Practice Keyboard
 

Finally found a local bass instructor. He has recommended that I acquire a cheap keyboard ($100ish new).

I'm not really stuck to that price point but I don't want to pay more for exotic features I won't use.

Nor do I want to have to upgrade due to lack of (really nice to have for intermediate/advanced students) features later on. Something that will suit my needs for the next 3 years or so to speak.

I'd appreciate any recommendations - manufacture/model/most desired features for learning.
Thanks, guys

M-audio makes decent and cost effective midi controller keyboards that can be used to control any number of free vstis out there. Gives you the flexibility of investing in pricey piano vstis should you want to later.

I have a 61 key Yamaha with more bells and whistles than I will ever need. You can find one like this used for just under $100. New will cost $200 - $300.

If all he wants you to have is some drum tracks and some chord progressions, in memory, things like that - ask him to recommend a model number or go into more detail what he wants you do end up with. Most all in-expensive keyboards will do that.

If your local classifieds are anything like mine, you will find people practically giving away old Casio and Yamaha keyboards. Yes, a lot of their tones are cheesy, but some of them also have built-in lessons and playalong songs that are useful if you're new at keys. I gigged with a Casio LK-94TV for 4 years because it had string tones that worked well for my hair metal band. I finally decided that I wanted something programmable, so last week I replaced it with a Casio XW-P1 synth.

IMO, your instructor has it right.

I have a Casio (49 keys) I picked up a couple of decades ago. It still works and I use it regularly for basic chord progressions and learning some tunes. It has a semi-decent organ sound that I even once used in a band reunion get together. A newer used version would probably cost you about $25-$40 today and would be fine to learn keyboard basics on.

It has about 20 keyboard tones, internal recorder, tempo control/presets, chord progression presets, some touch pads for drums...real basic stuff compared to what I just bought for a family member. It's a Casio LK-280 with touch sensitive keys and tons of features. About $300 MSRP. Discounted on many sites.

IMO, a basic model will be fine for your instructor's purposes and possibly be sufficient for many years to come. If not, upgrade later if you need to and get the latest and greatest.

Learning basic keys is a great help for ear training and general musicianship. No downside as far as I can tell.

Good luck.

I picked up an M-Audio Keystation 88es for $100 a couple years back that suited me well until it was stolen at a gig. For the price, you can't get better: the keys were decent (semi-weighted, so feels good to play but not like lifting a car when you need to move it), real basic controls and features, easily expandable, and hey, 88 keys. It's single channel, as far as I know, but unless you're playing keys live and need to switch between patches in an instant, you really only need one channel. After getting jacked, I went for the pro version and managed to talk the seller down to $150 (pretty good, considering I see them going anywhere between $200-350 used). It has all the MIDI functionality I could ever ask for, and then some. Plus, it feels nice.

Both of those controllers are out of production now, so it's used market, but you can probably find something comparable from M-Audio, Alesis, or Korg. You could also look for a synth that has its own sounds, but I think it is more fulfilling in the long run to get a MIDI keyboard and go the software route. If you have a Mac, you have Garageband, which has its own MIDI instruments (Quicktime also has soft instruments), and I'm not sure what there is for Windows, but it looks like you can easily find free MIDI instruments. http://mustech.net/2007/06/midipiano...ynth-and-more/

I personally use a hardware synth, as I don't like having to have my laptop around in order to play my keyboard. There are numerous cheap hardware synthesizers that have decent bread and butter sounds (strings, horns, organs, vox, piano, square/sawtooth/triangle/sine wave, maybe some leads).

Thank you - great advice

I recently bought a rubber roll up 61 key keyboard for the same reasons youre looking. I picked up online for 30 bucks. I love it. It doesnt have great tone but it has 100's of tones, rhythms. I like it becuase its convienent, practical and doesnt take up space.

What the keyboard is for? To play chords or bass synth?

Pure bass study - so chords and ear.
Of course one never knows how things evolve.
I've got a line on a M-Audio controller and I have GB on my Mac already - Who knew!.
Should have enough to get me into real trouble by this time tomorrow.

OK, make sure you get a polyphonic keyboard LOL

If you own a Mac, you'll have Garage Band with it. Just get a cheap 2 octaves keyboard controller and you'll be fine to play chords and for programming.

I actually did professional tv gigs with just an iPad and Garage Band app for bass synth purposes, and it works great.

Just picked up an new-used (in the box) MAudio 61es for $63. I'm happy!