R8 Zoom Recorder

[magicbeatledel]

Hi, Any Musicians out there who know anything about Multi-Track Machines and Keyboard Piano's?
I have the R8 Zoom Multi-Track Recorder.
I would like to buy a Keyboard Piano that will be compatable with it, so I can record Piano on the R8. However, I have never played any kind of keyboard before, so don't know what I should buy? Seen the term 'Midi-Output', but not even sure what that means. Do I need one that has this function, in order for it to connect to the R8?
I am looking at spending up to about £160 at most. Any suggestions please?
Cheers

[TheChair]

You don't need midi. The Zoom R8 has 2 audio in sockets which will accept XLR connectors or quarter inch jacks. Most keyboards will have one or two jack outputs. Cheaper ones may have only a stereo mini (headphone) jack. In the latter case, you'll need a splitter cable from stereo mini to two mono quarter inch jacks.

[The Builder]

I agree with TheChair about MIDI. It's a different thing entirely.
I use an M-Audio "dumb" keyboard that produces no sound at all. (You can't plug it into an amplifier.)
MIDI is just a serial stream of instructions which tell computer software what note you're playing/how loud/duration etc.

Any old (analogue) keyboard will do what you want.
Just look for something in your price range with the ordinary jackplug output that TheChair has described.

Things to consider are number of keys. You may not need the full 88.
Shorter ones tend to be cheaper.
Also, keys can be fully weighted (pukka professional instruments.) You shouldn't need that.
Semi-weighted: nice compromise, and cheaper.
And NOT weighted at all. If you just want to record, then that would be fine. (Proper keyboard players can get sniffy over this and generally go for fully-weighted, especially for stage work.)

[magicbeatledel]

Thanks guys.