Thursday 2 February 2012

Casio Privia Px 130

Casio Privia Px 130
The rising popularity of the Casio Privia Px 130 is owed to its widespread appeal across many types of musicians. More advanced musicians warm to the instrument's portability, robust keyboard action, true to life sound and relatively modest price. However, where the Casio px 130 is especially making inroads, is in the piano student market, supported by piano teachers. In this article we will explore some of the reasons why.

Click Here for the Best Price on Casio Privia Px 130

Firstly, it is important that beginners commence learning music on an instrument that sounds and feels like a real instrument and not a toy. The Px 130 may be lightweight and very portable owing to plastic construction, but it is certainly not a toy. It sounds and plays close enough to a genuine acoustic piano, to make the learning experience an enjoyable one.

Just like a genuine, acoustic piano, the Casio Privia has 88 keys that are weighted and hammer actioned. To farther the element of realism, the px130 imitates the sound of open strings, by raising the dampers with the sustain pedal.

Also, the piano keyboard can be separated into two exact halves, each half can be played with the same range of notes. The benefit of this is that both teacher and student can sit together, and play exactly the same song with the same notes at the same time. Two-fold headphone jacks mean both student and teacher can plug in headphones and automatically disable the speakers. The fact that piano lessons can be held in complete silence is surely to please other people in the house. This also helps protect the music lessons from troubling household noises such as dogs barking or kettles boiling.

A two track recorder enables music to be played back for appraisal and a metronome allows the tempo to be set and reset according to need. At just 25 pounds in weight, the Casio Privia Px 130 would have to be one of the lightest portable digital pianos. 60 in-built music tracks can help guide the beginner, in terms of how a song could or should be played.

In conclusion, the Casio Px 130 deserves its reputation as a very good entry level piano for the beginner. It has adequate true to life qualities to ensure that the student's learning experience is a positive one. Making the teacher's job easier are support features such as two-fold headphones and duet mode. This also applies to the recording and play-back facility. Thankfully, all these benefits are packaged at a price that is very affordable for the student. This makes the Casio Privia Px 130 a very appealing instrument, for both student and teacher.

                                                       Here is a preview video from Casio



I hope that this blog has helped you understand why the Casio Privia Px 130 is such as great way to start learning to play the piano.

Friday 27 January 2012

Korg SP250

The Korg SP250 digital piano has just about everything you could need from a digital piano. From real keyboard action to wonderfully life-like sound, the SP250 has so much to offer. 30 musical instrument sounds render a large selection when you have a Korg digital piano. Owing to USB connectivity, all you need is a computer and this electric piano and you have an instant, portable recording studio.A USB cable to link the two,and you are off.
Click Here for the Best Deal on Korg SP250
 
The principal reason behind this article, is to point out the many accessories, such as a USB cable, that can make the Korg SP250 even more enjoyable and useful. Sometimes, important accessories come included in a special package, when you buy a musical instrument. Importantly though, you must know where to find these special offers and who can be trusted. Therefore, this article will focus on the kinds of accessories availabe, which ones you can get for free and where to go for some good deals from a trusted supplier.

Portable digitals are relatively easy to move around but when it's time to perform, they need a sturdy place to rest. Therefore, a stand that is purpose built, is a must have accessory. Competitive online merchants will often include one in the deal. The nice news is that the Korg SP250 comes with a stand at no extra price.

Damper pedals are a key accessory because of the added dimension they contribute to a performance. Variable pedal actions can genuinely add another level to a performance in terms of feel or self expression. A few online merchants will bundle a damper pedal into the price. For people who read music, or who care to read music, a sheet holder is another important accessory. Music sheet holders may also be packaged as a free accessory with a number of online merchants.

USB cables and headphones represent added accessories that good merchants may throw in a sweeteners to get you over the line.

The following items do not normally come included in the standard discount price for the SP250, or other digital pianos, for that matter.

Optional extras requiring additional payment, frequently involve products like keyboard dust covers, benches and selected software and hardware features.

Aggressive online suppliers like Amazon will quite often pakage up excellent deals including many important accessories with instruments like the Korg SP 250. An example of such a special includes the Korg SP250, a stand, sheet holder, damper pedal, bench and headphone set, all for no extra price. This just goes to show that terrific deals are available online, if you know where to look and who to trust.





                                        Watch this video for the great sound of the Korg SP250





I hope this blog helps you in assessing whether or not the Korg SP250 digital piano is right for you.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Yamaha YPG 235

What makes the Yamaha YPG 235 so different from other keyboards??

The portable keyboard is a great way to begin your key board playing career. Portable keyboards represent an easy, fun and value for money introduction to the thrilling world of keyboard based musica instruments.   Often portable keyboards act as springboards to other keyboard based instruments such as acoustic pianos, digital pianos and even synthesizers. The concern arises however, that many keyboards currently on the market, sound and feel nothing like a genuine piano. Often their keys feel very light owing to hollow plastic construction.

