 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: YCL-450
Date: 2006-04-30 02:06
I am thinking about getting an electronic piano for accompaniment. Would this be a waste of money or a good idea? They are pretty cheap now days. A Yamaha 61 key with midi in\out is about $150 at best buy and sounds fantastic for the price. I think this particular one transposes to. Heck i could have accompaniment even for scales and down load midi files from the internet.
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Author: ned
Date: 2006-04-30 03:01
Yes....it's a good idea. I have one, it's ancient Yamaha PSR6300......61 keys + time keeping and automatic chording. It has a midi mode too, but I'm not au fait with that side of technology.
The piano mode is not too convincing unfortunately (except for the the bass octaves), but the vibes, jazz and pipe organ modes are fairly realistic. Given that it's old technology too, the clarinet, trumpet and trombone ''stops'' are likewise fake sounding.
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Author: YCL-450
Date: 2006-04-30 04:07
ned wrote:
> Yes....it's a good idea. I have one, it's ancient Yamaha
> PSR6300......61 keys + time keeping and automatic chording. It
> has a midi mode too, but I'm not au fait with that side of
> technology.
>
> The piano mode is not too convincing unfortunately (except for
> the the bass octaves), but the vibes, jazz and pipe organ modes
> are fairly realistic. Given that it's old technology too, the
> clarinet, trumpet and trombone ''stops'' are likewise fake
> sounding.
The one I'm looking at is the YPT-300. The piano is indisdinquishable from conventional. It also mimics other instruments and but I don't know how realistic they are.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2006-04-30 04:08
Recent electric pianos seem to have good scale stretch.
http://www.mmk.ei.tum.de/persons/ter/top/scalestretch.html
Roland, which is also a Japanese manufacturer, has a longer history of making electric key board.
http://www.rolandus.com/
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Author: ned
Date: 2006-04-30 04:52
''The one I'm looking at is the YPT-300. The piano is indisdinquishable from conventional. It also mimics other instruments and but I don't know how realistic they are.''
I guess you have a fairly state-of-the art keyboard then.
Incidentally YCL450, you're not an electronic keyboard yourself then are you?
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Author: YCL-450
Date: 2006-04-30 06:05
> Incidentally YCL450, you're not an electronic keyboard yourself
> then are you?
Huh! Please explain.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-04-30 08:35
FWIW we have a Kawai digital piano (the older daughter is about to take piano lessons). Excellent. Just five or six built-in sounds, but why would I want laser guns on my piano?
My advice is better spend some more on a weighted hammer action keyboard rather than getting a cheap rubber-and-spring kbd.
--
Ben
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2006-04-30 20:32
I've got a Yamaha P-80 that does a very good piano, as well as an organ, electric piano, and several different species of acoustic piano setups (jazz, grand, etc.). It's a full length keyboard (88 blacks and whites), one that sits up on a X leg stand. It's paired with a high end piano amp, a vital part of the setup as far as sound is concerned, and all of the pianists that I've employed to date are quite happy with same.
With the kind of music we play, you need to have both regular piano and electric piano and organ. Carrying that in regular instruments is just not practical, but with the P-80, it's all there at the flip of a switch.
I'd second the weighted action point as well. You lose a certain amount of nuance to a performance if the keys don't give you the right feedback. The higher end keyboards cost more because they have more innards to replicate this "feeling".
(Or so my pianists tell me; all I know about the thing is that it sounds better that most venue pianos, is never out of tune, and is a hefty weight to haul around.)
I also use the "demo" settings to set up our sound system prior to gigs. You get to run through the gamut from classical to romantic to jazz to church organ, all while you're walking the room and balancing out the cabinets.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: susieray
Date: 2006-04-30 21:09
Got a Yamaha PSR275 for my son (a 7th grader/percussionist) at Costco for around $130. It's really not a bad little keyboard and it's got "touch" which you don't normally get in the lower priced keyboards. It sounds pretty good too!
