🎹 REVIEW - Roland Kiyola KF-10 Digital Piano - At $4299, the Roland Kiyola is a very attractive digital piano in it's custom wood cabinet. However, it is essentially a $2599 Roland DP-603 digital piano dressed up in a custom style contemporary cabinet for $1700 more. Yes, you heard me right...$1700 more and it doesn't even do as much as the lower priced Roland. The Roland Kiyola, which has been on the market for about 5 years and sold primarily in Asian markets and other parts of the world, is now being offered for sale in the US exclusively through the Museum of Modern Art in New York on its web site. In past years the Kiyola (aka: KF-10) was not available at US Roland dealers for a few different reasons so you could never buy one directly in this country. But that has all changed with the famous New York Museum of Modern Art being given exclusive rights to be the on-line "dealer" for this model. MoMA, as the museum is referred to, has actually been selling this model for a couple years or so but since I get asked about this instrument by shoppers from time to time and even though it's not available anywhere else in the US as far as I know, I thought it would be good to shed some light on this "mystery piano" in the Roland lineup that looks small but sold at such a big price.

So why would someone want to own this digital piano? That answer is very simple...the cabinet. In terms of digital features and technology, the piano itself falls behind the much less expensive Roland DP-603 contemporary digital piano that I already mentioned which is almost 5 years old as a model. It also falls behind the newer, more traditional cabinet model called the HP-704 (left pic under Kiyola) which sells for about $3000 in Roland piano stores and is a far better piano with regard to features and functions, and the cabinet finishes and design on this model is actually very attractive...but...they are not made out of real custom, natural woods like the Kiyola. Also, the Kiyola KF-10 is actually made in Japan whereas the HP-704 and the DP-603 are made in other countries like Malaysia, etc. So when it comes to the Kiyola KF-10, it's visually appealing and reminds me of mid 1950's or Scandinavian style furniture but don't be fooled. For $4299 you are getting an older more limited model in technological terms as compared to the other two Roland models I just mentioned. But if you are OK with that and just love the cabinet design, construction, and color offerings of the KF-10 and you're willing to pay $1300 to $1700 more to get it, then the Roland Kiyola KF-10 may be the perfect piano for you.

Since it is the "cabinet" of the KF-10 and its matching custom bench which makes all the difference in that model as compared to other Roland pianos and some other brands for that matter, then it's good to know what the Roland company actually says about it, so here's a description of the KF-10 cabinet: Karimoku-made wooden cabinet - "The feel of natural wood that makes you want to touch it. Your instrument has a unique character like no other, each with its own wood-grain and other natural marks. A lighthearted design by Karimoku furniture designers of Japan  the springiness of the bench, creating a seating surface that remains comfortable even after hours of playing. The bench is the result of twenty years of proprietary ergonomic research."

So there you have it...it's all about the cabinet and whether you want to pay a huge premium to the Museum of Modern Art in New York (aka: MoMA) for the privilege of buying it from them. A famous art museum does have some "prestige" to it and you could say that you bought this Kiyola from an "art museum." But they did not create this model, Roland did, and then a famous furniture manufacturer in Japan designed the cabinet. There is no question that this proprietary cabinet design and finish is really nice...I like it. But at the end of the day what you'll really own is an slightly older "very overpriced" digital piano, in my opinion, but still with some very nice features. You can bet that MoMA would love you to order one from them...there likely making some good money from the sale, especially since they have no "competition" on it. However, for $4300 you can buy a way better brand new model digital piano in terms of a noticeably more authentic piano playing experience along with many more useful "bells & whistles" on top of that. But if you just cannot live without that Kiyola cabinet then go ahead, buy it...it's your money. You'll still get an enjoyable piano playing experience out of it but you could do the same and save a bunch of money by getting the Roland DP-603 or the newer HP-704 instead. Or...you could get the brand new 2020 Yamaha CLP-745, Kawai CA79, or Casio Grand Hybrid GP-310 digital piano instead for less money and come out ahead, musically speaking.

Roland DP603 polished ebony

At this point I want to briefly talk about the features that are built into the Roland Kiyola KF-10 and what you should know about them. The Kiyola uses the same PHA-50 key action that is built into many other Roland digital piano models incl the DP603, FP90, HP704, LX705, GP607, and GP609. This keys in this key action are mostly plastic with a thin strip of wood on either side of each white key. The black keys are all plastic. The white key sticks (the entire key) measure a bit less than 9" long which is fine but in the $4000+ price range you can get new digital pianos with keys that measure from about 14" long to 16" long and those keys are not only 100% all wood but they are much more balanced in movement from front to back and side to side. Regular acoustic pianos also have long keys like this and even longer in many cases so that you can play music in a more expressive way. So the long the key the better off your music will be.

The "weight" of the key(s) is also important as to how that key will move. When it takes too much finger force to press down the key then that heavier force can cause hand, wrist, and finger fatigue after awhile so you will definitely want a digital piano with a proper weighting to the keys so that it does not require too much force to press it down. On the Kiyola the static down-weight as measured on middle C is approx 62 grams of touch weight which is actually pretty good. However, the upweight or the force the keys push back up after you have pressed them down is about 49 grams as measured at middle C. Normally on a digital piano that up force of the keys needs to be closer to 35 grams so that the keys don't act like a spring and push too hard up against your fingers as you are pressing down on the keys. In other words, on the Kiyola and the PHA-50 key action in general, that up weight force is too strong, especially as compared against a good acoustic piano and the force works against you when you are pressing down on the keys. I don't want to say that the higher up force is a real problem because eventually you can get used to it and it is playable. But...it is still too strong and can cause you to have to adjust your playing technique to compensate for it. Overall the key action is solid, moves quietly, and allows for good expression...but it is not perfect. Roland actually has an upgraded improved key action in their newer LX706 called the "Hybrid Grand" action in which the white keys are approx 2" longer than those of the PHA-50 key action in the Kiyola and the key weight balance is also better and that. However the LX706 is a bit more money. The PHA50 key-tops on the Kiyola are made of synthetic ivory and ebony material and feel good to the touch. The keys also have the "escapement" feature which tries to simulate the feel of a grand piano when the keys are depressed slowly as you get near the bottom of the key travel. However, it is only a simulation and doesn't really impact a person's piano playing in a significant way.

As for the piano sound, Roland uses their physical modeling sound technology which tries to simulate the piano sound through "modeling" using mathematical algorithms instead of recorded sampling. This technology is supposed to get you closer to a more realistic piano sound although in reality I feel that this technology is somewhat "hit & miss." Sometimes when playing a Roland piano with physical modeled piano sound it seems randomly artificial and just not real, especially when playing chords in certain parts of the keyboard, middle octaves as an example and using sustain pedal. For some people you will notice these inconsistent piano sounds happening when playing the piano. For other people you may not notice it at all...it just depends on your ears and piano playing experience. Overall the piano sound resonates well and has some depth to it so you may indeed enjoy it. But for me I am just not convinced that Roland has it down yet and it still has a long way to go. A better option in my opinion would be to mix the physical modeling technology with the sampling technology such as what Yamaha and Kawai are doing in some of their new digital pianos...especially in this $4000 price range. That "mixed" technology really does sound great and the sampling technology is a much better way to go in reproducing an acoustic piano sound as compared to to the physical modeling technology that Roland uses. In other words, I much prefer the piano sound realism in the Kawai, Yamaha, Casio, and Korg digital pianos as opposed to Roland.

The pedaling functions on the Kiyola are actually very good, the pedals function properly with excellent damper-sustain time and response along with impressive sostenuto pedal and soft pedal. Not all digital pianos do a good job with those pedals so in that way the Roland Kiyola is impressive. But...when using the sustain pedal on a real acoustic piano and getting a lot of natural sustain, the sustained piano sound is natural in the way the strings resonate and produce organic string vibrations and overtones. Because of the Roland physical modeling sound chip, that pedal sustain time can unfortunately accent the artificial flavor of the piano sound and cause it to do things that real pianos just don't do and it's noticeable...at least it is to me. In other words, sometime the piano tone just sounds fake, especially when using the sustain pedal and hearing notes combine together even in the middle octaves. So even though the sustain pedal works very well and there is a good amount of sustain, it just does not sound natural sometimes and instead is artificial. I do not experience this same thing on either Yamaha or Kawai digital pianos in this price range.

The Kiyola KF-10 specifications include unlimited polyphony for the piano sounds and 384-note polyphony for the non-piano instrument sounds. Polyphony is the computer chip power to allow all notes to be played and heard without "note dropout." This means that when you are playing a more complex song with many notes, arpeggios, and chords that combine together, this type of playing can be memory intensive on the piano sound chip. With Roland that will never be an issue because the sound chip can support any type of piano playing. The performance sound library on this model is limited to just 6 sounds total...4 acoustic piano sounds, a harpsichord, and one electric piano. Some people just want a piano to play piano on, so even just 6 instrument sounds may be enough for some students and players out there. But on the other Roland digital pianos that I have mentioned earlier in this review, those models have 307 individual tones including 12 acoustic piano sounds, 2 harpsichords, strings, orchestral sounds, violins, many electric pianos, horns, reeds, woodwinds, guitars, organs of all types, and more. So as far as the Kiyola goes, it is stingy when it comes to having extra sounds that you can play although it does play General MIDI song files which is nice and can be useful, but so do the other Roland digital pianos, even down to around their $1000 model. Also, the Kiyola has just 5 basic types of touch sensitivity adjustment as compared to 100 types on the other Roland pianos along with the Kiyola having no recording features at all while the other Roland digital pianos have 2-3 track MIDI recording and 1-track audio wav file recording so that you can practice your songs and/or lessons and play them back and hear how you did...a very useful "tool."

The Kiyola does have both Bluetooth audio streaming as well as Bluetooth MIDI wireless connectivity which can be useful depending on what you are wanting to do with your external music and devices. The internal speaker system in the Kiyola KF-10 is generally more than adequate with 60 watts of total power stereo sound going through 2 amplifiers powering 2 larger speakers and 2 smaller speakers for more sound dispersion and clarity. However, on the new improved and upgraded Roland HP704 digital piano at approx $3000 store discount price, the speaker system in that model has 60 watts of power going through 4 amplifiers and 6 speakers which is better than the Kiyola, and that HP704 is also $1300 less! There are also other stark differences between the 5 year old Kiyola KF-10 model and the newer Roland pianos such as the newer ones have almost 400 built-in entertainment and education songs whereas the Kiyola has just 30 built-in songs. Even the Roland app for iOS and Android is much better for the HP704 vs the Kiyola although the app is the same between the $2600 DP603 and the Kiyola...but again, the DP603 is $1700 less than the Kiyola. Finally, there is no audio connectivity on the Kiyola...no audio input and no audio outputs to connect to other audio systems or to connect an external (non Bluetooth) device like you can on the other Roland models.

The Kiyola cabinet itself is compact at 55" wide and 13" deep and 31" with the key cover closed up. With the key cover open up so that you can have sheet music support then the height of the piano is 36" tall. The weight of the piano is 73 lbs and the bench is just 9 lbs so it is very light relative to the other pianos in this price range. In fact the bench is measured at 20.5" high whereas most piano benches come in at 19" tall, so there is a small difference there. The piano lid does fold flat with a slight curve in it and also has a metal trim on the lip of the lid which looks very attractive and understated.

Korg G1 Air

However, as an example, the Korg digital piano company from Japan produces an attractive compact contemporary digital piano called the G1 Air which comes in a simulated but very nice looking rosewood, black, white, or ash-wood cabinet color and that piano has a bigger piano sound with Steinway, Bosendorfer, and Yamaha grand piano samples along with an 80 watt, 4 speaker, 4 amplifier sound system along with Bluetooth wireless audio connectivity and 2-track recording and that model is just $1799, no sales tax, and free shipping with a 5 year warranty. That model also has a "privacy panel" on it so that you cannot "see through it" like you can on the Roland Kiyola. So when it comes to getting the most for your money there may be other ways to go and still get what you want and for substantially less money.

So what are you really getting for the $1300 to $1700 difference to go up in price to the Kiyola? It is certainly not the internal digital features and functions because the Kiyola does not come close to the other models in that way. So what is it then? OK...you guessed it...it's the cabinet and the bench and the fact they are unique and those cabinets are built in Japan. They are different, they look good in their oak, walnut and satin black finishes, and have excellent construction with their unique contemporary design, and you get to buy one from a famous museum! I am pretty sure that part (buying from a museum) would matter much to me. But if you do like the cabinet then you better like it at least $1300 to $1700 more than the others because as digital pianos go, for $4299 that is mostly what this (overpriced, in my opinion) piano really has going for it. To pay that much money when there are so many great musical alternatives out there (including from Roland) takes a lot of thought. You do have a choice of getting a MUCH better, more authentic digital piano in the same price range or a comparable and better digital piano for quite a bit less money from Roland and the other popular brands. It's all about what you really want to get for your money and what is more important to you. Also, that $4299 for the Kiyola does not include the sales tax added on top PLUS the $150 shipping fee on top of that! As for resale value for any of these digital pianos...good luck...they all depreciate over time.  The Roland pianos are very reliable, well built instruments and can usually stand the test of time and that is true for a few of the other Japanese brands as well. Before you make any decisions please contact me with questions and I can help you sort it out.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 REVIEW - The Casio PX-870 has now risen to the top in popularity of all newer furniture cabinet digital pianos under $1000 as compared to other brands including Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland. This model definitely deserves "Biggest Bang for the Buck" award in its price range in our opinion. With 40 watts of stereo audio power going through 4 speakers and a sound projection lid, the PX-870 is now the premier model under $1000 based on all the indicators we have seen. Read this detailed review for a lot more great info on this model and also find out how to purchase new digital pianos for less money than Amazon or internet price. 

The Casio PX-870 for 2020 is available in matte black, matte brown, and matte white and is sold at $999 internet discount price. It has some big improvements over previous models such as including a 3/4 height back privacy panel on the cabinet so that you cannot see through the piano, a sliding key cover and in compact size furniture cabinet. The PX-870 model has a noticeably improved piano sound sample which has been upgraded in realism and piano dynamic range & expression along with a longer sustain pedal decay time. On top of that the internal speaker system has also been upgraded in a way that projects the sound out of the piano in a more natural way using "sound escapement chambers on the top of the piano which no other piano in this price range has. So for $999 this newer PX-870 is quite impressive and a winner in a furniture cabinet digital piano in this price range under $1000 over any other brand or model based on all our experience with digital pianos in this price range.

Casio Company History

With regard to the Casio company, just about everyone knows that name for every day consumer electronic products such as calculators, watches, cash registers, projectors, electronic keyboards, and many other items for the last 60+ years. Casio of Japan is a large world-wide company which has the reputation for packing a lot of cutting edge technology into reliable low priced products that give you a "big bang" for the buck. With their home & pro digital pianos they do the same thing and it just keeps getting better every time they come out with a new model. Unlike Yamaha & Kawai, Casio does not produce regular acoustic pianos and unlike Roland they don't produce high priced electronic pro keyboards, guitars, drums, or other high end music gear. But what Casio does well in my opinion is make great innovative and competitive digital pianos for very low prices using the latest and greatest technology in a way that no other digital piano company has done so far under $1000. So when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck I can tell you right now that based on my playing experience with this model, everything I have seen & heard on the 2020 Casio PX-870 in its compact furniture cabinet is very impressive.

7 improvements in PX-870 over previous models:

1.The piano sound is noticeably better than on the previous models because the piano sound chip was upgraded to be even more natural like a real piano with better expression and more organic piano tonal elements than before. You can really tell the difference if listening to both models. Also there is one more acoustic piano sound added along with some of the non-piano instruments that have been re-voiced and improved for greater authenticity. The stereo strings, choirs, harpsichord, electric pianos, etc, really do sound good and are a joy to play especially as compared to other digital pianos in this price range.

2.The sustain pedal decay time has dramatically improvedso that when you hold down the sustain-damper pedal you will hear more sustain volume and noticeably more sustain decay time than ever before and when that happens you get a more organic & natural piano sound particularly when playing legato and using more sustain pedaling. The notes of the piano sound mix together more evenly and produce a smoother and more balanced tonal expression across the entire 88 keys that was not able to be achieved on the previous models.

3.The speaker projection system has changed on the PX-870. The former models had a hinged lid where part of the lid could be propped up so the piano sound could come out of the piano top. That was a very good idea but the down-side was that with the lid propped open, you could not rest any music, music lamp, or any other items on the piano top because they would fall off. Casio designed a new speaker projection system that allows the piano sound to come up and out of the piano top without the need of a lid. There is a brand new speaker system in the piano that diverts part of the piano sound up and out through a long but narrow speaker grill that goes the length of the piano top and is inset and flush with the top. It's located more towards the back top of the piano. The piano sound is also projected forward through speakers in the piano. In this way there is better sound disbursement and top remains closed so it has a sleeker look, no more hinged lid like the previous model that could potentially break, and you can put things on the piano top without those items sliding off because of the previous models' partially raised and tilted lid. These are very well designed improvements that upgrades this new model in a noticeable way.

