Kurzweil SP-88

Very easy to use the basic features and select patches. Setting up MIDI ranges is a little trickier...you have to use a succession of multi-functional keys. I haven't done much with this as I'm using it primarily as either a straight-ahead piano or a controller. For both purposes, it's a snap to use.

The keyboard has 64-voice polyphony and I haven't noticed any dropouts, even when playing complex piano music with a lot of pedal. The action is excellent for a semi-weighted keyboard -- in fact, that's the main reason I bought it. I've been uniformly happy with the keyboard's playability and responsiveness, and the bend-strip controllers are also very nice to use. I honestly can't figure out where the guy with the negative review is coming from -- I wondered if he was talking about a different keyboard with his comments on the "poor action and lack of velocity sensitivity".

The on-board effects are limited and I am not really using them. They're OK for basic ambience. There's not any expansion, but as a controller it doesn't need it. I was annoyed to find that the keys don't send MIDI AfterTouch, and in fact this is the most negative thing I'd have to say about it. There are some good MIDI-mapping functions, though, and you can split the keyboard for live performance. There is no onboard sequencer.

My opinion about the sounds varies...sometimes I really like the piano sounds, but more often I find them a little thin. There is definitely NOT enough decay in the acoustic piano patches, which is particularly noticeable when playing classical music. However, the electric piano sounds are very nice and rich.

As I mentioned above, for the most part I've found it more than usually responsive and I can get expressive results. As a controller it performs well.

I haven't had it for long enough to say for sure, but it feels very solid and I've given it some good hammering.

So far I've been pretty happy with it and I think I paid a fair price. The competitive price and the action were the main purchase points for me. I wish the piano sounds were better, but realistically I know no synth piano will ever stack up to the real thing, and this falls a lot less short than many I've heard. The important thing for me is that the action supports my playing without making me tired, and the sounds are good enough not to be distracting. By the way, I've been playing about 20 years and my other gear includes a Yamaha DX-7 and an Alesis QS8. This is my first 88-key controller.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd certainly consider buying one again, although I'd also want to compare it to whatever else there might be that's new.

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Easy to set up ... easy to play ... actual access to parameters is a bit confusing as the buttons are multi-funtion ... the display is also limited ... the presets are excellent ... my only complaints are that the piano sounds don't sound at extremely soft touch, and the organ sounds are a bit loud and steady volume

the action is good, but a little too springy to be excellent ... the built in effects are great ... no expansion except for midi in and out

all the sounds are great, but I would have to admit the grand pianos are a bit dull (there is a brite but it's too brite) and the strings are a bit cheesy (although I haven't found a synth where the strings were otherwise). But overall the sounds are better than most

Feels very solid

This is the first keyboard I've bought in a while - the price was nice and I wanted less but better quality sounds in a full size keyboard. So far I am pleased with this. When I get tired of the sounds I will probably use it as a controller and in this case it's a good value ...

Accessing the different sounds is very easy. There is a panel of 16 buttons, and each button has two sounds.

Adjusting effects and midi parameters is a bit more difficult. The interface is designed to run on four buttons, probably for price's sake, but that makes it difficult to use. You're probably not going to be using this much anyway, however.

I can't figure out the polyphony. I haven't run out of notes yet, but I can't find the specs in the manual. I'm guessing 64, but I would't be surprised if it's only 32.

It has built in reverb, and that's about it. The reverb is pretty terrible, but you need a little of it or the patches sound very dull. I don't think there are any other effects.

It serves fairly decent as a midi controller. Once you get the ribbon modulators set up (I'm not sure if I like these yet) it works like a good controller. No aftertouch. The action is pretty lousy though, so it's not the best idea for controlling a piano.

It comes with a pretty nice sustain pedal.

No sequencer, and no expansion possible.

This is what really gets me. This keyboard has EXCELLENT electric piano sounds. Some of the best I've ever heard. The organs and strings are good too.

