Dave Keys

These are all time contextual but here goes: Roland U20 - yes it's a rompler, but it was 1992, I was 18, broke, and never had a board before then that made authentic Piano and string sounds. I traded in 3 analog synths to get one. Korg Kronos 2 61 - the swiss army knife of boards. Yamaha YC73 - a real players instrument. Casio CT S500 - a joy - no wires, no amps. Just pick up and play - the sounds are awesome, the action v playable.

Hey Reeze. I live in Birmingham so may come up and see you on 27th April if I don’t get a gig myself. Glad you got sorted for an A800. I just bought a board from Thomann in Germany and there was no import duty to pay or additional delivery into the UK if it’s over £149. They take care of it all for you and the price you see is the price you pay

The main thing with heavy boards is that if you put your back out, it becomes academic as you wont be playing any gigs! I realised this last year so sold the RD700nx and Gator Slim hard case combo (86lbs/39kg) for a CP88 and soft case combo at 51lbs/23kg.

Also a lovely board, but I don’t think I’d have got one for £235, even second hand.

For gigs it’s the YC73 on the bottom, and the Swiss Army knife of boards, the Kronos 2 61 on top. I’ve got vintage synths too, and for my TV writing, shedloads of soft synths, but there’s little or no time for tweaking these days.

Holy crikey - you weren't kidding about the Casio CT-S500 Scott. How Casio are able to build a board with such a playable action, functionality, quality of tone, not to mention surprisingly high build quality, for £235 delivered is incredible. Just what I've been looking for. I am having to revise my view of Casio as a brand. At this price point, they rule the roost. The search is over, and many thanks to you and others for your helpful input. Keyboard Corner at its best!

I think the RD 88 is an excellent board, but this RD 08 sounds like a cynical product of the accounting department, rather than being musician inspired as it ought. A board I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. Life brings enough overheads without adding costs on top.

Well, Scott has got me pretty excited about the CT-S500 which arrives in the next day or two. The new GoKeys 5 looks interesting, but as has been pointed out, it sounds like the same action. Maybe my local Fairdeal or PMT will have one in for me to try out.

Of course. If I said the Nord Electro HP 73 had a dreadful action, would that preclude you from bringing one in for evaluation, or would you simply take that advice into account and see for yourself? Many are happy with the Electro, just as many here are happy with the Go:Keys. It just wasn’t for me.

Yes, I saw the S 1000 V but it’s overkill for my requirements, and I agree with you, the red areas don’t look good. I prefer the more minimalist look of the S 500.

Well, I've decided to send back the Go:Keys. It's another board I so wanted to like, but it has a ludicrously over the top initial resistance to the keys that is not even present on my 6'6 Grand Piano, let alone the CP or YC. It's a board that fights you when you try to play it; a gatekeeper action, if you like. And of course, the speakers don't do the sounds justice. But then, what do I expect for just over £200... I was going to hang onto it and compare it side by side with the CT-S500 when it arrives, but there's no point. My mind is drifting on to going a little pricier with a CK61, but with a YC and CP already in situ, what would I gain, other than portability and speakers?

CK61 does sound appealing, although I’ve already got the YC73 and CP88. Do none of the other pro manufacturers like Roland or Korg produce a similar board with speakers - of a similar quality?

Well, I've got the Roland Go:Keys on evaluation, and have ordered the Casio CT-S500 for evaluation also. My first impression of the Go:Keys - I love the form factor, and it could well become a design classic. Don't laugh - nobody foresaw the VL-tone's collectability. That said, I can see exactly what critics of the board mean. I'm not too sure about the action, and agree it's far too firm, but I can understand why they've done this. Action is a deal breaker, and I got rid of a Nord Electro 5 73HP for this very reason. Could I get used to it? Not sure. Sounds are great, but too many of the features are hidden beneath menus. As for accompaniment backings. Not massively impressed. If I ever needed backings, it would be swing beats, latin and rock. There's 1 latin beat that I could make use of. Speakers - rather muffled and middly. I used the bluetooth to play 'Anyone Out There' by Duran Duran (my go to track for testing speakers). After hearing how highly spoken of the S500 is, I'm looking forward to testing it out side by side the Go:Keys.