Click Here for the Best Price for the Yamaha YPG-235 

 
The key is to try and unearth a portable keyboard that has a piano keyboard feel and a life-like sound to match. Integrate this with a load of built-in voices (instruments) and add a relatively low price, and the ideal solution is at hand. The fantastic news is that Yamaha have devised just such a package in the form of the Yamaha YPG 235 portable grand piano keyboard.

Yamaha musical instruments are world famous for their first-class quality and excellent, sweet sound. The Yamaha ypg235 is certainly no exception and lives up to the Yamaha reputation. Not only does this portable grand have a very natural sounding piano voice, but so too are all the other instrumental voices contained within this musical instrument. A great thing about this is that if you get tired of practising the piano scales then you can select one of a huge number of different instruments to play. You also have the choice to play both piano, on one end of the piano and a completely separate instrument on the other end, simultaneously. Not only is this a great deal of fun, it can truly broaden horizons in terms of creativity and experience.

The keys on the Yamaha YPG-235 are more naturalistic that many more expensive keyboards that I have played. The result of the keyboard's graded action is that the higher note keys have a lighter touch than the lower bass keys. Even though this portable Yamaha grand lacks the weighted keys of an acoustic grand piano, its keys have a feel not that much dissimilar from a genuine piano. It is most certainly adequate for the non professional.

Some 300 songs have been built into this portable keyboard and the music base can be expanded even further thanks to USB connectivity. Likewise included as standard is the Yamaha education suite. Yamaha's education suite consists of 7 different and entirely interactive lessons. The speed at which the lessons are conducted can be programmed to suit the individual.

If you shop around on line, you can find this feature packed Yamaha YPG-235 priced at below $300. This represents incredible value for money and a great way to commence or even broaden, a musical keyboard career.

Here's a video for your to enjoy


I hope this blog has helped you in your decision as to whether or not the Yamaha YPG 235 is the right keyboard for you,

Yamaha DGX 640

Yamaha DGX 640 Digital Grand Piano
"Yamaha's most piano-like portable grand piano ever" is the claim being made by Yamaha in regard to the new Yamaha DGX-640 digital piano. Coming from a such a reputable corporation like Yamaha, that's a very large claim. So what is actually behind this call and how can it be deemed credible?

To start with, a digital piano must have the feel of an acoustical piano if it is to be believable in its claim to be "piano-like".

Click Here for the best price for the Yamaha DGX 640



To this end, Yamaha have equipped the DGX-640 with a GHS(Graded Hammer Standard) weighted keyboard. Thanks to this technology, the weighting on the keys are adjusted to imitate an acoustic piano whereby the higher keys have a lighter action than the lower keys. The difference between the feel of this digital piano and an acoustic piano would not be detectable to most people, particularly beginners.

The next big test is quality of sound because a piano-like digital grand piano would sound exactly like an acoustical model.

Yamaha has a reputation for high quality sounding digital pianos and the DGX-640 is undoubtedly no exception. Importantly, the sound is dynamic in that this digital piano has a 3 layer piano sound. Meaning, the firmness at which a the keys are struck can change the sound by up to three different levels. In turn, this provides the player a greater level of diversity in terms of self expression when performing.

So against the two most vital tests for any piano, sound and feel, this digital piano appears to do well. Where the Yamaha DGX-640 really excels, is in its amazing list of features. Let's investigate just a few of the most noteworthy. 

To begin with, it has no less than 535 inbuilt voices or sounds, meaning instruments. So if you get tired of playing the piano, switch to the guitar, flute, trumpet, saxophone or whatever other instrument takes your fancy. The digital piano has the ability to record up to 6 songs internally . The song arranger feature allows you to completely recreate a song in a whole fresh style or genre. The music score will appear in the display screen when you play the song back. This is a fantastic learning aid for people just starting to read music. Yamaha have built in as standard, its step by step, music education suite.

To summarize, are we able to concur with Yamaha in terms of its big claim? Clearly, without reviewing all the other Yamaha digital pianos, it is hard to compare and draw any genuine conclusion. I should say this though, if Yamaha's intended market are beginners to intermediates, then they have undoubtedly over delivered. For our given market, the feel and sound of the instrument will be life-like and they will not need more than 3 levels of sound variance . Add the Yamaha education suite and the Yamaha DGX 640 digital piano is definitely a grand choice.

Here's a demo video for you to enjoy

  





 I hope this blog has helped you in your decision as to whether or not the Yamaha DGX 640 is right for you.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Moog Little Phatty

Moog Little Phatty stage ii
The Moog Little Phatty stage ii is the second and newest edition to the Little Phatty stage series of synthesizers. In this article, we will have a quick look at some of the new features built into the new stage ii model and see what makes it so different from the former. By discussing these new additions, ideally it will become evident as to why this powerful little instrument is increasing its popularity across all kinds of musicians.



