Hi,
well I've been playing on acoustic all my life so i feel that i would really appreciate weighted keys. so ive been looking around at digital pianos, but i found that i also need a few good synth sounds for my church band. portability is an issue, most of the 88 keys i've seen that have meet my needs seem to lack in portability like the yamaha ypg 625/635.
if you could make any suggestions, i'd really appreciate it.
i've been searching the forums for a few days. o and my budget is about $1000.

and on another note. is it really true that casio lacks in comparison to yamaha or roland? because i've been reading some things on the forums...

Have you tried the Yamaha P140? Personally I liked it, but as I want a cabinet DP, I decided not to buy it. I only tried the piano sounds, so you would have to check out if the rest of the sounds would be satisfying. It should cost around $1000 in America (costs twice in Norway).

Also, I'm assuming Roland has some nice portables that would be fitting, and from what I understand, Roland has very good sounds in addition to the piano. But I have no personal experience with portable Rolands.

There are a lot of people on the forums who really like their Casio's(the Privia PX line particularly). For the price, they are hard to beat. The current lineup (PX-120, 200,320,720,and 800) have improved keyboard actions over the previous models, and their piano sounds are pretty good. The complete range uses the same action, with more features added as you go up the range. Yamaha has several keyboard actions in their range, that improve in quality of feel as you go up in price(with the Casio being better than the lowest end of the Yamaha). Roland seems to be well regarded in the area of both the action and the sound quality, but you have to pay considerably more for them. (for example, on the GuitarCenter web site, the Roland FP-4 is $1395US, vs $699 for the Casio PX-320

FP4 seems to be pretty portable.

After owning a YPG625 for a while, I was not very happy with the action feel (and some keys became too noisy). It is way too light compared to an acoustic.

Also, the 625 only has 32 polyphony, I think, which I didnt find out till later. The voices are decent, but comparing it to a real acoustic (and other instruments) really makes it sound like a toy. I think the Roland has much better voice reproduction (128 poly?), but Im not really positive on that.

I also found I used very little of all the recording/voice bells & whistles so all the stuff in the ypg625 didnt matter much (for me).

I've been very pleased with the Roland FP-4 since buying it a few months ago. It will cost a little more than your $1000 mark, but you shouldn't be disappointed. Small built-in speakers are helpful for practicing without setting up the amps, and it has enough useful, high-quality sounds in addition to the knock-out piano sounds. Others I play with have commented on the clarity of sound.

Good luck!

If you can get a Privia PX-200 from Casio, it will only set you back $500. I got mine for $400 when it was on sale, but I ended up buying other accessories (headphones, stand, etc.) and I spent $575 all together.

I am happy with my purchase and definitely recommend it if they are still available.

- Mark

I agree with Eternal and 20Fingers in recommending the Roland FP-4.

It is 33 lbs 12 oz.and easy to carry in a padded bag. The PHA alpha keyboard feels very much like my acoustic upright piano. It allows for dynamic expression and the speakers are high quality.

It's my 3rd keyboard after having a Yamaha and a Korg.