The Roland KR-33 Digital Piano

If you’re looking for a good candidate for a digital stage piano, you would do well to check out the Roland KR 33. This useful keyboard is no longer made but can be found on the secondhand market. I’ve seen these on eBay going for between $300 and $400.

I only became aware of this keyboard because I was working in music retail when it first came out. Our store was shipped a palette of these by accident. When we opened them and set them up we just had a blast playing with them.

While the KR-33 originally intended to be a home digital piano, it works great on stage and in the studio. It has 76 synthesizer type keys, MIDI in and out, several voices including pianos, the ability to split and layer sounds, and just enough MIDI implementation to give it some power as a MIDI master controller.

As far as gigging with it, it’s light weight, easy to carry and is flat as a board on top; perfect for stacking another keyboard. Oh yes, I almost forgot… it also comes with a matching stand.

This would make an excellent piano/controller for any studio as well as being ready to go out and gig with you. And the going price on the used market ain’t bad either.