4.The synthetic ivory white keys have been re-textured with a new materialthat brings the touch/feel of the keys even closer to that of the popular natural ivory acoustic pianos of past years...a noticeable improvement with a smoother feel.

5.The headphone listening experiencehas been improved over the previous models with new "headphone mode" with improved electronics that creates a more realistic stereo listening environment when using any good stereo headphones

6.A Volume Sync system has been addedto the PX-870 which allows the piano to have better low frequency response when playing the piano at lower volumes which is a good thing. This type of electronics has been available in digital pianos before but not in this price range.

7.The cabinet has been upgradedto look better with fewer seams in the case as compared with the previous model and the control panel buttons have been re-positioned to the left side of the keyboard to make the piano look simpler in design and less cluttered than before. Also the physical cabinet assembly process is more intuitive than on the previous model with cabinet parts able to be connected more easily.

Casio Chordana app

8. Casio also has a new proprietary iOS/Android app for the PX-870 called "Chordana" which allows the piano to be connected to the app on your iPad for further (and better) control of functions & features. The PX-870 controller app makes using the PX-870 a breezeas compared to using previous models and trying to figure out how to access many of the piano features. Now those functions can be accessed on the PX-870 using your tablet color touch screen with a very intuitive app with many screen/page choices to control all of the major functions of the piano like never before in a Casio digital piano. Other digital piano brands have controller apps as well, but the Casio Chordana seems to be much more advanced and also includes some educational music games, song playing features, and PDF sheet music scores of the many built-in piano songs within the PX-870. If you do not have a digital tablet (like iPad, etc) then the new PX-870 would be a good excuse to get one!

PX-870 Key Action

As far as the the rest of the piano goes, and especially with the key action, Casio has kept their popular 3-sensor per key-weighted-graded piano style key action in the PX-870 which was also in the former PX-860. I believe they're doing this because so many people who owned the PX-860 really liked the key weight, balance, and movement of that key action so it has not changed. When it comes to shopping for a new digital piano, the key action should be considered the most important part of the decision making process for most people including piano students. Personally I like the Casio key action better than most other cabinet piano under $1000 internet price and it feels like an acoustic piano in a number of ways. Be aware that no digital piano in this price range actually feels exactly like a real acoustic piano, but this one comes pretty close and for most people, including advanced players you can take your music pretty far on this new piano.

Hall Simulation Effects

Another interesting feature Casio has created is their new reverb settings call Hall Simulation effects which gives the stereo acoustic piano sound more spacious effects such as you would hear in a large concert hall or church where there is natural echo that occurs when playing an instrument. There is a variety of different "Hall Effects" you can choose from and they really are impressive because you don't normally find this kind of feature on a digital piano in this price range. It adds to the sonic presence of the acoustic piano sounds and can make the piano more enjoyable to play. I have heard these kinds of effects before in other higher priced digital instruments and they can add to the realism of piano playing, but these effects are not always necessary or appropriate especially with some pop or jazz. But overall it does make a huge difference

256 note polyphony

A big advantage not offered on other digital pianos in this price range is the 256-note polyphony piano sound processing technology.  More polyphony note processing power helps to keep notes from electronically dropping out when playing difficult & musically complex passages along with being able to layer two sounds together and using the damper pedal without note dropout when playing multiple notes together at the same time. Also, like many name brand digital pianos including Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland, the PX-870 offers the "half-damper" pedal sustain feature with pedal resonance effect which helps recreate the real acoustic piano pedaling  damper/sustain sound for more intermediate to advanced piano music. For those students and recreational players who are at a more beginner skill level, they will have something to grow into instead of grow out of, and because of this your piano teacher (assuming you have one) will be happy too.

Greater Dynamic Range

The PX-870 is upgraded in big noticeable ways over its competition such as Yamaha in this price range. Although no digital piano that I know of actually sounds exactly like a real acoustic grand piano (I play real acoustic grand pianos and know what I'm talking about), the new PX-870 gives you the definite impression that you are playing a real acoustic piano more than other brands and models do in this price range in my opinion. The dynamic range tonal change when playing the keys softly or with greater force is noticeably wider than Yamaha and allows for a greater range of musical expression. This is especially important if you are taking lessons from a good teacher or you are at a higher playing skill level. The sonic quality of the Casio's new piano sound especially going through its new speaker projection system in the top of the piano is very impressive across the entire keyboard and is something which can be enjoyed no matter what type of music you play.  If you are able to spend more money and/or are at a higher playing skill level (or want to be), then there are certainly other digital pianos to consider in a higher price range.

Concert Play CD Quality Song Library

Casio has included in the new PX-870 another popular feature from the prior model PX-860 which is a music library called "concert play" which consists of 10 orchestra classical songs (plus more you can download from an internet site) which you can play along with using the piano sounds from the piano. The 10 songs are in an audio wav format (recorded from an actual live orchestra) and it sounds just like a real recording of the instruments as you would have on a regular CD. The 10 songs are standard classical music and although they are fun to play along with and do sound good, you would need to be able to read music (or play by ear) and play along at the song skill level so that you could interact with the music properly. You can slow down the songs a bit which is helpful for learning, mute either right or left hand sound to play-along with and also do a few other things with the orchestra accompaniment which are helpful for learning. It's a very cool feature and sounds good but there are only the 10 built-in songs available which are all in the classical category. The PX-870 also has 60 built-in well known classical piano songs that you can play along with using the new Chordana app and also displays the sheet music to those songs. You pretty much have to know how to read music at a bit more advanced sight reading level for those songs to play them accurately, but you can also just play along by ear and have some fun doing it that way.

Wav file & MIDI Recording

Another impressive feature that Casio has included in the PX-870 is "wav file" audio recording like they had in the previous model. This features allows you to record yourself as an audio recording (CD quality) and save it to a USB flashdrive in the piano. Then you can take that recording in the flashdrive and play it back on the piano and also plug the flash drive into your computer and play it back there. You can also email that song to your friends and relatives so they can hear it on their computer just as you played it. Nice feature to impress your friends and relatives and you can convert that file to MP3 on your computer for posting on social media sites. Beyond that, you can import that music into computer music programs for music education, composing, song arranging, etc for further musical interaction. Another very useful recording and playback feature is the 2-track left & right hand MIDI recorder. This feature enables the student of player to record their left and right hand parts independently from each other and then you can play either part back and play the other part live along with it. This is just like a teacher would do it playing one hand while the student plays the other hand. Now you can do the same thing all by yourself and slow down playback tempo while practicing your parts...very cool.

Audio Projection System

As I mentioned earlier, the new Casio PX-870 "piano top" audio projection system is a very innovative feature not found on any digital piano I know of under $1000 (see pic on left). The piano sounds can rise out of the top of the piano at all times through a special top speaker system with sound coming through a speaker grill at the top back portion of the cabinet going the length of the piano top (see left pic)  rather than be on a hinged lid like the previous model. This allows for a continual projection of the piano coming out of the piano like a grand piano would do through its open lid. The downside of the previous model hinged lid is that you needed to prop it open on an angle and then could not rest anything on the top of the piano like a music lamp, sheet music, or other objects because they would fall off. Also the extra sound could only be heard by the "player" and not coming up into the room. In my opinion this new sound projection speaker system gives the player and listener a more realistic piano playing and listening experience. The internal 40 watt 4-speaker sound system with projection ports simulates the "open lid" of a baby grand with the top opened up. The overall sound on this model can be quite loud and resonate so there is no need to attach external speakers to this piano in my opinion and the volume and quality of sound from the piano will easily fill up a big room.

Hardware and software functionality features

Other features of this new piano include split & layering of instrument tones, an adjustable digital metronome for rhythm & timing training, key touch sensitivity adjustments to personalize your playing, duet keyboard function allowing for two people to play at the same time, and other useful features including two stereo headphone jacks for two pairs of headphones so you and another person can have private practice. One thing I was a bit disappointed about on the PX-870 is that it does not have something that the former PX-860 did have and that feature is the audio line output jacks. This type of connectivity can be important if you want to connect your piano to an external sound system through dual mono outputs to send the stereo signal out that way. On the PX-870 you instead can connect from the piano to an external sound system via one of the stereo output jacks so it can work that way. On most digital pianos if you connect in that fashion then once you are plugged into the headphone jack then the internal speakers of the piano shut off which is very inconvenient. However, Casio has wisely included a special speaker output mode on the PX-870 that you can activate which will keep the internal speakers on even if a headphone jack is being used...and that's pretty cool.

PX-870 focuses on Piano Playing

It is important to note that the PX-870 piano does not have built-in drum rhythms, automatic chords, music styles, hundreds of instrument sounds, multi-track General MIDI song playback, LCD display screen, or other so-called "bells & whistles" that can possibly take away from a true piano playing experience. The PX-870 is focused primarily on the piano playing and is a very impressive piano for its price, especially as compared to any other digital piano brand or model near this price range whether you are a beginner student or more advanced player. If you want some additional interactive features for the PX-870 you can easily connect to an iPad (iOS device) and experience some very cool interactive piano educational & fun technology that way which both adults and children will enjoy. I use that feature (iPad apps) all the time in my teaching studio and my students love it and it helps motivates them to want to "practice" more often and that's normally a challenge for many students to do:).

More Chordana App features

Speaking of educational apps, as I mentioned earlier, Casio has just come out with their own extensive iOS and Android app for the PX-870 digital piano called Chordana Play which, for the first time in the Casio company history, allows users of their newest digital pianos, including the PX-870, to control many of the most popular features in their new digital piano directly from a mobile or tablet device connected to the USB output of their digital piano. Until now on Casio digital pianos, controlling the sounds, built-in songs, and digital features such as layering, recording, etc had to be done from the piano control panel. Although this is a fairly intuitive process on Casio pianos overall for many of their functions, there are some features that are not as as intuitive to use and this is true for the other digital piano brands as well. So Casio has PX-870 features that can be directly and remotely controlled from your tablet or mobile device using the app's very cool user interface from your device color touch screen along with other features in the app such as educational games, sheet music, and a number of other things that exist in Chordana Play. Having this new controller app along with what you can do on the piano without the app makes this new PX-870 fairly unbeatable in my opinion, especially given its lower price under $1000.

Final thoughts!

The PX-870 digital piano has a big, loud, bold piano sound for its price range which can replace a regular upright piano along with enough digital features to make the learning and piano playing experience fun and gratifying for most people seeking a quality instrument in a low price range under $1000. Speaking of low prices, in the distant past I would have also recommended that people consider buying a good used acoustic or digital piano instead of a new one. However, the digital pianos out now like the Casio PX-870 are so improved and relatively inexpensive that it makes buying a used acoustic or digital piano almost a non-issue in my opinion, and I play & own acoustic pianos in my studio. Plus, you take a risk when you buy a used piano because it is purchased "as is" and you get no factory warranty. There are always risks buying anything used because there are no guarantees they will work properly or stay in tune for very long assuming it's an acoustic piano (yearly tunings are expensive). So do yourself a favor, if you are looking to keep the price near or below $1000 price range, other than cabinet design which is always a subjective choice, as far as piano playing goes, in my experienced opinion the Casio PX-870 is a clear winner in this price range for a furniture cabinet piano that is reliable and comes with a long 3 year factory warranty and also has vibrant piano sound, responsive piano weighted key action, good pedaling functions, and enough extra interactive features to keep you busy for many years.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and even LOWER PRICES than Amazon or internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 Best Digital Pianos Under $1000  GO HERE! Roland FP-30, Yamaha P-125, Casio PX-S3000, Kawai ES110, Korg B2, Casio PX-S3000 REVIEW. Which one is best for YOU?

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW | Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, Casio, Suzuki, Korg, etc...which one is best and which one should you buy?! My name is Tim Praskins and I am a digital piano expert and have been teaching & playing on them for over 40 years (started teaching as a young teen:) and have taught 1000's of students during my extensive music career. I play acoustic concert grand pianos, digital pianos, and pro keyboards professionally (as well as play and teach guitar & organ) and do digital piano consultations for schools, churches, piano teachers, studios, and families all over the world to help you decide what piano might be best for you in your price range. There are some people out there who say they specialize in digital pianos orhave had some experience on them, but that does not necessarily mean they know what they are talking about because most of them don't. Although there are a few changes and/or additions in digital piano models for 2020, some of them are still the same as they were in 2019. When any new models or changes come up I will be sure to thoroughly try them out, examine them, and then review and post them on this blog so you can know more about them.

Erik Praskins

I do know what I am talking about when it comes to hundreds of different models of digital pianos now and in the past, and my older son Erik and I (Erik is also a very talented guy and knows his digital piano stuff) are willing to share that info with you at no charge and explain it on your level and give you free personal advice. I work with my son Erik in our own music studio and as I said, Erik is quite knowledgeable about digital pianos and likes to help answer people's piano questions. We do not have a retail store or warehouse and do not link you to Amazon sites trying to get you to buy a digital piano that you don't need or should not own. I am an experienced teacher & pro musician and offer digital piano advice without needing to "sell" pianos like other so-called reviewers try to do with Amazon links to digital pianos so they can make money regardless of how poor that digital piano may really be.  All my reviews are my opinions and done by myself  for the public at large.  If you want to know more about me and my work, please go to the following link: More about Tim Praskins and AZ Piano Reviews




Picking out a new digital piano can be a daunting task because there are so many brand, models, price ranges, and features. Rather than take your "best guess" and leave it to chance, do yourself a favor and contact me and I help you get through the maze of confusion so that you can make an informed decision on the new digital piano that would be the right one for your specific musical needs and budget. 

There are 5 brands of 88-key digital pianos that I recommend right now which, in my opinion, are quite good in the lower price range under $1000. Those brands are Yamaha, Casio, Korg, Roland, and Kawai. There are other name brands offered under $1000 including Kurzweil that you may see advertised out there, but at this point I really do not recommend them near as much as I do Casio, Yamaha, Kawai, Korg, and Roland for a number of reasons. Typically I don't recommend a brand or model if there are noticeable deficiencies in key action, piano sound realism, or pedaling as compared to a real acoustic piano and that is why some brands or models that you may see advertised on the internet are not recommended by me. It may not be necessary for you to spend more money (over $1000) on a digital piano, even if someone else (like a store salesperson or someone on the internet) says that you need to spend more money to get a proper piano. However, if you do have the budget to spend more than $1000 (up to $2000 or more), the quality of piano sound & key action reproduction in many of those models are very good and can be even more enjoyable to play, especially if you have a higher playing skill level or just want a piano that sounds and plays more like a real acoustic piano. *If you would like to learn about my recommendations for best digital pianos between $1000-$2000, go to my review of those pianos at the following link:New Digital Pianos between $1000-$2000

Casio now offers 10 models of piano type weighted key digital pianos to the general public under $1000 internet discount price including the basic but newer CDP-s350 ($549), the Privia PX-160 ($549), PX-S1000, ($649), PX-S3000 ($849) the CGP-700 ($849), the PX-360 ($899), PX-770 ($749) compact cabinet model, PX-780 ($899 internet discount price) compact cabinet model and the top of the line 2020 cabinet model PX-870 ($999 internet price). Casio also offers a Pro Digital Stage Piano called the PX-5S at $999 internet price which has no built-in speakers and is for people who want to perform on stage or create special music in a studio, etc, and will be using their own powered monitors or speakers, but want something a bit more flexible in terms of live instrument sound and effects along with controlling capabilities. Go here for my full PX5S review: Casio PX-5S Review. Finally, Casio has a top of the line model portable digital piano called the PX-560 ($1199 internet discount price) which is the first lightweight self-contained (with internal speakers and music rack) portable keyboard instrument to straddle the worlds of pro digital pianos, pro synthesizers, and home digital pianos all in one instrument. I have played this new model many times already and recently published a review of this very impressive instrument. Although it is sold on the internet for more than $1000, it is worth consideration if it is within your budget and you're looking for a feature packed portable digital piano.

Yamaha currently offers 5 models of 88-key digital pianos models under $1000 including the P-45 ($499 internet price), P-125 ($649 - left pic), DGX-660 at $799US, YDP-103 at $899 internet discount price, and the YDP-S34 at $999 internet discount price. I have reviewed all of the Yamaha models under $1000 with the exception of the P-125, DGX-660, and the YDP-S34, so stay tuned for my reviews on them coming soon, although I have played those pianos many times and you can always ask me about them. I do recommend all of the Yamaha's mentioned here, and although the least expensive Yamaha P-45 portable model is somewhat basic in what it can actually do, it's still a good beginner piano for those people who need to stay under $500 cost. Many of the digital pianos that Yamaha produces sell for over $2000 whereas most of the digital pianos produced by Casio and Korg sell for under $2000. So when it comes to Yamaha, especially in a furniture cabinet style, you'll need to spend a bit more money in some cases if you want better quality key action and sound, but it can be worth it. It just depends on the piano itself and what you actually get for the money. 

