Digital Piano - $2,000 range

[amanfang]

A friend wants a digital piano, knows nothing about them, and has $2,000 budgeted for it.  I may go with them to look, but I don't know a whole lot about them either, other than some I play on I like, and others I don't like.  What good types could I get in this range??  I like the nicer Clavinovas I've played on, but again, my experience hasn't been a whole lot with it.

[xvimbi]

Take a look at the Yamaha PF-500. GuitarCenter has it.

[quantum]

Yamaha P250

[xvimbi]

Yamaha P250

To clarify, the PF-500 is practically identical to the P-250 what concerns beels and whistles, but it looks nicer (more like a piece of furniture than a bare-bones keyboard) and it comes with an excellent three-pedal box.

[artificial_soul]

Many people recommend a Yamaha, but I think Roland has developed some pretty good models too. I've got a RD-700sx stagepiano, and I'm very happy with it. I prefer Roland to Yamaha because the sound is warmer and more massive. And the RD-700sx has an excellent keyboard and of course you can connect a damper pedal, but also a soft pedal and sostenuto pedal. This stagepiano was released this year, so it's very new.



If you want to listen to a demonstration of the piano sound you can do it by clicking here. I've recorded it myself, and I've done nothing to improve the sound after the recording. There's even no reverb added.

By the way, on another topic I wrote a very detailed personal review about it, which you can read by clicking here.

[leahcim]

A friend wants a digital piano, knows nothing about them, and has $2,000 budgeted for it.  I may go with them to look, but I don't know a whole lot about them either, other than some I play on I like, and others I don't like.  What good types could I get in this range??  I like the nicer Clavinovas I've played on, but again, my experience hasn't been a whole lot with it.

You [and they] have to try them - some folk love Roland over Yamaha, others see it the other way.

For the budget they should easily get a good one.

The makes to look at are pretty well known [roland, yamaha, kurzweil, korg, kaiwai etc]  and well covered [look at https://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/ for user reviews, google groups for a bunch of "Which digital?" threads, mebbe even www.purgatorycreek.com [see the digital piano shootout link] for a piece played on lots of them to compare the sound]

Personally [i.e subjective opinion follows] - I'd go for the best bang for the buck - avoid fake wood furniture and built-in amps [if being loud and sounding good matters a separate amp should do both better. If it doesn't, decent headphones are the best way to listen anyway] and throw the money you save over spending the full budget towards a real piano [or lessons,  books, nights out ]

i.e I'd go for a stage piano, a good double braced stand and a decent pair of headphones -
e.g, using Yamaha as an example - something like the p90 [with separate amp or through a hi-fi or just through headphones, as it has no speakers at all. It's pretty cheap in the UK now too, I dunno about USian prices though] It has one advantage over the p120 imho in that the 2nd variation on the main piano voice is a more mellow piano rather than a brighter-still ones, purgatory creek has a sample of both]

Or the p120 [which has built-in speakers that aren't particular good or bad - they suffice for a lot of people who have digital to practise on at home] - supposedly the best selling digital piano there is.

There's nothing wrong with paying more, but it's arguable whether by doing that will get you closer to a piano [it'll get you stuff like sequencers, extra sounds, bigger speakers and fake wood though so if those matter then go for it]

Hence I'd say the P250 is possibly overkill - but you need to listen to both and judge the usefulness of the extra  features and whether the sound is any better.

If furniture style though - that budget might stretch to one of yamaha's Grandtouch series? [I'm not 100% sure, it's that currency / country thing] if so, they are basically a real Yamaha acoustic action [hammers et al] but a digital piano - I've never played one or compared one but it's closer to the idea that manufs should get to - i.e something where the more you spend == the more like a piano it is, and only like a piano rather than the fancy pants farts beeps and blinking lights they put on them The only downside with the GT is that the polyphony is only 32, which typically the lore recommends 64 as the minimum to go for.

The clavinova range is newer now [that is, the p60/90/120/250 stage models are all the same as one of the CLP 110/130/1xx models - if you study https://www.yamahaclavinova.com you'll see that from the features] but now they've just bought out new CLP2xx models - I don't know if that's a sign that they'll bring out some new stage pianos soon - it might mean your friend could find a good deal on the outgoing stock though if owning the latest / greatest doesn't matter. The main difference on the new models is they have the GH3 action which supposedly adds extra sensors to make fast repeated notes easier to articulate.

