Novice-beginner, need help finding a VERSATILE kb as my 1st...

[4music]

I have an old (2008) Casio WK 3800 76 key that I still sometimes use for effect - superb phasing synth (think Wish You Were Here) and choir/sax/strings quite passable. It has USB/SD/Midi - here it is being used for a ChCh earthquakes tribute concert:

 

[Rayblewit]

Very nice sound.
Awesome tune. Your playing is superb.
I recognise some of those buildings.
I visited Christchurch in November 24.
Parts of the city are still not repaired and so sad to see. Beautiful people and a beautiful city.
"Wish you were here," is quite appropriate.
Thanks for the link.
R

 

[4music]

Thanks Ray - I played that tribute with first hand knowledge of the devastation having gone into the city centre with a S&R team soon after the eartquakes. Very empty and dysopian with food and drinks still on the tables and full trolleys at supermarket check-outs, squashed cars and buses - and total silence! The grief came later.......

 

[PianOwO]

The only reason anyone needs 88 keys is if they plan on playing Rachmaninoff. 76 keys are plenty.

From my use case, I think it would actually be important for experimental scoring and underscoring for video content, to have a wide range of tone to work with which would eliminate I think a lot of fiddling around and editing in my DAW. I'd much rather just be able to play whatever very low or very high octave I want at any moment while composing rather than having to stop to mess with octave settings or whatever, interrupting my creative process. But I don't know for sure, obviously I'm very new to this

 

[happyrat1]

Typical newbie. You embrace the illusion of transposing the sounds in your head to some idealized swiss army keyboard. That's why EVERY electronic keyboard made has transpose buttons. And the lowest octave and highest octave notes on an 88 board, depending on the voice, ranges from infrasonic to supersonic in frequency and that's only If the PCM samples were even created in the first place. If you play pop, or electropop, or industrial, or top 40 dance tunes those notes can't even be reproduced on most audio equipment and play distorted as hell.

Why don't you, tell us, what is your musical goal and genre and stop fantasizing about taking beginner fiddle lessons on a stradivarius?

 

[Biggles]

Why are we even continuing to try to help.

$200 will only buy and old keyboard with dubious length of working life left.

There is only one 88 key keyboard with a semi weighted action that fits the needs and eveb then it is way more cash that they have.

 

[4music]

Is the musical variety of a 'troll' a 'trill' ?

 

[happyrat1]

Just the unrealistic expectations of someone who has not yet had all their hopes and dreams crushed yet by the realities of life's cruel vicissitudes.

We used to call them anklebyters back in the bbs days

 

[BrianT]

Any particular reason the keyboard has to be your DAW? I have an old Fantom X8 that I used to use as a simple DAW but after having Reaper on my computer for the last year or so, I can't imagine going back to something on a tiny screen for anything significant.

Yeah, a $200 budget is really stretching but ya never know what might turn up used that someone wants rid of.

As far as midi, it's been pretty common in keyboards for about 40 years now.

Sound libraries are pretty abundant out there, some free, some expensive, some in between.

Would you be just as well served to find a basic used keyboard that will operate mostly as just a controller and then go software for pretty much all of your voices and DAW?

Dunno, just thinkin' outloud. I would think you might be in a much better place to upgrade over time with something more software based than old hardware. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the sounds on my old Fantom X8. But $200... that's hard.

Good luck!

 

[BleugrassBoy]

The only reason anyone needs 88 keys is if they plan on playing Rachmaninoff. 76 keys are plenty.

Haha! You’re probably right!. I’ve been playing all kinds of music including classical music for 50yrs. Rarely need those extreme highs and lows.

 

[BrianT]

The only reason anyone needs 88 keys is if they plan on playing Rachmaninoff.

... or jazz.

I know I'm not the normal player but I often reach for keys that don't exist, on both ends. I'd use 'em if they were there. But I know I'm not typical. And I rarely even look at printed music anymore.

I loved it when Oscar Peterson would venture down into that bottom octave of his big Bosendorfer. He didn't often, but when he did, there was a "growl" that was really kinda cool.

 

[PianOwO]

Sorry everyone for the delay, had a lot going on past several days, trying to catch up

 

[PianOwO]

Typical newbie. You embrace the illusion of transposing the sounds in your head to some idealized swiss army keyboard. That's why EVERY electronic keyboard made has transpose buttons. And the lowest octave and highest octave notes on an 88 board, depending on the voice, ranges from infrasonic to supersonic in frequency and that's only If the PCM samples were even created in the first place. If you play pop, or electropop, or industrial, or top 40 dance tunes those notes can't even be reproduced on most audio equipment and play distorted as hell.

