JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Keyboard and Piano Forum Piano Keyboards

I would like some recommendations for a synthesizer for a pianist whose primary need would be gigging at venues that don't have a house piano. She plays a Boston piano and prefers a more classical-type voice, as opposed to a jazzier voice.

Thanks in advance. I don't know how that "W" got in my user name.

Hi- I have been going crazy for the last ten years waiting for a TRUE, pure grand piano sound on a keyboard.

Go to a Guitar Center, if there is one near by. They have a huge selection of synths and
elctronic piano's. Stand alone portablable piano's.

I prefer a keyboard that uses sampled patches, verses digital.

Yamaha's S-90 88 key weighted hammer action synth, is very popular in the industry. I feel it sounds a bit digital in the mid-range. Great, sound and action. about $1900
dis-counted price.

Kawai's MP9500 is a gem- one of the best 88 key/weighted/hammer actions I've played. Sound almost perfect to a real grand. Sampled
sounds. In some of the dis-count catalogs about $1900.

But the best most realistic, pure piano sounds on this planet, I feel, are sampled sounds (patches). Sweetwater Sound in Fort Wayne In, offers a audio CD demo for free. You can hear a vast array of grands, up-rights, elctric's etc.. The Steinways are "KILLER!"

You can get a demo audio cd by calling Ted
Hunter: ask for the Stratus Sounds/RSI Series II Demo on CD. Mention Cal Skomski
260-432-8176

The only thing is, is that these sounds can only be played on a Kurzweil board. You also need a CD rom drive to load them. (about $60 on e-bay).

Good luck

Cal



[This message has been edited by Cal (edited 12-21-2003).]

hey big train - where are you in dc? if you want to join the dc chapter, drop me a line! ciao again, flo also, are you gigging around here? have you found any cool piano-frienly venues? just wondering... oh and i have a big yamaha that's a pain to haul around but sounds lovely... can't think of the model now though and i'm out of town... bye, flo

------------------
http://floanito.tripod.com

Thanks Cal.

Fanito, I'm in Columbia Heights.

I don't know the top piano venues. Staccato was intended to be one, and a nice idea, but alt rock payed the bills better for the owner. He's a great piano player himself, but now he rarely tunes the house piano. He may have sold it by now.

Big Train-

I just played an excellent portable piano at Guitar Center last night.

The sound and action are the best yet.

It Yamaha's lastest, new on the market.
YDP 113.

List-$1495, at Guitar Center- $999/ on sale
for $899.

You have to go play it.
Looks gorgeous.

The demo sounds like a true classical grand.
Pure, and authentic in all ranges.

The only thing is, I don't know if you can edit (remove) the reverb.

Looks nice, and is not very heavy.


Cal

Hey D.C.! I lived in Herndon VA for 20 years!

Anyway, I shopped around for pretty much a year looking for a synth that played and sounded like a piano. I ended up with a Yamaha S80, recently replaced with the S90.

Plays/feels just like my Grand at home. Sound will never compare to the real thing, but comes darn close.

I've not been sorry

Thanks so much, folks. Cool, Cal.

I totally agree with this person! I own the Kawai MP9000 and, being one who loves to play piano and have very realistic sound and feel, I cannot complain about this instrument at all. In fact, I'm thrilled, as it's so true to life and has even got more options than the Yamaha MP200! Now the Kawai's got a newer version, the MP9500 that's got more voices and other options which, I apologise, I cannot remember at the moment. The keys are made of real wood, instead of plastic, and I've also got their K4r module. In fact, the people at Kawai offered free sound downloads to me. Go to www.kawaius.com for more details on that.

I also truly enjoyed the Yamaha S90, as it's mostly synthesiser and not just different piano sounds. It's a fine piece of equipment and neither one of these are intimidating like some keys and synths and have got a HUGE learning curve. I just want to be able to sit down and PLAY!

Good luck with all of this and enjoy!

JN
www.alchemymusic.org

[This message has been edited by aLCHEMY Music (edited 01-30-2004).]

What about the Alesis QS8.2 88?

[This message has been edited by WThe Big Train (edited 03-10-2004).]

Hey W-
Good reference- the Alesis QS8.2, 88-
I own an Alesis QSR (rack version).
I played the QS8 line, and found the action pretty nice-
I have not been sold on the grand piano patches though-
Other players seem to like them.
I love the organ sounds- and EP's-
The brass, and strings are not bad-
The loops are pretty interesting.
All in all for a synth, good bang, for your buck-


Cal