Keyboard recommendations

[Fritz Frigursson]

Hello, this is my first post here. I’m not a pianist by any means even though I did play for around 5 years when I was in elementary school. To be honest I did not like playing the piano at all and was kind of forced to by my parents. Maybe it’s for this reason that I do not remember much of what I learned. When I finally stopped playing the piano I immediately picked up drums and I’ve been playing it since. I find it to be very entertaining and actually want to learn.

So recently I’ve started having thoughts about buying an electronic keyboard because I’m becoming quite interested in picking it back up. Also because I think it’s fundamental to know how to play the piano/keyboard and since I’ve forgotten a great deal, I think it may be good to re-learn. I still have the piano I used when I was learning which is a really cheap out of tune upright piano. I do not wish to continue playing on it since I do not enjoy the crappy keys that require a lot of pressure to push and also because I do not want the whole apartment complex to hear my playing. I have a flexible budget of around 1500 euros and I’ve been looking at some keyboards such as the Roland FP90, Yamaha P515 and a couple Nord keyboards. I see Nord keyboards quite often on stages and recording studios so I don’t doubt their quality. But I don’t really understand if their keyboards are built for people like me. I won’t be gigging anytime soon and I doubt the piano will become my main instrument. It is going to be a self learned second instrument. Please note that I am not trying to get something that is an e-piano like a Yamaha Clavinova or something that tries to emulate a real upright piano. I’d like something with semi weighted keys or fully weighted keys, a few great sounds, low weight and durable. I would prefer 88 keys but I could also live with 73.

So what keyboard would you recommend for me? I think the Roland is better than the Yamaha but I don’t know if I should be considering a Nord. They sure look great and sound good too but are they built for people like me who isn’t going to master the instrument?


p.s. if you could also recommend me a keyboard stand that would be great.

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

Quite honestly I think a bit more research and a few visits to a music store will help you greatly, generalising anything with 88 keys is likely to have a weighted action akin to a piano, as the number of keys reduce the tendency is to then have semi weighted and synth action keys.

For full flexibility of use a digital piano is not necessarily the way to go a synth/workstation is a much better option.

If you want to get into playing music on your own quickly then an Arranger will fit the need.

There are a lot of options and available choices out there and finding the right keyboard is quite a task.

A Nord Stage will blow your budget out of the water but you will have a great keyboard.

What I would suggest is that you look at the reviews of a few keyboards:-
Roland Juno DS 88
Korg Kross 2 88
Yamaha MODX 88
Nord Stage 3
Nord 5D

Also have a look at the reviews of a Korg PA4X 76 Arranger and its smaller brother the PA1000 and whilst the 1000 only has 61 keys please try it before you dismiss it.

Good luck.

 

[Fritz Frigursson]

Welcome.

Quite honestly I think a bit more research and a few visits to a music store will help you greatly, generalising anything with 88 keys is likely to have a weighted action akin to a piano, as the number of keys reduce the tendency is to then have semi weighted and synth action keys.

For full flexibility of use a digital piano is not necessarily the way to go a synth/workstation is a much better option.

If you want to get into playing music on your own quickly then an Arranger will fit the need.

There are a lot of options and available choices out there and finding the right keyboard is quite a task.

A Nord Stage will blow your budget out of the water but you will have a great keyboard.

What I would suggest is that you look at the reviews of a few keyboards:-
Roland Juno DS 88
Korg Kross 2 88
Yamaha MODX 88
Nord Stage 3
Nord 5D

Also have a look at the reviews of a Korg PA4X 76 Arranger and its smaller brother the PA1000 and whilst the 1000 only has 61 keys please try it before you dismiss it.

Good luck.

I think it’s important to consider my budget here, since that is a huge factor. I’m still debating wether an Electro 6 is overkill so I am definitely not going to spend an extra 1000 euros out of budget to get the top of the line Nord keyboard. I simply do not require it nor good enough for it. Kind of like a beginner getting a grand piano.

I will consider the other options but meanwhile, if you have any opinions on the piano 2 or electro 6 it would be helpful.