Korg B2

Korg offers 4 models under $1000US including the new B2 ($499 - stand & pedals $100 more), The next model is the SP-280 ($799), the new LP-180 ($649 internet price), and the LP-380 ($1099 internet price, just slightly above the $1000 price range). I like the LP-380 very much which has their upgraded key action although I do like the key action, dynamic range, and velocity sound response of the lower priced NH key action in the Korg B2, SP-280, and LP-180 as compared to other brands in this price range (although the regular piano sound itself is good). These are the most important aspects in picking out digital pianos. So the overall best piano options in the lower price range under $1000 are either the newer Yamaha, Casio, and Kawai pianos or the Korg LP-380 in my opinion. Some of the Yamaha & Casio pianos I recommend are portable so you would need to purchase an optional furniture style stand (or cheaper metal stand), pedals, and bench to make it more complete. But even that expense should not put you over (or much over) $1000 if that's where you need to be.

Kawai ES110 w/opt stand & pedals

Kawai offers 2 model under $1000 which is called the ES110 portable digital piano at $749 internet discount price (not including optional 3-pedal crossbar unit and furniture stand) and the new KDP70 furniture cabinet digital pianos $899 internet price. This is the only 2 models that the Kawai piano company has for under $1000 and I must say they are impressive. The ES110 hammer style weighted action and acoustic piano sound is excellent in its price range as is the new KDP70 which is basically a cabinet version of the ES110 but with fewer features. The ES110 is designed to be a lightweight portable piano replacement because of its minimalistic design and lack of some of the "bells & whistles" of other pianos have. But if you don't need or want much in the way of extra features and just want a satisfying piano playing experience in a low price range, the Kawai would be the one to pick. It is better overall in my opinion than the Casio PX-160, Yamaha P-125, and Roland FP30 as far as key action goes for a low priced portable digital piano. But the ES110 is also more money than the Casio PX-160 and just $50 more than the Yamaha P-125. But as they say, you don't get something for nothing in this world (unless you're the U.S. government:). Go to the following link  to read my ES110 review: Kawai ES110 Review and also check out my review of the KDP70 here: Kawai KDP70 review



Roland has 2 digital pianos with weighted key action for 2020 under $1000 and one of them is called the FP-30, which is Roland's first truly portable self-contained digital piano with piano weighted key action under $1000 ($699 internet selling price) and is offered in either satin black or satin white. I have played the FP-30 and was impressed with some of its abilities. A new Roland furniture style digital piano just came out and it is called the RP-102. This piano is based on the portable FP-30 model but it is in a more traditional furniture cabinet and is $999 internet selling price. The new RP-102 has some but not all of the features in the FP-30, so in reality the FP-30 is actually a more advanced digital piano than the new RP-102. The new RP-102 is Roland's 1st furniture cabinet digital piano selling for under $999 so they finally have something they can compete with against the "other guys" who already have models under $1000. Check out my RP102 review here: Roland RP102 Review

Adagio digital piano

All of these brands & models I mentioned here are the piano style weighted 88-key digital pianos, although the key action movement will be slightly different from one brand & model to another. They all have built-in speakers although the power & quality of the speaker system vary, and generally all of my recommended pianos are acceptable depending on your musical goals and experience. However, there are other brands and models out there in the lower price ranges that IDO NOT RECOMMENDbecause they are of much lower quality and do not play like a piano for student practice or recreational playing with regard to key action, piano sound, and pedaling. These pianos are what I call "off-brands" or lessor known brands and they include (but are not limited to) Adagio, Suzuki, Williams, Adams, Robson, GEWA, and Artesia, as well as any spring action (non-weighted/semi-weighted) digital pianos such as the Yamaha YPG-535, Kurzweil SP4-7, Yamaha Piagerro, etc. So be careful when looking for inexpensive pianos because the attractive cabinet or low price you see on the outside may not reflect what's actually on the inside. Artesia is one of those lesser known brands that you can find in the US at Costco. They are an example of pianos with a very nice cabinet and lots of cool digital features, but in most cases they have a fairly unrealistic piano reproduction in key action, sound, and pedaling, and that's one of the big reasons they are quite a bit less money...you get what you pay for so I recommend you stick with the well known brands as much as possible. It's interesting to note that I have seen some positive piano owner recommendations and reviews on popular music store and Amazon web sites for these "off-brand" pianos, but in my opinion these pianos are only a PSO's (piano shaped object) and other than cabinet design, do not resemble what an acoustic piano should play and sound like. If you have little experience playing real acoustic or digital pianos and purchase one of these off-brands, you may not discover or realize what you actually bought (how bad it is) until it's too late. Another example of a low priced 88-key digital instrument with poor piano playability is the Williams brand which is a private label brand made in China and belonging to the Guitar Center company and its affiliate stores of which there are many. Go to the following links to read my reviews on a couple of recent Williams models:
Williams Legato Review   Williams Allegro 2 Review

Artesia AP8 digital piano

Many of the off-brand digital pianos will create and foster bad playing habits in piano students because of the deficiencies in these pianos concerning their key actions, piano sound response, pedaling, and/or other aspects of piano playing. Nice attractive exterior cabinets in digital pianos do not always mean those digital pianos are good for playing music correctly...even at minimum standards. Just because a digital piano is attractive on the outside does not it good on the inside with regard to key action, sound, realism, electronics, reliability, etc. In fact, some of the more basic looking pianos for less money in the good recommended brands do a much better job than some of the more attractive deluxe furniture style cabinet brands in the off-brands such as Artesia (as I already mentioned) available at Costco US. You should never judge a piano by its appearance or even the hyped up sales & marketing info you get from a manufacturer. You just should not believe everything you read from a manufacturer because their goal is to sell you their piano so they often times exaggerate their claims of how good their pianos are...and I have seen this many times. So be careful.



With regard to beginner piano students and their music education, as a long time private & group piano & keyboard teacher, this is something I know a lot about. It is never too early or too late to start piano lessons and enter into the exciting & rewarding world of playing music. I teach and have taught thousands of students from 4 years old to 94 years old. Whether you play piano as a recreational hobby, or go on to do it professionally as many of my friends and some students have done, it's always a tremendous blessing for me to see people at any age enjoy the piano playing experience and bring music into their lives in a very personal way. The little girl in the left picture (she's my granddaughter:) is involved in piano lessons and she loves it whether she's playing on a big concert grand piano such as the Steinway 9' grand she is sitting at (above left pic), or whether it's at a digital piano utilizing iPad apps to further enhance the learning and playing experience. If you want important info on the best way to proceed as far as lessons and learning go as well wanting to be sure you're getting the right instrument for your needs and budget, please contact me and I'll be happy to answer your questions. Also, click on the links below to read my reviews on these pianos under 
$1000. 

Korg B2 Review (under $500)
Casio PX160 Review
Casio CGP700 Review

Casio PX360 Review
Casio PX780 Review
Casio PX770 Review
Casio PX870 Review
Casio PX5S Review 
*Korg SP170S Review
Korg SP280/LP380 Review
Yamaha P45 & P115 Review
Yamaha DGX650  Review
Kawai ES110 Review
*Artesia DP150e Review
*Williams Overture 2 Review
*Williams Rhapsody 2 Review
Yamaha YPG535 Review
*means not recommended

Of all the digital pianos out there under $1000 I would say overall my favorite cabinet piano under $1000 right now is the Casio Privia PX-870 at $999 internet discount price (left pic).This piano really surprised me for its low price after I played it because it has a nicely designed compact cabinet with the 3 built-in full function pedals and slide out key cover, and it had a pretty big sounding acoustic piano tone with a wide dynamic range. The key action has a 3-sensor key technology not normally found in less expensive cabinet digital pianos until you get above $1200 in other brands. The Casio PX-870 also has the synthetic ivory & ebony keys (normally found on pianos in higher price ranges), 256-note polyphony piano memory (which is a lot), half-damper recognition (a good feature for piano students and players), fairly realistic acoustic piano hammer (graded piano weighted) key action, direct USB output for instant connectivity with laptop and iPad (go to the following link to learn more about iPad apps: iPad Apps and learning piano), and some useful built-in educational features.

iPad app

There are some people who equate the name Casio and its lower prices with lower quality, and it is true that sometimes lower price can mean lower quality (especially in key action & piano sound) such as what I have experienced with the Williams, Artesia, and Suzuki digital pianos. When it comes to recognizable & respected brand names in the acoustic piano world, Yamaha & Kawai pianos have always been known to be in that recognized group and many pianists, piano teachers, churches, schools, and families do own Yamaha & Kawai acoustic pianos. But some competitive Yamaha & Kawai digital pianos right now cost more money than the new Casio pianos depending on the model. Casio actually is a respected Japanese technology company which has been in business approx 60 years (that's a very long time) having produced millions of electronic products including keyboards & digital pianos for about 30 years. Casio is not necessarily my favorite digital piano company because I don't actually have a favorite. Kawai, Roland, Yamaha, & Casio are all my favorites but each one does better in different price ranges and it also depends on your musical goals and budget as to which brand and model will be best for you.

In my opinion any of these name brand recommended pianos I mentioned under $1000 would be fun to own and play, but the Casio company has really outdone themselves with their new PX-870 furniture cabinet model at $999 internet price. This model is definitely a "home run," but even with all that being said, the Casio PX-870 still may not be the right instrument for you. There may be a better option depending on your particular needs & musical goals so contact me before you make a piano purchase anywhere and I will give you free expert advice. You may even want to spend a bit more than $1000 and there are some good options in that range as well. Go to the following link to read my review on the Casio PX-870: Casio PX-870 Review

IMPORTANT PUBLIC NOTICE ABOUT MY REVIEWS - Just so you know, there is no precise or impartial digital piano rating system (like stars, check marks, numbers, etc) as some people on the internet would have you believe...and that's why I don't do it. There are just too many variables. In fact there are some so-called "reviewers" out there who have no idea of what they are talking about, they say things that are just not true at all, they rate cheap keyboards along side of digital pianos which is ridiculous (keyboards are not digital pianos), and what they report is only so they can link you to an Amazon site to make THEM money if you buy something. These "reviewers" are as impartial as bees are to honey...in other words they will say things that gets you to buy a "recommended" piano off their Amazon web site links. If you see something like that then run away from those people as they are not there to help you, regardless of what they say. In fact, I have noticed that many of these "fake review sites"steal my content and then post a version of it on their web sites. I know this because they copy some of my blog review sentences would they would otherwise NEVER say and they could not have been able to test out many of the unique pianos that I have and then come up with the conclusions they state in their so-called reviews. It is true that imitation or downright coping is the sincerest form of flattery but unfortunately on those sites it is done solely to make money off of you without regard to what is actually true, and that does bother me!

I always recommend that you do your homework before you buy because as I said, ultimately any of these pianos may be a good choice for you. However there are definitely some models that offer more for the money depending on the price range you can be in, and if you would like my help in making your decision, please contact me as I do not charge for my advice and I do this as a labor of love:) 

***Check out my "TOP 10 "Biggest Bang For the Buck" Digital Pianos at the following link: TOP 10 "Biggest Bang For The Buck" Digital Pianos

***Click on the following link for my new, even more up-to-date review of 2020 Digital Pianos Under $1000: 2020 Digital Piano Report

If you want more info on these and other digital pianos and lower prices than internet, Amazon, Bundles, or store discounts in the USA, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call me direct at 602-571-1864

🎹 REVIEW - The Kawai Piano Company has brand new models for 2020 including the Kawai CA79, Kawai CA99,  Novus NV5, CA49, and CA59 which have some impressive upgrades over previous models. The other Kawai digital pianos including the popular ES110, KDP110, ES8, CN29, and CN39 that were out in 2019 remain the same for this year. Read our detailed review and report for more info on the latest Kawai digital pianos along with info on their new key actions, piano sound technology, and other impressive features. We think you will be impressed by what this piano company has done with these new models.

Kawai Company History

🎹 Kawai Digital Pianos | Updated Review & Consumer Report | All Kawai Digital Pianos including CN29, CA39, CA49, CA59, CA79, CA99, NV5, NV10 etc. The Kawai piano company was founded nearly 100 years ago in 1927 and its international headquarters is in Hamamatsu, Japan which is where its founder, Koichi Kawai was born back in 1886. Kawai's US headquarters is in the city of Rancho Dominguez, Southern California. Mr Kawai got his start in the piano industry by working for the Yamaha piano company back in the early 20th century and was quite famous for his inventions and designs in the piano industry in Japan and was the first person to build a complete, quality piano action there. In 1927 Koichi Kawai left the Yamaha company to start his own piano manufacturing company under the name Kawai Musical Instrument Company. Kawai is a relatively small company in the manufacturing world as compared to other companies like Yamaha, Casio, and Roland because Kawai only makes pianos whereas Yamaha and Casio and Roland are more mainstream because they make so many consumer items like audio equipment, calculators, watches , and keyboards (Casio), guitar products, recording gear, keyboards, motorcycles & snowmobiles (Yamaha). But I think it goes without saying that even though the Kawai piano company may not be quite as familiar to people outside of the piano world, the Kawai piano company has a long, impressive history in the piano business and continues to this day to build not only some impressive acoustic upright & grand pianos, but also has a big selection of high quality digital pianos. - Click on pics for larger views 

Kawai Portable Digital Pianos

Currently the Kawai piano company worldwide  has 23 distinct digital piano models (20 of them are for the US market only) which cover a huge span of digital piano technologies, price ranges, and sizes. From a low discount price of $699 ($1049 retail price) for the ES110 portable digital piano all the way up to about $12,000 price for the Novus NV10 Hybrid grand action piano. Kawai has a digital piano that can fit the musical needs of most piano shoppers and in the lower price range in the US market Kawai has 2 portable digital pianos with built-in speakers which includes the ES110 ($699US discount price) and ES8 ($1649US discount price). Kawai also has 3 models of portable digital pianos (usually referred to as stage pianos) which include the MP7SE ($1799US discount price), MP11SE ($2799US discount price), and VPC1 controller piano $1849US discount price. The VPC1 is especially unique because it has no internal sounds or functions and no buttons, sliders, knobs, or display screens of any kind on the cabinet. It's designed to be a dedicated "controller" digital piano so that you would connect the VPC1 to your iPad or computer to "control" external piano sounds (software by other digital piano sound companies) that you can buy so your external device with the external piano sounds in it is "played by" the VPC1 piano keyboard. You would connect an external audio system to your computer or iPad to hear those pianos sounds you are playing. Some people may prefer this configuration who are comfortable with computers and are OK with always needing to use a dedicated computer with added sounds for their VPC1 piano rather than have the convenience of built-in Kawai digital piano sounds already in the digital piano such as the Kawai MP11SE. I especially like the MP11SE home studio/stage pro portable digital piano because it's a great combination of solid grand piano type key action, natural, organic piano tone, and enough extra features that many people are looking for. In fact for people who own full size acoustic grand pianos and want a digital piano that gives them a great piano playing experience and one they can do privately using headphones, the MP11SE tends to be very popular with that crowd and I have had number of people (both advanced pianists and recreational players) order this model through me for those very reasons. Also, since the MP11SE is only $2799 then its price is very affordable for many people looking for a high quality digital piano in a more portable form with a relatively small footprint. The MP11SE has no built in speakers but is otherwise completely self contained with its own sounds, controls, and easy to use features. All you would need to do is to connect a pair of smaller high quality powered monitors and depending on the room size you are trying to fill with sound, good monitors may only cost you and extra $300 or so and they make the MP11SE piano sound as good if  not better than many furniture cabinet pianos that cost a lot more money than the MP11SE plus the external monitors.

Kawai Furniture Cabinet Digital Pianos

Next in line of the Kawai US digital pianos are 3 home furniture cabinet models under $2000 which can be purchased on the internet or local stores and they include the starter models KDP70 ($899 price), KDP110 ($1199 internet discount price), and the upgraded CN29 at $1949.  The KDP70 and KDP110 are both available in local Kawai stores and the internet stores but generally are more available at internet stores. The CN29 is available at just a couple US internet stores but mostly found at local Kawai stores. I think the Kawai CN29 is a very nice model at its $1949 price but if you go up just a bit to the next price range your'll get a lot more for your money in my opinion.

Kawai has 3 newer home cabinet models between $2000 and just over $3000 called the CA49 ($2299US price), CN39 ($2699 price), and the CA59 ($3099 price). The CA49 and CA59 digital pianos are part of the "concert series"and can both be purchased on the internet or local Kawai stores (assuming you have one near you). Further above the $3000 range are the new CA79 ($4199store discount price), CA99 at $5599 store discount price, CS11 ($8499 retail price but approx $6500 store price ), Novus NV5 hybrid upright action digital piano ($9999 retail, approx $8000 store price), and Novus NV10 hybrid "grand action" digital piano ($11,999 retail price, approx $10,000 store price). The newest CA79 and CA99 top concert artist series are also available in the polished ebony cabinet finishes but that particular finish adds a high premium to the cost of the piano (about $700-$800), so you need to keep that in mind. Those polished ebony finishes are beautiful and elegant and they are worth the extra cost assuming you want that "look" in your home. You would need to decide if that is worth it to you or would prefer to save a bit of money and look at the Concert Artist series in the matte finishes which are very attractive and come in at a reduced price. The "matte" finishes are called satin black, satin rosewood, or satin white and all are beautiful. I talk more about these two new CA79 and CA99 digital pianos below. If you are interested in a top performing digital piano that gets very close to a grand piano playing experience, definitely check out the new CA79 and CA99 concert series pianos.

