Hi sk880 user. I've been struggling to make a decision on the SK880 keyboard. I like everything else about it except for the sounds. This is a dilemna for me because there is really nothing else out there (88 weighted keys with killer sequencer). What do you think of this idea? I was going to buy a Roland JV1010 and map it sounds to the SK880. This way, I can get the sounds that I want and use the other features of the SK880. Let me know if this would be easy to do.

Is it true that there is a scsi option for the SK880? Do you know if there is going to be "Pro" version with the Real Piano sounds?

What do you like most about this keyboard and what bothers you the most? Please be specific.

Thanks

Hello,

I like my keyboard a lot. As acoustic piano player, I would really wish I have the same sound as the top Yamaha clavinova, Yamaha P80 would do, at least give me the physical modeling of PRO2. Nevertheless, I am comparing sk880 with the best. When it comes to arranger keyboards, no keyboard has a decent piano sound (I have not heard the x1).

Concerning other sounds and styles, sk880 is superior in styles and sounds than Roland EM2000, G1000, Yamaha PSR8000, KORG i30.

I First keyboard I examined was the wk8, the moment I played one chord...... ONE CHORD.... on the piano, I turned my face from it and refused to play it. Ofcourse, that is not fair examination.

Then a friend of mine introduced me to wk6, I played with it for 15 minutes or so and I was so disgusted with the sounds. To be honest with you, I could not figure the keyboard out.

Till this day, I cannot reconcile the fact that sk880 sounds great while wk8/wk6 sound garbage when they have the same engine!!

I did examine JV1010. It has very good sounds.. but not better than sk880. JV1010 is more powerful in synth sounds, while sk880 has great classical sounds.

I have a Yamaha keyboard at home: PSRSQ16. Well, it has analog input so that you hear another keyboard with the internal yamaha speakers. I used the sk880 in the following manner:

the piano sound of sk880 with internal Yamaha speakers sounded very good and very acceptable. It sounded full and good.

The piano sound of sk880 with Roland KC100 sounded lacking and that is what I am comparing with.

The piano sound of Yamaha NOT using the internal speakers were WORSE than using the internal speakers.

So what's the deal here?

The internal speakers of the keyboard is what makes the difference BIG BIG TIME!!!

Yamaha has strange kind of internal speakers that actually modifies the sound and makes it better. If you do not believe me, try it yourself. I owned three yamaha keyboards and this is very very very true.

I suspect that WK8/WK6 come with lousy internal speakers. If this is the case, the company has made a major error!

Furthermore, lot of people are talking about x1. I am very eager to examine it(when I find a dealer in my state that carries it). But I will give it fair examination. I will examine it WITHOUT its internal speakers.

What bothers me about sk880?

1) very very heavy 90lb
2) After you use the transpose button, you have to press ESC to get out of transpose mode. THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
3) the piano sound is not that good.Sk880 should specifically have better piano sound than WK8.
4) The distributor (although they are very friendly) have no clue when I ask him questions. I want to order 8MB of battery backed DRAM and I want to install it. Is anybody willing to sell me this and support me with it?

What do I like about it?

Everything else

How about scsi adapter?

I see there is place for it already. I asked the dealer I bought it from and they do not have it yet, I asked the distributor, he promised to return back to me, never did.

When you get one, get one with harddrive and make sure you order the 8MB of backed DRAM...