Those are great keyboards, go and have a look at the Yamaha psr e403, they are really awesome and in the same price class:

http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~Yamaha-PSR-E403~ID~1414.asp

HI Ett and welcome to the forum.

Actually if you type www.musicforum.co.za into your browser, you will end up here too! Norio and I are planning to move the forum in that direction very soon. And yes, there will be a dedicated keyboard and synthesizer section.

First take a look at www.ratcliffe.co.za/articles/buyerkey.shtml for a quick buyers' overview of the different features on keyboards.

1) Are these keyboards good?

They are alright for a beginner, It's hard to beat Yamaha in the entry-level price ranges, but if you decide to spend more and move into the next price bracket, get a Roland - the backup and service is far better than Yamaha here in SA.

It also depends on what you want to do. Firstly and most importantly, if you are going to take lessons, you must speak to your teacher before taking the plunge. Some teachers hate keyboards and will insist on an electric piano, with at least a 72-key or a full-range (88 key) keyboard and many will insist on at least weighted keys, freferably hammer action. If you are planning on learning classically, these things are essential.

If you are planning to learn to play "for yourself" then these "home keyboards" are great. They have everything you need, with built in speakers, headphone jacks, auto accompaniment and some teaching aids. Even as an intermediate step to playing with others and light gigging they can do the job within reason. On the downside, they may not have MIDI at all (for hooking up to another keyboard or a PC for recording purposes), or have a very basic implementation of it.

If you are planning on playing with others and gigging (or any situation where you are going to travel with the keyboard, then you have to look at stage pianos or synths, which are built a lot more robustly (but are in a much higher price bracket). Speaking of transport - if you are travelling with it (even if it's just in the car to and from the teacher), plan on spending a few hundred rand on a bag too.

2) Anything else i could look at instead? I'm really not looking to spend more than about R3500

I'm not as up on specific new models as I could be, but I'll check with a guy I know later to see what is on the market and what's best in that price range. I suspect that you are already looking at the right models though. As long as you avoid the Casio, Medelli, Technics and other models found in mass retail outlets, you should be OK.

3) As a complete beginner, would there be any point in me buying the E313?
Yes. It has layering of sounds (letting you play two sounds at once - like piano and strings) and split keys (which let you have a different sound on your left hand to that on your right) - well worth the extra budget just for that. A few other small features, but those are the important ones.

Ettienne you bastid! Fancy seeing you here. I saw dae and i was like hmmm then i started reading and was like yip this is him.

Nice to see you're getting serious about music man ?

Wow, thanks for the informative replies guys!

So, by the looks of things, the E313 is the way to go then hey? I'm considering taking lessons, but buying an actual piano or a bigger keyboard is just not an option for me right now, so my potential tutor will have to deal with this keyboard ?

As far as i can understand, this E313 does have the facility available for me to send what i'm playing to my PC for recording/editing purposes. Am i correct? Will i need to buy any extra cables and so on for this?

Thanks again guys, much appreciated ?

MikeM wrote: Ettienne you bastid! Fancy seeing you here. I saw dae and i was like hmmm then i started reading and was like yip this is him.

Nice to see you're getting serious about music man ?

ROFL!!! What are the chances of actually seeing you here!

Yeah man, my whole life i've felt like i was a musical person but i've just been to busy to take it up. Now is the busiest time ever, but i still need some music in my life ?

Ett, online prices are usually notable higher than what you can get at a music store ? So maybe you could get the 403 ?

Thing is, you don't want to feel as though you've bought this, and for a little extra you could've got something much nicer ? then again, we all always want nicer.

Well with me going up to Pta next year, I've decided to start trying to become decent and get a teacher up there and whathaveyou ?

Hope all goes well friend!

MikeM wrote: Ett, online prices are usually notable higher than what you can get at a music store ? So maybe you could get the 403 ?

Really? That's very odd. I'd expect it to be the other way around, the way it is with computer hardware. I mean, we wouldn't even consider buying a 4870 at a physical store ?

Hmmm... i'll go to a few music stores then and see if i can find this keyboard ?

Thanks man ?

Yea it is weird like that. But I see the 403 has some learning function thingy on it that the 313 doesn't seem to have ?

Good luck man. I know with guitars you can usually get 30% off list price or so ?

Welcome to the forum.

DAE wrote: As far as i can understand, this E313 does have the facility available for me to send what i'm playing to my PC for recording/editing purposes. Am i correct? Will i need to buy any extra cables and so on for this?

You'll need an interface with MIDI and a pair of MIDI cables. You can then also use it to play sounds from software synths on your computer. ? If you want to record the audio output of the keyboard, the interface will need to handle audio as well.

MikeM wrote: Yea it is weird like that. But I see the 403 has some learning function thingy on it that the 313 doesn't seem to have ?

Good luck man. I know with guitars you can usually get 30% off list price or so ?

Wow dude, you were right. The cheapest online price i could fond on the 313 is R3200, and i found a place here in PTA that will sell it to me for R3000. I'm going to fetch it now ?

Thanks everyone, i really appreciate all the effort ?

How's it guys ?

I got myself the E313 this afternoon. What an incredible piece of kit. Thanks for all the help and advice guys, much appreciated ?

Thanks for the sms nooby ? Enjoying it?

Crap, sorry dude, i was busy playing ?

Yeah man, i'm really enjoying it. It's a WHOLE lot easier than i was expecting it to be, which isn't necessarily a bad thing ?

So what songs can you play ? ? Do you have someone showing you the ropes?

Well, i can't play anything perfectly yet, but i'm doing pretty well with Fur Elise. This KB actually shows me what keys to press, so that's awesome ?

Nobody in my family plays instruments (anymore) so i'm doing this Han style ? I'll most likely go for lessons though.

Guitar hero? ??? ? ? ?

Sheesh dude, I'm not sure if I should work on modding my case or guitar ?

I hope you have loads of fun ? Next year you gotta be able to jam with me ?

I'm sure i will ? My mum was very very musical back in her day, and she just had a go on my new KB ? She hasn't played in 20 years and she still owns. I'm sure i got SOME of that talent locked up somewhere inside me ?