any recomendations for a digital piano

VimFuego

pretty sure this has been asked before, so apologies if it has been asked, but mrs f fancies learning the old Johanna and would like any recs for a good one. Budget is flexible, but say max £1500-£2000, but ideally less.

strumjoughlamps

sure you want to go this route? I only ask because I regularly go to my local place as I always feel I want a full on digital piano but always leave disappointed as the sound cannot match my current set up of a m-audio midi keyboard set up to laptop and sound passed through my drum monitor.

you have a great budget so if you are set on one then you'll have no problems getting something kickass... but if you currently have a computer or even an ipad and something to output the sound, not a standard guitar amp as they don't have the range, my drum monitor works great as does my Roland Street Cube... then you might be better spending £100 odd on a midi keyboard and go from there.

sweepy

Yamaha with the Clavinova range are pretty much spot on .

boogieman

We went through this when Mrs B decided she wanted to play again. The standard answer is Yamaha. They do a huge range, going from tabletop style up to full blown baby grands, although you're talking getting on for £10k for one of those. You'll get a very good one for sub £2k, including upright style models if that tickles yer fancy. Yamaha tones are universally good and the key weighting is excellent. Roland seem to get good reviews too, but I'm not up on their styles or pricing.

Bron_Yr_Aur

strumjoughlamps said:

sure you want to go this route? I only ask because I regularly go to my local place as I always feel I want a full on digital piano but always leave disappointed as the sound cannot match my current set up of a m-audio midi keyboard set up to laptop and sound passed through my drum monitor.

you have a great budget so if you are set on one then you'll have no problems getting something kickass... but if you currently have a computer or even an ipad and something to output the sound, not a standard guitar amp as they don't have the range, my drum monitor works great as does my Roland Street Cube... then you might be better spending £100 odd on a midi keyboard and go from there.

While this is true, unless you spend quite a lot on a midi controller, it won't 'feel' right as the keys won't be hammer action. Plus it's more hassle to set up...

boogieman said:

We went through this when Mrs B decided she wanted to play again. The standard answer is Yamaha. They do a huge range, going from tabletop style up to full blown baby grands, although you're talking getting on for £10k for one of those. You'll get a very good one for sub £2k, including upright style models if that tickles yer fancy. Yamaha tones are universally good and the key weighting is excellent. Roland seem to get good reviews too, but I'm not up on their styles or pricing.

Wisdom here. I'd go for a second hand upright Yam or Roland. Nice action, nice tone, no hassle, and don't take up too much space.

Fretwired

Roland has the edge at the moment .. the Roland HP504 Digital Piano is £1,299.

strumjoughlamps

yeah just like guitars you need to check them out, I am with boogieman re Yamaha and weighting, it feels a lot better to me when playing compared to Roland, its worth having a look at Kawai too I really like those, more so than Roland, not too keen on Casio at all.

ICBM

Even the Yamaha base-model P35 I got for my daughter is excellent and is only around £350 new, although that's not including a stand. Supposedly they all have the same keyboard, it's just the quality of the samples and the other electronic features that separates the various models.

VimFuego

thanks all. Strum, think mrs f wants a proper piano as opposed to a synth, mostly for the pleasure of playing and making piano music as opposed to using it as a music making tool (if that makes sense).

We did think of an upright, but currently have no where for it (ironically enough in a largish house) as the main downstairs room is full up loaded with books and other stock items. Getting it upstairs would be a no no, as the house is old and, erm, quirkily designed and it's a struggle getting my acoustic up and down the stairs.

strumjoughlamps

ICBM said:

Supposedly they all have the same keyboard,

not quite, go up in budget and you will be getting wooden keys that provide a more authentic feel

Phil_aka_Pip

I think you should re-organise your downstairs and get an upright. They can be had relatively cheaply because not a lot of people want them. However they do behave like real musical instruments whereas for the digital version you need to spend a lot of money to get one that feels like a real instrument.

Fretwired

Phil_aka_Pip said:

I think you should re-organise your downstairs and get an upright. They can be had relatively cheaply because not a lot of people want them. However they do behave like real musical instruments whereas for the digital version you need to spend a lot of money to get one that feels like a real instrument.

My Roland was pretty cheap and sounds OK [not as good as the pro versions] and it doesn't go out of tune - it can also emulate an upright and a grand piano and can be connected to a computer to drive MIDI synths. When my son was learning it was handy being able to get him using a set of headphones ... ;-)

The real deal is nice if you have the space, understanding neighbours and if you're proficient.

VimFuego

another consideration is our house is 400 years old and made of cob, so would want to avoid any undue vibrations of we could. Even my little bass amp can make the room shake a bit too much and I worry about the whole thing crumbling to dust.

Bron_Yr_Aur

VimFuego said:

 our house is 400 years old and made of cob,

Awesome! What's it like to live in?

VimFuego

bloody awkward!! It's built into a hillside and is on about 4 levels with narrow stairs and tight corners. Though to be fair, all the previous owners have done a good job of making the outside look like a modern barrett house (which we are slowly correcting). But the walls are 4 foot thick, so it's always cool in summer and even in the coldest of winters we don't need any more than a log burner to warm the main living part of the house, and it still feels warm when you come down the next morning.

Bron_Yr_Aur

VimFuego said:

bloody awkward!! It's built into a hillside and is on about 4 levels with narrow stairs and tight corners. Though to be fair, all the previous owners have done a good job of making the outside look like a modern barrett house (which we are slowly correcting). But the walls are 4 foot thick, so it's always cool in summer and even in the coldest of winters we don't need any more than a log burner to warm the main living part of the house, and it still feels warm when you come down the next morning.

Superb. Consider me jealous!

VimFuego

the other thing is we have two bath/shower rooms, both built in single story lean to type extensions, but for some reason they placed the sinks at the low point of the ceiling, so there is no more than 6 foot of head room, which is a bit of a problem when you're 6'5". I haven't had a standing up straight shave in nearly four years now.

Fuzzdog

Definitely Yamaha - they may not always have the best sounds (although they're pretty damn good) but the feel of the keyboard is absolutely spot on and leagues ahead of the other main manufacturers.

You can always improve the sounds later via MIDI if you really want to, but you can't fix the feel if it's not there.

monquixote

I don't know very much about keyboards, but I do agree that Yamaha always produce keys with a lovely feel and a few keys playing friends have said the same thing.

VimFuego

coolio, thx chaps.

Fretwired

VimFuego said:

bloody awkward!! It's built into a hillside and is on about 4 levels with narrow stairs and tight corners. Though to be fair, all the previous owners have done a good job of making the outside look like a modern barrett house (which we are slowly correcting). But the walls are 4 foot thick, so it's always cool in summer and even in the coldest of winters we don't need any more than a log burner to warm the main living part of the house, and it still feels warm when you come down the next morning.

Sounds lovely Vim .... any piccies you'd like to share?