Recommendation : Digital Piano
Tarry Yu
Can any one sugguest me which model of digital piano should I buy?
I can afford to pay around $2000 - $3000, it should have good touching
feeling, and varity of sound.
Thank's in advance :)
Alfred
Musichica2
I bought the Clavinova CLP-411 digital piano. I've had it for
about 4 months and so far, I love it! It has very realistic sound with
up to 14 different voices, and pretty good touch sensitivity. It cost
about $2700.00 Canadian.
Hope this helps you out,
Erica Joseph
On Wed, 26 Aug 1998 14:47:00 +0800, Tarry Yu <ta...@hkbh.org.hk>
wrote:
Ragtimbill
>I can afford to pay around $2000 - $3000, it should have good touching
>feeling, and varity of sound.
As many on this NG can attest I am right fond of my Kurzweil PC88mx. Wonderful
touch (although Roland had one that came close) and piano sounds that blew all
the others away. Some have reported service problems with this unit, however I
have not had any in the over two years I have used it. Be sure to check one
out.
(PC = Performance Controller, "88" = 88 keys. The "mx" on the end signifies a
General Midi option, which is, IMHO, well worth the extra money.)
Bill Rowland
Broken Arrow, OK
Ragti...@aol.com
Stefan Winkler
>
> As many on this NG can attest I am right fond of my Kurzweil PC88mx. Wonderful
> touch (although Roland had one that came close) and piano sounds that blew all
> the others away. Some have reported service problems with this unit, however I
> have not had any in the over two years I have used it. Be sure to check one
> out.
>
> (PC = Performance Controller, "88" = 88 keys. The "mx" on the end signifies a
> General Midi option, which is, IMHO, well worth the extra money.)
Maybe a silly question, but: what are the advantages of General Midi
compared to the interface that "simple" digital pianos have?
Stefan
Sjoerd Arlman
budget (which is alot more than mine!), I'd probably go for a Kawai,
although not a very known brand, their pianos play very much like normal
pianos because they use wooden keys instead of plastic ones. Just gives the
extra touch. In Holland they're about 4500 guilders, which is something like
$ 2250 (US).
You should also try a few Rolands, I will probably be buying a Roland, but
then again, my budget is very limited. I feel that at the higher price
range, Roland doesn't cut it against the others, their simple piano's are
very good, but at higher prices, they stay just as good, which of course
says more for their low end budget pianos than for the high end ones...
I myself would not buy a Clavinova (Yamaha), their price/quality rating is
good, but if you strike lots of keys at the same time, it tends to sound
like "soup", which isn't prefered in jazz music, where you play lotsa
"heavy" chords.
Good luck, and please tell me which one you end up with!
Sjoerd
Tarry Yu <ta...@hkbh.org.hk> wrote in message 35E3AF...@hkbh.org.hk...
>Hi,
>
>Can any one sugguest me which model of digital piano should I buy?
>I can afford to pay around $2000 - $3000, it should have good touching
>feeling, and varity of sound.
>
M Love
quality voice technology which reproduces the sympathetic overtones of an
acoustic piano. We would be happy to send you more information if you would
like. e-mail us at pia...@viscountamerica.com
Good luck
Mark Love
President
Viscount America
Tarry Yu wrote in message <35E3AF...@hkbh.org.hk>...
Sai Li
people in this group, I have narrowed my choices down to four: the Yamaha P-200
(great because of portability, cheapest about $1690 from woodwind and brasswind
at www.wwandbw.com), the Roland RD-600 (great voices, cheapest about $1660
delivered from www.reuseit.com), the Yamaha CLP-860 (haven't tried it yet, but
it has dynamic stereo sampling, whatever that means, about $1700), and the Kawai
MP9000 (coming out next month, ask for brochure at www.kawaius.com). All of
these are great choices.
Sai Li
Victor Levy
You listed the sources of some of your price quotes, but not the CLP-860.
From where did you get your quote? That price sounds really low.
Regards, Vic
--
Victor Levy, South Bend, Indiana, USA
XXv...@skyenet.netXX <- Remove XXs for correct address
Sai Li wrote in message <35E5AE9C...@acsu.buffalo.edu>...
Ragtimbill
>compared to the interface that "simple" digital pianos have?
>
>Stefan
I was kind of waiting before answering, hoping someone more knowledgable than I
would jump in there.
(sigh) Okay . . .
