Recommend a keyboard (two purposes)?

[Gruuve]

Hi Folks:

 

I'm a bassist from the LDLD, and need to ask a keyboard question. Trying to find a reasonably inexpensive used keyboard (say, $200-300) and there's so many to choose from it's confusing. Here are my two purposes:

 

1) My 4 year old daughter will be starting a mini-Mozart piano and music theory class in about a month. She'll need something to practice on that's easy to use.

 

2) If I'm going to buy a keyboard, then I might as well get something that has decent enough sounds that I could actually use it for recording purposes.

 

3) I wouldn't mind having a built in drum machine and maybe sequencer, but I can live without out if it's easier to satisfy the above two.

 

I had thought one with built-in speakers might serve #1 well (although I've got plenty of amps I can plug one up to, having built in speakers would be easier for my little girl.) But, I'm assuming that any of the keys with built-in speakers probably aren't going to have sound quality good enough to actually use for recording. If I'm wrong, someone please point me in the right direction.

 

Anyway, if you guys would post a couple brand/models that would be a good ones for me to look for on Ebay and locally, I'd really, really appreciate it!

 

Thanks in advance ivory-tickling brethren!

Dave

 

[resigned]

Your budget is unreasonably low. The digital piano that will fit all of your needs is the Casio PX-200 for $699 new (or the nicer home model PX-800 for $200 more). Older Casio Privias can sometimes be found used cheap but they aren't as good as the newer ones.

[Gruuve]

Your budget is unreasonably low.

 

Ah, is it really, even if I'm looking used? I think I'd sacrifice having onboard speakers for better sound quality. Maybe something like one of the Yamaha PY-series would be snaggable in that price range?

 

Dave

 

[NoahZark]

Ah, is it really, even if I'm looking used? I think I'd sacrifice having onboard speakers for better sound quality. Maybe something like one of the Yamaha PY-series would be snaggable in that price range?

 

I assume you mean the Yamaha YPG series? (I'm not familiar with a "PY" series from Yamaha.) If so, those may bust your $200-$300 budget as well, because you really need a weighted keybed for your daughter and the YPG's with weighted keybeds start new at about $500-$600. To me, if this will be an instrument that a child is expected to learn on, the first and most important criteria should be a keyboard with weighted keys. You simply cannot learn to play piano properly on a synth-action keyboard (IMHO). And once you get into the world of weighted keybeds, you're closer to that $500-$600 range (new) of the Casio Privias, Yamaha P70s, and the like.

 

Personally, I would shop for a used P70, which will give you a quality keybed, built-in speakers, usable piano sound and a couple of other sounds that probably aren't recordable quality but could do in a pinch. Based on a quick eBay search, P70s seem to sell for about $400-$500 used, although you can probably find one cheaper than that with a little time and luck.

 

My two cents,

Noah

[bloodyMary]

there's a new Yamaha N30 with semi-weighted action, and also an M-audio Prokeys88SX (semiweighted too), both pretty cheap

[Prague]

I can't imagine ANY bass guitar, alone, at $300 or less being useable for your recording. A half-way decent bass would run you at least $500+.

 

You'd best upgrade your budget.

[Gruuve]

Hey...thanks for the suggestions guys. My friend's keyboard that I was thinking of was a Yamaha SY-35 (don't know where I got PY-xx from)...she said it's ol...er...umm..."vintage". This or something similar might be a possibility.

 

On basses, I do have a G&L L-2500 Tribute bass (the Korean-made equivalent of the American L-2500...same electronics, etc.), it was about $400 used (they're around $700-800 new), and it's perfectly good enough for even a polished recording (with some limitations...you can't flip any of the switches while playing...they do introduce just audible pops). Of course, that said, I usually record with a Stingray5 ($1500 new) or a Tobias Killer B-5 (around $2000 new), so I'm down with what you're sayin'.

 

Dave