Sue
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-04-30 21:09
To some extent how "piano" the piano sounds depends on the speakers you hook up to it. Typically the bass is weak. Roland is great but way more than $150. My experience says get a low price unit to start with. After all you may give up on it.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2006-04-30 21:34
BobD wrote:
> To some extent how "piano" the piano sounds depends on the
> speakers you hook up to it.
Hence my comment about the cabinet. It's a two piece system, and you can make a mistake on either end.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-04-30 21:59
To some extent how "piano" the piano sounds depends on the speakers you hook up to it.
That's for the "audience end" of the food chain. But if it doesn't feel like a piano, it somehow - in the ears of the player - will never sound like one.
We did some research re getting a digital piano for music lessons: The verdict of the teachers here is clear and rigid: digital and analog pianos yes, keyboards no. (uh-oh, there's another "educator approved" thread...)
--
Ben
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Author: ned
Date: 2006-04-30 23:00
''> Incidentally YCL450, you're not an electronic keyboard yourself
> then are you?
Huh! Please explain.''
Ahhh.....just Aussie humor actually. YCL450 could be a Yamaha catalogue number.....
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Author: YCL-450
Date: 2006-05-01 02:35
ned wrote:
> ''> Incidentally YCL450, you're not an electronic keyboard
> yourself
> > then are you?
>
> Huh! Please explain.''
>
> Ahhh.....just Aussie humor actually. YCL450 could be a Yamaha
> catalogue number.....
Oh, ok, I guess I didn't get it. No I'm not a keyboard just a clarinet. BTW I am quite fond of the Aussies. You guys are great friends to the US.
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Author: diz
Date: 2006-05-01 03:07
The only issue you need to consider, really, is the sound quality of the MIDI keyboard, the cheaper it is the worse it'll be, most likely. If you're outputting your files via computer (how else I ask you). Then the MIDI side of things is purely software driven.
For what it's worth - I'd recommend a full sized keyboard if you can, Yamaha produce a series of synthesizers that are almost full size (I own one of these). It's good enough for playing Bethoven or earlier on when I get the desire to play piano live.
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2006-05-05 01:31
I wonder if you need a keyboard at all. If you're planning on just playing midi files, (rather than pushing black and white buttons), just use a computer. Perhaps get a good sound card and speakers and maybe a really good midi piano sound bank synthesizer
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-05-05 07:10
just use a computer
...do you think of Band-in-a-Box or something like that?
--
Ben
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-05-05 10:09
"just use a computer. Perhaps get a good sound card and speakers and maybe a really good midi piano sound bank synthesizer"
That's what I have, and it is much more expensive than a midi keyboard with sounds. Then you would need a sequencer program to run the sounds, which you either have to buy or find free ones (both software and sounds).
If you want to seriously make music on your computer this is a good choice, but if you only want to play piano and have midi you can just go with the electric piano keyboard (with sounds already installed in it).
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2006-05-05 15:04
Not clear why you need a sequencer. Also, not sure, but transposition capabilities of keyboard seem dubious if input is from midi file rather than keyboard. I'd double-check specs to see whether KB can actually transpose a midi file, (as opposed to using Finale or similar to do the transposition.)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-05-05 16:00
YCL-450, can you be a bit more specific about you want to do?
I understood that you want it so someone can accompany you on piano when you play, am I wrong?
To listen to midi files from the internet you only need speakers since you can play them with the media player on your computer and don't need anything extra for that.
If you want to make midi accompaniments then you really should have a piano keyboard (either with sounds installed on it or not). If you go with a midi controller (a keyboard without sounds installed) then you need sounds on your computer.
Bennett - Is it possible to record midi to your computer without a sequencer software? How?
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2006-05-06 15:14
Clarnibass
>Bennett - Is it possible to record midi to your computer without a sequencer software? How?
I wasn't addressing recording midi; OP sought keyboard to play midi files.
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