New to buying keyboards

[Johnny]

Hi there,

I've had this old manky piano for ages and i want a new keyboard which i could easilly transport (i could lift for short distances/ put on boot of car) so i can move it to my friends house. What I am looking for:

• Weighted keys.
• Easy to transport.
• I dont know how many keys but my piano has around 85 keys so something near that.
• The price. I think I have a quite big budget around £2,000 but if there is anything below that that would be good. Also maybe just a bit over.
• Something i could use as a normal piano and it makes cool noises.
• A range of sounds.
• Something that will last a long time.

I can't think of anything else so if you have any questions just ask.


Thanks.

 

[PianoMan]

That's a decent budget... lots of options.
1) What type of music, classical, jazz, prog, metal, rock, R&B, country, etc.?
2) What other sounds are important to you (if any).
3) What type of amplification will you be requiring... live use or just at home?

For just piano sounds and action: Yamaha CP33, Roland FP4, Roland RD-300gx are at the higher end of budget while still remaining 33 lb (Roland FP7, RD-700gx are the higher more-expensive models but they are 50+ lb). Other options exist depending on what you want.

The CP33 has less other sounds (non-piano) than the rolands I think... better action perhaps though? Anyway, answer the questions I asked for better advice (particularly from kanthos... he seems to know his stuff).

 

[kanthos]

PianoMan is suggesting a number of stage pianos, which won't give you much variety of sound. You'll have better luck with a workstation-class keyboard. With your budget, you'd probably want the higher-end workstations, which would be the Korg M3, Yamaha Motif XS, or Roland Fantom G. In each case, the 88-key versions (same as a normal piano) have weighted keys and the smaller versions (61 and 73) have synth-action keys which are much lighter.

Personally, I'd probably get the Motif XS, but don't let anyone tell you what to buy. Try them all and pick the one that seems best to you. The types of sounds you want to make should influence your decision (for example, Korg tends to have better synthesized sounds and Yamaha tends to have better acoustic sounds, but of course both keyboards have acoustic and synth sounds).

 

[Johnny]

Thanks for all your advice, I think I will go to a big music shop and test these suggestions out. Thanks very much for the help.

Johnny

 

[jpscoey]

Hi there,

I've had this old manky piano for ages and i want a new keyboard which i could easilly transport (i could lift for short distances/ put on boot of car) so i can move it to my friends house. What I am looking for:

• Weighted keys.
• Easy to transport.
• I dont know how many keys but my piano has around 85 keys so something near that.
• The price. I think I have a quite big budget around £2,000 but if there is anything below that that would be good. Also maybe just a bit over.
• Something i could use as a normal piano and it makes cool noises.
• A range of sounds.
• Something that will last a long time.

I can't think of anything else so if you have any questions just ask.


Thanks.

Whilst I agree with Kanthos as the Yamaha XS being the keyboard of choice (I have an XS7 ie:76-note unweighted keys),
the XS8 (88-note, weighted keys) is around £3,200.00 in the UK.

I also have a Korg M50-88 - weighted keys, lightweight (comparatively speaking) & a superb range of sounds, piano & otherwise.

Forget what you hear when some people talk about Korg piano sounds not being as good as Yamaha or Roland -

I have put these instruments side-by-side to compare...
and whilst I don't understand Korg's 'factory settings' for pianos,
it's unbelievably easy to adjust them to match the Yamaha/Roland sounds.

Add to that the portability, range of other astounding sounds, and PRICE (save approx £1,700.00 compared to Yamaha XS8!!!)...
I just don't see any other serious contenders.

Remember - if you only want piano sounds, then just use those.

But I guarantee you will get everything else you could want from a keyboard in an M50.

PS - unless you enjoy being completely confused with making simple things as difficult to comprehend as is possible,
forget about Roland (or Kurzweil)!!!


.

 

[PianoMan]

Sorry I didn't see the criteria of range of sounds... missed that, I thought they only wanted piano sound and weighted keys and a lightweight keyboard.

Also keep in mind the weight of the workstations is intense... like 70 pounds for 88 weighted keys (for some of them anyway) but yeah... I use a motif rack (not xs, just normal, so xs would be better) and I like it a lot.

 

[jpscoey]

Also keep in mind the weight of the workstations is intense... like 70 pounds for 88 weighted keys...

You would have been right PianoMan - until now...

But the 88-note Korg M50 weighs only 45lbs!!!

Astonishingly light for a keyboard of the quality of 'touch' it offers.


.

 

[kanthos]

Whilst I agree with Kanthos as the Yamaha XS being the keyboard of choice (I have an XS7 ie:76-note unweighted keys),
the XS8 (88-note, weighted keys) is around £3,200.00 in the UK.

Seriously? I looked up the Motif XS8 on one of the three big American online retailers I know of and did a currency conversion, and I'm showing it at only £2,600 (at least, based on today's rates). More than the original poster's asking price range, yes, but it's always been my philosophy to at least mention the best option especially if it's not wildly out of someone's price range. Besides, depending on whether he/she could compromise on weighted keys or not, the XS6 or XS7 might be within their price range too. Another possibility, then, would be a used Motif ES8.

As I mentioned, I listed the flagships for each of the Big 3; if you need to scale down a bit because you can't compromise on 88 keys, the Korg M50 and Yamaha MO8 are the ones to look at.

 

[jpscoey]

Seriously? I looked up the Motif XS8 on one of the three big American online retailers I know of and did a currency conversion, and I'm showing it at only £2,600 (at least, based on today's rates).

Yep... close on £3,200.00 is the going price.
Internet deals are on offer, of course, but the usual story with them is that
they are 'currently unavailable', so if you actually want to buy one,
£3000+ is pretty much the price you'd have to pay.


.

 

[kanthos]

Must be some kind of regional thing, then; the Canadian prices in-store are pretty much right on if I take the American prices listed online (which, as I've heard, don't seem to be different than in-store prices, at least for the three sites I was looking at) and convert to Canadian dollars.

Sorry to recommend something then that was so much over your budget!

 

[jpscoey]

Must be some kind of regional thing

This could open up a whole new debate.

One of my closest friends owns a shop.

His businessis completely unrelated to the 'music trade' but he assures me that the recognised
profit margin for a retailer is around 25% (it used to be 33%)

I would assume that the manufacturing cost of any 'goods' is the same - wherever it's final destination is?

I would also assume that the biggest markets are the US, Europe, & Asia?

So why the wide discrepancy in price???

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