Amazon sold 72.9 items per SECOND three years ago during one day in December.
The sales during the holidays are absolutely insane!
1. Amazon has anything and everything and their sales right now are exploding.
2. If you wait any longer the normal Christmas gift shipping traffic will get too crazy!
Any and every musician, any skill level, knows the importance of having good time. Music time that is. Beats, you know.
A metronome is your persistent, relentless, and beautiful teacher in this department.
It is a device that keep a steady beat (tick, beep, etc.) that you play along with to improve your timing. The tempo, signature, and style of beat it keeps for you can be customized.
Here are some options…
Standard, easy to use. Very portable, very compact, very durable. Very affordable.
Pretty much the same deal, but a little nicer and comes with a neat tuner. Good buy if you play guitar or some instrument that will need to be tuned often.
Slightly wider range of speeds to choose from (can go very slow) and very simple, easy-to-use design. A slight step up.
Pendulum non-digital style allows for visualization of timing and can make for a more pleasant/accurate experience. This is the top dog of such metronomes and comes at a jaw-dropping price. A step up in immediate benefits. However, does lack some mobility and durability.
Korg M50 ReviewQuick Review:
- So much CONTROL and endless OPTIONS.
- Synths, loops, drum tracks, combos, everything.
- TouchView interactive display
- Two versions: 61-key and 88-key
If you want a keyboard with it all, you’re looking at the right keyboard. The M50 has every sound and loop you could hope for.
Synths, modulation, LFOs, filters, drum tracks, loops,dual polyphonic arpeggiator, sequencers – all packed in and controlled with a sleek TouchView display and clean board. The Korg M50 is an awesome workstation.
Some standout sounds to me were the strings and pads. Just beautiful. The filters as well were just too much fun to play with.
My only concern with this keyboard is that you could very well lose so much time of your day jamming on it and getting caught up. There’s just too much good noise that can come out of this thing.
Control of the keyboard is handled through the touch screen and a series of 4 knobs, whose function is determined by different buttons.
One important distinction: there are 2 different versions of this. The 61-key version uses semi-weighted Natural Touch keys, while the 88-key version utilizes Real Weighted Hammer Action 3 (RH3).
This isn’t the biggest deal. It can make a difference, mainly when you are playing more traditional sounding piano style and soloist type music. However, other than that, you difference should not be that much of a factor at all.
Well, you shouldn’t just take my word for it! Check out the video below to hear some of the Korg M50 in action.
Our friends at Sweetwater have set up a nice demo:
Pretty sweet, right?!
Let’s highlight the main pros and cons here:
Pros:
Cons:
See what other musicians are saying…
(For the best customer-video review, see the Amazon page! Just click here and scroll down)
“The M50 is simply amazing. Incredibly detailed synths, drums, combos and loops. Easy to use and very fun to play. This will make my friends and bandmates either very jealous or wanting to get an upgrade themselves : ]”
“This is, without a doubt, the greatest keyboard I have. With this level of power and control at your hands, the sky’s the limit as a musician.”
“If you’re looking for a keyboard that has everything and goes beyond your wildest desires, the Korg M50 is definitely it.”
(Links on this page are sponsored affiliate links, the owner is not a bonafide user of this product and receives commission for sales made. The info on this site is the webmasters opinion. Reviews on this page have been re-worded for uniqueness. )
Casio PX-130 ReviewQuick Review:
- 88 keys with weighted, scaled hammer-action.
- Natural and responsive feel.
- Only 25 pounds.
- Solid, loud, built-in speakers.
Don’t let the Casio name fool you… this is no toy. The Casio PX-130 takes lightweight piano to a whole new level. Weighing in at the ultra-feather weight class, this is an entire grand piano packed in 25 pounds of pristine sound, and fairly loud sound at that.
Now I know the image on the right containing the details is too small to read, so try heading here for the official manual and midi implementation instructions.
That pretty much has everything you need to know to be sold on this gem, but let me break down some of the essentials for you.
The 88 keys comes with the new Tri-Sensor scaled hammer action, giving an eerie sense of realism across the feel of the keys.
The education potential of this keyboard is also a standout feature (Learning / teaching how to play piano, I mean).
The Casio PX-130 comes with a setting called “Duet mode”, in which the keyboard is split into, essentially, two separate keyboards, allowing teacher and student to play along together at the same time.
