This is sort of the same post as I put on the PSR Tutorial forum....

Last Sat. I had an experience..
I played a Kwai piano... priced at $5,000 something.

The piano had styles... really rough... Yamaha's E series could compete with the styles I heard from this keyboard.

However, the hammered action was great(I'm so new at this). I loved the hammered action.

Yamaha has (piano's/keyboards) that can do pretty well with what a weighted keyboard and an arranger can do, But Yamaha wants what I spent for my last pickup truck...$15,000.

Thoughts?

Well, if you like the feel of a real piano, get a KB with weighted keys ...
One problem I found after playing KB and not playing piano for a number of years, was that when I tried playing piano again, after a while I was developing a problem in my forearm ...

"Play what you love, Love what you play"

I allways have 2 keyboards in my setup, an 88 key piano board and a (preferably) 76 key arranger... I prefer playing weighted keys.. Espescially when it comes to piano and orchestral patches,....


And i have been dreaming from a weighted 88 key totl arranger for all my life...



Keep in mind that Kawai probably makes the best hammer action keybed, the MP7, MP11 and VPC1 are all top of the line.. Only Roland RD800 comes close when we talk about grandpiano action...

I use a Casio Privia weighted piano feel keyboard at home for practice and an unweighted BK9 for gigs. I think its important to keep your technique up with a weighted board.

Take a look at the Casio's. Great Piano and decent backing functions.

I have always played with unweighted keys, but once in a while will play on the kurzweil at church. Don't like the feel- I think it actually slows my movement down keeping fingers on the keys just a touch longer to get extra depth I perceive I need. But it's just me , and a matter of what anybody is used to.

the lighter the better for my style of playing.....

How different we are ...weighted keys improves your dynamics... most folks that play light keybeds lose the dynamics...Playing for any given time on a light bed, destroys the finger strenght you develop on weighted action..

Did you hear that Don Mason - you've lost your dynamics.

Gary

Just a side note to what Fran said. To develope technique
( yes thats includes dynamics ) you need a weighted board. Finger independence and speed come from playing weighted keys,
All serious organists practice piano also.

It's very simple....Play your PSR and record the midi data...and you will find your dynamics gone....you will have a string of 100 values( I think Yamaha only measures 100 and not 127) for velocity...that is full filtered sound...Most likely you are not even aware...You lose the key feel with light touch, and a weighted keyboard allows this touch to be manageable..
Sorry, you will lose this argument...big time

BTW: Don's SD7 is not the light touch of a PSR..