Good entry level keyboard?

[fiveightandten]

I've been a classical pianist for years, and i'm only now branching out into the seemingly frightening world of synths and electronics. I would appreciate any guidance you can give me concerning a good entry level keyboard.

 

I've spent 10+ years playing only acoustic pianos. Also, i'm a student and therefore funds are rather limited. So it has to be affordable (cheap) but also of a decent quality. I'd say $300 tops, if it can be done.

 

Thanks in advace for any replies.

[nolights]

Yikes....

 

I'm guessing you're looking for weighted keys?

 

I doubt you'll find anything you like anywhere near that price. There is a Casio with "hammer-action keys" - the Previa, I think, that sells for about $450. It's sold at more consumer-level stores and Sam's Club. It's not much, but it's kind of in your price range. You might be able to find a used Yamaha P-80 for $650 or so - nice, solid action, passably good sound (needs an amplifier). You might find an older Ensoniq keyboard with weighted keys (they made a few models with adequate action, and (for the time) not bad piano samples. There may be some older used keyboards out there that I can't think of right now - but maybe someone else can.

 

Your options are a little better with "synth-weighted" keys - like a used Roland XP-10, or Yamaha S-03.

 

Good luck!

[lakelanddude]

I agree with Casio portable digital pianos. You can get an open box item for around 350 on line. This maybe the best thing closer to real piano feel. Sounds are not that bad but not very high quality though. Suzuki digital pianos are less expensive too. The other digital pianos maybe out of your budget range.

Try used better digital pianos too.(like yamaha , Roland, Kawai,etc.) Check local and nearby area newspaper. I found an auction for only 3 yrs old great condition Yamaha Clavinova CVP digital piano on ebay for 500 simply because owner will only do local pickup deal.

But be careful buying older digital pianos since it is digital... you will have either 1.. working or 0.. not working at all.

If your plan is to play piano, forget synth keyboard actions keys since you will be just disappointed.

[Darkstorm]

Unlessyour extremely luckyo wont find a good piano action ynth used for that. Butvarious synth action keyboards of good qaulitymight e found used for that if lucky. Alesis QS.1 Korg x5d, EMU vk6 or pk6 perhaps. Dont pass on a keyboard cause of synthaction keys. Synths are about so much then just pianoish voices. Synth action is like qaulity electric guitar action compared to stiff high action on a mediocre acoustic guitar. Lol.

[fiveightandten]

Thanks for the replies guys...I guess I should've mentioned that I was planning on buying used...in hopes of getting something a bit higher quality within my budget.

 

I have a question though...

 

Is there a certain type of technology that's said to sounds better than another being used, that I should look out for?

 

For example...it's widely agreed that tubes sound better than transistor amps for distorted guitar. And they're usually built better along with it...

 

I appreciate the guidance, as there seems to be a pretty steep learning curve with this stuff, and i'm more or less clueless right now.

[nolights]

Actually, there isn't really anything in synthesizers that's analagous to the tube/solid state discussion.

 

To simplify things, synthesizers produce sound in one of two ways: either by creating waveforms with oscillators, and modifying those waves with filters (think Moog synthesizers and others from the start of this technology). There are synthesizers today that still do that, either in the analog ways of the past, or using digital technology to emulate the function of the oscillators and filters (so-called "virtual analog" synthesizers. These are adept at creating any synthesized sound imaginable - but are not as good at emulating "real" instruments.

 

The other method started about 20 years ago - and uses samples - actual recorded snippets of instruments. These synthesizers (the waves are stored in ROM, so some call them "ROMplers"), started out with some serious limitations. But today, with the advent of larger and cheaper storage, the samples and the rest of the technology can be much more sophisticated. What determines the sound quality are such factors as - how good is the instrument being sampled, how talented were the engineers that made the recordings, how skilled were the people that mapped the sounds across the keyboard, how good is the internal audio playback in the synthesizer - and how good is the sound system the keyboard plays through. And that doesn't even consider how skilled the keyboardist is at playing the instrument realistically (you can't just play block chords with a guitar sound and have it sound realistic -- you need to replicate the strumming -- and many synthesizers today offer arpeggiators that can do a passable job at it). In general, the bigger the sample size, the better it sounds (but not always). Some samples can be as small as a few hundred kb -- others can approach a gigabyte. The best test is to listen to synthesizers comparatively, and pick the one that best meets your needs within your budget.

[fiveightandten]

Originally posted by nolights Actually, there isn't really anything in synthesizers that's analagous to the tube/solid state discussion. To simplify things, synthesizers produce sound in one of two ways: either by creating waveforms with oscillators, and modifying those waves with filters (think Moog synthesizers and others from the start of this technology). There are synthesizers today that still do that, either in the analog ways of the past, or using digital technology to emulate the function of the oscillators and filters (so-called "virtual analog" synthesizers. These are adept at creating any synthesized sound imaginable - but are not as good at emulating "real" instruments. The other method started about 20 years ago - and uses samples - actual recorded snippets of instruments. These synthesizers (the waves are stored in ROM, so some call them "ROMplers"), started out with some serious limitations. But today, with the advent of larger and cheaper storage, the samples and the rest of the technology can be much more sophisticated. What determines the sound quality are such factors as - how good is the instrument being sampled, how talented were the engineers that made the recordings, how skilled were the people that mapped the sounds across the keyboard, how good is the internal audio playback in the synthesizer - and how good is the sound system the keyboard plays through. And that doesn't even consider how skilled the keyboardist is at playing the instrument realistically (you can't just play block chords with a guitar sound and have it sound realistic -- you need to replicate the strumming -- and many synthesizers today offer arpeggiators that can do a passable job at it). In general, the bigger the sample size, the better it sounds (but not always). Some samples can be as small as a few hundred kb -- others can approach a gigabyte. The best test is to listen to synthesizers comparatively, and pick the one that best meets your needs within your budget.

 

Ha! Very informative. Thanks for taking the time to explain things.

 

So basically, units that use ROM for sounds have preset tones that can't really be altered much. And synths start with the basic building block of sound (a wave form), and allow you to use analog filters to alter that sound how you see fit...some units using digital means to acheive similar results.

 

I'm assuming it would be pretty difficult to cop a piano tone with an analog synth, huh? Seems like a ROM based unit may be better right now.

 

I've been used to guitar amp technology for so long, where things aren't always as they appear. Most real nice guitar amps sound like doo-doo at low volumes in the store, where as the cheap ones sound ok in the store, but degrade at high volumes. It's tough to pick an amp without band setting experience with it, and you can't really use it before you buy it. We've got to stick together over there in the amp forum so we don't all go broke.

 

Anyways...So other than determining what type of keyboard I need, is it really just up to my ears and my piggy bank?

 

It seemed like there would be a whole lot more to it.

 

Thanks a bunch again...