1st musical keyboard for my 3 year old

[jkrobs]

Hello,

I really could do with some help. I'll try and keep it short!

I'm looking to purchase a musical keyboard for my son.

I don't have a huge amount of experience on these things, but when I was 17 my parents purchased for me a Roland musical keyboard, it came with some weird laser light that if you placed your hand over the top it would distort the sound, it also came with a floppy disk drive built-in and I remember putting midi files on the floppy disk and it would play them on the keyboard. ( if you happen to know the keyboard I'm talking about I would love to hear from you )

Anyway, I'm looking for something similar ( without the weird laser thing )

any manufacturer will do, Yamaha, Roland, Casio... ( I live in Japan, so not sure if that makes a difference?)

I would like one where the keys light up to tell you which keys to press to play the song.

also, How would I put midi files on it for my son? I guess floppy disk is a thing of the past now, so how do you put the songs on it?

also, will the keys light up based on the midi files its playing?

thanks for your help and sorry for my inexperience.

 

[jkrobs]

I think it was Roland EM-??
it was a black keyboard

 

[SeaGtGruff]

As far as Yamaha, I would not recommend anything below the PSR-E373, because the 200-level models don't have velocity sensitivity and also don't have any way to load new songs. Yamaha has some "lighted keys" models, if that is something you're interested in, but I'm not familiar with them.

I'm not as familiar with other brands, aside from a slight familiarity with older Casio models.

Other forum members can give you good advice about Casio, Roland, and Korg models.

 

[jkrobs]

sorry to ask, but how does one load new songs these days on a musical keyboard?

 

[happyrat1]

#1 Question : What's the budget?

#2 Question : How old is your son and how pumped is he to learn and stick with it?

#3 Question : Are you looking to get a Piano action or a Synth action keyboard?

Under $500 I'd recommend going with a Casio Privia or WK model.

Under $1000 I'd recommend a Roland Juno DS. (Does not use D-Beam Technology)

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

sorry to ask, but how does one load new songs these days on a musical keyboard?

First of all it depends on whether or not the keyboard has a built in song sequencer.

Typically nowadays keyboards use USB Thumb Drives as storage but virtually all consumer grade keyboards have at least a USB MIDI interface built in that allows you to plug the keyboard to a computer and essentially turn your keyboard into a MIDI Workstation.

ie. You load the files into the computer and the keyboard plays the files.

Gary

 

[Biggles]

I guess you have changed your post since you now have the age of your Son in the thread title.

The keyboard to look at is a Casio, so Google search Casiotone.

A simple low cost keyboard to get him going is what I would suggest

.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I guess you have changed your post since you now have the age of your Son in the thread title.

I believe it was in the thread title from the beginning? At least, I knew when I replied at 4:02 AM EDT that his son is 3 years old, so it was either in the title of the thread or in the body of the original post.

Anyway, I would steer away from a cheap model that doesn't have velocity sensitivity, that can't be connected to a computer via USB, and that can't use a USB flash drive. Given the son's age, it might not be terrible to go with such a cheap model, but that also depends on whether it's financially viable to buy a better and more expensive model after a few years of playing on the cheap model-- but if the goal is for the son to start seriously learning how to play a keyboard right now, then I'd definitely recommend a velocity sensitive model.

I would also tend to steer away from models with lighted keys, although that could depend on whether the son has already shown a natural gift for music (in which case, avoid lighted keys and stick with something "serious"), or whether he seems more inclined to treat a keyboard as a fascinating toy (in which case, lighted keys might help to keep him fascinated with it).

 

[Biggles]

Learing to play a Keybiard and learning to play a Piano is two distinctly different processes so depending upon what the overall goal is you may like to rethink your criteria.

As it is Roland just do not produce a keyboard similar to what you originally had. Their starter keyboards are the Go Keys and Go Piano, this is the promo for the Go Keys so you can see the direction Roland are going at this end of their keyboard range.

For serious learning of a Piano then buy a Digital Piano such as a Casio S1000 or Yamaha P121/125 but these are far more expensive.

I would definitely not consider an Arranger like a Yamaha PSR E series or Casio CTX. I had a Yamaha and Korg arranger and my Grandchildren used to play with them, zero learning, just a lot of button pressing and making discordant sounds from the inbuilt Styles and sounds. Just look at these models and the sheer number of buttons for young fingers to press.