  
                    Click Here for the Best Price for Moog Little Phatty


                                               New Little Phatty features can be summarized as;
                                            
                                               MIDI over USB

                                               MIDI clock Sync
                                                   Arpeggiator

                                                   Tap Tempo

                                                   Stylish black finish

    To begin with, the great benefit of having access to MIDI over USB is the additional potential you get from being able to process external audio. It also gives this synthesizer more versatility, from full analog set up to a laptop / soft synth set up. Moog software such as the Little Phatty Editor/ Librarian, allows you to join to and operate directly from your computer keyboard.

    The MIDI clock sync enables you to synchronize the LFO and arpeggiator to the tempo of your MIDI sequencer, drum machine or software. No problems now either with timing the arpeggiator and rhythym tracks with whatever wave modulations such as square, triangle, or sawtooth.

    The arpeggiator is a great inclusion that will have appeal to a very extensive range of musicians. The classical old synth sounds of the 70's and 80's can now be genuinely recreated thanks to the sync with the MIDI clock.

    Tap tempo brings LFO (low frequency oscillation) and arpeggiator sync functionalty to situations where there there is no MIDI clock.

    The smooth black finish gives the Little Phatty stage ii that extra style and contemporary feel befitting its upgrade.

    For soft synth devotees, it is worth noting some details here about the optional Little Phatty Editor/ Librarian software. Suited to both Mac and Windows platforms, it enables you to use your computer for storing,editing, mutating, morphing and creating presets. Musicians planning for their next gig will also love the fact that presets can be organized to form customized preset banks.

    In summary, the new features of the Moog Little Phatty stage ii, unite true analog synthesis with modern-day performance and production. That glorious Moog sound is now matched with a list of operating faetures that synth players would expect from a much more expensive unit.

    The extended versatility that these new features provide is serving to diversify the appeal of the Moog Little Phatty concept. No matter the genre, an ever growing number of musicians are starting to expand their performance and creative horizons, thanks to this powerful little instrument.

                                                          Here's a demo video you can watch



    I hope this post helps you to decide whether or not the Moog Little Phatty stage ii is right for you.

    Tuesday 20 December 2011

    Korg Kaossilator Pro


    Korg Kaossilator Pro
    If you are an aspiring musician,with limited keyboard skills but plenty of desire to create your own sounds,then the Korg Kaossilator Pro may just be the musical instrument for you.

    Although not lightweight, the Korg Kaossilator Pro is very portable, versatile and powerful for a synthesizer its size.




    Typically with dynamic phrase synthesizers of this style, unique sounds and phrases are made possible with intuitive ease.

    The end result is that with the Korg kaossilator Pro, you have an instrument that acts as your musical partner and collaborater.

    When you first pick up and play the Korg Kaoss Pro, two things are quick to enter your mind. Firstly, just how simple it is to intuitively compose totally innovative sounds and secondly,the sheer quality of those sounds.

    You certainly get the feeling that this instrument is certainly not a toy but rather, a authentic and legitimate tool for music production.

    This musical instrument is so much fun to play it defies words.

    For a synthesizer to come in such a compact and mobile bundle it geuinely punches above its weight when it comes to benefit delivery.

    Owing to heavy metal construction, this little synthesizer is without doubt not a light weight.

    The Korg Kaossilator Pro has various unique features some of which include;

    The touch pad screen reacts to the very lightest of brushes or taps of the finger.

    Horizontal movements across the touchpad control the pitch while vertical movements up and down the screen adjust the tone.

    Such features in combination serve to bring about an very intuitive instrument suitable for the making of new music no matter the skill nor the experience level of the user.

    Completely fresh recordings require a level of recording complexity that having four independent loop recording banks enables. You can add further complexity by recording from external sources as well.

    The installment of 200 sound programs is a tremendous resource along with the ability to fast access your most preferred 8. This of course helps hold that intuitive flow when you are in full creative mode.

    And ofcourse, to create your own music, Usb connectivity and SD storage are must haves.

    My only gripe here is that track saving is in real time which for me seems a bit slow.

    Having said that, I am extremely amazed at the ability of this little musical instrument.

    In my opinion, the Korg Kaossilator Pro is a very extraordinary instrument due to its ability to adjust to the needs of both beginner and experienced musician. This in particular rings true for a synthesizer which is usually easy to split into two separate schools, either for beginners or for the more experienced.Never both.

    It can take rather a while to get your head around a new instrument, particularly a synthesizer.

    The Korg Kaossilator Pro however, would have to be one of the easiest synths to get the feel of and to begin to master as either a composer or performer, or both.

    Korg have managed to bundle all of this power into a unit that you can get new for under $500, so I suggest you check it out now.

              Here's a demo video for you to watch.




    I hope that this blog post has helped you decide whether or not the Korg Kaossilator Pro is for you.