Peter wrote:
“Or most likely (from current choice) a Roland FP-90... I've been wrestling with it for weeks because I've wanted one (decent portable) for years and you've kind of got me going again, but still holding back because I don't 100% need it right now!”
“Need” Pffft, why let that stop you?
“There's some debate about whether this can adversely affect the instrument, I think for two reasons:
1. Movement of lubricant (which wouldn't necessarily worry me).
2. Gravity affecting weighted keys in undesigned ways (which might).
I've regularly left simple Yamaha (touch-sensitive but not weighted) keyboards standing on end at school and once the Kawai ES100 piano for a few weeks or months with no obvious consequences, but maybe something to bear in mind? Many people do it, but I've found some references to manafacturers (e.g. Yamaha) advising against it”
Interesting, I hadn’t considered the possibility that side standing could cause problems for a modern electronic keyboard, regardless of the key type. Thanks for the heads up.
“One thing I'm still unsure about is whether you're an experienced player with no keyboard or still (despite your music store past) just starting?”
Ah, yes, I suppose I wasn’t completely clear on that. I haven’t played before, which is sad because my grandmother was a highly regarded classical piano teacher affiliated with one of the premier music conservatories here in the states. She tried to teach me, exactly once, lol. As a child I had too much energy and not enough interest, which is not unusual, but now I sure wish I had availed myself of the opportunity.
At any rate, my reason for getting a keyboard at the moment has less to do with becoming a piano player per se and more to do with having a fun, interesting, and useful tool for increasing my working knowledge of music theory. A keyboard is a much easier way for me to visualize, work on and memorize theory related stuff than a simple system flute or harmonica, which I also play on occasion. That said, I do plan to learn to play the piano a bit in the process, and to that end the sound quality and variety is important to me.
“Not something I'd want, but Roland's new 61-key Go Piano might have some merits as a cheap and cheerful solution. It's possibly not up to your spec. either in being clearly aimed at beginners/casual players, touch-sensitive rather than weighted, with negligible speaker power where you might prefer more or none (will almost certainly sound better on headphones), but it's light, compact, only $329 and has push-button +/- 3-octave (yes, 3-octave!) shift I've never seen on a 61-key (or any) model before to obviate the need for +/-12 transpose where it only does +6/-5.
There's also a $299 Go Keys, which is more a bells-and-whistles keyboard with many more (presumably lower-quality) sounds and the +/- 3-octave thing apparently not directly accessible.
Caveat: I'm only reporting what I've seen on the Internet and haven't tried either of them.
Andertons comparative test “
Thanks Peter, hadn’t checked those out before. The price, size and weight look right, but I’m not convinced about the quality and variety of sounds, again seems like I may have to suck it up and make a trip to the big box music store, ugh.