Tip On Purchasing A Digital Piano

A small note. If you stay within budget, I recommend going for the MacBook Pro rather than the Air. The MacBook Pro is a full-fledged PC; the Air lacks quite a few little things even though it has a solid-state hard drive. Moreover, you can upgrade the Pro however you want without voiding the warranty. You can add RAM at a later time or change the hard drive.

Yes, in fact I am eyeing the pro with the 15-inch screen. I'm looking at the technical specifications and I'm scared! 😆

Eheh go for it, go big. You'll see that you will have so much fun. From October we will restart our video courses on Logic Pro; as I told you, I repeat, a new world of music computing will open up to you. You will be able to produce music and perform mastering just like the ones you hear on records.

For any doubts or information, I am here.

Thank you so much! For now, I'm watching every tutorial in the world, and then happiness 😆

So, first of all, excuse my absence. I wouldn't want to have given the impression of coming to ask for advice only to disappear into thin air. Simply put, I am very busy finding housing for university and with studying, as well as with the multitude of chores that result from it... In truth, however, I really can't wait to start studying and contributing regularly to the community 😆

In the meantime, I managed to get myself a 15" MacBook Pro, so the bulk of the expense is done.

Now it's the piano's turn, and I was wondering if I could achieve the same result with a Casio CDP100. I tried both today. Sonically, I didn't like it at all, absolutely zero. However, I didn't dislike the feeling the keys gave under my fingers, compared to the P95 that was so kindly recommended to me. I would certainly prefer the latter, but these days 200 euros is not pocket change, unfortunately. My only doubt is that the Casio sound might not have enough variation in relation to the touch, if you know what I mean. In fact, it seemed to me that it only responded as if one were really pounding on the keyboard, with an exaggerated amount of background noise. But I haven't quite understood how MIDI works yet, so the big question, for which I hope to receive an answer since the purchase will depend on it, is the following: by connecting the Casio to the PC via MIDI and using software from the Mac, would I be able to achieve—not only in the sound itself but also and especially in the obtainable nuances—the same result as the P95?

Thank you very much and see you soon!

Here we are, well, it's good to see you again.

I see you have taken a first step towards glory. Advice on the keyboard: wait, do like the little ant, set it aside, maybe take a look around the internet and also look into used options. If you have to distort the touch to reach certain dynamic ranges, it is a sign that you have noticed something is wrong. The right keyboard is the one that most closely resembles an acoustic piano in terms of dynamics and key feel. If you haven't established this feeling from the very beginning, it means it's not for you. You can achieve the same result as the P95 in post-production, but it becomes a massive job. Let me explain: let's assume you have 2 keyboards. The first responds perfectly to your dynamic needs and therefore to your hand. You record a piece and this piece sounds exactly as you had it in your head. On the second keyboard, you don't feel comfortable with the touch and you record the same piece. Listening back to this second recording, you notice that the dynamic range is not what you wanted to bring out... The game starts getting tough because you will have to manually modify the velocities that you don't consider accurate within the project, note by note! My advice, therefore, is to wait a little bit; if you felt good on the P95 and less so on the CDP100, maybe look for a used one from a shop, but do not buy a keyboard that you don't feel comfortable with.

Thank you so much for yet another extremely useful piece of advice, I think I will do exactly that. After all, I don't have a gun to my head; on the contrary, I have all the time in the world! 😆

Look: I have a Roland RD-150. I did a quick strumming with a somewhat rough recording of a Miles Davis piece and the dynamics can be controlled reasonably well from my point of view: it's clear that it doesn't hold up against PC libraries, but live where it is important to "cut through," in my opinion, it's an excellent keyboard. Just download the attachment below to get an idea.

camy86 wrote:

Look: I have a Roland RD-150. I did a quick strumming with a somewhat rough recording of a Miles Davis piece and the dynamics can be controlled reasonably well from my point of view: it's clear that it doesn't hold up against PC libraries, but live where it is important to "cut through," in my opinion, it's an excellent keyboard. Just download the attachment below to get an idea.

I listened to it a second time after I made it and yes, it really sucks, especially because every now and then I lose myself in the melody or the rhythm/tempo. Failed! 🙂

I'm taking it down before someone else downloads it! 😆

I also use Logic and many different libraries ... I have had the (financial) fortune to be able to buy several of them. I recommend GALAXY PIANOS K4 with the GALAXY VINTAGE D piano, or with the VIENNA IMPERIAL GRAND piano (which would be the BOSENDORFER 290 IMPERIAL). As for a library that I highly advise against: ALICIA'S KEYS PIANO LIBRARY .... the sounds are too warm, and the brightness can only be increased slightly; it seems too muddy, and this leads to confusion when playing very complex pieces with fast passages and pedal...

SO RECAPITULATING: if you want to play classical music: GALAXY PIANOS K4 with VIENNA IMPERIAL GRAND; if you want to play both classical and pop music, GALAXY PIANOS K4 and get VINTAGE D ... it goes without saying that you can choose one of the two and then customize them to do whatever you want, but use the guidelines I have given you. NOT RECOMMENDED: ALICIA'S KEYS PIANO...

I'm going off-topic and responding with a century's delay, but I am only now reading marmelodies' story (and I don't know if she is still registered or if she will ever read this message), but I cannot help myself...

I too, about twenty years ago, was called to choose between music and university. There is no use telling you what the advice and "recommendations" of the people around me were... so I behaved responsibly and set aside my life as an artist for the prospect of a good job. Being a "student away from home" myself, I also traded my old upright piano (with all the memories it carried), which at the time I considered useless by now, for a small Kawai vertical that I left at my parents' house and a digital one to carry with me through the countless rented rooms I moved through in those years. And then I sold my beloved Buffet & Crampon clarinet...

Then came the boom of graduates, the crisis, and the result is that, today, I find myself with an underqualified, poorly paid, and quite precarious job, much more so than many of my old conservatory and youth orchestra companions who, one way or another, have all managed to do something with music.

Only today do I understand how much music is a reason for living, and I fight to cultivate and defend it in the few scraps of time that remain between work and family, when I often lack the physical and mental energy to be able to write or even just approach the keyboard.

If only I hadn't sold my piano! That piano generously bought for me by my father when I was a child... I know very well that in my lifetime I will never again be able to afford to buy a grand piano... Indeed, having sold that piano was the most gigantic mistake of my life...

Of course, the destiny of each of us depends, perhaps, only on ourselves, and I know very well that I am the sole person responsible for my failures.

Furthermore, I cannot and do not want to interfere in the life choices of people I don't even know... Only you know who you are and what you want...

However, if you feel even a minimum of artistic vocation and have a passion for music, I tell you: reflect carefully... perhaps any job is better—and I mean any job with music (even a shop assistant in a musical instrument store)—than a job we don't like or, worse, going to increase the mass, already well-nourished, of unemployed graduates.

And above all, if you haven't done so already, reflect, reflect, reflect before selling your piano...

Forgive me all again...

Forget excuses!! You wrote a very touching and moving post that tells another point of view.

Thank you!

Thank you, dear Simone