Keyboard/Piano suggestions on a budget

spev11

My Niece is taking GCSE music and will need a piano/keyboard. Current plan is to get her a digital piano of good quality for Christmas but whilst we await the arrival I've been looking at midi controller keyboards so she can practice with GarageBand (she's already doing that on her phone but using the onscreen keyboard which is appalling). My brothers knowledge of keyboard is worse than mine (and mines terrible). I've read good things about the Nektar keyboards (Impact GX49 and 61) as they seem to have quite good build quality and key feel for the price. 
 Dont want to spend much now as it will be replaced fairly soon.
Anyone got any opinions/suggestions (that arent "spend £500 minimum or Donald Trump will invade Swansea" )

Axe2Grind

I can highly recommend getting a Roland Go-Piano 88. Its just under £300, it has midi so can interface with Garage band.
I purchased one as a present for my Daughter a few weeks ago and she absolutely loves it. I've been a keyboard player myself for over 40 years and I also think this is a brilliant keyboard. Its easy to use, sounds great, can stream music from a mobile phone to play along with and there is a mobile app for it to tweak sounds, practice, etc. The keyboard action is a nice semi-weighted action so good for all styles of playing.

Basher

The Nektar gear is indeed great value. I have the Impact LX49+ and it has been great. Not as sophisticated as some of the other controllers from Novation and Native Instruments etc. but much cheaper (and much more reliable than the Novation it replaced!).

There is a new MK3 series just out and they look even better with some great features. The great thing is that even if she does get a nice digital piano at a later date the Nektar will still be a useful tool for working with a DAW as you can map all sorts of stuff to the knobs and sliders (typically softsynth parameters) plus you have drum pads, an arpeggiator etc. (These are not features you'll get on a digital piano.)
They're also much lighter keyboards and therefore more portable and easier to use for collaborative work. 

spev11

Cheers both, I think the Nektar might be the one for now as the proper christmas piano will be up a couple of levels up, although if  decent Roland comes up used we could be tempted by that 

thecolourbox

Those Nektar midi keyboards do look good to be fair. Is the keyboard action/feel just like a generic midi keyboard feel? Can you get proper dynamics/velocity on them?

Basher

thecolourbox said:

Those Nektar midi keyboards do look good to be fair. Is the keyboard action/feel just like a generic midi keyboard feel? Can you get proper dynamics/velocity on them?

Yes, just a totally generic, unweighted feel. I don't think serious dynamic/velocity control would be possible (not that I could ever manage that anyway!). 

They are what they are, a budget keyboard for triggering VSTs, loops and drums and integrating with your DAW. As such, I think they're great value but they certainly wouldn't be your first choice for bashing out any Liszt or Chopin (or playing wedding receptions!).

spev11

Basher said:

thecolourbox said:

Those Nektar midi keyboards do look good to be fair. Is the keyboard action/feel just like a generic midi keyboard feel? Can you get proper dynamics/velocity on them?

Yes, just a totally generic, unweighted feel. I don't think serious dynamic/velocity control would be possible (not that I could ever manage that anyway!). 

They are what they are, a budget keyboard for triggering VSTs, loops and drums and integrating with your DAW. As such, I think they're great value but they certainly wouldn't be your first choice for bashing out any Liszt or Chopin (or playing wedding receptions!).

To be fair to her all the stuff she's played for me has leant hard into ambient,synthy soundscapes so I think for her personal stuff the Nektar will be a good option. Proper quiality piano for proper playing , nektar for synthing

fastonebaz

I bought a splendid digital keyboard piano with midi on FB marketplace for £40.  A great size,  300 sounds,  accompanied playing,  drums etc.   My daughter loves learning in it and I'm enjoying playing it too.  £40 I tells ya.  

thecolourbox

I was just thinking of when my Yamaha MX49 inevitably kicks the bucket - it looks similarly like a lightweight toy but slightly more compact so was thinking it might work nicely for my side table piano setup and for midi recording on the pc

Basher

thecolourbox said:

I was just thinking of when my Yamaha MX49 inevitably kicks the bucket - it looks similarly like a lightweight toy but slightly more compact so was thinking it might work nicely for my side table piano setup and for midi recording on the pc

The one criticism I have of the Nektar stuff is their total refusal to put a 5-pin midi out on them, all midi going via the usb connection. 

It's not a problem going into a laptop or a PC but makes it harder to use them with other hardware units. For instance, my Yamaha CK has a weighted keyboard but you can add an unweighted keyboard via a midi cable and use this for the organ and synth sounds. Not something I'd need to do but some players would find this useful. I'm guessing it's the same with your Roland.

I do have a couple of old synth modules (Novation Nova and a Roland JV1080) and again, it would be handy to be able to play them directly with the Nektar,  rather than having to go via the midi on my audio interface. That's the only reason I'd consider going for something like the Novation Launchkey over a Nektar. That said, the Nektar's value proposition (i.e. cheapness) would probably lead me to put up with such inconveniences!