I'm looking to buy a new digital piano. How do I find the right one?

[firewhale]

I already have a pretty nice acoustic upright yamaha, so I would like to be cost efficient and buy what I need instead of the best possible. My budget is around $500-$1000. My current electric keyboard is about 6 years old (I started on it!), no weighted keys, and has really bad MIDI connectivity, so anything would be a good upgrade.

So far all I really got is that I want 88 weighted keys (or hammer action, if it's affordable) and a usb connection so I can connect to sibelius for composing. I uhm...want sound that is good enough to play pieces on. Yeah that sounds really vague but I don't really know any quantifiers regarding this. I assume nowadays pretty much any 88 weighted keys keyboard would have a decent sound, right?

Looking online, I definitely something with high polyphony and a sustain pedal connection. I don't need a myriad of instruments or songs preloaded. Purely just to play piano and to allow input into sibelius.

I guess the question I have that I couldn't really find online is: How are the manufacturers ranked? Yamaha, Korg, Casio, Roland, Baldwin, Kawai, Kurzweil, Samick, Technics, Wersi, any others I don't know about?

I think once I find out which manufacturers are good, I can start to browse their inventory and find the one that fits my criteria.

ps. I did try going to a store and trying out the models. I felt that the selection was pretty limited and I want to be as informed as possible when making this decision.

edit: oh yes, I would like it to not have a base. I think "portable" is what it's called?

[jimbo320]

Since you already appreciate the Yamaha sound and with all your criteria, this is my suggestion...
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/keyboards-midi/yamaha-cp-33-88-key-stage-piano

[firewhale]

Ah! I didn't know that a lot of these pianos don't come with built-in speakers. I just assumed the majority came with built in speakers. I'm terribly sorry, but I guess that's another feature I would like to have.

[jimbo320]

Here ya go..
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/keyboards-midi/yamaha-dgx-640-88-key-digital-piano
I use one as part of my stage equipment....

[firewhale]

That looks great! I'm going to go see if there are any available in a showroom nearby, but that is certainly what I've been looking for.

Thanks again. I'll report back on my decision.

[lhorwinkle]

You might go to https://www.pianoworld.com/forum and look at the Digital Pianos forum

[pianoplayjl]

You may also try browsing older threads here and see what others recommended. Go to your local piano shop and try some digital and keyboards, if there are any. Try to bargain with the dealer for a lower price.

JL

[countrymath]

You dont really need USB connection. You can have just a MIDI connection and buy an adapter