newbie - which kb to learn on?

L

Levinin

New member
Hi, I'm looking to take up a second instrument and have decided on the piano/kb but I'm a total newbie when it comes to kb's so I'm not sure what to go for.

I've been looking at the basic offerings of Yamaha and Casio, things in the region of 100-200 GBP but don't really know what I'm looking at so I thought I'd ask you experienced folks for some advice :-)

I only have 3 requirements really, cheap (I don't know how much I will enjoy it yet), that it's portable (61 key and light I'm thinking here) and that it has proper 1/4" outputs for a mixer (ok it's not going to get used for anything serious so this isn't a real requirement, more of a preference I guess).

Do any of you excellent people have a suggestion or two? Thanks in advance for all help.
 
Levinin...most semi-serious musicians find "touch response" a critical requirement for a musical keyboard...the least expensive new board that I have found with touch response is the Yamah PSR-273

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg=102/g=key/search/detail/base_pid/707427/

It also has 480 voices for variety and a decent 32-note polyphony (polyphony is the number of notes that can sound at once) if you ever need to use it as a sound module for full sequences (like via midi from a computer)...It has a headphone jack that can be use for making connections to a mixer.
 
Thanks for that mawtangent, the PSR-273 was one of my previously short-listed options so I'm glad it's been suggested.

Off to try one in a shop somewhere.... :)

Cheers ... Levinin
 
I started off on a non-weighted piece of crap Casio about 4 or 5 years ago.
I hated not having touch sensitivity.

Moving to a full size fully weighted digital piano of the '80s was quite painful, but it improved my technique.

I'm now using a semi-weighted keyboard, but mostly because of the price difference.
 
Ok what might be the next step up (or 2)?
My other question is, if I am recording using my cubase with the plug ins I have for sounds, do I need anything above a midi controler if it is only for recording and not live playing? Thanks for the help :)

Stacy
 
SillySillyStacy said:
Ok what might be the next step up (or 2)?
Click to expand...

Hey Stacy...I think it is really hard to try to line keyboards up on a hierarchy of least to greatest...a higher-end PSR series keyboard can be $1000 or more and at the same time there are some interesting "pro-level" keyboards that are selling new for $500-$600 (Yamaha S03 and Roland Juno-D)

the Yamaha DGX series seems to take the PSR concept to a more piano-player friendly place (more keys, option of weighted-key action)

I have heard the idea that every keyboard has it's own strengths and weaknesses and will appeal to some individual. Some people are really into the sounds and on-board effects (reverb, etc.) options...of course, good "inspiring" sounds are the BIG, BIG factor...Some want to program and store their own sounds (not something usually associated with "home" keyboards)...Some want portability and on-board speakers (associated with "home" keyboards)...Some want arranger/auto-accompaniment features...Some are looking out for the keys to have a good "feel" or maybe weighted keys (usually more expense involved)...Some want a sequencer on-board and means to store their sequences which gets into the issue of polyphony (how many individual notes the keyboard can sound out at once)...Some are into the sample-based "every sound in the world" concept (this seems to be the way of the majority of keyboards)...Some are into the retro-analog "organically grown" knob-twisting sounding machines...Some just want a midi-controller to hook up to the computer...the lines are blurry because you can have many different varieties of combinations of the above features in one machine. I think people have to decide what is important to them personally and try to get a keyboard that has the combination of features that will most compliment themselves.

Personally, when I decided I was going to go after my "perfect" keyboard back in the late '90's... my criteria was to have (1) modern, up to date, sampled sounds, with some on-board effect unit(s)...(2) an onboard sequencer...and (3) a disk-dive to store sequences...of course it needed at least 61 keys and decent polyphony to fill out the picture...the key "feel" was not a high priority to me...I ended up with a Roland XP-50...the sequencer (and manual) is not very user-friendly but I have managed to get to some level of competency with it and I don't feel the need to get something else at this time (though my older Yamaha V50 has a better, more solid-feeling, keyboard than the XP-50)...one thing I especially like about the sequencer on the XP-50 is that it has percentage quantitization...which allows one to fix timing but without fixing it perfectly and taking away all the "humanity" out of it...does anyone else know of any other keyboards that has this (outside of the sequencer-equiped XPs)...I'm sure this is probably a basic feature of computer based sequencers...probably all the newer sequencer-equiped keyboards have percentage quantitization also...where did the disk-drives go...do any of the new boards have disk-drives...is storage done more efficiently now with "cards" (or something similar)?...sorry if I rambled...
 
I picked up a Roland D-5 a year or so off of Ebay, for like $120 total. It's linear and you can change perameters. The presets sound so good I haven't messed with them at all. It's of course stereo outputs and MIDI, but thats just my two cents, lol. Theses new ones today though are just mind blowin'. Best of luck!
 
How serious about this are you? If you want to become accomplished, I'd recommend that you stay away from PSRs. In fact, all of your requirements will hurt you in the end if you want to develope any real technique and serious ability.

76 keys is an absolute minimum if you want to play piano like a pianist and not just a keyboard player. (Yes, Viriginia there IS a difference).

No matter what you want to accomplish, if you want to acheive any technique at all, you need at least semi-weighted keys (although I strongly reccomend fully weighted). It's one thing to get proficient on a hammer action and then take that proficiency to a synth action board than the other way around.

Even if you are only interested in making music for yourself, you'll probably regret not taking my advice down the road. Unless you give it up after a couple of months anyway.

Carl
 
tamias said:
I picked up a Roland D-5 a year or so off of Ebay, for like $120 total. It's linear and you can change perameters. The presets sound so good I haven't messed with them at all. It's of course stereo outputs and MIDI, but thats just my two cents, lol. Theses new ones today though are just mind blowin'. Best of luck!
Click to expand...

:confused:

First off, the D-5 is a distant relative of the D-50 which employs a synthesis method call Linear Arithmetic.

Second of all LA means squat as it is just another anacronym Roland developed to describe how the D series synths make sounds (PCM transients combined with analog-ish waveforms).

I would hardly recommend a D-5 over any current PSR or DGX board from Yamaha. 15 year old technology (entry level at that) vs. current sample playback technology? No comparisin there...
 
mawtangent said:
the Yamaha DGX series seems to take the PSR concept to a more piano-player friendly place (more keys, option of weighted-key action)
Click to expand...

DGX-505 88 semi weighted keys! It's awsome and I own one :)
 
Do you want to play piano or do you want to play a synth? Weighted keys aren't a necessity if you want to play a synth, but a must for an electric piano.

I'm probably going to be getting a cheap, small MIDI controller and then using softsynths. It's a cheap alternative to a real synth. ^_^
 
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