Please recommend me a good digital piano

[Yowe]

Hi all,

I am 30 yr old man, and just began my piano lesson. I need a digital piano to assist me in learning, and practising though I would love to have acoustic piano.

I am quite new to the piano stuff, hence I would like to seek the experts here for suggestions/recommendation on digital piano available on the market.

I am now looking at Yamaha P70 but I wonder if there are other comparable @ a better pricing compared to the former? i.e. Casio privia series? Please kindly advise on the comparison of digital pianos in the market.

Thank you, and looking forward for the informations.

 

[zenguan88]

shouldnt you ask this to a salesman?? :wink:

 

[Yowe]

I am seeking for unbiased suggestion/recommendation from forumer here, instead those sales-talk.

Thank you.

 

[Cheez]

What is your budget?

 

[utano]

p70 is already one of the best quality for it's price
in my opinion the casios are of inferior quality although some may disagree

 

[Coxon]

Hey there,

I agree that the P-70 is the best option. I bought a piano about 2.5 yrs ago when I was starting out too and looked at most of the low range options out there. I will recommend 3 which I considered - Yamaha P60/70, Casio Previa and Korg SP-250 (I think).

I feel that the P-70 (I own a P-60 but they are almost the same) would be great. It gives a realistic touch so that you can train yourself on all the basic techniques with a proper weight to the keys. It will definitely last you a long time. I have yet to feel the need to change to a better piano. The piano sound is superb. The only quip would be the other sounds such as the strings, or electone aren't that good but I assume those aren't part of your consideration.

The Casio series is cheaper but i feel that the keys are not weighted well enough. They feel rather light. My opinion is that the piano sound does not compare well to both Korg and the Yamaha P-70.

The Korg SP-250 is not bad... but i believe its more expensive. The good thing is that its other patches (strings etc) are better, but the trade off is a poorer piano patch compared to Yamaha.

Yup. There you go!

 

[Yowe]

Guys,

Thanks for the information shared so far.

My budget for the Digital Piano is flexible, as long it does justify and serves well to my objective.

Yes, I am a newbie to piano stuff hence I doubt I will be very attentive to those fine details. However, I have expectation on high sound quality as well as the piano keys weight for I did attempted to get by using a creative keyboard; it was terrible!

Yes, P70 is catching my attention now. The only setback is the lack of features compared to casio. In additional, the design looks rather pale as well compared to casio privia series.

I wonder where can I get best bargain for P70? I have gone down to Plaza Singapore Yamaha music store this morning, and the price stands @ 900SGD without the stand. I hope someone here can shed a better idea/light to this discussion, and assist me in making the best and affordable purchase possible.

Thank you.

 

[guitarlover]

If budget is flexible....and sound quality is a concern....

I will not recommend Yamaha P70....try P140...

P70 tone is kind of thinny and it lack dynamics....meaning if you are to turn the Vol to the max...try playing from very soft to very loud....its kind of limited...

Its has the tone of maybe I should say a very short-string acoustic piano...and if u want warmness...it is not there at all....Play the P140 and you wil know what i mean...don't play chords...play single notes to hear the different in tones...

However, P70 at $900.00 is really a good price....but i think it is made in china unlike the P60 which is produced 100% in Japan......

In terms of piano tones... Yamaha and Roland definately takes the lead......

In terms of touch its pretty subjective, but i should say digital piano today has reach its peak....touch is extremely close to the real thing.....all brands has pretty good touch unlike in the early days....so its up to you....

Hope this helps...

By the way...P70 has lots of hidden features....meaning it is all hidden in the keys.....U just have to refer to the manual.....not so user friendly...for example the transpose, you can do a dual too....but no built-in metronome if u need one...

 

[iansoh]

here's your one-stop reference page: http://www.luthermusic.com/cgi-bin/WB_GroupPageGen.pl?t=1176993624&Gid=1030000

it doesn't get any cheaper or more comprehensive than this page.

the lower end casio privia is downright unusable. the only decent one is the PX200 - too expensive.

P70 - $850 with stand and free delivery. no where else is cheaper. but u gotta wait cos stocks are always snapped up and there is a waiting list. otherwise take the P140.

u want frilly gadgets and colourful design like the casio, go the yamaha DGX-620. good sounds, good keyboard feel.

m-audio prokeys 88 - no built-in speakers. acceptable sound, not-so-good keyboard action.

korg SP-250 : widely regarded inferior piano sound. but good if you don't think it's bad. matter of personal opinion/preference.

for yamaha products, go and try at the yamaha showroom, then order from luthermusic for cheaper price. for everything else, i think luther might have them at his showroom at excelsior basement.

 

[guitarlover]

Yeah...

Another good choice as suggested..Yamaha DGX-620....The plus point is that the built-in speakers is so much better than the P70...

 

[Yowe]

Thanks for the suggestion - Yamaha DGX-620.

Though I would love to have great features, but not as complex and sophiscated as DGX-620. DGX gives me a modern, albeit high tech toy to me, whereas I would love to have a "conventional" and "traditional" appearance and useful features.

The reason why I quoted privia series, was because I kinda like the PX700 and PX800 model; whereby it looks cool, and comestically appeal to me. I prefer refined style compared to techie appearance.

P70 does provide the refined allure; but it is seriously lacking in the features I sought after. P140 pricing does not justify its feature - as there is at least a wholesome 1kSGD difference.

