Hi all,

Recently i had changed my job and can foresee theres some free time i could proceed to my interest. I wish to learn some basic keyboard during my spare time.

Thinking of attending a piano lesson 1st because keyboard lesson is toop expensive (those play by ear 1..). But anyway my objective here is to ask you gurus to suggest me a nice beginner keyboard to start with..

My budget is around RM 600 - 1000. The musical teacher said that a RM 400 keyboard will do but i think is wise to spend more on it.. Through my survey i reallise this "touch sensitive" feature is important (is it?) So the cheapest keyboard i could found with touch sensitive and piano style key (is this important too?) is the Casio CTK 810. The price is between RM 1000 - 1100, is this the one to start with?

Or maybe you will have better suggestion cause i am totally noob in keyboard, LOL.. Thanks all sifus~

p/s 1: The link for CTK 810: http://www.casio-intl.com/emi/standard/ctk810.html

me too . i'm a beginner and i 'm getting a new keyboard . can i know is there any suitable keyboard around rm 300 for me ? pls and thank you

I think you can find that there're many under rm 300 keyboard nowadays at Toys'R'Us and jusco, not sure about the quality though.

The ones I checked out at music shops, are not cheap. All in the range of 4 figures.

erm... only suggest toy rus? ~.~

I once saw keyboard RM400 Yamaha at One Utama. Near the toy's r us.

The CTK 810 seems ok to me, yes you are right... the touch sensitive are really important.
but to me... Casio's rythms are not as good as yamaha.... if keyboard... i would prefer yamaha... but since you are in tight budget... why not you try the CTK-900? if not mistaken... the price is around RM1.3k.... not too far from your budget...
i bought the casio LTK-300tv... really disappointed and regret about it. i would chose CTK-900 if i was given another chance....
but i tried the YAMAHA... really nice...can play a lot of function...

hihi..

oh u own the casio before, the price of that LTK 300TV seems not cheap tho.. RM 1300++
very bad ar?

anyway seems there are many bad comment about casio, i am looking for alternative in Yamaha E-series, heres my 2 choices: E313(RM900) and E403(RM 1150)

E313
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yam...oard?sku=702175

E403
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yam...oard?sku=707463

The review seems good for the 2, what about other LYN sifus opinion?

and actually where can i get Yamaha keyboard with the lowest price around PJ area? Any 2nd hand available?

For sure the E403, you get so many features for it.

Be informed that both these only has 61 keys. Not really a big issue but just in case you missed that part.
Anotehr side node, there's also no hammer keys.

Other than that, if you're satifsfied with it, it's a good keyboard to get. Don't forget to get a "sustain pedal" for it.

if i were u... i will pick E403.... RM1150 are kinda cheap for yamaha keyboard... and i believe is durable... the casio one... i need to stick something on the adapter there... coz the adapter always out of power... i think something not attached properly...

like Andy said... get the sustain pedal....... but mine one was free when i bought the keyboard...

Im thinking of selling my CASIO LTK-300TV and get a better one... i'm like you also... beginner as well... but i felt i'm getting better ad wish to play more thing.... so CASIO LTK seems not suitable anymore...

thanks for both of your comment,
anyway i went to the Yamaha HQ and tested both,
the 403 is absolutely stunned the 313,
with only 200++ diff i will take the 403, as a beginner keyboard..
too bad he say no stock but will aspected new stock around 2 weeks time anyway..

The casio i will not think about it anymore =P
As i think with that price range (+-1K) E403 seems to be the best already

hey guys, i just went to yamaha hq. i saw psr 403 and also a portable grand DGX-220. it have 76 not sure is'it weighted keys but i think it have less function (http://music.yamaha.com/products/main.html...024_20023_16277)

is the grand one good ?

btw, one more qtion.. can i know what u guys mean about touch sensitive ? touch keys or touch lcd ?

tahnx

This post has been edited by raining again: Mar 12 2008, 02:17 PM

touch sensitive is about the key, the dynamics (volume) output will depend on the force you applied when pressing the keys.

it will create a effect of "piano-like" dynamic

Actually after my research, i think touch sensitive also varies in diff model, such as the sensitivity of 403 is better than 313. and so..

and i think getting a keyboard with touch sensitive is essential, else it's nothing diff from Toy'rus.

The portable grand is quite good and value for money if you're tight in budget or don't want to spend so much on it.

The best advice for you is to try it out yourself.

erm .. i've tried both. Dgx 220 keys are more like real piano, but it's not weighted keys i think, and it has brow in color that looks better. But the psr 403 have more fuction right? it looks more complicated than 220. I'm a beginner but may become pro someday so I want to invest only one time. So what exact is the difference between these two models apart from one extra octave i hope i wont regret after getting one of these.

