Korg recently released the SP-200 digital piano, the latest in a line that stretches back 15 years to the SG-1D. The SP200 is oriented toward students and gigging musicians, and it offers 88 full-size keys and a bevy of useful keyboard sounds for less than a grand.

I really like the design and layout of the SP-200: the designers took a low-key, less-is-more approach. The instrument, which is not much bigger than the keyboard bed itself, is clad in sturdy, lightweight black aluminum. The thin, low-slung design is classy and won't call any attention to itself onstage.

The important controls are clearly marked and easily accessible; you can sit down and start playing the SP-200 without ever cracking the manual. What's more, the SP-200 weighs just over 40 pounds, which makes it positively svelte by digital-piano standards.

Perhaps the most important and personal consideration in evaluating a digital piano is the feel of its action. Korg touts the SP-200's as being “an authentic-feeling 88-note hammer action.” I would disagree in terms of its authenticity. The SP-200 has a key resistance that seems lighter than an acoustic piano's. But that offers two advantages over a heavily weighted action. First, the SP-200's action works well with the electric piano and Clavinet sounds but still allows you to play acoustic-piano sounds idiomatically. Second, the keyboard weighs considerably less than many digital pianos that have a heavily weighted action. If you are carrying the SP-200 around, its lightness is a definite plus. The SP-200's basic controls are grouped right where you want them: in front of you and on separate buttons. Some settings, such as reverb depth, are selected by pressing two buttons simultaneously. The less commonly used settings (for altering the tuning, for example, or for dialing in an exact tempo on the metronome) are activated through a combination of button and keyboard presses.

The rear panel of the SP-200 offers unbalanced ¼-inch stereo outputs operating at -10 dBV; MIDI I/O; a ¼-inch headphone jack; a ¼-inch jack for the damper pedal; and holes to attach the included music stand (see Fig. 1). You also get a jack and cable-strain reliever for the large wall-wart adapter.

The sound quality of the SP-200 varies from excellent to — in the case of the B-3 sounds — not so good. Overall, the samples are clean and very smooth, with a middle-of-the-road sound that will appeal to the broadest array of users.

There are six acoustic-piano sounds, including a wide stereo piano, a thinner rock piano, an old-time honky-tonk piano, and a respectable imitation of the Yamaha CP70 electro-acoustic piano. In general, the piano sounds are detailed, full-bodied, and realistic.

The loop portions of these samples are fairly audible, and I was able to hear a shift in timbre as the instrument moved from one sample to another. However, it is important to remember that context is everything; you will never notice these subtleties within a live-band situation.

There are also six electric-piano variations: a couple of realistic Fender Rhodes sounds, a bright DX7-style Rhodes, and a pretty good Wurlitzer electric piano. Classical players will enjoy the harpsichord, which sounds quite good in the registers of its acoustic counterpart. The SP-200 also includes a couple of funky Clavinet sounds; a gorgeous vibraphone; a nice, woody marimba; and a nylon-string guitar sound.

Next up are three Hammond B-3 organ sounds that I was not impressed with. In contrast, the three pipe-organ sounds were lovely and filled with detail. I think they would be quite suitable for a small church or wedding gig, although I might boost the low end a bit at the amplifier.

Additionally, the string and choir sounds are wonderful. They are rich and silky, perfect for creating a background pad and particularly strong when layered with the acoustic piano or vibes sound. All in all, the SP-200 offers a respectable and musical set of sounds.

One of the niftiest features of the SP-200 is that you can layer two sounds by simply pressing two sound buttons simultaneously. (The balance between the two sounds can be adjusted.) The layering works best when you combine a sound with sharp transients, such as a piano or marimba, with a pad-type sound, such as strings or choir. When you layer sounds, you cut the SP-200's polyphony in half; however, that still leaves 30 notes of simultaneous polyphony, which should be plenty.

To suit individual playing styles, the SP-200 offers three levels of touch sensitivity. The light setting means that loud notes will be triggered fairly easily; the medium setting requires more pressure to bring out the volume; and the high setting means that ham-fisters can whomp away without always being at maximum volume. I personally found the high setting to be the most dynamic, allowing the greatest subtlety in playing loud and soft notes with control.

The SP-200 offers built-in reverb and chorus. Dedicated buttons turn each effect on or off, and holding down one of the first three sound buttons selects low, medium, or high effect depth. The reverb and chorus are perfectly serviceable and add a smooth and agreeable sheen to the instruments. The chorus made the electric piano and pad sounds shimmer, and the reverb added a nice feeling of weight to the pipe-organ sounds.

I was delighted to see that the SP-200 includes a built-in metronome, which ranges from 40 through 200 bpm. You can select a common time signature (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/4), and the metronome will accent the downbeat. You can also select a bell sound for the downbeat instead of a click.

Another nice feature is that you can transpose the SP-200 by holding down the Transpose button and pressing a note on the keyboard that corresponds to the key you want to change to. For those times when the singer says “that's a bit high; mind if we try it a half step lower?” the transposition function is quite handy.

The SP-200 defaults to a tuning of A 440, but you can tune the A4 over a range of 427 through 452 Hz, in increments of 0.5 Hz. Like all other settings on the SP-200, tuning reverts to its default setting when the instrument is powered on. As a nice touch, the SP-200 offers two baroque-era temperaments — Werckmeister III and Kirnberger III — in addition to equal temperament.

The SP-200's MIDI capabilities are limited. An external sequencer can play as many as 16 MIDI channels simultaneously on the SP-200, but program changes that select patches for those channels must be initiated from a sequencer. The SP-200 can generate and read a System Exclusive bulk dump that stores the instruments settings.

As a MIDI controller, you can turn Local Control off and transmit Program Change numbers 0 through 29 by pressing the sound selection buttons. There are no Pitch Bend or Modulation wheels on the instrument, so if you are looking for comprehensive performance control of sound modules, the SP-200 is not a good choice. But for rudimentary control of an external sound device, the SP-200 is usable.

The SP-200 is a great instrument for the gigging keyboardist who does jazz, casual, theater, church, or classical gigs. It offers 88 fully weighted full-size keys, built-in effects, high-quality keyboard sounds, and a comprehensible user interface. If you are looking for a weighted keyboard action in a lightweight instrument at a friendly price, then the SP-200 is a fine choice.