Digital Piano

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Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

Does anyone here have a digital piano? I'm thinking about getting one but not soon (maybe 1 year from now or so). The reasons are that I want 88 keys to be able playing harder pieces, I want to have a more realistic piano sound and it doesn't take up as much room as an acoustic piano. Ofc it should have an usb/midi contact.
Do you any recomendations? Does someone know the sound really is compared to an acoustic piano?
Bissrok
Posts: 341

Post by Bissrok »

I heard the sound's pretty close to an acoustic piano (plus it never needs tuning). I'm sure some of the piano snobs might disagree, but it's probably close enough for our ears.

Haven't looked to closely at them, though, since they run about $500-1000 for the lower end models.
racer
Posts: 53

Post by racer »

http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/link/792248

I played a bit on this one in a music store, and it felt pretty good. Although the keys were not as heavy as on a real Piano, but the overall feeling about it wasn't bad. But it was there for I think 1000€.
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

racer wrote:http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/link/792248

I played a bit on this one in a music store, and it felt pretty good. Although the keys were not as heavy as on a real Piano, but the overall feeling about it wasn't bad. But it was there for I think 1000€.
Well that's alot but I get like 300$ (in SEK) a month when I go to school. Still I want to get a few other things before I will spend money on a digital piano.
BenJackson
Posts: 38

Post by BenJackson »

In the US that Yamaha is the YPG-635. I've played them and they feel a bit mushy to me (versus weighted). At the low end of the weighted scale are the Casio Privia (PX-120 or PX-320). They have somewhat loud actions, but are otherwise pretty good. Yamaha's entries at that level (eg Yamaha P85) tend to omit things like built-in USB-MIDI (having only MIDI and requiring an external adapter). On a similar quest to yours I ended up with a Roland FP-7. But it's up in another price bracket.
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

BenJackson wrote:Yamaha's entries at that level (eg Yamaha P85) tend to omit things like built-in USB-MIDI (having only MIDI and requiring an external adapter). On a similar quest to yours I ended up with a Roland FP-7. But it's up in another price bracket.
Wow, that one costs like 20000 Swedish Crowns, which is about 2000 Euro. Well actually I think the most I will be able to pay is 1000€. And it should have an usb contact.
Edit: What's the difference between an usb and a midi contact?
racer
Posts: 53

Post by racer »

Rickeeey wrote:What's the difference between an usb and a midi contact?
I would say, that you won't have the midi limitations with USB. (bandwidth limitations and more channels), I would assume
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

I think I will get this one when I will have enough money:

http://www.roland.com/products/en/FP-4/index.html

In the most known music shop in Sweden it costs almost 15k Swedish Crowns (about 1500€).

http://www.musikborsen.se/itempg.aspx?i ... tno=184264
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

racer wrote:
Rickeeey wrote:What's the difference between an usb and a midi contact?
I would say, that you won't have the midi limitations with USB. (bandwidth limitations and more channels), I would assume
Better to get a digital piano with an usb contact then.
Bissrok
Posts: 341

Post by Bissrok »

racer wrote:
Rickeeey wrote:What's the difference between an usb and a midi contact?
I would say, that you won't have the midi limitations with USB. (bandwidth limitations and more channels), I would assume
Plus, with a USB you wouldn't need the conversion cable to hook it to your PC (though I'm guessing Rickeeey's already bought one)

But, yeah, the good ones are really expensive. I'm holding off on a weighted 88-key until I can play at a level that justifies me blowing a few grand.
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

Bissrok wrote:Plus, with a USB you wouldn't need the conversion cable to hook it to your PC (though I'm guessing Rickeeey's already bought one)
I just use an usb cable to connect between my keyboard and my computer. I don't need anything else.
BenJackson
Posts: 38

Post by BenJackson »

Right, what I was saying is that one of the things the lower end Yamaha keyboards all leave off is the builtin USB-MIDI. They include MIDI (of course) which you could use with an external adapter.

Rickeeey, I think you'll like the FP-4. I really like my FP-7. The main thing the 7 adds is the LCD display (and more powerful internal speakers). Even with the LCD there are so many functions that it can be tricky to find them all. I assume with an FP-4's digit-only display you absolutely have to have the manual to find any feature you haven't memorized.

Bissrok, I found that a good keyboard actually made it easier for me to play. There are a lot of little things that make it better, like a real piano-like hinge mechanism. The synth I have (Casio WK-200) has keys which hinge just beyond the edge of the key. That makes it much harder to press them when your hands are choked up on the keys. The FP-7 has a hinge more like a real piano, where it's nearly a full key length inside the keyboard, so the force (and travel) at the very back end of the key is not that different from the front.
prox
Posts: 8

Post by prox »

BenJackson wrote:Right, what I was saying is that one of the things the lower end Yamaha keyboards all leave off is the builtin USB-MIDI. They include MIDI (of course) which you could use with an external adapter.
I don't think this is much of a constraint. I just got a $12 (including shipping) USB MIDI adapter from Amazon that works great with my Yamaha P-85.
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

I think I might be getting a digital piano earlier than expected, maybe even this week. I think this digital piano: http://www.casio-europe.com/euro/emi/di ... nos/ap500/ might be good enough. It works to use a midi cable for it, it's supposed to sound like a real piano, got alot of other nice features and it costs about 1280 euroes. I'm not sure if I like the color but is there any point in getting a better digital piano?
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

After some advice from the seller I decided that I will get this digital piano instead:

http://www.roland.com/products/en/HP203/
Frost
Posts: 51

Post by Frost »

If you haven't bought it yet, can I recommend that you look for used models? Yamaha, roland, kawai etc. pianos are of high quality and are built to last. High end digital pianos that are well above 12 years old are still much better than most new cheap models. Although they keep their values in second hand, you may still be able to find great deals. I got mine (yamaha clp-240) about 1/3 of its retail price. It was just played for 10-20 hours, then sat around the house for 1.5 years, the owner wanted get rid of it. Basically spotless.
If you'd like to buy first hand, you may consider, after the new brands are announced, as time goes on the shops sell the older models that are sitting in the warehouses very cheaply, you may get good deals there.

As for the recommendation, when I was buying mine, I tended to shift to ap-500 than hp-203; 203 is very good, (edit: nevermind, I confused it with another model) and people said its touch was not-so-great, although it's a matter of personal taste. Ap-500 is not the best quality one either, it's a casio after all, but compared to their price (I found ap-500 veeery cheap), it was a better deal. 203 was quite expensive, and better of those ones, it would be a good choice, price excluded.
But, whatever you choose, you can't go wrong; all of the hammer actions will be better than a non-weighted or synth-weighted keyboards.
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

There aren't many that sell digital pianos on the biggest Swedish second-hand buy and sell site close to where I live so I doubt I will find a good deal.
However the Roland HP-203 that I want to buy costed 24200 Swedish Crowns (2387.55 euro, 3502.53 USD) before but they lowered the price to about 19000 Swedish Crowns (1872.97 euro, 2747.65 USD) in the shop I looked in.
Rickeeey
Posts: 647

Post by Rickeeey »

I got the Roland now and it's just perfect for me.
vicentefer31
Posts: 899

Post by vicentefer31 »

I know you have also a Yamaha PSR-E413 like me and I hope I can have in the future a Roland Digital Piano like you.
Congratulation Rickeeey!
Picasso: I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Bissrok
Posts: 341

Post by Bissrok »

Rickeeey wrote:I got the Roland now and it's just perfect for me.
Very nice. I was looking into getting a digital piano, but I'm still waiting to stumble upon a giant pile of money first.
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