Pointless post I guess but a comment just for the heck of it.

I have been spending quite a bit of my keyboard time on my recently purchased DGX 650. I don't have a lot of experience with pianos but I do enjoy 88 keys and a simulated hammer action.

Also, then when I go to my S970, the keyboard feels much more like a toy keyboard.

Maybe this is why some of my piano playing friends don't seem to get too enthused when I suggest playing my S970 just for the fun of it.

Love the lightning fast keybed.......S970 is a great gigging keyboard for so many reasons.

Y
Yes on two counts. PSR keybeds in general do feel like a toy and yes, it's a bit of a pointless post because you'll have all the usual suspects rushing to defend their keyboard. But as Donny alludes, some like it and some don't. Simple really.

Yes, the S970 is a great gigging board and our main gigging board.

I guess I'm a bit curious as to experiences others may have playing 88 key pianos and how that might affect their playing style.

This thread probably is a bit pointless, but I am curious about experiences of others playing weighted keyboards.

Well, it doesn't have to be weighted keys but they really should be better on s970. It is really nice board.I think it has nothing to do with keeping cost down.MOXF costs less and it has much better keyboard on it. They do it because they can.

And even MoXF keybed feels like a toy compared to some Rolands like Juno Stage or BK-9. But I think it is better than it feels, you can control velocity quite well when you got used to it.

Having played my old Yamaha P80 stage piano for over six months now I agree with the fact that most arranger keyboard keybeds feel like a toy. My Korg PA800 was not that bad and those on the PA3X and PA4X were okay but still not in the same league as my old stage piano, let alone newer stuff. I have just ordered the PA900 and (unfortunately) know for a fact that the keybed is pretty lousy as well. But then again, for playing arranger style it suffices and may at times even be a bit of a hindrance to have weighted keys. I have also been playing several new stage pianos lately and they are absolutely great. I have my eye on the new Kawai ES8, check it out on youtube etc. Truly great piano sounds and an impressive keybed...........

regards,
John

I gotta agree.....I played both the S970 AND the Korg PA 900 and felt pretty much the same about both boards.

I got a feeling all the MOTL Arrangers are like that, so I just made the jump to a higher end Arranger.


For my first Arranger I needed a studier board.....First few days with the Korg PA 4X and the keybed is really spit on.....

as Donny said the keybed is designed to be fast and not weighted

the difference between weighted and non weighted keys is apple and a orange


but they are all Fruit

I really don't care, and I don't personally know any professional entertainer/player that does. Whether or not the keys are harder to press down to make contact with the strips has absolutely nothing to do with the build quality, durability, or overall sound. These so called toys have made me a damned good living for may years, enough so that I could retire and do pretty much anything I wish during my final years of life. So, call em toys or tools, it rally doesn't make any difference. If having keys that you need to hit with a hammer make you play better, you should not have purchased an arranger keyboard.

Good luck in your quest to find that perfect keybed for your needs,

Gary

The BK-9 is not like that.

No need to ridiculize the wish for weighted keys. Some combine typical arranger playing with styles and pure piano playing and would like to do both with the same instrument. One question is whether musicians who are used to a real piano can get used to light keybeds - I can get along well with light keybeds. But the other question is whether you can really control the velocity of each tone you play. Can you play certain tones in mf and others in between in p to pronounce a melody line with the keybed? Required for real piano playing. The MoXF 6 can handle that with its light keybed if you're used to it, the Korg Krome is problematic as the black keys react differently from the white keys. I haven't tried the PSR series in this respect - but as I said, without any value judgment: some need it, some don't.

That's great to know....I do remember playing an early Fathom and didn't like the keybed.....

I think I would get used to any keyboard....But when playing in the stores, the lines get blurred.

Adjusting to any keyboard is simply part of the process of a new piece of gear....

Rosetree, I'm not ridiculing anyone about the want for weighted keys. This argument has been going ever since I came to this forum, and it will never be solved in favor of those wishing fully weighted keys for their keyboard they purchased. In almost every instance, the demand has been brought forth by someone that either currently plays a piano, or previously played a piano.

