Tip On Purchasing A Digital Piano

Hi Marmelodies, I also have to defend my diploma in this summer session just like you, and I am also at university, so I am in the exact same situation as you. Moreover, given the shameful reforms of the conservatories that from next year will deny access to private students, one must inevitably finish by this year—may God help us... Let's get to your problem. First of all, I feel compelled to advise you not to sell your acoustic piano. It is something that, in my opinion, will make you regret it deeply one day. Aside from the fact that you will NEVER find a digital piano that measures up to an acoustic piano (sound aside, I am also talking about the mechanics), I believe that for you, the life you spent on that piano is also part of you. I would never separate myself from mine: a German Krauss upright with which I began my studies and a Kawai KG-2S grand. The choice of a digital piano depends heavily on your budget. There are very well-made digital pianos, with polyphonic sounds sampled at 24bit 96KHz and mechanics that simulate those of a piano; therefore, it is not just a balanced keyboard with the classic weights. Some keyboards even simulate the different weight of the keys, which increases as you approach the bass region. These digital pianos have a cost that hovers around 3000 euros. If you want to save some money, you must go for models with classical weighting. I also recommend taking a look at digital pianos from Yamaha and Korg. In any case, if you give me an idea of your budget, I can recommend some models since I also tried many before getting my own digital piano.

Best regards.

PS. Thanks for the compliments regarding the platform.

Hi TheSimon,

first of all, thank you so much for the speed with which you replied to me! :-) As you well said, the purchase of a digital piano will never be on par with an acoustic piano, and the eventual sale of my grand piano already disturbs something deep within my heart :-/ It is useless to deny it.... this instrument has something human and incredibly captivating in itself!! But unfortunately, due to various circumstances, this seems to be the right thing to do, also because university studies will surely lead me to abandon the path of a professional musician. In these months, I am significantly slowing down my university exams!

After graduation, I will have the need to have a good piano that can 'follow me', and in any case, the acoustic piano would remain abandoned in my absence since I am the only musician in the family! In truth, I am an internal student at the conservatory and shouldn't be subject to the careless and confusing school reform, although I would like to try to take the exam in the summer session. They are literally complicating the situation and sincerely, I still understand very little about what will actually happen!! But anyway, I give you my best wishes for your diploma!! Have fun above all and enjoy what is yours in that unique and unrepeatable moment of your life ;-)

Returning to the digital piano, my budget is not very high, let's say starting from 1300 euros up to 1600-1700 euros. I know that perhaps with this amount one must certainly settle, but I would still like to try to look for something acceptable on the market and also a bit 'versatile'. The Yamaha Clavinova models I have tried are the CLP 240-230 (plus others of which I don't remember the model) and others from the 'Arius' series, though here too I don't remember the exact code (on the internet I found the YDP 141-160-161-181-V240 models which do not have a very high cost). Regarding Kawai, I only know by name the CN and CA series models, plus the new ES6 series (rather practical and manageable but with a synthetic semi-empty keyboard) and the MP series models (these are stage pianos, very expensive and well-finished, with wooden keyboards but useless for the use I need to make of them).

If I manage to gather more information and direct impressions on some instruments, I will communicate them to you here on the forum.

Thank you again for your availability and happy pre-diploma studying!

Hi Marmelodies,

Have you ever listened to the ROLAND FP7? I have it and I am satisfied. I find its sound very "progressive" and its keyboard very good!!!!! We are at about 1400 Euro!!!!

Regards

Paolo

Hi Marmelodies,

once the budget is set, you have several possibilities. So, I tried Paolo's Roland and liked it very much; progressive sound, very good keyboard, and also very quiet, especially on the key return, since digital keyboards usually make noise specifically on the key return. However, the FP7—the new FP7F model can be found today—costs 1700 euros and is moreover a stage digital piano, so it's designed more for live evenings than to be a home instrument. I think there are also other solutions, especially if what interests you is only the piano sound; therefore, in the end, the whole discussion revolves around the portability this instrument must have. That is, how many times you intend to move it. There are more portable and less portable digital instruments, meaning those that require more time to disassemble the various pieces of furniture and thus be transported, or even digital instruments that simulate the piano even in form—obviously in a very reduced way—but which can afford a keyboard as close as possible to an acoustic one. For the latter, obviously, there is no need for a moving company since they weigh perhaps 1/10 of an acoustic piano, but they still take up quite a bit of space; to put it briefly, they won't fit in a standard car, you would need at least a station wagon. Let's get to the names and figures.