Hence keep the keyboard simple and making the learning fun via learning Apps could be the way to go.

 

[jkrobs]

Thank you everyone for your replies, sorry for the delay..there is some time difference for all of us I guess..

Well, firstly I never changed the post title, it was written that way originally. But actually, my son will be turning 3 in Feb..so he's still way off..and to be honest at this stage I have no idea if he will enjoy playing on a keyboard. My wife is pushing him musically and wants me to order a keyboard for him so he can try it out..so I guess perhaps I should look for something cheap to start with.

There is a huge Musical shop up the road, It's huge and they have tones of Keyboards..but It's all in Japanese, so I have no clue. My wife is Japanese so maybe at the weekend, we will take a look.

I tend to do my shopping on amazon, as It's cheaper ( At least that's how I did my shopping in the UK back in the day )

in reply to the questions,

1 Question : What's the budget? about 20,000 Yen

#2 Question : How old is your son and how pumped is he to learn and stick with it? He is 2 years and 7 months, but looking to buy for Christmas. He really enjoys his Musical toys, He has a small baby keyboard and he plays along to the simple songs, I mean really simple.

#3 Question : Are you looking to get a Piano action or a Synth action keyboard? err..No idea.??

Perhaps the Casio Tone is worth looking at? Amazon Japan have it for 16,500 yen, which is within my budget.

Thanks again for your help on this.

 

[Biggles]

20,000 Yen = £148 = $190 USD = $250 Can = $ 265 AUD.

You are not going to get a new piano action keyboard for your budget.

In fact for that budget your options for a new keyboard with reasonable audio quality is very limited.

I am in the UK where prices for some new keyboards are:-

DIGITAL PIANOS

Yamaha NP12 £205 which does not have piano action

Yamaha P45 £390 with 88 keys and graded piano action

Korg B2 £395 (Korg’s starter digital piano)

Roland Go Piano £285 with 88 non piano action keys

KEYBOARDS

Yamaha PSR E363 £175

Casiotone S300 £165

Korg EK50 £290 (Korg’s starter keyboard)

Roland Go Keys £230

Yamaha EZ 220 £155

Yamaha PSR S75 £125

Casiotone S200 £115

As you can see, there are limited options but do checkout the Yamaha and Casio websites before you take a visit to the music store. Yamaha do produce quite a few lower cost keyboards that I have not quoted.

 

[jkrobs]

Thanks again for your help, I know the Pound is a bit weak these days, I think I should be able to manage with 20,000 Yen

Casio S300, they have an amazon for 29,000 Yen. comes with headphones, keyboard stand, chair, and some other bits.

 

[Rayblewit]

A few years ago now . . I had as much musical knowledge as your 3 yr old son. I picked up a crappy Yamaha psr 2 (it wad my son's) and learned to play it. I developed knowhow and enjoyed it so decided to advance further.

So I would be buying a cheap generic keyboard for your 3 yr old. If he develops skill then advance to more expensive model after a couple of years.

Forget about uploading music for now. Just concentrate on learning the keys and scales etc. . I would be learning piano playing bass and treble. This could take a couple of years so be patient and see how progressive your son may become (or not).

It always intigues me . . How do little fingers span an octave and how to little legs reach the pedals?

Cheer Ray.

 

[LisaL]

Hello,

I really could do with some help. I'll try and keep it short!

I'm looking to purchase a musical keyboard for my son.

I don't have a huge amount of experience on these things, but when I was 17 my parents purchased for me a Roland musical keyboard, it came with some weird laser light that if you placed your hand over the top it would distort the sound, it also came with a floppy disk drive built-in and I remember putting midi files on the floppy disk and it would play them on the keyboard. ( if you happen to know the keyboard I'm talking about I would love to hear from you )

Anyway, I'm looking for something similar ( without the weird laser thing )

any manufacturer will do, Yamaha, Roland, Casio... ( I live in Japan, so not sure if that makes a difference?)

I would like one where the keys light up to tell you which keys to press to play the song.

also, How would I put midi files on it for my son? I guess floppy disk is a thing of the past now, so how do you put the songs on it?

also, will the keys light up based on the midi files its playing?

thanks for your help and sorry for my inexperience.

Floppy disks. Those were the days , lol.