Btw, 850SGD with delivery? Is it really comes with delivery service free as well? Also, 850SGD versus 990SGD - the difference in stand; whats your guys take on the X-stand compared to the original stand?

Thank you.

 

[guitarlover]

X stand u can adjust......standing/sitting...and i guess its cheaper too....get a double brace one....more stable

original stand.....definitely more stable......can bang and whack and the piano does not move...haha...but fixed height and it makes the portable P70 not so portable....

depends on what u what.......

 

[guitarlover]

Perhaps u wanna be specific....like what features are u looking for....that in lacking in the P70...


"P140 pricing does not justify its feature - as there is at least a wholesome 1kSGD difference."

I do agree, not much useful features....actually it is the sound module that u r paying for.....world of difference in terms of tone quality...richness and dynamics


But for practise P70 is quite ok but in a band context, it may sound thinny....

 

[Yowe]

The features I am looking @ :

1. left [clef] or right [treble clef] muted enable - to assist me to practice on one hand etc.

2. The selection of storing the songs via usb/sdram etc

3. The ability to connect to external speakers, since the 6Watts speaker is quite disappointing.


Stand - I find the original stand will makes me happier, since it will give a complete look instead the BBQ alike X-stand. Having said that, I seek to get genuine sincere comments/opinions from all of you here since you guys are into this field longer than me.

Delivery - is the offer 850SGD inclusive of delivery service?

Warranty - any idea whats the warranty period for P70?

Thank you.

 

[guitarlover]

Features no.1 i think its unique to Casio...one of the gimmicks i think they use to sell their keys...

F2...you can always get a MIDI -USB interface....to link to computer...but kind of troublesome......a little outdated not to have a USB....

Depends on your laptop...some have analogue-in which allows you to save data digitally on a software

F3.There is no line out but the headphone out does allow for external speakers connectionif u do get the right cable....

Hopes that helps...haha


Standard gurantee for musical instruments.....mostly 12 months...and carry-in

 

[robsg]

You can also go down to citymusic to try out the kurzweil SP88.
Have been gigging with it for a long time and very few complaints

Regards
Robin

 

[iansoh]

the key touch in the P140 is superior to that in the P70.

to the discerning/heavy user, the P70 won't take a beating. just play on the display sets at yamaha showroom and you'll know what I mean. if you don't, then the P70 is good enough for you.

the P140 comes with a lot more sounds, effects, metronome etc. If anything to justify the extra cost, I would say the touch is noticeably better.

left hand/right hand mute: i've never heard of such a function or heard of anyone looking for such a function. the cheapest solution, FOC, is simply not to play that one hand.

keyboard stand is a small issue if u're not a heavy player. but since u're a beginner, you won't be breaking stands with heavy-playing so no issue there.

6W per speaker sounds disappointing on paper, but it'll be fine in a bedroom/living room setting. for that matter, almost any digital piano with built-in speakers will be similarly spec-ed. If you want serious volume, invest in a pair of speakers as well. for yamaha digital pianos the built-in speakers are there to provide the chasis vibration/resonance that u would get when playing a real acoustic piano. it completes the playing experience. go try the CP300 and you'll know what Yamaha is trying to get at when they design built-in speakers.

can't comment on casio pianos cos i don't think much of them in the first place.

 

[Yowe]

It seems casio, privia series is pretty-alien and not appealing to the majority here.

I am thankful for all informative suggestion/views.

Hence, I will re-address the question; Is P70 a worthy purchase to my requirement and expectation?

Thanks and sorry for repeatedly re-addressing the above question/statement.

 

[Cheez]

Don't even consider casio privia is touch is important to you.

In the end, you just need to try them out yourself. You'll find that none of the Yamah's sound will be excellent. They are good enough, but always a problem at the higher registers.

If money is no problem, Roland's new digital piano FP-7 is amazingly well-thought of.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=856&ParentId=87

Roland has always been at the cutting edge of thinking how the end-user uses the keyboard and how ergonomic it should be. Their second generation keys are excellent, and as others pointed out, subjective (I still prefer Yamaha high-end keys). But Yamaha sound can never beat Roland esp acoustic sounds (including piano). What's interesting is their audio key feature (check out their video). Somebody finally solved the problem of live performance enabling one to switch between different parts of a song (in wav format) using key-swtiching. Brilliantly thought through (and kudos to Roland for that). My only gripes is that it has no wheels and lack basic controllers. But for a pure digital piano, it excels in every other area. If they put in 2 wheels and at least one fader that's programmable, it beats Yamaha CP300 except for speakers power.

So...the Yamaha P series is what you should go for. If you consider Roland, forget about the older FP-5 and FP-2 - they are nowhere close to the P series. The newer FP's are a different breed altogether (FP-4 and FP-7). If build-in speakers is not a consideration, consider Roland RD series.

 

[SilverBeast]

Hi yowe, it seems like you have made your choice but just need some assurance. Somehow, that seems to be the feeling when getting a 1st gear.

Anyway, go for what you have chosen and do it only when you have laid your hands on it, hear it yourself (try with headphones which I believe the salesman can provide) and most importantly, LIKE IT! On the other hand, since you mentioned that you are having lessons, what are you using in class now?...And what is your teacher using or what does he/she recommend?

Happy playing!