Should I get a digital piano?

[thelittlepianist]

Hi all,

I am a first year uni student and I am working towards Grade 8 piano. I love to practice, but the problem is that people at home can't stand the noise! I have an acoustic piano but I am considering buying a digital piano + headphones (<$800) to reduce the noise. Would you consider this a good/bad idea? Opinions please!

Cheers,

Diana

[quasimodo]

Of course it's a good idea.

[miguelcatalao]

Yep! It is a good idea, you'll always have to work on expression in the acoustic though...

(I have an Maudio Keystation 88 pro... Don't buy it! hehehe Too bad, for a pianistical side... It's a great board for composing and producing, though... )

I'd go for yamaha (the CP series, previous known as the clavinova)they are wonderfull boards!

I also like the Kurzweill boards though that might be overkill since they are sinthetisers. However if you want to try other textures and music styles in the future, not only their piano sounds are great as also all the other synths are great!

Good Luck!

[b.piano]

my piano is a Yamaha Clavinova CLP 230.. I'm now somewhere between grade 5 & 6 (my teacher told me this yesterday  )> but I now feel that the Clavinova is not enough for me  I play some pieces that you can't performe on Clavinova>> so I'm buying an upright piano in a few months  I may keep the clavinova coz my family can't stand the noise all the time!! so when they don't stand ther noise from my dear coming pright piano  I guess I pracrice on the clavinova  I have to practice coz I study music now   

[persona]

I'm in your exact same situation. I bought an upright about 4 months ago, and I never get to practice because there's always someone annoyed here. I'm also seriously considering changing it for a clavinova. I know it's not exactly the same, but I think it's far better to practice 3 hours a day on a digital than half and hour on an accoustic (with the damper pedal as a must!). Still, I won't be able to tell for sure which is better until I make the switch of course. But I'm sick and tired of never finding the time to practice.

Also, I you ask me, the whole idea of having the entire family listen to every single note you play right and every single note you play wrong, can become a true obtacle and can really mess with your "musical self-esteem", while practicing privately you could gain a lot more confidence, and play slow repetiive excersices without guilt.

[miguelcatalao]

my piano is a Yamaha Clavinova CLP 230.. I'm now somewhere between grade 5 & 6 (my teacher told me this yesterday  )> but I now feel that the Clavinova is not enough for me  I play some pieces that you can't performe on Clavinova>> so I'm buying an upright piano in a few months  I may keep the clavinova coz my family can't stand the noise all the time!! so when they don't stand ther noise from my dear coming pright piano  I guess I pracrice on the clavinova  I have to practice coz I study music now   

Just curious... What kind of pieces can't you perform in a clavi???

[ryanyee]

do you want a good sounding and natural sounding instrument or a technologically created one? how are those neighbours of your like anyway?

[thelittlepianist]

do you want a good sounding and natural sounding instrument or a technologically created one? how are those neighbours of your like anyway?

Hi! I'd prefer one that was good and natural sounding. I was thinking about getting the Casio PX110, as I won't be able to afford a Yamaha Clavinova    Does anyone here know whether the Casio is a good choice? Thanks!

[b.piano]

Just curious... What kind of pieces can't you perform in a clavi???

ok the pedal is suck on the Clavinova!! if you keep your feet on the pedal all the time it doesn't matter!!! 

well.. Toccata (A. Khachaturian).. it doesn't sound the way it should sound on Clavivnova!!! you know on Clavinova you can't get the (Forte) as much as you won't, you get to a point where you can't get more!! so your hands gets weak cuz you don't care about pressing the keys stronger, cuz you won't get more sound anyway 

[ryanyee]

Hi! I'd prefer one that was good and natural sounding. I was thinking about getting the Casio PX110, as I won't be able to afford a Yamaha Clavinova    Does anyone here know whether the Casio is a good choice? Thanks!

so stick with your piano! don't care about the neighbours. don't let anyone hinder your progress.

[desordre]

 Dear fellows:
 Just two considerations.
 1) I have to disagree with BPiano: you can play anything on a clavinova. The fact that the instrument will not respond perfectly to anything is irrelevant, because no piano but a real grand (Steinway or the like, not any grand) will do that. Furthermore, would you say that your upright render everything properly? I think not. So, between a not-100% tuned and calibrated upright and a digital, I like the later better.
 2) I think that Ryanyee over-simplify the neighbor matter. I'm sorry, but no one must tolerate a serious piano practice but the pianist. Listen to six hours of fragments and repetition (not to speak about mistakes) is something nobody deserves. If you want a counterpart, consider that in front of your pianoroom window there is a guy that listen to Linkin Park all the time, with the volume seriously pumped up. Would you like it? It would not affect your study?
 
