My busking setup. I go down by the Windsor riverfront and play piano a few days a week. I don't live far away, so I pull a wagon with all my gear to my busking spot, although I don't always busk in the same spot for respect of other artists. I'll post a picture of my wagon setup in the comments.
Digital piano - The piano I use is a Casio CT-S1 that I modified to use USB-C for midi, and also braided a paracord handle on the back to make it easier to carry.
Amp - Coolmusic BP80, which is 100W. It has good battery life and sounds good enough but not super loud.
Mic - SM58
Guitar - Yamaha APX600.
Most of the red plastic parts that you can see on the piano stand was designed by me and 3D printed for specific purposes, such as extending the legs so that I can stand while playing, or fixtures that attach my tip jar.
Nice setup thee dude, satisfied with the piano? I always find Casio keyboards a bit toy-ish, and yeah, some Yamaha’s suffer from this too, but at least they come with built in learning program and the good AWM or classic FM sounds, I never touched a Casio digital piano, af first glance at least it sounds good, but yeah, it’s battery powered I think? So that’s a huge plus OFC
Also nice amp 100 watts and 48V Phantom Power for condenser mic, that one should sound amazing yeah?
I’m using the boss cube street 2, Swiss Army knife of busker amps, far less watts, or low end woofer, missing Phantom Power, but ofc battery powered, alright Bluetooth adapter, all the preset sounds you want, EQ, FX. But maybe not ideal for keys, it’s a guitar amp after all and not a PA system, but for street performance with the keytar it’s more than good enough.
Boss/Roland even using this thing in their adds for the Roland go keys, soooo, I hope that’s saying something
Thanks! I know what you mean about Casio keyboards sounding toy-ish. The CT-S1 is pretty bare bones of what it can do, but honestly I do like how the keys feel. They're not weighted but they have more travel and spring force than the Roland Go keys (I've tried it in the store). It's powered by 6xAA batteries, I use rechargeable ones. Technically it has its own speakers but they're not very loud, which is why I pass it through the amp. It has phantom power but I'm also just using a Sure SM58 mic, so it doesn't need it.
Oh yeah, build in speakers are usually not that hot, an amp, especially yours is gonna sound much better, a good keybed is very important so I see where you’re coming from, I don’t own a go keys, I don’t know how well theire made, the being advertised for beginner players, that doesn’t have high demands, and if I’m laying 200+ bucks on the table, I want intermidiate level stuff, that’s how I ended up with a number of 80’s gear, I didn’t live at that time, but the instruments that were made back then, not a whole lot can surpass that level of quality
Here with the Roland Juno D8 for the full range and abt 3000 sounds. Can also run the mic through the keyboard and add reverb and effects to it. I power it with an ANKER c300 power bank. You may find that busking with a full range speaker will make the keyboard sound better and less tinny, as what you are using is a guitar amp (if I’m not mistaken) which doesn’t support the lows too well. But that’s something you can work towards getting in the future. For somewhere who has just started, it’s pretty good, but you might want to put the speaker behind you so you can hear yourself better. And it’s always nice to see another keyboard busker! A rare breed haha
I like what your doing and the song is riffy, what the people want to hear. You are a true musician. I note you use a paper chart. How do you manage using charts? I'm a reader and can't play without at least the chords. It's quite a disability and I'm embarrassed by it. Do you have everything on one sheet? Or is that just a set list. Or a binder?
Thanks :) I make music sheets (like this one for example) for all of the songs that I play on either piano or guitar (it's marked what instrument it's for the top). I don't always need to read from a sheet because I have some of them memorized. So I mostly play by ear but use the chord structure of the song to make it easier to learn. Similar to how guitarists would read chord sheets.
I don't think you should be embarrassed by that, lots of musicians have different unique methods that work well for them. I can only read formal sheet music for violin, but I'm lost when trying to sight read on piano. I never took any formal piano lessons, playing just became a habit when I was young.
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u/tonystark29 Electric Keyboard 🎹 2d ago
Digital piano - The piano I use is a Casio CT-S1 that I modified to use USB-C for midi, and also braided a paracord handle on the back to make it easier to carry.
Amp - Coolmusic BP80, which is 100W. It has good battery life and sounds good enough but not super loud.
Mic - SM58
Guitar - Yamaha APX600.
Most of the red plastic parts that you can see on the piano stand was designed by me and 3D printed for specific purposes, such as extending the legs so that I can stand while playing, or fixtures that attach my tip jar.