Best Digital Keyboard Reviews 2018

Digital keyboards play a very critical role in the production of modern music. This is because they bring virtually all sounds of known musical instruments to your fingertips. Now, picking the right keyboard can be a daunting task even for the most experienced professionals. To help you out with this, we’ve searched far and wide for the best digital keyboard brands and settled on five top trusted manufacturers. We went further and handpicked keyboards from these brands and presented them in a mix of type and price. We hope that you’ll find them suitable for your use.

Overview

PROS

CONS

SPECS

No. of Keys

Style

Size

Weight

Power

Our Top Choice

Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Keyboard

The Williams endeavors to supply the music industry with keyboards that can accommodate both beginner and professional instrumentalists.

Highly portable design. Comes with 5 sounds: piano and electric piano, organ, synth and bass. Includes metronome and speakers that are built into the keyboard.

It doesn’t come with accessories such as a sustain pedal, stand or AC power adapter.

88 – key

Semi-weighted keys

50 x 11 x 3.5 inches

19 pounds

AC main or batteries

Best Value

M-Audio Oxygen 49 MK IV Digital Keyboard

M-Audio commands worldwide respect in designing and manufacturing equipment that interfaces between computers and music.

Assignable knobs and faders for efficient control of music software. Compatible with a wide range of DAW software. LCD screen gives you clear and ready feedback.

Its drum pads can be hard to program.

49 – key

Velocity-sensitive keys

32 x 9.6 x 3.7 inches

6.4 pounds

USB bus power

Yamaha Portable Grand Digital Keyboard

For over a century, Yamaha has provided durable and functional musical instruments that meet the needs of artists at every skill level.

Highly touch sensitive keys. Tone variations give an expressive performance. A good choice for beginner. Comes with built-in learning guide. Can connect via USB.

It’s on the expensive side of the price spectrum.

76 – key

Semi-weighted keys

46.38 x 16.25 x 6.38 inches

18 pounds

AC main or batteries

Casio CTK-2400 Digital Keyboard

Casio is renowned the world over for quality personal electronic products that range from watches to calculators.

Allows mixing recorded rhythms for added creativity. Has a step-up lesson system for easy learning. Mesmerizing samples. Voice pad to create your own sounds.

Its power-saving mode is only activated when on batteries.

61 – key

Standard-size keys

37.3 x 12.1 x 3.6 inches

7.9 pounds

AC main or batteries

Alesis Q25 Digital Keyboard Controller

Alesis prides itself in using state-of-the-art technology to design equipment that enables music professionals to create revolutionary tracks.

USB interface for hassle free plug and play setup. Free Ableton Live Lite music software makes it cost efficient. Comes with pitch and modulation wheels.

Its foot-pedal is sold separately.

25 – key

Velocity-sensitive keys

19 x 7.25 x 2.37 inches

4.6 pounds

USB bus powered

(Updated September 7, 2017)

Skip ahead and go directly to the reviews.

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Watch Our Digital Keyboard Review

How Do I Choose the Best Digital Keyboard?

According to the 19th century US senator John A. Logan, music is the medicine of the mind. It transcends all humanly known barriers such as language and cultural differences to touch and affect the emotions of men. It doesn’t matter whether it’s sung or played, music has a way of capturing your emotions. The effect of music on your feelings is even greater when it’s beautifully done.

However, in order to make quality music, you’ll need to invest in quality instruments, which may include drum sets, saxophones, guitars and even tambourines. Now, buying and getting skilled people to play all these instruments can be costly. This can stand in the way of you creating the music of your choice. Fortunately, with the help of technology, these huddles are a thing of the past. With a premium digital keyboard, you can produce any voice or note you can think of with a simple push of a button. Moreover, you get the opportunity to mix as many sound effects as you can to create unique tracks. This gives you limitless opportunities for creativity.

Digital piano keyboards come in different types depending on their intended use. These include MIDI controllers, arranger keyboards, keyboard workstations and synthesizers. Irrespective of the type of keyboards you’re looking for, if you intend to engage in music production and make your performance memorable, you may also want to invest in a keyboard stand. That said, it’s important to look at the important features to consider when buying a digital keyboard. Let’s see the details in the upcoming sections.

Price

The price of a digital keyboard is highly depended on its size, design features and the accessories it comes with. For instance, a quality 25-key MIDI digital keyboard controller costs about $80 while the price of an 88-key portable piano-style keyboard with stand and power adapter can go up to $750. So, if you’re looking for a digital piano keyboard with plenty of features and accessories, be prepared to pay more. This notwithstanding, you’re likely to come cross cheap digital keyboards in the market. You’ll probably want to be careful with such devices, however, as they’re likely to be made of cheap materials and may thus fail within a short period. But you don’t have to worry about this anymore as our review doesn’t include anything like them!

