Category: Jam Session
I'm thinking about possibly learning to play piano, but I don't currently have a piano or keyboard of any kind. I am not ready for a real piano yet, due to cost and space constraints, but I would still like to find something that feels and sounds somewhat like a real piano. I don't particularly care for synthetic sounding instruments. If anyone has any recommendations for a MIDI keyboard that I could use with GarageBand on the Mac, I'm thinking that might be a good place to start, but a regular keyboard isn't out of the question either. Any suggestions would definitely be appreciated.
Update: I ended up getting the Roland A-88 midi keyboard controller.
I don't know how much this will help since you already got something, but the Privia keyboards are great for what you want. I don't own one myself but I've played several gigs where I had to play on one of those and I loved them. They feel and sound great, and they even have a basic selection of sounds including an electric piano, organ, and strings, on top of the great piano sound. Pretty much the essential sounds any keyboardist should have. They're accessible, with basically an on/off switch and dedicated buttons for each of the sounds and features. I've even considered getting one myself if I start dorming at my university because they're really slim and compact.
I so want a vintage electric keyboard bass and a Vox Continental organ.
Please excuse this geek out, but me too! I love vintage keyboards and I wish to some day have a decent collection of them. I had expressed some interest in buying my first one and my piano instructor was able to guide me through it. Have you ever considered buying them? When doing my research, I was surprised at how relatively cheap they were. A vintage guitar can run for tens of thousands of dollars, but I was surprised a lot of people see these beauties as obsolete technology and sell them cheap. I eventually settled on a Hammond M3, and now I'm trying to save up to hopefully buy a B3 or C3 someday soon. In my opinion, nothing in this world can sound as beautiful and soulful as a Hammond through a Leslie.
Don't have the money, or the space.
Thanks for the pro tip on the Privia keyboards. My pro keyboard days are long in the past, but if I were to get something now I would want a digital piano with a few other sounds.
And oh yeah to those of you talking older keyboard instruments. I rebuilt a Fender Rhodes Electric piano back in college via trial and error. Probably more error than trial.
But anyway those older keyboards are fun to play on, but the electromechanical pianos are a pain in the ass to maintain especially when gigging.
Analog synthesis was a blast, and learning the art of creating patches or even on the fly modulations when gigging is a lost art.
I'm not prepared to drop thousands on gear anyhow. These days it's a couple stringed instruments for me.
Also, though I had pianos also, they get expensive to maintain. Which is why going forward I would get me a digital piano and warm it up with a nice set of cabs or something. My info is out of date, but Crate used to make some nice keyboard amps, even though they were all solid state. Remember 20 years ago it was actually harder to get tubes than it is now.
Plus most keyboard guys never played on tube gear unless it was the original Hammond organs or something. Digital has come a long long way from the Yamaha DX7 of 30 years ago, for as innovative a board as that was at that time. It was really sharp and, well, digital sounding.
I would say that at the very least you should get something that has a stereo piano sound as well as some sort of stereo system to play it through, be that an amp or just a decent pair of headphones. Having it in stereo brings out that little something that makes all the difference and could make even a beginner level keyboard sound a lot better. If I remember correctly though, the Privvias come with a good pair of onboard speakers.
Would be awesome to play on a melotron, though I've read they're a pain in the ass to maintain because they operate on huge banks of magnetic audio tape.
So how much would it cost to get a "piece of furniture" full size digital piano with cabs and the works?
I mean the 3 pedals pianists are accustomed to. And with buttons for a number of keyboard sounds, maybe your typical piano selections, digital piano selections, vibes, strings, a bit of organ maybe, and so on.
Plus a swell pedal for the string, I don't know. Would rather, if I drop dough, get an all in one, turn it on, play it, turn it off. Maybe put some nice headphones in the back for playing it when the Chick is doing something else or sleeping.
I know if you're gigging or a pro, an all-in-one isn't for you. Not into getting the lecture on that stuff. I'm just a middle aged white guy that would, with the right circumstances, drop some dough on an all-in-one I could put in my apartment.
I found this Williams console digital piano on Musician's Friend.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/keyboards-midi/williams-overture-88-key-digital-piano
I just took a quick look at the results so can't give you much more at the moment, but this (at $600) seems to be at around where they start for what you're looking for. I've never played Williams instruments myself so can't really comment on they're quality, but it's got an average review of 4 out of five. The description on Musician's Friend says it has the three pedal modes, but it doesn't say if it specifically has a dedicated pedal for each. I've never heard of any of these digital pianos having a swell pedal like you want, but you can always buy a separate pedal and run the output through that before sending it to you're headphones or speakers.
Most Williams digital pianos look and feel like an upright. They have the three peddles to simulate the real piano feel and do come with your basic strings, organ, Rhodes, and vibes, and clav sounds. They're exactly what you're looking for.
Anyone played on a real Hammond organ? No, not one of those pieces of crap people used to buy to put in their living rooms, I mean the Hammond's made for the serious musician. If so, what's it like? Easy? Hard? Are there a shitload of sliders and switches and knobs?
I bought my Hammond M3 from a guy who buys Hammonds to remodel and resell them. When I went to pick it up he had a B3 with matching Leslie he was working on that he let me play with. It was mostly in working condition with only the pedals missing. It was an incredible experience. The sound of a real Hammond going through a real working Leslie speaker puts anything digital and simulated I've ever heard to shame. As for the controls, they're not much more different from the M3 that I have, just a bit more expanded to match the bigger instrument. Both manuals have their own set of 9 drawbars, as well as designated switches for percussion and vibrato, and the pedals have their own set of drawbars as opposed to the M3's single pedal drawbar. The Leslie is controlled by a lever to the left of the lower manual that kind of works like a mod wheel on a synth except it moves left and right instead of forward and back. What would be the lowest octave of keys on both manuals is actually a set of buttons that are assigned to presets. They feel like regular keys except that they stay down once you press them until you press the one key that's assigned to clear the preset, which I believe is the lowest key. Also, I think the colors are inverted on this octave so that the "natural" keys are black and the "Sharps" are black. Very simple, very easy to use. I love the design of hammonds because of this. Everything just feels right, if that makes sense. Once you learn which bank of switches or drawbars goes where, there's not much more to it.
Interesting. I've only ever seen the crummy home organs with the rocker switches and knobs. The one the family used to have had a motor that would hum real loud. Always wanted to play guitar through a leslie, too.