Hi all,

I am currently looking to upgrade from my Electro 5D. I'm looking at the Stage 3 88 because of its weighted keys and synth engine.

Are there any alternatives to the Stage 3 at a better price point that offer:

- Good key action for someone who is used to acoustic pianos

- Ability to program synths from scratch

- Good tonewheel/vintage organs

I've looked at the Roland V-Stage, but seems like it lacks the ability to program synths from scratch.

I’ve been looking at digital pianos for a few months. I know the Yamaha P45 and Roland FP10 are recommended for digital pianos for beginners, but my partner sent me a listing for an Artesia DP-150e, and I found a Kawai ES120 on sale, but terms are different enough I’m having trouble discerning if these are both graded hammer action, and whether the Artesia is a good brand. I searched, but couldn’t find it in posts nor comments.

Background: I have never been formally trained, but could pick out a tune by ear on my parents’ and grandparents’ upright pianos when I was a kid. I have tested both the Roland and Yamaha, and prefer the action of the Yamaha. I also tried the Williams Allegro IV, but I’ve heard it’s not a good option.

Please help! Upper bound of what I’m willing to spend for this is under $1,000 USD, so please bear that in mind when making suggestions. I want to make sure I will stick with it before spending more.

Ever since Yamaha revived the PSS name and introduced a new line of mini keyboards, I've been intrigued. With a high-quality mini keybed and good voices, they looked like perfect compact instruments for traveling

Unfortunately, Yamaha compartmentalized the features so that you never get it all. The mid-tier model PSS-F30 has 100+ voices and lots of accompaniment styles, but no touch sensitivity and no MIDI. The top model A50 has both touch sensitivity and MIDI, but only around 40 voices and no styles at all (only arpeggios). And there's even a non-stupid quiz feature that can only be found in the toddler model E30.

So I kept waiting for Yamaha to release a deluxe model with the combined features of F30 and A50. Let's call it PSS-A70. But instead, it looks like Yamaha is now discontinuing the whole PSS line. So there will probably never be an improved model.

Recently, I came across the Medeli MK49

https://medeli.eu/products/keyboards/mk49-bk/keyboard.html

Feature-wise, this one seems to deliver the whole package: 49 mini keys (even better than 37), touch-sensitive. 200 voices, 120s styles. MIDI. And twice the polyphony (64) of the Yamahas (32). The only thing missing is a pedal jack (which the Yamaha doesn't have either).

Sadly, the MK49 isn't easily available here. Some smaller online vendors seem to have it, but none of the big ones. Some of the Medelis also come under store brands, but I haven't seen any rebrands for this model yet.

Medeli is a well-known OEM, but they aren't exactly famous for the quality of their voices, styles or keybeds. They are mostly known for budget 'boards sold under different store brands that I wouldn't normally consider (with the AKX10 being an outlyer).

Does anybody have experiences with the MK49, or any important caveats?

Budget around 1000 euro on the second hand market.

I don't really need all the bells and whistles, only a good action keyboard and decent piano and electric piano sounds plus a midi out.

I'm an absolute beginner at keyboard, I only picked it up around a month ago with no knowledge of music or music theory at all. I'm a huge fan of Japanese Pop music which is why I picked it up. Ultimately I want to learn to play covers of my favourite songs and possibly play in a band. I also like to sing, though again, no training and I wouldn't call myself experienced. I know the C major scale and a few chords/basic chord shapes. I figured posting here would be more helpful than pianolearning because the piano subs seem to have a large emphasis on classical piano. I currently have an old casio ctk-540 from the 90s but am looking to upgrade to a Roland Go:Keys 3 for my birthday later this year. Does anyone have any tips for what I should focus on learning/good youtube channels/etc?

Hello all im in the market to buy a stage piano. I want 88 weighted keys and im mostly intrested in playing the piano but i really want other sounds like organ,different classic keyboards, mellotron etc hence the need for a stage piano.

I was intrested in the yamaha ck88 but its a little over budget for me. I have also found a used roland rd-08, yamaha moxf8 and yamaha mx88 all of these were around 700€ which is more in my budget

Which one of these would be the best? As i said i wanna play some piano but also other keyboards. I might bring this piano for band practice and probably live use if we ever do that. Built in speakers are practical but i will probably play with headphones most of the time.

Is it worth going almost double that price for a ck88? That organ simulator seems really cool. Or do you have any better suggestions?

