A good digital piano? [updated: found a possible good one, advice?]

billwill

New OP:

I've been playing my crappy keyboard, and all my mad skillz have come rushing back to me. I can't stand playing the nonweighted keys of my keyboard. After shopping around, I found a Casio PX130 (forgive me if the name is wrong) at Best Buy for five hundred and fifty dollars. It comes with a stand and three pedals. On Amazon, the same keyboard goes for four hundred and fifty dollars, but the stand is not included (and is one hundred dollars, to boot) and it also does not come with the three pedals. Basically, I'm leaning towards picking up this digital piano sometime in the next few days.

Before I do that, I just want to check to see if I'm missing a great deal somewhere. Is this not a good price for the keyboard? Can I get better quality for less, or the same?

Thanks!

P.S. I know this jives with me saying I'm a poor college student, but I have an agreement with my buddy. He wants to play the piano too, and he's willing to pay half the cost. Combine that with my mother throwing in two hundred dollars because she is desperate for me to have some kind of hobby, and this digital piano doesn't wind up costing too much.



Old OP:

Long story short, my girlfriend plays violin and she wants to play with me (I told her I used to play piano). All I have, however, is a crappy keyboard from sixth grade that is too small for me.

Can anyone recommend a brand? I'm not looking to break the bank here, so try to keep it under 200 dollars (though I will make exceptions). This is just to start me again, so it doesn't need to be too fancy. I can save that for a later date.

Thanks!

Infidel

You should specify the type of keyboard you're talking about here so that you attract the right people.

You're looking for a standalone instrument too, right?

EggyToast

Yeah, if you want to play piano you're probably looking at a digital piano. A keyboard, when used to refer to an instrument, is usually attached to a synth or rompler (can play sampled sounds from a variety of non-keyboard instruments) and is not full piano size. And also usually does not have piano action/weighted keys.

Dachshund

I picked up a really excellent Roland weighted key digital piano on craigslist for $150 last year. Also a friend got a casio cdp 100 (or similar) for $200. Those are 400 new, or were when he bought it. Both are pretty decent sounding weighted key digital pianos. Just search around on craigslist and such

Infidel

Yeah, you'll want to shop around second hand at that price range to get something worth playing, but it's doable.

billwill

I have updated the OP.

Villalobos

Hi all
I see this thread is somewhat... uuum... dead, sadly; so to revive it a bit, I'll just continue with my problem here. I have a problem choosing a good digital piano. So if anyone has any information about this one that caught my attention - I would be more than grateful! It's not exactly what you can call cheap, and I wouldn't want to waste my cash on something that doesn't fulfill my needs well.
Thank you kindly

_Moon_

I've played a few Yamaha digital pianos, and the P35B is a great starter. The upgraded version (p105B) has a much more natural sound, and some great practice features, like drum loops, and a USB/aux out for messing around on your computer.

However, since you are just starting out- there are some incredible, old Roland pianos on Craigslist for cheap ($100-200) that would definitely be worth searching for. And I would definitely stick to the Yamaha over the Casio in your price range IMO they sound better.

joshofalltrades

If you can find a Nord Electro HP somewhere, it's what I use and I'm really happy with it, especially the organ stuff. People used to be down on the piano sounds but they've improved a lot, specifically in the 3.

They're still a little pricy and I doubt you can find one for less than ~$750 used, but it's really worth the extra scratch. Bad keyboards aren't really fun to play or listen to.