This is a blatant plug, and no, I don’t make any money from this.

Casio CDP-200R

If you are looking for a weighted, full size keyboard with a decent array of surprisingly convincing sounds (including grand piano), than you can’t go wrong with the Casio CDP-200R.

I bought a new one in Bogota the other week, for just over £600, and I am sure you can get one even cheaper from Ebay, or Thomann in Europe.

To give you an idea of the onboard sounds, here is an instrumental I just finished for TV:

‘Easy Does It’ (jazzy instrumental)

Apart from the snare and the rhythm guitar at 1:04 minutes, all the sounds are from the Casio, (mixed and enhanced in Cubase).

I am now working on a solo piano piece and I dare you to notice the difference from the real thing.