No Perfect Portable Piano?

[Billy McEvoy]

I give up. I've been playing pianos on gigs from the days when I taped a microphone into an upright right through Wurlitzer, through Farfisa, through the Yamaha "portable" grand (with harp section), and Korg. They all sucked, each in its own fashion. Then I played a Kawai CP187 Digital Grand that the enlightened owners of a piano bar bought and I was knocked out. REAL piano action, great instrumental effects, accompaniment features (rhythms/styles) AND vocals with a HARMONIZER. I tried to interest Kawai in building a portable with those features but they didn't take the bait (perhaps marketing was apprehensive that a portable might cannibalize the grand pianos maybe...but dunno). Anyway, I've been tempted to buy an old/damaged model and cut it down to size, eliminating the speakers and most of the cabinet and turning it into a portable (maybe 75 lbs.), but that seems costly and impractical. Does anyone know of a portable digital piano with weighted action that also offers TRUE-TO-LIFE accompaniment. I had a Korg but it played like a tank and the accompaniment sounded like Robbie the Robot. Let me hear from you. Thanks.

[Diametro]

No help with a portable model ... but to bolster your opinion of Kawai, a published and performed composer I know in the art music style, recently bought a Kawai digital piano (don't know what model) that he's very happy with ...

[The Pro]

I like Kawai digitals too - I have an ES4 that I use on stage a lot.

 

For an accompaniment and vocal harmonizer unit you might look into the Ketron MidJay, which could be used with any digital piano.