Which portable digital piano to buy?

[johncruzoe]

I'm an amateur and beginner piano player + singer and I'm looking for a portable digital piano with these characteristics:
1. Portable: I should be able to transport it by myself by bus without too much problem. I'm not concerned much about the weight, but about the size (Removable legs/stand would be great).

2. As similar to a grand piano as possible (Keys, sensitivity, weight, hammer action, 88 keys, sustain peddal, etc..). I'd be mainly using it as a grand piano. and I'd really like a "good" realistic grand piano sound.

3. Ability to use headphones. built in speakers would be nice (I'd use them to practise, so I don't need too much potency).

4. Ability to connect to the PC and record what I play there in MIDI format or something like that (An USB connection would be great). Being able to use extra banks stored in the PC in real time would also be nice. I don't need to send data from the PC to the piano, nor rewrite the original sound banks of the piano.

5. Several sounds, but focusing on quality over quantity... 16 to 32 different sounds would be okay for me. (I get bored of the sound after a while, so I change the instrument for a while)

6. Transpose + pitch correction (For singing and/or playing with others)

7. Maybe there is a feature that I don't know or remember, and you can suggest it to me

8. I'd be willing to spend about U$S2.000

My idea is to get 5 or 10 suggestion of the best digital pianos satisfying these characteristics, so then I can search for stores that have them, try those 5 or 10 pianos and choose by myself, the one which I like the most. The last time I went to a piano shop they had 100+ pianos and I had no idea where to start!

Thanks!

[hfmadopter]

If I were looking as you are I would first set my price range and feature set. So lets say $1500 to $2000 with the featured you mentioned in this thread. Go to the stores and tell them you want to see stage pianos in that class. That will narrow the field automatically, as out of the 100 you mention seeing in a store, many are lower end under $1000 and many are upper end over $2500. Find the one you like, most are very good in this class regardless of brand and you may find that there are only half dozen in this range anyway..

[richard black]

I've got a Roland HP7 which ticks all your boxes except possibly number of sounds - it's got about 200 sounds but only 2 or 3 of them are acoustic piano. But you can get a MIDI box to cover that base. It's well built, reasonably pleasant to play, heavy but luggable in a carry bag, and sounds pretty decent over the internal speakers. Note I cordially hate keyboards but find enough uses to justify having one!

[adamwoodard]

I would recommend you buying the digital piano as they consume less space. I am having Yamaha YDP141 Digital Portable Piano, it has 88 note, 3 foot pedals and 6 AWM voices including Stereo Grand Piano.

[john90]

Seriously I would buy a second had stage piano, weighted keys, Yamaha, Roland, Korg whatever for $300, and a MIDI box if you are not happy with the sound. Buying new, only a wooden key weighted (eg) Yamaha from a profesional stage piano range. But that is only a luxury for a wealthy or committed Pro. Elton John performed with stuff like the RD300s in its day, and those can be had for $300, with a midi box bringing sound up to date. Most new digitals are a waste of money, as the electronics are junk after a year, and you will still be learning.

[andyswish32]

JohnCruzoe - in case you are still in the market for a portable piano, there is a new one being developed that checks all the boxes on your list.

It's called Groove and you can read more about it at their site: www.groovepiano.com.

[pianoplunker]

I'm an amateur and beginner piano player + singer and I'm looking for a portable digital piano with these characteristics:
1. Portable: I should be able to transport it by myself by bus without too much problem. I'm not concerned much about the weight, but about the size (Removable legs/stand would be great).

2. As similar to a grand piano as possible (Keys, sensitivity, weight, hammer action, 88 keys, sustain peddal, etc..). I'd be mainly using it as a grand piano. and I'd really like a "good" realistic grand piano sound.

3. Ability to use headphones. built in speakers would be nice (I'd use them to practise, so I don't need too much potency).

4. Ability to connect to the PC and record what I play there in MIDI format or something like that (An USB connection would be great). Being able to use extra banks stored in the PC in real time would also be nice. I don't need to send data from the PC to the piano, nor rewrite the original sound banks of the piano.

5. Several sounds, but focusing on quality over quantity... 16 to 32 different sounds would be okay for me. (I get bored of the sound after a while, so I change the instrument for a while)

6. Transpose + pitch correction (For singing and/or playing with others)

7. Maybe there is a feature that I don't know or remember, and you can suggest it to me

8. I'd be willing to spend about U$S2.000

My idea is to get 5 or 10 suggestion of the best digital pianos satisfying these characteristics, so then I can search for stores that have them, try those 5 or 10 pianos and choose by myself, the one which I like the most. The last time I went to a piano shop they had 100+ pianos and I had no idea where to start!

Thanks!

I found the Roland RD-150, and Yamaha P-80 to have very good grand piano sound ( for a digital  ). They are older and no built in speakers. although they both do have midi , I found the midi interface to be clunky and strange to program. But the pianos are good enough so no need for midi. If you are open to midi, possibly a midi controller like the roland a-33 would do the trick. I think it has a nice touch and feel.   The Yamaha P-200 is a nice piano with speakers but it did not win my personal contest between it and the RD-150 for piano sound.  It came close though. All of these are older and well under $2000.00 by now