[Ryan K]

For this Christmas season, the family is biting the bullet and looking into buying some form of piano for me, to further my musical education. We've been looking into local ones in the classifieds so far, but I've begun to **** my attentions to digital pianos. In doing this, I worry that they will not enough resemble the acoustical piano we've previously been looking for.

Our price range is under 800 dollars. So my question is, how important is proper key action in comparison to an acoustical piano, and what digital pianos in my price range meet a proper description?

Any other information on digital pianos, what to look out for, models you recommend and why, etc, would be appreciated. Although I have a basic knowledge of piano playing, I've never purchased one before.

Thanks,

Ryan K

 

[thejoyofsax]

Whether a digital has weighted keys or not is really a matter of preference. If you want to improve your general piano skills I say go with a weighted board if possible. Quality non-weighted keyboards are generally synth-type workstations that allow for more music/MIDI production or auxiliary sounds and cost more than you want to pay.

I say look into Casio. No joke. Though they are the hallmark of cheesy 80s pop noises, in recent years they have totally revamped their line to include several functional, decent sounding home digitals. I have the Privia PX-100, which I found online for $350 (list $550 at the time) after playing it in a store and being impressed. They now have several in the PX line with differing volumes of stored sounds and capabilities. For sub-$800, I think they'd be the best value for you.

 

[Fell Boyzs]

I enjoy the Privia by Casio. Nice touch and very nice sound.

-Zach

 

[hsitz]

casio

I'd give another vote for Casio with weighted hammer action keys. Best bang for the buck. I got my privia px-110 at NewEgg for $400:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882300021

 

[DougR]

Gem - Yamaha - Roland - Kawai, all do really really good digital pianos with very passable actions and sounds which are almost impossible to tell from the real thing.

What do you want to do ??? - if the aim is to practice and hone the skills for later use on an acoustic piano - then "touch" matters, if the intention is to use it an a musical tool to explore ideas, play with harmony and enjoy for its own sake - then touch is purely a please-yourself matter.

Don't ignore the S/H market, there are real bargains to be had.

 

[hgiles]

I prefer Yamaha, Kawai, Kurzweil, Casio...

Most any digital stage piano these guys make these days are pretty good. I'd get one without all the bells and whistles (digital stage piano) and one without on board speakers. But those are my preferences.

 

[Step Hen]

Yamaha NP30 has had good reviews, sounds good and is not too expensive.

Mind you, if you're not paying ...

 

[ralph lh]

M Audio

I'll put in a good word for one that hasn't been mentioned and may not be a name that you will think of. M Audio Prokeys88 - I bought this one a few months back and checked out several in a comparable price range including Casio, Yamaha, Roland and a couple of others. Some boards can't be hooked into a mixing board which was a feature that I needed and this one can be - a volume thing for rehearsals.

This has a number of features and sounds that make it an excellent rehearsal keyboard for my use. It's not loaded with tons of sounds but very functional with what it does. There are a couple of versions of this keyboard - additional features on one. Got mine on sale but normal retail, well within your price range.

I'm not a piano player but the piano players that come here for rehearsals have been very impressed with it and don't bring their own keyboards any more.

 

[monzamess]

If you're interested in the Yamaha P series... I recently bought a lightly used Yamaha P60 for about $400 (ebay). I wanted a P80--the granddaddy of realistic and affordable digital pianos--but they're long out of production, and very used ones still go for $500-$600. The P60 is the successor to the P80 and makes few compromises (32-note polyphony vs. 64, no line out--only amplified). However the P60 is also discontinued. The current model (as of a couple of months ago), the P70, has been blasted in reviews as inferior to both the P80 and P60--the touch isn't the same, the build quality is worse, and the amplifier is not as powerful--which is why I got the used P60. The P series are portable keyboards; Yamaha also sells digital pianos with integral stands, that are basically the guts of the P keyboards in a larger housing to mimic an upright piano. I think the caveats on the new models apply there as well.

I DO recommend a model with integral speakers. Most sound good enough out of the box, and you can always add a separate amp/speaker later if it's not.

 

[hakukani]

I prefer Yamaha, Kawai, Kurzweil, Casio...

Most any digital stage piano these guys make these days are pretty good. I'd get one without all the bells and whistles (digital stage piano) and one without on board speakers. But those are my preferences.

+1

 

[hsitz]

why w/o onboard speakers

I'm curious why people prefer not having onboard speakers.

I guess I can see it for some uses.

