Budget/cheap 61-Note velocity sensitive home keyboards

Bogwhoppit

A friend requires a 61-Note velocity sensitive budget home keyboard for their daughter. She plays a Yamaha MM6 in school, but the budget doesn't stretch that far.

I know the Yamaha PSR and Casio range is vast, and stacks of the things come up in the local classifieds for peanuts, but which ones are 61-Note velocity sensitive and worth looking at ?

Fazer

would like to know too, especially one with midi out

ICBM

My kids have a Yamaha PSR-295 which is velocity-sensitive, although not very! It's usable enough - it has a vast range of quite decent sounds. I paid £30 for it.

No Midi though.

Bogwhoppit

The PSR-295 comes up quite a lot in the local ads, albeit for silly high prices . Although on ebay they fetch between £20-70.

 

I'm surprised the velocity sensitivity is poor. Most of the entry level Yamaha's I've tried in the past were not that bad.  Is there not midi functionality in the 295's USB host ?

ICBM

Bogwhoppit said:

The PSR-295 comes up quite a lot in the local ads, albeit for silly high prices . Although on ebay they fetch between £20-70.

I'm surprised the velocity sensitivity is poor. Most of the entry level Yamaha's I've tried in the past were not that bad.  Is there not midi functionality in the 295's USB host ?

No idea, I've never plugged a USB cable into it. Sounds like you know more about it than I do . Can you find a manual online?

Yes, the velocity sensitivity is poor - or at least it is to me - there's a level below which you get no response at all, and it doesn't really get very loud no matter how hard you hit it. But it is velocity-sensitive within that range and it works well enough for the kids.

Bogwhoppit

@Fazer It appears to have Midi - USB drivers for PC/Mac on the support page, so would assume it does have Midi. 

Fazer

i'll have a look at it.
what i meant by midi was a usb midi out, so it can be used with a daw

"This is the first model WITHOUT the usual 5-pin round MIDI sockets, as all MIDI connectivity takes place through the USB socket, thus eliminating the need for expensive cables or interfaces."

that sounds about right!

now, just have to find one near the £30 mark

ICBM

Sorry. I just looked at the back and saw no DIN sockets so I assumed it didn't have MIDI. I'm a bit old-school when it comes to this sort of thing...

Bogwhoppit

ICBM said:

Sorry. I just looked at the back and saw no DIN sockets so I assumed it didn't have MIDI. I'm a bit old-school when it comes to this sort of thing...

Those Japanese are sneaky. The first time I clapped eyes on a midi socket, I tried to workout what was ground, input and output and would it fit my 1970s Philips cassette player

Fazer

ICBM said:

Sorry. I just looked at the back and saw no DIN sockets so I assumed it didn't have MIDI. I'm a bit old-school when it comes to this sort of thing...

oh no, you were correct, it doesnt have conventional 'midi' output but seems to be able to send midi data via a usb

ICBM

It's a fine point . However, I have learned something very important now - I'm going to try hooking up the keyboard to my old laptop and see if it will talk to Garageband. My daughter is interested...

ICBM

And it works perfectly . Just had to download a driver.

strumjoughlamps

Does it have to be a standalone keyboard? I use a m-audio ks61es and its top notch feel wise, I mainly use it through Garageband or Mixcraft but also use freepiano which is great and many many free vst plugins available.

Bogwhoppit

strumjoughlamps said:

Does it have to be a standalone keyboard?

 

 

Yeah, she may need to take it to school.

Fazer

thats great news about it working with the computer, just hope the playing latency isnt too bad.

ICBM

Fazer said:

thats great news about it working with the computer, just hope the playing latency isnt too bad.

It didn't seem so, but I didn't exactly do a proper test.

By the way, if it's a Mac driver you need the Yamaha website download doesn't work - but a quick Google found another one on an independent forum.