Looking for Keyboard

[Julia]

I'm stumped. I have unfortunately a budget of < $1500 US. Here are the features I want.

* weighted or at minimum semi-weighted
* 76 to 88 keys
* half-damper and full damper function
* expression pedal
* modulation and pitch bend wheels
* its own internal sound bank with speakers or at minimum external speaker capability.
* if it has its internal sound bank I'd like it to be tunable.

The closest I've found is the M-Audio Pro Keys 88, but that one doesn't support half-damper.

I constantly use the damper pedal on the piano in the 1/4 to 1/2 range but very rarely full. I'd like a keyboard that does this.

The other one that would work is the M-Audio Axiom Pro 61 but that fails because it's only 61 keys. I want 76-88 keys. I could get by with this if it had more keys. I suggested they consider making an Axiom Pro 88.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Or.... does anyone know of a way of modding the Pro Keys 88 to support half damper?

FYI: I use Pro Tools M-Powered 8.0.1 for my DAW and use a M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface. Reason 4 and Alicia's Keys at the moment. I may get Komplete 7 next year.

 

[Mourndark]

OK, firstly, you're a classical player, used to grand piano action. You'll find very quickly that semi-weighted action is very infuriating. Dynamic control is much harder and your fingers will trip over themselves on fast passages leant on a slower keyboard. I only keep my semi-weighted board for organ/EP stuff now. Similarly, playing on 76 keys neatly highlights how much of the piano range you actually use ie. more than 76! Besides, there aren't many weighted 76 boards.

Don't narrow your search to pure midi controllers. Most are designed to be lightweight and knobby for use on a desk, with a DAW. You should be concentrating on stage pianos and "electric grands" - they generally have much better action, and are well worth the investment. Also, they are one of the few classes of keyboard that are likely to support 1/2 pedalling. I'm not sure about 1/4 pedalling - those messages are certainly transmitted, but if your sample libraries don't have 1/4 pedal samples, it's useless.

I'd say you should be looking at something like the Yamaha CP33 (definitely supports 1/2 pedalling), Roland RD300GX (not any of the SX models, the action sucks) or FP4 models, or the Kurzweil SP3X.

If you feel like pushing your budget a bit, try the Yamaha CP300 or Roland RD700GX.

My main bit of advice though is to just go and try them out, in the same way you would try out any other piano. Find a big music shop, eg Guitar Center or equivalent, and spend a day playing on a wide variety, even if they are hugely out of your price range (Roland V-Piano!), just to get a feel for what's available.

Edit:

Just seen your bit on tuning - most stage pianos support changing the central tuning, ie. tuning the whole range evenly away from 440Hz (+/-10Hz is common). Tuning to other temperaments is rare in stage pianos, but is often found in high-end workstations.

 

[Julia]

Thanks for your reply.

I find pretty much any action infuriating. lol. I have a Steinway. When it was rebuilt. I found Steinway spec'd the action at 52 g for downstroke. I had my tech do mine for 47 g. Also I had him put some slightly stronger springs in for the return. It's almost a "Horowitz piano". I've played harpsichords and organs. So I do tend to like a lighter action. The plugin, like Alicia's Keys I can tune at least a semitone and probably a full semitone, so that stuff can be handled afterward. There are ways of working around things.

I knew Yamaha was replacing their P90, but I wasn't able to try any of the P90s out. The CP33 looks pretty good and is in my budget. And does fit the bill with the pitch bend and modulation wheels and half-damper effects and an AUX that can be configured to an expression pedal. This looks like it will probably be the one. Thanks!!!

This allows Komplete 7 to be in the budget. I want Guitar Rig 4 in addition to Absynth and the bundle is the cheapest way of getting them plus a bunch of other stuff.

 

[Julia]

The CP33 supports other temperaments (Werkmeister III and Kirnberger III). Important to me because I intend to record a bunch of baroque and classical stuff as well as what else I'm doing. So it looks like I'll need to get at least a pair of Behringer monitors for it or if I've got a little extra go with a pair of Samsons like my near fields.