 I'm living in an apartment for some time, and now I'm a happy owner of a CLP-240. My upright is still here, but I only use it for a couple of hours weekly, to play pieces that are done and feel the consistency of its sound. To my everyday practice, most of it is done after 20pm, I use my digital.
 Of course if you talk about a big beautiful concert real black grand, there is no discussion. However, I'm somewhat lucky since in my workplace there are two, and it's easy to find time to practice on them.
 
 Best wishes!

[sassafras]

BY ALL MEANS GET ONE! I use as my only keyboard a $550 Best Buy purchased Yamaha with 88 keys -- I usually just keep it on grand piano sound. It's pedal is a little weak but the range of things you can do with it beyond mere grand piano are fun.

I wish I could afford an accoustic or even a grand, but I doubt if I will be able to afford one again.

Whatever you do, do not get a digital with fewer than 88 keys.... My cats also love to play the digital!

[ditz81]

Hi there,
I am quite a newbie and I had a similar problem when I started looking for pianos (November '06).
I ended up with the acoustic Yamaha Silent Series. I have to admitt though that the sound is sooo much nicer in the acoustic mode, that I really only practice silent when somebody "tells me" to.

I guess the silent mode of my piano is "simpler" than the one of a good digital one.

In your case, I would go for a nice digital one, but don't forget the "real" one.

Regards

Ditz81

[miguelcatalao]

Dear fellows:
 Just two considerations.
 1) I have to disagree with BPiano: you can play anything on a clavinova. The fact that the instrument will not respond perfectly to anything is irrelevant, because no piano but a real grand (Steinway or the like, not any grand) will do that. Furthermore, would you say that your upright render everything properly? I think not. So, between a not-100% tuned and calibrated upright and a digital, I like the later better.
 2) I think that Ryanyee over-simplify the neighbor matter. I'm sorry, but no one must tolerate a serious piano practice but the pianist. Listen to six hours of fragments and repetition (not to speak about mistakes) is something nobody deserves. If you want a counterpart, consider that in front of your pianoroom window there is a guy that listen to Linkin Park all the time, with the volume seriously pumped up. Would you like it? It would not affect your study?
(...)

Good point! Even the Schummans didn't stand each other...
Clara in the end had to draw back her playing because Shumman had to compose!

Geeez!!!

[timothy42b]

I do most of my practice on an older Yamaha digital.

At church I play on a Schimmel grand.  I also use the church upright for the praise choir warmup.

My digital is similar enough to the grand that I don't have difficulty moving back and forth.  The upright is different enough from both that there is some problem.  The uprights are of course out of tune, but the uneven key feel and response is worse.  If I had a choice between only having an upright and a digital right now I'd use the digital.

Of course I'm sure it is possible to have a high quality well maintained upright.  I certainly don't run into them often though, and when preparing to play the grand in church I seem to be better off on the digital. 

[miguelcatalao]

Nice point of view Tim!

Could you tell what digital piano you have?

[timothy42b]

Nice point of view Tim!

Could you tell what digital piano you have?

Sure.  I have a Yamaha P500.  I bought it used at a local music store, it's long discontinued.  At the time I thought the Casio's were a better deal, but my wife plays better piano than I and disliked the touch, so we went with the Yamaha.  At the time I couldn't tell the difference but a year later I was glad we had. 

[oceansoul]

I think a digital piano is a really good choice. I have a CLP-240 and I'm really happy with it. I think there is a great difference between 230 and 240. I tested them side by side. The 240 is much better in the extremes. This means that the lower notes sound much better. It is really great, so it was worth the 1720€. I don't know if I'll eventually be needing an accoustic in a year or two... But I guess not. Next year, June, I'll have an exam to enter the 4th grade at a public music school, and I'm looking forwards to do it right with this piano.

Best regards,
   OceanSoul.

[themockingbird]

Well, this is on topic so: can anyone give me an idea of what would be the cheapest digital piano I can get that's still relatively good quality? I know that's what everyone wants :p but I'm not after anything perfect that costs £2, just something that's fairly responsive. I honestly have no idea how much to expect to pay for a decent digital one.

I've already made a LONG post about my situation, but basically I have just graduated from university, I am living with my parents for the time being and I am very out of practice on the piano. Up until very recently I've been able to play on the upright without having to worry about disturbing people but as I start a new job on Monday I will be limited to practising in the evenings which of course is when everyone else is around too! I also never feel like I'm practising properly if other people are around because I feel obliged to just 'play' stuff rather than practice so at least what I'm doing is marginally more tolerable to playing exactly the same bit over and over again :p and I think I'm actually starting to get worse as a result.

[timothy42b]

Well, this is on topic so: can anyone give me an idea of what would be the cheapest digital piano I can get that's still relatively good quality? I know that's what everyone wants :p but I'm not after anything perfect that costs £2, just something that's fairly responsive. I honestly have no idea how much to expect to pay for a decent digital one.

Casio Privia is about $400 US.  You just have to decide whether you like the touch or not.  I think you never buy a digital based on sound - they all have MIDI out and if you really need sound you get what you want from a library.