Need Advice: Closest electric to an acoustic

[mound]

Hi - I'm a long time bass player, played piano as a kid and am once again studying classical piano and loving it. Moved a free upright into my home and then when the technician told me it would cost approx. $1500 USD to make it playable, and didn't recommend doing that anyway because of it's age and lack of re-sale value, I was dissapointed because I need something that sounds and feels as close to an acoustic piano as possible to practice and write on. So I started thinking realistically, not owning my home, the hassle of paying piano movers and total lack of portability, while it may seem blasphemous to only have an electric piano, it may be more feasible and realistic. Problem is, I can't say I've ever seen an electric keyboard that felt much like an actual piano, or sounded like one for that matter. (though I'll admit I haven't tried very many.) I currently own a old (and total crap) Yamaha 4 octave midi keyboard, and while I've been practicing on that, it's just all wrong and when I get to the real piano at my lessons, I'm all thrown off by the different feel, sound and perspective what with fewer keys etc..

So I'm looking for suggestions, ideally in the under $1000 (USD) range or close thereto.. I'm not interested in something with all kinds of fancy sounds and sequencing capabilities, I have alot of good outboard effects processors and computers with samplers should I choose to record with it, I want 88 keys that feel pretty darn close and a better than average piano sound. Thoughts?


Thanks!
Paul

[Spacehog]

Best feeling affordable electric piano I've played is the Yamaha P80... my brother in law has one (his 7' grand not being ideal to take to gigs :)) and it's got a very nice action to it. I'm not sure if they are still being made (I think it's been superceded) but you should still be able to find one around. You'll never get a perfect acoustic piano action on a portable keyboard, but that one's got a damn fine action and a nice sound too :)

Martin

[synthguy]

I'd also recommend a used Yamaha S80. It has some very good grand piano sounds on it, and a good 88 note piano action. It's also a full featured synthesizer with some great samples of electric pianos, basses, guitars, drums, brass, winds, orchestral strings and synthesizer waves. You can program your own patches and drumm kits, and the effects are excellent. Plus later on you can add some synthesizer boards which are additional instruments, not just wave roms. One is modelled after the Prophet 5, a much lusted after synth, and another is a one note physical modelling synth with some extremely accurate instruments like flutes, saxes and brass.

[Scrap]

The best 'stage piano' sound out there, in my opinion, is the Yamaha P250 - it has a beautifully sampled 4 layer piano, though it may be somewhat out of your price range. I've spent hours, cumulatively, playing it at the local Guitar Center. The key feel and action are the closest you'll probably get to a real piano as well - if you can't spring for the P250, consider its cheaper siblings - the P90 and P80, as they have similiar action.

[mound]

I spent some time at Guitar Center yesterday playing every one of the keyboards they had. I think the "best feel" award was split between the Yamaha P250 and the Roland RD-700. You're right, the P250 did feel very nice, and I kept moving between the two hitting the keys and really listening.. I think the Roland sounded a bit cleaner and the action on the Yamaha was maybe just a bit stiffer.

Actually the "best sound and feel" award had to go to the Yamaha YDP223 Digital Piano but of course that's getting into the portability problem because it's like an actual mini-upright.

I also might have the opportunity to pick up a mint condition used Roland RD-700 for about $800 USD which I think would be the deciding factor ;-)

Of course there's the other option which my friends keep saying "man, you should get that upright fixed up" which of course I'd love to have the actual piano sound in my living room but I don't think I can justfiy $1500 to fix something up that's very hard to move and has no re-sale value (or sentimental value for that matter.)

thanks!

[mound]

Oh one more thing I forgot to mention - should I choose the Roland (or any of them for that matter) - they are in the range of 50lbs, and at Guitar Center they were sitting on iron stands that were bolted to the wall (like a shelf) so they didn't move, but there was another one out on the floor sitting on one of those folding stands - and it wobbled all over the place. That would not be good.

what's your favorite stand for a 50lb keyboard?

thanks!

