Yamaha YPG-535 88-Key You See

With Yamaha's detailed stereo grand piano sound -- plus an extensive palette of 500 more sounds, tons of on-board learning tools, and inspiring auto-accompaniment rhythms and styles -- the 88-key Yamaha YPG-535 Portable Grand keyboard makes practicing piano great fun. Packed with bells and whistles, yet incredibly easy to use, the YPG-535 has a "Portable Grand" button that takes you back to Yamaha's stereo-sampled, room-filling grand piano sound with just one touch. From there, you can easily layer sounds, split the keyboard, jam along with built-in Styles, see the chords and notes you're playing on-screen, follow Yamaha's built-in lessons, and even record yourself with the 6-track sequencer. The Graded Soft Touch keyboard is gently semi-weighted and is easy for beginners to play -- just choose one of three settings for touch-sensitivity. Best of all, this full-size, 88-key keyboard fits your home and your budget.

Roland Juno- GI You Know

Lets talk about a keyboard that think can hold its own amongst the competition. The Roland Juno-GI Mobile Synthesizer with Digital Recorder.Since its inception in 1982, Roland's JUNO series of compact, easy-to-use synthesizers has always delivered impressive sound at an affordable price. The Roland JUNO-Gi does justice to the JUNO name by adding 1,300 flexible sounds and professional effects processing derived from the Boss GT series. Best of all, the live-performance features you expect from a JUNO synth are now complemented by an on-board 8-track digital recorder, complete with guitar and microphone inputs. If you want your main gigging keyboard to double as a serious composition tool, without sacrificing portability, he JUNO-Gi takes the cake, while still breaking the price barrier. This keyboard is very good for working in the music studio. you will be very impressed with the versatility and potential of this key synth. It interfaces seamlessly with PC's and other gear. With over a thousand onboard sounds, and ways of combining and altering them, this is an instrument that really gets the creative juices flowing.  If there's a weakness at all it's in the percussion sounds area, but like myself, if you got a kit and a PC to interface with, it's not a problem. It's strength is in the solid consistency of the sound patches, and the creative ways to alter them, it's pretty much endless. Furthermore the number of live sets on this instrument will take forever to get familiar with. But the preview button will give you a good, brief feel of each tone offered. Needless to say, it'll be awhile before you run out of things to discover. The split/layer feature offers near endless tone customization. The D Beam makes for a much more unique experience. For all the features this keyboard offers, it is an amazing value. But I would only recommend it if you can picture yourself using those features. If you don't think you'll ever use the 8-track recorder, for example, you might find a better value elsewhere For the price, this unit exceeds my expectations.

Yamaha DGX230 a Hero

Ok we are back with another keyboard to spark your interest. this is something that is very affordable, and one that you may want to consider if you are a beginner. The DGX230 is the most affordable model in the popular Yamaha DGX230 digital piano range. With a superb stereo grand piano sound, and 76 box style piano keys, the DGX230 is an ideal introduction to piano playing. Not only is the piano action touch sensitive, but this model features Yamaha's graded soft touch offering an authentic key action that's heavier towards the bass end lighter towards the treble end. Now as for some of great benefits of this board. I like that there are twelve amazing demo sequences pre-loaded on this instrument that just blew me away. Nine of those demos have transcriptions in pdf format and cover different styles of music from rock,  jazz, to waltz. The demos are really great sources for learning cool chord voicing's, fills, transitions, melodies, etc. You can solo or mute the piano parts while you play along with the band. This instrument is amazing for the price and is ideal for anyone wanting to gain a higher level of composing skills and chord voicing knowledge. The DGX230 has improved content over the old model DGX220 with extra new styles, 489 sounds and an increased music database. It can be connected via USB to your PC, allowing you to download data from Yamaha's internet music finder service onto your PC then into the DGX230 music database. Running off either mains, adapter optional, or batteries, the DGX230 is versatile and portable, making it ideal for performers of all ages and abilities.  It's hard to believe that a keyboard costing so little that comes with a stand and headphones, could sound this good and have this good of key action.

Moog Will Change Your Mood

Alright back onboard with another synth for all you electronic music producers. I want you to feel the power of a genuine Moog analog synth with the Little Phatty Stage II. Like the Stage and Tribute Edition before it, the Little Phatty Stage II puts the performer in control of a 100% analog signal path. Features include things such as two ultra stable voltage controlled oscillators, a voltage controlled filter and other versatile tools like an external audio input, CV and KB gate inputs, and a full midi controller. With so many features and so much power coming together in a single performance synth, there's no limit to the hypnotic sounds the Little Phatty Stage II can produce. As one industry professional puts it "The Little Phatty not only has it's own signature killer sounds, but the ability to use it's innovative interface as a versatile general MIDI controller make it an incredible tool for both performance and the studio,"  as per Cyril Lance, Engineering Manager. Now everybody says Moog synths sound great, but after playing a few notes and turning a few knobs I was surprised just how good they really do sound. The tones are thick with rich harmonics; just pure synthesis bliss. The quality really cuts through a mix too, and really sounds great when combined with other material. For my type of music, modern electronic like dub step, electro, breaks etc, this little synth is perfect. In my opinion, I imagine its quality will transcend any type of music.