Why don't you, tell us, what is your musical goal and genre and stop fantasizing about taking beginner fiddle lessons on a stradivarius?

It's more complicated than that. First, in regard to transposition, I don't know if there's some more automated method to that, but my thought process was trying to avoid having to stop playing, or having get distracted by the switching process, in order to to get that higher or lower octave, which is not ideal for this ADHD brain.

Sounds I would be using would be piano, strings, wind, a variety of synth like whatever I find/tweak on my sampling apps.

Genres would be instrumental EDM, pop, new age, folk, calming stuff for meditation tracks, background stuff for videos as I said. I've dabbled in this stuff before but never recorded and never had access to software or anything.

As I said in my original post, I did find a match for a "swiss army Stradivarius" as you would call it (an M-audio Prokeys Sono) for sale within my budget, so I was looking for advice on that and also if there are other possible options that may be better options to keep an eye out for instead.

Unfortunately I live pretty far away from any place that sells keyboards to try out and get re-familiarized with updates to keyboard technology that I've occurred within the past 20 years, and the only things I've ever played have been traditional pianos and my old 61 key Casio (toy) years ago. I realize I'm kind of flying blind here in many ways which is why I'm just trying to get as much technical information as I can that's applicable to me to make the best decision I can for either an online purchase on a used marketplace or to select a few local options I find in Craigslist and other local ads to spend gas money (on top of my $200 - 250 budget) to check out.

 

[PianOwO]

Why are we even continuing to try to help.

$200 will only buy and old keyboard with dubious length of working life left.

There is only one 88 key keyboard with a semi weighted action that fits the needs and eveb then it is way more cash that they have.

If all I get is 4-5 years of use out of it, I feel like that would be worth the investment personally. Any thoughts on the one I already found for sale that I mentioned in the ad? (M-audio prokeys sono)

 

[PianOwO]

Any particular reason the keyboard has to be your DAW? I have an old Fantom X8 that I used to use as a simple DAW but after having Reaper on my computer for the last year or so, I can't imagine going back to something on a tiny screen for anything significant.

Yeah, a $200 budget is really stretching but ya never know what might turn up used that someone wants rid of.

As far as midi, it's been pretty common in keyboards for about 40 years now.

Sound libraries are pretty abundant out there, some free, some expensive, some in between.

Would you be just as well served to find a basic used keyboard that will operate mostly as just a controller and then go software for pretty much all of your voices and DAW?

Dunno, just thinkin' outloud. I would think you might be in a much better place to upgrade over time with something more software based than old hardware. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the sounds on my old Fantom X8. But $200... that's hard.

Good luck!

Oh I wasn't saying that the keyboard needs to be the DAW, just that I want to use it with software, as a MIDI controller. I just wanted the LED screen on the unit itself for easier menu control and hopefully more customizability with the tuning like I mentioned. But I also wanted to be able to play it independently from the software, for it to have built-in sounds. I hope everyone wasn't thinking I meant I wanted one with a built-in DAW! LOL I need to look back at what I said and maybe reword that.

Anyways, what has your experience been with latency and compatibility between the old MIDI and newer software? I'm aware of mitty's been around for a long time, it's just that it seems like some people have issues with either compatibility or latency or both from what I've read online so that's been a concern of mine.

 

[PianOwO]

... or jazz.

I know I'm not the normal player but I often reach for keys that don't exist, on both ends. I'd use 'em if they were there. But I know I'm not typical. And I rarely even look at printed music anymore.

I loved it when Oscar Peterson would venture down into that bottom octave of his big Bosendorfer. He didn't often, but when he did, there was a "growl" that was really kinda cool.

Yeah and that's my concern. I wanted to be there if I need them and not have to deal with getting distracted by some manual process to get the higher or lower chords I want. I'm not experienced enough to know what it is I don't know and what I want until I actually sit down and start fiddling around like I used to long ago, only this time I'll have the added benefit of connecting it to my computer for more sounds and synths.

 

[BrianT]

It sounds like you want 88 keys. Most people do great with that number of keys. Beyond that, I can't offer much. Anything beyond 88 keys in an electronic keyboard is very rare, I don't think I've ever seen one without venturing into electronic organ territory. You probably need to choose one you like (it sounds like you already have, I'm not familiar with that one) and go for it. You may learn enough through the experience to have a better handle on what you want for your next one. It's OK not to know when you first start out. And your needs may change over time as well.

Good luck!

 

[Rayblewit]

 

[happyrat1]

 

[happyrat1]

For $250 budget my advice is get a paper route and save up a few hundred bucks before you buy.

This ain't 1965...