One or two times a year i visit the Musik Store in Köln (Germany) which is about 120km from where is was born. Just to playtest some instruments. It is the biggest music warehouse in europe, and probably has all major brands (its also the owner of the Wersi brand)..

Looking for a new 88 key, i will be checking out the Kronos Competition, amd comparing them to the Kronos2, i made a small list..

-Kawai MP11
-Kawai MP7
-Kawai VPC1
-Kawai ES8
-Korg Kronos2
-Korg Havian30
-Korg SV1
-Casio PX-5S
-Casio PX360
-Kurzweil Forte
-Physis H1
-Yamaha Avant Grand
-Yamaha MOXF8
-Yamaha CVP709
-Roland Rd800
-Roland LX17
-Roland A88
-Roland Fa08
-Nektar Impact Ls88

Quite a long list, i guess, to check in less then 6 hours... And i also want to check out on the Wersi Sonic state of the software, sadly they cant change the lower keys for weighted keys and the organ pedals with piano pedals..


Any one else paying regular visits to such a huge music palace just get their hands dirty on all the keys?

Can you also check the master keyboards with 61 keys?
I need to know if some own good keybed

Je peux recommander le Roland A-800pro. The keybed is really excellent, with aftertouch and more weighted than e.g. the MoXF6.

Sure i can give some of them a quick test, which ones?

Tough keep in mind that in general an opinion about keybeds is something personall.

Casio PX560

Will release in about 6 weeks, i dont expect it to be there, interested in it myself, so i have the PX360 on my list as that has the same keybed and mostly the same sounds..

i love your geardiscription....

Equipment: Roland Integra-7 energized with high voltage to knock down any burglar who touches it

I have the Roland A500S and the Roland BK5. I don't like both keybeds. Keys are too short, and can't find a nice velocity curve.

In the other side, I have a PSRA2000, and Korg MicroKey 37 and the velocity curve is perfect out of the box

I don't like so much the Novation SLMKII velocity curve too

I am still searching for the best keyboard for vArranger

Cant you change the vellocity curve of the SLMK2?

Well, seems like a long quest to me, dont you have any of these megastores in France near where you live.. Keyfeel is something very personal, even more with semi weighted keyboards then with hammeraction piano weighted keys..

When it comes to semi weighted keys, Roland G70 is still my favourite... Also the Tyros5 and Motif Xf work very very well for me..

But when it comes to Master keyboards, there are so many, did you try the arturia keylab (which is also fatar) or the Nektar Panorama? both also have a lot to offer when it comes to controll (knobs and pads) But in the end, you really need to get your own hands on them and not mine..

Talk about bad timing, i found a close door today in Koln, noboddy told me al shops are closed today in Germany because they are celebrating their reunion..

So i drove back to Holland and Belgium and visited 2 shops in Holland and one in Belgium... I didnt even come close to testing half the stuff on my list, but i had a great day with free coffee after the innitial problems..

I played...

Yamaha P115 (€600)
i would not advise anyone that wants to play seriously this keybed, it does not repsond well to fast playing, missing notes when a key is striked fast in quick concession

Yamaha P225 (€1200)
a little better then the P115, but still not fast enough, the sound selection is really thin compared to other keys in this price range. however the sounds available are okay.

Casio PX-5S (€800)
A much better keybed then both Yamaha's, and a huge sound selection, also assignable knobs and sliders, which makes the instrument really usable as a masterkeybed. I tought Sound quallity piano sounds was on par with the P255. it also offers lots of rythms and a very very nice arpeggiator

Roland RD800 (€2100)
i really really loved the keybed, but also the interface with the direct controll and offcourse the sound, i have allways been a huge fan of the Roland sound but thats a personall opinion. on this instrument you can p[retty much eddit every aspect possible of the sound..

Kawai MP11 (€2200)
Maybe the touch was even a tiny bit better then the RD800, and the interface and sounds where great to.. maybe its the Roland being a bit flashier and espescially lower that made me feel that the RD800 would be a better choice in combination with a T5. however i will not rule it out.

Nord Stage 2 EX (€4000)
A very nice instrument, great piano sounds, top knotch organs and an awesome synth aboard.. perfect for people that love to fiddle with around with the knobs and continously finetune their sound during a performance. The keybed however is a trade off between piano and synth action.. feeling okay but not great and way less then all the other + €2000 instruments..

