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Hey guys, hows it goin, I was hoping yall could help me with some info about buying an electric piano/keyboard.

Here is my situation.
I'll be leaving for college next year and i want to continue playing the piano as a hobby. I have played since i was very young but then stopped for a long time and am just now getting back into it. I am relatively rusty and out of date on pianos. Growing up i have always played on an Electric Roland piano. I don't know much about it except its big, electric and looks like a piano. It has maybe 7 different synthesized instruments and 7 demo songs.
My dorm is obviously too small for such an instrument, so i was thinking of buying a keyboard of some kind. I would like if the keyboard sounded relatively like a piano, and i could transfer whatever i practice on keyboard to playing on a real piano. However the style of music i play might play a role in what i buy.
For the most part, I play classical style type music, but lately i have been getting interested in playing rock type piano, and even maybe playing electronic music.
If it helps that i describe the music type by band, the bese examples i can think of are
Dream Theater style rock.
and Radiohead style electronic.

My question is, what kind of piano should i buy that is relativly portable (preferably just the shape of a keyboard, not the full base and everything) has a good classic piano sound, but is still possible to play both rock and electronic types of music.

Honestly I don't know what is required for playing electronic style music. I am hoping rock and classical music are played relatively on the same instrument.

For the love of god someone help me.

Price range I am looking at is 500$ or less.

for your $500, maybe the only digital piano (with weighted keys) is Casio px100 at BestBuy, unless all you are looking for is a keyboard without weighted keys and with less than 88 keys, most of which cost less.

if there is some way you can stretch you budget a little bit, you may look into a used yamaha p80 or maybe something like a used roland fp-3 or rd-150.

I am not opposed to buying used. I might be able to stretch my budget a little bit. Do you have any particulars as to what kind of stuff i might need in order to play electronic type music. Is that a completely seperate set-up from a conventional keyboard or how does that work? What are some features I should be looking for in a keyboard.

again, you have to decide what actually you want to play on: (1) digital piano or (2) regular keyboard/synths. the main difference between (1) & (2) is the key action: weighted (like acoustic piano's) or not weighted (light touch although better models with sensitive level selection). if you played on an acoustic piano before, you may not get used to the light touch of (2). also, if you are intended to be able to play classical pieces at intermediate or even advanced level, the realistic piano key action (such as (1)) will be essential; otherwise, any synth keyboard will do provided that you only want to play on it for fun. for (2), $500 will get you a very good one (especially some latest models), which you can search any online dealer sites for some specs or prices.

you may search on web or on this forum to find out more information.

Are we talking musical instruments or toys? $500 is entry-level for a musical instrument.

500$ is ok to catch an old analog synth on e-bay.

If u are looking for some gears to make electronic music with, first of all check what kind of sound are u looking for, and then check www.vintagesynth.com . At least, u will start to have an idea about synths.

For a digital piano, it's a different kettle of fish.

$499 Casio PX100 Presario

i meant that sort of keyboards with less than 88 keys, which of course cost less than $500 and would be good enough for his purpose. hey, he is not going to be a professional keyboard musician anyway. actually, i know little about those professional synths stuff, but i do own a Yamaha keyboard (61-key) which was good enough to play for fun (even serious classical within key limitation) with all kind of voices stuff beside grand piano sound.

Ok, i have been doing some shopping around, do yall think this is a decent buy?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=key/search/detail/base_pid/701653/

it looks like the keyboard i have (psr-292, 61 keys), except with more features/software/rom stuff. i don't know what 'touch response' key means, which might be different from the 'touch sensitive' key as on mine. 32-polyphony sounds low though.

er i posted the wrong like before, meant to post this

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=key/search/detail/base_pid/701653/

now, it's a different story. i know nothing about this brand. it doesn't seem to have weighted key action though (see one review on that page). so, check its specs before deciding on it.

Hmm, do yall have any opinions on the Korg Triton Le 61-key?