Yamaha CBX-K3

I bought this a while ago because I wanted a MIDI controller that I could use for my shows and also in my studio setup at home. I now have others but this baby was one of my first controllers. It works great as just a general MIDI controller or when you want to play for fun - since it also provides sound banks. You've got your standard power connection, plus a pedal connection for sustaining, mod and pitch wheel, and a lot of other buttons to change your MIDI channel and the sound patches. You also of course have standard MIDI in/out connections.

UTILIZATION

While my primary instrument isn't piano, I've been noodling around on pianos and keyboards long enough to be a good judge of key feel. The action on this keyboard is pretty much top notch for anything but the real thing. The weight of the keys and the amount of bounce back is a great emulation of what you'd find on a grand piano. That means it's going to be less suited for using this thing for programming percussion, but it's good news for piano players. Setup is a breeze - power it up, connect the MIDI cable, and almost all current hosts would surely recognize it and you'll be all set. Plenty of buttons make channel and patch selection very easy and intuitive. The manual (if you ever even need to look in it which you probably won't), explains everything well.

OVERALL OPINION

I got this keyboard years ago, and I still use it sometimes today when I want to play on something that feels like a piano, but I want to be able to output to MIDI. The action is definitely this board's best asset. The sounds are a little bit dated now, they sound a little cheesy. This keyboard new was a bit expensive, but you have to pay for quality action on a controller, so if you want top quality it's a good price. I'd get it again if I lost mine.

4 octaves, metal base, plastic front "solid"
Cursory checks, bank choice (4) choice of midi channel (16), choice of instruments (32x4)
higher or lower octave transposition,
start stop control continues
control tempo, volume, pan and Expression
Velocity taken into account, no aftertouch
Midi out, Expression pedal to

UTILIZATION

I need a keyboard to control my devices some of the time.
And to my surprise, it still effective today!
Where this notice, in case someone fall out of a possible acquisition.

It is (too) easy for existing tools a home studio and therefore need additional control (eg I zeroslmkII) but in his field, I found very effective.

OVERALL OPINION

Touched very nice (I had the opportunity to test some newer keyboards and I always come back to him) with firmly anchored keys (although vertical movement of the key) and although it is not touched heavy, with a good return and therefore a "presence" of the keyboard under your fingers.

Be missing something, I have not found (if it exists), c is the velocity configuration. In general it is well balanced for the hardware equipment but it must be quite "muscular" in the game to get a high velocity with some VST piano simulation example. This should bring greater subtlety of game I guess ..

While antiquated equipment (20 years Oo), but strong constitution (unlike the piece of plastic that we are sold now) and very faithful who can keep its qualities!