General Midi (GM) is a more-or-less universal specification for musical
equipment. It features 128 voices, and if you call up voice 1, for instance,
on any GM-equipped instrument you should hear that instrument's voice for a
Grand Piano. Voice 53 should be some kind of "Voice OOHs" and voice 125 is a
helicopter. Don't use that one too much myself . . .
On a cheap sound card, these voices can sound really crappy. On the Kurzweil,
some of them are breathtakingly beautiful and realistic. They miss the mark on
a few of them, as I am sure all Midi instruments do. Can't be all things to
all people.
As an input/output device for my computer, I use the digital piano's GM voices
a lot, since I arrange music for Dixieland band,compose music for choir and
piano, play orchestral arrangements of symphonies and concertos, etc. My
daughter practices her violin to the computer's "orchestra" and I can play my
tuba along with a Sousa march. Or listen to some funky jazz I just downloaded
from the jazz NG.
This is just my lookout on GM, and others know it much better. Can someone
take up where I left off?
Victor Levy
>compared to the interface that "simple" digital pianos have?
Stefan,
I'm not an expert, but this is what I think is right:
Digital pianos (DPs) have a keyboard and a sound generator; many have an
amp and speakers too. When you play the keyboard on a MIDI DP, MIDI note
information is sent from the keyboard to the sound generator. The sound
generator interprets the MIDI note information and creates the musical notes
as an electrical signal. Many DPs have an external MIDI input so the
built-in sound generator can accept note information from other input
devices besides the built-in keyboard (such as a PC's MIDI-out), and an
external MIDI output so the built-in keyboard can send note information to
other devices besides just the built-in sound generator.
Having General MIDI (GM) on your DP means the sound generator knows about
and is capable of making notes for each of the 128 "instruments" defined by
the GM standard, and that the keyboard is capable of specifying to a sound
generator any of these instruments.
Having the capability of playing 128 different instruments on your DP is a
good thing if you like to use your keyboard to play sounds of lots of
instruments other than piano. Also, if you want to use your DP to control
an external GM sound generator instead of the built-in one, such as the
sound card in your PC, the external sound generator will play notes using
the sounds of the instruments you have selected for playing on your DP.
Without GM the sounds played on the external sound generator might not match
the ones you selected on the DP.
Another good thing is if you want to use an external device (e.g., your PC)
to play - through your DP's sound generator - songs that are written in GM
format and have other instruments besides piano in them. (Note that for this
application you don't really need a DP; you can also use a good GM sound
card on your multimedia PC to be the sound generator.) Without GM, the
sounds of the instruments played would be of those your DP's sound generator
can play, but not necessarily the ones intended by the external MIDI source.
For example, the MIDI piece you played from your PC that specifies guitar,
drums, and bass might play on your DP with piano, organ, and harpsichord
sounds.
Hope this helps, Vic
--
Victor Levy, South Bend, Indiana, USA
XXv...@skyenet.netXX <- Remove XXs for correct address
Stefan Winkler wrote in message <35E526...@epfl.ch>...
>Ragtimbill wrote:
>>
>> As many on this NG can attest I am right fond of my Kurzweil PC88mx.
Wonderful
>> touch (although Roland had one that came close) and piano sounds that
blew all
>> the others away. Some have reported service problems with this unit,
however I
>> have not had any in the over two years I have used it. Be sure to check
one
>> out.
>>
>> (PC = Performance Controller, "88" = 88 keys. The "mx" on the end
signifies a
>> General Midi option, which is, IMHO, well worth the extra money.)
>
gl...@fast.net
price range you mentioned:
Technics SX-PX222 Powerful sound (80 watts) great piano sound for a
reasonable price.
Technics SX-PX224 Next model up.
Yamaha CLP-840 New model as graded hammer effect action a first in this
price range, most realistic feel in digital pianos I've played. Dealers
are just receiveing these (replaces CLP-411.
Yamaha CLP-860 Same as CLP-840, next model up, also a new model. Replaces
CLP-511.
In article <35E3AF...@hkbh.org.hk>, ta...@hkbh.org.hk wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Can any one sugguest me which model of digital piano should I buy?
> I can afford to pay around $2000 - $3000, it should have good touching
> feeling, and varity of sound.
>
> Thank's in advance :)
>
> Alfred
--
Glenn Grafton, VP
Grafton Piano & Organ Co.
Souderton PA (Philadelphia-Allentown area)
http://www.dprint.com/grafton/
1(800)272-5980