Best inexpensive piano-emulating keyboard

[nighteingvyse]

Hi. This is my first post here. I only really jumped in here to ask this (i even spelled my user name wrong in haste lol). I already play the guitar and the violin and wanted to start on the piano, but don't have the space or the money for one (i just spent about £1500 on my last two new guitars). So i figure for the sake of space and expense i should go for a keyboard.

I wanna keep the price down to around £100-£150, and want to find one which emulated the sound of a genuine piano particularly well (and with as many keys as possible). I don't give a rats ass about features like inbuilt recording or sounds of other instruments or loop presets etc, as long as it makes a convincing piano sound and can plug into an interface for recording. I just essentially want a piano in keyboard form, as daft as that sounds.

So does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

 

[Skipp]

For the price given - sorry, but no.

Nothing won't come even close - either by it's sound, or the keybed.

Can you find a good guitar with a 100W Marshall amp for 100£?

I don't think so hehe.

Try looking for a cheap used stage/home piano, but those will still cost way more
than that.

Also take a look at the Casio Privia line, Yamaha's P85, and the Kawai ES6.
Older models like Yamaha P120 also sound good.

 

[nighteingvyse]

I knew i wouldn't get anything amazing with that kinda money. I may go up to £200 but that is maximum and dependent on what i find. I just wanted to find out if there were keyboards that were made more for a better tone rather than its features if you get me.

So you recommend those mentioned keyboards for the best tone around that price range?

 

[Skipp]

Every stage/home piano is based on a couple of good sounds - not features.

Well... except high end stage pianos that add some workstation features, but those
cost a lot.

So yea... stick with the list above. All of them are out of your price range, but you
may find something used - if you're lucky

 

[nighteingvyse]

Well now i'm looking at the M-audio Prokeys Sono 88. It's at about £250 which is more than i wanted to pay (i could go for the 61 which is just over £200), but the sound samples of piano pieces on M-audio's site sound really convincing. I'm sure they've been enhanced but still. I also trust M-audio as a brand so i may go for that one.

 

[Skipp]

88 semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive keys

In other words - Plasticky keys. If that doesn't bother you - go for it

 

[Phinnin]

I would suggest looking into a casio CDP-100. You should be able to get a used one for $225 usd and it will do everything you want it to do. THe real weighted keys will develop your touch.

 

[nighteingvyse]

88 semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive keys

In other words - Plasticky keys. If that doesn't bother you - go for it

I'm not sure it would bother me. I intend to use whatever i buy to teach myself to play, so although i know what genuine piano keys feel like i wont be bothered by the contrast. I think it would bother me if they gave no resistance whatsoever like those really crap ones, but as long as there's a little weight to them.

In the long term though, it would be useful to get one which has full weighted keys to develop technique. So i am a little torn. I've been looking for used ones but they're surprisingly difficult to find, especially for someone who has only a vague idea of what i'm looking for.

 

[nighteingvyse]

What would you guys say about the Casio PX-130 in particular and how would you personally compare it to the Yamaha P85 if you've tried them both?

 

[anotherscott]

for decent piano at low price, it's worth checking into the Yamaha NP30

 

[mmm.guitar]

The other option you have if you have the technology in your PC is to get a midi keyboard controller, i.e. its just the keyboard part with no synth unit etc. You'll need a midi input on your soundcard and some sort of DAW with synth in it to actually hear the stuff you play though.

The benefit would be (if you have a soundcard with midi in and a DAW) is that all the money you spend will be pretty much spent on the keybed -- i.e. not on an internal synth unit.

I'm a guitarist that has recently started learning the piano. I bought a Fatar 88 note SL990 XP. Its a little bit above your range, ~£370, but it has weighted hammer action, i.e. as close as you will get to a piano without spending £1000's on a controller or actually buying a piano. There's probably smaller ones that are cheaper as well (66 note etc), but I couldn't find any full size hammer action weighted ones cheaper than that (hammer action not semi-weighted was my primary requirement when buying one)

I played keyboards up to grade 6 and I have to say I am loving the piano action and full size keys, its just firmer or something, if only I could get my fingers to move independently... It is a right brute tho, its massive and quite heavy -- needs a bit of space

http://www.inta-audio.com/keyboards...m=ppc&utm_term=3770&utm_campaign=froogle#3770

 

[Bruin]

I just bought a like-new used Korg X50 for those times when I don't feel like lugging around my Yamaha Motif ES-6. It has the Korg Triton sound engine, but lacks the Triton's built-in sequencer and sampler (which you don't care about); and, it only weighs about 9 pounds -- about 30 pounds less than my Motif. It has some authentic sounding piano programs, as well as some "hip" piano programs, excellent Rhodes and other electric pianos, some great organs for all type of music, nice string patches, and a pretty nice arpeggiator.

You may now be thinking only about an acoustic piano, but depending on what types of music you might be writing, having these other keyboard programs can be very useful.

Listen to some of the X50's programs here -->