My wife recently bought a full sized 88 key keyboard to be able to practice whilst she is travelling... she often has lots of stuff to learn, and sometimes being away can be quite stressful for her as it is time where she can't make a start on or keep in the hands quite complex pieces of music with incoming performances lurking... aka, potential professional disasters!

So, she asked me to research a bit about good electronic keyboards that had proper acoustic touch and good sound and relatively portable... and wasn't going to cost too much! Phew... talk about trying to find the sweet spot!

... and so, I did find her the Yamaha P225 which seemed to fit the bill. And I insisted that she get a proper stand for it and a pedal as well... After all, it would need to be the right height for playing otherwise she would potentially injure herself whilst practicing.

... and afterwards, I forgot that she would need a proper custom bag as well. So, I will have to pick one of those up for her.

Anyway, I asked if she wanted me to unpack it and set it up to test out before she went away... and of course, she said yes... she hates doing that sort of thing... and I'm a nerd, I LOVE unpacking new hardware!

So... we are both acoustic old school musicians... and the big challenge for me was... HOW THE #$%#$% does a stand unpack! As you can see, I finally figured it out with the help of a few YouTube videos... It is crazily sturdy, but along with that is the need to know exactly how crack it open easily!

And this little knob thingy is the key... it hooks into a spring which locks and unlocks the binding mechanism that holds it steady and secure. Of course, I had the inkling that this little bit of irregularity was the key to the opening... but it was a bit stiff ,so I wasn't sure if it was a turny thing or a pully thing...

And these are the TEETH. Yep, this thing isn't going to collapse anytime soon!

Which is good seeing as this "portable" keyboard is about 20 kilos in weight. Yes, we will definitely need the carry case... My wife was trying to insist that she wouldn't need it, but it is awkward to carry... and there are also the bits and pieces like music stand and pedals and cables and stuff like that... and I said that it was also important to protect the instrument and then to be able to store it easily at home... and that convinced her.

And her it is, next to one of our harpsichords! It has a pretty good piano sound... sampled from Yamaha's grands... and each instrument does have three options as well. Needless to say, the harpsichord sound is pretty terrible, but ONE of the organ sounds is tolerable... but I will have to try and convince my wife that it is useable in one of our main concerts. But the touch is completely wrong for these instruments... the touch is more akin to a piano... but not quite either, definitely weighted but a touch bouncy.

Anyway, it is close enough for her travel practice needs! Hopefully no more stressed travelling pianist wife!

Handy Crypto Tools

Infinex: The future of self-custodied crypto wallets. Simple but powerful to use, made for normies!
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Coinbase Wallet: Multi chain wallet with lots of opportunities to Learn and Earn!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
WooX: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals! This link also gives you back 25% of the commission.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
KuCoin: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
MEXC: Accepts HIVE, and trades in most poopcoins! Join the casino!
ByBit: Leverage and spot trading, next Binance?
OkX: Again, another Binance contender?