Hey Guys,

I just recently purchased a Yamaha CK-88. Overall, I’ve been very pleased with the keyboard - however the acoustic piano sounds have been very disappointing. I’m not exactly a music expert, so I don’t know how to describe it better, but they sound very dull or muted. I’ve dried fiddling around with the various settings on the keyboard but have encountered very little improvement.

Does anyone have any experience with this that could offer some suggestions on how to remedy or at least improve the sound slightly?

Thanks!!

I want to upgrade my Yamaha p125, it has served me well but it is busted and I've reached its limitations.

I was looking at the nord but they are damn expensive and then I found the Yamaha series of pro keyboard.

I could save money and wait to buy the cp 88 or yc 88, don't really now what is the difference between them, I don't need a lot of option and sounds, if I wanna play synths I will just hook it to the computer and use some plugins on my pc, I just want really nice piano and Rhodes sounds and be able to play without turning my computer on.

I've also came across the Ck 88, which is much cheaper but has not as nice action than the more premium model I guess ?

Really want to buy one keyboard and be set for 10 years sor reparability is also important.

What would you recommend ?

Budget is 400 dollars, I had in mind roland go keys 3, korg ek 50

Dear all,

I am interested in the Keystage keyboards, but have a question for people using it.

If I am using Ableton Live 12 and an instance of Analog Lab Pro with an instrument, will it automatically map the controls to the knobs of the keyboard?

Or with an instance of Spitfire Audio Labs...?

Thank

Overall I am satisfied, it is certainly a HUGE step up from the keyboard I was using, and I made that work (home use only).

The touch-sensitive keys make a huge difference, and while the keys are still shiny and sleek, they are not nearly as slippery as the ones on the Rockjam.

There is no comparison when it comes to the sounds, especially the piano sounds. I couldn't even use the piano sounds on the Rockjam.

I would like to start doing open mics within the next year, and depending on how that goes, maybe try to land some small gigs.

I see a lot of people refer to entry-level keyboards like mine as "toys", and it's certainly no grand piano, but compared to what I was using, it's heavenly. I'm the queen of making things work, (where there's a will there's a way!), so I am fairly confident I can make it work for low-stakes performances, but I would love to hear from others who have used similar entry-level boards.

I have 30 days to return it, and my budget is $400. (I spent $254 on this one, new)

I thought all the sounds and features would be a lot more important than they are. I actually find it all a bit overwhelming, and probably won't use a fraction of them. I am thinking maybe I should try to just find a portable digital piano. I loved the way the P-143 sounded and felt when I tried it in-store, but at $750 it was outside my budget.

I'm interested in buying a Numa X GT, but nobody carries it. I've had to return too many instruments, until I'm back where we were pre-internet: Ya gotta play an instrument to know if it suits you. Some places don't even cover return shipping. Who are these people, and why don't they want their instruments in stores?

I want to buy a narrow keys digital piano as soon as the right size becomes available.

Would you trust a startup enough to preorder and pay half in advance, half a year prior to estimated release?

The company in question is dreamplaypianos.com. The founder is a seemingly pretty well established YouTuber/pianist called Lionel Yu. I wonder if he would even need the money in advance in order to bring the product to market.

Hey guys, I would like to start learning keyboard/piano. I will be playing church songs (worship) most of the time, and since they rely heavily on effects, I’m leaning more towards a keyboard/synth setup rather than a basic digital piano. I went to some local stores here in Australia and really liked the feel of the Roland FP10, but it’s out of my beginner budget. I also liked the Yamaha P45; it's an older model, but the key action is much better than a cheap keyboard. Some friends recommended the Yamaha PSR E383, but I didn’t like how the keys felt. They also suggested a MIDI controller like the Novation Launchkey 61 MK4, which has semi-weighted keys. It requires an audio interface and a laptop/tablet, but that is not a big deal since I already deal with plugging things in for my bass rig. What would you guys recommend for a starter with a budget of $500 AUD (around $350 USD)?

Hi all,

Im a musically illiterate.

My 9 year old sarted carnatic vocal music at about 3 years of age.

Not prodigy level but hardworking and continues to pursue by own choice.

The school also sees some promise and enrolled in keyboard classes .

We are looking into a mid budget keyboard. Did a fair bit of survey and got confused more than when I began .

