It's time, Help !

[Gillette]

Hi to all, and happy new year

 

Here's the thing : I'm looking to buy a keyboard. Not much of pianist really (I know a couple of songs "Martha my Dear like" but can't read notes, actually I've just learned where to put my fingers

 

But, I would like to learn the piano..(although I'm a guitar player)

 

What am looking for is 1. Piano-like 88 keys , preferably wooden with ivory feel, and that little red tape behind the keys (can't help it

 

2.More gooood piano sounds, less synthesiser craziness, complicated buttons and so on... although I wouldn't mind some extra sounds. I prefer old school music that isn't much "electric".

 

3.mod wheels

 

I've become been using M-audio cheapo midi controller and now is time to upgrade it to something more serious.

What I found until now approximately was:

 

New Korg Nutilus would be overkill

Yamaha MODX8 seems fine, but too much buttons too

Rolland rd 88..same thing

 

Dexibell Vivo stage (kinda like it, but no wooden keys?)

Studiologic numa x gt (no red tape! Just kidding)

 

Anyway, hope you got the picture.. I look for good quality elektric piano for home studio (or it's a workstation? Stage..? Can't tell the difference) so if someone has some other recommendations I'd very much appreciate it

Cheers!

[stoken6]

A few questions:

1. What's your budget? Real-wood keys typically command a higher price

2. When you say "mod wheels" do you mean "a pitch bend wheel and a modulation wheel"? Would you accept a joystick instead of wheels?

3. Do you want built-in speakers

4. Do you want a portable model, or a stay-in-one-place "furniture" piece?

5. Define "gooood" - what models have you played that have the sound you like?

Casio's PX-560 springs to mind, but it might be too much "synthesiser craziness" and "complicated buttons" for you (although it's easy to use with its touchscreen). Download the manual and take a look.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Gillette]

1. 2000 eu

2. Sure

3. I don't mind..I have studio monitors so..

4. portable

5. I've played mostly VST's Pianotech, Kontakt libraries and so on.. I'd skip Casio from some reason..

 

Txs Mike

[AnotherScott]

I'd add Kawai MP7SE to your short list.

 

An issue you may find is that any board that has pitch/mod wheels is likely to have lots of other features/buttons. So you may need to compromise in one direction or the other... give up on the pitch/mod controls, or accept that there will be a bunch of other stuff as well.

[dbhoosier]

Check out the Yamaha CP88.

[ElmerJFudd]

The combination of features is tricky here. There are lots of piano centric boards with the wooden keys and better piano-like actions that don't have the pitch and mod wheels. Kawai MP7SE and Yamaha CP88 come to mind. But do you want speakers onboard?

[re Pete]

There are roland A90's going used for $400 or more. That was a $2K board when first out. The action is nice. Only problem is the key weights may need some love with epoxy.

[Doerfler]

If you can live without internal sounds and continue with Pianoteq and Kontakt, the Kawai VPC-1 has wooden keys and red felt behind the keys. Heavy action, no internal sounds or controls. Not for everybody, I'm keeping mine.

 

Also I agree about the Yamaha CP 88, but that is the exact opposit of the VPC-1 as far as interface. CP-88 has fantastic internal sounds, busy external interface.

[Overdrive 5]

The combination of features is tricky here. There are lots of piano centric boards with the wooden keys and better piano-like actions that don't have the pitch and mod wheels. Kawai MP7SE and Yamaha CP88 come to mind. But do you want speakers onboard?

 

Speakers, not necessarily, I have studio monitors that I could hook up

[Overdrive 5]

I can accept some other feautures all right, it's just that I had something simple

 

 

and now I should face something like this..

 

 

and to spend next 10 years just to figure out the left side of the keyboard..So it is a little bit scary

[Docbop]

I was a guitar player since the jurassic era and decided to learn piano and had similar wants and in general I didn't find anything that ticks all those boxes you have. You're going to have to decide some things won't be on your final decision. I started with a Roland RD-2000 it has the wood keys and good selection of sound. But it is heavy and might cost more. Now I did move up to a workstation and it's definitely a sea of knobs and sliders and etc.

