I've recently seen the review on Andertons of the last update for the Akai MPC Keys where they added the NI Kontakt instruments and I was honestly blown away.

Until now I've been making my own sounds with romplers and other boxes such as the Yamaha MU series, Roland SC, etc. but it is a lot of work to layer the various sounds and apply the "right" effects to have something even vaguely resembling "modern sounds".

I admit I've grown a bit tired of it and I'd love to have presets which are "ready to go" without all the fiddling.

Now, why don't I just get an Akai MPC Keys?
Because that's a lot of money and a huge amount of redundant features I don't need.

I already have sequencers and samplers, I just need a "sound source" to connect to my MIDI Keyboards just like I do with my Yamaha/Roland sound modules.

And yes, I know I can just use a PC, but I spend most of my day in front of it (and the other half in front of a smartphone or a tablet) so I'd love to get away from it.

So as the title says, my question is: are there any "standalone boxes" with modern sounds that I can connect to my MIDI keyboard that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Thanks!

Wrong forum.

The MPC is remarkably good value, so my suggestions aren't particularly competitive. Consider wavetables - what about Korg Modwave or Access Virus? Both have VA and Wavetables and effects. IIRC the Modwave also allows some sample content. It's not my idea of modern, but the Roland SH4D might work for you - you could use it to layer up some synth sounds. Rising in price , long in the tooth, but a minor modern classic is the Blofeld. Check the encoders are working properly if buying secondhand. Occasionally the Modal Argon 8m pops up second hand at under £300.

Thank you so much for all your suggestions!

I've looked into them and they are all powerful synthesizer but unfortunately they all kind of fall short of what I'm looking for.

The only one that really manages to get close to what I want is the Modal Argon 8m but I can't seem to find it for less than 400€ which is too much which brings us to...

No, it isn't, I'm looking for something cheap, otherwise people would have told me to just buy the MPC Keys 37 and be done with it.

If you already have an iOS device, you could get a used Behringer UMC1820 and stay way under $400 with a handful of apps (Layr, Logic Pro if you have an iPad, Zeeon, Korg iM1, Moog has several).

Another thought is the Sonicware Liven Texture Lab. Would bring 4 voice granular sounds, could also process your existing kit. Behringer Grind for a good smattering of mono mutable instrument oscillator models.

Not if you clearly stated you want something cheap. I was just thinking that there would probably be more knowledgable people frequenting the synth forum with more ideas for you. But maybe you'll get your answer here, IDK. Behringer has a lot of new cheap offerings in the synth department.

Hi, have a look into the following:

Roland MC 101
Waldorf Blofeld
Nord Lead 4R
Korg Wavestate
Waldorf Iridium (not low end but sounds amazing)
Yamaha reface series
Korg Micro-X
Roland JUPITER XM

Hope it helps somewhat.

Thank you so much to everyone that chimed in!

It seems I'll be busy doing research on all the gear you've suggested, that'll definitely keep me busy for a while!

I'll report back when I've made up my mind, thanks again!

Alright, wanted to share some thoughts about your suggestions.

First of all, I've installed Kontakt Player with all of the Play Series instruments plus some other free ones to have a kind of "reference" and, honestly, I've been blown away.
This is the exact opposite of what I've been doing so far with all of my various sound module boxes: with Kontakt I just pick a preset and be done with it.
It sounds fantastic out of the box with zero fiddling needed, sometimes just very minor adjustments which take me 30 seconds as opposed to the 30 minutes I spend on, say, my Yamaha MU-50 by choosing sounds, applying effects, and then layering them, EQing, etc.
Kontakt is exactly what I've been looking for.

With this premise, onto my impressions.

As said before, the Argon 8m is definitely the one with the sounds that are closest to what I'm after, although there are a huge amount of knobs for adjusting the sound I'm honestly not even sure I want to use because I now just want to pick a preset and be done with it.
And it's expensive.

The Roland MC-101 is another interesting option because it felt like a sound module on steroids, with a bunch of stuff I'll never use but... I cannot find it for less than 300€ and, to be perfectly honest, at that point I'd rather spend 100€ for a Roland JV-1010 which is really close sound-wise to the MC-101.