Also, a 2-track recorder and metronome have been build into the keyboard, allowing for easy recording and playback of lessons for evaluation and progress tracking.
Some of the PX-130′s other notable and useful features:
Overall, this is simply Casio’s breakthrough keyboard in quality and value. Nothing extremely fancy, but for the price and size, I don’t think it’s possible to find a better sound and feel in a keyboard.
Curious to see it in action? Kraft Music has provided a quality demo video:
Still thinking about it? Let’s just scan the major pros and cons again:
Pros:
Cons:
See what other users are saying…
“Classic, uncluttered feel and look. As I’m playing it, I often have to remind myself that it’s not actually a real acoustic piano. My fingers are telling me that the keys are connected to a large, wooden cabinet in a big church or something, but this thing only weighs 25 pounds.”
“What does it sound like? Well, if you know what a classic, acoustic grand piano sounds like, then you already know. I won’t pretend to know all the details of high-end keyboards, but there’s no way they can be that much higher above this strong little keyboard.”
“This this is worth every single penny. Don’t let the name or low price trick you up. The value here is incredible.”
“For 32 years I’ve been playing piano. I came across the PX-130 in search of a light-weight keyboard. It is completely amazing. The sound is wonderful, the feel is beautiful, and the touch couldn’t feel any better to me. If you’re looking for a simple, compact and light 88-key keyboard, don’t hold back from purchasing the Casio PX-130, I couldn’t imagine how you’d be disappointed.”
(Links on this page are sponsored affiliate links, the owner is not a bonafide user of this product and receives commission for sales made. The info on this site is the webmasters opinion. Reviews on this page have been re-worded for uniqueness. )
Yamaha P155Quick Review:
- 88 key Weighted-Action GHE (Graded Hammer Effect) keyboard.
- 4 layers of CFIIIS stereo-sampling.
- Supreme realism of an acoustic grand piano in only 37 lbs.
- Key-On/Key-Off Sample and Sustain Sample to sound just like an acoustic piano.
The Yamaha P155 really takes the cake when it comes to high mid-level keyboards. With 128 note polyphony, Key-On/Key-Off samples and sustain samples, and incredibly realistic GHE (Graded Hammer Effect) weighted action across its 88 keys, the P155 delivers extremely high quality in a very, very compact package.
This keyboard only weighs 37 pounds! Have you ever longed for the elegance of something like the Clavinova CLP340? This baby is OOGLES cheaper, weighs… 115 pounds less, and has many of the same features and sounds, such as the same two-track sequencer and the 4 levels of CFIIIS stereo samples and key-on/key-off samples that make it sound so fresh and realistic.
The main strength of this keyboard, I found, is just how expressive it is. The weighted action and samples really provide a lot of dynamic playing room and feel for emotion on the keys.
The Yamaha P155 comes with 17 different preset voices. These range from pianos, strings, organs, choirs, bass. Not the main strongpoint of the piano (that would be the realism, awesome samples and weighted hammer action on the keys), but nonetheless, still important and a pretty decent amount for the package.
Some other nice tidbits – USB storage, MIDI ports, 12 Watt speakers, 1/4″ ports for amplifiers, and headphones jacks. It really comes with everything you would need for pretty much whatever you would want to use a keyboard for.
Bottom line – this is the cheapest keyboard you can get with Yamaha’s best GHE (Graded Hammer Effect) action on the keys with key-on/key-off and sustain samples. The realism of an acoustic piano that you get for the price you pay is pretty unbelievable.
Again, Kraft Music has supplied a great demo video. Check it out below -
If you’re seeking the most affordable high quality keyboard you can get out there, look no further than the Yamaha P155.
Still on the fence? Let’s go back over the pros and cons -
Pros:
Cons:
See what other users are saying…
“The piano sound is composed of 4 different samples (for different volume levels) so that it sounds extremely realistic at all of the levels of play, from very quiet to very loud. We also really enjoy that you can wear headphones if you’re playing late at night or something and not bother the family. Finally, the USB slot storage allows MIDI files to be recorded and/or brought from a computer to serve as a second pair of hands. The user interface is clean and relatively simple to use. Overall I am very pleased and I do not think you can get this good quality at a lower price point.”
