Cheaper keyboard/piano

[zimmer04]

I'm interested in buying a digital piano and wanted to get some experienced advice to help find the best piano for what I'm looking for.

I am hoping to spend around 300, but realize that may be low for what I'm looking for, so may be willing to go as high as 500 or so.  What I want is something that feels like a piano (weighted keys), but also has some keyboard functionality with the different sounds and beats and be able to record.  I'm not sure how much I'll use any of the extra stuff right away, but would like to have the option.  Is that something that I may be able to leave out but still get through extra hardware or connecting to a computer?

I played piano for 4-5 years when I was a kid (probably about 10-15 years ago), but haven't really played much since then, so would consider myself pretty new to piano.

Thanks in advance!

[willvenables]

My advice is to be realistic with your expectations of a digital piano. In my opinion, a digital piano has an immediate advantage over acoustic when spending circa £500-£1,000 as the tone and feel will be even. With a piano, the most important element is consistency and stability. With 88 notes, the instrument must sound and feel even - but also it must be stable in its tuning at concert pitch.

There may very well be an acoustic (real/strung) upright that is evenly worn and structurally sound around this price range, but most likely not. And so a digital should provide that assurance.

However, what a digital piano won't do - and simply cannot do - is sound and feel like an acoustic piano. They are marketed as being 'just like a real piano' but please, let me explain:

If you listen to a piano performance on your TV, radio or HiFi - you recognise it of course as a piano. You don't hear a piano in your room, you hear a piano through speakers and speakers simply do not produce the same tone as a soundboard... and that performance you hear is real live acoustics captured on a recording or broadcast. A digital piano doesn't work that way and will always be even less authentic:

With a digital piano, a concert grand piano is digitally sampled. Depending on the specification of the digital piano, every 2 or 3 notes are individually recorded. The notes in between are digitally pitch adjusted. Higher spec. models may have 88note sampling, where every note is sampled. It is very common now for digital pianos to sample notes at various dynamic samples, referred to as multi-step sampling, to capture the tone change relative to how hard the hammer strikes the strings. Touch sensitivity should be as standard, even in a basic keyboard, and this is where the speed of the key's depression is measured from 0-127 (velocity) to determine the volume and the step-sample of that note to be 'triggered' from the sample memory as sound through the speakers. 'Weighted keys' should be standard in all digital pianos and this feature is to give weighted resistance to the key touch, similar to a grand piano. Graded touch / graded weight is to replicate the heavier feel in the bass through to the lighter feel in the treble as the acoustic piano hammers are tapered in their size and so is their weight from bottom A (#0) to top C (#88). Yamaha's GHA (graded hammer action) is basically this. The key will usually be hollow plastic and hinged about 1" behind the visible playing surface. You will notice on a 'keyboard' that the keys are usually hinged immediately at the top, where you feel little leverage compared to a real piano or a digital piano. The offset key hinge of a digital piano is to simulate the balance point of a real piano key.

Unless the digital piano actually has a real upright or grand piano action as well as keyboard (i believe only Yamaha (grandtouch GT1/GT1-/GT2/GT20/GT7; avantgrand N1/N2/N3), and possibly Kawai, have produced these), the touch will only be as I have described. Digital pianos otherwise will not have the feel of the damper lift, jack escapement (set off/let off), check and drop (grand only). So, to be precise, digital pianos are not equivalent to a 'working' and correctly regulated, voiced and tuned acoustic piano.

When looking at digital pianos, be careful not to overspend. Bear in mind that you can buy a brand new Yamaha B1 acoustic upright piano for ~£2,500. I know that is not the price of a basic spec. Clavinova CLP - but one often gets drawn into the 'authenticity' factor of the more expensive models and soon you can be very close to, if not beyond, the cost of a real piano.

What about tuning costs? Tune an acoustic piano 6monthly at approx. £50 per time. So, a digital piano may save you £100 a year on tuning? Yes, but it will cost more than £100 per year in depreciation and shortened longevity. A young acoustic piano in good condition should hold its value (minimum 5 years from purchase) and last a lifetime if cared for, plus it is the real thing that every digital piano is only trying to be. And when you are outside your warranty, a digital instrument technician will probably charge £80 call out. The build and materials that make a digital piano are not a patch on what is crafted inside an acoustic piano.

A digital piano in a polished black cabinet with wooden keys - but still no real action - will cost more than a new Yamaha B1 upright piano.

Digital pianos are rarely played at acoustic piano volume, and this does cause technique problems. In fact, it causes very bad habbits. Playing an acoustic piano 'PPP' yet controlling your tempo, voicing and expression of each note, does take skill. We usually play more confidently and with fewer mistakes when depressing the keys less lightly. If your volume is set at around 50%, you'll most likely be playing apprehensively when on an acoustic piano.

So, to zimmer04 - value a digital piano in line with the above. I think £500 is a sensible price for what a digital piano actually is. If you can find a bargain 'young' upright acoustic piano privately for a bit more - and have a tuner technician check it over for you, then my opinion is that acoustic is a far better investment. You should find that the acoustic piano can be sold privately again or easily part exchanged when you want to upgrade to something that looks, sounds and feels better.

[jimbo320]

To answer your question on a digital the one I suggest is a Yamaha P95. The only reason I recommend this one is that I know and play a P95. You can find one for around $500 or so.
I also have others but they cost a bit more. Try a P95. You might be surprised...

[keys60]

I agree with will about preferring acoustic to digital except that if you want to play a gig, good luck carrying the acoustic around.