Korg SV1 (€1700)
surprisingly nice keybed, somehow even feels better then the Kronos. perfect Epiano's both sound as well as the controll interface. The other sounds however including the acoustic piano's sound dated.

Physis H1(€2900)
Also a Fatar keybed, but much much better then on the Nord, very very good piano action and sounds.. and the indepth piano sound edditing is just perfect. Epiano's are fat, and the other sound are all top knotch. Interesting interface, everything is glass and touch. except for the screen.



and then there was the Clavinova CVP709

Yamaha CVP 709 (€8000)
The brand new piano version of the Tyros 5. first and foremost i think the keybed is very much better then what i remember from the CVP 609. Not as good as the Roland and the Kawai, but miles better then the cheeper Yamaha's i tested. On par with the Physis and the Korg. And in my opinion a bit better then the Casio and lots better then the Nord.
The touchscreen works perfectly and makes me wish they would have added such a nice screen to the Tyros 5. The instrument was a real joy to play. convincing me again from the fact that a single 88 key arranger would be perfect for me..
However at twice the price of a Tyros 5, i think its a shame that the T5 has so many features not available on the CVP709..
I really missed the aftertouch, ensemble and organworld voices. Also the fact that there are no pads convinced me that its better to have an 88 key under the T5.. because the T5 is a much more complete instrument only missing the pianoroom feauture of the CVP709..



only got to play one 61 keys keybed for Dan. the Akai advance pro 61. which felt surprisingly good. i like the keybed maybe even better then the Tyros.. if you want a keyboard to controll VST's with a 2nd board above your arranger, then you must give this one a try.. the VIP software really adds a lot and turns your VSt's into something that feels like a hardware instrument.


So far my day, the music shops are closed i am done eating my sandwitch, going to close my Ipad and drive home. Its allways nice to get your hands on new instruments... just go to your LMS ask for a headset and of you go..

any pictures?...sounds like a nice day testing..

No, i was there to play them instruments, not to look at them and take pictures..

to be serious, i am not really a picture man, i prefer the here and now and dont have much use for pictures. Allways guarded with my smartphone, i barely take any pictures..

However, i took some time to talk to the people, trying to figure out if there was anything new comming our way... they did know just as much as we do... Everyone tough is expecting a new Motif tough between now and the end of Winter NAMM 2016.. what inside? your guess is as good as mine..

That's bad luck. But you didn't know about October 3rd being a public holiday in Germany, living so close to the border? You should notice as on such days crowds of Germans are in Maastricht and Venlo to go shopping...
A public holiday is a public holiday is a public holiday here Very strict regulations about closed stores. Only stores inside railway stations and airports are allowed to be open.

Yes, i would have noticed in the afternoon, but I left home at 8.30.. Only wondered why there where so few cars on the German highway on a saturday morning... Went to Eindhoven from Köln and to Maaseik on the way home..

As said, all was well in the end, and i narrowed down my list of 88 key instruments to 3 , Korg Kronos, Kawai MP11 and Roland RD800 which really peaked my interest ...

Thank you for your sharing

The Akai advance pro 61 is too expensive for my users at 666€

We don't really need the VST possibilities of it, because vArranger already do the same job of mapping any midi controller to any vst parameter

[/quote]... As said, all was well in the end, and i narrowed down my list of 88 key instruments to 3 , Korg Kronos, Kawai MP11 and Roland RD800 which really peaked my interest ...[/quote]

Thanks for the report. I can see that you can't go wrong with any of the three top boards you narrowed down to.

Your favorable review of the Casio PX-5S makes me feel good about our 5x purchase for a church group in Asia. In fact, next week, I am scheduled to fly over there and I will have opportunity to play it myself.

Too bad you didn't get to try out the Casio PX360. I wanted to hear what you had to say about it. The RD800 sounds very interesting but even if I get it at cost from a dealer friend, it is still much higher than the Casio PX 560 especially after the state sales tax. The PX-560 seems to suit me better with its built-in speakers, styles, and audio-ins.

The px5s px360 and px560 all share the same keybed and the same soundengine.. The 360 and 560 have the new touchscreen ui however.. If you compare the 560 to the 5s.. Its basically :
"touchui+3knobs" vs "6sliders+4knobs" and
"limitted arranger+arpeggio funcions" vs "advanced arpeggiator"
only the px-5s is battery opperable, but that comes at the price of ugglyness