Roland E09 for the Mind

There are just so many boards out there to choose from. If you are looking for something entry level I have something that may peak your interest this week. The Roland E09 is next up to bat. But first, Roland makes some of the best keyboards out there they have brand that most can depend on and prefer. The Roland E09 keyboard is a good board to get started with for a beginner. Its price might say low end, but the E09 sounds and styles are nothing but first class. Building on the success of Roland's popular E-series arrangers, the E09 ushers in a brand new look, feel, and sound for the family. With its new high quality sound engine, pro style appearance, and powerful specifications, including a newly designed library of sounds and interactive styles, the E09 raises the quality standard for entry-level arrangers. And definitely for the money you get a good quality sound, and the E09 is on par with other Roland big boards

Features:
Newly designed musical styles, including Western, Middle East, and Asian

High-performance speaker system onboard 7.5 W + 7.5 W

New high-quality sound engine; GM2 compliant

64-voice polyphony

800-plus tones, 70 drum kits

47 Multi-FX plus reverb and chorus

16-Track recorder with Easy Mode

Friendly Music Assistants, One-Touch settings

The E09 introduces a new professional grade industrial design to the E family. Its black metallic finish, coupled with a slim, streamlined chassis design, makes the E09 eye catching and easy to transport. Despite its slim physique, the E09 outputs an impressively big sound from its built-in stereo speaker system. So if you are just getting started and don’t want to spend a lot, but still want the benefits of the big boards, this may be the answer.

Korg Pa800 or Nothing

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The new Korg Pa800 is the complete arranger keyboard for the professional musician. It’s intuitive, powerful, and interactive with some of the most stunning sounds ever produced by an arranger keyboard. Some people would argue that he Korg Pa80 is the most successful professional arranger keyboard ever produced, but I’m not sure about that one.  It is however used by tens of thousands of musical professionals in every country of the world, some may even agree that it’s an industry standard, but once again, I’m not sure I agree with that either. But developing this type of arranger from Korg I feel like they really understood the needs of the modern musical professional while respecting the technology chosen by so many musicians worldwide. After countless interviews from musicians in dozens of countries, Korg knew what they needed to do to develop the complete professional arranger keyboard. First used on the Pa1X, RX Technology was used ss the guiding philosophy behind the Korg Pa800. The RX Real eXperience guided all their design and sound decisions. When the Pa800 performs, they want the audience to listen, and believe. To be sure that the vocal processing and harmonies of this board were the best possible, Korg worked with a recognized world leader in audio technology, TC Electronics. The Pa800 includes as standard the TC Helicon Voice Processor. This features EQ and professional quality effects like reverb, echo, etc, designed and shaped specifically for vocals. These effects, combined with the built in 3 voice harmonizer and dedicated high quality mic preamp to ensure your vocals have the highest possible sound quality. The most important controls to keep your voice under control are available in the panel and in the display's main page. All you have to do is connect your microphone and you good. It has two interface modes, Easy and Expert. Easy just only shows important controls, while Expert gives you full editing capabilities. Overall this is definitely a great board to check, it just may be a good addition to your setup.

Novation Innovation

Recently I talked about the MicroKorg, now today I have something that is comparable to that board. The Novation UltraNova is a Nova series analogue modeling synthesizer with a powerful effects processor. It is a single-part synth taking the legendary Supernova II synth engine as a starting point and packing it with some premium technology. It now has features including wavetable synthesis, even more powerful filters, a software editor and a revolutionary touch-sense performance mode. The Novation Nova family was born in 1998 with the Supernova, which was the first of a series of powerful synthesizers. These quickly became industry standard big-synths which are still used by countless artists and sound designers.

Some key features are:

- Nova-series synth engine based on Supernova II
- Touch-sense controls enable powerful sound-shaping and performance
- Totally gig-able with 37 full sized keys, a vocoder, and loads of controls
- Software plug-in editor and Patch Librarian for full visual editing
- Built-in 2 in 4 out USB audio interface and it can be bus powered

I know some people that bought the MicroKorg first and was a little disappointed with it, but I like it still. The sounds are out of this world, this is easily pro level in my book. Ultranova sounds amazing, of course that's subjective, but I like it. It has a great low end and effects with many options. You can add all kinds of panning to your sounds with it. You can get beautiful pads, thick basses or anything else. I have used the MicroKorg and think it may be just a bit phatter than Nova personally, but the Nova holds its own and actually those two make a great combination. MicroKorg for the analog, and the Nova for the digital. I think Nova sounds better in terms of it being less artficially bright and flashy than the MK. The Nova does have some character.