Firstly, I'm completely new to this site, and I don't even know if I posted this in the right forum.

Now to the point, I've been playing piano for close to 9 years, but I took a break for about 2, and just recently picked it up again. And I know nothing about keyboards. I recently joined a band, and wanted to purchase a keyboard for a rock style band. We play hardcore, and indie style music, and I wanted to know a decent keyboard around 300 bucks. I havn't really looked around so don't laugh if that is incredibly low.

I would also like some sites, or any advice for me to learn as much as possible.

Thanks,
BB

BB,

There are no decent keyboards in the price category you're looking for. Add another $1,000 and you will find a fair selection. Add another $3,000 and you will be looking at the top contenders. For $300 you may find a used high end Casio.

Good Luck,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

For $300 you can get a Casio WK-3200.

Squeak

Thanks Travlin Easy, I may look for some used keyboards, and at a little higher price.

Is a Casio WK-3200 any good?

I can't think of any decent used synths (with good sequencers) for $300. In the arranger market you're looking at a Casio WK-3200 for that price. The 3200 sounds great. It replaced the WK-3000 which also sounded good. The 3200 has new improved voice quality (along with improved drums). It also has twice the memory for user samples. This is actually an (under-rated) feature on the Casio. It allows you up to 4mb for user samples (you can download them into the keyboard by using the free software Casio has that converts them to Casio format).

Squeak

I'm looking at it right now, and it seems to have tons of features. Right now I'm playing with a keyboard you'd give to a 10 year old who wasn't even serious. So anything beats it. But would the Casio be something you could play with live? Or is it strictly practice at home. Once again, I only know about piano. I'm completely new to keyboards, and contrary to popular belief they're completely differnt, besides the way you play them. With so many extra faetures it's almost like playing a completely differnt instrument.

An arranger keyboard is a different instrument, and while it has piano sounds, it has many features that most folks never explore. It's an incredible machine that is essentially a small computer with piano keys. One of the sites you should visit as well as this one is the PSR Tutorial and take a close look at the lessons tab. It pretty much spells out the things you can do with a a Yamaha arranger keyboard in easy to comprehend terms.

Good luck and welcome to the forum,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

If you're going to be playing in a band and you don't need backing or auto-accompaniment, then you might be wasting money by looking at an arranger.

You told us the type of music you want to play, but what types of sounds are you most interested in ?

If you want a new kb with some acoustic sounds ( pianos, organs plus some digitally recorded synth sounds - .ie non analog or analog modeled ), you could buy a very decent lower end synth for 5-7 hundred US dollars. Ones that come to mind off the top of my head are the Yamaha SO3, Kurzweil KME-61, and the Alesis QS6.2.

You may find some other used synths and maybe with luck something around 300-400 Usd or so.


I'd recommend two sites for user reviews for new and used boards:
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/index.cfm
http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/00man.html

The WK series of boards really seem to be pretty decent bang for the buck too.


Good Luck.

AJ

The Casio has killer organs and pianos. I don't think I've heard much better in keyboards that cost many times more. I don't care for the drums or styles, and I haven't listened to too many of the other sounds, but I think they are pretty good. It is worth an audition. You can find them almost anywhere.
BTW, welcome to the forum!
DonM

Sounds like you need a synth not an arranger