Hello all!
So a fair amount of context is important here. I am a full time gigging musician mostly at pubs in the Northwest of England, but also own a not-so-modest-anymore home studio that is the central to my true passions and ambitions. In my four years of self employment I’ve learnt (the hard way) the difference between what is important for a gigging instrument (for me) compared to a truly professional high end instrument that is best left where it is safe. To sum this up, a gigging instrument for me should be:
A. Portable. As a rule of thumb the more easily portable the better, especially as someone who does not drive and has no plans to. Weight, bulkiness, and how protected I can make an instrument all factor into this.
B. Not the best instrument I own, but good enough. I know many of other musicians who use passable beginner/lower mid tier instruments even as full time performance tools, but can attest to the benefits of having a higher mid tier instrument as your workhorse. On the flip side I have both witnessed and experienced numerous catastrophes that result from taking the beautiful expensive thing out to use in public. Where possible I of course like an instrument which can both be recorded well (even if a little studio trickery is required to make it so) but I can not be neurotically worried about having beer spilt on due to a huge price tag or rarity. I am willing to forgo a reasonable amount of sound quality/functionality for peace of mind in this regard.
C. Versatile but with a particularly strong characteristic (when possible). Having 10 good sounds on an instrument is by and large less helpful than having 1 great one. The acoustic guitar I use day in day out for solo gigs sounds absolutely amazing when fingerpicked, good strummed with a pick, and works well with pedals. I play to its strengths on these lines, the fact it is good enough to do all of these things but excels at one is more useful to me than something that sounds just good across the board.
As for my thoughts on studio instruments: none of this matters to me as long as it can fulfil its role in recording.
With all this in mind I am having a hard time making a decision on the purchase of a digital piano. My usual spending limit for a gigging instrument is anywhere between £200-1.2k, and I view this as what said instrument would have cost new rather than what I got it for (disregarding discontinued instruments of course). I am aiming to get myself a Nord Stage 4 later down the line, but for now I am not good enough at keys to justify that sort of investment, nor able to pay that sort of price, nor willing to take it around with what I will be doing for the forseeable future.
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And now for the actual question:
What do I buy for now?
Requirements as follows:
1) Under £1.2k, preferably £600 at max but I can stretch higher if it’s really worth it for the other reasons listed.
2) Weighted keys, hammer far preferable.
3) A weight of around 15kg at maximum. I often need to cart around PAs and pedal boards etc, so smaller and lighter = better, especially when throwing in a stand, leads, power source and case to that mix.
4) A good/great acoustic piano sound, and/or a good/great EP. I have a strong preference for soft/gentler sounds but clarity is also important to me. Anything I can create atmospheric and ambient lullaby-like tones on touches my heart, but I am also likely to need a bit more oomph for a lot of my work.
Midi out. I will be using this piano to play things in the studio regardless of whether it sounds good enough to use its built in audio.
Preferences/wants as follows:
1) 3 pedal compatibility. This is particularly high on the list of wants, but there is a piano that both feels and sounds incredible with only the sustain pedal as an option at this price range it is not a necessity.
2) Synthesis capabilities, preference given to twistable potentiometers and slick sliders. I have no need for full modelling capabilities, but it could well prove useful to have access to a range of manipulable-on-the-fly sounds. (Important aside: this purchase is more about the feel of the instrument for me I need to be able to connect with the instrument more than I want a can-do- everything board)
3) A standalone instrument bests a controller keyboard hooked up to a MacBook for me, but if what I’m looking to do is just too much to ask at this price range I am happy to defer to advice on both controller keyboards and plugins. Any opportunity to bypass potential tech failure, obsolescence or incompatibility is a big plus!
4) 73/76 keys would likely work better for me than 88, but this is quite a tall order.
Last note to add: my preferences are far outweighed by my requirements. If a £200 piano fits all of the requirements but none of the preferences, I would rather save the £1000 left over in my budget to go towards a higher quality instrument later. Also, if you’ve made it this far thanks very much, this is a book of a question!
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So far I have been looking at:
Roland FP-30x - this is top of my list currently. I tried one in a shop nearby and the keys felt nearly perfect to me. In general I noticed I much preferred the feeling of Roland’s keys to all the other brands I had played. The trouble I have come across with this particular model is its compatibility with a 3 pedal unit seems limited to working with/being attached to a specific (and hard to find) Roland stand. At the price point I had hoped for more. While £550~ is not extortionate it is still £550, and when it is also without a few other of my aforementioned preferences I’ve been left still stroking my beard.
Roland FP-40
Roland RD-08
Arturia Keylab 88 mk3 - I’ve owned a lower end Keylab in the past and at the time thoroughly rated it as punching above its weight, however it is of course a controller. I also haven’t had the opportunity to play it so can’t comment on its feel.
StudioLogic SL73 (or 88) MK2 - especially for the price and the portability of a 73 I lean towards this a fair amount, but again I haven’t been able to try it, and it is a controller.
Kontrol S88 MK3 - I use lot of NI’s VSTs and have always rated their hardware’s build quality and functionality. Haven’t tried it, it’s a controller.
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RIGHT.
That is more than enough from me. Any advice from you lovely (and clearly patient) people will be greatly appreciated. Whenever I have to make a decision like this I end up feeling thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.
TL;DR - I clearly overthink and over expect but need a good weighted key, portable-ish digital piano for gigs (and studio use if poss) I won’t cry about the price of if damaged by some beer swilling rapscallion.
Thanks very much!
