performance hiatus during the fall (our drummer is a HS band director, so marching season keeps him
busy), this is the time of year l like to mess with my setup, since l have time to learn the new layout. I’m trying to reduce my setup, mostly to simplify lugging it around. I am currently using two keyboards, an 88-weighted as main, a 61 as secondary (upper). I’m building my own stand topper to get them to a position l prefer (2nd keyboard much lower and closer to the first). I’m going to modify that to get rid of a spare stand for my monitor for my PC. I don’t always use both keyboards for songs, but l’m not certain l can live without it. Does anybody have some history with this? I can do splits to set it up, l am concerned about running out of keys, at least on some songs or parts. Going down to one keyboard seems like the only way l can get the rig any smaller. I’d love to play with the Rick Wakeman fortress of keyboards, but l don’t need to carry all of that. I’m old enough to remember when keyboards were furniture, but l’m no lifelong purist about them. Thanks!
I play rhythm guitar and keys in a cover band. Minimal and Mobile make me happy.
Especially after working all day Friday, shower, change, load up, drive, load in, setup, 3 sets, load out, pack it back in the house…
Modx6 is 15 lbs; I use splits and scenes, and it works well enough that I don’t need a second board. I’m also not Liberace.
I use Cantabile at home in glorious stereo, but live it’s Modx in mono. Minimal & mobile.
In my first band, I only ever used one keyboard - a Yamaha EX5. I seem to be getting worse as I get older. My core rig is a Yamaha Montage 7 on the bottom tier, a Korg Kronos X61 on top and of course a PC running Cantabile. But for Spectral Streams I go out with another three keyboards as well. But not very often!
Yeah, l vacillate, l don’t need both all the time, but when l do, l kinda really do. XD
And Derek, l’ll stop at two keyboards, one pad unit, and plugins or sound modules. The keyboards and stands aren’t getting any lighter. XD
I need two keyboards, an 88 and a 61 keys one, mainly for their different action and extension.
There are a few solo piano parts in my band’s repertoire that can be played effectively only on 88 keys weigthed, or at least semi-weigthed, keyboards. OTOH, I need a much ligther action for fast solos and organ parts.
In my case, the only way to improve my rig would be to buy a ligther 88keys keyboard. My old Elka mk88 is heavy and…old! I am planning to buy something like an Arturia…I already have an Arturia 61keys and I am quite happy with it.
Gabriel
For years I used two, but lately I’ve been able to make it work (with some minor issues) with a single 88 note keyboard.
While the physical setup of one keyboard is easier and cleaner, there are tradeoffs:
- More time to program splits
- More physical memory needed to remember splits (in my brain - I somethings think I only have 64k up there)
- Have to deal with the feel of one keyboard (organ swipes are really hard on a weighted keyboard).
- Having multiple states in many songs to make it all work, and the programming that goes into that.
On the good side:
- It’s easier to see the keyboardist, when not behind the entire band.
- The programming challenge is fun and worthwhile
- Less to carry
I totally see the benefit of being visible. XD. I’ve told people what a pain it is to use floor wedge monitors, since the idea place is under and in line with your keyboards, so your only real options are off to one side, so only one ear goes deaf, or behind you, where your hearing is not as good. I’m normally behind two kbs, along with my rack being just below the center of the stand. I’m maling a new shelf styled setup so at least the keyboards are only an inch or so apart, both vertically and horizontally.
In a band context two will do me fine (and Cantabile and my VST arsenal)
In my Spectral Streams solo gig, that is a handful of gigs a year and a bit of a kitchen sink approach as I have the whole stage to myself!
And even at 60, I still see gear lugging as a form of exercise - and test to prove I can still do it! 
I turn 60 this year, and work in televising live sports, so l get enough lifting. XD
i have a Yamaha MX61 keyboard (which I loved when I first bought it, but whose sounds are now a bit dated). But then I discovered vsts and off I went, and was introduced to this beautiful family by @Derek. So I have just the one keyboard and a laptop perched above my STAY stand with probably a hundred or so vsts on it.
I play in a worship band, and this set up worked really well because it is so easy to do keyboard splits on Cantabile. However we are currently without a bass guitarist, so I play that on the keyboard (I use the brilliant Icon Bass by Native Instruments, and Shreddage’s fretless bass). I actually love the bass work, and the look on people’s faces as they try and work out where the bassist is! But this has created the problem of running out of keys. I could do with an 88-key unit, but suffer with RSI so can’t cope with the weighted keys they all seem to have! It also requires loads of programming for all the different states, but I love doing that too. Thank you, Cantabile!!
I only use one keyboard. It is so much easier to transport and set up. Right now I am using an Nektar LX88. I will probably get something new soon since even though the Nektar has a great feel, it doesn’t have after touch which I am starting to use more and more. My setup at home is a different story…
Just using a 61 and a 44. I can set the whole thing up in under 5 minutes.