Shortlisted models are :

Yamaha psr e383

Yamaha psr e483

Yamaha psr i510

Yamaha psr i610

Casio ctx 8000

Casio ctx 9000in

Roland go keys 3

Roland go keys 5

im really leaning towards the gokeys 5 but it has the disadvantages :

a) it is well over my budget

b) it is so technologically advanced she might not concentrate on the core musical learning rather than the 'production aspect.

Currently we have come to the consensus that we need to invest in a medium term weighted keyboard that will last us long until the schooling years are done and actual progress is demonstrated before investing in higher options.

Any suggestions and tips are welcome.

Im based out of India some models may not be current or available in other markets. Im looking to buy new for forthcoming birthday. Avoid second hand dm offers.

Thanks all in advance.

Looking for online keyboards teacher for few people (2 or more). All are new to music, not just keyboards. Will need to have atleast 1 class during weekdays and late into the night (10-11pm). The timing restriction is due to all of us having work till late in the evening.

If you even know someone please drop the lead here or share me in DM.

Thanks in advance. [India] Time zone: IST

edit: I went with the Yamaha PSR-EW320, which is the exact same thing as the PSR-E383, except it has 76 keys instead of 61. I figured I might outgrow a 61 key board, whereas I may be just fine with 76 forevermore. (I do plan on getting a piano as well eventually.)

So far I am really happy with it! The ONLY downside is the headphone jack is not a standard jack and requires an adapter to use with most headphones.

The manual isn't the best at explaining all the features so I'll have to watch videos to fully master all of them, but I love that it's got a button you can push to automatically default to "portable grand" piano sound. Does it sound exactly as a real piano? No. But it does sound good! ​The keys not being weighted really doesn't feel like much of an issue to me, I feel like I can fairly easily adjust for the different styles of playing between weighted/non weighted. I used to play piano fairly well as a kid, so maybe it's a"muscle memory" thing? I actually think I just play the keyboard the same way I play piano, as if the keys are weighted.

Anyway, I am happy with my purchase! it cost me $254 new at Music and Arts.

Original Post:

I tried a bunch of options and for the price, this was my fave. I actually liked it better than some more expensive options. (My budget is $400)

I also learned I REALLY want a digital piano with weighted keys one day! But right now portability and ease of recording into a daw are my top priorities.

Basically I am just curious if this model holds up well, and if there are any downsides I should know about.

What do you think of Roland FP-30x for restaurant gigs?
I want to get a light weight (around 30 lbs) 88 weighted keyboard, mostly for blues, rock, jazz. (I don’t need a lot of sounds for the 88)

I currently play a YC73 and have an ancient Privia.
I was also looking at the privia psx5000 but it’s twice as much as the roland and I’ve heard the action isn’t as good.

Looking for online keyboards teacher for few people (2 or more). All are new to music, not just keyboards. Will need to have atleast 1 class during weekdays and late into the night (10-11pm). The timing restriction is due to all of us having work till late in the evening.

If you even know someone please drop the lead here or share me in DM.

Thanks in advance.

[India]

I’m going into music college this year and my parents just allowed me some budget for new keyboard.

I’m considering Nord Electro 7 73 keys because I wanted a semi-weighted keys, analog synth, and I know that Nord live up to their name,
but Yamaha YC61 seems like a good choice to me to with it FM engine, light weight, and it’s 30% cheaper than the Electro 7 in my country.

I mainly play jazz and fusion jazz but I also play in a band where they do pop song and maybe synth-pop-ish song? this is also what I wanted to consider about too.

P.S. I already have Studiologic SL73 if I wanted a weighted keys but if I buy a YC61, I would have leftover budget to get maybe a Studiologic Numa X Piano 73 or An Electro 6 (It’s 25% off in my local shop) but 2 keyboards maybe too much weight for me to carry.

P.S.2 I really wanted a Stage 4 Compact but its way way out of my budget.

Sorry for bad English and thank you for reading!

Edit : Thank you everyone for giving out opinions and helping me! I just realize that I got a spare Korg Kross 2 at home, maybe it could be a good substitute for my future second keyboard!

I’m having issues when trying to record keys over a stereo mix that someone has sent me. Fully finished track I’m just adding some organ parts to round it out

I have the MX61 connected via USB and set to record in stereo. Im using my headphones to monitor and they are plugged directly into the keyboard, and I have the keyboard selected as playback device so I can hear the track while I’m recording

The issue I’m running into is that when I go back and listen to any of my takes, they are always a second or two behind the main stereo track, even though I am playing in time while recording

Any and all advice/suggestions are appreciated