@Nick Batzdorf said:

Well David, that proves once again that one should never listen to me. [[:)]]

But you know, the moral of the story is one I learned very slowly, only after getting kicked repeatedly: avoid studio furniture that's not generic; you will replace a piece of equipment that renders it useless way before its time.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Studiologic VMK188 Plus.  I tried about 10 different keyboards (including the Rolands and Yamahas) but none of them come close to this keyboard.

Studiologic is Fatar's midi controller company.  The VMK188 Plus is a graded hammer action (so its more like a real piano feeling heavier at the bottom and lighter at the top).  It has 9 assignable sliders and 8 assignable knobs.  While the action is a bit heavier than a Steinway D, it is still the best I can find.  Plays beautifully.  Its also a great deal selling at around $650 US.

My only downside is that the modwheel/pitch bend is a fairly useless module.  But I just reassigned a slider for each of those controls.

I couldn't be more happy with mine and would recommend it any day over any other keyboard.

-ea

I'm interested in the keyboard, too. What are the velocity response curves like on this keyboard. Are they adjustable and do you feel they do a good job when playing non piano techniques.

Thanks,
Mahlon

OK well I too have an old K250 whose weighted action I like but is very noisy and prone to sticking notes with some channels failing, and is way too large to take to gigs anymore.  Although I still have the K250 at home, for gigs I replaced it with a Roland RD-300SX 88-Weighted Key Digital Piano.  The action and sound of this beast suits me fine.  The keyboard is a litttle heavy to lug around, but works well.

Only other drawbacks I have discovered are that it doesn't remember settings like Local Control Off, or the Expression Pedal which revert to the defaults after you power the machine down and then back up.  The expression pedal setting is particularly irksome because it doesn't default to Volume controller 7 as one would of course expect, instead varying 'expression' - almost imperceptible on many of the built in sounds.  Also, the power supply is a non-standard Roland built device, so if you lose it, you're screwed and will need to wait for the factory part to be delivered (which they do fast, but at considerable cost).

This sort of thing has been typical of Roland for as long as I can remember - doing things their own sweet, non-standard way.  I don't know if you remember its 'all-notes-off' command that would be sent every time all the keys stopped being played, thus rendering it useless as a MIDI input device unless you do as a friend of mine once did, sticky-tape down the bottom key so as to never have 'all-notes-off'.

I realise the above comments don't sound like I am barracking for the instrument, and I don't know whether a firmware upgrade is around to fix up these minor annoyances, however in every other way I have found the keyboard to be great.

I gig about once a week with a jazz trio, and I use a Kawai MP8-II Professional Stage Piano.  The internal sounds are pretty much garbage, but I bring my laptop along, using the Synthogy Ivory's sampled Steinway Grand (sorry VSL!).  The action is very good for jazz -- the piano has great sensitivity, especially for soft sections.  If you are doing repeated notes, typical of classical music, the piano doesn't respond as well.  I also use the keyboard for recording purposes in Logic Pro, and I always notice a wide range in velocity values without being saturated on one end or another.  One drawback -- the piano is very heavy if you gig with it as often as I do!

I use a Korg Trinity Pro X from back in the day, which is fantastic.  When i switched recently from m-audio back to the Korg it made a real difference to the expression within my recordings.

Incidently are there any real/midi piano hybrids out there?  i.e. a real piano that can also output midi? is that even possible?

 Kurzweil PC3x the best choice for me especially as a midi controller..

Shakuman.

Hello,

I have recently auditioned the V Piano and simultaneously (using the V Piano as a controller keyboard) auditioned the VSL Instruments Vienna Imperial virtual piano.

The V Piano has a lovely keyboard with excellent feel and non shiny keys that grip the fingers. The piano sound is considerably more authentic than the onboard samples of Yamaha pianos such as CP33 and P155 (although these are 1/4 of the price!). However the Vienna Imperial virtual piano was altogether in a different league. As far as I can tell this is mainly down to the 100 velocity samples per key In the Vienna which allow for a vast dynamic range along with all the tonal changes that accompany the changing dynamics according to how you strike the keys. I guess the modelling algorithm (and/or hardware processing restraints) used for the V Piano is currently restricted to a relatively small dynamic range?

I am looking to set up a Mac based recording environment and want to replace my very old clavinova with a new weighted keyboard that will be the controller for umpteen Virtual instruments. My preference is for an acoustic piano feel weighted keyboard as I am currently composing classical influenced piano music which requires a lot of dynamic control from the keyboard. My vision would be to acquire a keyboard that has great touch and feel to play but has no onboard sounds and is light and portable.  I have heard about the CME UF8 USB 88 Key MIDI Controller which seems like it might be ideally flexible for my requirements. I get the impression that I could use this keyboard as an expressive acoustic piano as well as using its controls and sliders to control virtual instrument and sequencer actions and parameters without the need for a seperate control surface.

I would very much appreciate feedback from anyone who has used this keyboard or any similar keyboards that may be suitable for my needs.