I look at an arranger keyboard from a different perspective. To me, it's a very versatile tool, that can mimic nearly every instrument in the world. IT'S NOT, BY ANY MEANS, A PIANO! And, for the most part, I, and many of my colleagues are damned glad it's not. It's an OMB entertainer's greatest tool. It is so versatile that we can play songs that make us sound like a single guitar player, or an entire orchestra. We can utilize the built in styles and have perfect timing, and not have to rely on our left hand to provide the beat that piano players often do. And, with those wonderful, light touch keys, we can play a four hour job without our hands feeling fatigued, then do it again, night after night, after night with no ill effects. When I played semi-weighted keybeds, times when I filled on for a friend and played his Clavinova, I often felt my hands would never make it through the night.

As I said in my statement, if anyone want's fully weighted keys, and needs the expression they provide for piano players, they should not have purchased an arranger keyboard - IT'S NOT A PIANO! I wonder if those same folks ever go on an accordion or organ forum and demand that manufacturers go to fully weighted keys?

Merry Christmas,

Gary

Indeed this is a repeating topic to which the only real answer is "you decide which compromise you ca n accept".

As a pianist I love weighted keyboards with my love Increasing as the cost gets higher!

As a gagging musician neither my back or my car are up to the job. I currently use a Tyros 3 which is a very good non- weighted kerbed although the T 3 is still heavy enough to be awkward at times.

Previous gagging keyboard was a psr3000 which had to go as my eyesight isn't fab these days and neither was the 3k screen. Compared to the T3 the kerbed is clearly inferior but it didn't bother me at all. If by some quirk of fashion I find myself out on the streets again on a frequent basis I would not find the kerbed on

I understand the point about the fatigued hands very well, and I am also sometimes happy about a light synthesizer keybed. I guess the MoXF keybed serves BOTH needs quite well, it is light enough and still has enough sensitivity and depth to control velocity nuances rather well. BK-9 is already noticeably more weighted, but still far from the DGX, let alone a real piano. (And even real pianos can be extremely different, I remember how I struggled with some in music school, having practised on the more light piano at home...)

The more i play piano, the further i move away from very light keys... The weighted action of my 88 Kronos even allows me to play some nice organs.. Tough, the T5 keybed, which isnt considered light and cheep works much better for that...

Playing organ with no keysensitivity is the only instrument, where i could choose extremely light keys, but everything that uses keysensitivity, i want more controll which works much beter with a heavier keytouch...


In the end however... You want 2 keybeds, one of them light enough (in my case the tyros 5) to play organs and some synths... And a piano action to play some really sensitive music ...

Very interesting thread for me. I'm so new to keys, only been playing about 4 years or so.....

I've been primarily a string player....guitar, mandolin, bass...a bit of banjo etc. As a kid(back in the middle of the last century :)), I started out on electric guitar...60's rock bands and all, but soon switched to acoustic guitar in the folk era.

I've been playing acoustic guitar ever since. That is until I developed a mild case of myelodysplasia...and my left hand started losing strength and started to shake when I played. That's actually the reason I started playing keys.

Thing is, I still prefer acoustic guitar over electric. For me, it feels as though I have much more control over the dynamics of the sound.

And what I'm finding with the DGX650, is that like acoustic guitar, I 'feel' like I have more control over the dynamics of the sound I'm producing vs. our arrangers.

The experience with the DGX650, has helped me to understand why some of my keyboard playing friends are willing to haul 50 lb. weighted keyboards to gigs. Or in the case of one good friend, who's made his living all his life with keyboards, hauls an 88 weighted keyboard and midi's that into a PSR S950.

My brother, a vocal music teacher, has absolutely no interest in organ style keys. He just bought a Yamaha P22m.

Now, my wife who is also a piano player of sorts, has really enjoyed the light touch of our PSR S970 as she is starting to develop arthritis in her hands.

As for gigs, the only practical solution is our S970...great weight, size and sound. The Tyros still goes out from time to time as well.

I am finding though, when I sit down to play, just for enjoyment, I go to the DGX650. I really do enjoy the 'feel' of weighted keys, even when I'm playing styles and using voices other than piano.

This has been a helpful thread for me.

Keep the thoughts coming.

Didn't realise my previous (draft) post had actually been posted, and even then in an incomplete fashion.

So the last line should have finished like this....

... I would not find the keybed on a PSR970 any impediment to seriously considering getting another PSR because the portability is good and now the display is excellent.