MIDI Keyboard Suggestions?, MIDI Keyboard Suggestions? Options

I'm looking for a keyboard no more than $500-600 that I can hook up to my computer for just MIDI sequencing. Any suggestions?

[Francois Déchery]

if you're just looking for a master Keyboard (without sounds), you will find some starting from $100.
Roland makes some, but manufacturers from taiwan or italy make it too and cheaper....
Just take a look on a on-line music store (see here)

[SLG]

You can buy a secondhand keyboard (that's what I did).
It's cheaper but becareful! You must be shure that the keyboard is still good working!
I bought an ORLA DMK 8 (it's an old one) for 125 $. I wanted a FATAR SL 880 but I didn't find any.
There are some disadvantages with this kind of keyboard because it's really big and heavy (if you want to go out with).
If you don't care about the keys touch quality (synthesizer's keys are light contrary of keyboards), you can buy a synthesizer with sounds inside (contrary of what we can think, some synthesizers have good sounds) .
I heard that keyboards FATAR SL 880 (or 1100) are good
You can get a new one for around 500$.

seb

[Mello]

I can't speak for it's midi abilities, because I have not yet received my Ibook too try that out, but for the price your talking about I can reccommend the Kurzweil SP-76. It looks like it has decent midi capabilities (2 zones, 1 internal 1 external). Also, the feel of the keys is much nicer than the other keyboards I have tried in this price range (Alesis, Roland, Fatar) It has a decent module built in with good pianos and electric pianos, bad organs, decent strings, and one synthpad (okay, but way too limited, I mean 1, come on) You should know that it doesn't let you pitchbend on its built in module although it does give you two ribbon controllers and and a slider. Still for $500, it's got decent feeling and if you want to you can actually use the thing on its own with good sounds.

I use a Radio Shack MD-1700. It's about $200 or 300 last time i checked, and it is sweet. You can program custom tones, rhythms, and songs into the keyboard, split the board into 2 different instrument sections, layer instruments, have a 5-channel backup to play with, touch sensitivity, transpose, DSP, and you can have one-touch bank programming which lets you change setups from one ensemble to another instantly.
If you're looking for a keyboard that lets ya do live gigs as easily as studio work, I think this one's the way to go. It's a bit bulky, though, but that's its only downside other than distortion of the lower notes at high volumes when using the built-in speakers.
I haven't hooked it up to me computer yet, so I've got no idea how it'll deal with that. I think that it'll prolly do very well.

No question I would recommend a used keyboard. Talk to keyboard players in your area, as they are always wanting to upgrade. Many times I've gone up and talked to guys on gigs and they have something they're wanting to get rid of. Look at KURZWEIL as they have a great feel, as well as aftertouch, weighted keys, etc. Rolands, Korgs, even the old Ensonics can be a good bet. Make sure you get the manuals, and a test run with the keyboard!!

Alta56

i use the roland pc-300 usb.
it's very basic but has its own interface so it's one less box: just plug it directly into your usb port.
and there is a driver for osX
it's very cheap