HTH.

[Baohui]

Many people recommend a Yamaha, but I think Roland has developed some pretty good models too. I've got a RD-700sx stagepiano, and I'm very happy with it. I prefer Roland to Yamaha because the sound is warmer and more massive.

The problem with Roland digitals is the ridiculously light action. I'd prefer a yamaha keyboard with a Roland sound module.

[amanfang]

I can be a little more specific.  These friends is a pastor and his family and he is going to start a new church.  So he doesn't play, and no one in his family plays, but they want the digital piano available for services for someone who can play.  It will probably be in a small building/room.  So they're planning to go look at digital pianos, but have no clue what to buy.  I will probably go along with them and play things and talk about features and things that I see, and that the dealer talks about.  I think the max amount of money they have set aside is $2,000.

[artificial_soul]

The problem with Roland digitals is the ridiculously light action. I'd prefer a yamaha keyboard with a Roland sound module.

On which pianos have you played then? My RD-700sx has the same kind of heaviness as my acoustic piano. But the cheaper models of Roland have indeed a touch which is far too light.

Before I bought a digital piano I searched everywhere for information. On the internet it's mostly advertising and personal reviews. The personal reviews are all different because everyone has a different perception. It will only confuse you.

Finally I've found some important points. I've read that Yamaha, Kawai and Roland produces the keyboards in Asia, and those ones have a heavier and more expressive touch. (The materials are better and more durable.) I think you can recognise a good keyboard about the heaviness.

I've heard that Technics has stopped producing digital pianos. In that case the factory is closed. You can still buy pianos from Technics, but suppose when it gets damaged it cannot be repaired.

In the beginning I was interested in Yamaha. After all it's the most popular mark. But someone told me - he went to the Music Academy and is a music teacher / composer - that he really didn't like Yamaha. In his opinion the Yamaha sounds are too poppy. The quality is good, but they haven't got character. After he told me that I listened to several Yamaha instruments. And I had to conclude I agree with him. The Yamaha sounds remind me of music from Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, etc. There's nothing with those artists of course. It's just a matter of taste. I prefer sounds which are warmer and more suitable for classical stuff.

If you wanna know how Yamaha digital pianos sound like you can download mp3 demonstrations by clicking on the next links:

Grand Piano 1
Grand Piano 2
Harpsichord
Electric Piano 1 (FM Synthese)
Electric Piano 2 (Rhodes)
Electric Clavichord
Vibraphone
Wood Bass
Electric Bass
Jazz Organ
Church Organ
Strings
Acoustic Guitar
Choir

The demos belong to the Yamaha P-120.

When I heard about the Kawai MP-9500 I became very interested. That model contains less features than the Roland RD-700 and the Yamaha P-250 but still had the same prive level. That made me think it must be good quality then. When I red some information about it I noticed the keyboard is very good. Real wooden keys. But unfortunately I've read as well that the sounds and the effects (reverb,...) are a bit poor compared to the sounds of other marks. I listened to mp3s to judge about that myself. I must say I like the sounds. They're warm and have got a nice character. But for professional recordings the quality is not sufficient in my opinion. But maybe it's allright for the church.

Piano 1
Piano 2
Piano 3
Piano 4
Harpsichord
Strings (and harpsichord)
Strings (and grand piano)
Electric Piano (Rhodes)
Electric Piano (FM Synthese)
Electric Clavichord
Vibraphone
Organ 1
Organ 2
Church Organ
Choir
Pad

[leahcim]

I can be a little more specific....

In that case I'd say amplification is key [since you'll easily find a digital with sounds + action, especially if you're not playing it as the subjective part won't matter]

Either you'll think that the furniture models with bigger built in amps will be loud enough to accompany / be heard or you'll need a separate amp / PA [consider the projection thing too, being sat behind a consumer digital piano, even one with small built-ins is different from sitting elsewhere - walk around the room with one of the demo songs playing. There'll be a difference between being heard with a passive audience compared with a crowd of  hallelujahing sinners too, I suspect]

If the latter you could probably spend as much on that as you do the keyboard [reproducing the bass is the difficult part aiui, but I'm no expert] and there'd be little point buying a model with an amp / speakers if there's a cheaper equiv without one and you aren't going to use them.