 

What I also got and ends up what I use the most is a StudioLogic SL88 GRAND controller and Keyscape. No red felt but it is a woodkey piano like keybed, sorry no red felt. It has mod and pitch bend sticks. Combined with Keyscape that has lots of great acoustic and electric piano sounds and other keyboards electric and acoustic type keyboards, but no synthesizer sounds.

[stoken6]

1. 2000 eu

2. Sure

3. I don't mind..I have studio monitors so..

4. portable

5. I've played mostly VST's Pianotech, Kontakt libraries and so on.. I'd skip Casio from some reason..

 

Txs Mike

Thanks for responding quickly and directly (many don't!). I used this filtered search on Thomann's website, and from the list, I would recommend shortlisting

- Roland RD88

- Studiologic Numa X 88 (someone posted a review here about how easy it is to use)

- Kawai MP7SE

- Yamaha CP88 (out of your price range?)

- Possibly Dexibell S7, but I don't know much about that one.

 

It's easy to download the manuals to assess how easy they will be to use.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Overdrive 5]

it seems that there's new thing - Studiologic numa x gt.

 

I saw some yt videos and it sounds beautiful

[Iconoclast]

FWIW, as a lifelong player, 88 keys is overrated.

 

I think Beethoven himself never played a piano with more than 73.

 

I'd never buy an 88 again if I can get away with it. So all things being equal, something in the 70+ key range is more than enough for just about anyone.

[Overdrive 5]

FWIW, as a lifelong player, 88 keys is overrated.

 

I think Beethoven himself never played a piano with more than 73.

 

I'd never buy an 88 again if I can get away with it. So all things being equal, something in the 70+ key range is more than enough for just about anyone.

 

 

Please don't go there..please don't go there..I already hear bumblebeez in my head

 

and how about Chopin ?

[Iconoclast]

I'm just looking at it as a beginner would. Probably thinking that the starter keyboard doesn't need to be Chopin-ready. By the time he's killin some Chopin he'll probably be ready for a new board. In the meantime he could still cover the entire catalog of Bach, Mozart and Ludwig Von B without needing it.

 

Also, wishing that my Nord Stage 3 or SL88 grand came in a 76 key version with the TP40 keybed. But I think the marketing guru's at corporate won't let me get my wish.

 

I know...if you're accustomed to 88 keys, sometimes I have trouble finding middle C for a few seconds on a 76, but on the other hand I just never find myself on the 2 extremes of the keyboard except when I've mapped some seldom needed sound effect or drone note up/down there.

 

I do have one note, in one song, that I had to re-map on my Forte 7 to get the lowest C, so I guess there's that.

 

[TyPie]

Gillette,

I was in a similar boat not all that long ago. Trumpet player & guitar player here, and some 'functional' piano (which means I'm terrible at piano....), but am heavily into writing and recording. I will never be a concert pianist, or a performing pop / rock pianist for that matter. (But then again.....one can dream. I'm starting to get around the boards a little.).

 

I wanted 1.) a keyboard to aid in writing, arranging, voicing, and getting my ideas into my DAW. 2.) MIDI for dialing in sounds 3.) a good selection of on-board sounds 4.) Light, and less than 88 keys.

I started looking at the smaller 46-key boards.

 

I eventually landed on a Roland FA-07. No matter what I compared it to for what I was looking for, I found it hard to believe the bang-for-buck of this board. You can stay as simple as you like (I spent the first few weeks just auditioning the sounds, mostly various pianos, electric pianos, string & synth pads -- a matter of pressing a single button, or maybe TWO buttons. OR, you can go significantly deep if you want to. There are quite a few other features, some of which I may never use much, though it's definitely something I will spend a long time growing into, which is not a bad thing, since digital music tech is changing more rapidly than we think.

 

All the best in your search!