My Yamaha P70

[hoff]

Hey hey!

I started taking piano lessons about 6 months ago. I'm reallllly having a good time, but I'm not so sure about my keyboard, which is a P-70. Compared to my teacher's acoustic piano, my keys feel really heavy maybe even a little big. It also doesn't sound very good.

My question is, am I asking too much of my little P-70? Can I get myself a better model and expect it to sound/feel closer to an acoustic piano? How much should I be ready to spend?

-- John

[leahcim]

Hey hey!

I started taking piano lessons about 6 months ago. I'm reallllly having a good time, but I'm not so sure about my keyboard, which is a P-70. Compared to my teacher's acoustic piano, my keys feel really heavy maybe even a little big. It also doesn't sound very good.

My question is, am I asking too much of my little P-70? Can I get myself a better model and expect it to sound/feel closer to an acoustic piano? How much should I be ready to spend?

-- John

My advice would be to aim to get an acoustic piano sometime in the future and just keep the p70 around [if noise / portability become issues for late night playing or whatever]

In the meantime, trust me, from bitter experience, you won't get or sound any better buying a more expensive digital. I had a p60, which more or less the same piano sound. The sound does suck, but it sucked far more because I was playing it. I think orlandopiano has a few recordings on a digital posted here / youtube - he sounds good because he can play.

Does the p70 still have the flat sustain pedal? If so, that might be worth replacing because you might find it difficult to pedal on an acoustic if you can only practise on a flat switch. You can get a pedal from yamaha that does half-pedaling for the p70.

In the case of Yamaha, for example, the action is pretty much the same on all of them so it won't make much difference to the action. A small number of digital pianos have real acoustic actions, but you may as well just buy an acoustic.

Spend the money where it counts instead [good acoustic instrument / finding a good teacher or paying the one you've already got if they are good]

Bear in mind though that whatever acoustic you buy it might have an action that feels different from your teacher's, it's the nature of the beast.

[hoff]

Thanks for your advice. I'm not really in a position to buy an acoustic yet but it sounds like the right thing to do is wait until I am.

[knabe31]

I aggree totally. I also have the P60. It was great when I was starting out but, it can not perform in any way like an accoustic piano. I was able to by a used grand and it has helped me improve tremendously with things like phrasing and voicing. I keep the electric around to use when I can't make any noise in the house.  (I play with earphones). Although I don't need to use it very often fortunately. Save up for a good used upright if a grand is not possible. Still would be a giant improvement from the electric keyboard. Good luck.

[tanocsi]

These are mostly digital stage pianos, but you might want to take a look at them.   Huh I own a Roland RD-700SX (with granded hammer action) which acceptably imitates piano hammer action, better then most digital pianos, or any cheap upright/grand. The touch and keyboard action reminds me of a Steinway. However, probably the best digital piano
on the market is the Clavia Nord Stage 88 (it sounds convincing, though I'm not so sure about the keyboard action).

Yamaha P-70/70S ......................................................................600$
https://www.yamahasynth.com/products/p70/specifications.html

Yamaha P-80 (MIPA) ……………………………………….1100$

Yamaha P-90 ………………………………………………900$
https://www.yamahasynth.com/products/p90/specifications.html

Yamaha P-120/120S .............................................................
https://www.yamahasynth.com/products/p120/specifications.html

Yamaha P-140/140S ……………………………………………1200$




https://www.yamahasynth.com/products/p140/specifications.html

Yamaha CP300 .......................................................2200$ https://www.yamahasynth.com/products/cp300/index.html

Yamaha P250 (MIPA)..........................................................2000$ https://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,,CNTID%253D15249%2526CTID%253D205800%2526ATRID%253D20%2526DETYP%253DATTRIBUTE,00.html




Kawai ES4 ..............................................................1800$ https://www.kawaius.com/main_links/digital/es_4spec.html

Kawai CA-X ........................................................... https://www.kawaius.com/main_links/digital/ca_x/ca_xspec.html

Kawai MP4 .............................................................1100$ https://www.kawaius.com/main_links/digital/mp_4spec.html

Kawai MP8 .............................................................2000$ https://www.kawaius.com/main_links/digital/mp_8spec.html




Roland FP2 ..............................................................1300$ https://www.roland.com/products/en/FP-2/specs.html

Roland FP-5 ............................................................1500$ https://www.roland.com/products/en/FP-5/specs.html

Roland RD-170 …………………………………………………………….900$ https://www.roland.com/products/en/RD-170/specs.html

Roland RD700SX ....................................................2200$ 1800$ https://www.roland.com/products/en/RD-700SX/specs.html

Roland RD700 (MIPA)........................................................ 1500-1800$ https://www.roland.com/products/en/RD-700/specs.html




Kurzweil SP88X .....................................................900$ https://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/products.html?Id=356

Kurzweil K2600X(S) ..............................................2800$ https://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/products.html?Id=351




Korg SP250 .............................................................900$ https://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=SP250&category_id=1

Korg SP500 .............................................................1300$ https://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=SP500&category_id=1

Korg Triton Extreme 88 (MIPA)………………………………………………….2300$ https://72.14.221.104/search?q=cache:WstyAJgtyJUJ:www.zzounds.com/item--KORTRITEX88+korg+triton+88+price&hl=ro&gl=ro&ct=clnk&cd=1

Korg Oasys (MIPA)…………………………………………………………………10000$ https://www.korg.com/gear/prod_info.asp?A_PROD_NO=OASYS




Clavia Nord Stage 88 (MIPA)..............................................3300$ https://www.clavia.se/products/nordstage/technical.htm




Casio Privia Px300 (hammer action)………………………………….700$ https://www.priviapiano.com/products/PX-300/content/tech_specs/

Casio Privia Px310 ……………………………………………..700$ https://www.priviapiano.com/products/PX-310/content/tech_specs/

[tanocsi]

There is also a very good software piano: the Sythogy Ivory. Very good dynamics, but it costs some money, since you need a PC/laptop, a digital piano with a good keyboard action (piano-like: something like the Roland RD-700SX), and the software itself. Listen!


https://www.synthogy.com/pages/audio.html

This is the closest digital technology got to the sound of a real piano. And it really is darn close (together with the Clavia Nord Stage 88)! You can compare them yourself.