In the first category, we talk about stage digital pianos:

KAWAI MP6 - Cost approximately 1400 euros.

ROLAND FP7F-WH or FP7F-BK, one is in white and the other in black - Cost approximately 1700 euros.

Now let's move on to stand-alone digital pianos, i.e., those sold with a matching cabinet. (I remind you that cabinets can also be purchased for stage digital pianos, even if they are not as well-structured as these).

KAWAI CA18 - Cost approximately 1450 euros.

YAMAHA CLP340 - Cost approximately 1700 euros.

ROLAND DP990SB - Cost approximately 1750 euros.

Finally, the 'replica' digital piano category. Around 1700 euros you can find this one; it doesn't have all the sounds of the other digital pianos we discussed, but it certainly has a better keyboard, studied, designed, and manufactured to be as close as possible to that of an acoustic piano.

It is called Clavinpiano GRAND ONE 210; the cost, as already mentioned, is around 1700 euros. It can still be transported since the various parts can be disassembled, but a very spacious car is needed to transport it.

As you can see, there are many choices, but they all depend on the frequency of transport.

I hope I have been helpful; for any further clarification, we are here.

Best regards

Thanks again for the very useful suggestions!! I have noted down the models you proposed and I will go to try them out as soon as possible, hoping to find them available in some shops. I had never considered anything from Roland and indeed after your suggestion I will take it into account. It is not easy to choose with so many models on the market, but as a first orientation it is more than fine!

Thanks again and have a good day!

The rule is always the same: the more you spend, the less you spend!

I support your choice to switch to a digital piano for several reasons.

First: the budget you want to invest certainly cannot bring a good acoustic piano into your home! And this makes me say immediately that a decent digital is preferable to a terrible acoustic.

Second: the action of an upright acoustic piano (because that is what one can get if they don't want to spend much) is absolutely incomparable to that of a grand piano. Therefore, I repeat that it is better to feel under your fingers the simulation of a grand keyboard (with escapement and weight) than the keyboard of an upright (especially if it is mediocre). The condition that most encourages discarding the choice of an acoustic upright is when playing with the "soft" pedal pressed. I have noted that the action of an upright (which brings the hammer rail closer to the strings) causes a problem of key softening.

Third: with a digital, you eliminate the problem of disturbing the neighbors.

Fourth: with a digital, you eliminate the "nuisance" (and the cost) of tuning the instrument (which is often necessary on an acoustic that is not in excellent condition!).

Fifth: a good digital (and I emphasize good) can give you a more satisfying sound than that of a bad acoustic. Watch out, because it is easy to come across pianos that are more like pieces of furniture than musical instruments! 😉

That being said, I would like to clarify that I support the cause of digital only if we are talking about an economical purchase. If someone has 20, 30, 50,000 euros to invest... well, it's a different story! 😉 A piano is a piano... the one with hammers and strings, to be clear! 😉

However, I would like to give you some advice.

Do everything possible to increase your budget, otherwise you will miss your 1/4 grand too much! 😕

A piano (even if digital) is not just an instrument! It is something that comes to "live" with you in your home for a long time.

It is essential that there is feeling between "you two."

Try to make a good purchase, the best one you can afford.

Perhaps, help yourself with financing.

Go try it, listen to its voice and see if you like it.

I chose this one (KAWAI CA93), for a series of reasons that I will later explain in a (video?) review:

Regards.

Dear Marica,

My wife gave me, at the instigation of the wicked PianoExpert, also called Paolo by me for short, the Roland FP7.

Keep in mind that at home I have a splendid Schimmel upright and downstairs a much less splendid neighbor; therefore, my wife's gift is explained not only by her great love for me, but also by her peace and quiet.

But, beware, do not sell the piano, if you manage to; you would regret it. Think of the beauty of being able to return to it whenever you like.