But I'm someone who's not really a piano player. I just like to keep my keyboard out where I can use it and occasionally go over to it to go over something while I'm practicing sax. The onboard speakers simplify things. I can move the keyboard wherever I want it. Put it away. Bring it back out again. I don't have to worry about maintaining a separate connection to speakers and amp. I can if I want to, of course, but that's generally too big of a pain in the **** to bother with.

The sound from the onboard speakers of my Casio px-110 is pretty good to my ears.

 

[ralph lh]

Nothing particularly wrong with onboard speakers if that is an issue that's important to your use but I'd suggest that for the same price, the inclusion of the speakers and related gear, takes away from the quality or inclusion of the basic stuff of the keyboard.

ie - there's probably a trade off for less quality or fewer other features in order to have the speakers.

 

[Selmer Player 88]

The Roland Fantom is a VERY solid digital workstation - and has a large selection of patches, and probably the best built in effects processors found in keyboard based workstations. You'll need a keyboard amp or some other monitoring solution as it does not have built in speakers.

Just stay as far away as possible from Korg Tritons. They are horribleeee

 

[hgiles]

I'm curious why people prefer not having onboard speakers.

I guess I can see it for some uses.

But I'm someone who's not really a piano player. I just like to keep my keyboard out where I can use it and occasionally go over to it to go over something while I'm practicing sax. The onboard speakers simplify things. I can move the keyboard wherever I want it. Put it away. Bring it back out again. I don't have to worry about maintaining a separate connection to speakers and amp. I can if I want to, of course, but that's generally too big of a pain in the **** to bother with.

The sound from the onboard speakers of my Casio px-110 is pretty good to my ears.

Right! In the right situation I would recommend onboard speakers. At $800, the best value and most flexible option would be to get a keyboard without on board.

 

[hakukani]

Nothing particularly wrong with onboard speakers if that is an issue that's important to your use but I'd suggest that for the same price, the inclusion of the speakers and related gear, takes away from the quality or inclusion of the basic stuff of the keyboard.

ie - there's probably a trade off for less quality or fewer other features in order to have the speakers.

This is correct. Also the onboard speakers are usually pretty crappy sounding.
It's a good rule of thumb to buy components--you usually have an upgrade path that's more reasonably priced.

 

[hsitz]

Right! In the right situation I would recommend onboard speakers. At $800, the best value and most flexible option would be to get a keyboard without on board.

Certainly on most models having built-in speakers doesn't tie you to using only them; most also have connection for an external amp and speakers. Having built-in speakers makes a keyboard _more_ flexible, not less.

I and several others in the thread have and have recommended the Casio Privia keyboards. Considering a Casio Privia with fully weighted hammer action keys and decent built in speakers can be had for $400 that seems to me like first thing to check out. I'm pretty sure they have demo models of them at a lot of Best Buy and Circuit City stores, so anyone interested can easily take a look at them.

 

[hakukani]

Certainly on most models having built-in speakers doesn't tie you to using only them; most also have connection for an external amp and speakers. Having built-in speakers makes a keyboard _more_ flexible, not less.

I and several others in the thread have and have recommended the Casio Privia keyboards. Considering a Casio Privia with fully weighted hammer action keys and decent built in speakers can be had for $400 that seems to me like first thing to check out. I'm pretty sure they have demo models of them at a lot of Best Buy and Circuit City stores, so anyone interested can easily take a look at them.

Yes, and the outputs on these are usually Phono plugs--not the most reliable output jacks. Also, many times you can't turn the blasted internal speakers OFF!

 

[bluesaxgirl]

Yamaha and Roland both manufacture good, lower line digital pianos (with or without the weighted keys.) So, I put my votes in for both.

 

[Ryan K]

Ok. Thanks for the replies. Any specific vendor you recommend? I was looking into www.music123.com, but I bet there is somewhere better.

 

[harmonizerNJ]

Ryan K, just in case you plan to get a keyboard without built-in speakers, and were thinking of using a guitar amp with it, please note that a guitar amp will not give decent sound for a keyboard: keyboards drive a wider range of frequencies, and while some distortion is acceptable/desirable for the sound of electric guitars, this is not the case with keyboards.

You also might want to go here: http://forums.musicplayer.com/ and then click on "Keyboard Corner". Use the Search function instead of starting a new thread: people who start a new thread asking "what's a good digital piano to buy" without first using the Search function there are treated the same as those who ask here "what's a good sax to buy" with using Search first.