Features

Whether you’re producing or performing music, you need the right resources within your reach for quality results. This is why we advise you to get a keyboard that has all the features that are required for your project.

Below are the important features to look for in a digital piano keyboard:

Number of keys – How many keys does it have, e.g. 25-key, 76-key etc.?
Style – Its design style, e.g. piano-style, full-size keys, velocity-sensitive keys etc.
Sounds – The number of built-in tone and sounds
Size – It dimensions and weight
Power – Its power source, e.g. battery powered, AC mains or USB bus powered
Accessories – What else is in the box such as adapter, USB cable, DAW software, etc.
Input/output – Types of input/output signals of the keyboard, e.g. sustain pedal, headphone jack etc.

These features determine the price of the keyboard and it’s therefore wise to pick a device with qualities that are within your budget.

Construction and Design

The designs of digital keyboards vary from one manufacturer to another. For instance, digital keyboard come with a varying number of keys which range between 25 and 88. These keys can be full-sized and weighted to mimic those of a traditional piano. It’s also common to get piano keyboards with velocity-sensitive keys. So, be on the lookout and pick a device with keys that suit your preference.

You’ll need to find out the number of voices incorporated in your keyboard design. These may vary from five to hundreds. Other features that come with digital piano keyboards, especially MIDI controllers, include drum pads, knobs, faders, and pitch and modulation wheels. Increment/decrement octave buttons also come in handy when you want to shift the range of your keyboard. Some keyboards also feature assignable controls that allow you to access your computer DAW application without using the mouse.

Irrespective of what you want to use the keyboard for, you’ll probably want to consider how it’s powered. Most digital pianos are powered by AC power supply, batteries or USB bus power. The choice of your keyboard should be influenced by the power that’s readily available to make sure that you’re not limited in your operation.

Performance and Ease of Use

As you shop for a digital piano keyboard, it’s important to go for a device that makes your work easy and enhances your efficiency. For example, while a professional music producer with workstation may work well using a 25-key USB MIDI controller, an average keyboardist may find it hard to pull off a performance using the same device. A standard 88-key keyboard will thus be the best choice for pianists as it allows you to play even the most complex notes. When it comes to the design of the keyboard’s keys, full-sized, weighted type give you nice resistance associated with realistic pianos. On the other hand, velocity-sensitive keys allow you to control the volume of notes by regulating the pressure you apply on them. So think of how creative these features will allow you to be, especially if you’re a digital artist.

What is the Best Digital Keyboard?

Now that you know what to look out for when shopping for a digital keyboard, let’s examine the features of the highlighted products in this review. Consider the qualities of each keyboard in view of what you want to achieve. This will allow you to know the device that works for you best. Our desire is that, as you read through this review, you’ll come across one keyboard that suits your needs perfectly.

Our Top Choice

The Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Keyboard comes with a built-in metronome that helps you determine the tempo of your music. Need a piano with high definition sounds? See the Williams Allegro 2 Digital Piano. It even comes with modulation keys, an AC power supply adaptor as well as a sustain pedal.

Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Keyboard with Built-in Speakers and Metronome

Williams Digital Keyboard Legato

Features

If you’re a piano player, you’ll agree that, besides the authentic notes it produces, the sheer weight of its keys gives you an enjoyable feeling during your performance. This quality can easily be lost when designing digital pianos. The Williams Digital Piano company understands this and that’s why its keyboards are built to give you a realistic piano experience.

The Williams Legato Digital Keyboard features five voices that can be combined to produce awesome acoustics. These voices can also be manipulated individually such as varying their volume. There’s even a function to split the digital piano into right and left sections and assign specific voices to each side. This gives you the freedom to explore more ways to create beautiful music. Moreover, this keyboard comes with built-in speakers that allow you to hear your music without necessarily connecting it to external speakers.

Here are other features of this digital piano:

Comes with stereo/mono output for quality music production
Supports USB MIDI connection thus allows you to connect to DAW software in your computer
Its keys are semi-weighted for a realistic piano feel
Its design incorporates music rest to allow you pause intervals in your performance/production

This product got you searching for more? Check out all the digital keyboards from Williams and pick one that suits you.

