Roland GO:KEYS 5 Music Creation Keyboard | 61-Note Keyboard | Built-In Stereo Speakers | Mic Input | Bluetooth Audio/MIDI Support for Music Streaming - Graphite

I purchased this for my grandchildren, 5 and 3, hoping they will play with it, begin to learn some music, and enjoy active learning.Myself, I’m a pianist/keyboard guy who loves to play his Steinway piano. I write music on that and on my Kong Kronos. My old Roland RD-600 still has beautiful sound and its weighted touch still feels great after 20 years. So I know what works for experienced adults and I wanted something fun and interesting for the kids.The big pluses are the sounds are great, the touch is good, it has its own speakers but not so loud as to drive parents nuts, and it only weighs 11 pounds, so my daughter can easily handle it.For simplicity, you just press the on button and the grand piano sound comes up. Volume is adjusted with a slider. Right then you have a 61-key instrument for the youngsters. I also purchased a keyboard stand and a seat, and the stand on its lowest makes a small appearance even with the keyboard on it. Very nice, and important because my daughter is a minimalist and wouldn’t like a big keyboard requiring powered speakers etc.The “music reading stand” I didn’t buy yet. Other reviewers commented that it’s a piece of plastic for $35 and it looked flimsy to me. I happened to have at home an extra, double-wide professional metal music stand which is perfect for the wide spiral-bound kids’ beginners books I bought for them.You can record and play back music that you play, in MIDI format, which just plays the instrument sounds back, or in audio format, which you use if the kids want to record their own singing along with the music. My grandkids really like to sing, and I’m hoping this recording feature will help them fall in love with enjoying music.Overall, I think this is a good choice for the price. Good sounds, good company, and not too complicated.

I started playing bars in 1982 and over the years I have bought and sold a huge variety of keyboards and synthesizers (some very expensive) (I have never had a Kronos)... but of all the keyboards I have ever had or played, the Go Keys 3 & 5 have the best sounds of all of them...I got the 5 because of the connectivity and the Harmonist... the speakers are very good (for playing at home)... I have never played a 3 so I don't know how the speakers compare to the 5... the prices of these are crazy low for what you get... $350 for a 3 is unbelievable !!When the Yamaha Motifs came out, I was really amazed at the sounds but the 3 & 5 blow them away (the Motifs do have better acoustic pianos) but the acoustic pianos in the 3 & 5 are much better than keyboards I have owned (the Yamaha SY77 comes to mind)... the SY77 did most other sounds very well though...I'm going to be converting the MIDI in the USB to regular MIDI plugs (I've heard it works with a cable with a USB plug and a MIDI out plug and a MIDI in plug...) maybe I'll have to convert the USB plug to the type of USB plug that fits the oval USB jack... time will tell...Just like the Motifs changed the world when they came out, these will change the world much more because even kids will be able to get them (the Motifs were really expensive)...The soundset in these are so complete that you have a full arsenal of sounds...I've played quite a few synths that also had over 1000 sounds but there were so many that I would never use... not the case with the 3 & 5... I will confidently recommend these to anyone from novice to pro... Roland just did so much better of a job selecting the sounds for these and the sound quality is outstanding !!

I do mostly love this keyboard. First of all it is just aesthetically pleasing. The key bed feels great and the keys feel matte and not slippery as my old Yamaha synth. As someone who started with a piano, I really wish I could have weighted keys, but the extra is just not practical for someone who would be gigging.The tones/voices are very modern and a wide range of lush tones. I love that it has some serious synth capabilities, but includes the built in speaker. It save me from finding an amp every time I just want to practice.The audio fx feature is very limited, more than I realized, but it is fun and an interesting addition.Now for the annoyances. On some instruments, like one of the violins, the touch sensitivity is not as natural between levels of impact. And for anyone who will be doing gigging with the use of a wide range of voices like me, It has already become very annoying having to turn and turn and turn until I finally find the instrument I need in the other category.There should be a number pad as well to type in a number associated with the voice. Also, if I select. certain piano voice, for example, it should STAY on that piano voice every time I press "piano" until shut off. I know there is a way to program this into the "piano" or instrument button, but it changes from day to day and I can't always remember how to get there.Lastly, I have to plug in my ac adapter, sustain pedal, and audio out every time, but I can't see from the front or the back the names of the ports. I have to lift the keyboard up on it's side every time. Other keyboards have indicators on top. I am going to add stickers on the top of the instrument to help guide me, so I don't have to lift it up every time I want to plug in, so I can work around it, but it's annoying.Another thing -the voices are very modern, so there are certain sounds I find myself missing from my old synth that just don't have a comparable sound on here, despite the huge range of sounds.Yet another thing, transpose only goes +5 and -6. Why they didn't simply go +/- 10 I'll never know.Lastly, It seems very difficult to buy a gig bag and music rest. You'd think Roland would have thought of this and made it easier to find these items, but that's not the case.All in all, it's not perfect, but I think it is the best all around keyboard on the market because of its playability, rich sound, portability, and range of function.