Damn digital pianos!

I've been looking for a digital piano to learn on that sounds/feels like an acoustic piano. The one thing I've learnt is that nobody makes these. All the manufacturers seem to think that 128 voices done poorly warrants $2000. How about 1 voice done well? Ever think of that?

What I need is a simple stage digital piano, with a nice grand piano-like sound/feel, the three pedals that grand pianos have, and a line out. No speakers, no organ or strings, no LCDs, no song-recording, preset rhthyms or any of that crap. The only button that should be there is one that turns the thing on and off!

For f*%^ sake!

I agree, damn them all and get a baby grand.

There's a digital piano out there that feels like a real piano? That's news to me!

Dude, lighten up. You're trying to find one instrument that sounds and feels exactly like another. It doesn't happen. You don't go out looking for a trombone that plays and sounds like a violin, do you?

Accept that whatever you get will feel crap and sound digital, and find something that feels less crap and sounds not as digital.

Also, realise that the vast majority of stage piano manufacturers spend a lot more effort on the main piano voice than they do on the strings or EPs, so ignore the POS choir voices and concentrate on the main piano. You might as well never touch the other voices.

Yamaha is said to make a nice action, although I much prefer the one I recently played on the Korg SP-250. ymmv.

In the interest of counterpoint, "Damn acoustic pianos".

Can't anyone build a sub-$50k piano that doesn't sound like tinny, screechy, nails on the chalkboard? And I'm dead serious, my Motif pianos sound incredible compared to hundreds of pianos I've played. Especially uprights - those things should all be rounded up and broken down for kindling.

This is a little like comparing electric and acoustic guitars - both have their unique advantages and neither really sounds or feels quite like the other. I don't know if that will ever change. I play piano for a living, and when a fine grand piano is available I'm thrilled, but when it isn't I take my digital piano and make due.

If you want the best sound you can get in digital pianos, get a Yamaha or a Kurzweil. Although Roland makes some nice ones, my experience tells me Yam and Kurz make the best. Stay away from Korg when it comes to acoustic piano sound (except the Oasys).

Try one of the Yamaha P series (120 or 250) or one of Kurzweil's offerings at a local music store. Always remember that the sound system these things are pumped thru makes all the difference. Sometimes you can't really tell how good it'll sound until you get it off the crappy store monitors and hook it up to your own amp/speakers.

I disagree. Electric guitars don't try and sound like accoustic guitars. They aren't emulating the elements of accoustic guitars so that a guitarist can 'make due' with them when an accoustic isn't available, they're a different sounding instrument used for different purposes. An ideal digital piano will sound exactly like a piano (not going to happen, mind you). An ideal electric guitar will hardly sound like an accoustic.

I would argue that accoustic to electric guitar is more like piano to Rhodes (or clav, wurly, whichever electric piano), not piano to digital piano.

Anyway, to G-tarist, you've probably played the Yamaha and Roland offerings, and maybe the Kurzweil PC2X, but also see if you can find a Kawai MP4/MP8 or GEM Promega to play. You might prefer them.

Excellent point. Everyone should read this again and accept it as reality.

My 'crappy digital' has never been tuned, never had a re-felt, or any maintenance of any kind. And it still sounds as 'crappy' as the day I bought it.

And by crappy, I mean way better than any real piano I could afford or any piano I've played in the last 5 years, not counting the Kawai baby-grand at church.

This says otherwise.

Well things like Motif cost 2000$ have piano sound that no casual listener can tell the difference from real AND has many different sounds that are used more anyway in composing(in genral) + drums + you can acually manipulate the sound pretty much.... that and is easy to use live and fun to toy around. this is a ultimate tool to get ideas and compose music. + if you are a keyboardist in non- classical or non-jazz (let's just say rock) who is going to use Piano sound all the time =?

Flygel costs 10 000 $ and you have great piano sound (and half of your house holds space will be gone as an extra) and there are no other sounds than piano... needles to say if you want to bring this beast to a gig.....

