Singer and keyboard player Sora (aka Andrea Hunt) has had a hectic summer -- singing at a number of festivals and hitting the studio to finish vocals on her new CD, Heartwood.

She also broke into her piggy bank to buy a keyboard -- a Kurzweil SP88.

"I was looking for a weighted full keyboard with some nice piano samples that was lightweight and reasonably priced. Those were my main criteria. The most important, for me, is how it sounds, how it feels to play," she says. " I grew up on a C7 Yamaha grand piano, so I haven't always found that keyboards satisfy my need for a rich and full sound. Lightweight was also key; I don't want to injure myself lugging that thing in and out of my car, and without help a lot of time, I have to be prepared to move all my equipment myself."

She also adds that, as a musician, her meager budget was also a factor. Like most musicians she wanted the best she could get for the cash she could muster.

"The Kurzweil SP88X was recommended to me, and after doing some of my own research, I had to agree that it had all the features I was looking for. It was easy to find Yamahas to test out, and Rolands, which I did. I enjoyed the Yamaha sound (hardly surprising having grown up on a Yamaha piano), but was intrigued by the Kurzweil, and finally scoped one out," she says. "I loved how it felt, the sound quality suited me, rich and full, and I have to say the fact that it is purple appealed to my quirky nature! The SP88X is no longer in production, it has been replaced by a newer model, so when I found a SP88, I decided that it would suit my needs well enough and went for it. Really it makes sense to me that I like the Kurzweil, I myself I have a Boston upright piano and just LOVE it."

Sora bought the keyboard mainly for performance. She had been renting keyboards when she needed them, but that became tiresome (as you might imagine). She wants to use the MIDI features live but has not had the time to dig into those as much as she would like.

Although she loves singing with acoustic instruments she also loves the grand piano, and those are hard to haul with you to a festival.

The second she got the keyboard she started playing with all the patches and for the most part it was a straightforward process and the keyboard is easy to work with. She is used to playing a piano but the differences caused no real issues.

"I had a gig within a few days of getting my keyboard, so I practiced and tried out as much as I could so I could get used to the feeling of it. I enjoyed the piano sounds, which is what I am mostly interested in, in a keyboard. I had to get used to the type of pressure required to produce sound. My piano is very responsive, and I found I needed to use more pressure to get a soft sound, than I am used to. There were two grand piano samples and I found them both to be expressive and realistic enough. The notes on the grand piano sounds decayed a little too quickly for me. I think though, that I can adjust that, but haven't actually found time to discover all the inner workings of the keyboard. I enjoyed the richness of the Stage Piano sound and ended up using the Warm E Grand sound for my performance, it had just the right amount of warmth and sustain. Although it is lightweight, it feels good to play and I never felt I had to hold back."

She says it sounds obtuse to say but really, with any instrument, this is key.

"I simply like how it feels. The design is ergonomic enough and I was very thankful that it was only 30 pounds when I was hauling it from my car into the studio the other day." she says.

And while the MIDI features are a little difficult to access and are not intuitive, neither issue is something that cannot be cured with a thorough reading of the manual. Aside from that Sora's "complaints" are minor.

"I wish there were a few more piano sounds as that is my main use for the keyboard," she says. "I really have no use for the obviously electronic poppy sounds, and for me, I would prefer more piano samples to choose from. My only other complaint is the chord. The power chord actually scared me, it was so flimsy! That will need to be replaced ASAP."

She does, however, like the fact that her keyboard is purple.

The Calgary-based performer's new album Heartwood will be released in early 2009.