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Hello to all,
I posted on the Adult beginners forum as I am both...in fact 62 and wanting something to learn the piano/keyboard on...never expecting any acoustic piano in my future, something that I will enjoy but not expecting to play for anyone else and I want to be able to fiddle with interfacing to my computer. Size is important as I live full time in an RV and right or wrong, I will likely not have much, if any, formal instruction.

As such, I am am looking at the DGX230 or WK500. They fit my price range although I would consider others that might be a bit higher. I need to stay in the 48 inch long area and no more than 16 inches wide for storage considerations.

I will visit some music stores next month (I am out in the boonies right now) So I want to have a good idea of what I might get.

You help will be extremely important....so thanks in advance

A full size 88 piano is only about 4 inches widener than 48". 53" is a typical size. See if you can't go the extra few inches.

Next you have to decide if you are studying in "keys" or "piano". The former includes sounds like electronic, analog synths, organs and so on. The later means you have weighted hammers inside.

If you are interrested in piano then you really do need the weighted hammer action keys.

But if you want to play string, flute, saxophone and other sounds then it's different.

Also if you plan from the start to be playing through a MIDI connected computer then all yu are looking at for the music keyboard is a controller with sliders, pitch beand wheel and knos and maybe some pads And you don't care so much about the built-in features.

I think the firt step is to define your goals better and decide on either piano or "other keyboard instruments"

The WK500 is a reasonably good all-rounder. The piano voices are fair, but a little difficult to play expressively on the rather light action. There are plenty of other tones built-in, some of which are quite good. However, in the Casio WK range, I would personally look out for one of the earlier models in the 3000 series (particularly the 3700 and 3800). Even though the specs are a little lower on paper, I found the sounds to be more playable and satisfying, and the addition of a modulation wheel is useful. You'd have to check the physical depth, as they were quite bulky instruments.

I don't know the DGX230, but having owned one of the DGX range in the past, I'd say that Yamaha's lighter action keyboards are better than the equivalent from Casio, and generally offer better dynamic control. Also, some of Yamaha's sounds are, IMO, more pleasing - they have a "smoother", more sophisticated tone. You might find that you remain more satisfied with the Yamaha over the longer term.

As for the possibility of weighted action, as ChrisA says, if you can fit those extra few inches into your RV you'll be able to have something that emulates a piano more closely, and will enable you to advance further as a player, if that is your ultimate goal. If you want to consider a weighted keyboard, you should check out the Korg SP170 and Casio PX-130, either of which can be bought for $500 or less.

The more I read and the more replies I receive I get the picture that weighted keys really are more important that I realize. Since I really do want some sort of auto-accompaniment then the obvious choice (to me) is the Casio Px-330. I guess the next question is the 330 worth the increase in price over the 130. The extra voices would seem a plus but only if they are quality sounds....and I guess the rhythms fall in to the same boat. I would seem that I need to set my sights a little higher and make a little more room in the RV. More research and ADVICE is needed....thanks to all of you
HENRY

Henry,
I have the PX-330. Please take what I say as my OPINION only - and I tend to be critical.

The 330 does a lot of things quite well. The rhythms and accompaniments are there, sound OK, and are easy to access - I believe that there is some editing capability as well, although I never use those features so can't really comment. It's useful that you can set up your own preferred patches and registrations and save them to a memory. You can also record and save songs to an SD card, which is useful for hearing how well you're progressing. The connectivity - midi, USB, line-in and -out etc. is all great.

Now for the sounds. The main (modern) grand piano sound is pretty good. The upper-mid register is the weakest, with a rather dead sound in the samples around the octave above middle-C. Overall though, it is very well implemented and better than one might expect for the price, with a lot of dynamic variation. The classic grand piano appears to be the same sample, re-EQ'd with some of the high frequencies rolled off. The electric pianos are not bad, with a good selection. I find there are one or two that are quite playable, although they suffer a little from only having two velocity levels that switch quite sharply. I dislike the organs a lot. The strings are so-so - although there is a lovely warm pad - and I haven't done much with rest of the sounds. However, there are some quite good saxes, some interesting Japanese and other "world" instruments, and one or two OK synth patches, made more useable by the pitch-bend wheel.

This is not a workstation with 2000-dollar sounds. However, it is a very fair piano with a lot of bonus features. The great thing is its portability. I don't think you'll find another instrument out there that offers so much with an 88-key weighted action and yet weighs only 25lbs. It is also very slim.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a learning tool. However, if you're looking for top-end synth sounds, this will not satisfy you.