Trip to the music store (keyboard galore)

[Morizzle]

Today I spent some time in a nearby town in a nice music store that had pretty much every recent keyboard on their floor! I drove there with a friend and we had about 3 hours of playing all the stuff being watched by grumpy keyboard staff.

Reason was we are both suckers for gear porn and I'm still searching for a keyboard suiting my needs. My background are a Yamaha P250, I like both action and acoustic piano sounds, and most sounds of Logic Studio which I work with nearly every day. I'm telling you that so you can put the following "reviews" into perspective. Of course it's all just my very humble opinion. I listened to all the keyboards through my studio headphones.

 

MIDI master keyboards

 

We checked the action of lots of different keyboards, they had nearly everything ranging from the B*********-brand to newer Fatar models. I didn't spend much time on those with the flat synthesizer-keys, because I never use such keyboards at home and there's no way I can compare it to anything. Most interesting for me was the M-Audio Axiom 25 they had there, I've always been interested in those keyboards because of their layout, features and weighted actions. To my surprise, I found the action to be loose and undefined, nothing I'd like to play a lot on. I've wondered if it was a bad floor model because I really got the impression of a mechanically inferior instrument. I also tried the keys of the Doepfer LMK2+, the FATAR Numa and the famed FATAR VMK 188PLUS, which seemed to me all well done, but very similar to the Yamaha P250's action. They are nice to get you started on a DP action, but not really high end. Surprisingly, I found the FATAR SL990 Pro to be a bit more realistic. The attack is similar to the above mentioned keyboards, but when you reach the bottom, there's a slight ruttle, which reminded me of the grand piano I played not long ago for two weeks. If I needed a 88key masterkeyboard, I think actionwise I'd choose the latter one.

 

Synths

 

Well, I'm afraid I'm not able to tell you much about those, because I'm the opposite of a synth expert, but at least I can make a weird comparison. For me, as a synthesis beginner, I looked at the Moog Littul Phatty and the Roland SH-201 which were both appealing to me because of their easy structure. But boy, does the Moog blow the Roland away. Of course, they are from two completely different price regions, but if you want a synth, I'd strongly suggest saving the money for the Moog. Its sound is ph4t indeed.

They also had a Korg Radias, a Prophet 08 and another DSI synth, the Clavia synths Wave, Lead 2 and Lead anniversary edition and some others. If I only could understand what all those knobs and switches are doing...

 

Stage Pianos

 

Now that was my main reason to go there, and man, they had them all...

 

Kurzweil PC3X

 

Wow. That was the biggest surprise of the day for me. After reading all the reviews here on the forum and looking at the shiny pictures, I was really thrilled to play that thing, but I was magnificiently (?) underwhelmed (notice the fine crafted paradoxon). None of the sounds "had" it, to my ears. I didn't like the acoustic pianos, they were to thin and sounded very sterile to me. I suppose they'll cut fine in a mix, but still I see the Rolands ahead with more brilliance in the sound. The organs in KB3 mode had nothing behind it, no balls at all. I did enjoy the EPs and Clavs more, the Wurly was killer, but especially the EPs I found to be too effect laden. I don't know if that's a good sign. Of course I turned the reverb of before playing. There were some nice strings but I found the brass to be very cheesy and cheap. I'm still a bit puzzled about that, because trust the opinions of many I've seen around here. Maybe I'm not a Kurzweil guy. However, I had way more fun playing the K2600. Oh, the PC3X had an exellent acoustic jazz bass, but I'm not going to buy it because of that.

 

Nord stage

 

Ah, well, I'm still a bit dreamy about this, but I think I'm not going to get it, because of the funds, ya know. I don't think I need to say much about its sounds (drool...). I also played the Stage Compact. Wow. Everyone who has the cash and needs a super-steroid-electro-2nd tier board, I'm pretty sure this is it. What a monster. Still, 3000 is a bit much for the 88 version (I definately want an 88 key stage piano).

 

Roland RD 300 and 700GX

 

Yep, I think it's going to be the 700GX for me. Usually, I'm not a Roland guy because I find their acoustic pianos too thin, but the "Mellow Piano" and I think it was the "Superior Grand" struck my nerve. The EPs are just sounding instantly cool, and it features a very fönky clav. There are even some organs on that thing I could be using live. For a rompler I think that's not bad at all. Especially cool was the action and the Ivory feel-thingy. It makes the whole thing quite a bit more realistic. I like that idea. Over here it goes for 2000something, so there would still be funds for some gadgets... Sounds like a fine fit, eh? The RD 300 GX was a bit pale in A to B comparison with the 700 GX, but for nearly 1000 less, I think it's still an excellent instrument.

 

Yamaha CP 300 and CP 33

 

Well, it's Yamaha's own decision using the name of the CP pianos. However, to someone having played the P 250, I think the CP 300 is a rip-off. The changes made between the version are very subtle IMHO, the price is quite a big chunk of money. Maybe Dave Horne can give some opinions here, I think he played both extensively.

 

Clavia C1 and Roland VK8

 

Still drooling. I wanna have that C1. Well, maybe when I win the lottery in the betting pool I have with ITGITC. That little red thing schmokes. Also I'm concerned about the schlep-factor, and with 15 kilos it seems to be a pretty cool deal.

Now the Roland VK8 is an instrument wid da real ballz. Man, that Drive you can put on is incredible. I think it's the perfect toy for funk and rock. However using it in a more jazz oriented band could be more difficult (I even tried it for some rehearsals. It wasn't quite the thing). But I don't understand why that one manual 10-year (?) old thing still goes for ~1500 That could be pretty much described as a "WTF?" situation...

 

Anyway, I think I'm set on the RD 700 GX (talk me out of it, quick)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then I'll get the Nord Stage Compact as 2nd tier board... maybe tomorrow

 

I'll maybe correct typos and weird grammar later. Have a nice day.

[Dave Horne]

Maybe Dave Horne can give some opinions here, I think he played both extensively.

 

It was a no brainer for me; I got a good price for my P250 and a good price for my CP300. When the next generation of Yamaha stage pianos hits the market, I'll put my CP300 up for sale and have my friend in Germany (who does not have to pay VAT), order one for me.

 

I liked the P250, but the CP300 was an improvement, a slight one.

[Joe Muscara]

Thanks for sharing this. Good stuff, and you are lucky to have such a store near you. Even here in the US we have stores that carry this, but not that, and others carry that, but not those.