Advice on MIDI Keyboards?

[AJAY]

Hi folks -

My daughter wants a MIDI keyboard for Christmas. I hardly know what one of these is, but she plays our piano in the living room so I assume she wants a traditional piano-style board. She also makes electronica music on her computer and has said explicitly MIDI.

A little research and it looks like Akai, Alesi, and Korg are the big players in the market, maybe M-Audio and a few others.

Would like to get her something in the $50 - $100 range and found a few that sound interesting, but I just don't know enough about these things to judge.

She has pretty small fingers, so a mini keyboard is probably fine.

Any advice/opinions/recommendations are appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[SoCal Blur]

A good quality MIDI keyboard is not cheap. I picked up a used, like new condition Casio WK 3000 from craigslist for $125. I would love to have one of the big name keyboards you mentioned but I don't play enough to justify it.

Don't get a mini keyboard. Try to get one with 66 keys or more. Getting weighted keys is even better because it does a better job of simulating the feel of a real piano. Of course you'll need to make sure it is a MIDI keyboard. Check eBay as well. Sometimes you can get good deals on new, MIDI keyboards.

You'll probably need a MIDI interface to connect the keyboard to her PC as well. You can find them starting at around $30 and up.