Keyboard advice please!

[benashhug]

Can anyone recommend a keyboard for around the £250 mark?

 

I'm really not sure how much buys what, but ideally I would like a full set of keys (88 I think?), weighted keys to imitate a 'proper' piano, some effects would be nice, an arpeggiator if possible - Is it realistic to expect all this at this kind of price level?

 

Thanks for your help in advance!

[torelle]

Weighted keyboards are usually more expensive, but you should be able to get a keyboard that has some decent sounds and effects for about that much. I have a microKorg that arpeggiates and has all the sounds I need, and it's about that much. Nord also makes good synths.

[haze015]

Can anyone recommend a keyboard for around the £250 mark?

 

I'm really not sure how much buys what, but ideally I would like a full set of keys (88 I think?), weighted keys to imitate a 'proper' piano, some effects would be nice, an arpeggiator if possible - Is it realistic to expect all this at this kind of price level?

 

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

Unless you can find one second hand... basically, no.

[the_man361]

generally you'd either be looking at a synthesiser or a digital piano...which one are you looking for?

 

theres some expensive ones like the triton, kurzweil stuff or something that will do both, but they cost over a grand.

 

generally with synthesisers in the low price bracket you will not get weighted keys, let alone 88 keys. you'll usually get 3 octaves or so. youll get an arpeggiator with most synths, but they wont do a piano sound unless they have a sampler (most dont), (though you could put together a pretty believable electric piano sound if you're good).

 

with digital pianos you usually get larger number of keys, 61 or 88 isnt uncommon.. but you'll not get a synthesiser functionality, and no arpeggiator the majority of the time. they'll have set sounds like 'piano', 'e piano', 'organ', 'strings', 'bass', 'guitar' etc with little to no editing functionality.

 

so to reiterate haze's reply: basically, no.

[Stephen from KINGSLEY]

The guys are right. Ideally, I guess the Nord Stage piano has all the stuff you're looking for, but it's not the strongest as far as it's synth and piano sounds - it's forte would be the rhodes/organ/etc sounds. But, it's over $2,000 USD I think...

 

My current keyboard setup is a Yamaha P90 that I use cause it's a pretty good piano sound, so-so strings, weighted keys, and not too heavy. It doubles as a controller for my Virus TI, which covers my synths. On top of that, I have a Nord electro 2 for my rhodes/organ/etc type sounds. It's all fairly portable, so it's good for general gigin' around.

 

So for now, what I would suggest would be to get a Yamaha keyboard with decent piano and strings sounds, and later on when you get more cash, you can add to it by getting something like the Virus TI desktop... or a nord rack.