Looking for some recommendations for a relatively cheap digital piano

Hello lenuam!
taste and choice are really a personal matter and of course experience.
Since you're using Pianoteq, you're probably not looking for the sound bank in any of these controllers.
And from a personal experience, none of my controllers gave me hard times performing with Pianoteq.
What makes the difference between them is probably the touch response.
So what I suggest is, go to the music shop and try them. Nothing beats a good touch and feel of any keyboard, and you will notice immediately the difference.
Check this out, it could help you out (at least for a start)
http://mybestmidikeyboard.com/usb-midi-...controller

Another vote for Casio !

I've used different models of Yamaha using the same action as the P35.  Compared to recommendations here for a Casio PX150, the P35 is a lighter/faster action.  I personally would prefer a heavier action because my kids take their lessons on an acoustic so the adjustment is smaller.

Wow, thank you so much for the warm welcome and all your responses! Really appreciated!

I did not really think of Casio before, thank you very much for mentioning the PX-150. It does seem like a very good choice indeed. Moreover, I think I would also prefer a harder action which resembles an actual piano a bit more. However, here in Germany, the PX-150 exceeds my desired budget quite little bit...the cheapest price I could find was 566€/780$.

What do you think about the Korg SP-170? Just happened to see that one while doing some further research.
The Studiologic SL-990 Pro seems to have lost the race already for me since I read it doesn't offer any half-pedaling...

So the choice is between Yamaha P-35/Casio PX-150 and possibly the Korg SP-170.
I think I'll really just take my laptop, audio interface and a midi cable with me to the store and try these models extensively...it's just kind of embarrassing because my playing skills are so limited.

Another vote for the Casio PX-150. Here's a Keyboard Magazine of the PX-350 http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/casi...50/150865. The PX-150 has the identical key bed and grand piano voice.
The Casio has three sensors while the other keyboards you are looking at have two. The Casio uses high resolution MIDI while the other keyboards you are looking at don't.
I'm not sure if Pianoteq is capable of receiving high resolution MIDI, but this is the thing of the future. 16,256 velocity values instead of 127.
You get the ivory-feel keys. You get the light weight - 25 lbs.
To get anything that surpasses this, you will have to spend over $1000.

I have the Casio PX-350. I'd like to buy the Kawai VPC-1, but it's not in my budget.

You might look into keyboards costing two or three times as much as your budget -- as new keyboards; then look on ebay to see if you can acquire those higher initially priced 'boards at a cost within your current budget.

Cheers,

Joe

You said your budget was $400-500. The street price for the PX-150 is $499, and I'm sure you can find new ones cheaper and used ones for even less.

The PX-150 is a good choice is you are using it as a controller for Pianoteq. If you are not using it as a controller, it has a few minuses. No dedicated audio outs, just two headphone outputs. To perform a lot of functions like transpose and operating the metronome, you have to use a combination of buttons and keys.

Yes, Pianoteq receives the "high-resolution" MIDI velocity values -- they show as "35.84", etc.

Whether _any_ pianist can reliably control his touch to more than 127 (low-resolution) values -- I suspect not.  So the "feature" may have no effect on how well the music comes out.

.    Charles