“After some research, I found out that the highest-end Yamaha pianos (like those that can cost $2k and up) utilize “graded hammer effect” (GHE), a far step up from GHS. Since the termination of the P-140, the P-155 is the cheapest piano to be equipped with GHE. It also has 128 note polyphony, 14 voices with 4 tonal varieties, and capability for a sustain pedal.”
“This piano definitely produces subtle sounds effects that make it just like a real piano, which makes for a very realistic whole experience. The keys themselves are intensely accurate, and slightly heavy. The real advantage of the Yamaha P155 is the ability to play on a real piano without any fatigue, now that my hand muscles have worked up.”
(Links on this page are sponsored affiliate links, the owner is not a bonafide user of this product and receives commission for sales made. The info on this site is the webmasters opinion. Reviews on this page have been re-worded for uniqueness. )
Yamaha YPG-635
Quick Review:
- Perfect imitation of real piano sound and feel.
- Education suite with lessons and 100 songs built in.
- Built-in 6 track sequencer for easy recording.
“This is the home piano of the present”
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The “portable grand” piano, as it has also been called, the Yamaha YPG-635 is exactly the answer for those who seek a portable keyboard with the real sound, feel, and action of a grand piano. Equipped with 88 keys of weighted graded hammer action, there’s no place or time that you won’t be able to harness the magic of a grand piano.
This keyboard absolutely excels as a learning tool. The “Yamaha Education Suite”, which is programmed in standardly, includes 30 built in songs, and an additional 70 more on an included CD-ROM for you to learn and play along with; right and left hand parts are separated for each song. The education suite also has a chord dictionary, three lessons for each hand on each song, and monitors your progress intelligently.
Also included is a built in 6-track sequencer that makes recording quick and easy. The sequencer is, in essence, a multi-track recorder built into the system of the keyboard. Recording sessions is as easy as the click of a button.
One of the coolest features of this piano is the “Full Keyboard Mode”. Enabling this mode actually transforms the keyboard’s keys to act exactly like those of a piano. As keyboards normally require chords to be played on the left and melodies on the right, Full Keyboard Mode allows freedom across all keys just like a real piano. When this mode is used in conjunction with the accompaniment feature, the virtual band will follow along with the chords you play.
All in all, this is a GREAT keyboard. It’s greatest strength is its ability to essentially perfectly replace a piano and act, sound, and feel just like one. Put together with its smart educational system, and its built-in multi-track recorder, the Yamaha YPG-635 is truly an extremely powerful instrument for the price paid.
Check out this demo video from Kraft Music -
If you’ve ever wished for the sound and magic of a grand piano without the money/space/time to deal with one, the Yamaha YPG-635 is your answer. This keyboard truly puts the experience of a real piano right at your hands, and wherever you want to take it.
Is this keyboard for you? Let’s look at the pros and cons.
So, if you are seeking a solid keyboard that sounds and feels like a real piano, excels at teaching, and is extremely affordable, the Yamaha YPG-635 is exactly what you need.
“This is the home piano of the present – honestly, while you do need real pianos in piano bars and concerts, this is what you need in your home – for the kids to play and learn on, to sing Holiday carols on, and to play yourself. Record your music. We need it.”
“I tried this keyboard in a store at first – it was put with a handful of other electrics and this one had the best action by far out of all of them – the action was obviously the most like a piano – in fact, I thought it had better feel than some of the real pianos, being weighted properly and so smooth and consistent.”
“This is an amazing item. It comes with 100 songs – if you are inclined to learn them, it will teach you.”
“This keyboard’s action is even better than most real pianos, and far less likely to require an action tuneup.”
“The key deciding factor for picking this keyboard was that, to my fingers, none of the keyboards in this price range felt even close to feeling as good. Easily, it is within the normal variation of real pianos.”
“This piano is absolutely beautiful. It matches perfectly and easily fools the eye and makes a lovely, striking impression, even sitting directly in front of it.”
“Trying to teach a six year old piano is challenging, however, the Yamaha YPG-635 has plenty of capability to keep her attention and interested in learning.”
(Links on this page are sponsored affiliate links, the owner is not a bonafide user of this product and receives commission for sales made. The info on this site is the webmasters opinion. Reviews on this page have been re-worded for uniqueness. )