So this is why many people will take the MOTIF over a standard piano/flygel. - it isn't only for the piano sound-

I don't think I've ever seen anyone use one of those. Most guitar players will own an accoustic. The thing is, for most players, electric guitar is its own instrument. What person who wants to play accoustic guitar would choose electric plus this modeller over just playing an accoustic guitar? Sure, for a couple of tunes this may make more sense for some than taking a second instrument, but that's not the typical sound purpose of an electric guitar. With pianos on the other hand, people who would rather play accoustic will play digital because a real piano is obviously not portable.

I think you missed the point of my post. Anyway, looking at the original thread post, G-tarist clearly wants just an accoustic sound. In this case, a digital piano is only imitating the accoustic. You're talking about using the Motif (not really a digital piano) for multiple sounds which is a seperate (and completely valid) topic.

How about a Bosendorfer? It will sure feel real anyway...

http://www.boesendorfer.com/robbie/index.html

Notice that I said sounds like a grand piano - if I meant exactly like I would have said exactly like. I'm looking for something ballpark that doesn't sound like ass.

What models have you tried that sound like ass - pls. be specific.

There are several decent models out there:

Roland RD700SX or RD300SX

Yamaha S90ES

Yamaha P200, P120, P90 (only available used now)

Yamaha CP300

Kawai MP4

...but they are not cheap, indeed.

The Casio Privia line, like the Privia PX-310, runs about 6 bills brand new and is said to be decent.

Run it thru a Marshall stack.

Man, you bring a tear to my eye. Never thought anyone here agreed with this idea. Not sure if its my Motif, the Monitors I run or what, but the piano sound I get is really incredible.

It is my feeling that how you listen to what's coming out of the machine makes a big difference. If you're casually listening to a recording of a piano, you have a much more difficult time telling what kind of sources was used (real or digital, what brand, etc.).

On the other hand, it is a completely different expereince to sit down and play a piano with a soundboard that is a couple of feet long and strings spaced across your entire sound field, sending vibrations into the room which adds it's own complexities. It physically feels different to your body.

So that's another piece of the question: is the OP listening through a marshal stack, or a couple of 3" speakers set in the sides of the piano, or a 12000W subwoofered line array, or some earbuds, or some grados, or a 12$ home stereo, or some nice genelecs, or what?

THANK YOU! :thu:

Erm............. cute.

And funny.

But a bad suggestion unless you want your digital piano sound all colored and distorted like you would with an electric guitar. (i dunno, perhaps you do.)

IDEALLY you want the cleaest, flattest, and STRONGEST signal you can get for digital pianos & synths. Recommended is: transistor (not tube) based amp, at least 250W per channel (or 500W mono) with decent PA speakers with the horn & woofer set.

On the other hand, Marshall stacks do wonders for analog synths (i.e. Van Halen OBX/Jump).

I was in the same boat as you for a while. A piano player trying to find a keyboard to use for piano. I ended up getting the Yamaha s90ES to use as a stage keyboard. The piano is good, not perfect, but solid. The Roland imperial grand sounds good, but its inconsistant in tamper depending on how loud you play it, and its middle ground volume is awful. The S90ES also has some cool sounds elsewhere, and obviously you have a synth that you can doodle around with and manipulate. It also has a keyboard called Soft Case which emulates the Rhodes decently.

The only downside the S90ES has compared to the nicer Roland keyboards, is they have progressive action and it does not. This is the one thing that does bug me. What I tend to do is mess with the volumes for the low, mid low, mid high and high sections of the piano to try and make the output a little more like it'd be on a real piano.

I have been looking too ,,,I think the roland SX300 will do what i want. I dont need alot of bells and whistles. They play well. They are so much better than the keyboards i grew up on. I have a acoustic upright ... but i dont see me moving it to texas. rat

I dunno..., I really like the piano sounds on my kurz. Your mileage may vary.

Sound is a relative term. None of them are perfect. If a person worries about the best sound they will either have no keyboards or a room full. compared to the rhodes and the vox ,, all the new stuff is heaven . rat

rhat -

I'm guessing you mean the "Roland RD300SX"