This is a picture from my wife's studio. It shows a Yamaha P120 on a Quik-Lok W550 stand. The Quik-Lok BZ-7 bench is in the foreground. A Groove Tubes SFX Space Station Mk. II sits underneath. This is a wide-angle shot, so the bench looks a bit bigger than it actually is.

The stand has an optional rail mounted on the back two legs, upon which is mounted the 3-sheet music stand.

I would highly recommend the stand and bench, but the amp is a bit boomy (though it sounds OK as keyboard amps go, and it can play really loud - I will probably replace it with something more high fidelity in the future).

Just wanted to show people that a metal stand can be very functional, and at the same time look nice.

That looks like a very clean arrangement.

Do you experience any unpleasant vibrations with the metal stand placed on a wooden floor?

Merry Christmas!

Cheers,
James
x

Due to the way they are hinged together underneath, the metal legs have a tiny bit of relative "give" to them, which helps them adapt to the uneven floor. They also have rubber feet, and there are rubber sliding things that the keyboard rests on. The keyboard feels very secure on it, no vibration at all. This stand can easily hold hundreds of pounds.

Merry Christmas to you too!

Hey dewster, that looks pretty nice.

I like the idea of the optional rail mounted on the back two legs...the music rest looks very sturdy.

100 times better than the music rack that came with my P-85...what a cool idea.

The Logitech Z-2300 would make a fine amp/speaker system for the piano...I'm on several other keyboard forums, and this system was discovered (basically by accident) to sound incredibly good with digital pianos and arranger keyboards.

The sub brings out the low notes of the piano so that you get that characteristic "clank", and the two satellites can be mounted on the wall on either side, or put on stands, and really reproduce the mids and highs with exceptional clarity.

It's not flat like monitors, but it is optimized for the range of the piano...far better than any pricey monitors I've tried...under $200 too.

It's quite loud as well, but a "quality" loud, if you get my meaning.

Thanks for the info...I'll be sure and pass it on to my buddies looking for a good sturdy setup, especially with that excellent music rack.

Merry Christmas,

Snazzy

This is the first metal stand I like

dewster: Looks great! Do you have a pic of the backside showing the sheet stand and it's attachment? Who is the maker of the sheet stand? I'm trying to come up with a sheet stand for my Studiologic midi controller. This is what I have so far, but it just sits on top of the keyboard. The CG is a little high and I'm worried that it might tip over easily.

Wow, your music rest is very nice! Are those CAD drawings?

On ours, the two back legs are placed in a straight back position, parallel to each other, and the accessory bar WS-562 (shown here upside down) is clamped on through pre-existing holes in the legs:



Then the Z-729 3-page sheet music holder is clamped onto that:



Here is a picture taken from the side with a lot of gamma boost to bring out the details:



The vertical bar has a hole in the top to accept a post from the holder, which is clamped in the hole via a small turn-screw. The holder post is attached to the holder via a sheet metal bracket and a larger clamping turn-screw, so the front-to-back angle can be adjusted. There is no height adjustment, but I guess you could mount the WS-562 bar upside down to make the music rest lower.

Here is a better picture of the WS-550 stand itself. You can see the sliding rubber things that the keyboard sits on (being hard rubber, they don't slide too easily or too hard) and the height adjustment on each leg. It gets very compact when folded up, and is much sturdier than it looks (it's made to hold large heavy keyboards, PA speakers, DJ gear, etc.):



With our P-120 sitting on the stand, I measured the height of the key tops from the floor and got 29", which is exactly the same as our Young Chang grand piano. Pretty sweet.

dewster:. Yes, they are CAD drawings, one of the benefits of my job is I can use the software to design stuff at home. The stand is a work in progress, I'm not quite able to do what I want with it.


Thanks for the pictures and the model number of the stand, I may see if I can adapt to the stand I am using.

Though I haven't given the Z-2300 a spin, I've tried several PC sound systems as audio for DPs, and they generally can't handle the dynamic range without distorting, and don't have a flat enough frequency response to be considered high fidelity.

