Digital Piano for a beginner
Josh Chen
Hi,
I have been dreaming to learn piano for the last several years and will
do it finally very soon. I am shopping for a piano and decide to go with
a digital piano. My most important criteria is action. ( has to feel like
a upright piano.) Others are less important since if I keep playing I will
upgrade to a better one. The ones on my shopping list are
Technics SX-PC8, Technics SX-P30 (no speaker), and Yamaha YPP-35 and YPP-55.
Please comment on my choices and other suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Regards,
Josh
P.S. I also heard that ordering from mail order dealer can save quite a
lot. Suggestion and comment are welcome.
Dave P Rodger
Josh -
>Hi,
> I have been dreaming to learn piano for the last several years and will
>do it finally very soon. I am shopping for a piano and decide to go with
>a digital piano. My most important criteria is action. ( has to feel like
>a upright piano.) Others are less important since if I keep playing I will
>upgrade to a better one. The ones on my shopping list are
>Technics SX-PC8, Technics SX-P30 (no speaker), and Yamaha YPP-35 and YPP-55.
>Please comment on my choices and other suggestions will be highly appreciated.
I looked at the two Technics; my requirements were action and sound, and
found both of them to be satisfactory. I liked the P30 due to its
portability and lack of ugly, faux-piano stand, although you need a
separate stand to play it. I also liked that the list price on the P30
was $500 less than the PC8.
I was quoted between $1000 - $1500 for the P30, by mail-order and local
dealers. I went with a local dealer for $1075 +tax, and have been very
happy with it so far.
Disclaimer: I played piano several years ago, (jazz & classical) with a
teacher, on an acoustic, but haven't played at all in the past 4-5 years,
so my ears and fingers may not be as "sophisticated" as others. But it's
been good enough that I'm sure I'll begin lessons again in the new year,
and, as you say, if there are flaws that I discover over time, I can
switch to a different digital or acoustic one at that point.
I'm happy to answer specific questions as well.
Dave
SUPANOSE
Josh
Am currently in the process of purchasing a Roland FP-1 through the mail and
saved quite a bit purchasing through the mail. About $250 saved on purchase
price plus the significantsales tax savings of purchasing out of state. I had
one web site pushing the Tecnics keyboards pretty hard, but couldn't find any
in my area to test. They were talking $999 for the P30 but I never got serious
enough with them to find out if that was list price or bottom dollar. The FP-1
has excellent piano feel, and can be found for $1500-1700 depending on
stand/speaker configuration. Carusomusic.com has Technics or music123.com
(still under development) for Roland
T Norris
<supa...@NOSPAMaol.com>
DZappa
>About $250 saved on purchase
>price plus the significantsales tax savings of purchasing out of >state.
Uh huh. And are you aware that you are responsible for PAYING that sales tax
to your state. And were you also aware that last year the State of Mass.
audited Caruso's books and went to EVERY purchaser in the state of Mass and
whacked them for the inital tax, plus interest and penalties? Some people
ended up with more penalties than they paid for the piano I would imagine.
Nothing is free.
pTooner
DZappa wrote:
Whut? Ya mean thur ain't no free lunch? :-)
Gerry
--
邢 唷��
Joseph Clarke
That is pretty bold of you. Not all states require you to pay taxes for
mail order items. In this case apparently Caruso's didn't charge tax for
their in-state customers, so the state had the right to charge the customer
(however - it should have been Caruso's who was ultimately responsible).
But usually if a company doesn't have presence in the buyers state, sales
tax is not charged.
DZappa wrote in message <19971231160...@ladder02.news.aol.com>...
Josh Chen
Hi Dave,
I agree. Technics P30 and PC8 do have the best action around US $1500
range. I am in Ottawa, Canada and local dealer price both of them the
same. ( around Can$2000) They said that because the demand of P30 is low
so they don't get much discount from Technics.
Regards,
Josh
In article <EM0H3...@world.std.com>,
O'Connor Denis
>I have been dreaming to learn piano for the last several years and
>will
>do it finally very soon. I am shopping for a piano and decide to go
>with
>a digital piano. My most important criteria is action. ( has to feel
>like
>a upright piano.) Others are less important since if I keep playing I
>will
>upgrade to a better one. The ones on my shopping list are
>Technics SX-PC8, Technics SX-P30 (no speaker), and Yamaha YPP-35 and
>YPP-55.
My wife has been playing the Technics SX-PC8 for 6 months. She is very
happy with it and I am enjoying the music. She played the piano when
she was young but had not played for over 25 years. We paid $1400 for
it in Portsmouth NH.
I have a question for others that may own the SX-PC8. About 6 months
ago Jane claimed that the piano started playing on its own one
afternoon!?!?!?!?! I looked into whether the piano had a
record/playback feature and the sales people assured me that it did
not. So I assumed Jane was stressed out and needed a little rest and
relaxation (and I have been watching her closely for a while).
Well guess what happened yesterday when Jane was in the shower and the
house was full of kids and guests? One of the kids turned the piano on
and it started playing on its own for approximately 2 minutes (the keys
didn't move)in front of 8 people!!!! It was a song that Jane had not
played before. I knew she was in the shower, so I went downstairs to
see who was the talented one in the group. I found a whole group of
people staring at the piano?!
Will someone please explain to me what is going on. At least now I
know that my wife is sane, but as far as I can see there is no
record/play feature on the piano. Is it possible that we got the chip
for a more expensive model that does have this feature?