I've ordered the Go: Keys from Amazon for evaluation and would do the same with the CT-s500 but it's not in stock at the mo.

Thanks AnotherScott. As you'll see from my gear list, I've got the heavy gear for the band Soul/Funk Gigs, the solo wedding piano, etc. It's just that all this gear requires extra cables, to go into a specific room of the house, or to be set up, wired up. I've been noodling about with Bud Powell solo transcriptions lately, and also Genesis In the Cage, so a good palette of sounds in a nice looking, sounding and uber light package for not a lot of dough sounds good. Spontaneity is where I am heading. Not so keen on the look of the CT-S1, but the CT-S500 does look good, so shall investigate further. Thank you.

Thank you for all the replies and insights folks - much appreciated! I think it's usable speakers and some decent basic sounds I'm after, in a light and instantly playable package, that doesn't look like a Yamaha PSR or home keyboard. Like pulling the acoustic guitar out and playing -that's what the board needs to do.

I'm in the market for a board that's really light with built in speakers, that you could take to a jam night in pub and not be too precious about it getting damaged, but equally just jam with it on the sofa at home, or when I go camping. In other words, the instant convenience of an acoustic guitar in a keyboard. I realise of course that a jam night is always going to need my DXR10 speaker to accompany it. I know quite a few people are sniffy about the Roland GO:Keys, and I was for ages, but it seems a viable contender, and I can get one for £227 inc taxes ($287). Another option would be the Numa Compact 2x or forthcoming 2x SE, but at £499 and £699 respectively, that's a different price bracket, and i'm not sure I need 88. I hear good things about the Casios too. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Same weight as the RD88 I think. A 73 would've been more welcome.

Really enjoying this thread. There's nothing worse than the band that hires you for 2-45min sets, but gives you a list of 50 songs (my regular Soul/Funk Band tends to be 2x1hr sets and about 32 songs). You then try to find out which ones they are actually most likely to play and hope for the best. The worst though are bands that come up with clever complex little segues, which I'm sure work great when it's the original lineup, but when you're a dep, these can be a real pain. In any case, since when did anyone ever go, 'hey, you know all those wonderful hits of the 60's, 70's, 80's. Wouldn't it be great if we chopped out all the choruses from them and merged them into some homogenous mess, because lets face it people just don't have time to hear the individual songs as they were meant to be played'. Regarding keys, I've got perfect pitch, so can't use the transpose button, because If I play a C and it comes out as a Bb my hands will automatically move to 'correct' this. With all this said, it is great to dep for bands on the whole, and it can often lead to further work. I'm slightly off the radar in my area at the moment so will be taking any one off deps that I possibly can.

I take my Piano pupils on an annual visit to a Steinway in London, and the guy there tells me the vast majority of their customers are not musicians. 🤣

I do have a YC73 which I love for band gigs, but I like a full 88 for a solo piano gig and the Yamaha CP88 is perfect for this - that’s how I ended up buying both last year, having traded in the gorgeous but backbreaking RD700nx and the Electro 5.

Yamaha PSR xxx 🙂

I had the Nord Electro 5HP and loved it's sound, but hated playing it, so traded it for the YC73 in March last year. The keybed was what sold me on the YC73 - I've gigged the board regularly and had no issues with the action at all. It was like going from a Dacia to a Mercedes in terms of premium feel.

I'd consider an NE7electroHP if they replaced the action with something more like the Kawai.

YC73 is just under 30lbs (13.4kg), and is a great all round board for gigging. The action feels really premium compared to the Nord Electro5 HP I sold it for. The Nord was also 5lbs (2kg ish) lighter and had squarer edges, making it easier to manoeuvre. I would've kept the Nord, but it was just so, so, horrible to play, despite looking and sounding lovely. Feel counts for a lot.