But most people would buy a keyboard like this for the PIANO sounds. And those are for some crazy reason just plain BAD. Kurzweil has some excellent piano sounds in their other keyboards, which makes me thing the sounds on this thing were intentionally toned-down, to make it more of a budget-model. I can't think of any other reason.

As I mentioned before, the reverb is very lousy. It's noisy and poorly defined, and there's only one choice for it. Unforunately the piano sounds NEED, otherwise they sound even worse.

The action is mediocre, which results in a pretty unresponsive keyboard. It doesn't react to high velocities, and it'd hard to play softly. You're pretty much stuck with loud and soft, all with the same tone.

What's worse, the volume control is a total bust. Any volume settings under the halfway point are useless, because the sounds cut out after 3-4 seconds of playing. It's as if cutting the volume in have just uses the lower half of the sound's sustain and amplifies it a bit, resulting in a sudden cut-off before it's through decaying. Unbelievable.


If it were on electric pianos alone, I'd give it a 9.

I would depend on it. But I'm not going to take it out of the house, because the minute Guitar Center gets more Kork SP-100's in stock I'm exchanging this thing.

The volume knob can be pretty funky, though.

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I would NEVER buy this again. I can't wait to exchange it up to the Korg SP-100 which is WAY better, even though it's a bit more expensive and heavy. The only reason I bought this one over the Korg was the price, the weight, and the fact that the store I was at didn't have the Kork in stock.

Do yourself a favore and do NOT buy this keyboard. Plus it's an ugly Purple, and unless you're a Prince fan like myself you'll find pretty sickly. And it has this tacky feature list on the keyboard, which is in really poor taste. The more I think about it the more depressed I get.

I suppose if all you want is electric pianos, this wouldn't be a bad deal. But I wouldn't buy it, because the fewer units this thing sells, the sooner Kurzweil will end this sick experiment. You'd be better off with a Korg SP-100 and a decent tone generator.

Eewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

While some of the controls are a bit counter-intuitive, this is basically as easy as it gets. Basically, just sit down and start playing.

This keyboard has nearly every effect I could dream of. I did not get this for its features, but they certainly don't hurt. The weighted action is a little on the springy side, but very nice. The effects are very good, ranging from extremely subtle to hazardous sound-altering.

This is why I got this keyboard. I wanted a keyboard that could simulate a piano as closely as possible. And this keyboard does that beautifully. The basic sounds are just variations on piano and strings. But they all a have a warm, wonderful quality to them. The main grand piano patch feels and plays and sounds like a quality grand piano. It reacts to velocity perfectly.

I can't really say... I haven't had it very long.

If it were lost or stolen... I'd definitely want to buy it again... but I'd need to save up for awhile. I'm really ecstatic about this keyboard, and plan to use it for years to come.

Very easy to use. It's easy to navigate around all the parameters once you learn the layout of the keyboard. And the manual help alot in learning that. Read the manual cover to cover a few times and you're golden.

32 built in sounds, all of them up to the normal Kurzweil quality. Master controller capability, 88 semi-weighted keys. Very easy to use. And it only weighs 30 lbs! Can't ask for much more than that. Actually, the only drawback is the damn wall-wart adapter. When are companies going to realize that we'll take a couple extra pounds in the keyboard if we don't have to deal with that lump!

All instruments are excellent. Pianos are top notch, Rhodes are great, strings are wonderful. The only things missing are Wurlitzer electric pianos, and Clavinet sounds, otherwise this board has it all.On board effects are a little raw, I turn them off and run everything through an Alesis Nanoverb. It fits in well with all musical styles. I use in in a blues/classic rock group to push a rig consisting of a Roland MKS-20 digital piano module and a Roland JV-1010 (for Wurlitzrers and Clavs).

Can't comment, as I haven't gigged out with it yet.

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For an 88-note keyboard that only weighs 30 pounds, I'd definitely buy it again. A few more sounds to expand the range of styles, and Kurzweil would have a top-of-the-heap instrument on their hands.