MIDI keyboard for pianist!

B

Bouncy Nugget

New member
I need help from a wise wizard.

I'm looking for a keyboard with specs as close to this as it can get:

88 fully weighted keys (ivory feel tops preferred). MUST be a quiet action! Must be capable of playing notes repetitively.
Pitch bend and MOD wheel (prefer the wheels over the joystick).
Knobs and sliders for mapping MIDI controls.
Fully functional MIDI via USB (opposed to the plugs with the pins and all that)
A matching, stylish stand designed for the piano itself (optional matching 3 pedal unit)

Onboard speakers and sounds don't matter to me. This is to be used purely as a MIDI controller. Basically i want a MIDI controller that can also be used for classical piano pieces and won't effect technique.

Now the bad part here is that i can only really afford around $1500 Australian dollars. At the moment i play on a Casio PX5s, which is perfect except that the action is horrendously loud lol..

Please, oh wise wizard of the interwebs, help me see the light!!
 
No sure about stylish - but a a pianist I collaborate with regularly has GEM Pro-1 stage piano - it has no speakers, and the pedal response is excellent - the usual electric piano pedal producing an accurate response - including clever half pedalling - which it seems to be able to do with what is just an on\off switch? It does have a few usable internal sounds but he plays it at home, brings the files and finishes in my studio.

They go on ebay for sensible money now they are discontinued. Bad news is they are metal construction and rather heavy. There's one on ebay at the moment here.
Gem Pro1 stage piano with stand and pedal | eBay

They are not pretty - but the action is very good.
 
Hm, i'm not very sure of buying from a brand i have never heard of. I'm not sure if the specs i want even exist XD OH why does the PX5s have to have such a loud action!? BLAST! It could have been perfect!!
 
I tend to buy whatever does the job for me - I never worry about brands. I'd never heard of Gem till I tried this keyboard, my colleague played mine and bought his - If I can't play or hear one, then I have a short list of reviewers who I trust. That's how I do it. In fairness, the weren't very popular, and soon vanished from the UK market.
 
Well i checked on Australia's Ebay and didn't find any. I wish there was a store close by that had many different brands in stock. I'd like to try before i buy. I'm most concerned about the action and how it will affect my technique. I'm very serious about my classical piano training, which sounds pretentious but i'm very serious about building on my technical abilities.

It seems to be that digital pianos are divided into two groups, that is stage pianos and pianos for at home use. I kind of want a mix, which would be something that looks like a neat piano (like the Casio Privia series) but has stage functions such as pitch bend, MOD wheel, knobs and sliders. Aside from the Casio PX5s (which i own now) i cannot seem to find anything to that description. :( sad face
 
bLUiVORY said:
Seriously considering Kawai, myself.
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Me too! I've heard only good things about kawai. The price gets to be pretty high though :/ There are many keyboards that would be perfect except that they do not come with pitch bend and mod wheels. The fancy stand is kind of important too, though i suppose there are probably good looking universal keyboard stands out there that aren't X frame. I really do not like X frame stands lol
 
Bouncy Nugget said:
There are many keyboards that would be perfect except that they do not come with pitch bend and mod wheels.
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That will be your problem, I expect. I have an old Yamaha P80 (I'm not a pianist, just a plunker) and it feels nothing like a real piano, despite the weighted keys. Good luck.
 
Guess what - my colleague with the Gem piano, just got rid of it and bought a Yamaha MOX8 at eleven hundred quid! ironic or what!
 
Just an observation: most countries outlaw the use of ivory. You won't find a new acoustic piano, much less a new MIDI keyboard, with ivory keys.
 
I honestly cannot find anything that fits this description at all lol

I'm desparate for a cheap keyboard with a realistic (and quiet) piano action. I can't enjoy music at all with my Casio thumping away drowning out any music played on it.
 
Bouncy Nugget said:
I honestly cannot find anything that fits this description at all lol

I'm desparate for a cheap keyboard with a realistic (and quiet) piano action. I can't enjoy music at all with my Casio thumping away drowning out any music played on it.
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I think the problem might be the combination of "cheap" and "realistic."

I have a Technics sx-px544 which I bought secondhand quite some years ago now. It has a fully-weighted 88 keyboard, and has served me well. It is a discontinued model, but yo may be able to find it (or similar) secondhand somewhere.
 
OP said, "88 fully weighted keys (ivory feel tops preferred)".

Edit: Nevermind.
 
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I'm with you on Kawai...just love the CD220 I got last year for the studio. Does run ~2Gs though. Problem with finding a good PIANO is that you can't walk into the local retailer and find them. All they're going to have is the crap line Yamaha, Korg, Roland and Williams junk, normally. Boutique stores will get you the high dollar tickets, and sometimes a Sam Ash or GC will have some decent stuff, but I've never seen a Nord or a top line Yamaha in either...
 
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