I use a Kurzweil SP6 because it’s the lightest 88 key board with a reasonable action and some nice sounds. On top of that is my MODX7. I’d love the Montage but it’s simply too heavy. I also have a Dexibell SX8 that has some fantastic sounds on it. All this goes into a Behringer XR12 digital mixer. Everything is controlled by an MS Surface Pro which is velcroed to the MODX. The whole setup is compact and weighs a grand total of 30kg. I used to lug around the Kurzweil PC3X which was 24kg on its own!
I know Dave Dore does. He gigs with only a Roland RD2000. He has a ton of racks for it, and makes up racks (he is the Rack Master after all) as needed. He played a super involved show of all Led Zeppelin songs and he pulled it off. Hopefully Dave will weigh in and give a much better explanation than I have
Why don’t you snag a small 2-octave controller keyboard, find some way to mount it above or next to your Yamaha, and play bass on that? You might even be able to get away with mini keys if they aren’t uncomfortable for you. That would allow you to keep all of your keys on your main keyboard for the actual keyboard parts. Feasibility is going to depend on whether you typically play bass parts that live within the two octaves between C and another C.
I use a single keyboard setup with a Roland RD2000 88 note weighted controller on 95% of my paying work. I use the RD2000 as a backup if Cantabile or my music laptop has a problem. The patches are synced for Cantabile and the RD2000 so if I have a failure on the PC I just turn up the RD2000 master and carry on till I can fix the problem. I have never had to use it as a backup in 6 years of work. I use splits and cross fades with no song states. I use my feet a lot to switch and cross fade sounds and do a lot of expression pedal blending on some songs. I used to put the laptop directly in front of the keyboard but have moved it to the right side. People do see the playing of the keys better this way and even though sitting I can create some physical presence this way. (and I prefer playing sitting down). I also have an M-Audio Oxygen 88 weighted controller for a backup. Very rarely I do a 2 key stack for tribute shows that won’t work with a single so I have a Nektar 61 key semi weighted action for synth work that I employ in that case.
As with several other respondents. It’s an 88 weighted and a 61 for me.
I’m all song states, with a Halion running several channels of core keyboard sounds, all available to switch in and out via an XTouch mini.
The rest of the synths which are pads or leads or bass are also switched in this way via a clutch of amps and FX. Any synth sound which might cripple the rig (we know those synths which bring even a highly spec’d system to its knees) are resampled via Samplit which automatically creates Halion or Kontakt presets. With 64 midi channels available on a single Halion or Kontakt there’s vast centralized potential. Such an easy and CPU friendly way to have access to difficult patches . As it so happens, I have not used more than 8 slots, with a core clutch of piano, Rhodes, Wurli, Clav and strings always available to switch in. Three more slots have been allocated to Samplit recreations of patches from hogs like Sines.
A B3 rack employs upper and lower, with drawbar control from top keyboard, switchable to upper or lower.
Visual feedback is from the Controller Bar, mostly addressed via the X-Touch. A 2 Octave Akai LPK exclusively handles the B3 reverse key presets and the preset names are injected into the Controller Bar, with other B3 buttons all BiDi into the XTouch.
The CB has been a total game changer for me, enabling me to see at a glance what’s on.
I use one other song - a guitar rack. Thanks to a great tip from Dave Dore, the CB flips to guitar mode.
The power of states coupled with bindings and the Controller Bar is just astounding, I’m sure we would agree.
What this comes down to, for me, is that Cantabile feels like an instrument now - not just a holder for bunch of disparate components bolted together.
There’s a familiarity with where things are - and that encourages one to play.
I think it would be a little uncomfortable trying to run from one keyboard.
I mostly play rock (metal/prog) and '80s covers. For the past few years, I’ve been using a single 61-key keyboard (Korg T3) with a synth action that I really love.
It wouldn’t be ideal for playing true piano parts, but for my repertoire, this setup works just fine. 
(and it is small & quick)
I tried to cut down to one keyboard, but never could manage to find one that offered anything close to a piano feel + a Hammond Organ touch. I use a pair of 73s: a Studiologic SL73 for piano, and a Nord Stage 3 SW73 for solos and organ. The SL73 doubles as the lower manual for some organ parts – not a perfect answer, but it works well enough if I chose the settings properly. I know you say that you need a full '88 for piano, but I’ve found that the SL73 gets me through 95% of any piano part I can think of. It’s not significantly lighter than the SL88, but much easier to move through doorways and such.
The cover band I’m playing in decided to do Maybe I’m Amazed and I realized I didn’t have enough keys on the 61 to do the little arpeggio at the beginning… but all I had to do is play the last bit with my hand in the same place and hit the octave up key 