Best Value

The M-Audio Oxygen 49 Digital Keyboard Controller features 8 knobs and 9 faders that are all assignable in order to allow you to manipulate your music software directly without using computer input devices. Need a MIDI keyboard controller that’s smaller in both size and price? Consider the M-Audio Axiom AIR Mini 32-Key USB MIDI Keyboard. It also features assignable knobs and low profile keys.

M-Audio Oxygen 49 MKIV Digital Keyboard and USB MIDI Controller w/Drum Pad — Available in 3 Styles

M-Audio Digital Keyboard Oxygen 49 — 49 Key

Features

Computerized production of music has seen tremendous growth in recent years. Leading brands in the market use top-notch technology to design innovative software and hardware solutions that have reshaped the music production industry. However, in as much as modern equipment present a myriad of benefits, it’s important to mention that their reliability is critical in ensuring that you deliver on your projects. It thus goes without saying that it’s wise to go for brands that have stood the test of time in manufacturing quality music equipment — and M-Audio is one such brand. One example of how it accomplishes this is in its Oxygen keyboards, which are are famed for their efficiency and flexibility in using them for on-the-go performances.

The M-Audio Oxygen 49 MK IV Digital Keyboard features synth-action keys that are velocity-sensitive. This makes the keys bounce back into position quickly enough to allow you to play fast passages comfortably. It also comes with velocity-sensitive trigger pads that allow you to control the loudness of sound effects such as beats. This keyboard also has a LCD screen that displays input parameters. This allows you to confirm whether your settings are accurate to avoid getting different results from your expectations.

Moreover, below are other features of this MIDI keyboard controller:

Comes with multiple software such as Ableton Live Lite, SONiVOX Twist and AIR Music Tech’s Xpand!2 for spontaneous recording, editing and mixing of music
Features USB MIDI for fast and efficient workstation set up
Compact and lightweight design for portability and on-the-go performance
Features a sustain pedal input that allows you added sounds effects in your music

If you need a keyboard with a different number of keys, the M-Audio Oxygen series is also available in 21 and 61 key deigns.

If you’re looking for a different piano design, check out the other M-Audio digital keyboards and get one that tickles your fancy.

The Yamaha Portable Grand Digital Keyboard has a professional pitch bend wheel and 76 piano-styled keys that are graded with soft touch technology. If you want an enhanced piano performance and sound system, this Yamaha P115 88 Weighted Key Digital Piano Bundle will be a worthy purchase. It also comes with a sustain pedal, Knox large bench and a durable X stand.

Yamaha 76-Key Portable Grand Digital Piano-focused Keyboard — Available in 3 styles

Yamaha Digital Keyboard YPG235 — 76-Key

Features

When you mention Yamaha, the first thing that comes to mind is strength and durability. Having been in the field for over a century, Yamaha’s products are renowned around the globe for their durability and efficacy. Besides their full line of musical instruments, Yamaha also produces sporting goods, home appliances, furniture, industrial robots and other stuff. But, its functional musical instruments don’t just magically appear — Yamaha interacts with music artists of every skill level and understand their needs in order to create products that meet such.

The Yamaha YPG-235 Portable Grand Digital Keyboard is designed to bring an exciting musical feeling whether played by an expert or a beginner. With its 76 keys styled like those of a piano and graded with soft touch action, you’ll effectively express your different emotions through music at the press of each key. Play with the highly touch sensitive keys, by pressing faster, softly or heavily and listen to the interesting tone variation that heightens your performance. And if you’re a starter, Yamaha got you covered! This piano-focused keyboard features a built-in Yamaha Education Suite (Y.E.S.) providing tuition and assessment tools for the learner interested in playing and performing music.

Moreover, this piano-focused keyboard has all the bells and whistles, as you can see below:

Comes with a built in recorder-cum-sequencer for the player to record their songs and give a self-judgment on their performance
Has almost 30 preset songs and 160 preset styles to kick off your practice with ease
Listen to about 500 special selected voices ranging from trumpet, sweet, pan flute to rotor organ, among others
It gives a grade at the end of the lesson so you can gauge your performance
Pitch Bend Controller that enables the player to give their songs tone variations so as to add a different feel
Stereo piano sound helps give the song a natural hearing
The performance assistant feature means that even a novice can give an electrifying concert to their friends and family
USB connectivity and compatibility with computer music software can enable the pianist to save more songs and download others
The education suite has a chord dictionary that teaches you how to play chords and displays whatever you are playing

You can also treat yourself to the amazing features above with a standard pack or an 88-key model of this Yamaha Digital Keyboard.