This message is not a joke, I am very serious.
Denis
jd...@ix.netcom.com
RBilliex
Some digital devices have a demo song or two included in them, that may be what
you're hearing. It doesn't have to have a record feature to have a demo song.
AC Robinson
RBilliex (rbil...@aol.com) wrote:
: Some digital devices have a demo song or two included in them, that may be
: you're hearing. It doesn't have to have a record feature to have a demo
song.
You're right. The PC8 does have a demo song -- at least according to the
spec sheet. Perhaps someone knows how to get it to start as that particular
instrument is a bit devoid of buttons.
Cheers,
Andrew
O'Connor Denis
Thank you so much.
My wife really thought she was losing her mind a few months ago and we
have all been wondering about her also after she told us the piano
started playing by itself.
Dave P Rodger
AC Robinson <A.C.Ro...@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
>RBilliex (rbil...@aol.com) wrote:
>: Some digital devices have a demo song or two included in them, that may be
>what
>: you're hearing. It doesn't have to have a record feature to have a demo
>song.
>
>You're right. The PC8 does have a demo song -- at least according to the
>spec sheet. Perhaps someone knows how to get it to start as that particular
>instrument is a bit devoid of buttons.
On my Technics, if the leftmost key is pressed while the piano is powered
up, the demo song will play.
-dave
Anne Goodman
In article <68b30a$h...@bcarh8ab.bnr.ca>, josh...@bnr.ca says...
>
>Hi,
> I have been dreaming to learn piano for the last several years and will
>do it finally very soon. I am shopping for a piano and decide to go with
>a digital piano. My most important criteria is action. ( has to feel like
>a upright piano.)
For really great piano-like action, try the Roland models that have what they
call hammer action. (HP series, except HP-230, and KR series). Pretty
pricey though.
Anne Goodman
or other with what they call hammer action
action. (except for the HP-230 which doesn't have it).
Ragtimbill
>>Hi,
>> I have been dreaming to learn piano for the last several years and will
>>do it finally very soon. I am shopping for a piano and decide to go with
>>a digital piano. My most important criteria is action. ( has to feel like
>>a upright piano.)
>
>For really great piano-like action, try the Roland models that have what they
>
>call hammer action. (HP series, except HP-230, and KR series). Pretty
>pricey though.
>
>Anne Goodman
Anne is right, Roland has a great feel. I almost bought one, but wound up with
a Kurzweil instead. The touch was just as good as the Roland, but it won more
points because the piano sounded much better (for the same price).
Bill Rowland
Broken Arrow, OK
Ragti...@aol.com
RBilliex
You may have to be holding down a particular key or maybe any key when you're
turning it on? Just a guess. You also may want to have your wife checked out
anyway. (just kidding)
Clint Mers
On 2 Jan 1998 23:27:42 GMT, ragti...@aol.com (Ragtimbill) wrote:
>>For really great piano-like action, try the Roland models that have what they
>>
>>call hammer action. (HP series, except HP-230, and KR series). Pretty
>>pricey though.
>>
>>Anne Goodman
I'm glad somebody mentioned these, since I've got one on layaway and I
thought I must've overpaid based on the earlier posts... But I tried
everything in the store and only the HP330 and above seemed realistic
to me.
I (will have) paid $2500 for the HP330, and it seems worth it for the
action and other features. If you're shopping around, at least TRY an
HP330 or 530 for comparison. I don't know if other brands have
something similar...
-Clint
-Chen,J.L.
In article <19971231160...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
DZappa <dza...@aol.com> wrote:
>>About $250 saved on purchase
>>price plus the significantsales tax savings of purchasing out of >state.
>
>Uh huh. And are you aware that you are responsible for PAYING that sales tax
>to your state. And were you also aware that last year the State of Mass.
>audited Caruso's books and went to EVERY purchaser in the state of Mass and
>whacked them for the inital tax, plus interest and penalties? Some people
>ended up with more penalties than they paid for the piano I would imagine.
>
>Nothing is free.
>
>Dave
>dzappah...@aol.com
Dave:
The penalties were not that bad. In most cases it was the owed tax plus
interests. It was a hassle for sure.
Julian
-Chen,J.L.
>I have a question for others that may own the SX-PC8. About 6 months
>ago Jane claimed that the piano started playing on its own one
>afternoon!?!?!?!?! I looked into whether the piano had a
>record/playback feature and the sales people assured me that it did
>not. So I assumed Jane was stressed out and needed a little rest and
>relaxation (and I have been watching her closely for a while).
>
>Well guess what happened yesterday when Jane was in the shower and the
>house was full of kids and guests? One of the kids turned the piano on
>and it started playing on its own for approximately 2 minutes (the keys
>didn't move)in front of 8 people!!!! It was a song that Jane had not
>played before. I knew she was in the shower, so I went downstairs to
>see who was the talented one in the group. I found a whole group of
>people staring at the piano?!
>
>Will someone please explain to me what is going on. At least now I
>know that my wife is sane, but as far as I can see there is no
>record/play feature on the piano. Is it possible that we got the chip
>for a more expensive model that does have this feature?
>
>This message is not a joke, I am very serious.
>
>Denis
>jd...@ix.netcom.com
Does it has a demo mode? Most digital pianos have the demo mode and may
be someone touched the button that started the demo.
Julian