Looking To Get A New Keyboard

[socsocben]

I've decided it's time to upgrade from my crappy beginners keyboard to a nicer one that I can use to record music with various midi instruments. But I have a budget of around 350-400 bucks. I'm looking at the Alesis Cadenza, but I'm not sure if that's the best option. Because I don't know that much about the good keyboard deals, I'd like to request some help from the rest of you.

The reason I'm looking at the Alesis Cadenza is I also play classical piano, and I'm looking for something with a realistic piano feel as well as something that would be good for recording and midi (velocity sensitive and weighted keys). I have a nice sustain pedal already.

I'm not entirely sure how great the Alesis Cadenza is with midi. The site provided says "a MIDI Output jack empowers you to use the Cadenza's keyboard to perform with any MIDI-compliant sound source". However, I'm not entirely sure if it is meant for recording midi.

Please let me know what you think.

-Ben

[TapperMike]

Midi recording records the midi data not the audio. It's like a transcription. Imagine you are playing a song and a transcriber is sitting next to you writing the notes down on sheet music. Once the music is written on paper then someone can read the sheet music on the paper and play the music.

That's how midi works. Midi stands for Multi-instrument-digital-interface. One instrument converts the notes played to a format that can be sent to another instrument to play back. Like a telegram for the computer as opposed to a telephone.

[socsocben]

lol, I know.

I'm looking for feedback on what keyboard to get, not how midi works

[TapperMike]

Well that is a matter of personal taste. What works for someone else may not work for you. I played a Yamaha motif a few years back. Loved the sounds hated the keybed. The keys were just too wide for me. I also don't like high action. Some keyboard players like a nice distance between when you first touch the keys till the point the key stops. Me I hate it I was never classically trained nor do I have much experience with organs. I've known people who hated a short throw (fast action) Also the value of weighted, semi weighted and synth action. Me I like synth action and I've adapted well to it. (less springy) You, I can't say.

If you really want a new keyboard that fits you then it's up to you to try them out before you buy them. This is where deciding what you like not what others like matters. They still have stores where you can go in and play the keys to get a feel for them. That's what you should be doing. Visiting music stores. It doesn't cost anything but maybe the gas to get you there and back to find out what you want before you buy rather then taking advice from people on what they want when it's what you want that matters the most.

Edited December 28, 2012 by TapperMike