 

[Biggles]

I totally discounted any digital piano myself hence I am not the person to advise on them. For me they are far to limiting in their use and the included sound palettes that are available.

To keep well under budget

Roland Juno DS 88 is less than 900 Euros and has great piano sounds plus many other instrument sound patches are available to download and install which makes the DS 88 the absolute best vfm instrument under 1000 Euros.

Additionally you will need a keyboard stand, go for a Z stand like a 2 tier Hercules at 147 Euro ( yes it is two tiered but you will buy another keyboard at some stage, it is an illness called Keyboard Aquisition Syndrome and we all have it, some more than others but one keyboard is just not enough ). Do not skimp the budget on a cheap X stand, to many posts on Youtube about them collapsing.

A keyboard bench at 100 Euro and possibly a sheet music stand at 25 Euro

So for less than 1200 Euro you are all sorted.

 

[anotherscott]

I’d like something with semi weighted keys or fully weighted keys, a few great sounds, low weight and durable. I would prefer 88 keys but I could also live with 73.

Everything's pretty durable these days. Some people prefer metal chassis to plastic, but that tends not to be low weight.

When you say "a few great sounds," are there any particular sounds that most interest you?

Be careful about semi-weighteds... some of them are pretty decent for piano playing, some are pretty bad.

An 88-key semi-weighted that feels decent for piano and has a nice range of basic sounds (not tons of them, but pretty good versions of what most would consider "the essentials") would be the Numa Compact 2 or 2X (the 2X is better for organ and synth, largely because you have control over a lot more of their parameters).

For a hammer action 88, there are very many choices.

 

[Fritz Frigursson]

Everything's pretty durable these days. Some people prefer metal chassis to plastic, but that tends not to be low weight.

When you say "a few great sounds," are there any particular sounds that most interest you?

Be careful about semi-weighteds... some of them are pretty decent for piano playing, some are pretty bad.

An 88-key semi-weighted that feels decent for piano and has a nice range of basic sounds (not tons of them, but pretty good versions of what most would consider "the essentials") would be the Numa Compact 2 or 2X (the 2X is better for organ and synth, largely because you have control over a lot more of their parameters).

For a hammer action 88, there are very many choices.

I’d like to have some very nice acoustic piano and organ sounds.


Do you have any experience with Nord waterfall keys? I’m looking at the Electro 6D 73 key model with semi weighted waterfall keys and I’m not sure if they will feel good with acoustic piano sounds. I’m sure they will be great with organ sounds but piano? I’m not sure.

Also isn’t nord partially made of wood? Doesn’t seem like a 100% plastic build.

 

[anotherscott]

Nords are not plastic. They're aluminum, with wooden side panels. Aluminum gets you metal that is also light, but also contributes to the high price.

I haven't played the Electro 6D, but I played the 5D, and it was decent for piano, as semi-weighted actions go. It was better than some older Nords that used the same kind of action, they probably improved the velocity curves.

If I wanted a semi-weighted 7x-key piano+organ board in the up-to-6D price range, I think the 6D would be one of the top choices. Others to consider: Vox Continental, Roland VR730, Kurzweil Artis 7. I'd say Nord has the best piano/organ sounds of the bunch. The others offer stronger non-piano/organ sounds and have more synth controls (including pitch bend, for example). The boards also differ in the hands-on controls for various parameters, the MIDI functionality, the split/layer functions...

 

[Kaneda]

I have the Korg Kross 2 88 and it's a cracking keyboard. It's got weighted action but doesn't feel as heavy as real piano. The Roland FA-08, for example, has an Ivory touch keybed, which is very close to a real acoustic piano (same you get on the Juno DS 88). But I still prefer the Kross 2.
And yesterday, while browsing Youtube, I came across an 88-key arranger from Korg, the Havian 30 (not many of those around, most arrangers are 61 or 76 keys). It was released in 2015 (so was the Roland FA-08) and many retailers have sold out already, but I've been looking at some reviews and it's really a fantastic instrument.
You can still get it for around 1100 euros, I believe. The only downside I can see is that it hasn't got audio over USB (only MIDI over USB), no audio line-in and no legacy MIDI connections.
But otherwise, seems like a fantastic board. If I had known about this one, I'd have bought one a couple of months ago...

