Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Opinion: M-Audio Digital Accent Vs. M-audio Prokeys 88?

Could anybody give me an opinion sound and keyboard feel for the M-Audio Digital accent and the prokeys 88?

Digital accent
M-Audio Prokeys 88

I am looking for a full 88 keys digital piano with weighted keys, a reasonably good feel and sound, but I cannot spend lots of money on it and space is also limited.
I heard good things of the prokeys 88, the onboard sounds are quite nice based on samples online, and I could probably get it second hand.
I also heard good things about the Digital Accent, but there are no reviews I could find. The price is low with included stand and triple pedals. Based on youtube the piano sound seems ok, not sure if on par with the prokeys. I do like that it seems to take a bit less space than other pianos, the price, the fact that speakers are integrated and it has recording capabilities. Based on what seems to motivate my child, recording with no laptop attached is an asset.

Right now, we have an m-audio 49i, which has a decent piano sound but of course does not feel like a piano much and has only 49 keys.
Of course what 'good sound and feel' means depends on the musician level. In our case, nobody is particularly proficient. My nearly 7 years old spends lots of time fiddling about with instruments, making his own melodies and has been taking lessons for one year now. I think playing something more similar to a real piano would help him. My wife can play a bit and has good ear, but will only practise occasionally. I play other instruments but right now very little piano.

M-audio seems to offer a very good quality/price compromise, but of course I would consider other brands and models in that price (and size) bracket.

Thanks so much for reading and for any advice!

First and foremost: Just forget about those fake reviews.

M-Audio Accent is just the usual OEM Medeli crap you find under various "brands". They are not worth their money, because the tech is more than a decade old, while the price didn't go down at all. Casio & Yamaha have way better offerings at that price range:

Check these offerings: Casio CDP-120 Yamaha P-45

I personally tested the ProKeys 88SX for a few days and M-Audio simply skipped the step of calibrating the sensors, so each key had his individual velocity curve. I wasn't even able to play an even scale on that thing and returned it. Not worth the called price, too. Yamaha Piaggero NP has fewer keys with better touch response and of course a better sound.

I owned an M-Audio Prokeys 88 (Fully Weighted) and it was hands down the worst digital piano I have ever played.
First its action was loud as heck it would make metallic clunking noises when I pressed a key.
Second the black keys would instantly go to full velocity while the white ones didn't.
Third I started getting tendonitis after about 2 months.

And finally the G4 key became dead after 6 months. I didn't bother to try to sell it.
I put it into the box and stored it in a closet. Three years later I thought about fixing the key myself and selling it.
When I pulled it out of the box, they keys were YELLOW not tinted, yellow like a lemon!

At which point I took it to the local landfill and paid them $5 to dispose of it!

Thanks so much for you reply, probably not what I wished to hear but you saved me from taking a (pretty yellow) lemon.
If I may ask, what do you think a good alternative might be?

Thanks so much for all the advice.
This prompted researching a bit what makes for a good digital piano, in relation to what an actual piano allows in terms of expressivity.

Thanks for the links. The casio looks like a pretty good deal. I read somewhere that there was a problem with short sustain when pressing the pedal, but only one mention so perhaps incorrect.
I am somewhat tempted with the yamaha P-115 of the casio px-150, because of the better keys action supposedly, and the recording capabilities which might interest my kid, but admittedly prices are a bit too high for my budget.

If you tried both the P-45 and the CDP 120 which you linked, do you have a preference?

Thanks so much!

Edit: Actually, I need to check if I can sell some stuff to make for the price difference, but, based on info on this forum, I might just go for this one and hopefully keep it for quite a few years.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/kawai_es_100_deluxe_bundle.htm?sid=c9aca6b2751c15a974d330a6c13a94a2

I tried neither of them, but both offer the most you can get at this budget (while M-Audio and Medeli OEM brands don't, they are just overpriced low-quality tech, dated and not worth their price).

The Casio CDP-120 is a remnant sale at a special price, the current model CDP-130 sells for the same price as the Yamaha P-45. Best is to try them out all and let your personal preference decide.

Thanks, I'll look for a shop which might stock them both then.

I agree with the other posters. The CASIO offerings are much better so is a used Yamaha. A DX-505 or P35 would work and can be had for about $300 USD. I've seen them cheaper. I replaced my ProKeys with a CASIO PX-330 and it lasted about 4 or 5 years and still worked perfectly when I sold it for slightly over half what I paid for it.