Kawai CA99 satin rosewood

When it comes to the prices I have just mentioned, it is important to note that some of them have already been discounted by Kawai and are indicated by the word "discount" and pricing for those models are also found on the Kawai US website. A few other higher priced models are listed with "retail" prices and Kawai does not provide info on the discounts for those models on their web site. However, based on the approximate discount percentage Kawai offers on their other models I think it's fairly safe to assume a 15% discount (approximate) off retail price would be a good guess as to the actual selling price in a Kawai piano store, although you would need to actually go into a Kawai store to get that information on models that are exclusively available there and not on the internet. Even with that being said, I can help you purchase new digital pianos for less than store prices including free shipping, no tax, brand new. So before you purchase a new digital piano please contact me.

Piano Sound Chip & Polyphony

Most piano digital manufacturers have different piano sound chips depending on the price of the piano. As you go up in price the quality and authenticity of the piano sound (generally speaking) gets more realistic. The Kawai piano company has 4 different piano sound chips for their digital piano line. The way I categorize them is "good,""better," and "best," and then the fourth one which is at the top I refer to as "best plus." All of the piano sound chips are actually quite enjoyable to hear, but as you go up the piano sound chip ladder you get a higher degree of authenticity, and for more discerning players that extra realism translates to more sonic expression and enjoyment so that your piano playing experience can be even more satisfying. In terms of piano processing power, otherwise known a polyphony, Kawai offers in their US digital pianos either 192-note maximum polyphony or 256-note polyphony which is generally plenty of polyphony piano processing power to handle even the most sophisticated piano music without hearing notes abruptly drop out. Kawai does have an older model digital piano called the CL26 (and CL36 in Europe) with only 96-note polyphony which is fine for some situations but I would instead recommend you get at least 120 notes polyphony or above with full stereo piano sampled sounds as opposed to older digital pianos with 96-note polyphony or less which also may not have full stereo sampled sounds and therefore not near as authentic in tone as newer models. My favorite piano sound chip in the Kawai piano line which reproduces the most authentic stereo acoustic piano sound is found in their lower priced compact ES8 portable digital piano for just $1649. Kawai also uses that same sound chip in higher priced models which is a very good thing, but the ES8 is the lowest priced self-contained digital piano which offers this more authentic piano sound reproduction. I have done a review of that model so if you want more info on it please read my review at the following link: Kawai ES8 Review

Piano Key Action

For those people concerned with having good key action in their piano, Kawai currently offers 7 key actions (which is a lot) in their digital pianos including their newest and best which is an actual acoustic grand piano key action built into their new hybrid digital piano called Novus (NV10). The Novus key action is called the Millennium III and is taken out of a top Kawai acoustic grand piano so that when you play the Novus the key action will be the same as a fine Kawai acoustic grand piano that would sell for $20,000 or more because the Novus key action is a fully acoustic grand key action movement (minus the felt hammers) whereas all the other Kawai digital piano key actions are specifically made for digital pianos only and lack most of the actual parts of a real acoustic piano key action. Kawai has 3 different all-plastic key actions and 5 different more advanced wood key actions. In my opinion all of the key action movements in the the Kawai digital pianos are satisfying to play, depending on what your musical ability and budget is. Generally speaking the more money you pay for a digital piano the better and more natural the key action gets. This is not always the case and I can point out to you
some of the digital piano models from a few different name brands that are in higher price ranges which are not nearly as good or natural as some of these Kawai models that sell for much less money. Ultimately when it comes to key action and the way the keys feel and move...the key to picking out the right one for you should be based on your playing skill level, type of music you want to primarily play, your expectations and desires for the way the key action actually responds and moves, and your budget. There are actually real specifications as to the "weight and movement" of key actions that I can share with you so that you can get good info to make a wise decision before you buy anything from anyone. I always tell digital piano shoppers that once you buy the piano you cannot change the key action which is the most important part of any piano. You need to that right and make sure you can grow into it instead of grow out of it quickly and/or find out it is not responding correctly. It's like buying a car...you want to be sure you get a smooth transmission and a powerful smooth engine or else you'll likely be sorry you bought that vehicle. It's the same with a digital piano. Just because it looks good on the outside and has black & white keys does not automatically make it a piano that offers a good piano playing experience. That's one big thing I admire about the Kawai piano company...all of their piano models are impressive in their price range and I enjoying playing them. It's just a matter of which one is right for you.

Pedaling

Pedaling with the triple pedal system on Kawai pianos also varies depending on which model you choose. The primary pedal called the damper-sustain pedal can be lighter and firmer to press down depending on the model you choose and the sustain/decay time of the piano sound can be longer or shorter depending on the piano your choose. So even in the pedal mechanism there can be a difference among different Kawai models with some being more responsive than others and that is true as you go up the line. They all offer half-damper pedaling with controllable pedal sustain amounts to come out closer to what a real acoustic piano sustain pedal offers. The color finish of the pedals can also be different depending on the model with some pedals coming in a chrome plated finish and others in a golden brass. That kind of thing just boils down to appearance and whether you really prefer one over the other just as in cabinet colors and finishes.

Extra "Bells & Whistles"

Some Kawai digital pianos like the ES110, CN29 and KDP110 with all three under $2000 focus mostly on piano playing with only a few extra "bells & whistles" while other models such as the CN39,  ES8, CA59, CA79, CA99, NV5, and NV10 have quite a few more "bells & whistles" but still overall primarily focus on the piano playing experience.  Whether it's wireless Bluetooth connectivity, MP3/wav file song recording, 50 or more instrument sounds, 8-16 track multitrack recording, color display screens, or interactive accompaniment styles, the Kawai pianos cover a lot of ground and depending on what you want to do with your music and with your time, you can probably find what you want within the lineup of new Kawai digital pianos. Kawai also just came out with new color touch screens in their new model CA and Novus digital pianos which is very cool. I have tried out these new touch screens already and they are really nice and the only digital pianos out of all brands to have this type of user interface which is located on the left side of the keyboard. The older CA78 and 98 were the first to have these color touch screens and now that interface has been incorporated and updated into the new Kawai CA79, CA99, NV5, and NV10. Those 4 models have the same piano sound chip technology, same user interface, and share most of the same functions. This is becoming a more standardized approach to user interfaces in digital pianos and even Yamaha and Roland are going in this direction with using the same user control panel interface into a variety of models to give a more consistent user experience with their digital pianos. The Kawai CA59 for $3099 (don't you just love how everyone uses those "99's" instead of rounding it off to $3100, etc:), which is an impressive model for that price, has a button controlled user interface display screen and the LCD is a  blue screen like some of the Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos, but it is still fairly intuitive. 

Important Shopping Tips

My suggestion for deciding on what model digital piano will best fit your piano needs is to decide how much the person playing the piano really likes music, how much they like being around music, and if they (or you) would actually like to play a piano along with what you are willing to spend to get the "right" piano for you and/or your family. If you already play the piano then you should decide, based on your available budget, how real of a piano playing experience do you really want to get? How natural and organic do you want the piano to be as compared to a real acoustic piano, and also how much volume and richness do you want out of the internal digital piano speaker system for the room, home, or building that the piano is going into? Also, a lot of people have different needs when it comes to the actual cabinet, cabinet design, cabinet color, moveability, and portability of the instrument itself. These are all important questions when deciding on the best piano for your needs and for your budget and the Kawai company with its 15 available current models for the US market should be able to cover most bases for most piano shoppers. However, one of the things about a single company offering so many models (Kawai is not the only one) is that it can definitely get confusing for the shopper (you) after a while because sometimes there is more than one model in the same price range and perhaps even 3 or 4 models in a similar price range from the same brand and you are left to figure out which one would be best for you...and that's not counting digital pianos in a much higher or lower price range that you might also like to consider. My favorite Kawai digital pianos under $2500 selling price, which is where most shoppers want to be in terms of price, is the Kawai ES8 portable digital piano with optional furniture stand and triple pedal lyre and the newer Kawai CA49 at $2299 matte black finish with an new all-actual wood baby grand style key action with triple sensor system including escapement/letoff function and an impressive piano sound reproduction in this lower price range. The two newer model CN series called the CN29 and CN39 have improvements over the previous CN models with the speaker system sounding better and the user interface control panel being improved to be much more intuitive to use than before with easier to read & understand OLED display screens replacing the older style technology. At $1959 for a CN29 and $2699 for a CN39, those discount orices puts these two pianos in the more popular price range using their popular RH3 weighted (plastic) piano key actions. Combined with the popular "wood key action" models CA49 at $2299 and CA59 at $3099, those 4 digital pianos along with the ES8 would be the "bread & butter" of the Kawai digital piano lineup.

The new Concert Artist CA79 & CA99 and Novus 5

The brand newCA79 & CA99 recently came out as of early March 2020 and have been upgraded from the previous CA78 and CA98 with even more realistic "wood key actions" called Grand-Feel III as compared to previous models. The new key actions move smoothly, are more refined, are quieter, and really give you a sense that you're playing a grand piano. The static down-weight measurement of the nearly 14" long wooden white keys is about 53 grams which is just like a real grand piano in terms of finger force applied to pressing down the key (at middle C). So the action for both the black & white "all wooden" keys feels great, plays like "butter" without creating hand, finger, and wrist fatigue, but yet is expressive with excellent weight distribution from the front of the keys to the backs of the keys. This was my personal playing experience on this new Grand-Feel 3 key action and I was impressed. The upgraded piano sound chip in these new models is using a combination of the latest physical modeling technology and sampling which gives a very immersive piano playing experience, even to the most demanding players based on my playing experience with this model. Utilizing an all new and improved ONKYO speaker and amplifier audio system with better sound dispersion, these 2 new models have impressive internal sound systems that are difficult to beat. I have already played these 2 new models extensively and unless you are very picky you will have a difficult time trying to get off the bench and stop playing...these new models are that good. There is a redesigned color touch display screen for both of those models for easier navigation to access the many features in these models including new Bluetooth audio streaming. The CA99 has a smaller size "wood soundboard" in the back of the piano like the previous CA98 (see above left pic) to further enhance the piano sound with attached transducer microphones attached to that soundboard....and the resulting "organic" sound is noticeable. Pricing for the CA79 is $4199 for the matte rosewood, black, and white cabinet finishes, and $800 more for the polished ebony version. The CA99 is $5599 for the matte rosewood finish, black or white finish, and $800 more for the polished ebony finish at $6399. We will have a separate review for the new CA79 and CA99 coming soon. The new Kawai Novus NV5 at approx $8500 discount price is the upright piano version of the current NV10 Novus "grand action" piano. The new NV5 utilizes the same piano interface, sound chip, and overall speaker system of the CA99, but the NV5 has an actual full size upright piano key action taken directly from the top model Kawai acoustic upright piano. So what you get in this piano is a smooth and "buttery" key action response that is exactly like a real high-end acoustic upright piano because the key action is identical to a Kawai upright piano with the exception of metal rods replacing the felt hammers so the piano sound responds correctly to the "hammer movement" utilizing state-of-the-art optical sensors that are able to correctly sense all 88 keys and their motion with varying degrees of velocity. With an accurate fully formed acoustic key action that has absolutely real upright key motion and response along with a huge sound coming out of this impressive internal speaker system, the natural feeling of key movement and piano sound  you get when playing this model is amazing, and I have played it many times. Even the pedaling response is "real" as the pedals move a spring assisted damper rail with actual felt dampers (although there are no strings in the NV5) that recreates the motion and feel of play "real" acoustic piano pedals. If you want a more compact but elegant piano for your room with the latest digital interface features, but you want the best piano playability and performance you can get anywhere in a new digital piano under $10,000, the Novus NV5 may be the perfect piano for you.

Final Thoughts

Kawai NV5 - interior key action

At the end of the day it is true that one digital piano company cannot cover all of the bases when it comes to musical needs and budget of the digital piano shopper That's why there are other top name digital piano manufacturers out there like Yamaha, Casio, Roland, Korg, Samick, and others who offer something different than Kawai which may or may not fit your needs better. There are also digital piano makers who produce very poor playing and sounding pianos that I do not recommend, and although they may look good on the outside, they are not necessarily good on the inside and can create a variety playing problems than a person realizes. I call that kind of a digital piano a "Piano Shaped Object" (aka: PSO) and I advise people to stay away from them if at all possible. Those brands have pianos which have made-up names that are really just cheap technology and construction in a cabinet that appears to be attractive on the outside but can cause long term headaches with regard to the piano playing experience. Those pianos names come from companies like Artesia, Suzuki, Williams, and others. Unfortunately, I have seen people buy these kinds of digital pianos before and then later on realize how bad they can be in terms of trying to play them like a piano. So I recommend you go with the name brands that I mentioned above and you will likely be very happy for a long long time. The Kawai piano brand is definitely worthy of your attention and it is certainly one of my favorites. They make great acoustic grand and upright pianos played by professionals and piano teachers around the world and their digital pianos use cutting edge piano technology to recreate a very impressive piano playing experience in just about every way possible...plus the cabinets look great too. If you want more info on Kawai pianos or even lower prices than Amazon, Internet, local store, etc, then please contact me before you buy anything from anyone...you'll be glad you did!

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW & COMPARISON - September 1, 2020 | Clavinova Digital Pianos | The Yamaha CLP-635, CLP-645, and CLP-665G mini grand which I have reviewed in this blog post are just being replaced by new upcoming 2021 models called the CLP-735, CLP-745, and CLP-765GP mini grand and they all have a few upgrades/improvements in them. However, the discount selling prices remain the same as the discontinued CLP-600 series. The CLP-735 in the matte finish colors are $2699 internet price and in polished ebony is $3199 internet price. The CLP-745 comes in a variety of matte cabinet finishes at $3499 internet price and also in polished ebony at $3999 internet price. The new CLP-765GP mini grand piano comes in a polished ebony at $5499 internet price and in a polished white cabinet finish at $6299 internet price. If you want to learn more about these 3 new Yamaha CLP-700 series then please read my recent review at the following link: Yamaha CLP-735, CLP-745, CLP-765GP Review. 

*Just so you know, this is a good opportunity to get a "closeout reduced price" on any remaining CLP-645 models that may still be in stock at selected Yamaha dealers. Whenever a good selling model is discontinued then this kind of thing can happen but it just depends if there are any remaining. Please ask me for more info before purchasing any digital piano from anyone.

CLP635 simulated dark walnut

The following info is my detailed REVIEW of the just discontinued Yamaha CLP-600 series including the CLP-635, CLP-645, and CLP-665GP. The reason for me doing a comparison review about these three specific models is because they are the most popular Clavinova models that Yamaha produces and they are (were) also in the lower price range of Clavinova models, with the exception of the mini-grand being a bit over $5499. The other 3 higher priced Clavinova 600 series models share the same control panel, same acoustic piano samples and polyphony, and overall operate pretty much the same way as the models we are focusing on here with the exception of the basic entry level CLP-625 which I am not discussing in this review. I also want to say the reason I am including the CLP-665GP mini grand in this review, which is at a higher price, is because the CLP-665 is identical to the lower priced CLP-635 in every way except for cabinet (obviously) internal speaker system, and Bluetooth connectivity. So the CLP-665GP is really a CLP-635 in a different and highly upgraded cabinet with a more powerful internal speaker system and an extra connectivity feature which I discuss later. Having the mini grand version will definitely look very elegant in any room assuming you can fit it in, but it will cost you more money. If you want to spend even less money and be in a lower price under $2000 then check out my review of the Clavinova CLP-625. Although it is basic in design, it does put out an impressive piano sound and a good volume in a nice looking cabinet.


Yamaha has been producing the Clavinova digital piano series for many, many years and they have a good reputation for being high quality instruments. However in past years I have not been very fond of the piano sound in any of these models because they just had an overly digital tone to them...they just did not sound real to me at all and did not have good resonate sustain and longer decay piano tone. Beyond that the previous control panel operating system was not user friendly, difficult to operate in selecting the functions you wanted, and the black plastic material on the control panel looked cheap and scratched easily. So I was quite surprised when I saw and played these new CLP-635, CLP-645, and CLP-665GP pianos because they looked better and had a much different, more natural piano sound due to a new technology that Yamaha previously only had in their more expensive Clavinovas and now has it in these lower priced models. The technology is called "Virtual Resonance Modeling" and it calculates the actual real time as you play the actual tonal response that a grand piano would offer throughout the body of the piano, the interior of the piano, the way all the strings vibrate in a real piano when the hammers hit different strings at different times, and so on.

