Midi keyboard or digital piano?

DefaultM

I would really like to learn to play piano. I can't afford to buy a proper one new, and I don't want the hassle of finding a used upright and getting it moved/hoping it can be tuned so that leaves me looking at digital pianos or midi keyboards.

I want it to be 88 keys and they need to have a good action/weighted keys like a piano, so I was looking at the Yamaha P45 or the Yamaha DGX 660.

However, I also want something that I can hook up to my laptop and play my VSTs with. You can do that with the above digital pianos, but are there any midi keyboards with proper weighed keys? If there was I wouldn't have to get something as in depth as the dgx because I wouldn't need all those sounds.

My priority is getting something that plays as close to a real piano as possible on a max budget of £700. Preferably less, hence seeing if there's an alternative to the Yamahas that are chePer because they don't have any of the sounds in.

horse

My advice would be to get something with onboard sounds rather than a midi controller only, as you'll be more likely to play if you don't need to hook it up to your laptop and wait for it to start up / load vsts etc. Don't rule out the casios either - I'd go and play a selection of makes and models and see which you think feels and sounds more like a real piano to you

thecolourbox

horse said:

My advice would be to get something with onboard sounds rather than a midi controller only, as you'll be more likely to play if you don't need to hook it up to your laptop and wait for it to start up / load vsts etc. Don't rule out the casios either - I'd go and play a selection of makes and models and see which you think feels and sounds more like a real piano to you

I guess it's not that easy to see what works for you if you can't already play though!

DefaultM

Yeah good idea. I got the Roland FP30 with the stand and pedals. Just putting it together at the minute. I'm not sure if it has the best built in sounds, but apparently has one of the best feels and hopefully I can hook it up to my laptop and get better sounds through that anyway.

horse

thecolourbox said:

horse said:

My advice would be to get something with onboard sounds rather than a midi controller only, as you'll be more likely to play if you don't need to hook it up to your laptop and wait for it to start up / load vsts etc. Don't rule out the casios either - I'd go and play a selection of makes and models and see which you think feels and sounds more like a real piano to you

I guess it's not that easy to see what works for you if you can't already play though!

Maybe, but I was more meaning that everyone will have a different idea in their head about what a 'real piano sounds like', and the tones available and feel of the keyboards will vary quite a bit, particularly between manufacturers

mellowsun

Funnily enough I have been looking for something similar. The best I have found is the Roland A-88 but it is pretty heavy.

Probably the Yamaha P-115 is the next best and it is quite a bit lighter.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-P115-Digital-Piano-Black/dp/B00UNEECDY

Iamnobody

DefaultM said:

Yeah good idea. I got the Roland FP30 with the stand and pedals. Just putting it together at the minute. I'm not sure if it has the best built in sounds, but apparently has one of the best feels and hopefully I can hook it up to my laptop and get better sounds through that anyway.

The two shops I visited recently both recommended that model to me for my daughter to learn on. As it's going to be a permanent fixture in our front room though we've decided to go for the next one up as it has a key cover and looks a bit more like a piece of furniture.

I believe the actual keys and sounds are the same between the two models.

Ours will be a family piano so I'm hoping to pick a bit up myself.

DefaultM

Played it for a bit earlier and I t's everything I wanted as far as I can tell. I hooked it up to my laptop and it works perfectly, but I can only get sound from that through my laptop speakers or my headphones so il need to have a think about speakers now. Typical.

dern

I can see you've got something now but I have recently bought a Yamaha P45 for piano and an M-Audio Keystation 88. £380 for the piano, £150 for the midi controller. I have them both connected to pro logic x and tend to use the piano sounds from that rather than the built in sounds from the Yamaha. Very pleased with them both.

crunchman

As mentioned above, the Roland FP30 is good - I did a bit of research when I bought one for my daughter to learn on. Andertons have a demo room full of keyboards if you can get there.  I compared it with the P45 and the FP30 sounds better and definitely has a better feel.  Things like the ivory feel to the keys rather than the cheap plastic feel of the P45 do make a difference.

The keys and sounds are the same as some of the more expensive instruments in the series.  Where they cut the corners is on the user interface.  All the controls are push button so there is no slider for the volume for instance - it's buttons that you have to press several times like on a TV remote.  To select different sounds within a bank you have to hold a button and press a key on the keyboard.  For practising at home, or using as a MIDI controller for recording these things won't really matter - it's the feel of the keys and the sounds that are important.  For live use, you would want something with a more developed interface.

I actually played for an event with a guy who teaches piano for a living, who used to recommend the P45 to his students.  We did a couple of practices at our place.  He phoned me up afterwards to get the model number of the FP30 to recommend it to a student.