The Korg Wavestate is a bit all over the place in term of sounds and performances.
I've heard some incredibly good sounds/patches and others which have a bit "too much going on", more like an arranger keyboard.
But it's not bad! I actually like it!
As usual, the issue here is the price: I can't find it for less than 400€ and for that price I'd go for the Argon 8m.

The others (Korg Micro-X and Roland Jupiter XM) either do not have the sounds I'm looking for or are too expensive.

I'm really tempted to buy a 100€ used Macbook Air 11" and put just Kontakt on it and only it and use it exclusively for that purpose.

Or get a Roland JV-1010 although it's miles beyond Kontakt and lacks some of the sounds that, for me, are fundamental in a modern set of sounds such a nice felt piano with some added textures added on top (for example the free Woodland Piano Kontakt instrument has this, along with Kawai Felt Piano – free as well).
I could get there by playing with EQ and filters but then I'm basically back to fiddling with sounds and layers like I do on my Yamaha MU-50 instead of actually playing the damn thing and making music.

Just a small rant but I've been looking back at when I started making music 4 years ago and realized that, no joke, I've been spending 50% of the time buying and reselling gear, 40% of the time fiddling with the boxes trying to get just the right sounds I wanted and 10% making actual music.
And I really want that to change.
I want 10% of the time scrolling through fine tuned presets and 90% making music.

Anyway, here's where I'm at and, as of now, I'm strongly tempted to go for a 100€ Macbook Air dedicated only and exclusively to Kontakt because it feels like the most optimal choice from a budget point of view.

For what is worth, as of late I'm really geared towards lo-fi, chillout, ambient tracks, albeit a more upbeat than the repetitive, all-the-same lullaby-put-me-to-sleep lo-fi you hear on youtube.

Again, thank you all for your insights so far, they've really been of help in choosing how to go onwards and I definitely look forward any of your thoughts.

I wouldn't worry about it, I have spent the last 10 years doing the same thing. I've bought and sold countless FX pedals, rack gear, eurorack modules, synthesizers, drum machines, samplers and microphones, guitars and guitar amps.

I've bought and sold 2 or 3 different mixing desks and pairs of monitors.

It happens to the best of us. I zone in and focus on maybe 2 or 3 compositions a year where I can seriously sit back and listen to what I have made and be happy with the finished product. So over the course of 10 years I have maybe about 20 tracks that I am happy with.

Also in regards to getting a cheap mac and kontakt, I feel like it's the best idea. You can wait for a cheap digital copy/license for kontakt 14 to pop up on ebay then crossgrade when native instruments have a sale.

The only other advice I can give in consideration to your requirements and budget is maybe save up a little bit more and see if you can stretch to a 2020 m1 macbook with 16GB of ram. Only for the possibility of going down the route of getting the full version of Kontakt.

Of course this may set you back a few hundred more euros. I just think it might be worth it, getting a more recent macbook model with more ram.

I've also been fancying a cheap windows tablet for this purpose... it would be small, easily portable and, in the end, it would be the same as an MPC Key, just have to connect a MIDI keyboard.
This might be an even better solution than a laptop.

The downsides of course are that I'd have to boot it everytime (or wait for it get out of hibernation/sleep), but I wonder how long are boot times on devices such as the MPC Key.
Definitely not instant-on, even my Yamaha MOXF6 takes some time to boot up.

Looks to me like you've come full circle on this and would contemplate a computer of some sort. Doubtless you'll find loads of options for creating the sounds that please you in the software route. Good luck, whichever way you go.

Thanks man, yeah, I was playing a bit on an old Thinkpad X201 I had lying around that has 4GB of RAM and a first gen Intel i5 just for giggles, trying to layer as many stuff I could to make it crash, and I've ended up with some of the most inspirational sounds I've ever made, too bad I didn't have my Yamaha SU-10 ready or I would have absolutely sampled that giga-layer with some chords (I've saved the setup though!)

Needless to say, I've jumped on a small 11" tablet with a much more powerful CPU (third gen Intel i5 – you never know) I've seen on sale on local classifields for 40 bucks and I'm waiting for it to arrive.
It should pair nicely with my Arturia Minilab keyboard, although I'm thinking about getting something slightly bigger as 25 keys might not be enough... maybe 37 keys or 49, but definitely not bigger than that.
Definitely want some knobs although, with a touchscreen, playing with the parameters on screen shouldn't be that bad, it will all depend on how good/responsive the touchscreen is.