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.
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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
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.
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.