Regardless of your skill level, Yamaha digital keyboards are sure accompaniments for all your performances.

The Casio CTK-2400 Digital Keyboard features a built-in microphone that allows you to record your tunes and incorporate them into your rhythm. Need a keyboard with more keys? Check out the Casio WK6600 Workstation Keyboard. It comes with 76 keys and 700 built-in tones for limitless creativity to improve your music production.

Casio CTK2400 61- Key Portable Digital Keyboard w/USB — Available in 4 Styles

Casio Digital Keyboard CTK-2400 — Keyboard & Power Supply

Features

When performing or recording music, you want all your equipment to function optimally without any glitch. One way of achieving this is by using instruments that are made by trusted brands. Over the years, Casio has stood out as a company that’s passionate about designing electronic products that are built to last and exceed customer expectations. So, when it comes to digital keyboards, the company’s quality of production remains uncompromised. This has led to an increased growth in the popularity of its keyboards.

The Casio CTK-2400 Digital Keyboard is specially built to give you superior sound output by providing you with 400 AHL tones. It features 150 pre-set rhythms that allow trainees an exciting learning experience. If you’re a novice player, then its step-up learning system will come in handy to help you grasp the fundamentals of quality music. Moreover, this keyboard comes with a USB connection interface for plug and play set-up on computers without the need for software installation. This also allows you to use it as MIDI controller when it’s connected to an Apple iPad.

And that’s not all! The following are other features of this keyboard:

Features a 48 note polyphony that prevents you from dropping notes when combining multiple functions for sophisticated rhythms
Comes with 110 songs that you can play along to hone your skills or pass the time
Has an AC power adapter that allows you to use it immediately you receive it
Runs on AC & battery powered DC supply for backup in case of power outage or for use in remote areas
Comes with an auto-power off feature when running on batteries to help you save on power

The CTK-2400 is available in multiple packs, including the Educational, Premium, and Quincy Jones packs.

Need more samples to choose from? See all Casio digital keyboards and pick one that suits you.

The Alesis Q25 25-Key USB MIDI Digital Keyboard Controller features a plug-and-play connection to your computer and comes with free Ableton Live Lite music software. Shopping for a keyboard with semi-weighted keys? We highly recommend the Alesis Recital 88-Key Beginner Digital Piano. It comes with five realistic voices and four operating modes.

Alesis Q25 USB MIDI Keyboard Controller — Available in 3 Styles

Alesis Digital Keyboard Q25 — 25-Key

Features

Whether you’re a DJ or a music producer, you need reliable equipment that give you the desired results whenever you use them. The tools you use should also allow you to explore your creativity. This helps create unique tunes that you’ll be proud to showcase and thus help you advance your career. Now, to achieve this, you’ll need to use products from trusted brands such as Alesis. For more than three decades, the company has been in the forefront in design innovative circuitry systems with unique applications in drums & percussions, sound, mixers, keyboards and MIDI controllers among others.

The Alesis Q25 Digital Keyboard Controller comes in a compact design that allows you to easily adapt it to any performance or DJ-ing rig. Its 25 velocity-sensitive keys give you an extremely powerful performance that allows you to stretch your creativity. It also features modulation and pitch wheels that allow you to add more effects to your music for even classier live sessions. You can also achieve professional tones through these controls when it’s connected to the DAW software. The Alesis Q25 has up/down octave buttons that allow you to expand the range of the available notes. These buttons are backlit for improved visibility, thus giving you better performance in poorly lit environments.

Moreover, these features make the Alesis Q25 a great pick:

Plug-and-play design w/Windows and Mac OS systems for hassle free set up
Comes with Alesis Ableton Live Lite/ AIR Music Tech Xpand! and 2 music software thus saving you the trouble of acquiring a production program
Supports pedal input for a complete performance
Can connect to an iPad for added flexibility in operation

This keyboard is also available in 49-key and 61-key styles to allow you a variety to pick from.

Curious what else this brand has to offer? See all Alesis digital keyboards and pick one that tickles your fancy.

Get the Best Digital Keyboard of 2018!

Having gone through our review of some of the best digital keyboards, it’s our prayer that you’ve found one that meets your needs. If you still wish to compare other keyboards from these trusted brands before you can make up your mind, feel free to follow the links on this review page for more details.

Our Top Choice

Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Keyboard

Best Value

M-Audio Oxygen 49 MK IV Digital Keyboard

Yamaha Portable Grand Digital Keyboard

Casio CTK-2400 Digital Keyboard

Alesis Q25 Digital Keyboard Controller