Which Weighted Keyboard?

Oriel

Folks,
I'm going to need to get a digitial piano soon for recording and moving about a little bit. I'm going to get the Ivory series from Synthogy to use with this on a Mac.

Can anybody recommend a decent weighted keyboard to get? I'm looking for a realistic piano feel.
It needs to be 88 key or more btw.

Cheers!
S.

jimi_t

The m-audio Keystation 88 is pretty sweet and has very good midi implentation - tons of knobs and faders. Your best off going upstairs in MusicMaker and having a go at their selection tho.

Oriel

Thing is, I don't really give a stuff about faders and crap like that, just a nice and simple realistic piano keyboard. I'm not a "dj" and the only thing I want to include computers into my computer is in the recording. Simple keyboard really!

S.

Oeneus

I own a Roland FP3 stage piano. It's absolutelbeautiful (requires PA though. No built in speakers). It sounds completely 100% spot on and the action is superb. heavy on the low and light on the high. I highly recommend it. I picked it over comparing with a Yamaha p80 and a Korg SP200(or 300, can't remember).

The Yamaha was OK, but didn't sound as rich and georgeous as the Roland. The action on the Yamaha was a bit lighter but not much difference. Don't worry about that either as the FP3's sensitivity can be adjusted.

And the Korg SP' was just annoying. The action was lame and the voices sucked. The controls/buttons on it were inconveniently positioned as well.

Also, if you've got some extra cash, consider getting a Kawia MP9000. Stunning stage piano. It has real hammers so that the action is super realistic, and the voices are insanely brilliant. It just costs a bomb.

daram

The Roland is a nice keyboard. But, personally, nothing cuts it like the yamahas. The P90 is sweet, only topped by the s90 (which has far more sweet synth noises). Kurzweil are probably the best sounding digital pianos, but in my experience (I've only played a few), they don't feel as real. That said, I have a yamaha acoustic piano at home, so that could be why the yamaha digitals feel most right to me...

Eoin Madsen

Yamaha do seem to have the best reputation for electric pianos.

Though that could just be market saturation.

oxygen_old

Is there anywhere you can get these pianos second hand?

Oeneus

Ebay?

Kawai MP9000
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kawai-MP9000-Professional-Stage-Piano_W0QQitemZ7375823369QQcategoryZ16220QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

SBob

Just recently bought a Yamaha YDP 131 digital piano from www.rikkismusic.com, i found the shop on ebay but bought it directly for 720 euro inc postage, about 400 cheaper then any shop i checked out in dublin. Got it in two days aswell. The YDP is like the lower range replica of the CLP, i dont suppose its as good as the CLP but its still awesome, much better then a lot of digital pianos ive tried, looks great too... http://www.yamahamusic.com.au/products/musicalinstruments/ydp/ydp-131.asp

robbie1876

My 2 cents -

For weighted controllers (you don't need a stage piano, just a controller), the best action I've ever played is on the now discontiued Yamaha KX-88. You'll pick them up on ebay, but they cost a bomb to ship to this country.

The closest to the Yamaha I've ever played is the Fatar Studiologic series of weighted controllers. I currenlty have an SL-880. It's not exactly the same feel as a piano (no controller ever will be), but it's very playable compared to most of the weighted keyboards out there that I've tried. I got mine for €200 second hand from the buy and sell! Happy days!

Robbie

robbie1876

sinecurea wrote:

It needs to be 88 key or more btw.

More than 88 keys? Why? Is there such a beast in existence?

Royale with Cheese

Looking at getting a stage piano myself in the future. At the moment the Roland Fp-3 is in the lead. Sounds absolutely gorgeous. I'm not a fan of the Yamaha's. A friend has a P120 and really I found the sound to be not a patch on the Roland's.

Oeneus

Aye. The FP-3's an absolute beast. To see/hear one in action, watch Muse's Hullabaloo DVD.

theexis

Ivory is superb. I've used it with the S90 as a controller but you should also check out the CME UF line - great feel on the 88 note controller (unfortunately no-where to try it out in Ireland which is the most important part of getting a keyboard: does it feel good to you!). [http://www.cme-pro.com/products-list/product-uf.html]