Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Help me find the ultimate portable keyboard

I've had an old inherited Yamaha CS1x for quite a while. I've recently grown tired of it and feel the desire to trade it in for something funner.

Of course the thing isn't worth much (about $200) so I'm on a small budget. I was originally planning to throw in an extra $500 for a Casio PX350, but the truth is that I don't feel like spending that much money. I'm still willing to throw in an extra $100 though.


What I need is something with at least 73 keys, built in speakers, and a decent feeling keybed. The lighter the better, I'd love to have something to travel with.

Right now I'm looking at the Yamaha NP-31 and the the Yamaha YPG-235.
Although the NP-31 probably feels better, the YPG-235 looks like a lot more fun.
I'm not really looking for something that feels entirely realistic, I'm just looking for something portable that I can jam with and possibly make cheap composition layouts on.


I don't feel constrained to anything new either. If there is an older keyboard that fits my description, please don't hesitate to post.

Thanks.

A 76-key (A to C, thanks) PX-330 would be awesome - I hope they do one......

Greg.

How about the Yamaha NP V60? It's like the NP-31, it also comes with graded light action. It adds a screen, accompaniments, arrangements and lots of sounds. It's also quite affordable.



That would be terrific. A 5 1/2 octaves version would also be great.

NPV 60 does not have hammer action. Nothing like piano at all.

I know it but if you read the original post, you'll see that it may fit the OP's requirements.

True, sometimes I forget this is also keyboard forum, maybe because digital pianos are discussed much more :-)
I had NP-V80 for few months and it's very portable.
If I didn't want hammer action, I would most likely keep it.

The NP-V80 is a fun, versatile, very portable keyboard. The piano sound is not as good as in the NP-30/31, though, so there is a trade-off.

I see you've owned a Yamaha DGX640 too.

Do they make a more portable version of that board? Something dumbed down feature and weight-wise that still feels and sounds good?

Even if it was an older keyboard that I can buy used now.

DGX640 is portable, but it's bigger and much heavier than NP-V80.
Yamaha P-95/105 is lighter, has same action, but no extra features (accompaniments...).
If you plan to carry it a lot and don't need hammer action, I would prefer NP-V80.

If "realistic piano action and tone" isn't a priority . . .

There are a couple of Casio synths -- XW-G1 and XW-P1 -- that might be interesting.

They're both 61-key, "synth-action" keyboards. The piano sounds aren't as good as the PX-x50 series, but they're flexible PCM-based synths (250 tones) with tone-editing capabilities.

The G1 is specialized for "groove" work, the P1 (I think) has some fairly serious multi-oscillator "virtual analog" synth capabilities. The XW-G1 weighs 5.4 kg (about 12 pounds).

Guitar Center has several available used, for various prices.

. charles