What all this means is that because of the new piano sound technology in the CLP-635, CLP-645, and CLP-665GP, the pianos just sound more natural and organic and not as "digital" like they did before in previous models. Yes, they are still digital pianos and certainly won't sound exactly like a high quality acoustic grand piano, at least not yet, but these new models have certainly improved in the area they were most lacking. For someone who has not had much experience with a real acoustic piano or even if you are an advanced pianist, then you should easily be satisfied with the piano sound of these new models. Beyond the piano resonance modeling, the tonal dynamic range of the piano sound when playing the keys from soft to hard (slow to fast) has gotten better, although still needs some improvement in my opinion because acoustic pianos still have a wider range of tonal expression as compared with these digital pianos. However there are editing functions such as brightness control, touch sensitivity control, etc which allows you to "tweak" the sound expression so that the dynamics can be adjusted to be even more expressive and in that way the piano expression (tonal dynamic range) can become wider and larger...something that is important as you become a more advanced player. For beginners or  recreational players, all these things such as resonance, dynamic range, expression, etc, will not be important yet because beginners have many other things they need to learn before they ever get to these more serious parts of the piano sound and playability. But once they do progress in their playing abilities, then this CLP600 digital piano series will deliver the kind of tonal expression that students and musicians alike expect out of a good piano.

Yamaha makes a big deal about having two professionally recorded super wonderful (they would want you to believe that of course:) grand piano samples of their real concert acoustic grand pianos in their new Clavinovas which they call the Yamaha CFX and the Bosendorfer Imperial. Both of these acoustic pianos are incredible instruments in real life and sound great. But to translate that into a digital instrument is not easy and the results are sometimes not so good. These two piano sampled recordings were in the previous models as well, but in the previous models and as I mentioned earlier, I felt the pianos sounds were just too digital in how they came out of the internal speakers and also headphones. The Yamaha piano sound in the previous clavinova models was better than the Bosendorfer piano which did not sound real to me at all. In these new 600 models the two piano sampled recordings for some reason (could be the new resonance technology) sound much better and more precise both through the internal speaker systems and through headphones. They have a much more natural tone to them that I enjoyed playing and even the Bosendorfer piano sound which is the more delicate and mellower of the two, was much more realistic which was nice to hear. With 256-note polyphony piano processing power and the ability to edit the piano sounds in different and more intuitive way than other digital pianos, I believe that most people will really enjoy the acoustic piano sound experience in these new models and those two piano sampled recordings are in all models of the the new CLP600 series with the exception of the basic model CLP-625 which I talk about in another review.

The feel can differ greatly from one to another in acoustic pianos and they also differ from one model to another and from one brand to another in digital pianos. The CLP-635 has an all plastic key action that is (slightly) graded in weight from left to right and has a certain "feel" when pressing down the keys. The key action on the new CLP-635 is the same in weight and feel as the previous CLP-535 so that has not changed. The key action also has what's known as "escapement" function which is a slight hesitation when slowly pressing the key down to the bottom and just before getting to the bottom you would feel this hesitation or notch which is trying to duplicate the experience of a grand piano because grand piano key actions do this and this function can be helpful when playing slowly and giving you more control over the key movement and sound, especially if you are an advanced player.

It is important to note that in my opinion this "escapement" function on the CLP600 series just doesn't feel right to me because it's so light and almost non-existent even when playing softly. I've played literally thousands of high quality acoustic grand pianos in my pro music career and I believe I know what this "escapement" function is supposed to feel like, and in all of the CLP600 series the escapement just feels a bit fake to me, not realistic. Hey that's my opinion for what it's worth and this so-called escapement function (other digital piano brands have this feature as well) really doesn't matter at the end of the day to most people and does not diminish the positive piano playing experience I had overall with these Clavinova pianos in any way. Oh, and just so you know, the "escapement" key feel does not exist in real upright acoustic pianos (you cannot feel it in regular uprights) and thousands of families own real upright pianos (Yamaha makes some great ones) and I enjoy playing them very much. So basically in my opinion, you can just overlook this feature because even Yamaha says in their literature that you have to play very lightly to feel the escapement function at all and in acoustic grand pianos it's really not like that based on the top grands I have played. Besides, even the other digital piano brands who say they have this "escapement or let-off" feature in their key action don't come close to what it really feels like because they are all very limited imitations of the real thing. So I recommend you do not get overly concerned about this:).

OK...now that we're through dealing with the key action feature called escapement, I need to mention something very important with regards to key action and that's the "down weight" of the piano keys or the "feel" which I mentioned a bit earlier. The key action "down-weight" simply means how much pressure it takes from the fingers to press down the keys...also known as finger "touch weight." Being that the new CLP-635 has the same key action with down-weight as compared with the previous CLP-535 which is also the same key action that's in the mini grand version CLP-665GP, the down-weight is the same in those pianos which in my opinion may be a bit too firm for some people when pressing down the keys as compared to a real good grand piano or even some good upright pianos...at least that's the way I felt about it. Down weight is actually measurable with lead weights that piano technicians use to determine if the key action is too stiff, too light, or just right! This does not mean the Yamaha CLP-635 and 665GP key action is not going to be enjoyable to play for many people because regular acoustic pianos can have slightly heavier/firmer key actions as well. It just means that you should understand what you would be getting because to me the key action may be a bit fatiguing to play after awhile unless you have stronger finger muscles or just prefer a slightly firmer key action which some people do.

CLP645 wood keys

However, in the CLP-645 model, the key action is different than the other two in that the inside of the key is made out of natural wood rather than plastic and is balanced a bit differently to give it a somewhat lighter, more responsive feel as compared to the CLP-635 or CLP-665GP mini grand version. I feel that the CLP-645 is a bit more expressive and more enjoyable to play because of its lighter all wood keys and key movement especially over long periods of time as compared to the CLP-635 firmer plastic key action which Yamaha calls GH3. So one of the upgrades and advantages in the CLP-645 is the key action and the way it feels and moves. In my opinion if you can afford to go up to the CLP-645 over the CLP-635 (and that certainly does bring up the cost quite a bit) then that's what I would personally recommend because of that difference in key action, but there are other reasons such as the internal speaker system, but we'll talk about that later. Also with regard to the key action, both the GH3 plastic version and the lighter wood version are very quiet when it comes to any key action noise that is heard when the keys move which is not true of some other brands and models. However, all keys in key actions make some noise when they move up & down but the Yamaha key movement in the Clavinova models are fairly quiet and durable in construction and this also makes for a good piano playing experience.

Also in all of the Yamaha keys actions they have an electronic triple sensor system under each key that allows more more rapid response and recognition when playing keys in a repetitive fashion, especially if you are a more advanced played. Triple sensor key actions have becomes standard in most digital pianos these days so unlike a few years ago when many pianos had less then three sensors per key, today's key actions mostly have this feature even in very low price ranges. So although this is a very good feature to have, it really is not special anymore and has mostly become standard and normal in many digital pianos. This is also true for the synthetic textured ivory and satin ebony key tops digital pianos these days. This is a nice feature that allows the key tops to help absorb sweat from the fingers and it also looks classy too the way that regular acoustic piano keys used to be many decades ago. The Yamaha synthetic ivory and ebony is especially nice in the way it feels to the fingers.

The pedaling on these pianos is quite good and works like a real acoustic piano in having the sustain/damper, the sostenuto, and soft pedals. The pedals are full size and the damper pedal can trigger what is known as "half-damper" pedaling allowing for smoother and more natural sustain when you are holding your damper pedal down in different positions. Also and as I talked about before, the sustain decay time (the length of time the sustained not keeps going before it dies out) is noticeably much better, fuller, and louder than in previous models and this adds to the overall realism of the piano sound and piano playing experience. This extra decay time was really good especially on the middle and upper octaves of the notes where sustain and decay time is normally weaker and more difficult to achieve in digital pianos. So this was a big upgrade in natural sound especially when playing more legato with sustained tones.

There are "extra "bells & whistles" in the CLP-635, 645, and 665GP just like in previous models with additional non-piano instrument sounds such as strings, organs, electric pianos, harpsichords, etc with a total of 36 instruments and those orchestral instruments do sound good, not cheap like some other digital pianos I have heard. Any two instruments can be layered and combined together which can make your music sound even better, split the keyboard at any point with one sound on left hand and one on right hand, or one piano sound played by two people independently at the same time which is called "duo piano" and useful when two people are practicing the same song at the same time and want to have the same notes. The 600 series pianos also can record up to 16 different (MIDI) tracks using up to 16 different instrument sounds one at a time for composing and song creation and then play them all back simultaneously which is fun. The CLP-635, CLP-645, and CLP-665GP mini grand version both have 20 drum rhythm patterns now which helps with rhythm and timing and also makes it more fun to play more contemporary music with a "virtual drummer." Previous models with the exception of the previous CLP-545, did not have this feature. There is a also 1-track wav file audio recording to record how you actually sound when playing a song and then you can save that in a USB flash drive (just like with the 16 track MIDI recording) and then transfer that audio recording on to your computer for further work in software programs or conversion to MP3 file for playback in personal devices.

There are other useful but common electronic features such as reverb, chorus, and brightness control, but one feature which Yamaha has in these lower price models that other pianos do not is something called "Piano Room" which is directly accessible from the control panel buttons. So...picture a room in your mind that has a virtual grand piano in it, or maybe an upright piano, or whatever kind of piano you choose. The room size could be bigger or smaller, there could be less or more natural acoustics in the room, you may want to raise or lower the lid of your virtual grand piano or quickly change the touch of your piano. With the virtual "Piano Room" control you can now design your own custom piano sound and room environment very quickly so that you can make your own custom Yamaha or Bosendorfer piano. This is a pretty cool feature and is also found on the more advanced and higher priced CVP700 Clavinova series although the Piano Room controls are much more extensive on those models. I like the fact that Yamaha has included their virtual Piano Room feature in all of their new CLP600 series (with the exception of the lower priced basic CLP-625) because it offers intuitive control and performance over the acoustic piano sound which is very nice.

In the previous models two of the things I definitely did not like at all was the material used on the left side button control panel and also the operation of the control panel as I mentioned in the beginning of this review. On the CLP500 series there was shiny black plastic materiel on the left control panel and it was just cheap looking and didn't hold up well in my opinion. In the new models Yamaha has listened to my complaints (no doubt among others) and replaced the poor quality plastic with a new satin black material which looks like it won't scratch, won't leave fingerprints, and just looks more expensive and classier.  This a very welcome change and it's nice to know that big piano manufacturers are sometimes willing to admit their mistakes and move on to something better, which in this case Yamaha definitely improved this area of the piano. Apart from this new control panel material and aesthetics, the control panel buttons and functions have been revised to be much easier to see, easier to use, and operationally more intuitively. These two control panel upgrades apply to all the new 600 series models with the exception of the basic CLP-625. So even in design Yamaha has made some noticeable improvements and it's these things that help make the overall package more impressive.

All three models here have good connectivity features including dual stereo headphone jacks, audio inputs and outputs jacks, MIDI connectors, USB flashdrive input, and USB to host output connector. However this year the new CLP-645 and CLP-665GP mini grand also have Bluetooth audio connectivity which will allow you to play your music from external Bluetooth music devices such as your mobile phone, iPad, etc through the piano speaker system to allow for your music to have a fuller more impressive speaker system to play through as well as being able to play the piano live along with your song being heard through the piano. This is a very cool feature and one that more people are wanting and more manufacturers are starting to include in some of their digital piano models. When it comes to connectivity these new CLP600 models offer most (but not all) of the functions people are looking for. It is good to be aware that the Bluetooth feature isnotavailable on CLP600 Bluetooth models sold in certain countries. This is because of local and/or national regulations that prevent wireless Bluetooth transmissions from being included in products. So please refer to the Yamaha Clavinova owners manual for more info on this subject.

When using headphones for private practice Yamaha has also upgraded this experience with new electronics they call "binarual sampling." What this technology does is allows for the piano sound coming from the piano through any good quality stereo headphones to sound more natural. When listening to a real piano your ears hear the sound in a multi-dimensional way where the sound is not just exclusively coming into your ears left & right, but you also hear the sound with respect to distance, position, up, down, behind you, in front of you, and all around you. A regular headphone experience cannot do this but some digital piano companies now, including these new CLP600 series offer this more organic listening experience so that the sound seems like it is being heard naturally, almost like you are not wearing headphones at all. This makes the headphone listening experience more authentic, more comfortable, and more "alive." If you are going to be using headphones with the piano to play in privacy, then you will like this new binaural headphone experience.

One of the most noticeable differences in these three Yamaha models is the internal speaker systems. The CLP-635 has 2 larger speakers and 60 watts of total power going through its 2 amplifiers in stereo and offers plenty of power and bass response along with a good frequency range. However the CLP-645 is upgraded as compared to the CLP-635 with 4 speakers and a total of 100 watts going through 4 amplifiers and offers and even greater range of frequency response and harmonics with this upgraded system and there is a noticeable difference between the 645 and 635 models in this way. The CLP-665GP mini grand version which otherwise (except for cabinet and Bluetooth function) is the identical piano to the CLP-635 in every other way has an internal speaker system with 4 larger speakers and a total power of 70 watts going through 4 separate amplifiers. So it will have a better sound system as compared to the CLP-635 and the speakers can project the sound upward like a little grand piano and it does sound good, but the CLP-645 has the best speaker system of the three models, so it just depends on what you can afford to pay and what you want.

All of these new CLP600 series pianos I mention here have attractive cabinet designs with front support legs for the upright styles in a variety of attractive matte finishes along with the more expensive polished ebony finish (also polished white in the mini grand) with adjustable music racks, nice sliding key covers, and a comfortable matching bench included. My favorite cabinet finish in the upright style is the new "dark walnut" color which doesn't actually look walnut or brown but instead looks like a slightly whitewashed grey with hints of brown in the grain (as you see in my above pics of the pianos)...very attractive and contemporary and can likely match a variety of interior designs. The regular satin black and rosewood finishes are always nice as well along with the more expensive polished ebony. Those CLP635 and CLP645 upright cabinets in satin finish measure approx 57" wide, 18" deep, and weigh in at 123 lbs for the CLP635 and 132 lbs for the CLP645. All three models have sheet music holder clips that can pop out of the lower area of the music rack which can help hold pages in music books, etc. The CLP545 has attractive solid metal clips vs the CLP635 with dark plastic clips. The Yamaha factory 5 year parts & labor warranty is a good one and long enough to take care of the piano which over the years has shown to be very reliable and durable based on all my experience with them.

I did want to mention that I have people contact me all the time looking for a high quality digital baby grand in a reasonable price range and they want to know what I suggest. There are really just 4 price ranges for digital grand pianos, depending on their size and construction. You have the "under $2000" which is typically occupied by inferior brands and models of digital pianos when it comes to authenticity, especially with key actions, piano sound, and pedaling response. Those brands in my opinion can include Williams, Artesia, and Suzuki to name a few. Then there are digital pianos priced at between $2000-$4000 which tend to be larger in size with more powerful internal speaker systems and those models can include Williams, Artesia, Suzuki, Kurzweil, and others with a couple of those models being OK but many are not. Then there are the digital grand pianos between $4000-$7000 which include Samick, Yamaha, and Roland. All of those brands are very good with certain ones offering a more authentic piano playing experience while others may be good but also offer more interactive "bells & whistles" than other models. Then there is the price range of over $10,000 which is occupied by Yamaha and Roland. All of those models in that price range are really impressive but they better be great considering how much they cost! There are not near as many offerings in the digital piano industry as far as digital grand pianos go as there are in the traditional upright size cabinets whether those cabinets are compact or fuller traditional furniture type cabinets. Musically speaking you can normally (with few exceptions) get more for the money and it probably would cost you less money if you go with an upright style digital piano (vertical cabinet) as opposed to the baby grand style digital piano...but then you would give up the elegant and professional look of the baby grand style and many people want that look in their home, church, school, etc. So it just depends on what you want and how much you are willing to invest to get it.

Speaking of investing, although Yamaha does offer a nice single size matching padded bench with the digital mini grand pianos, you can also order (from some dealers) an optional grand piano artist bench instead, but the price of those benches cost substantially more money as an upgrade. However those benches can really make the CLP665GP look like it belongs on a concert stage! Again, it just depends how much you are willing to invest to make the purchase the best it can be in your price range. As I have previously mentioned, the CLP665GP digital grand has all the digital and piano playing attributes of the lower priced vertical CLP635 along with the Bluetooth audio feature of the CLP645, so if you want and need a baby grand style and have to stay in the price range of between approx $5500 to $6300, then as far as Yamaha goes, this is the only option. If you are after a great looking mini grand shaped digital piano with natural piano sound, very usable functions and a solid, durable key action at a reasonable price range, then I do recommend the Yamaha CLP665GP either in the polished ebony ($5499 internet discount price) or polished white finish ($6299 internet discount price). They look great, fit in smaller spaces very well, and they have that beautiful Yamaha concert grand and Bosendorfer concert grand sound that I have previously discussed here. *By the way, if you needed to spend a bit less money than the Yamaha models on a digital grand piano, but still wanted a quality instrument then I would recommend you consider the newer Samick SG500 and SG120. Those two digital grand pianos have some impressive features and you can read more about them on my review: Samick SG500/SG120 Review

Also, Yamaha does have their impressive proprietary iOS app for iPad called "Smart Pianist" which is an exciting way to interact with these digital pianos in ways that make it easier to control the piano functions along with adding some interactive sheet music, songs, and instructional features that are sure to get your attention and increase the enjoyment you'll have with these pianos.

