Hi,

Anyone tried one yet?

I have a Korg Havian that I keep at home, but I'm looking mainly for a digital piano to take out of the house for jam sessions/gigs with a jazz band. I wouldn't have to have an arranger, but it sure nice to have just in case ....

Anyways seems to like the Casio Privia 3000, Yamaha DGX , and this Korg XE 20 are the main options for a portable digital piano with arranger capabilities.

If anyone is still out there, any thoughts? Thanks!

Hi Paul! I personally haven't tried the XE20. By "portable," what kind of size and weight do you have in mind? How many keys? You also mentioned the Yamaha DGX. Most if not all of these have built-in speakers. Is this a requirement? If so, how powerful does it have to be for the venues you have in mind?

I've also been mulling options for a lightweight, ultra-portable arranger. I'm NOT a pianist (strictly a LH chords, RH melody kind of guy.) But some brands might do better than others at having their styles "follow" the song when you play with both hands and no split. You'll have to get input from others on that aspect of these boards' performance. Good subject, following!!

Played a few times. Not recommended IMHO.. No where near Havian ( Pa300 with better 88 keys). Down grade from Havian.



Xe20 is ek50 with Korg b1 keys ( entry level $499 digital piano) with additional piano sounds ( german/ Italian).
Arranger polyphony is still 64 and almost none editing abilities except for set list. Havian was full pa300 touch screen with better editing/ song book, etc.

The only selling point for xe20 is portable/ plays SMF/ Wav and Mp3 without loading from USB drive and L/ R outputs. Zero to none (even though they are now adding) ( pa80 / 50/ microarranger generation) style support. Remember, the styles were busier ( mainly due to over complex fills and bass lines sometimes that you can’t just mute Acc tracks). Korg styles got better after Pa3x/Pa900/600 generation. This was 2 generation before ( before PA1x generation).
DGX 670 is miles ahead but heavier. Will load psr styles, have mic input with efx, etc. has blue tooth but no stereo outs and doesn’t play Mp3. ( will play Wav and SMF). I believe user style creation feature and Bluetooth audio is there as well.

Both lacks physical midi in/outs so can’t use as 88 key controller unless you are hooking up with computer or converter box which will cost you 80/100$.

Since you already have Havian, the only good this is to use as song player (smf/Wav/mp3) and use is as live. Havian it light 33Ibs, but xe 20 is lighter, 25lbs. No joy stick like Havian either.

Jamman, you definitely curbed my enthusiasm. LOL

I am mainly wanting a stand alone portable digital piano - the arranger features would be icing on the cake.

I'd be happy with good acoustic pianos sounds and a nice Rhodes sound.

The DGX seems to bulky. Maybe I should direct my attention to the Casio Previa?

Take a look at the Numa Compact 2X. Organ with drawbars, piano, and synth, small , 88 keys, 16 lbs. 5 pin midi and $699 Might fit the bill

Thanks Bill. That looks interesting. I don't play a lick of organ, so I don't even know what I'd do with drawbars! It would be fun to learn though.

Numa Compact 2X.

I’ve never been able to play organ well on weighted piano keys… the lightness and short throw of the keybed is integral to how the Hammond is played. And you can really tear your hands up doing lots of glisses and palm smears on piano shaped keys with that protruding lip!

Casio piano sounds is acceptable but styles are GM quality with 2 variations.

There is none in the market that is light weight 88keys with gigable arranger functionality. Havian was the last that is light weight 88 key arranger. Xe20 as I mentioned is not on the same league.

Light weight portable piano will be Yamaha p121 ( 20 lbs) or Roland fp30x.
None of those has real arranger functions nor have midi in/ outs. Yamaha is 73 kys and light/ Roland has great super natural piano sounds but most complain about escapement key mechanism ( unlike real piano’s)which lags you down for fast licks. With IOS apps both have basic chord following rhythms. Yamaha needs cable and Roland has Bluetooth midi and audio ( meaning you can stream songs from phone). It’s the updated version of fp30.

But none has ease of plug and play XE20’s song play ( Smf/mp3 and wav). Why they are not ideal as playback/ arranger machines. Just portable pianos. They ( p121/fp30x) lack onboard transpose buttons ( need multiple button pressing if you are not hooked to IOS device).


The other option is to get used p85/95/ and go to midi module route, but again , too many cables.

If you're looking for an arranger that follows regular piano playing without freaking out the chord recognition, IMHO the Roland BK series excels at exactly that.

It has a mode (Pianist2) that waits for at least three notes before changing chords while the sustain is up (pretty standard mode on most arrangers) but adds the wrinkle of needing FIVE notes actually played while the sustain pedal is down. I can't tell you how much that radically improves how easy it is to play fairly pianistically without freaking out the chord recognition!

If you can live with a 76, the BK-9 might be the perfect gigging keyboard, the basic meat and potatoes comp sounds are killer, and its Hammond clone is arguably the best in any arranger too. 21 lbs for a really nice feeling 76 with drawbars is a plus, too!

Keep your eyes open for a used one...

But if you want full weight piano keys, you might want to look outside the arranger segment, TBH. There's some quite light WS's that can do some basic chord following and have some cool drum loops in there, but aren't really full arrangers. But if your main need for it is live band, you got to ask yourself how often you think you'll be turning on anything? Most of my experience playing with real players is, don't piss them off by showing how well you can replace them!

Sure, it's nice to have some drum loops in case you want to rehearse without a drummer, or even gig without a drummer if volume is a concern, but things start to get a bit tense as you add in extra parts that would traditionally be played by your guitarist or bassist or horn player..!

I make a point of having keyboard registrations set up for live band use that have no style or SMF parts switched on, so I can't 'accidentally' turn on the auto stuff! Wow them with your playing, not with the technology...

Jamman mentioned the Roland FP30x and Diki says that Roland does a great job with its "piano style" chord recognition. I would like to add that two recently discontinued Rolands-- FP-50 and FP-80 stand up pretty well to the Korg Havian as a piano-based arranger. They can play any Roland styles, in some respects better than Roland's arrangers do! Weight is about the same as your Havian. They don't have on-board style creation. Not sure about a sequencer, etc., but it sounds like you don't need either of these features for your intended purpose. Unfortunately, in the transition to the (current) successor model FP-90, Roland moved the arranger functions "out-board" to an iPad app :-( So if I had any piano chops, I would be looking for the FP-50 or FP-80.