Furthermore, even if Paolo did not mention it to you, keep in mind that the FP7, like all digital instruments, is a different instrument from the piano in many respects.

Very good for practice and less generous than an analog piano (digital does not forgive!, everything is sharper).

I find the FP7 splendid for its keyboard and sound, but I also believe that it, while being a kind of summation of Roland technology, is equipped with a series of functions that you might not use if you only want to practice. For example, you can create organ sounds to your liking, you can pre-record sequences and chords, etc... to be activated with a single key or a pedal, you can accompany yourself, you can listen to music (analog or digital MIDI) even while playing, and so on (if you wish, you can download the manual from the Roland website).

So, a suggestion:

Use the FP7 as a "pivot" reference and check other instruments against it.

One last tip: watch out for weights and dimensions for transport; if you want to get something large/heavy, equip yourself, if you haven't already, with a mover boyfriend.

Bye

Hi everyone, I thought it would be better to use this topic again to ask for some tips, so as not to have many identical discussions. I hope I'm doing the right thing...

The issue is easily guessed: as a student living far from home, I cannot afford an acoustic piano due to the obvious problems of space, price, and disturbing the neighbors, who being students have the sacrosanct right not to want new pianists nearby.

But the problems don't end here: most likely I will have to move often, which leads me to also exclude "mobile" digital pianos.

Currently the budget is very low, but I plan to raise it in the coming months specifically with this purchase in mind. Let's just say that I wouldn't want to spend more than about €2000, in any case.

I must confess that I have fallen in love, among others, with the Roland RD700gx, which I would need not only for piano studies, but also for my bad habit of playing post-rock, electronic, and ambient music. Paired with a PC, it would give me many more possibilities and I would be so happy. Also because I don't like how the Ableton Live 8 piano sounds at all...

I am also very curious about Nords, but I have never had the chance to try them. Besides, this way I am really exaggerating with the price; it could take me an entire year to set aside all that money, if not more, and clearly until then, goodbye study. On the other hand, I don't like spending little on instruments that leave a bitter taste in your mouth: if I have to invest money, I prefer to spend a lot, but to spend well, on something that lasts, something definitive in short. In fact, I would like to avoid spending very little and then feeling the need for something better, even if this means waiting many more months.

What do you advise me to do?

If I've made any mistakes, I apologize, but I have some hand-hip compatibility issues 😆

Hi Varel, from what I understand you would like a digital stage piano. Obviously, if you need to transport the instrument somewhat frequently, a stage piano is the most ideal solution: not an exaggerated weight, carrying bags, etc.

As they say in life, everything depends...

If you need a piano that has a sound and action as close as possible to an acoustic one, the price rises significantly and we easily reach 3500 euros as a minimum expense.

Up to 2000 euros, there are some very good Roland keyboards: the FP7 that Gennarino recommended to you and which our dear pianoexpert also owns is excellent, good action, good key response in trills and ornaments, but it is still not comparable to the keyboard of an acoustic piano, I must specify this, and its cost is around 1700 euros, give or take 100 euros. At this point, however, in my opinion, a personal analysis should be made. What is your piano level? If you are just starting to play now, I believe it is perfectly useless to spend 2000 euros on a digital piano that anyway does not have the same action as an acoustic one... For example, I have a Yamaha P-95 keyboard, it costs around 600 euros and I am studying on it at night to prepare for the piano diploma that I will have in a little more than a month; it is also true that in the afternoon I play on the acoustic, but I must tell you that with the digital I don't feel bad at all. I redo my hand on the acoustic in just over 2 minutes, playing a few notes is enough for me, but the same thing happens when I play on Paolo's FP7 and then move to the Steinway. If you are just starting to play or are at a 5th-year level of preparation, I think 2000 euros for a digital is too much. Considering also, from what I understand, that you also do music production, instead of you I would do this: I would still consider the budget of 2000 euros.

I would buy a 600 euro Yamaha, I would buy a nice iMac or a MacBook Pro, a MIDI cable and maybe even a USB microphone and I would use Logic with piano sample libraries, which are something completely different from the sounds of 2000 euro digital keyboards. In this way, it is true, you would have an action slightly inferior to a good Roland, but you would have killed two birds with one stone, as they say in our parts. The situation changes instead if you are advanced in your studies; personally, I wouldn't be able to prepare a good diploma if I had to play all day on a digital keyboard (including the 1700 euro FP7), but the problem doesn't arise for me since I also have a grand acoustic.

