Gathering opinions on a few keyboards

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bwills

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I play in a rock band and I play a majority of piano and I am finally in the markey to upgrade my gear to include a nice 88 key, weighted keys, stage piano. I currently play on an old yamaha and a roland xp-30. Neither of which have much action to the keys. i've been looking at the following for sets of keys and was hoping some people on here my have some hands on experience with them they could share.

Kawai MP4

Korg SP 500

Roland FP-5

Yahama P120


Thanks in advance for any input.

also any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
I'll endorse Yamaha weighted keyboards and piano sounds in general, though I don't know about the specific model you mentioned. It looks full-featured enough online...

When I went shopping for keys a few years back, I wanted both a good piano-like keyboard and a wide selection of sounds. That led me to the S80, which is a purchase I have never regretted (I gave her a name, and play her every day :) )
 
I would definitely rule out the Kawai. I don't feel their products are of a very good standard.
 
I don't play keboards (just starting a little) I play guitar, but I love my yamaha motif ES-8 I check for several keyboards and this one really was my favorite, got it at a very good price. Give it a try.
 
I don't know why one of the folks here voted against the Kawai, but I have played different Kawai's, and I REALLY like them. I'm a classical pianist and have played since I was four, so I know a little bit of what I'm talking about.

Alexbt, have you ever played one of the Kawai's??? Some of their keyboards have actual wooden keys: by FAR the best action of any keyboard that I've played, which includes some good ones (Roland 700DX, Yamaha P250). Also, the way they produce the piano sound is completely different than other keyboards. Rather than sampling the notes at 2 or 3 dynamic levels (did you know that many keyboards don't even sample each note?), they use sample material along with analogue sound modelling to reproduce a MUCH broader range of dynamic, and I think that the tone is MUCH better. On a real piano, if you play a note that is lower in the register, you should get a tone that is almost bell-like. Most keyboards give you either a clunky thwap or a very muddy drone. On the Kawai's that I've played, you get that bell tone: soft, sweet, and crystal clear. As a player who is a pianist first, I've really enjoyed the Kawai's I've played. And since Kawai makes actual pianos (and makes them very well) I would trust them more to get the piano "right" on a keyboard than I would manufactureres like Roland and Korg.
 
Here's my recommendation --- LINK.

It's a midi controller that has true hammer action and is built like a tank.
 
My recommendation is to play them all as much as you can before you commit to buying one. Run through your favorite songs and all the stuff you do with your band. Which boards shine? Which inspire?
What will you eventually complain about once you get to know the board better?

Also think about logistics… how will this work at a gig? How easy is it to transport / setup? Will it last on the road? Does it fit everything you need it to do?

I like Yamahas… mostly because I like the sound quality and build quality… and I never owned a Yamaha product that broke down on me (except once, and that was under extreme abuse!)


- Gunther
 
i have a p120. i really love it. i grew up with a 7 foot steinway in my house, and this is the closest electronic thing i've ever played to that. the sound is great, it plays great, its great.
 
Check out the Korg SG series

They are a little older, not sure if they are still made, but I had a SG-1d, 88 key digital grand piano for years and really liked it. The action and response on the keys were very well done, and the sound was spectacular. It's built like a tank, which is good and bad - good that it can handle the wear and tear of gigging, but it is a beast to haul around....I bet you could get a used one around $400-500

http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/Korg/SG1D-01.html
 
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I would vote for P120 since this instruments tries to be as close to clasical piano as possible for a good price.
It has different weights of keys between lower and upper keys in the same way like a piano. It means that lower keys are harder to press than the upper ones. There are also several layers of sound samples recorded in the instrument memory that are generated according to strenght and speed of your pressing of keys. This function tries to emulate real sound more than other digi pianos where you have only one layer of samples.
As I know Korg SP series does not have such advantages. If you are not a piano player and you used only XP30 maybe it is not an important for you.

I personally play now Korg SP200 and am quite satisfied with it. Good sound, good keyboard, steel case resistant to damaging during movements and 60-voices polyphony. But still IMHO P120 is a higher level of instrument.

I do not have any experiences with Roland and Kurzweil pianos since they seem to me to be quite expensive.
Also never played kawai instruments so can not agree or disagree with recommendations of ticohans.

I played also Casio Privia and was positively surprised. Casio made a good work here. But still the sound and keyboard was not as good as in SP200 so finally I took Korg. In the time I bought it P120 was extremely expensive. Now its price is better.
 
onmoris said:
i have a p120. i really love it. i grew up with a 7 foot steinway in my house, and this is the closest electronic thing i've ever played to that. the sound is great, it plays great, its great.
Click to expand...

I have friend with a p90, which i understand is almost the same thing. I havn't gotten a chance to play it, but he absolutely loves it.
 
I love my p120. Great action, fabulous sound live and in the studio.

Danny
 
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