Help a greenie find a decent keyboard?

[saigonrice]

Hi guys!

After a year of using a CTK-1100 casually I have now decided to get myself a new and better keyboard. Problem is, my knowledge of this subject is pretty limited so I'd be extremely grateful if someone could give me some hints and directions of which keyboards there are in the market.

My requirements are that it needs to be velocity-sensitive, have between 5-7 octaves (constant relocating makes bigger keyboards an annoyance to bring around) and built-in speakers.
I'd also like to somehow use this keyboard along with software such as Fruity Loops and Garageband.

My budget is around 300$.

So far I've found two keyboards that look decent enough, but can I use any of them alongside FL or Garageband?

Yamaha PSR-E343:
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musi...digitalkeyboards/portable_keyboards/psr-e343/
Yamaha EZ-220
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musi...y_lighted_fret_instruments/ez-220/?mode=model

 

[happyrat1]

I wouldn't go with the EZ-220. It probably sounds worse than your Casio.

In your price range I'd say look around at the Yamaha PSR-E433 as well as some used Korg or Roland or Yamaha keyboards on your local Craigslist where you can try them out before you buy.

In the budget range the Yamahas tend to sound better than the Casios so I'd say to stay focused on the Yamahas and the others I listed rather than Casio.

Gary