CME UF8 88 Key MIDI Controller Keyboard

Advantages: Very convenient and well-planned
Disadvantages: Company not well-established (support?)

...Why bother buying a CME keyboard when there are plenty others, with more established names: Edirol, M-Audio, Korg, Novation - to name but a few? Well, there are a couple of reasons: 1) It is very compact and easily portable. Not an inch of space is wasted. It is probably the narrowest 49-key keyboard, as well as one of the slimmest. You can easily carry it with you, put it on your desk and even keep it on your lap! 2) Key action is quite good. Obviously, this is a matter of preference, but for me it is better than the Edirols, Yamahas and quite a few other keyboards and MIDI-controllers I have tried. The action is quite firm, but not hard. I usually do not fancy so called "weighed" keyboards. I don't know why, but they do not have the same action as a real grand piano. Sure, there is some "hammer-like" effect in these expensive keyboards... Read review

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Advantages: As close to a piano as you can possibly get
Disadvantages: Takes up a lot of space, extremely heavy

...! A lot of people don’t like to look at lists of details, but if you're the sort of person who likes to look at the spec, this is for you: Yamaha CVP-87A ---------------------------- * Dark rosewood woodgrain finish * 88-key AE (Action Effect) keyboard with 3-position touch sensitivity * Hi-resolution AWM (Advanced Wave Memory) sound generation * Stereo sampling piano * 60 instrument voices * 32-note polyphony * Dual voice * Keyboard split * Digital reverb * 24 built-in rhythm styles * 44 AWM keyboard percussion sounds * Tap Tempo * Auto Bass Chord with Full Keyboard mode and pattern variations * Style disk * Solo Styleplay on all rhythm styles * Disk Orchestra with two guide modes * General MIDI * Built-in 10-track Performance Memory * 3 foot pedals * Expression pedal jack * 2 headphone jacks * MIDI in / out / thru * 40W per channel... Read review

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Advantages: Sounds great. Very simple menu interface. Very cheap.
Disadvantages: No midi thru.

...'ve seen them as cheap as 90.00 and it really looks like something you could score for $5.00 at a garage sale. Looks can be decieving, but sounds really tell the truth. These sound great!!! If I didn't have a DW-8000, which is really similar but full sized, with velocity and aftertouch, and midi thru, this would still be my main keys. When I have people over who aren't as experianced with electronic music, this is the one I give them to use, because it's pretty easy to learn, and everything you learn is applicable to other keyboards, you may find yourself using in the future. The sound is very warm, almoast like a moog with precision control (And more in tune) Even though the keys aren't quite full sized, the action and response is great. In fact depending on thesize of your fingers, the smaller sized keys could make playing easier. The thing... Read review

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