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Added on March 13, 2008, 6:47 pmowh , now i understand. thanx

This post has been edited by raining again: Mar 13 2008, 06:47 PM

raining again,

Ooops, sorry, I mistaken your portable grand model. The one I tested was the 6 series I think, with 88-keys. That's a good one, but ain't cheap tough.

Yea, the PSR403 is good with many function. If you're into keyboard programming, arranging songs, and making use of those cool feature at a cheaper price, you can go for that one. You can play like band/orchestra with that one if you make use of its feature.

Yes, IMO, it's preferrabbly invest only one time, since it will not worth to sell it off in the future (no value or depreciates too much since technology advance very fast, and new models and new feature is always introduced). If you really want a full range piano, suggest you take a look at the DGX 5 or 6 series.

If you plan to take a piano course, you can try "Play by Ear", they have offer the PSR (not sure about the DGX) with the course at a cheaper price. Look for the founder "Alex Leow", not sure if they still have the promotion but I think you should be able to request for it if you're interested.
http://www.playbyear.com.my

how about those without speaker and screen one? the m-audio midi keyboard couple with software sampler.. i think that sound much more nicer

I'm still a "pre" beginner, just looking for keyboard to jump start

no la genzunia,
m-audio keystation with 61key only rm700 1st hand one
pretty portable too cos minus the speakers which IMO is heavy and make the keyboard bulky
a good software programme (sampler) is aroud the range about rm500-1000.. so in the end u will hav something sound nice but cheaper than those good portable grand

here..the akoustik Piano sampler can produce this kind of sound from a properly recorded midi(available from their web)
http://rapidshare.com/files/99524110/rag_AP_.mp3.html

This post has been edited by N33d: Mar 15 2008, 01:45 AM

actually wats the dif between these two types of keyboards? midi is more on recording right ? btw, i'm just asking for knowledge, i'm more in portable with speaker .. plan to learn play by ear too, so maybe i could work in some band in college

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Added on March 15, 2008, 3:44 amwow that sounds damn nice ! i thought it was a real piano u sure it's around 1-2k ?

This post has been edited by raining again: Mar 15 2008, 03:44 AM

Those MDI keyboard does not have speaker, you have to connect to PC or MIDI devices to produce sound, the sound quality will depend on the PC/Midi device.
You can connect your normal digital piano/keyboard to those device/PC too. Most digital piano/keyboard have Midi Output and/or Input.

If you plan to play by ear, you should really check out the website I've provided. The course is well known and fun to learn. If you already have some piano background, you'll pickup in no time.

Of course, that's not the sound produce from the Midi Keyboard. It depends on the PC/devices which output the sound. You can connect any cheap keyboard with Midi Output to it and produce the same sound. Heck you can even connect a cheap keyboard with Midi output to an expensive Digital Piano and use it's sound output for the sound.

Many manufacturer sell some kind of device which provides various sound sample, you can connect any keyboard/digital piano with Midi output to it and get the nice sound from eac different manufacturer regardless of what brand your keyboard is.

Try look up "Yamaha Motif-Rack ES" on YouTube and you should find a couple of videos of someone using a cheap keybaord with that rack and produce marvellous sounds.
These devices isn't cheap, anytime cost more than a high end digital piano

i have to disagree with u bout the cheap keyboard... if ur input is not sensitive or 'cheap'.. the result that come out sure flat one.. u can get wat i mean by imagine pc-keyboard as a midi input and all ur sound is flat as square..mayb ur 'cheap' is those keyboard range around rm700 then i agree that

Even expensive digital piano doesnt have the realistic sound compare to sampler, i don think that an xpensive digital piano have gigabytes of spaces,at least 1GB of RAM and a powerful cpu build in to recreate real piano like what soft sampler mean to..i prefer to bundle a mid-end midi keyboard with a good sampler

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=akoustikpiano
check that out USD 229 x 3.2 = 732.8..

or more pro one, (more than 10GB-20GB )
http://www.synthogy.com/pages/audio.html
http://www.galaxypianos.com/demos.htm <--like the sound of this most

midi keyboard need something like a computer to make it work..
one suggestion from me is install the sampler in ur laptop(if u hav la), then u can bring it everywhere.. just plug in speakers to ur laptop then u can play it out loud..downside is it need lots of hd space and at least 1gb of ram to make it smooth(=no lagging)

This post has been edited by N33d: Mar 15 2008, 01:42 PM