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As the title suggests, what are your thoughts, experience and suggestions?

Best bang for the buck I've seen is the Casio stuff. You gotta get past the name, but if you can do that I think you'll find you really like the action on it. They've got a few models, some with built in sounds some not and they're very portable. I'd stay away from M-Audio. I like a lot of their products but I didn't like the Keystation 88 at all. It's huge, heavy and the action is unnatural.

Just my $.02

I actually have the M-Audio keystation and like it. It's inexpensive, it works, etc... no issues on my end. That being said, I'm mainly a guitar player and don't have the experience of playing a great piano with killer action everyday. Casios are good as well, I teach guitar in a store that used to carry them. I still went with the M-Audio and I'm happy.

Just my 2c-
Mark

Thanks for sharing, Mark.

What model keystation may I ask?

Hey Rob,

I got a keystation pro 88 recently and I like it. It comes close to my acoustic piano! But same as Mark I'm mainly a guitar player. There's just one thing about it... M-audio cancelled this one. But you can get it second hand or with some luck some store has it still in stock.

Hope this helps a little!

Greetz, Martin

Does help a little, thanks Martin!

I have the Pro 88 as well!

markjsmith wrote:I have the Pro 88 as well!

Seems popular!

Rob,
You are probably looking for semi-weighted, as fully weighted keyboards require solid mechanical system, and those don't come cheap.

One suggestion: have you considered getting an used good quality synth or el.piano with MIDI? For a couple of hundred bucks you could get yourself a Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Alesis or similar


For something small (49-keys) and simple, check CME M-Key(not related to M-Audio), CME has some quality stuff, including full range of MIDI conrollers.

musicliner wrote:Rob,
You are probably looking for semi-weighted, as fully weighted keyboards require solid mechanical system, and those don't come cheap.

One suggestion: have you considered getting an used good quality synth or el.piano with MIDI? For a couple of hundred bucks you could get yourself a Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Alesis or similar


For something small (49-keys) and simple, check CME M-Key(not related to M-Audio), CME has some quality stuff, including full range of MIDI conrollers.

Great, thanks! Despite writing mostly on guitar, I do have some piano pieces and prefer to knock these out on weighted keys vs. traditional synth keys. I'd definitely want MIDI. May need few more than 49 keys to cover the range I require.

Initially after something for the 'home' studio, however, that smaller controller looks great for writing whilst on the move so making a note of that.

Will expand the search to include semi-weighted. Sounds good and likely applicable.