Digital piano vs acoustic grand piano (Knabi 6' 11â)
I am looking to find a digital piano to have available to practice on when not at home for periods of time. I am looking for a brand that has realistic weighted action and other features that simulate an acoustic piano:
that includes playing a melody line in the right hand louder than accompaniment notes (ie Beethoven Moonlight or Pathetique sonatas) or voicing notes inside a chord
has realistic key response so that practicing, as much as possible, is not that different from my acoustic piano
three pedals
transportable with adequate accessories
I know that the sound from a digital instrument is quiet different than an acoustic instrument :(
I am looking for recommendations of a brand/model to look at.
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This is a bit of a challenge, since to accomplish the requirements, you're going to have a fairly heavy instrument. My Yamaha XF8 would fulfill your needs, but it's very heavy. And it requires a substantial base. It is transportable, but not easily.
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With the Kawai VPC1 + Pianoteq i'm very happy. But i don't have to transport it and while it is a stagepiano/slab design, it is quite heavy.
Before i had the Casio PX5S and this one is very lightweight. You could easily carry it around and even take it to the woods and run it on batteries. For its weight, the action is relatively good. VPC1 is far superior and far heavier. For lightweight you might want to look into the newer Casio models as the PX5S is only dual on/off pedal.
Maybe somebody knows options somewhere in between, weight- and quality wise.
Pianoteq as the tone generator on the other hand does run on mobile devices and is recommendable. While sample-based libraries can sound more realistic, the connection between player and instrument, the way it responds, seems tighter or 'almost analog' to me with the modelling based Pianoteq.
VPC1 has a factory built in calibration curve for Pianoteq (and some others). However you could calibrate a response curve for any piano by playing a procedure of pp, p, f, ff. Neither of the two mentioned pianos has built-in speakers. Depending on where you plan to go you might use headphones anyway. But that's another point to consider: Speakers ad weight and you could bring your own set of choice and gain quality, flexibility, usability but it'd be more objects to transport.
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Kawaii MP11-SE is the best keyboard action and pedals. Kind of a beast at 75 lbs. The ES-920 is not bad and weighs about half as much.
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Iâm pleased with my Casio PX-S1100 mostly because I can easily tote it around all by myself.
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The *sound* of the digital instrument should not be a problem for practicing. Most sound pretty good with headphones, and MIDI output to a laptop can give you access to amazing sounds you couldnât afford in the âreal worldâ! (I use Pianoteq 8.)
The more difficult issues are size, weight and keyboard action. 88 keys is going to be long. No one produces a quality, folding or break-apart 88-key keyboard. And in general companies reserve their best actions for heavier keyboards. If those things are manageable, that leaves the action itself.
In spite of what they say, no company produces a portable keyboard that feels like a grand piano or even a decent upright. You need to try what is out there. Unless the piano actually contains real hammers, escapement and so on, the digital keyboard will feel different.
The best ones have wooden keys (at least the white ones) and some kind of mechanical contraptions that mimic the escapements of a real piano. These can be pretty good, but generally will provide less resistance than a grand piano. (I.e. it will take less downward pressure to 'release the hammer'.) Many have "graded hammer action" meaning that more force is required for base notes than treble ones.
Myron
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Oh. Regarding different volume for different notes: My understanding is that all of the better keyboards follow the MIDI scheme for digitizing keystrokes. MIDI encodes each note played along with the velocity with which that note was played. (The velocity of the keystroke determines volume of the note when reproduced.) So each note can have its own volume.
One other thing. If you don't want to use a MIDI connection to a computer, get the greatest "polyphony" you can. That determines the number of notes or sounds the piano can reproduce (or keep reproducing) at one time. Typical numbers these days are 64, 128 and 256.
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Since it sounds like you will be going back and forth between the keyboard and your acoustic piano, I would suggest that it might be necessary to try out a few keyboards to find one with an action that is closest in feel to your acoustic piano as the actions of various keyboards can vary significantly from one brand to another. It can be a bit of a pain to switch between two instruments with very different feels. For example, I find the action on my Roland keyboard to be pretty close to most pianos I have had occasion to play. On the other hand, other players (including many who play far better than I do) who play exclusively on keyboards find the Roland action too hard for their taste and go for a lighter action. Bottom line - for the purpose you describe, the keyboardâs action and feel may be more important than the sound itself (keeping in mind that most of the better keyboards do have pretty decent sound). Good luck!