In any case, for any advice you can contact me here on the forum or at my telephone details; we are always available to help with these important decisions to be made.

Best regards

So, first of all, thank you for your interest 🙂

As far as my level goes (and thus how much it is worth spending) it's a bit of a funny question: I don't attend conservatory and I never have (even though I would have liked to very much), but I have always taken private lessons. In fact, I believe I have rather solid foundations, especially regarding theory (reinforced also by the study of other instruments), and even though I have a few years of gap behind me, I plan to catch up quite quickly. The point is that I don't study and play to achieve academic results or because I intend to make it my profession, but rather for simple personal pleasure, which will hardly go beyond the threshold of my home. And even the music I write is made to please and I share it for free. For these reasons, I don't know how much sense it actually makes to reason by level. Although obviously I always try to improve myself, and keeping in mind that I have no idea how capable I currently am. Certainly, in any case, I am not yet at a fifth-year level.

But I am getting tangled up in convoluted and perhaps inconclusive reasoning; let me get back to the point: in these years, many instruments have come in and out of my house because, being rushed, I would go and buy low-priced stuff, only to end up dissatisfied and resell everything at lower prices to aim higher. Well, I wouldn't want the same thing to happen to me with the piano, also because a decent piano, even if digital, costs significantly more than an electric guitar or a bass. In fact, it is completely impossible for me to reason in terms of "for now I'll take this, maybe later I'll get another one"; what I get now will have to suffice for at least another 6-7 years, at the end of which (once settled) I would like to aim directly for a proper acoustic piano.

But I've gotten tangled up again, although I hope the core of the matter has been understood.

In the meantime, a possible "financial little help" from my parents has come up, in case satisfactory results are seen in my physics studies, so I might have a decent budget at the end of the first exam session of next year.

Returning to models, first of all, I will try as soon as possible the Yamaha P95 that you kindly mentioned, and I will do the same with the Roland FP7: it is my policy (dictated by recent happy experiences) to properly try an instrument before buying it. Something that anyone should take for granted, but which with the advent of online shopping has been lost in favor of the infamous "blind purchase". Not only for a matter of "quality control", but above all because, being a beginner after all, the question I should ask myself is not so much "is it excellent?" as "does it fully satisfy me?". Otherwise, I might end up spending a lot of money on something that I could have had quite well by spending much less. This brings me back to the RD700GX I mentioned before: it's the only one I've had the chance to truly try thoroughly and I liked it very much both in its mechanics and sound, and in particular in the possibilities it offers compared to perhaps less expensive models, but simpler ones with fewer amazing gadgets.

In this regard, I went to poke around the Italian Roland website, not finding the RD700GX there, but rather the RD700NX. In the meantime, I discover an almost namesake Mr. SX and my confusion grows. I also took a look at the FP7 technical sheet and, assuming I don't know it personally, can I ask why it would be preferable (assuming equal price) to an RD700GX?

The iMac issue is also thorny, given that I might need a new laptop to use certain very bad calculation programs (and to decrease Ableton's latency), but since I have no certainties regarding this, I really have no way of making plans.

Thank you so much again 😆

To look for the characteristics of Roland instruments, go to the rolandus.com website; the Italian one is incomplete. The difference between the RD700GX and the FP7 is that, despite having the same action (PHA ALPHA II), the former is more oriented towards master keyboard functions (for example, controlling external sound modules) and the latter is more oriented towards the piano aspect (even though there are many sounds and also a Hammond clone). These are the fundamental differences.

Thank you very much. Between the two, right now I would be more oriented towards the RD, but I should try the FP7 and other stuff to get a more complete idea.

Thanks again 😆

What can I say? I tried the Yamaha P95 during these days of absence and I found it, in terms of action, perfect for my needs. Unfortunately, in the shop I was only able to do a superficial test, so I still need to inform myself properly about what it would allow me to do, since it seemed to me very geared towards mere piano practice and nothing else.

