Need assistance picking a Digital Piano.

[kohta]

Allow me to give you a brief history of myself. I grew up with a family that was dedicated to working on cars for a living, and growing our food on the farm, good ol' country boy according to my wife. When i was about 6 years old we recieved an old piano which i had no idea what brand it was, i do remember it was an upright. I messed with it alot, at the time it was not my main focus. I did the usual little boy things like playing outside with the dogs and hanging around with my 3 older brothers.

Around 3 months after the piano had been in our home i was one of the only one's to see it as something i could do, my oldest brother was not to bad at it himself, he only knew one song "Aladdin - A whole new world" and it was a very simple version of this song. He spent a few hours showing me how he played it, within a couple of days i began "playing it just as good-if not better" than him, this coming from the one person i looked up to the most set my priority on making him think i was good at this. I decided to put my little VHS tape in and replay the song over and over, at which i returned to the room with the piano, and experimented with the sounds to get the entire song put together, after this i tried The lion king - Can you feel the love tonight. This began everything for me, i was playing everything by ear, adding and subtracting notes as i thought they should be by the way it sounded. My brother was very excited to hear me play everytime he came over, sometimes even asking me to play while 'showing me off' to friends. He had a friend come and tune the piano, which really through me off! But i was able to adapt to the way it sounded, i played and played for years on that same piano, while in school i took up the Flute, Trumbone and Violin, none of them really were as easy for me as the piano.

When i was 10 my father left us, me being the only one at home anymore, my mother and i were forced to abandon our home, we had no way of being able to keep the piano, the last i heard the new owners broke it apart and carrid it off. Everytime i saw a piano after that i had to play it, even got into some trouble! I played on a piano in a Hyatt, they atleast allowed me to finish my version of Moonlight Sonata before asking me to get off  .

When i turned 18 i was forced to find a place to rent, then a bit of good news came to me, a piano a guy no longer wanted. Another up-right! got it for free, and some friends of my brothers offerd to help get it inside the house i was renting, it weighed atleast 500 lbs! or so it felt. I was able to play, but the piano was out of tune, and i didn't have the money to get it fixed, some of the hammers were broken, making some of the notes resonate, and a few of the keys were chipped. Unfortunatly i also had to move from there, and i lost yet another piano since no-one was willing to move it for me.

Mind you, i have never taken a lesson for piano in my life, my ability to play any song is strickly by ear, i can typiclly figure a song out by ear with-in a week, sometimes less, depending on how much i like the song.

I made a youtube video of myself when i was about 19 of me playing the piano for a girl to see who i liked over the internet. she stated how much she loved it, and that feeling came over me 13 years from that point, when i was 6.

I am now 23, I married this girl i spoke of, and we have a 4 month old baby girl, I wanted to get some advise for a great Digital Piano that -incase we would have to move!- I could take with me this time. I would really like something that has that 'hammer feel', and something i can use to record onto my wife's computer with, she has Adobe Soundbooth CS5, not sure if that will work, I'm not really crazy about all the sounds like violins and drums, i just want a quality piano sound and feel, and hopefully when my little girl is 5 or 6 years old, i can play for her, and she can play for me.

This was one i had in mind.
Kawai CE200 - I was readingthat this has a hammer action/feel, real wooden keys.
https://keyboards-midi.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kawai-CE200-Digital-Piano-?sku=700969

Kawai MP6 - I hear this is more like a 'keyboard' in which you must buy a stand? but aparently the sound quality is produces is phenominal. I believe you also have to buy a pedal.
https://keyboards-midi.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kawai-MP6-Professional-Stage-Piano?sku=H66084
(This is about what it is supposed to sound like

and lastly, Yamaha YDP181 - this comes with alot of stuff, sound quality i'm not to sure of, alot of the video's i found on it were not plugged in.
https://keyboards-midi.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-YDP181-88Key-Digital-Piano-with-Bench?sku=430606

I'm definatly interested in something i can plug head phones into, since my daughter is very young i do not want to risk waking her. Thank you all for your support and comments, god speed and be safe, live to play another day.

[deejeff442]

i just bought a casio px130
pretty cheap $500 from a local store.
i would have bought a better one but i plan on an acoustic in the next couple months.
i do like this digital for being portable and for me being a beginner i wouldnt know the difference yet in quality.i am very happy with it so far

[jimbo320]

Hey Kohta,
I've played the Yamaha you spoke of. As a nut on Yamaha I think of the three you mentioned I prefer the Yamaha. A better choice, in my opinion, would be the YDP-V240 which has a much better action to it, but that's a few more bucks.
Either one would be a fine choice. For real portability you might want
consider a digital piano that requires a stand. Good hunting...

Musically, Jimbo

[john90]

You obviously like real pianos. No digital piano is going to be anywhere near as real as a free, beat up old acoustic, so don't even worry about that. Any keyboard with Midi out that has touch (velocity) sensitive keys should do. Some Yamaha off ebay for $50, with a Midi to USB adapter from China ($10), and your wife's PC speakers or headphones doing the sound. I pushed the boat out and bought a full size Rolland used for $200, and I know I could sell it for what I paid whenever, which is the important bit for me, as I don't want to be lumbered in 3 years with some technological cast off. It is about as heavy as one person can carry. So get any keyboard with a brand reputation for digital pianos, Yamaha, Rolland, Korg etc, don't pay too much.

The portability/availability aspect can really push your skill to another level. Getting something like my Rolland, which is heavy, negates that, as I never throw it in the boot like I did the $50 Yamaha.

[toner22]

If I remember right I believe the CE200 is about 1700 or 1800. 200 more and you could nab a yama clp 330. for 2 grand.

Roland is also coming out with a new line soon (I believe in April maybe? Anyway they're discontinuing their one line. Can't think of it at the moment but the dealer I saw seemed eager to get em out so they could buy the new line and set em up.

Might be a good way to get some nice sound as a clearance price.