So buying a keyboard in Spain is painful....

[YesPlease]

Hello!

I'm a student at the new Berklee campus in Valencia, Spain. It's great. Loving it here, but the keyboard / gear scene is insanely limited and expensive. No more sweetwater, barely anything on ebay or craigslist and everything is super expensive.

I only have a few shows, I don't have an amp, and I need something to at least phonate in my dorm room.

I'm pretty sure I want the Yamaha NP-30. There's a guy selling one basically brand new for 200 euros, roughly $260. Trust me, this is a good deal here. Look at ebay.es to see how expensive this ish is...

My question for you is, is it worth buying a keyboard that lacks USB midi functionality? Are the cables that do the conversion reliable? I use MainStage and can't stand to have any dropped notes or midi errors.

What is your experience with these sorts of cables? And if I should avoid them all together I can go for something a little higher up the ladder that has USB functionality.

Thanks so much!

-Devon

 

[Susan]

Hi Devon,

I own a Yamaha NP-30. I bought it mainly to have a very lightweight keyboard with decent piano sounds, that wouldn't be such a chore to bring to rehearsals or gigs. (I heard that it's been discontinued and replaced with a newer model, the NP31):
http://www.squidoo.com/yamaha-np31-digital-piano

Regarding whether or not you should buy a keyboard without USB functionality, my advice would be that if you feel USB functionality is very important to you, I say go for it and find somethings that DOES have it. (I don't know much about the conversion cables, but I learned over the years and with large purchases, if I'm looking for a particular feature, it's better to buy something that you wouldn't later regret.)

However, the NP-30 (orNP-31) is a great, verstaile instrument to have anyway, and well worth the buy...even if you do find something with USB. (It's compact, light and affordable.)

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Best,
Susan