Suggested versatile keyboard for about $1000 give or take (hopefully less)

joey2000

joey2000

New member
Thoughts and esp experiences appreciated...

Been kicking this around for awhile now. The gist of my needs/intent -

- NOT "gigging." I don't give a flip about weight or other gigging concerns.
- That said, part of the desire is something with a "good feel" for my own enjoyment, so not dead-set against syth action stuff but much prefer weighted/hammer action.
- Will be composing/recording but no desire to muck with a DAW if I can help it. So at least about a 5 or 6 track sequencer and/or audio recorder are big.
- For similar reasons I want a healthy dose of voices, but quality as well as quantity across the board - ie not just a good piano but good sounds on non-keyboard instruments.
- Pitch bend wheel a must and arpeggiator not a must but strongly desired.
- Ease of use is huge. I'm old and impatient. :) No ridiculously hard to figure out setups, configurations etc

I've gone from a Casio 350 (love the specs, hate the action) to a Yamaha 650 (similar - action better but still not wowing me) to a Korg Kross 88 (action fine but hearing bad things about its user-friendliness) to........? Love love the Roland FA-08 but well out of my range and can't get past the keypad to bite on the 06.
 
You can get a good midi-controller that will give you access to hundreds of thousands of voices. You can get a good DAW(Reaper) for $60.00. You could also lay down drum, bass, etc. tracks. And you'd save a lot of money.
 
And I'd have something that comes nowhere near a fit for what I described. :) Thx for the thought though.
 
Roland A80.88 key weighted action.Arguably the best piano action.Lots of useful sounds-but no arpeggiator.I got mine with two JBL powered monitors and speaker stands for $500 on Craigslist.But it sure is heavy...
 
Ive got a Korg Kross...mine is the 61 key which is synth action, the 88 key is weighted

16 track sequencer including a dedicated step sequencer for drums derived from the electribe series, can run two arpeggiators at a time with five FX on each track and two master fx. Can record audio into it, all saved to an SD card that you can work on inside a DAW if wanted

its entry level as far as a workstation, but not from a sound point of view..Its EDS-i sound engine is very good...I bought it with the idea of just using its sounds as placeholders but I like the synth sounds...and was surprised how good the drums and pianos were.


Another reason I bought it was because it weighs nothing and can even run on batteries! I keep it under the sofa and take it out when the kids go to bed.

It isnt a performance keyboard, ie: its doesnt have a lot of real time knobs and sliders, but I didnt buy it to perform. Its main parameters arent hidden too much, it also has a software editor if it ends up in a digital studio and can even run as a VST

Theres more to it than the above, but thats the reasons I bought it.

Its not complicated to use, far from it...but the sequencer can take a bit of toing and froing if youre trying to complete a whole song on it (Ive just about got it down to muscle memory) and the small screen can get crowded, buts its not complicated or difficult. Theres a simple (and decent) set of tutorials by "keepshow keeper" on youtube, run through them and see for yourself.
 
Pardon not getting back to this sooner - appreciate the replies. I'm on hold for a purchase right now but the latest front-runner is the Roland DS88 (about $1000). Weighted keys, good sounds one the whole, seems fairly user friendly, pretty much seems to fill the bill without killing my budget. I like the Kross' keypad better, but I can live with the diff. I love the screen upgrade (among other things) on the Roland FA08 (and amazed how few keyboards still have the horrid tiny blue/gray screens), but $1800 is more than I can justify.
 
Your requirements are certainly your own and I'd not try to condemn them, but i know at one time i thought the same thing and have since found out i was wrong.

Key action and sound set are two very different things and often, neither the twain shall meet. A good keybed would be the age old perennial KX-88 Yamaha. Hard to beat for action. A little to heavy to enjoy gigging with. But really nice, IMO. Can be had anywhere from Cheap to Very Cheap.

Sound set can then be anything you want. Midi module. Software. Samples. etc.

What i've invariably found, every time, is that as cool as the sounds might be, they get old, stale, and uninspiring in time. The Yamaha Electric Grand comes to mind (for me). I've owned one for many years and it's not worth my time, anymore. Good action, though.

So buying a dedicated unit just leaves you with a reason to trade it off later. Your hands won't change much, so i think you'd be way ahead to buy the keybed you like and just trade out the sounds.

But hey, I know it's not your line of thinking right now. I get that. But i believe you will search in vain or at the very least be only temporarily satisfied. Don't know why that is, but it seems that whenever I get a need for a particular keyboard or module, it either hasn't come out yet, is insanely expense, or some rather silly version is all that can be found. But that's just me.


Ponder5
 
No, I hear you. And if I as expected go the DAW route to record, there are always countless VSTs as options (tho being lazy, I'd rather not mess w/that if I can help it). But this is not simply a choice between a better keypad or better sounds; there are other factors.
 
I use a Roland Juno Stage. 76 great feeling keys. Excellent MIDI controller by a single button with easy controls over local on/off, midi channels and patch selection! Plus, it's got great sounds built in. I use it with logic and control that along with my Roland D-50 & Novation MiniNova currently. The Juno Stage is getting harder to find used. I got mine for $450 mint several years ago!
 
Have you tried a Yamaha MO8? I hear you on the Roland keyboard action, they feel nice and it's a fast playing keyboard. I think Roland makes a $1k 88 note keyboard with a weighted action. I'm not sure of the model number, but it's a Juno.
 
Biggest problem I'm currently having with the Juno Stage is that Roland no longer supports the USB driver and using USB MIDI is starting to show some lag in Logic Pro X today. Ugh. I stopped updating my Mac at 10.11.6 due to the driver no longer being supported (juno stage stopped in 10.8 but the Di driver has been working for me pretty well up till now). I'm thinking a MIDI interface may be in my future.
 
Yeah, my Roland SH-201 has an obsolete USB as well. I have an 8 port midi interface that I use now. I have some older keyboards. My Yamaha S90 still has a working USB interface, but now I pretty much use midi on everything except my Slim Fatty and Blofeld because they only have midi in connectors.
 
Cool Thanks! I found out what the problem was. My Roland sustain pedal was set to continuous and apparently the driver or my mac or logic didn't like that. Once switched to "switch", it works just fine now! So after 30 minutes of diagnostics... it was a tiny switch on the pedal on the floor. Ugh. I was having a super creative moment when I sat down and ended up in diagnostic mode which killed the creative moment. :(
 
I hate having to troubleshoot when I have musical ideas. I like when someone runs things while I can just worry about music. I don't have that luxury all the time. Putting on my tech brain in the middle of a creative moment can kill the mood.

I'm also going to stop upgrading my Mac. My main audio interface, a Mackie 1640i mixer, will not be supported in Sierra (at least for now). At least Mackie emailed me to tell me not to upgrade. I'm staying on Yosemite. This combination of gear suits my workflow and I'm not changing anything for now.
 
For about $600, the Korg SP series has a really nice feel and action, as well as pretty decent sound and speakers, plus the pedal has half-pedaling, which is useful if you're actually using it for playing piano. The new-ish SP280 can be haggled to about $550-$600, if you can find a well-kept SP250, I've seen them go for $300-ish, and that's a steal if it's in good condition.
 
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