midi controller

I'm looking at midi controllers. Which ones do you like w/Sonar Plat?
 
 
thanks.........

Thanks. I  am primarily a guitarist and use Fishman Tripleplay but I'm looking for a compatible keyboard so that guest artist-keyboard players can record. What midi-keyboard controllers do you like?

Good Advice! thanks. Does the Casio "get along" with Sonar?  What model is it?

What's important is if the primary use is by a piano player then for sure you'll want a home or stage digital PIANO, not a keyboard. Keyboards feel different and are more for playing other things like synths and organ. And even keyboards have different feels and some feel like plastic toys. Al lot of them on the market these days are aimed at music "production" and not apropriate for a real keyboard players needs. 
 
I bought a Roland A49 becuase it has a solid feel to the keys and while it's not weighted, for me it also works well for piano parts,, I'm not a keyboard player but over time I've spent a million hours playing parts into my computer and I like the keyboard to feel just so. 
 
I also have an Akia Synth station 25 and it feels like a toy , and it has no midi driver so Sonar always gets disconected. Everytime I go to use it I have to re set it up in Sonar. The Roland has a midi driver and never gets shut off it's always there when I need it. So there's that to think about. I know both Yamaha and Roland supply mid usb drivers for sure, not sure about Casio I guess you can go to the support page and see what it say's. I like the feel of Casio's too! 
 
You save money on keyboards that make no sounds on there own. But it's nice to have a digital piano to practice on. I'm looking to get one so my grandson can learn piano. Seems they start at about $600 and Casio's are one of the best bang for the bucks. Roland is my favourite for the  piano sound and most have proper 1/4" outputs. Yamaha sucks because they only have the headphone jack. 

kawika
Thanks for the info. As I read, I'm thinking that the piano player I have in mind, who is very good but not technological (nor am I), may have a midi out on his keyboard. I'm thinking most keyboards would? So....I am imagining having him play using any of his sounds he feels most comfortable with and afterwards directing his midi info to my e.g., Ivory II grand software. Does that sound feasible?

That sounds like it could be a good solution for you.

Something to consider if you want a high quality weighted keyboard is to check ebay for used keyboard workstations from korg, yamaha, roland and kurzweil. These offer excellent keyboards, in most cases better than weighted controller keyboards (only the best controllers, most expensive, will have keyboards equivalent to the better workstations), many will also have easily assignable controls and they offer boat loads of on board sounds that will rival a lot of soft synths and are always available without even booting your computer. I have kurz pc3x and would not trade it for anything. The others have comparable offerings and can be found on ebay at a fraction of new cost.
Brian