Full piano action keyboard

[mojobone]

Yamaha's S80, S90 series are terrific stage pianos with great sound and feel, (and were state of the art, just a few years ago) with tons of useful sounds, but I don't know what they're going for, used.

[nolosolo]

Just found a Yamaha S90 in Craigslist but they want $1600. I can get a new Roland RD300 NX for $1300.

Any one know how the Williams Allegro 2 rates? At $300 at MF, I don't expect the sounds to be that great but write-up says its 88 key with a hammer action?

[jonnybutter]

The action is crappy on the Williams. You can get them even cheaper than that - bc they are not good. Some of the sub-$700 Yamaha non-roadworthy electronic pianos (for example: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/P45BK) sound and feel pretty darned good - especially feel - for a while; they are not made to last but when they work they feel great, and sounds are usable on stage. The Williams never sounds or feels good, AND is not roadworthy. Not worth it IMHO even at a low price.

[nolosolo]

I bit the bullet and found a used Roland RD-300NX. Was surprised at the seemingly heavy action at first but coming from spring action kbys just took getting used to. Actually, it has a really nice feel.

Some reviews are so-so about the MIDI controller stuff but not going to use it for stage, just home studio. Unlike some other boards, it's extra long due to the location of the pitch-bend/mod controls so can see the downside of handling it for gigs.

Also some complain about the organ and EP sounds (937 tones total + more with update) but I found that by layering pairs of the numerous "weak" tones, it more than makes up for their minor shortcomings. Don't understand why this isn't mentioned in the reviews. With the separate level controls for the layers, you can even easily simulate draw-bar effects (well, at least one) fairly well.

[eirikbj]

Update from thread starter:
I actually ended up buying an old (fatar) Studiologic board. It´s 15 years old, but still decent piano feel. Let´s face it, these kind of controllers will never truly come up to par with the real deal, and since I´m not a world class concert pianist I am very much used to play crappy pianos.

I actually did the same thing in my holiday home. Spent about $120 on each of them. A bit hassle in programming I can live with. Used some hours setting them up, but now they are up and running.

Thruth is: Even acoustic pianos are different, and you always have to "play yourself in" on a new board. This applies to these old Studiologic things to. Once you get used to the feel, I think it really doesn´t matter.

[mojobone]

Keyboard controllers are a bit like studio monitors, in that respect; you can learn to work with almost anything. Personally, I'm way pickier about guitars and amps. Also, singers, more than microphones; very few mics are bad enough to mess up a really great singer.