There are other things these pianos do including having built-in piano songs, the ability to load new MIDI piano songs through a USB flasdrive, and a few other features, but the main focus of the CLP-635, CLP-645, and CLP-665GP is for people of all skill levels to play piano on. My preference for the CLP-645 when it comes to a vertical upright cabinet as compared to the others because of the more expressive key action and upgraded internal sound system, but overall all three models are enjoyable to play and can be a good investment for you and/or your family. They definitely look good too but I would recommend you do your homework so you can purchase the piano brand, model, and be in the price range that best fits your needs. However, please contact me first before making any buying decision on any piano and I can tell you how to save even more money than internet pricing whether it be local stores, Amazon, or internet stores if you are in the US. If you want to learn about the higher priced Clavinova pianos CLP-675, CLP-685, and CLP-695GP then please read my review of those models at the following link: Yamaha CLP-675, CLP-685, CLP-695GP Review

UPDATE:Yamaha has a newer line of specialty Clavinova digital pianos called CSP which includes the CSP150 and CSP170. These newer supercharged digital pianos are basically taking the CLP-635 and CLP-645 and stripping them down of much their digital technology and display screen to make them look even more minimalistic with just a couple buttons and adding a brand new technology called Smart Pianist (I just mentioned that app a little earlier) which is like having the CLP-635 and CLP-645 on steroids with new superpowers that will amaze you. This app works differently with the SCP models as compared with the CLP model. Of course this new technology does add to the price of the CSP pianos but for many people these new models will be more than worth the price of admission to get literally thousands of new features and functions that will enable you to interact with music in a way you may not have thought possible. To learn more about these two new models please read my review at the following link: Yamaha CSP150 & CSP170 Review

Casio Celviano AP-710

Finally, there is a new digital piano by Casio that recently came out called the AP-710 which in my opinion is giving the lower price Yamaha CLP-635 (now upgraded to the new CLP-735) at $2699 some big competition in terms of piano key action, acoustic piano sound, pedaling response, internal speaker system, functionality, and cabinet design. The new AP-710 is priced lower than the new Yamaha CLP-735 at just $2499 and comes with matching height-adjustable bench and 5-year factory warranty and a new piano sound chip which includes the German Bechstein grand piano sound, Austrian Bosendorfer grand piano sound, and Steinway grand piano sound. Although I love the Yamaha brand and many of the pianos they make, if you want a great new digital piano and wish to keep the price under $2500, this new Casio Celviano AP-710 should definitely be considered and actually I personally like it even more than the Yamaha CLP-735 with regard to key action, piano sounds, and internal speaker system. Please read my recent review of this model and let me know what you think! As with all digital pianos please contact us to get even lower pricing than Amazon or internet with free shipping, no tax, brand new. Casio AP-710 Review

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

NAMM Show January 2021 is Canceled due to Covid 19! 1st Time Ever!

For the 1st time ever and due to Covid 19 restrictions and limitations, the National Association of Musical Merchants will not be meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center for their January 2020 Music Trade Show Convention. Thousands upon thousands of people go to this musical instrument trade show from all over the world and nearly every musical instrument manufacturer displays their latest and greatest products there in the massive Anaheim Convention Center and Arena. But unfortunately the upcoming January 2021 show is canceled.


The NAMM show is the place where the music dealers, musicians, and related music companies, manufacturers, suppliers, and services meet together to see the latest creations coming into the music products and services industry. Although this is a private show not open to the public, the industry people who attend can have a "hands on" experience with all of those exciting things and talk with each other in person to share ideas and find out what they need to further their business, make sales, and hear some great music. Millions of dollars will be lost because of the NAMM cancellation for local hotels, restaurants, Disneyland which is nearby, Airline travel, staff who would have been employed there, and all the money that changes hands inside this private trade show for products and services.


Names like Yamaha, Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, Roland, Casio, Taylor, Korg, Marshall, and the thousands of products including percussion, woodwinds, brass, strings, pianos, guitars, keyboards, audio equipment, computer music software, accessories, and so much more. Whatever you can think of and wherever in the world it is made, those people and companies would have been there. It's a great shock to have this huge show canceled and not have a chance to visit with music industry friends or have the chance to try all these products in person all in one huge place.


Hopefully the summer 2021 NAMM trade show in Nashville, Tennessee will still be on when the time comes in July 2021. Although that trade show is much smaller in size and depth of product, perhaps it will grow on account of the January NAMM international show cancellation in Anaheim, CA. In the meantime the new product introductions that people would have seen on-line from the January NAMM show will have to wait until you can go into a local store later in the year 2021 and see them in person or get video demos sporadically as they come out. It's a musically sad time when the huge NAMM show has to be canceled but there is musical light at the end of the tunnel!

REVIEW - Kawai DG30 Mini Digital Grand Piano - The new Kawai DG30 is the very 1st mini digital Grand Piano from the famous Kawai piano company in their company's history. They have had much larger digital grand pianos in the past that cost significantly more money, but this is the first one that is in a compact size and in a lower price range than before. The DG30 at $7499 retail price just is 34" deep which makes it one of the smallest mini grand piano out of all the major brands of digital pianos who make a digital grand piano. Only the Samick SG-120 mini grand piano is smaller at approx 32" deep. So if you have a smaller space in your home and want to fill it up with a great digital piano that has the "look" of a grand piano then the new Kawai DG30 could be the perfect instrument for you. Even though this new model is not available for purchase on-line in the US, it is just starting to show up in a few Kawai piano stores. I will say right up front that the $7499 retail price of this instrument is far too high and not realistic in my opinion. I don't know why the Kawai company has this high of a "list price" but personally I would not pay attention to it because list price is ultimately meaningless in today's "on-line retail world." It's what you can buy it for at a discount price in a store or on-line that really counts. My best guess is that this model will definitely be less than $6500 at most Kawai piano stores who carry this model and most likely less than $6000. It is just being released in very small quantities right now and likely this model will sell out pretty fast based on the way it looks and what it does.

KAWAI COMPANY HISTORY

Long ago and far away the Kawai Piano company was founded in Hamamatsu, Japan in 1927 which makes them nearly 100 years old. Kawai has been producing high quality acoustic grand pianos, upright pianos, and digital pianos of all types and they are exclusively a musical instrument-piano manufacturer unlike other digital piano companies such as Yamaha and Casio who produce consumer products including motorcycles, cameras, calculators, etc. The Kawai piano company has their products in over 80 countries and even produce specialty lines of acoustic pianos for the famous Steinway Piano Company. The founder of the company, Koichi Kawai, was born and lived in Hamamatsu (I have personally been there) and originally was an apprentice for a (later to be famous) neighbor of his who was a watchmaker and organ builder. My Kawai then later went to work for that neighbor's piano research & development team because that neighbor was none other than Torakusu Yamaha, the original founder of the Yamaha Piano Company. Yep...Mr Kawai and Mr Yamaha were neighbors and that's how the piano business got started in Japan. It certainly pays to have good neighbors! Mr Yamaha died in 1916, his piano company eventually went on to become world famous, and not too many years later after Mr Yamaha died, Mr Kawai started the now famous Kawai Piano Company and the rest was history as they say.

 DG30 PIANO KEY ACTION

Typically when piano companies come out with a new model like this one and it is in a small baby grand cabinet, the functions are features usually are not new and come from technology they are already using in their other models, and this is the case for the new DG30. The DG30 is using the most popular and best plastic key action that Kawai produces called the RH3 ivory-feel key action with counter-weight technology and let-off/escapement. The RH3 action moves quickly and does not require a heavy touch so that your hands and fingers will not get fatigued when playing for long periods of time. In fact, of all the major digital piano brands who make digital grand pianos, the DG30 definitely has the lightest touch overall but is certainly not too light. In fact the measurable touch-weight on middle C requires approx 58 grams of finger force to press down the key, which is very close to a real grand piano in terms of down-weight so that is a very good thing. On the lowest priced Roland, Yamaha, and Samick digital baby grands, the amount of finger force required is over 60 grams and upward to 80 grams which is still good and enjoyable to play, but would require a firmer touch. Kawai also produces a few wood key actions where the keys themselves are made of wood and are longer in length, like a real acoustic piano, but those models also cost more money. Although I would like to have seen a wood key action put in the new DG30, the plastic RH3 key action with counter-weights is plenty good enough for most people. Given that this key action has some impressive components with the grand piano style let-off function, synthetic ivory key-tops for the white keys, and a natural feel to the key movement, I think most people will really like the DG30 key action.

 DG30 PIANO SOUND

The next most important thing in any digital piano is the actual piano sound itself. The sound in the DG30 is derived from sampling technology which means recording a real acoustic grand piano and putting it in the sound-chip. This technology has been around a long time and it requires special microphones placed near and inside a real acoustic grand piano to capture the piano sound at different playing levels, velocities, and resonances and that final recorded "sample" is looped and placed in the piano sound chip within the main circuit board and what you hear then comes through the speakers of the digital piano and also through stereo headphones. The Kawai company records/samples in stereo a few different Kawai grand pianos in different sizes with noticeable and smooth tonal differences so that you can get a variety of acoustic piano tones to be used for different types of music such as classical, jazz, pop, etc. I think Kawai has done a very good job of capturing an expressive grand piano sound and it is definitely enjoyable to play with good, smooth dynamics, wide tonal range, and sustained resonances.  The maximum piano polyphony memory in that sound chip is 256 notes of polyphony which is more than enough to play even the most complex piano music so Kawai did a very good job with their piano sound chip and the way it replicates an acoustic grand piano sound.

 DG30 PEDALS

The pedal lyre pedaling system on the DG30 looks like it does on a small acoustic baby grand and is more than adequate in performance and does replicate the feeling you would get on a good acoustic piano when pressing the pedals. Kawai uses a proprietary pedal system called Grand-feel pedal system which tries to replicate a grand piano pedal playing experience where the pedal offers more resistance as you press down the damper pedal so you get the physical feeling of pressing down real pedals along with the pedaling sound experience too. The pedals include the damper-sustain pedal, sostenuto pedal (rarely used these days), and the left soft pedal to lower volume on individual notes when necessary. The damper-sustain pedal does have the "half-damper" effect which offers progressive amounts of sustain depending on how far down you press that pedal and the sustain point is also adjustable. so it is definitely a nice system.

 INSTRUMENT SOUND LIBRARY

When it comes to the available sound library on these digital piano, some brands have a lot of added instrument sounds along with the acoustic piano sounds, and the the Kawai DG30 is no exception. There is a whopping 355 total instrument sounds which you select with sound category buttons below a display screen which include a big variety of acoustic grand pianos, acoustic upright pianos, electric pianos, strings, choirs, pop, rock & jazz organs, church & pipe organs, harpsichords, mallets, bells, accordions, guitars & banjos, flutes, brass (trumpets, trombones, etc), woodwinds, reeds (saxes, oboes, clarinets, etc), synths, special effects, individual percussion, and more. Kawai has even provided 100 realistic sounding drum rhythm patterns including Rock, Jazz, Latin, Blues, Big Band, Swing, Country, etc so that you can play along with a "real" drummer which also helps with rhythm and timing in more of a fun way. I have done this kind of thing many times and I recommend it for my students. I also find that having these extra instrument sounds enhances the playing experience and musical enjoyment that a person can get out of these types of pianos. As a long time musician and piano teacher I believe that the more fun you can have playing music, the more you will want to do it. Also, who said that a "piano" should only play a piano sound? A piano really is just a "vehicle" to musical enjoyment and interaction and having a large library of exciting musical instruments (besides piano sounds) can go a long way to making your music playing experience even better than it may have otherwise been...especially for kids and I have taught thousands of them. Can these extra instruments and drum rhythms be "distracting" to the music you're playing?...maybe, but only if you let it or don't use it correctly. But it can make it so much more fun to have these things at your fingertips to make even more music than you thought possible.

 GENERAL MIDI

Beyond all these instrument sounds is the fact that this DG30 is General MIDI compatible. General MIDI is the industry recognized format by which 16-track MIDI song files can be played back. There are thousands of General MIDI song files available to purchase on the internet and some are even free of charge although those free song files may not have very good arrangements. General MIDI songs can be downloaded onto a USB flashdrive, plugged into the DG30, and then those songs will play "live" through the piano just like a player piano using the live instrument sounds built into the piano, only the keys don't physically more. The advantage to these special GM song files is that they can sound exactly like the song itself with original instruments such as the movie theme from Star Wars, a Christmas song, a popular jazz tune, a famous classical orchestral piece, a Beatles song, or whatever it is you can think of and then you can play live piano along with that song, slow the song down so you can play along at a slower speed while learning it, or even mute out one of the instrument tracks so that you can be the lead player instead of letting that recording do all the work. You can even transpose the key so that if you sing along it can be in a key that is better for your vocal range. There are a number of ways to use General MIDI song files including for educational learning purposes. General MIDI song files are not like the regular MIDI song files which can normally only play back single instruments like piano. General MIDI format plays back all the parts using the original instruments being played correctly including preset relative volume settings, EFX, and other parameters.

 RECORDING & PLAYBACK 

Beyond the General MIDI song playback system is the ability of the DG30 to record your music on 16 separate tracks recording up to 16 separate instruments one at a time and then playing them all back simultaneously so that you can hear your completed, finished "masterpiece" and arrangement! In other words, you can create your own song one instrument at a time recording each instrument on top of the other until you use up all 16 tracks using any 16 instruments from the instrument library on the piano. So let's say you want to arrange and record an orchestral recording of the "Star Wars theme...well you can do that on this instrument and record the strings, brass, woodwinds, reeds, percussion, and all other instruments and save that recording and store it on a USB flash drive. You can also save a MIDI recording as an audio file to be played on an external device. To make matter even more exciting, you can record yourself as a direct audio wav or MP3 recording and save that file to be played back later along with being able to take any audio song from your iTunes or other song library and playlive on top of that famous song that you like and have your live part recorded into the song your are playing back. In other words you can be a new member of that band or orchestra and record your part in real time along into the song that is playing back and then you save your part so that you can hear yourself playing your part of that song and you instantly become a "member" of that group and are in that song...permanently if you wish, to be played back whenever you want to from a USB flashdrive! Yikes...this piano does a lot of cool stuff!

EXTRA FEATURES

It's been my experience as a long time piano teacher, musician, and advisor that most people who get these digital mini grand pianos do it primarily to focus on piano playing. Yes, there are a lot of "bells & whistles" that some of these pianos have as I have already mentioned, but if the piano playing experience is not real, then the all those bells & whistles are meaningless in my opinion. So given the fact that this new DG30 does have what it takes to be a good very "piano," then what does it offer with regard to even more of those extra "bells & whistles which can be useful depending on what you want to do with your music? Let's start with the standard features that pretty much all digital pianos have such as layering/combining 2 instrument sounds together at one time for each note played, splitting 2 different sounds with one on the left hand and one for the right hand, being able to have a 4-hand mode that digitally splits the keyboard in half so that 2 people can play the same song with the same notes coming out in the same octaves even though one person is on the left octaves and the other person is playing on the right octaves. The DG30 also has a digital metronome to help with timing so that you can "stay on track" when trying to stay with the beat and this kind of feature is very helpful and is adjustable for time and tempo. You can also transpose your music on the DG30 so that you can play the song the way it is written but hear it come out in a different key which can be helpful when someone is singing and you want the music to come out in a better vocal range. When you use these features and make your own "setting" you can then save those custom settings into 16 "user registrations" and be able to retrieve them anytime you want to without needing to create them all over again. Having 16 memories for storage is very useful, especially if you are playing live in a church, performance, or somewhere else where having instant recall of your favorite settings would be important.

VIRTUAL TECHNICIAN

I've already talked about the huge instrument sound library this piano has along with the capability of playing General MIDI song files. But there are some really cool proprietary features this piano has that I like a lot which include being able to edit and customize the acoustic piano sounds in a myriad of ways (Kawai calls this feature "Virtual Technician") such changing the touch curve, individual note voicing and changing the tonal characteristics of the piano sounds, more or less damper resonance & damper noise, string resonance, pedal sustain-decay time, individual note volume, stretch tuning range and other organic elements of the piano sound. Once you make these adjustments you can save your settings into memory to instantly recall it later. So you have a choice of playing the Kawai factory piano presets which are very good or customizing those sounds to your individual musical tastes. Kawai also has a proprietary app for iPad where you can connect your iPad to the DG30 and access all these very cool Virtual Technician features from your color touch screen. This is a much more intuitive way of using these features and will also give you quicker and more control over your piano sounds.

 CONCERT MAGIC

Other proprietary features include the Concert Magic system which allows the very beginning player, even as young as 2 years old, to get a real sense of what playing and interacting with music is really like and hearing and seeing themselves "play" the piano. The Concert Magic feature has been used in other Kawai digital piano models over the years and it's definitely one of the most fun features I have ever seen in a digital piano and it is actually useful for music educational purposes in learning rhythm & timing, getting a sense of what accompaniment does and how it sounds, and also learning finger position and hand movement. The Concert Magic feature makes a person sound waaaaaay better than they really are so it is engaging and even a bit addicting which is not a bad thing because it makes you want to play the piano and that is good for any person at any age. Concert Magic has 176 songs built into it and you can "play" and interact with these songs in different ways depending on the mode you choose to use and many of the built-in songs are quite familiar to lots of people so you should recognize them which makes it even more fun to use. As a piano teacher I highly endorse any system that will motivate people to want to play music and keep them interested while learning different aspects of play piano while you are actually playing on the keys. Whether you are 2 or 92, using the Concert Magic feature is a very cool way to have musical fun and enjoyment.

