Keyboard Stands

When selecting a keyboard stand, it’s worth taking some time to consider the following factors:

How much does your keyboard weigh and will the stand you are considering support the weight of your keyboard. You will need a more stable stand such as a Z style or table-style stand if you have a heavy keyboard stand or a have a rigorous playing style. Also check the adjustability of the height and width to make sure you can get a comfortable playing position.

If you need to transport the stand frequently for gigging, look at good lightweight and foldable stands. Additionally, some stands come with additional tiers or racks for extra equipment.

X-Style Stands have an “X” shape and are one of the most common types due to their affordability and portability. These tend to be lightweight and easy to fold and transport. The downside is that they may not be as stable for heavier keyboards and can have limited adjustability in width (there are usually only 4 settings). They stands can be single or double brace (i.e double X), with the double brace style stands giving better stability. The biggest drawback with X style stands is playing your keyboard in the seated position. As soon as you sit down, it’s hard to position yourself without knocking your knees into the brace, which in true domino style can result in the keyboard getting knocked off the stand.

Our choice for single X style stands are:

And for double brace stands, which are more solid than single brace ones, the following are good options:

Z-Style Stands have a “Z” shape, providing better stability and more surface area for the keyboard. They tend to be more stable that the X style stands and can support heavier keyboards. This does make them heavier and bulkier to transport. I like the Roland KS 11Z and the Hercules KS400B. Neither are cheap, but they give good support to your (possibly quite expensive) keyboard.

The Roland KS 11Z is one of the best around – a really solid stand at 10 kg. The KS-11Z provides a robust and stable platform which can handle portable keyboards and pianos with up to 88 keys and weighing up to 100kg. There are multiple adjustment points which allows you to tailor the width and height to your keyboard: There is a quick release lever for the width adjustment of between 566mm and 940mm and a spring-loaded for the height adjustment of 645mm to 917mm. The adjustable feet give good stability on uneven floors and the support arms a padded and fold down for transport and storage. The arms also quickly lock into place when putting the stand up. An impressive stand.

The Hercules KS-400B Z-Stand Keyboard Stand has a built-in AutoLock System which allows you to set the desired height by simply raising the arms with height parameters of 604.5mm to 929.6mm and you can adjust the width between 508mm and 851mm. There are fluorescent marks to allow you to adjust both arms evenly which is useful when on a dark or dimly lit stage.  The locking pins give a quick and secure set up and adjustable feet give a good stable setup. Weighing in at 8kg, it has an impressive load capacity of 127.9kg

Of the more affordable options, Rockjam has a pretty good offering.

Table-Style Stands resemble a small table and often come with additional features like racks for gear. They are very stable, offer height adjustability and can hold additional equipment, but they tend to be very heavy (i.e. not as portable) and more expensive than other stands.

A couple of the K&M models are our best picks if you need a quality, robust stand, but TGI do a good offering as well.

The K&M 18950 is a high quality, steel-made table style keyboard stand. Because the legs can be individually adjusted and each leg has levelling feet, and non-slip rubber pads, it is a very stable stand. The height adjustment is from 600mm to 1,000 mm, and can take a second keyboard if needed. Weighing in at 10.7 kg it has a maximum load capacity is 80kg. As you can see here, it folds down really neatly as well.

The other K&M offering I quite like is Omega 18810. It’s very stable and robust keyboard stand (9.2kg) which has a spring-loaded height adjustment and is quick to assemble The support depth is 345mm, width is from 180mm to 790mm and the height ranges from 600mm to 1020 mm. You can also bolt on a range of attachments such as ipad and tablet holder, mic stands and even has 4 velcro tapes for cable management. All in all, quite an impressive offering.

If you don’t want to spend quite so much, the TGKT1 stand is pretty good as well. Weighing in at just under 9kg, it’s quite solid, and will support up to 80kg, giving it the same capacity as the K&M 18950. The height range is 620mm – 790mm, the width is 710mm – 1020mm, and the depth is 320mm.

Column Stands have a central column with arms extending out to hold the keyboard. These stands offer good stability and often have multiple tiers for multiple keyboards. The design of these can be quite sleek, but they are often not as adjustable as other keyboard stands and can be bulky. If you are looking at these stands you are prepared to spend (they tend to be quite expensive) so I would just go for the best on the market which in my opinion is the K&M 18860 Spider Pro. There is no Hercules offering for this style of stand, The Spider Pro is an aluminium made stand has a tripod base with adjustable legs. This stand has an innovative double tiered design with arms coming out of a wide vertical spine of the stand with tripod base. The upper arms can also be moved to a 15 degree angle which allows easier access to the keyboard on the lower arms. You can also add additional support arms and attach a third keyboard. You can also attach microphone booms. It weighs 10.8 kg and the arms have weight capacity of 35kg per level. Extra arms and a carrying case can be purchased separately.