Shopping for a new keyboard - any suggestions?

[sgs4u]

I'm looking for a new controller keyboard too, but with at least 8 side by side slders that I can use as drawbar sliders for organ patches. I saw something in a "Recording" magazine(the one you get with a (Taxi membership), but I gave away the mag, so I'm still searching. I currently use a Roland KV-88. It has terrific action, not enough sliders, VERY heavy(110lbs) and it was $3500. (long since paid off) So I'd like something lighter, that has lots of midi data sliders and can create 5 or 6 different zones on one keyboard layout, and assignable volume and sustain pedals independantly to zones. Oh yeah, it has to have a very fast and well-marked transpose button on it. I can't be bothered to learn to play every lick I know, in Ab and Db, anymore. That was when I wanted to be the best piano player in the world (18 & bulletproof). And... if it could record my playing live and it could instantly play it back for the second chorus, that would make my gigging that much more relaxing. (cause it could free up both hands for drinking beer, I don't like to spill beer on my gear) It also might prevent me from overplaying out of boredom. And if this controller could also run 3 or 4 different VI's from a laptop, well that would really make my life easier... All for less than $1000. yeah baby... now, about the latency issue... wishful thinking I know, thx Santa

[jewelwing]

My favorite keyboard is still my old Roland XP-30 - it has a good mix of sounds and fits easily in the trunk of the car for gigs. On days with low humidity, it almost plays and sounds like it has weighted keys. (On days with high humidity, anything that doesn't have weighted keys is hard to play, because your fingers stick to the keys and you get extra notes. And naturally, I usually have gigs outside on days with high humidity!) When I record at home, I play on a Korg digital piano (SR-200, I think), and run the midi through the XP-30 for any keyboard sound I need. The Roland Juno-D was supposed to be the new version of the XP, so I tried one, because it's so much lighter to haul to gigs. But it doesn't have the sounds I need, so I have to also use an extra module with sounds. And the Juno-D creates some problems with recording. So if I was looking now, I might look for a used Roland XP.

[anne]

I would like to get all of the features mentioned for under 250 - any ideas Now, I actually went shopping this weekend and tried out many keyboards and looked at many features. I was going to go with the Oxygen 61 for several reason - I am happy with my m-audio Keystation 49, its easy to use, and the oxygen has the added controlls, and its inexpensive to boot. However, I did look at the CME 6 and CME 8. No room for the CME 8, (but oh what nice sized keys and action!!) and the CME 6 had a different keyboard and I didn't like the feel. My favorite keyboard was actually the Yamaha P70 - Love it! - but that isn't what I need and was more than I had to spend.So after checking out all of the keyboard selection (of which there were a lot) I settled on an Edirol 600. Yes, I know I said I wanted more of a piano feel but the action on this is a nice solid feel- not spongy, not weighted, but a great feel that I liked - and it has controls that will benefit me well as well as the fact that it recalls the settings. And, better yet, the dealer gave me a killer price and I can return it within the month if I don' t like it after having it for a while. So, I thank all of you for your help in my search for keyboards. All of your info was extremely helpful and bought up items for me to keep in mind when looking that I didn't even KNOW to look for before posting