 PIANO EDUCATION & LESSON FUNCTIONS

With regard to educational features and functions in the DG30 mini grand, Kawai has included large libraries of digitized audio music from popular piano curriculum. These song libraries include such notable titles as Alfred's Basic Piano Library Lesson Books, Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course, Alfred's Premier Piano course from their lesson books, Burmuller Etudes, Czerny Etudes, Chopin lesson book songs, and more. All you have to do is purchase the appropriate lesson/songbooks (which are easy to order on-line) and then you'll be able to use all the songs for those books that are built-in to the DG30 and be able to listen and play along with those lesson books and also be able to isolate the left and right hand of those songs independently so you can learn the left hand and right hand separately while being able to listen to and play along with those parts. You can also slow down the tempo of the lesson songs while trying to learn them and even setup the lesson song to repeat any portion of it continuously so you can practice that part alone, especially if you are having trouble playing that part. It's definitely a helpful learning course and educational system if you take advantage of it. The Alfred piano course has been popular for decades and used by piano teachers around the country, and to be able to actually hear what those lesson songs sound like and be able to play along at your desired tempo is a very good learning tool and I recommend it.

BLUETOOTH WIRELESS 

Having Bluetooth wireless connectivity seems to be a big deal these days and having it as part of a digital piano is no exception. The DG30 has both audio wireless streaming capability and MIDI wireless connectivity so that you will not need direct cables for connection to external devices such as mobile phones, tablets, or computers. Bluetooth audio wireless allows you to connect your tablet or phone to the piano wirelessley and hear your favorite music be streamed live through the speaker system of the DG30 piano. In this way you can play piano live along with your favorite song coming out of the piano speaker system and sound like you are a live part of that band or orchestra. Essentially you are using the piano speaker system to hear songs from your external digital music library. The Bluetooth wireless MIDI function allows you to connect wirelessley to your iPad or Android device (or computer) so that you can interface with music educational apps and other related apps to better learn how to play piano or to use certain apps to enhance your piano playing enjoyment. Without Bluetooth MIDI you would just connect special cable to your external device but it can be less of a hassle without cables so the Bluetooth MIDI connectivity takes care of that. This is the first time that Kawai has had both of these technologies in a digital grand piano.

STEREO HEADPHONE FEATURES

One of the big advantages of digital pianos is being able to practice in privacy by wearing stereo headphones for silent practice. This means you will be able to have a grand piano sound experience in your ears when playing the keys but no one else will hear you. This is one of the big reasons for owning a digital pianos because then you can play anytime you like even if other people in the home are sleeping, resting, watching TV, etc...you won't disturb them. For people practicing the same song over and over then hearing that repetitive song can get a little "old" after awhile for some people so wearing headphones takes care of that. Or perhaps you are a bit embarrassed when you are practicing your music and don't want others in the home to hear you...then practicing privately with headphones is a great solution to that problem and it encourages longer practice sessions as well. When it comes to using headphones for kids, make sure you get something that is not supper high quality or expensive because young kids tend to wear out or "break" headphones after a while. But for adults, the better the headphone comfort and sound quality the more enjoyable your piano playing experience will be. Kawai has added to that listening experience by including a very impressive digital  headphone feature called "spatial headphone sound" response (aka:SHS) which enhances and changes the depth of the piano sound you are listening to through stereo headphones by moving the "positioning" of the sound either more forward in your headphones or making it a wider stereo sound field left and right. You can make these changes very quickly or leave it in the normal stereo position which in many cases is all you'll need. You can use any stereo headphones for this feature although the better the headphones are, the better your piano playing experience will be.

INTERNAL SPEAKER SYSTEM

Speaking of the piano playing experience and the sound you hear, the internal speaker system of any digital piano is an important aspect of the piano sound you hear. When the internal speaker system is done properly, is powerful, and has high quality components, your listening experience will be that much better. The DG30 has two 4" speakers and two 5" speakers going through 2 amplifiers producing a total of 40 watts of power. Two of those speakers are projected out the bottom of the piano and the other two going up through the inside top of the piano in the soundboard area. The speaker system was designed and produced by the Onkyo audio company which is a well known audio company. Most digital piano companies tend to design their own speaker systems but in the case of Kawai they decided to have an actual pro audio company do the DG30 speaker system and audio circuit boards for them and the result is fairly impressive. The Onkyo sound is a good one overall but there are some shortcomings.

When it comes to digital piano internal speaker systems the quality of the audio components is just as important as quantity in the specifications. Nevertheless, I would have preferred to see a sub-woofer of some type in this model along with additional audio power and extra amplifiers especially given the retail price of $7500. Typically in this retail price range and then is discount price range, the audio power of the internal speaker system can go anywhere from a low of about 70 watts and upwards to 150 watts and more with either larger speakers and/or more amplifiers and more speakers. As an example, the new Yamaha 45" deep digital grand piano has 4 speakers but 2 of those speakers are 6" size and the audio power has 4 amplifiers producing a huge total of 184 watts of power as compared with 2 amplifiers and 40 watts of total power in the DG30. So that Yamaha model is a monster with regard to their internal speaker system as compared the the Kawai DG30. I think if Yamaha can do that with their digital grand piano which is priced at $5499 internet discount price, then Kawai could have done that too. But for most applications and a variety of room sizes the internal speaker system of the DG30 should be adequate and do the job. Also, because of the lower total wattage the DG30 has a low power consumption rated at just 20 watts which is good.

USER INTERFACE CONTROL PANEL

To keep the look of this mini baby grand cabinet as minimalistic as possible, Kawai is using a new digital OLED interface with control buttons so that you can navigate the features and functions in a more intuitive way. Other brands of digital pianos have LCD screens with buttons and some of them have color touch screens rather than using buttons at all. Kawai has color touch screens on some of their vertical upright digital piano as does Yamaha, including a couple of Yamaha digital mini grand pianos. However, OLED screens are a newer technology that makes the display screen much clearer, brighter, and easier to read so having that technology is a very nice improvement for the user. I like using the OLED display control panel and accessing the various features doesn't take long to learn. The display screen also does not have to be on all the time so it can go dark just like your personal phone & tablet devices which makes the piano look even more like a piano and less "digital."

 AUDIO & MIDI CONNECTIVITY

As far as internal and external connectivity Kawai has done a good job with that part of the piano because not only does it have the Bluetooth wireless audio and MIDI connectivity, but the DG30 also has 2 stereo headphone jacks consisting of one full size 1/4" and one 1/8" mini jack which allows for a variety of headphones to be plugged in. This piano does not have wireless Bluetooth headphone connectivity nor does any other brand or model of digital piano because of inherent latency-delay problems with that technology when using headphones and playing in real time. Other connectivity jacks include standard MIDI in & out, two 1/4" output jacks, two 1/4" input jacks. I would have preferred to see the addition of a stereo 1/8" input jacks so that you could easily connect a personal device from their 1/8" mini output jacks which many of them have, so in this day & age of digital technology that omission was not thought out very well. The DG30 also has USB output connectivity so that you can interface with an external computer or other digital device where wireless Bluetooth would not work. Finally, the DG30 has a USB flash-drive input which other digital pianos have and this is important if you want to save your song recordings or input new songs into the piano for playback such as MIDI song files or MP3 and wav audio files. Overall the connectivity features in this model are very good and physically accessible underneath the piano. It's also good to know that you can connect any external audio device and use the piano as a stereo speaker system in which to hear your favorite songs so that can be a bonus to people who do not already have a good stereo speaker system in their home.

PIANO CABINET AND DESIGN

The cabinet design and polished ebony finish of this new Kawai DG30 is actually quite attractive for its small size. The measurements of the cabinet is 58" wide x 35" high (not including music rack) x 34" deep and it weighs in at 174 lbs. Due to its small size and relatively light weight it is fairly easy to assemble with at least 2 people doing that job. The small size of the cabinet usually means there may be something lacking in trying to replicate the look of a real grand piano because many of these smaller size mini digital pianos either do not all 3 legs, don't have an actual wood interior, or don't have both lid opening positions short, and fully open to a taller height. The DG30 has all of these features including a short height and full height lid opening position, all three support legs, and a wooden interior. The piano also has a regular music rack with a 3 position angle adjustability along with a sliding key cover. On real acoustic grand pianos the key cover is normally a fold down type of cover most commonly called a "fallboard" which is an upgraded key cover, but the DG30 has the more traditional upright piano style key covers which pulls out and slides over the keys. However, in the world of digital pianos this sliding key cover is very common in digital grand pianos and also seen in the other brands such as Yamaha, Roland, Samick, and others. Ultimately a key cover is there to cover and protect the keys and this one in the DG30 does a very good job of that, especially considering the smaller cabinet size. I also like the attractive and realistic looking polished wood "soundboard" inside the piano and the fact that it makes it look like a real grand piano. Some brands have an all black a dark brown interior. But in this model that interior wooden board looks just like a real piano and therefore gives it much more eye appeal and authenticity in my opinion. The interior wood is then finished off with a soft black velvet rope outlining the soundboard as you can see in the photo. This mini grand piano has really nice lines, beautiful polished ebony finish just like they make in their full size acoustic grand pianos, and a matching bench. The bench is a matching basic single size bench although it does have some storage space for sheet music & books. I would have much preferred a more upgraded grand piano type adjustable bench, especially in this price range as it would have been more impressive and more practical...but I guess you can't have "everything" even though it would have looked a lot more impressive that way.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In the final analysis the bottom line is this: I believe the new Kawai DG30 is a worthy competitor to the other big piano brands with digital grand pianos and with this model being one of the smallest along with being especially attractive, it will look great in any home and with almost any decor. It's good to be aware that as of now this new model only comes in polished ebony and no other color or finish. The features and functions in the DG30 are plentiful and you will likely never run out of fun and exciting musical things that you can do on this piano. But most of all it is an impressive mini baby grand for focusing on the "piano playing experience" with a responsive quick moving piano key action, realistic dynamic piano sound, and enjoyable pedaling that will do the things you need it to do. The only thing I wish were different is for the internal speaker system to have been more powerful with higher wattage, more amplifiers, and a sub-woofer type speaker added on so it could put out a fuller, richer, clearer piano sound and volume even when playing the notes/keys more lightly and softer. But...there is even a good way to get improvement in that area if you ask me about it. I would recommend this piano to anyone looking for this type of instrument and there is also some introductory discount pricing going on the DG30 right now that is well below the factory/store price, so you need to ask me about that as well and I can direct you in where to find it.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW -  July 1, 2020 - The ONE Smart Piano (digital piano) - $1299 internet price - Semi Recommended - "Semi Recommended" means there are better digital piano options out there for the same or less money. Many people all around the world want to play piano and it's a great thing to do and a big passion of mine. With all the music in my family and how much of a blessing that has been for all of us, I encourage everybody to learn to play piano. There is a digital piano called The ONE Smart Piano and in this review I will be referring to this instrument as The ONE. Why is this digital piano called The ONE? It's my best guess that the makers of this piano want it to be the one piano that helps you really learn to play piano and do it faster along with having more fun while you are learning as compared to all other digital pianos in its price range. Learning to play piano however requires a lot of effort, motivation, and a certain amount of training with some one-on-one help, regardless of what anyone may otherwise tell you. So after playing this new piano many times, I have written this lengthy unbiased, in-depth review to help you understand what this new product really is.

The first thing that needs to be considered is the piano itself. In other words, what is the One Piano? The ONE is a digital piano that has been out a number of years already and can be found at just a few stores on-line such as Guitar Center. This piano has just ONE piano sound built in, one adjustable electronic metronome function, an on/off power switch to the right of the keyboard, 2 headphone jacks underneath the piano (which is good), and a USB to device connection on top of the piano all housed in an attractive imitation satin black walnut cabinet (pictured above) and is also available in satin white. Both cabinet finishes come with 3 built-in piano style pedals and a sliding key cover. The piano has no other buttons or functions apart from both knobs being mounted on the left of the keyboard, and the piano sound is projected through 2 main speakers and 2 small tweeter speakers going through 50 watts of power, according to the owners manual. So the functionality is extremely minimal and no other digital piano in this price range I know of has such basic and limited features considering the normal internet selling price for this instrument is $1281, so on the surface, that price would seem pretty high for what you get.

The stereo piano sound in this model was supposedly recorded from an acoustic grand piano like many of the other brands and models which are done that way. Although the piano sound (which is in stereo) is somewhat basic, I actually liked it and it's not bad at all, although it is no better, and in fact not as realistic as the basic portable 88 weighted-key digital pianos offered by Yamaha & Casio such as the new Yamaha P-125 ($599 internet price) or the  Casio PX770 ($749 internet price). In other words, although The ONE piano sound on this piano is definitely acceptable for beginners and maybe for piano players who just don't have much experience with real acoustic pianos, it's not anything special and nowhere close to the authenticity of other digital pianos in this price range when it comes to realistic organic quality piano sound. The piano sound chip in the ONE is also just 64 note-polyphonic which means how many notes can be played or heard at one time. Polyphony is actually sound processing power and when you have a stereo piano sound, it takes up two notes of polyphony for each key you play which means the maximum polyphony of a 64 note polyphony chip is only 32 notes maximum using the stereo piano sound. Most digital pianos in this price range these days have 120 notes of polyphony up to 256 notes of polyphony processing power to handle more advanced playing along with being able to easily layer and play two sounds at one time, so The ONE is on the low side. As I just said, depending on your piano and musical background you may not know if this pianosound sample is a good one or not and if it is good enough for you because you may have little experience with real acoustic pianos and how they actually sound and behave. In the $1000-$1500 price range of new digital pianos, any of the new models by Roland, Kawai, Yamaha, and Casio are far more authentic and inspiring in my opinion with their more advanced piano sound chips in every way including having string resonance vibrations, overtones, damper resonance, a much greater dynamic tonal range and other natural occurring piano elements in the tone. Without those natural occurring elements, the piano sound in The ONE sounds more "digital" than the major brands. So just keep that in mind when considering the one piano sound in The ONE piano.

The key action of The ONE is a 88-key piano style weighted action which is actually OK in terms of its key weight and movement and overall I do like it, but it is definitely not a grand piano key action as advertised by them. The key action moves and responds more like an acoustic upright piano (which is fine), and although the white keys move pretty nicely, the black keys do not. They are heavy and stiff to push down and not at all like a real acoustic piano. The heavier weight and resistance of the black keys can create a fatiguing situation for the player (as they progress in their playing ability) and this key weight is something which unfortunately cannot be altered. Some people may see extra resistance in the keys a good thing, but not when it's this much stiffness and not when that weight (resistance) is out of balance with the weight resistance of the white keys. The white key tops on The ONE are shiny white plastic and they do not use the newer synthetic ivory key tops that are on other brands these days. That's not a bad thing but it's worth mentioning. Another issue with the key action is that it is noisy. What I mean by that is when the keys are going up & down, especially the black keys, they make a lot of ambient clunky noise, especially when playing the keys harder. Actually I have heard much worse key action noise coming out of other Chinese digital piano brands such as Artesia, Suzuki, and Williams, but the key noise in The ONE is still loud enough to be distracting, especially when the master piano volume is lowered and you can more easily hear the key noise. Also after playing the white keys for a longer period of time over many days, some of those keys seem to loosen up and become even more noisy, sounding somewhat plasticky and clacky. If you are using headphones with the piano, then the only thing you'll hear is the key action and then the key noise will be more apparent and annoying. When it comes to key action, that is the number one thing you should consider in any digital piano in this price range and it needs to be stable, fairly quiet (even the good ones make a bit of noise which is normal), and should have proper weighting (resistance) and movement for both black and white keys. So as far as key action goes, I like it and I don't like it, if you get my meaning...but it is definitely not anything like playing a real acoustic grand piano, and I did not expect it to be that way.

The ONE has 3 piano pedals which physically move (more or less) like an upright acoustic piano. They are nickel plated, look attractive and function OK. However, there are a couple of issues that bother me with regard to the pedaling and one of those issues is that the pedals themselves are too high off the ground as compared to many name brand digital and acoustic piano pedals. This may not seem like a big deal but it does cause the foot to get somewhat fatigued as the ankle and foot needs to start from a higher level in pushing the pedals down, and for me, that higher angle is just not comfortable , I can play on almost any piano pedals and do well, but it doesn't mean I like it, and on this one I really don't like that higher position. Even though there are three pedals, pedaling involves primarily using the right pedal when sustaining a note or multiple notes. Digital piano sustain pedals can either have an on and off switch in the pedal which is how most inexpensive keyboards work, or they can have half-damper control which offers more levels of sustain (not just on & off), or it can have continuous detection pedaling which offers incremental levels or amounts of sustain as you depress the pedal (such as what Roland digital pianos do). The on & off switching is OK for beginning piano students or players, but is not good as the student progresses with their playing and they want a natural piano sustain sound experience and response like they would get on a real acoustic piano. Without having a half-damper or continuous detection sustain control over the piano notes, the piano sound itself can become choppy, more digital sounding, and overall create an uninspiring and more digital sound experience when using the pedal rather than a more natural and inspiring piano playing experience. This is something I noticed right away about the damper/sustain pedaling and it did bother me. All of the major brands have, at the very least, half-damper pedaling control on their furniture style digital pianos starting with the Casio PX770 cabinet model ($699 internet discount price).

