Keyboard Selection

[vinceb91]

Hello,

I want to upgrade from a very small basic keyboard to a full size 88 key keyboard with full size piano keys. I don't really care about special effects etc as long as it has a realistic piano sound and feel I'm happy with it. I don't really want to spend more than £150/$250 as I'm still just learning and will probably want to upgrade again once I'm better.

Any recommendations?

Thanks for your help.

[lanierlaw]

The Casio privia would be a good choice--it has good sound, action, and USB port as well as some other instruments/ sounds, its lightweight and has decent speakers.  I've considered buying one to take to gigs; one of my friends bought one for her teen children and they like it.  I have a Yamaha ES-8 which I love, but I just about need a road crew to take it to events (and it and other related equipment barely fits in my Acura MDX--I didn't buy a Nissan Murano or Infiniti FX because my music equipment wouldn't fit--that is another consideration about buying keyboards---will they fit in your vehicle?  Sooner or later you will want to take to a friend's house or some event. Casio privia is priced right and has good specs.

[toner22]

well hell anything can have realistic piano sound.  Literally any piano you could think of with nothing but a laptop and a program running.

Now finding a key action to somewhat match a piano is a different story.   Though I don't think I know of one for about 250 bucks.  Unless someone on craigslist is desperate and selling they're stuff for fast cash.

While it is bottom dollar you could look and shoot for a yamaha p95. It's been awhile since I even priced em so they could have dropped.  I remember them being about $550 though.  The main thing is the action.  The ability to strike the same key repeatedly just like an acoustic.  Unfortunately alot of digital piano/keyboards fall short on that until your up there. 

I think probably the best response wise I played were the rolands hp 305 and such line.  But I didn't much like the key feel and I ended up with the RH action of the kawai cn33 (though I went for the mp6 with same keybed just more options)   Ive heard kawai actually expanded on both the RH and RM3 to make them more faster as well as more wooden grand realistic.  I haven't tested the new lines out though. 

But for somewhat ok quality I'd go for the p95 as the cheapest option. Further up from that for about a grand is the p155, and then after that your getting into the big 3 comparisons between roland yama and kawai, with korg over there in the shadow.

As a side note you could always just pick up a junker from craigs.  What I mean is people literally give away free acoustic pianos as long as you come and lug the heavy damn thing away.   I mean it's not going to be pitch perfect but it'll be alright and it will give you a nice keybed to practice on.    Though their is the problem of the thing weighing so flippn much.

U'd think after all these years someone would have figured out a way to make em out of some kind of feathery lightweight alloy while still holding the sound generated.

[hfmadopter]

While it is bottom dollar you could look and shoot for a yamaha p95. It's been awhile since I even priced em so they could have dropped.  I remember them being about $550 though.  The main thing is the action.  The ability to strike the same key repeatedly just like an acoustic.  Unfortunately a lot of digital piano/keyboards fall short on that until your up there. 
 

The P95 is out of production so it may be a bit hard to find. Really it's replacement is superior anyway, the P105. It has better options, more ports and new sound system added to what was the P95 otherwise. I've played the P105 and it plays pretty well for entry level. The P95 was not a bad entry level offering but I guess it could be said that Yamaha listened to peoples complaints of some short fallings and addressed them all and then some ( according to various reviews of the P105 incidentally).

The biggest problem I see with new comers to piano and wanting digital  keyboards is setting the ceiling too low on price. I'm with you, a Yamaha with GHS action is about as low as I would go. In that class this P105 does sound nice if even someone has to save up an extra hundred to get it. And that's about the bottom end at that, IMO. It used to be the Korg Sp170 but now it's this one I think.

Back at the Holidays here in the US, Guitar Center was running a $100 off coupon and you could buy the P105 for $499 US then. I haven't seen it that low since. My local Guitar center is 40 miles up the road and they sold out on these during that sale. It's going to be a very popular entry level piano with options to even gig with it since it has 1/4 out connectors.

[rocklandpiano]

Yamaha - Portable Grand Keyboard with 76 Piano-Style Keys
Model: YPG-235

With graded soft-touch action for expressive playing.
Allows you to send MIDI files back and forth from your computer to the keyboard. USB port for easy connectivity.
Along with Advanced Wave Memory (AWM) delivers true-to-life sound.
Plus 30 preset songs, 5 user songs and 160 playing styles to fuel your creativity.