Digital Piano Action

[adodd81802]

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[mjames]

I learned how to play on a Casio privia px 150 . The action is not light, not heavy but right in the middle. It's definitely a bit tougher than most acoustics I've tried but I took that as an advantage, it's slightly easier to move around an acoustic than it is on my piano. The quality is good enough for me, if you're curious about how it sounds just youtube it (or check my chopins nocturne xD).


HOWEVER, one of try biggest issues with electronic pianos, ANY piano, is their inability to capture the subtely of the damper. My piano is no exception to this. I think it won't be a problem for someone who already knows how to damper pedal, but for a beginner it can be pretty disastrous....

It's not pricey either..around 500 dollars I think. GOod luck!

[thejeev]

For what my opinion is worth, digital pianos in the last 10 years have made a lot of effort to reproduce the feel of a real piano. However nowadays, the real leader seems to be Kawai and their CA-series. I have my eye on the CA-67, it uses the Shigeru Kawai Concert grand samples, and their keys are real wood, real hammer action (not simulated), and feel just like a piano.

Now your ability to shape melodic lines is directly dependent on key action. I have a craptacular Casio AP-620 which is pretty much broken, but the one thing I like about it is it has soft keys that are "close" to a maintained piano. You really do benefit from lighter keys, but not the plastic super light ones that don't feel like a piano. Heavy keys tend to limit your lower pianissimo range drastically. Not good for expressive playing.

If it's in your price range, please consider the Kawai CA-series. Their tech has far surpassed Yamaha in the past decade, and you will not be sorry you got one. Please feel free to research the line, they are a fantastic product. I have researched a lot of modern digital pianos and the consensus seems to be, no-brainer Kawai CA-series (if affordable for you).

Everything you said is of legitimate concern, but I am of the mind that if the music is put at the forefront of your mind, the pianist must learn to adjust his/her playing based on the action of the piano they have at the time. This requires a keen ear, but the most beneficial (and thus most costly) route would be to pick up something that closely resembles a piano as I suggested above. It's silent, but get a good set of headphones, there's no point in listening to beautiful sound samples through crap headphones. Hope this helps.

[adodd81802]

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[hfmadopter]

Not all Kawai's have wooden keys and if you want the most realistic action I think you would want that feature, as the action not just the keys are not the same in the plastic key models. Still good but not the same. So shop accordingly. On the other hand if you are looking at financing that will really open up your options.

I personally have little reason to look beyond Kawai in a digital piano, I just passed the three year mark with an MP6 Kawai stage piano playing it through Pianoteq software. Loving it ! And I own a real grand. Still non of that tells you anything about action, you have to go try them then you will know. But understand something with digital, dynamics can be set to you taste and default settings don't touch on the whole story at all. Dynamics are completely separate from key weight incidentally, for a test of just weight alone try the piano turned off. That produces a completely different experience from various dynamics setting and then instrument turned on. my MP6 has moderate to even slightly heavy key weight but depending on which piano sound I'm playing ( all of which I set up the dynamics in) and played through Pianoteq I can play PP or even PPP with no trouble and still ramp it right up to FF. pianoteq allows proper fade of the notes too ( decay). So, to me , the piano itself is just part of the story. And with that all said, Kawai now has an on board tuning lab in their pianos which I have not played with. i'm way way happy with Pianoteq.

[kawai_cs]

My first digital piano was Kawai Ca5. I still have it and play it at my parents' house at night only because they have an acoustic piano as well and even though its action is super-heavy - I prefer playing the real piano. My second digital was Kawai CS6 which has a newer action (RM3Grand) and is more responsive than my old digital. When I was shopping for a digital last year I actually was going to purchase one of Kawai digitals with their newest action - Grand Feel II (unfortunately I do not remember which model it was). When playing the piano with Grand Feel action and then the CS6 I decided the difference was none to me and I actually decided to purchase the CS since it also has great looks (e.g.

&feature=youtu.be  - it is not me playing). However, less than 2 years later I am considering buying a Yamaha silent. Apart from having a real acoustic instrument at hand it holds its value better than any digital, I guess.