In any case, the Kross 2 88 comes highly recommended.

 

[Biggles]

I have just called in at my Music Store.

The Nord Electro 6D was in the store and I had a play of it, the key action felt good but probably a bit light if you are pedantic about Piano sounds having a piano weighted keybed but at 1800 Euro your budget is blown. Personally I like the piano and organ sounds of all Nords that I have played with of course the Stage 3 being my favourite but that is in another league.

The Roland FA and Juno DS 88 that they had in stock both felt very good and below your budget.

One thing to consider is if you go for one of the many keyboards suggested is that most do not have included amp and speakers so there is a cost there to factor in.

The Korg Havian 30 that Kaneda suggests is a great compromise, weighted keys and the full gamut of Korg’s great sounds and at 1169 Euro from Thomann well below your budget and it includes amp and speakers

Korg Havian 30

Digital Piano 88 Keys with hammer action, Velocity sensitive, Over 950 sounds, 256 User sounds, 420 Preprogrammed styles, 128 Drum kits, 128 Voice polyphony, 4 Master effects blocks, 125 Effects types, 3-Band EQ for each channel, Split, Transposer,...

www.thomann.de

 

[Randelph]

Hmmm.... not exactly a zombie thread.

I have a Nord Stage and a Korg Pa1000. Without a doubt, with no hesitation, I strongly recommend the Korg Pa700 or 1000.

Was just thinking the other day what a flat out amazing, as in best, keyboard this is for beginners.

Start off with sounds- have never heard more realistic and expressive sounds (my Nord Stage holds its own with piano, eps and organ though). With the powerful built-in speakers its like having good quality headphones on that are obviously open air, so no need to set up amps.

And the Styles (auto-accompaniment that can provide bass lines, drums and various accompaniment as you play chords) are really good. In fact I've never used the auto-accompaniment on any arrangers I've had, they all sounded cheezy to me, but this board nails it for the most part. They've obviously got great session musicians to create these backing Styles. And a subset of the Styles are all the rhythym tracks that just pop with the excellent playing and sound quality

As a tool to learn the keyboard, it's unmatched. You have literally hundreds of different Styles covering wide ranges of music, and can learn from it: isolate the bass line and learn it, isolate the organ part and learn them, etc. Or, play a simple 3 note chord and the arranger kicks in and you can solo over it with your right hand.

And even as a drummer, I think this would be a great learning board for you. They do such a bang up job on the many many rythyms they have onboard that I would imagine there are more than a few you could learn from, or have accompany you whlie practicing the piano parts.

The biggest drawback with the Korg Pa 700 or 1000 for your purposes is it only has 61 notes. But if it was an older me talking to a younger me, I would absolutely recommend one of these Korgs to get yourself in playing. Everytime I sit down to my Pa1000 I become engrossed in playing, have never experienced this before in 30+ years of buying keyboards.

And there's no reason not to buy a weighted keyboard as well. Buy a Pa700 used, probably a thousand euros, and that still leaves you with plenty of money to buy a used weighted keyboard.

It's actually a pretty sweet time to buy keyboards- there are ones like the Pa 700 and 1000 that are breakthrus in sound and arrangement style capabilities, and then there a ton of 88 note boards out there that can be had for 300-500 euros.

In the last 5 years or so, they finally got a reasonably good action and sound quality into these beginner piano-centric boards. And as the latest generation of these inexpensive boards come to market, there's a ton of decent quality boards you can buy used that are designed mostly for piano. They typically have under 20 sounds, the onboard speakers are not very powerful, etc., but like I said, very decent keyboard action and piano sound quality. 10 years ago these products just didn't exist in the least expensive category.

Try posting over at Casio or Yamaha forums for suggestions on used 88 note boards for under 500 euros.

Randy