Roland A-80, Yamaha KX88 and Kurzweil MIDIBoard are the controllers that get mentioned often, but none of them have been manufactured for long time so you need check Ebay or whatever, if you want to find one.
Next best thing are probably controllers with Fatar action; Doepfer, Kurzweil and Fatar's own.
Doepfers are simplistic and portable, they basically just put lightweight chassis for they Fatar keys, it seems, and ask for quite high price considering that.
Kurzweil doesn't manufacture actual controller anymore, there's only the expensive (considering your needs) PC3-line, and a quite cheap line of stage pianos.
Fatar's own are not examples of great quality, there's velocity issues, random MIDI messages, bad electronics and wiring, trigger happy aftertouch and perhaps some other issues. They also don't care for customer service. The cheapest ones are really cheap, SL990xp/pro is ~350 ($450) and the build quality is sturdy. I'm quite dissapointed in the company, they could sell more for more by getting rid of some problems that exist in older models and the latest NUMA series, improving the quality of their electronics in general and by answering customers. I don't get such half-arsed business.
If you are okay with in-board sounds, Kawai MP series are really nice, affordable controllers. You may actually want some in-board sounds, so you are not so computer dependant, allow for more spontaneous playing, I suppose. Allows better portability as well. I bought one exactly for that purpose.
Last edited by Hemppa; 01/10/11 03:04 AM.
