Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Studiologic sl88Studio vs Korg D1 ??? (ik its weird)

Hi fellow pianists! Looking for a nice keybed in a midi controller (I mostly play piano live) I found the Studiologic sl88, wich is almost perfect for me (if it JUST had a couple pads/buttons to change sounds on the fly and some ribbons to adjust volume...).
I was practically sold, I loved everything: the design, the price, read very nice reviews about the keybed... until I saw Korg D1 at same price and thought "why not?"
D1 does NOT have: exp pedal IN and mod wheels/joystick wich I use (ocassionally, but I do), but it does have internal sounds (not needed but nice to have just in case) and an apparently VERY HOT RH3 keybed wich I found its praised by many online.

So the question is wich keybed would be best? I think Sl88studio has Fatar Tp100 and Korg RH3.
IF RH3 were to be best, would it be SO much better that its worth to sacrifice exp pedal and mod wheels?
Ok 2nd question is very subjective and personal, but I would love to read your opinions on the 1st one.

TX in advanced and I hope to read your thoughts on this matter. Cheers!

Just small clarification if you didn't notice it already. Kawai keybed is named RHIII but many people when reviewing their Kawai keyboards drop the name "Kawai" and spell the keybed as RH3. You can guess the results :-)

I think virtually everyone would agree that Korg RH3 is better than the Fatar TP/100 in the SL88. Whether it's better enough to be worth the trade-off you mentioned would be an individual decision, as you realize. But also, Sl88 is being replaced by SL88 MK2 with the Fatar TP/110, which is an improvement, so the comparison then may be more debatable. It's also worth noting, since you play live, that the D1 will be heavier to carry around. Another point worth mentioning is that you can get devices to add an expression pedal. Not sure about wheels/joystick these days.

Studiologic SL88 Mk 2 is the way to go. Better action than SL88 Studio (which is now obsolete I presume). But also has USB audio interface, which is going to make connecting to external sounds a doddle. It's also cheaper than Korg D1 on Thomann.

The D1 is okay and I personally like the Korg action but you'll be fiddling around with MIDi cables and MIDI/USB adaptors etc, and it's quite heavy.

Thank you all! Ok, so after thorough analysis I decided to go with the SL88 Studio, you see:
-its a little bit (3kg) lighter than D1. I gig often so the less weight the better
-It has mod wheels, so I can go crazy on that synth solo!
-Exp pedal, so I can sound cool using organs, expressive while soloing with leads or using pads and many other stuff
-And I like the surface it has, I can pile some other gadgets on it...

so all those little pro ended up beating just the presumably better keybed, I think sl88 studio will be good enough to do some piano gigs. If not I can always sell it and get another
The only thing missing would be some pads/buttons to change sounds FAST and knobs to adjust their volume LIVE. But Ill just throw some cheap pad/knob midi control surface and solved!
Korg was really close to getting picked, maybe next model would have mod wheels and exp pedal and they totally win at 88keys gigging midi controller.

Hi, thanks for replying! There are no MK2 advertized on sell yet in my country, maybe I can order it but I dont think I could afford it...
Weird thing, speaking of prices, you mentioned MK2 being cheaper than D1, thats insane! In my country D1 is cheaper than sl88 Studio! what the heck?

Oh I forgot... IT ALSO HAS AFTERTOUCH (so I can trigger pads underneath my piano/EP sounds, or whathaveyou)