No disrespect, but they use very inexpensive drivers coupled with poor (or no) crossovers, and underpowered, overspeced amplifiers.

I'd rather sink my cash into decent drivers and amplifiers, though the only way to do that without breaking the bank is to DIY.

Here is one of our monitor / PA setups:



And here are some of the assembly steps:

http://mysite.verizon.net/tammie_eric/audio/he_crate/he_crate.html

Placing them on the floor gives the best bass.

I'm building something much smaller next time, with a sub, and will be designing my own crossover (for the second time).

I see that stand (for 89) at musicians friend but they don't even seem to be selling it as a keyboard stand but instead one for mixers/speakers. The one review though says he's using it for a keyboard. Anyway that looks fantastic not to mention your whole set-up. It's amazing how almost every keyboard stand puts the keys at around 31"...and it looks like you could even get it lower if you wanted. The stand for the p155 i have (yamaha stand intended for it) puts the keys at 28 5/8" which just feels so much more comfortable than the X stand height I had befor which was like i said at around 31".

Have anybody actually tried the Z-2300 and gave it a negative feedback?

Try Google. One reviewer said "highs are tinny, bass is muddy". This is expected from PC speakers. But is that what you want from your piano?

My teacher has that stand under her DP (next to her 9' grand). It's rock steady, and minimal = attractive. I got Casio's stand, though, because I eventually want to get the pedal board for it. I like her metal stand enough, though, to have briefly considered figuring out a way to saw the pedals out of the board and make a box for them.

The 3-page music stand is no longer available. The fact that the height is not adjustable is also a drawback. I find when I use it, it is either a bit too high or a bit too low. (You can mount the accessory bar facing up or down which will provide the two heights.

Lawrence

You could be right, but I see it for sale on many web sites, though generally out of stock - but that generally doesn't mean too much when it comes to Quik-Lok - you often have to order something for them to send a shipment to the US. At least, that's been my experience.

You are right about the height adjustment being rather radical, though at the highest setting (the accessory bar mounted on top of the legs) it isn't any higher than the music rest on our grand piano.

I saw that too, kind of strange. Even the official Quik-Loc page (US) lists it as a mixer stand. I'm pretty sure the retailer I bought it from several years ago had it listed as a keyboard stand. Obviously Quik-Lok makes all kinds of keyboard stand-type accessories for it.

I believer the On-Stage WS8550 is a copy of it, and zZounds says it can be used with large format keyboards.


I loath X stands. I got rid of our rather expensive double-X 3-tiered model as fast as I could. No legroom, and the height adjustments are often either way too high or way too low.

That, and they look like someone forgot to put away the ironing board.

This is a pretty cool setup. I'm trying to figure out a setup for myself at the moment, and I completely forgot to think about the sheet music holder (just took it for granted I guess). I tried looking up the parts you mentioned, and like Melodialworks said, it seems like the holder has been discontinued. I can still find the optional bar in some places though. Do you know if any other holders work with that? I tried checking out the Quik-Lok site, and it only mentioned that the WS-562 was for the Z-727, Z-729, and Z-730 (and only the Z-729 is a sheet music holder).

The music rest is often super important, and the taller and wider the better. Not sure why it is such an afterthought on so many DPs.


That is the only holder I know of that will fit the bar. Try calling someone who lists it and see if it is just out of stock, or discontinued. I think Quik-Lok is kind of a small outfit that does batch manufacture more or less on-demand.

I'm bumping this in the hopes that more suggestions/pics will be posted.

dewster, I think your setup looks awesome. (Thanks for sharing!) I'll definitely be using it as a guide when I start buying my stuff in a few months. The only things I would have to add are the speaker and stands. Also, it sounds like the holder is discontinued, and only certain models will work with the bar...? I think one that's height-adjustable would be great.

I ended up changing the design of the music stand above, looks more industrial now rather than "artistic". It is three pages wide and I did make mine height adjustable, but you have to unbolt it to do so. I figured that once I found I height I like, I wouldn't be adjusting it. The keyboard stand is an On-Stage WS8700 (or parts of it anyway) The music stand bolts to existing holes on the keyboard stand.



