keyboards for gigging in London - light(ish) weight?

[danielelliot]

I've posted here a couple of times before and got some great recommendations, leading me to track down and try out a yamaha p95 and a Korg sp250. I really enjoyed playing the Korg, but I'm just a bit wary of it's weight at 19kg. I'm moving to London in a few months and will likely be carting the thing about on tubes and buses from time to time, so it's quite important that it's a manageable weight. I'm average strength, but I haven't actually tried lifting the Korg so I'm not sure what it's like. Does anyone have any experience? Is it a total pain to move about? The Yamaha p95 is significantly lighter, but I wasn't so sure about it's action in comparison to the Korg when I tried it out.

 

Any opinions as to whether it's viable, or recommendations of other keyboards?

I'm looking to spend about

[Nismology]

Does it have to have 88 weighted keys?

 

You could get an 88 controller like this: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProKeysSono88.html which is nice and light (but only has 'semi weighted' keys - is that a deal breaker?), and then have a piano soft synth loaded into your laptop and control it via MIDI or USB. (I've heard Pianoteq mentioned around here before as being good piano software). Not only would that be much more portable than a full stage piano like the P95, you would also potentially end up with a nicer piano sound. You could also add further soft synths at a later stage should you need them.

 

You probably don't want to cart a beast like the SP-250 around on the tube; I had enough trouble dragging my M50 + stand + case from one end of my uni campus to the other by myself!

[AnotherScott]

Even lighter than the Yamaha P95 would be the Casio CDP-100, CDP-120. I assume you want something with speakers built in?

[pogo97]

 

... 19kg. I'm moving to London in a few months and will likely be carting the thing about on tubes and buses from time to time, so it's quite important that it's a manageable weight. ...

 

 

Time to time it will okay (soft case assumed) to haul around the tube. If you're thinking weekly or more, then your love affair may not last.

[danielelliot]

Mm, it could well end up being weekly, which is my worry!

 

A full sized keyboard would be preferable, but I would be willing to go down. Also while I'm used to the piano I could maybe go for semi-weighted, I don't know. The keys don't need to be heavy, but I do think the feel of the thing is important.

 

As for the controller side - that's brought me round full circle, haha! Originally I was actually looking at getting a midi controller and hooking it up to my laptop, but was somewhat put off by suggestions that a laptop would be a very risky thing to use during a gig due to the strong possibility of it simply cutting out. Although that Sono 88 says it has onboard sounds, which is pretty promising - does that mean it simply requires plugging into some speakers and it's good to go?

 

The speakers don't necessarily have to be built-in, I just assumed that if it didn't come with speakers it also wouldn't be able to provide a sound of its own. If I'm wrong then throw that requirement out of the window, I have a few speakers I could plug it into that would be fine.

 

Thankyou all for your help so far, it's really great

[AnotherScott]

Without speakers, another possibility would be the Casio Privia PX3. That and the two Casio CDP models are all under 24 lbs, I think.

[danielelliot]

 

Without speakers, another possibility would be the Casio Privia PX3. That and the two Casio CDP models are all under 24 lbs, I think.

]

 

The PX3 looks nice, but is it better in terms of sound and action than a Yamaha P95, do you know? The P95 is a bit cheaper and only about 2 kg heavier.

[AnotherScott]

 

The PX3 looks nice, but is it better in terms of sound and action than a Yamaha P95, do you know? The P95 is a bit cheaper and only about 2 kg heavier.

 

It is subjective. I happen to prefer the feel and piano sound of the P95 over the PX3, but there are definitely people who prefer the PX3, so you'd need to try to for yourself. Other than that, the PX3 has many more sounds and is a much more flexible board all around, the P95 has speakers, but it sounds like none of that matters to you. I would just add that even 2 kg can sometimes make a real difference.

 

If you can't find a PX3 locally to try out, the PX-130 and PX-330 have the same piano sound, and almost the same action (the PX3 action is a bit nicer because of the matte feel on the keys). For your purposes, the biggest advantage of the PX3 over those others will probably be the lower weight.

[Nismology]

I personally would take a PX3 (Or the PX-330, which is the one with speakers) over the P95 in a heartbeat. It sounds much better to my ears, and you seem to get much more in the way of features and sounds. It's also very lightweight for an 88 key board, and in my experience, Casio gear generally has exceptional build quality.

 

I was recently helping a friend choose a stage piano for her house, and played most within this sort of price range. We both thought the PX-330 and the Kawai ES6 were head and shoulders above the rest. I don't think the ES6 would suit your needs -it's much heavier.

 

I've not heard the built in sounds of the Sono-88, but I'd imagine they're not up to much.