Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards I don’t even know what to start looking at.

I’m looking for an inexpensive (less than $200) and very portable keyboard to take with me to my ukulele group - to fill in some of our songs with other instrument sounds (like horns, etc), in addition to piano. Is this even possible in this price range? How many keys? 68? Fewer? Would much appreciate any ideas you all might have. Probably want a sustain pedal? And ability to hook it up to an amplifier? Totally clueless on this. Help!

Any of the PSR keyboards would suffice, though they don't have hammer action keybpards. They are still playable at gigs and churches and do the job.
The cheaper DGXs will introduce the 88 note keyboard and many of the PSR sounds too.
Whatever you get, make sure you have good memory banks (presets) for easy recall of the different instruments you want to use.

Are you willing to use some technology? At that price, there are some usable controllers that you could hook up to a phone, tablet, or computer to make the sounds you're looking for.

Depending on the tech you're comfortable with, different options make more sense than others. If you have and are willing to use a Mac laptop, for instance, the amount and quality of sounds you get for $30 with MainStage is unbeatable.

Is there any amplification already available that you can plug in to?

I'm confused. You have posted at this site nearly 7,000 times ... and you don't know what to start looking at?

7,000 posts? Really?

Dave, you make an interesting observation:But upon closer inspection we see that this is his first post this year, followed by only one last year, three in 2013, one in 2011, one in 2010, and six in 2009.

This is only his 50th post in ten years!

Most of his posts were written fifteen years ago, and most were in the Coffee Room where non-piano subjects are the norm.

Given that info, his question is not odd at all.

Even if the OP posted hundreds of times a day for the last month, remember that this is PianoWorld, not DigitalPianoWorld. It's possible for a user to be very active in the Piano or Pianist forums and not have a clue about portable digital pianos and keyboards. In fact, I'd wager that is the rule rather than the exception. Let's try to be friendly here

For <$200 and something lightweight, you're not going to find anything really "piano-like" in terms of touch. Your best bet for the uke accompaniment may be an unweighted synth keyboard. A Yamaha Piaggero NP12 is $180, 61 keys, has built in speakers. I don't think it has any horn sounds though (mainly a small collection of piano and electric piano/harpsichord sounds). A Casio CTK-2400 is $100 and has 400 sounds (so probably some horns in there, probably also helicopter and car crash sounds).

If you want something for actual piano playing, that has a feel approaching a real piano, you're looking at closer to $400 minimum for something with 88 weighted keys (but the digitals in this price range are bare minimum and typically hard to strongly recommend).

A used PSR or a Casio would do the trick.

Casio WK series . . .

Roland Go:Keys

Yamaha PSR 3xx, which I think is touch-sensitive, or 4xx.

With that budget, perhaps Guitar Center "used gear" list, or Craigslist.

For US$175 the new Casio CT-X700 sounds pretty amazing! (link to product page)

*snort*

Yes, really! It’s been ages since I’ve posted here, And this place has undergone multiple facelifts since I started (my first post was probably back in 1999, right around the time Frank started it all, I think). Pretty sure the digital forum wasn’t around when I was an everyday poster. When the coffee room bit the dust after the 2004 election, many of us who were drawn to this place because of our love of pianos and stayed because of a diverse group of new friends moved to a couple of other forums so we could continue to [strike]argue[/strike] talk about whatever.

We do own a good Roland keyboard with weighted keys, as well as a Walter grand, so I’m not concerned about the feel, but rather the portability and the sound. I appreciate all of your suggestions - and will check them out, thank you! (BTW, I never thought, at my age, I could learn another instrument, but the Ukulele is a HOOT! )

Oh, and - the helicopter and car crash comment cracked me up.

jodi, sorry to give you a hard time earlier.

I guess it was the commitment to the ukulele that pushed me over the edge.

Ahahahaha! Did sound a bit like a trick question, with that thrown in! But seriously - the ukulele is a lot of fun. Especially if you get a tenor and add a low G string - way better sound than the soprano, IMHO. I’m having the most fun with finger picking the chords - I think playing the piano helps that skill, moving the fingers independently.

Well, just sayin'? No way I could be happy as a keys-playing muso for $200. Expand the budget, let's talk?