Mine isn't anywhere near as clean looking as dewster's wife's setup, although I do think I did do a pretty decent job of cable management.

Peanutty: I guess you've seen this thread? (I wish I had posted my stuff under it):

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthrea...html#Post691417

I like the use of shelving to hold the music rest and speakers in the first picture. Gets you away from custom stuff, and gives you plenty of extra room to hold other equipment, etc.


Feeble: That's a sweet setup! Very nice cable management. What are you using for the music light?

Thanks so much for posting this thread! I was just about to fork out for the Roland KS-G8 stand for my RD-700GX, but seeing this stand (which I'd looked at before) in a real environment it actually looks really nice (and more affordable). And the attachable music sheet holder is fantastic!

Can I ask, is the stand rock solid in terms of stability? ie no movement/rocking etc when you get heavy on the keys?

Cheers,
Manachi

It's very solid. More solid than any X stand I've tried, as solid or more solid than any Z stand I've tried.

If you have trouble finding the attachments, use the shelf method in the link posted above as it is probably less expensive and definitely more versatile.

Thanks for the response!

Hmm after looking around the attachments do indeed seem to be out of stock. Unforuntately I'm in a rented place of residence, so can't really put shelves into the wall Wow you' think there'd be more available options/brands etc for music holders out there?! does anyone know of any others?

There's always the option of getting a full height floor based stand I guess and just putting it behind it - not as elegant, but it would certainly do the job

It's a Mighty Bright Duet2. I ordered a magnetic base that is stuck to the back of the sheet music stand. I had to order the base directly from Mighty Bright.

Cool industrial look. Must be nice to know how to design things Nice cable work as well. Are those cable ties?

dewster, thanks for the link. But that shelving is a beast! I'd definitely need more space for that kind of setup.

I'm in the same situation as well. I live in a rental, and space is limited. I like dewster's setup because it looks very modern and clean. And that wide music holder is great!

If an (adjustable) attachment can't be found, then I also think a floor-based stand may be my only option.

Here's my similar setup:


The Z-type stand seems very sturdy to support my Roland RD700gx, or Yamaha S80 and it has several expansion options, but if I'd known about the WS-550 stand I might have considered that instead since it looks super stable.

I agree taht the Z-729 music stand is nice but lacks height adjustment (it's too high!), but I wanted a 2nd tier for a non weighted keyboard anyway to play the fabulous RD700gx organ sounds with organ feeling keys so I figured out a way to also have a second tier for the 2nd manual AND have the music stand as well, but I had to use the narrowest midi keyboard I could find: Roland PC-100 (on ebay), which is not velocity sensitive, but I just wanted it for organ which doesn't use touch sensitivity anyway.

The Roland SA300 stereo amplifier sounds GREAT!!! and it's very light and portable keeping the subwoofer in a second cabinet. I found a way to put the stereo cabinet under the keyboard for a more realistic piano sound using a Quik-Lok Z-711 add on shelf which mounts onto the z-stand crossbar allowing me to put my pedals underneath. Cool!!!

And the Z-711 utility shelves are a great addition to support my Kaoss Pad and PadKontrol which has a switch pedal input that I use to turn the leslie vibrato effect on/off. I can record phrase loops into the Kaoss Pad KP3 with organ and piano, or with the pad control to play the RD700gx drum sounds. I might then solo over phrases with the Moog theremin through the Kaoss Pad KP2 which gives it a more vocal quality using the KP2 formant filter.

Connecting all these pieces of equipment without a MIDI patchbay or computer required the use of MIDI Solutions Thru and Merge boxes, as well as their Pedal Control box to add a controller pedal for an organ volume pedal. MIDI Solutions boxes are expensive so maybe I should’ve just used a computer for a midi patchbay, but I don't like to rely on computers in performance situations.

I recently discovered a great height adjustable bench that is much more stable than the X type ones and is very quick to setup and fold up for transport, but a bit heavier. The height adjustment is very quick also which would make it ideal for teaching. Zzounds had the bench for only $40 and $1 shipping which is a great price. I found the other quik-lok accessories were available and cheapest at bhphotovideo.