Lighten my Load - Keyboard speaking

[stoken6]

I wasn't asking you to select a keyboard for me- simply to share your experiences and expertise.

I actually missed that.

 

My experience is basically that I got fed up of lifting 44lb (Oberheim MC1000/88), but I can just about cope with 36lb (Nord Stage Classic/76). Good luck in your search.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[TWizzle]

A little late to throw my hat (opinion) in the ring but here goes, in case it helps.

 

I'm a pretty small guy, about 5'6", have a bothersome left shoulder, and I drive a small car. Anywhere I can cut down on size and weight is a plus. I absolutely love 73 keys for this reason, and I can handle 99% of gigs with this number of keys.

 

My first pro board was the PX-5S. Loved the action and the incredible light weight. I still love to play it in certain situations (loud rock bands), and I'll never get rid of it, but I've found the main piano sample lacking especially in the crucial area just above middle C. After I fell in love with some of the pianos in the Nord library, I went through both a NP2 HP and a NE6 HP, didn't love the TP100 action but lived with it.

 

I bought a Yamaha P-121 just for home practice, and the sly little devil somehow became my main board for solo piano and jazz trio. Surprisingly decent action, a great core piano sample, and easy to throw around at 22lbs. Never thought I'd gig with it at all, and yet it's seen a lot of battlefield action.

 

Recently sold off the other Nords and got the NP5 73. I love this thing. The action might be a little lighter than what I'd consider perfect (got a Sohmer upright at home for that), but this makes it great to hop on without any warmup and be able to play pretty well right off the bat. In its hard case, fits perfectly across the back seat of that tiny car. It was the board I had been waiting for for a very long time.

[confidence]

Another variable is, the lighter the board, the more comfortable I am using a lighter duty case, which also can save noticeable weight over a heavier duty case.

 

That doesn't make sense to me. While there will of course be other variables involved, surely if you compare two boards of similar size and one is much heavier than the other, then all else being equal that would suggest that the heavier board is more sturdy, better engineered, whereas the lighter board is flimsier and more prone to breakage. (For example the heavier board's likely to include more metal and the lighter board more plastic). It would therefore make more sense to do the opposite of what you suggest - be relaxed about carrying the heavier board in a lighter case, while making sure to properly protect the lighter board with a heavy one.

 

Another vote for the Yamaha CP4 here. I have some reservations about the piano sound but that is subjective at that level. The action is the finest I've ever played and the weight very manageable. CP88 might have better piano sound with as good action (I haven't played it) - very small palette of other sounds though. I've also played the Nord Piano 5 88 version and loved it, so the 73 would seem like a great contender if you're up for the price.

 

Surprised noone has mentioned Kurzweil Forte 73, which has a great action and excellent piano sound (plus others), in 73 key package. I found it frustrating when I was on the same hunt because they're rare as hens' teeth here in the UK. New, they seemed to cost as much or more than the 88 and had to be specially ordered, and second hand they just don't come up. Hence I eventually gave up and got the Yamaha. Maybe that's not a problem where you are though.

[b3plyr]

It's never too late to respond to a post. Thanks for your input.

[Delaware Dave]

" ..Surprised no one has mentioned Kurzweil Forte 73, which has a great action and excellent piano sound (plus others), in 73 key package."

 

Maybe it's because the Forte doesn't come in 73 keys?

[PianoMan51]

Maybe it"s just my old misaligned back, but weight isn"t the only factor for me. It"s a lot to do with my ability to carry the board comfortably under my arm. I can be comfortable with more weight if I don"t have to carry the board out in front of me with both hands.

[b3plyr]

Maybe it"s just my old misaligned back, but weight isn"t the only factor for me. It"s a lot to do with my ability to carry the board comfortably under my arm. I can be comfortable with more weight if I don"t have to carry the board out in front of me with both hands.

 

Yes, this has been my experience too.

[El Lobo]

" ..Surprised no one has mentioned Kurzweil Forte 73, which has a great action and excellent piano sound (plus others), in 73 key package."

 

Maybe it's because the Forte doesn't come in 73 keys?

Perhaps he meant the Kurzweill Forte 7 76-key. But at 4 grand and 41 lbs., it's not the keyboard you're looking for.

[confidence]

Yes Forte 7 is what I meant, obviously. It's no more expensive than the Nord Piano 5, I think.

 

But I didn't realise it was that heavy. Must be those extra three keys make all the difference.

[zukskywalker]

Ok well then⦠wanna go big? I"ve got access to a 31h 'tallboy' Leslie and a Leslie 900. but I just made a minor discovery in a different direction. That being a 'mini'with a 'micro' 2nd tier nested on top. This started out as 'reface frustration' due to lack of wheels(pb and mod) and ended up with aâ¦dare I say, craptastic midiplus 322 neatly nested on top of a reface cp (see that dead space behind the fx knobs?) and never mind keybed action this combo(with a tiny bit of duct tapeâ¦.and a spongeð¤ª) makes for a neat little flyaway kit on the side. (Ready for the next time I play to the humvees rolling down mass Ave.ðâ¦somehow I think they"ll be back again.)

[Adan]

Another variable is, the lighter the board, the more comfortable I am using a lighter duty case, which also can save noticeable weight over a heavier duty case.

 

That doesn't make sense to me. While there will of course be other variables involved, surely if you compare two boards of similar size and one is much heavier than the other, then all else being equal that would suggest that the heavier board is more sturdy, better engineered, whereas the lighter board is flimsier and more prone to breakage. (For example the heavier board's likely to include more metal and the lighter board more plastic). It would therefore make more sense to do the opposite of what you suggest - be relaxed about carrying the heavier board in a lighter case, while making sure to properly protect the lighter board with a heavy one.

 

 

I think you're both making a credible arguments, but based on my own experience I'd tend to side with Scott. Above a certain weight (I'd say somewhere in the 30-35 lb range), a keyboard develops a critical mass of momentum as your swinging it around. When that momentum hits a sold object, the more fragile pieces like knobs and keys are more likely to break than on a board of lesser mass. Therefore, above a certain weight a more robust case is needed to protect these fragile, exposed components. That's why a 25 lb board only requires a 5 lb case, but a 40 lb board becomes 55 lbs in transit.

 

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!