Thank you all so much for the extremely valuable advice

With this choice, you save 1200 euros, which is not bad at all. You can buy a 30 euro MIDI cable and, if you feel like it, a laptop with a Music Production System. And you have all the functions that you won't find on the keyboard, and moreover, much better than any digital keyboard on the market. Have you ever seen a digital keyboard that allows you to start from multi-track composition (including audio tracks, not just Virtual Instruments), track editing, and also allows you to do mastering? I haven't...

A ridiculous question from a true novice has been arising here that I've wanted to ask for some time. I searched for some info online but didn't really understand much, so I'm asking it here to get it off my mind.

Exactly what do MIDI input and output allow you to do? I've never understood a damn thing 😆

A MIDI file is an archive that can contain up to 16 distinct tracks. On each track, notes can be written with relative intensity and duration. A MIDI file is therefore a musical score that the PC is capable of reading. To give you a much simpler example, I believe you have seen music boxes sometimes. There is a notched metal plate where the teeth have different lengths and a drum with some dots. As the drum rotates beneath this notched plate, it lifts the teeth until the iron dot slips and the tooth begins to vibrate, thus producing a sound. The drum is one track of the MIDI file, but in a MIDI file, up to 16 distinct tracks can be inserted (an orchestra). The novelty of the MIDI file is that once the "drum" is delivered to the computer via specific programs such as Logic (which is a music production system), we can choose one instrument to play one track and perhaps another instrument to play another. The beautiful thing is that the instruments used in these environments are sampled instruments. This means that by loading, for example, a Bösendorfer library onto a MIDI track, you will obtain the true sound of a Bösendorfer since the libraries consist of samples of sounds recorded in the best recording studios. But the best is yet to come: it is actually possible to play live using these libraries and a common MIDI cable going from the musical keyboard to the PC; the sonic result is as if you were playing on a 100,000 euro piano, guaranteed, and there are samples of all instruments from all the best brands: Steinway, Bösendorfer, Yamaha, etc., and even upright pianos, not to mention violins, violas, cellos, and the entire wind section: bassoon, flute, transverse flute, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, etc., etc.

Do you understand now why I told you to invest your 2000 euros better?

With 2000, you can buy the Yamaha P95 which is nonetheless a medium-quality keyboard; it's true it isn't as excellent as the FP7, but the nearly 1200 euro difference does not justify the superiority of the action since, for sound, playing with samples via a MIDI interface and PC has no rivals among any digital keyboard. Sample libraries are sample libraries. Just to give you an idea, I am posting a couple of files that I played with two different samples, just to let you hear what it means to play with sampled libraries.

I played this first file with a Steinway Mod. D Vintage library.

http://www.pianoconcerto.it/condivisione/praeludium.mp3

Bach - Partita 1 BWV 825 - Praeludium

In this second file, instead, I used a Fazioli 308 library.

http://www.pianoconcerto.it/condivisione/reverie.mp3

Debussy - Reverie

I also want to point out that I deliberately play different pieces on different pianos, and therefore in this case on different samples because I appreciate certain sonorities more on some samples than others. This is precisely the search for the ideal sound. With even the best digital keyboard, you have to settle for a single sample, and I challenge you to find a digital keyboard that has sounds of this caliber! I will save you the trouble by telling you that a single piano library weighs on average 11 Gigabytes!

Reflect on the whole discussion; if I give you advice, I give it to you wholeheartedly, and you will see that for digital, if you follow my advice (Yamaha P95, Macbook Pro or Air, MIDI-USB Interface), a world will open up to you that goes far beyond playing on a common digital piano!

Thank you very much, let's see if I understood correctly.

By connecting the p95 to the macbook via MIDI cable, I could play the keyboard using a library present on the mac instead of the keyboard sounds, right?

Does this mean it is possible to do the same with programs like Ableton, using the program's library and using the p95 as an actual MIDI controller?

If that were the case, it would be the ideal solution for me, much better than various rd700 and fp7 models. Moreover, I would also solve the computer problem for university, since I am deplorably lacking one.

You understood perfectly... In any case, once you have a Mac, I recommend going with Logic, which is Apple-owned, much more performant and stable than any other program / machine.

Right, but then it's ideal! Thanks so much for the very precious help 😆