I need help deciding on a digital piano or keyboard.

Hi everybody,

I'm looking into getting a digital piano or for my home studio, and I was wondering if any of you guys could chime in. Since it will inevitably be asked, I'm going to put up a hypothetical price cap of $2k, but please take that with a grain of salt. If there's a dream machine to be had for $2300, that's fine. If there's a great buy for $1000, that's even better.

I see that Costco has some selection and they have free delivery, so if anybody has a rave about any these of I'd love to hear it. I've played the Casio AP-45 and liked it a lot, but I have really no basis for comparison. The Suzuki ST-7 looks beautiful but I've seen some reviews really bashing it's sonic qualities.

I'm aware of this thread but I figured that I'd restart the discussion because my price range is a bit wider. Any thoughts?

On a separate note, I'm also curious what in particular distinguishes a "digital piano" from a "digital keyboard," aside from the obvious factor that most of the digital pianos seem to attempt to mimic the look of an upright piano. I know that Musician's Friend has some in the "digital piano" category that look (and perhaps feel?) more like electric keyboards.

You want a Yamaha CP300.

Really.

Yeah? Can you elaborate a bit?

your choices are all over the place-likely due to reading this forum

you have to figure out where you are at, musically

Then where you want to go

Keep in mind, not many are psychic here

Yeah, I just don't know where to begin. I have a home studio and play music every day after work until I go to sleep. It's just what I do. I want something that will sound good recorded and that feels authentic. I could be persuaded to spend $500, or save for months for $5,000. I just don't know what makes sense for me to invest in because as you say the prices are all over the place, and I don't have enough technical knowledge to differentiate between the cheap ones and the expensive ones.

all the products and approaches are confusing, for sure

are you a piano man ? is composing your thing ?

what artists do you really like ?

you have to narrow it down. Suzuki is sort of budget, BTW

I definitely don't consider myself to be a piano man. I'm a singer/songwriter whose primary instrument always has been and always will be guitar. But I use a keyboard all the time to create backing tracks (I'm really big into real-time looping) and melodies. Unfortunately the one I've got now is cheap, electric-sounding and touch insensitive, so my options on it are severely limited. I'd like to move to something that has a much more realistic feel to it. Additionally I'll be taking piano lessons again soon, so I'd like something that is fun to practice on for long periods of time. So I guess the short answer is no, I'm not a piano man, but I'm becoming more and more of one

As far as artists I like, well, most of them don't use keyboards at great length, but I'm a huge Jon Brion fan, and I have a particular love for his score to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I guess you could say that my favorite "style" is along those lines--piano-based music that has a cinematic feel to it.

edit: sorry, double

ok, so a pro quality weighed 88 digital stage piano isn't where you are going

And you are not banging out scales, exercises on the keys

are you 16, 18 ?

That Yamaha for $879 is definitely decent. Its not for me due to what I am used to. But it might be a good way to grow your style

a definite step up is the Rd300sx( I have the big brother 700sx)

http://www.roland.com/products/en/RD-300SX/index.html

This will cover you a for a few years. Don't be concerned over Rolands

latest and greatest at this time.

Above assumes you can handle 88 keys

What do you mean I'm not "banging out scales, exercises on the keys?" Of course I'll be playing scales and doing exercises on the keys. As far as the age, I'm 22, though I like to think that has little to do with the appropriate piano choice. And what in the world do you mean by me not being "able to handle 88 keys"?

For one you have to get it in a vehicle that will hall it. My 88 in its case ,, just fits in the back of a two door blazer with the back seats down. rat

Also, do you have room for an 88 key keyboard in your room/studio?

If you're doing piano lessons/exercises, you should probably get something with weighted keys. Most 88 key 'boards fit this criteria.

As for whether to go the digital piano or synth route, depends on budget and what kinds of sounds you want to get out of it. Digital pianos have a piano sound (of course), and usually a handful of other sounds, such as electric pianos, flute, organs, etc. Keyboards usually have a lot more preset sounds, synthesizers let you edit/create new sounds, and workstations include features such as sequencing and sampling built-in.

If it's a digital piano you want (as opposed to a synth workstation with a good piano sound) - my first choice would be the Yamaha CP300 with the Roland RD700SX a not that distant second. (I haven't seen the just released RD700GX ... so this is a slightly dated opinion).

To my fingers - the CP300 has the best feel of anything that I've played. The piano sounds are right up there in terms of quality as well. I find the RD700SX to be a little mushier in the feel and alot darker in terms of tone. I find the Yamaha's slightly brighter tone sits a little sweeter in the mix than that of the Roland. There's also something about the sustain/decay of the Yamaha's piano that sounds/feels a hair more natural to my ears.

While the CP300's piano is tops - I give the RD700SX a slight edge in the "other" sounds (e-pianos, clavs, strings, horns, organs, pads, etc.) department. The difference isn't huge - and both are extremely useable.

The CP300's recording capability is convenient and easy to use if "looping" is your thing. They're both excellent MIDI controllers - although I will say that I found the Yamaha's learning curve a little easier in this department (I've had other Yamaha products so take that comment with a grain of salt).

Lastly, I'll say that I found the Roland RD700SX very dependent on how it's amplified. When I first bought mine and tried playing it through a mono keyboard amp - I thought the darn thing was broken. The rest of the voices sounded OK...but the flagship piano sounds were horrible. I happened to help out on a buddy's recording and was floored by the sounds the engineer got out of it the moment I heard it in stereo. In contrast, while the Yamaha certainly sounds better in stereo - running it in mono produces an acceptable sound whereas flagship RD700SX patches played in mono simply make me shudder.

Thanks for all the info, SpaceNorman. Does anybody have any thoughts about how this compares to the CP 300 or what the differences are between the Roland 700 and the 700SX? Would this be a good grab?

One last bump... anybody familiar with those models that are for sale? Would you recommend them for those prices?

Thoughts on the CLP-550?