My band's Yamaha has been dying over the past few months, so I've been trying to look around for comprehensive reviews w/ little success. Though I've played on keyboards before, this is my first purchase, so I'm not too familiar w/ the field. I've seen the Korg & M-Audio brands tossed around in this thread, but aside from the Yamaha MM8, I didn't see any models that seemed to fit my criteria:
Live performance is a priority. Portability isn't, since I might be moving it ~ 5x/yr. B/c it'll mostly be used live, it shouldn't depend upon a computer, but PC audio/USB input would be great when working w/ Logic or Pro Tools. A headphone port would be nice too.
W/ my classical background, standard piano features (ie realistic piano sound library, 88 keys, weighted keys, velocity, pedal support) are a must.
Yasunori Mitsuda, Joe Hisaishi, Reuben Kee, and Harry Gregson-Williams are some of my inspirations. Realistic orchestral/world instruments (ie choir, organ, string quartet, erhu) are a big plus. I don't need too many instruments, but the few I use have to sound good w/o software tweaking. Preset orchestral mixes have always been great (eg brass, strings, & choir on 1 voice setting).
We already have amps + sound system, so speakers aren't necessary.
Reliability: We plan on keeping this keyboard for > 5 yrs, so durability and component quality are important. Our current Yamaha's ports have degraded to the point where sound will randomly cut out w/ tested working cables. The pedal port has recently suffered from this mysterious error as well.
Budget: If I had to list a price, maybe < $1000.
It'd be great if I could be pointed towards good review sites or specific models.