Digital pianos

[brimley]

So my moving situation in the fall will finally require me to switch to a digital piano due to space limitations and headphone requirements. Since there are a fair share of musicians on the board, does anyone out there have good experience with digitals?

Two years ago, research had led me to believe that the Yamaha P90 might meet my needs. Any owners or comments? It appears that there is now a CP33 model that is a replacement for the P90.

Things that are extremely important to me:

Touch and key weighting
Piano sample
dynamic range
88 keys, 3 pedal capability (willing to use peripherals), massive polyphony



Things that are less important to me:

cost (not much above $1000 if I can help it)
electric piano sample, possibly decent organ or strings
weight and ergonomics (it's not a gig board)
onboard speakers (will use headphones or plug into my receiver)
recording, midi, etc (might be fun to play with eventually, but not terribly concerned)

Things that are unimportant to me:

duck quacks, cheesy samba beats, any kind of veneer



Thanks in advance.

 

[mizanation]

i am also interested, but my price range is under $500. maybe someone could suggest one for both price ranges? under $500 and around $1000?

i have the exact same requirements as the original poster.

 

[dtmt]

My favorite is the Kawai models with real wooden keys: http://www.kawaius.com/main_links/di...al_actions.htm I don't know how much they run as I'm not in the market for one right now. Maybe you could check ebay or other places with used equipment.

 

[sho'nuff]

i have the Kawai ES4 i purchased last october and i am pretty satisfied with it.
it does have MIDI ability, 88 keys, a damper pedal, supposed to have a 128 polyphony? not sure but in some instances when i play i think that is false,
and a whole variety of other functions and stuff on a very simple looking black finished keyboard.
weighted keys yes and the sound quality is very true compared to others i have tried out.
you may need an amplifier if you want to perform in a big room, the internal speakers are not that excellent but good enough for home practice and play.

but compared to an acoustic, i simply have a very hard time practicing on a digital and then trying to perform on an acoustic for my lessons, there is no substitute for a real piano imo.

 

[GQgeek]

Not sure about your particular model. I have a Yamaha that was likely their best model when we bought it (think it was 5-6k in the early 90s). It's got weighted keys, enough polyphony to do the job, etc. I'm sure you can get the same for cheaper now.

I've just started playing again, but like you, I also have space considerations, so it does a fine job. When I eventually get back to where I was when I quit, I'll probably look at buying a real piano, but that's a couple years off so it's not a huge priority.

The keys on the yamaha feel the same as on our real piano (also a Yamaha), which is the most important thing to me. Whether or not it'll be easy to adjust to other pianos depends on what other pianos you play on. Steinway's have more resistance than Yamahas. As a child, when I was playing a lot, I always prefered the Yamahas and doing recitals on Steinways never felt quite natural because of the difference in the keys.

 

[Connemara]

Kinda off topic, but this thread made me think of what may be the greatest instrument of the 20th century.

The Hammond B-3 organ.