Studiologic Numa Compact 2

This instrument has almost everything I wanted:
- USB/Midi
- 7 octaves
- Own collection of sounds
- Versatile
- Not expensive
- I would have wanted full weighted keys, but that comes with a price. So I settled for this capable semi-weighted action. In retrospect, I'm happy with my choice: I'm not a piano player, though I love the piano, I'm more of an allround, if not mediocre, keyboard player, so this fits very well.

It's very lightweight (maybe too much, the build construction leaves some doubts), and compact: it takes the space of the 88 keys and not much more.

The built-in speakers are a bonus, you probably cannot use them in serious environments, but to play around without connecting anything else than the keyboard, they're ok.

If you're not sure, there are many reviews on the internet to make up your mind, and the ones here helped me (thanks everybody!). If you're looking for something versatile, capable, lightweight and not expensive, this is a good choice, I'm very happy with it.

Portability (and consequently, weight) is an important matter for me, and I had difficulties finding a full-size 88-key digital piano with performance-quality piano sounds that did NOT have weighted keys. This was the best lightweight but full-range option I found without having to go into really expensive workstations.

It has quite a lot of flexibility with defining splits, allowing you to transpose each side by plus/minus 3 octaves.

I've had some very slight technical issues with it. First off, the audio click when you turn it off is a bit strong, so I've had to have the on-board volume at full but turn the whole thing down in my mixer, otherwise that click feels kind of strong on my ear. I've had maybe a couple of software crashes in 1 year of using it. And sometimes I feel like shaking the piano enough can activate the sticks and therefore send MIDI messages especially to external gear that will turn their volume way down (solution, disable the sticks in the MIDI settings).

Being able to change to other saved patches with only the knob is not ideal particularly in live situations. Also it doesn't have SST, meaning the moment you change the patch, any previous sound still ringing gets instantly cut off. As such it's better to stick to one patch per song.

Otherwise, the sound and the effects are great. You can download additional sound packs for free, the extra pianos and Mellotron sounds were the most interesting for me. And again, the full range + light weight + good piano sounds + not overly expensive was the combo I needed.