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If you are an ambitious pianist, you may also consider a setup like "The Independent Pianist" explains in his YouTube video here:
Disadvantage: two devices which need to be connected (if you already have a good laptop, you only need the software). Advantage: more flexibility and much easier to transport compared to a equivalent Kawai CA-79/CA-701 or better instrument.
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Yamaha comes pretty close. We have them in our group piano classes.
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Check out this comparison from today at Merriam Music.
https://youtu.be/NUxsA-kHgOg?si=r-KGS0BiegcGnbq4
I was considering the FP 90X.
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Yamaha P525 is the best portable keyboard I've run across. It has wooden keys and responds well to a good set of head phones. Only down side is takes a strong arm to carry it. I've also liked the Casio PX-S keyboards. The PX-S1100 is okay and light weight; I was impressed by the PX-S 5000 and PX-S 6000 which are both much heaver than the S1100. The wooden keyboards add considerable weight, but are that much better.
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I have two Yamaha digital pianos (P515 and P125a) as well as a Schimmel upright, mainly so that we have a piano in each room to facilitate practising, when, say, something else is taking place simultaneously in the house, such as an online meeting.
The P125a is more portable than the P515.
Your question is likely to be difficult to achieve, as it would take me around an hour to dismantle either of the digital pianos. Please note that the pedal unit is an additional fitting and is fitted separately to the piano and you might be better with the original single sustaining pedal for travelling purposes.
They are both 88 keys so quite wide to take with you. I'm assuming you have a something larger than a domestic car. You would need an SUV or an Estate car to have the length for the piano to slide in comfortably.
I would be worried about the damage if travelling them regularly.
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Roy James-Pike I have a P515 as well, and easily brought it home from the store in my Toyota Prius, which is far from roomy. The Prius is also fine for my P90 (which along with the P80 was a popular stage piano in Canada for years). I don't know what the current equivalent of the P80/90 is, but the P80/90 were easy to carry around at less than 38lb. To save weight It does not have speakers, so you have to use headphones or the MIDI or audio outputs. It was only 64 note polyphony, and a single pedal (sustain). The action was a step down from the P515, but still pretty close. (The action feels noticeably better if the keyboard sits on a solid base and not just a wiggly portable stand.) When it was new I think it was somewhere in the $1500 range, so it was a "serious" keyboard, and as nearly as I can tell the action was the best Yamaha made at the time.
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Myron Gochnauer Dave B has made the same point as me, when he writes, "Only down side is takes a strong arm to carry it."
It is worth remembering that we are each of us giving our opinions in response to the original question, not making definitive statements.
I was not intending to say that it was not at all possible to transport a Yamaha digital piano. I was really making the point that the Yamaha digital pianos have a full-size keyboard, which makes them wider than one that has been designed to be more portable.
My understanding from those involved in piano sales is that a piano with a damaged case becomes quite unsaleable even at a much reduced price. Other instrumentalists have carrying cases for their instruments. Maybe these exist for digital pianos too, but I have never seen them advertised. This would be very useful to avoid expensive mistakes, given the cost of the piano, which is, as you say, around ÂŁ1,500 for the P515.
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Thank you all for your comments, suggestions and recommendations. I figured it would be a challenge to find what I was looking for. I appreciate your input as I try to figure out the best digital piano for my needs. I do want to be able to move it but more than likely will stay in one place as I 'live' (snow bird like) between two locations; having weeks/months away from my piano raises havoc with piano technique that I am trying to master or maintain. I have found music stores that have a variety of options that I will go and test as I continue to explore the options.
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If possible, go to a good dealer and just try out the Options. That will give you an in person way of assessing what you need. Sometimes the old-fashioned way is the best way.
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Related questionâŠIf portability is not an issue, what would be a good choice for great action in a digital piano but not excessively expensive, compared to, say a quality new upright? Or is it better to just save up for an acoustic instrument (and the cost to maintain it) and stick with my older Yamaha Clavinova (clp 330)? The convenience of a digital piano (can be played late at night with headphones, takes up less space and is a bit lighter to move than an acoustic, doesnât require regular tuning, etc.) is attractive, but I wonder if even the best of them cannot compete with the real thing?
