Digital Piano's - any experts ?

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stevewestern

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Just wondering if anyone here knows anything about such things..?
My wife wants one, and a quick play at our local shop has shown that there is a big difference in the feel of the keys and the sound they make. We tried out a £600 Casio and a £900 Roland (RP401R).
Before we commit to what is a big outlay (hey, it is the cost of the lens I want..) I wonder if anyone can offer any advice or suggest any alternatives ?

Many thanks !
 
I was looking into them myself not so long ago. I think if you choose Yamaha, Roland, Casio and Korg at a specific price bracket they will be very similar in spec much like Cameras. Gear4music own brand have a good reputation for a budget model under £500, don't know about resale value though.
 
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Did you end up buying one Robert ?
I do not play an instrument, but the difference between the two we tried was amazing - the Roland just felt 'right' compared to the cheaper Casio, and going by the smiles on my wife's face (a rare sight these days) she has made her mind up between these ones !
Looks like no new lens for me this Christmas then..
 
No never did. You get what you pay for though and if the Mrs is happy I think you have your answer. Might be work testing a Yamaha though some say it has a better grand piano type sound. Roland v Yamaha is like Nikon v canon. I really like Yamaha as a brand though from amps to guitars or bikes to headphones I've never been disappointed.
 
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A happy Mrs is not something I am used to.
Thanks for your help Robert - I'll go back and talk to the guy at our local shop and run through things with him, but feel he will point us towards the Roland (he stocks Yamaha and a few others) and he has already mentioned some sort of discount, so the new lens may still be a possible...!
 
You very much get what you pay for, and £900 isn't much for a digital piano, especially if you want weighted keys. I've helped source a couple of the things over the last 25 years, and Yamaha Clavinovas seem to have had better longevity than slightly less expensive Rolands. OTOH if it's static rather than being gigged every week then longevity may not be an issue. Last one I helped source was was a Roland (true digital piano, rather than stage keyboard) for my mother, and and that was about £2.5K around 4 years ago - felt better to the player than equivalent Wurlitzer and Yamaha models.
 
I bought a second hand Yamaha for my wife's birthday as she wanted to get back into playing the piano. If it's been treated with care and the key weight feels fine then it's fine. That was 6 years ago and it's still going strong. Luckily it hasn't needed tuning once. ;)
 
strumstrum said:
While you are out and about see if you can test a Kawai CN35, it should defo go on your considerations list, beautiful hammer action punches way above its price tag.
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Just had a guest night at our folk club and the lady was using a Kawai. Everyone said how natural and realistic it sounded.
 
I've not heard of Kawai before - not sure if our local place (which is still 27 miles away) stocks them, but will try to find a place that does..
 
I bought a Yamaha for my daughter from this place about 18 months ago. I'm not suggesting you buy from them but I found they were a great source of information especially the "piano bible" guide but there is plenty of other information on the site. (there are some follow up emails if you register for the guide so use a throwaway email address if this bothers you).

In our case my daughter wanted to learn the piano from scratch so we wanted something that sounded reasonable, looked reasonable and apparently the "feel" is sufficient for up to Grade 6 level and the Yamaha YDP-162 fitted the bill (and budget).

Edit: - this specific page might help with the brand question - good luck!

http://www.ukpianos.co.uk/digital-pianos-which-brand-should-i-buy
 
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If you have space why not just buy an upright ? I'd love to have space for a real piano ,they are just more alive than digital ones . The closest thing I came across was the Yamaha clavinova when I was at music collage . The sampling was so good you could hear the partials across the notes .
 
Bought my wife a Yamaha YDP142 which can be had for around £500, weighted keys, nice sound.
 
We have a Roland digital and a Kawai upright FWIW
 
BigJohn said:
If you have space why not just buy an upright ? I'd love to have space for a real piano ,they are just more alive than digital ones . The closest thing I came across was the Yamaha clavinova when I was at music collage . The sampling was so good you could hear the partials across the notes .
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One of the big appeals of a digital is that one can use headphones - the piano has to go in the hall, so will be heard throughout the house - not good with 2 kids who need to do homework and me, who likes to listen to his own choice of music...

admirable said:
We have a Roland digital and a Kawai upright FWIW
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If they are in the lower end of their ranges can you give me any thoughts as to how they compare and which ones you have Jim ?
 
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