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Good 600 - 800 dollar synthesizers?
Yehoshua
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Well, some time in the near future I am planning on getting a synthesizer keyboard, in the 600 - 800 dollar price range. As there is no where near here where I can adequately test any keyboards, I'd like some opinions of people here who play them.
Most generally, when I say synthesizer, I don't mean the things where you turn the knobs and and make unique sounds, but the things where it is a keyboard with multiple preprogrammed voices that can be used. Though if it is has knobs and levers and meets all other criteria then it is cool too.
More specifically, the things I am looking most for in a synth are good weighted keys, sound samples (a good jazz organ is one of the samples I think is pretty important), the ability to split the keyboard into two sounds, and portability (not mini-korg type super portability, just an eighty eight key keyboard where it isn't built into a desk so I can carry it around with some ease).
Less important but still very valuable functions are: the ability to play something, have it repeat, then play over it (I've seen this on a few, I think), and a pitch bending knob (I've never seen a keyboard without one, which is why I didn't mention it earlier).
Thanks in advance for any advice, as the market is rather overwhelming.
Most generally, when I say synthesizer, I don't mean the things where you turn the knobs and and make unique sounds, but the things where it is a keyboard with multiple preprogrammed voices that can be used. Though if it is has knobs and levers and meets all other criteria then it is cool too.
More specifically, the things I am looking most for in a synth are good weighted keys, sound samples (a good jazz organ is one of the samples I think is pretty important), the ability to split the keyboard into two sounds, and portability (not mini-korg type super portability, just an eighty eight key keyboard where it isn't built into a desk so I can carry it around with some ease).
Less important but still very valuable functions are: the ability to play something, have it repeat, then play over it (I've seen this on a few, I think), and a pitch bending knob (I've never seen a keyboard without one, which is why I didn't mention it earlier).
Thanks in advance for any advice, as the market is rather overwhelming.
Yehoshua on
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Good luck.
Try ebay or craigslist and pray.
Which is pretty good, and I played it, just bogged down by the solid stand. In any case, 79 dollars above isn't out of my price range.
I think there's a weighted, 88-key Alesis for like... $800, maybe $900. I tried it out and didn't like it.
I have no idea how the used market runs, but there's definitely no big market for new 88 weighted-key synthesizers in your price range.
That's a digital piano, not a synthesizer.
A digital piano (like the one to which you linked) is a closely modeled imitation of an acoustic piano. It has a small sample of sounds (some models have only acoustic sounds), and it typically does not have the frills and whistles necessary to produce popular music. A synthesizer produces dozens- hundreds- of digital samples along with melodic additions such as pitch-benders and recording features, echoing features, complexly layered recording and loops, etc.
edit: a 'synthesizer' is a music production/manipulation tool first and an 'instrument' (in the conventional sense) second.
If it is at all an option, however, try a keyboard out before you buy it. Different weighted keyboards have very different feels and it's important to make sure that you're happy with the way it plays before dropping down $800.
^^^good man.
Unless you live on a Pacific Island, I'd think you need to be within an hour or two of a music store. Buy a $20 bus ticket if you need to- good investment, considering that you'll be spending 40 times that on the instrument.
ps: I'd agree with the p80 recommendation, too, for a beginner. It doesn't have the technological leaning that you're hoping for, but it has a very solid acoustic sound and is pretty reliable (I know musicians that bought them in 2000 and are still happy with 'em). The only drawback I can think of from the few times I used it is it's kind of heavy. My guess is >40 lbs.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--KORTR88
That does everything you want, but you can see how even the basic model is twice your price range.
Why do you want 88 keys? Why must it be lightweight? What are you planning on using the thing for? These are the important questions if you want real product suggestions.