[Tigerfolly]

I spent some time at Guitar Center yesterday playing every one of the keyboards they had. I think the "best feel" award was split between the Yamaha P250 and the Roland RD-700. You're right, the P250 did feel very nice, and I kept moving between the two hitting the keys and really listening.. I think the Roland sounded a bit cleaner and the action on the Yamaha was maybe just a bit stiffer.

Actually the "best sound and feel" award had to go to the Yamaha YDP223 Digital Piano but of course that's getting into the portability problem because it's like an actual mini-upright.

I also might have the opportunity to pick up a mint condition used Roland RD-700 for about $800 USD which I think would be the deciding factor ;-)

Of course there's the other option which my friends keep saying "man, you should get that upright fixed up" which of course I'd love to have the actual piano sound in my living room but I don't think I can justfiy $1500 to fix something up that's very hard to move and has no re-sale value (or sentimental value for that matter.)

thanks!

Call around about your piano. Talk to some people at that Guitar Center. Hang out in the keyboard room and talk to some of the people who come in and play stuff.. you might be able to find someone willing to put some work on your piano for much cheaper than that rate. Find out what you need to do to get it respectable, instead of restored.

Check out the S90 too, and the Motif ES 8. Nice pianos there.

[Tigerfolly]

Oh one more thing I forgot to mention - should I choose the Roland (or any of them for that matter) - they are in the range of 50lbs, and at Guitar Center they were sitting on iron stands that were bolted to the wall (like a shelf) so they didn't move, but there was another one out on the floor sitting on one of those folding stands - and it wobbled all over the place. That would not be good.

what's your favorite stand for a 50lb keyboard?

thanks!

As for the stand, a good double braced, heavy duty X stand will hold just about any keyboard very stable. The stands that GC uses are actually steel folding stands that hook into the slatwall. Trust me, plenty have broken over the years.. there's few things more disheartening to a gear junkie to open up your keyboard room in the morning to find that a Triton 88, Motif 8, or K2600XS crashed to the floor. If you're picking one up at Guitar Center, ask 'em to see the Extreme 400 X stand, or the Extreme 300 Z stand. The only problem with most stands is that they aren't always comfortable to sit and play at, like a real piano. One of my former customers used to make little countertops for X stands, with little U brackets so they wouldn't move. They would extend the playing surface towards the player a bit, so they're a little more comfortable to play on.

That, and he'd add little toys to 'em.. ashtrays, cup holders, etc ;)

Anyway, yeah.. check out those stands next trip to GC.

[mound]

Find out what you need to do to get it respectable,

Yeah, that was just to make it respectable :-) Basically the entire action sticks, all the hammers are flattened and most of the dampers are stuck. (some hammers are missing all together).. There are some cracks in the soundboard as well. He disassembled one of the hammer mechanisms and figured out what it would take to fix it.. lots of new parts and a ton of time just to make it playable but "sounding probably better than average". he said $1000 labor and $500 - 600 for parts. There is probably somebody out there who would charge less in labor, but this guy is top-notch from what I'm told.. It is something to think about though I guess.

thanks!

[mound]

I got a great deal on a like new Roland RD-700 ($1100 USD!) and so far am loving it, the tone the feel.. awesome.

what I'm noticing is that it sounds absolutely amazing through headphones, because it's in stereo. when I plug it through my bass rig it still sounds really good, but it's not as crisp, and the stereo image is lost.

I have a nice set of infinity 10" speakers for a home stereo that I would like to run this keyboard through ya know for the "playing in the living room" sound so to speak.

How do I hook them up? Do I need to go out into my home stereo (which takes RCA) or get some kind of powered mixer? or powered speakers?

Thanks!

[synthguy]

Yeah, either run some guitar cords to your stereo into a CD, tape or Aux input, using 1/4" to RCA adaptors, or run some long stereo cables from your stereo to the Roland with some RCA to 1/4" adaptors. The guitar cords will sound a lot better unless you have some audiophile interconnects.

Up late to answer your questions. Just kidding, but I'm always glad to hear myself type. :wink:

[mound]

thanks!