Buying an older keyboard

[jmemcse]

"Foreplay" by Boston -- on a semi-weighted keybed? After an injury?

Um, good luck with that...

I was was gonna say...
I do Smokin by Boston. I've played it on B3's, you name it. A friend has a video of me singing and playing that cover. I'll have to get a copy and I'll post it here. Anyway, that's hard to do on a weighted keyed. I play it on my Nord semi-weighted keybed, but the Fatar keybed is designed to accommodate organ and piano styles, both very playable.

 

[amwilburn]

Welcome.

Forget the Go Keys first generation, the new models are supposed to be much superior.

The Yamaha is not worth $350 when you can buy a new P45 for $399 US and this has the GHS weighted keybed.

A new Korg Liana is a digital piano with 88 keys @ $350

The following are all new, not used and have 61 keys with synth type action:-

There is a Casio CT S500 @ $380

A Korg EK50 @ $399

Roland Go Keys 5 @ $500

Yamaha PSR E473 @ $370

Yamaha PSR EW425 with 76 keys @ $490

Good recommendations!

However, while I loved the feel of the keys on the Go Keys original, I have to warn you to try the new GO Keys 3/5 keys for yourself. The black keys just feel so uncomfortably shallow that it really threw me off.

Korg EK50 is an excellent little arranger as well. But if you just need piano, organ and brass? Maybe a CTS400? (same piano as the CTS1, which also might work, but the CTS1 has fewer options, but also would be easier to navigate)

I love the sound on the GoKeys 3 and 5 btw, I just wish the black keys didn't feel so weird. But the Casio *new* is already in your used budget. Oh and cation re: the Roland EX50 :/ It did not impress me.

Mark

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www.youtube.com/MarkWilburnTLM/Videos
DX7, CLP300, PSR60, Roland E20 + MT32, CVP309, PSRS970, Fender Std Strat, Squier RB3 Midi Strat, Ibanez SA262, Yamaha CG131, Fujiyama FC390, TUC-Kitty

 

[leecreighton]

I wound up buying the Casio CT-S500. Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[TedS]

After you've used it for a couple of weeks, please report back on your experience. I know there are a couple of rotary organ voices in that board. I sincerely hope that you find them acceptable.

Also, make it a point to try the "string quartet" style, with sync stop activated. You might be surprised with the usefulness of that setup.

Best wishes with your new purchase!

 

[jmemcse]

I have a Casio CTK-900. I've used it for Christmas music for about ten years. It was given to me, and it's one of my all time favorites. Easy to play and sounds great through the built in speakers. The batteries last forever. I think you'll be really happy with your Casio.

 

[leecreighton]

So @TedS asked me to check in a bit after buying this keyboard.

Y’all’s recommendation was spot on. There is a wide range of great sounds available on this thing, and I’ve been able to find pretty good sounds for a Hammond organ, piano, Wurlitzer electric, and brass sounds. I love that I’ve got MIDI as well as 1/4” output, and good built-in speakers for when I just sit down and play.

There’s a world to explore in combining all the available sounds too, which leads to my only real criticism: I find it a little hard to navigate without referring to the manual. For example, getting the metronome to do what I wanted seemed to take more steps than it needed.

Physically, I couldn’t be more pleased. The thing has enough heft to feel sturdy but isn’t a problem to move around, and little details like the grain on the keys themselves elevate the instrument a good ways above the others I saw.

Thanks again to everyone that helped!

 

[TedS]

Have you tried the String Quartet rhythm in conjunction with Sync Stop? I find that combo amazing for a lot of religious/liturgical, patriotic, and even some ballads, where the constant, robotic drumbeat people normally associate with Arrangers is inappropriate. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Now if Casio would make a CT-S900 version of this board, with built-in sequencer and rhythm editing (probably necessitating a larger LCD display), my check would be in the mail!

 

[Biggles]

There’s a world to explore in combining all the available sounds too, which leads to my only real criticism: I find it a little hard to navigate without referring to the manual. For example, getting the metronome to do what I wanted seemed to take more steps than it needed.
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Alas you will find all keyboards with an OS they are designed by a Klingon, often Manuals were written in their language, transcribed into other languages before finally making it into English, confusing is the norm.

None that I have been interested in buying have had an OS that was easy to navigate, that is one reason the Casio went back after a weekend, the OS was hopeless.

A Korg Kross 2 that I had for a while had 17 Pages of parameters available to adjust and the most useful and often necessary ones did require a lot of button pressing.

 

[LoveLoud]

So I haven’t played keyboard in a long while, but need something to help me recover from an injury to my fingers. So, I’m looking to buy a keyboard that’s not junk. I teach high school, so I’ll probably perform with a student band this year. That also means my means aren’t unlimited.

I found an ad for a Roland A-90EX with expansion pack ($325), a Yamaha P-71 ($350), and a Roland GoKeys 1st generation ($250). Although I played some piano-based stuff, I also need a good organ sound to attempt Foreplay by Boston again.

I’m interested in your thoughts on these selections, whether I need weighted keys or not, and whether any of these will be so out of date that I can’t record on GarageBand or similar.

Curiously, I can find recommendations for all three of these here on the forum.

76 keys or more is all that I'd add.