Considering a Keyboard for my daughter for Christmas. She played when she was younger and has a renewed interest. There is a piano at school she plays on but the one we have at home is to old and untunable. I suggested to my wife she grabs the keyboard we gave her a number of years ago and apparently I should have asked this question then. It’s a shorty and it does not have weighted keys, among other things. The weighted keys is a big thing for her.

So I began to search 88 key weighted keyboards. I came across one that has good reviews and moderately priced in the Korg D1 at $629-$679. It has RH3 weighted keys and apparently uses the same keys as some of their much high priced keyboards.

I guess it’s not common for them to come with speakers? Other than headphones, what is a good option for sound output or should I not worry about that?

What other factors should I be considering?

I’m trying to keep this under $1,000 at this point.

Sign up for the Stupid Deal of the Day email alert at musiciansfriend.com. They have some smoking deals on keyboards once in a while and with free shipping.

The two things that really matter for digital pianos is the keyboard action and the sound.

The RH3 weighted keys are are lighter than GHS action used by Yamaha's entry models (like the DGX 660). The lighter keys may be useful for beginners, but experienced pianists will generally prefer a heavier action which more closely mimics an acoustic grand piano. Someone who rarely plays a real piano and does a lot of work on synthesizers might prefer the lighter action.

My favorite is Roland. Their FP30 is around $600 and sounds phenomenal. Their professional digital pianos are among the best in the industry and the FP30 has a sound engine based on those. It also has good speakers on board. The action is on the firmer side. This is the one I would choose for myself if I were in your shoes.

They are also all usable as a MIDI controller, so if your daughter has any interest, she can cable it to her computer and use it to control software synthesizers to compose on software like Sebelius or produce music with something like ProTools, Logic or Ableton Live.

I've owned Korgs since 1989 and have played a stage-model Korg at home. Through matched powered studio monitors, the bass response is way better than a small amplifier, plus it is stereo. A piano's lowest note is 27.5 Hz and my monitor is rated to 49Hz. To compare that bass response, the Peavy monitor I used on stage only went down to 70Hz and produced a comparatively pitiful representation of my bass lines. Hey, it worked for bars, but at home, I want to hear the nuances.

The (discontinued) KRK RoKit 6 G2 Studio Monitors I bought in 2012 still look and sound new. They are 2-way speakers with a 6" woofer. The lowest notes come all the way through. This linked 3rd Gen Rokit 5 is getting you to 45Hz with plenty of WOOF and is a little more reasonable.

A pair of these should last forever and have cross-over applications. https://www.musiciansfriend.co...=krk%20rokit&index=2 With cords, you're probably looking at $350 delivered for the pair. There are loads of cheaper options as well, but these broad strokes paint the specs behind the features you'll be looking at.

Technology has come a long way. The Korg SG-1D Sampling Grand Piano (88 weighted keys) which cost me $2,100 in the late 1990s (I sold it to a church a few years later for $1,700) is now selling used for $300.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
The two things that really matter for digital pianos is the keyboard action and the sound.

My favorite is Roland. Their FP30 is around $600 and sounds phenomenal. Their professional digital pianos are among the best in the industry and the FP30 has a sound engine based on those. It also has good speakers on board. The action is on the firmer side. This is the one I would choose for myself if I were in your shoes.

I took her to Guitar Center to let her play them and pick it out. She was focused in on a Yamaha P125 when I asked her if she’d tried the FP30. It had a price tag on it from a different unit at about $2,300 so she had passed it by in the previous 45 minutes. Didn’t take long for her to make up her mind. Great keys and very good sound. Roland concentrated on those features while keeping it simple, keeping a lot of the extras off of it which is exactly what my daughter wanted.

Given your price point, I would choose the Roland FP30. Excellent action and tone for an extremely reasonable price.



Also, Rolands last for ever. My very first synth was a Roland I purchased in 1985. It's been dropped, had drinks spilled on it, been left in the back of our moving truck in freezing temperatures, and it's still going strong. We promised to play a gig, and when we got there, there was ONE electrical outlet. We powered the guitarist's rig, the bass player's rig, the PA system, and my rig from that one outlet. I was the only one to get away with doing such a stupid thing - none of my Roland gear suffered from it!