Portable Electronic Piano/Keyboard for accomplished musician recommendation

[Percycat]

DS is graduating from high school this year and will go away to college. He's been playing the piano since he was five; plays for his high school jazz and marching bands; plans to take jazz band as an elective next year; likes to compose and improvise.....

I want to get him a keyboard for him to take to college. It needs to have 88 weighted keys, be able to connect to a computer with software that can transcribe music, be portable, and headphone jack. He will have a small private bedroom in a four bedroom dorm suite next year and there is room agains a wall or under his bed to set up the keyboard.

Anyone have a recommendation? We will go to a piano store to get educated and see the options --- but, would love your thoughts. My parents gave me a clavinova when I graduated from college which I took to law school. We still have it and play it regularly. I hope to get DS a quality keyboard that will let him expand his music interest and be with him for a while.

I don't have a price range yet.... I will form the price range after I get more education about what money can buy.

Thanks!

[echoesofspring]

I had dismissed them when I was searching for my last keyboard, but I was pretty impressed with what you got for the price with the Casio Previa when I played one at a wedding a few years back. I think for a college dorm they might be perfect, I'd be worried about sinking too much money into something in a dorm, kwim? I have a midrange Kawaii (an older model similar to this, and while yes it's portable and precovid I hauled it around to gigs, it's pretty heavy and I'm not sure I would have gotten it if I had lifted it before. On the upper end of the price spectrum I liked a Nord I played a couple years ago, enough that it made me think if I replace the Kawaii and am performing enough to justify the price I'll make a point of researching them more. My Kawaii replaced a Yamaha p120 that was 10 years old and still going strong, but I didn't want to risk it conking out at someone's wedding, I have it set up in my office for after hours playing and it seems to still be doing fine, so yeah keep Yamaha's on the list. I think now you can do a so much research through videos watching people play them, hearing how the sound decays, how chords sound, etc. you should be able to narrow down to just a few to try out in person. I wasn't able to try anything out last time, our local music stores have really declined.

[Percycat]

Dawn -- Thank you for your reply. I was really hoping someone on this board would have knowledge as an experienced musician instead of parents looking for a first keyboard for their beginning student.

Can you educate me on what is involved in having music transcribed? What do we need for it to be able to hook up to a computer? What software do we need to be able to have it transcribe music?

Are there any features other than feel, sound quality, and weight we should consider?

Thank you!

[KpbS]

Your son sounds like a serious musician! Will he be majoring or minoring in music? If so I would imagine the department would have some very good recommendations for you.

[echoesofspring]

Can you educate me on what is involved in having music transcribed?

This isn't something I actually have a lot of experience with but I don't think it's something you'll need to worry about with modern keyboards, they will all support MIDI output which is how you send the information about the notes from the keyboard to a computer program. They'll all also support sending the sound itself out as well so you could record to a device or send to an amp, etc. Just like computers with different input/output ports, it's possible you'll need a special cable or converter box between the keyboard and the computer (or even ipad) but that really depends on which keyboard and which computer and probably won't be very expensive. I think focusing on feel/weight/sound quality are the right things and agree with KpbS that the musician dept might have some good recs (and maybe even discounts, who knows).

What software do we need to be able to have it transcribe music?

There's a lot of different options here, from free to very expensive professional versions (with student licenses) and if he takes any sort of composition or arranging classes my guess is they will likely have a program they want to use.

[Percycat]

Thank you again.... and thank you for the suggestion to look at reviews online. I look online for everything else, but didn't think to look at keyboard reviews. There's some great information! It has been fun learning about the different instruments. I found two stores in my area that seem to have selection and offer virtual and in person appointments.

And thank you for suggesting Casio Privia -- I haven't shopped for keyboards and remembered casio from years past.... it looks like it may be a great option. 25lbs!!! So much lighter than lugging my clavinova in and out of apartments.

No, DS is not a music major, but music has become a part of his life and I hope it will enjoy it throughout his life. He is going to study computer science and math.... but does have interest in soundtrack composition for movies and games.... so who knows....