The speaker system in The ONE is good with 50 watts of power and produces a fairly loud tone. But even with 4 speakers (2 small & 2 larger) and 50 watts, the quality of the sound is just OK as compared to other digital pianos I have played in this price range and the sound is a bit muffled and mid-range without a lot of clarity. I did expect the 50 watts of power to be a bit louder and fuller than it actually was, and in fact, it is no louder than the slightly smaller 40 watt speaker system in the Casio PX870 ($999 internet price). So it's not about the so-called wattage power rating or speaker quantity, but in the audio world it's about performance, component quality, decibel levels, and other audio aspects that creates a better piano playing experience and overall volume . In reality The ONE sounds much better through a good pair of good headphones, but that's also true of other brands and models.

The ONE is touted by this company as being the best digital piano in its price range to learn to play piano. Actually what really sets this piano apart from all others in this price range is a set of nicely hidden red & blue LED lights which are underneath a black plastic strip above the keys. These lights are activated by learning programs that reside in a special tablet App called The ONE Smart Piano App. I connected my iPad Air to The ONE using a supplied connecting cable from the piano to my iPad Air. The ONE has a clever small flap in the top of the piano behind the music rack which hides the connecting jack for an iPad/Android device. You just connect the cable to this USB input and run the cable around to the front of the music rack and plug in your device. Although The ONE does not have wireless capability, the wired connection it does have and where it is located helps in reducing unneeded cable and also allows for a more intuitive connection process because of the location of the cable input. When you want to disconnect your tablet device, you just unplug the cable and flip the small lid down over the connecting box which hides it inside the piano top. It's a really cool idea and I like it. I wish other digital piano companies thought of this idea because it's a good one and makes wired USB connections so much easier to do. The Smart Piano people are pretty smart when it comes to this design:).

As for the App itself, that's where everything happens. The ONE Smart Piano App has functionality which shows sheet music from digital lesson books which include standard practice methods, classical music, and Ragtime, among others, and allows the songs or practice drills to be played at any speed you choose within the App. Also, the playback note on the iPad/Android sheet music along with the follow along lights on the piano will pause and wait until you to press the correct piano key, if you choose to do it that way. This is a very useful training method but is not new to the follow along light systems such as what Casio keyboards and some Yamaha pianos have available. As the song plays in The ONE App and the music is being displayed on your tablet, there are color marks that highlight each note on the music which is playing back so that you can see where you are on the music at all times. As the notes are being played and you are trying to follow them, the lights above the keys on The ONE piano are also lighting up to coincide with the sheet music notes so you can visually see on the piano the notes you are hearing and seeing on the music, although you obviously need to look down at the keys to see the lights which takes your attention away from the music and what's happening there. You can also independently adjust or mute the left and right hand song volume in the App which allows you to balance or change volumes when necessary, which is a useful feature. If you want to revert back to the beginning of a song you can instantly do that with a control in the App. Another useful App feature is being able to record yourself as you are playing the song and then play your recording back. As your recorded performance or practice session is playing back, not only can you hear it but you can also see the lights above the piano keys light up which shows you what keys you actually played, and that can be helpful to actually see your mistakes besides just hearing them.

As I just mentioned, following along with built-in lights on pianos is not new and has been used in pianos and keyboards in the past years including a number of lower priced Casio models. Yamaha currently uses follow-along lights on some of their latest digital pianos and all of the controls are on the pianos themselves, but those instruments start at about $4000 and go up from there, so they are not cheap! The difference here is that The ONE Smart Piano is in a much lower price range but is also completely dependent on its App and the digital lessons to send the timing and placement of the note in an electronic signal for the proper light(s) on the piano to light up when the notes are being played in the music. Following the moving lights is definitely fun and can give a person a sense of accomplishment right away, especially if they have never played a piano or keyboard before. The more you see the music being highlighted in your iPad or Android and see the lights on the piano to indicate the proper key(s) to play, the easier it can be to repeat that. So there's no doubt this system can create some motivation to continue to want to play. However there are some drawbacks to this method of learning with combining visual LED lights above the piano keys along with moving sheet music notes on the tablet, all at the same time. So what may appear to be fun and helpful in the beginning can later possibly be used as a crutch, so to speak. So it's always good to think about how you or a child should be learning to play piano.

Also in the App are video lessons given by a professional piano teacher by the name of Joseph Hoffman. I happen to personally know this teacher on a professionally basis and he definitely knows what he's doing when it comes to piano lessons and performing. Joseph has put together an extensive video course of piano lessons for beginners (on up) of all ages and the lessons are well done, easy to follow, and instructive, and best of all...FREE. His teaching method is a step by step process in learning to play piano and understand the fundamentals including fingering and position, hand and note exercises, technique, rhythm & timing, key movement, and music theory among many other things. Joseph makes his video lessons available to the general public and anyone with a computer or tablet can download them, so you do not need The ONE to get his lessons. However, The ONE has the synchronized red & blue moving lights that add an extra element of visual note recognition which other digital pianos don't have. During the video lessons whenever Joseph is teaching a particular playing concept, the lights on The ONE piano are synchronized to light up as Joseph plays the keys of his piano in the video. This is actually pretty cool and allows you to see on The ONE piano where the notes are as well as watching the keys on the piano in the video. This is a nice idea and can be effective. Joseph Hoffman also has written materials that go along with his free videos but those materials do cost money but are worth it in my opinion and I recommend them. But remember, the goal of any good piano teacher is to get a person to be able to read music and not be conditioned to look down at the keys and lights.

The ONE Smart Piano App also provides access to popular current and classical songs (at a cost) and there are some video tutorials as well a visual non traditional method of playing (more of a game mode) which displays vertical color bars in various lengths that drop down in a waterfall effect on the appropriate virtual piano keys. The moving color bars define the rhythm and timing of the song and is similar to Guitar Hero and Piano Magic and those Apps/programs use a comparable way of displaying a quick non-music method (game style) of playing notes on the keyboard. This can be a fun way of playing keys and having the result be recognizing a particular song without having to actually read music. However, this type of game is available on other Apps as well, although they are not tied into the follow along lights on the piano. There are also ear training exercises on the app which allow you to listen to notes and then you have to identify where they are on the keys and it gives you a hint if you don't know the answer and where to put your fingers. Notes are displayed as well as hints, and learning to play by ear is a good thing and can help a musician play music without the sheet music in front of them! It's not that difficult to do, you just need to know some of the secrets behind it:). The visual LED lights on the piano do light up on the note that you are trying to play by ear, so you can see where it is on the music and on the piano. In this exercise, seeing the light above the keys can actually be a good thing when learning where notes are located doing ear training exercises. It is also important to know that The ONE offers video lessons such as the Billy Joel song above left. However those lessons are not setup for the LED lights so those lessons are just going to be through watching the videos and their waterfall bars on the keys within that video only, and not using the lights on the piano. The songs on the game mode can not adjust for a slower tempo so unfortunately have to be practiced and played at full normal speed, so these things are limitations in the software.

Within the Smart Piano App is also a special digital instrument sound library which offers access to 128 different instrument sounds that can be activated and played by simply selecting a instrument on your tablet touch screen from the list including strings, electric pianos, brass, winds, guitars, and other instruments, and then when you play keys on The ONE piano, that sound will play. This is a very nice feature and allows you to have access to more than just the one piano sound in The ONE piano. You can hear these instrument sounds individually or layered together with a piano sound coming through the speakers of the piano. You can also split two sounds and have one on each side of the keyboard such as piano on the left and harpsichord on the right. The ONE App also allows for editing of the instrument sound library including adding effects, reverb and changing the transposition key, and all of it done from a tablet touch screen which is pretty cool. All of these features are fine if you are connected to the App, but the piano itself only has the one piano sound and an adjustable digital metronome. So when you are not using your tablet you cannot access any of these functions from the piano itself. Although I do like the extra instrument sound features in app and they can be useful and do a good job for what they are, quick access of instrument sounds and functions being built in to the piano is not possible on The ONE.

A very cool feature of The ONE that I find quite useful is the ability of the USB cable connected to a tablet to transmit audio data directly into and through the piano speakers. This means that unlike a traditional USB/MIDI cable connected to a digital piano that doesn't transmit audio signals, the audio portion from any app in a tablet, phone, or other device can be heard through The ONE piano speaker system because of their upgraded USB connectivity. If you want to hear and play along with your iTune song library from your iPad or iPhone going through the piano, you can do that without the need for any an additional audio cable connection. However, the one drawback is that when you play iTune songs from a device connected in this way instead of through a regular audio cable plugged into an audio input in the digital piano (assuming it has one), that device (iPad, etc) volume control will not work at all and you are limited to using only The ONE master piano volume control. If you intend to play along with the piano while your iTune or other music plays back through the piano, you will not be able to lower the piano volume without the device volume (controlling your iTunes) also being reduced in volume at the same time...so that's not a good thing and means the piano volume may normally be too loud relative to the playback song volume. This was my experience when I tried it. Other Apps with their own volume control did work independently from the piano, but not the device volume for iTunes and the piano has no other inputs or outputs for separate audio connections.

As far as the piano cabinet construction and design goes, as I mentioned near the beginning of this review, the cabinet looks fairly attractive and has front legs on it as well. It has a back privacy panel which goes approximately half-way up the back of the piano which is about normal for a variety of digital pianos in this price range and is nice to have. The piano itself is made of particleboard also known as MDF pressed wood, with a photo-paper vinyl veneer over that board which gives the piano its imitation satin black walnut (or satin white) appearance. But make no mistake about this cabinet...it is not "solid" wood, solid core wood with real wood veneers, or any other kind of real wood as you might be led to believe otherwise by The ONE web site. It's an imitation wood looking cabinet, but nevertheless it is quite attractive in my opinion with good construction. The ONE company claims their cabinet was designed in Finland and if this is so, then that does not really impress me. Although the piano exterior is fairly attractive as I mentioned, it is not using expensive materials, but this is true of many other pianos brands so it's not unusual. Normally I wouldn't have to point this out, but The ONE company is making a claim that this piano has a "wooden body." I don't know what their definition of wood is, but in my book a wooden body does not mean MDF board, particle board, press wood or anything less that solid core wood with actual wood veneers. If you look at the 2 pictures to the left above, the first photo is of the piano cabinet with key cover closed. The second photo is a view directly underneath the keyboard showing a speaker grill pointing down towards the floor. The material surrounding the speaker grill is definitely not solid core wood and this MDF material is what the entire piano cabinet is made out of which as I said, most other digital piano companies also use these days. The piano does have a nicely designed (non-wood) music rack and sliding key cover to protect the keys. The ONE digital piano has an optional piano bench available for an extra cost and although I have not personally seen this bench yet, it's probably fine as most digital piano benches go.

Here is what you should know when shopping for a digital piano and especially with regard to The ONE. Piano lessons can be expensive and if you are paying for more than one person taking lessons (child or adult), then the cost can be prohibitive for some people if taking traditional private lessons. In some areas in the US and in many other parts of the world, access to pianos and lessons is very costly and fewer families can afford it. So coming up with a cost saving solution with regard to the cost of lessons is a very good thing...and I fully support it for people who need to stay within a lower budget. I am a long time piano instructor in group and private lessons and have taught thousands of children and adults over the years and obviously know what it costs them for lessons. One student taking a 1/2 hour lesson once a week from a qualified teacher for 1 year currently averages approximately $80-$100 per month in the US whether you are taking lessons in person or on-line as many people are doing now. After one year of lessons you would have paid approx $960-$1200 just for the year, not counting the cost for the music books and sheet music. In just two years you would have paid $1920-$2400...and that's just for one student! If you have two students taking lessons then you can figure out the math for that cost, not counting the cost of a piano for home practice!:). Of course, many types of lessons are generally in this price range for children or adults...painting, sports, etc...and some cost even more money. Paying for things that you want or need is not unusual but it's just that paying for piano lessons is considered more of a luxury by some people and not a necessity, and that's where digital pianos and on-line lessons come in.

The ONE piano company obviously has a goal of getting more people involved in playing music on their new piano by using the follow-along light method coupled with their proprietary APP that you download for free once you have purchased their piano. The upside to all this is that The ONE is FUN. You can watch and listen to the music, hear vocal help with which finger to use when following the lights, and have control over the song speed, volume, and other aspects of practice and playing. So in the beginning it would seem as if The ONE was indeed the one:). But as fun, useful, and motivating as it all might seem, there is one thing that I cannot escape and that is...the follow-lights are just above the keys, which may seem good, but also may not be good. To see the lights you must look down at the keys and that may seem OK...but in the long-run it is not OK. This is because the goal is for you or your child to learn to  read music and that music is in front of you, whether it be on your tablet device or on a regular piece of sheet music. Reading music does take time but is not difficult if you are using the right method. Getting into bad practice habits is an easy thing to do if your eyes are always looking down at the keys where the lights are. If you are constantly looking down, not only is that a bad position for your neck, head, and eyes, but you may likely not be inclined to actually look straight ahead at the music. I like the idea of hearing the song play back, having control over the tempo of the song to slow it down, and even looping certain parts of the song for practice, but not at the expense of getting into poor playing habits and posture. I am NOT necessarily talking about having to play and practice in a "traditional way" with "traditional music scores and lesson books." I am talking using technology including tablets to help you learn to play in the correct way but yet for you to be highly motivated, have fun, play cool songs and stimulating arrangements of traditional songs and do it all for a very low price and at the same time have a very good digital piano.

A big issue I have with The ONE is that it is just a very basic digital piano with no built-in options other than one piano sound and a metronome. Given that it only has one piano sound on it (apart from what the App offers) and that one piano sound is not near as authentic as compared to the name brand pianos such as Roland, Casio, Yamaha, Korg, and Kawai in this price range, then you are really paying a lot of money for the app and getting a very average digital piano for the price which includes the pedaling and overall key action just being OK. The difference is, of course...the ONE App. So what you really need to ask yourself is..."what is this ONE App worth to you?" That's what it really boils down to in my opinion because without the App, The ONE follow-lights don't work and then what you are left with is an overpriced basic digital piano. Also, if and when you get to the point where you are not using the App for playalong and learning with lights or for other reasons, then what you have is an overpriced basic digital piano with a name that few people know or recognize which can reduce any resale value The ONE might otherwise have had. As I said before, The ONE is quite attractive to look at (although it's a simulated/fake wood photo finish over particle board) and the cabinet style has nice lines to it. Actually a beginner player may like this model very much because they don't have enough piano experience to know what a piano should really be able to do and sound like.

A more practical alternative in my opinion would be to purchase an upgraded top name brand digital piano for approx $1000-$1500 that would allow for a more realistic piano playing experience such as almost any new digital piano in that price range from Yamaha, Casio, Korg, Roland, or Kawai. Any of those pianos would take the student much further into the future in terms of having a more authentic piano playing experience and growth potential. But what about the lesson/learning/fun side to all this? Well, I am glad you asked that question:). One of my favorite iOS piano learning Apps right now is Piano Maestro by Joy Tunes and this App is much more visually exciting (colorful with great graphics and characters for all ages (even me), offers more motivational content, piano practice, playing, cool song and lesson libraries, as well as offering full control over your lessons like tempo adjustment, volume, etc, and has game modes that gives you scores and results on the way you played the song. In fact, if you had a good practice session with one of the lesson songs, the virtual audience claps for you:).

Beyond that, the Piano Maestro song accompaniments themselves are much more musically motivating, in my opinion, and have full orchestra and band arrangements with their music lessons which The ONE App does not have. Piano Maestro also offers the famous teacher recommended Alfred piano books (I know many teachers who use Alfred in their studios) from some of their best selling children and adult curriculum. This is something not available in The ONE App.There is a cost to using this Piano Maestro App over a period of time but that cost is only approx $60 per year and you get access to all of what this lesson app offers. Piano Maestro is a MIDI App so all you need is a MIDI/USB digital piano and the App will respond to the input from the keys on your digital piano, regardless of the brand and model. At the end of  2 years worth of lessons (as an example) of playing songs from their impressive song library (for the whole family), you would have only spent about $120 for using their App for those two years and then you can just stop using it and simply play your much better digital piano. With The ONE piano, if you pretty much stop using the App and the lights, and you just want to play songs on your own, you are left with a basic digital piano as compared with any of the other, better ones I mentioned. There's also another USB/MIDI App which is very popular called Synthesia (left pic). This App offer the same "waterfall style" learning system that's in The ONE App, but with more flexibility and available songs. Synthesia has been out for awhile and is the most popular App by far which allows for a beginner through advanced player to play a song of their choice and have the music highlighted while it plays and set the music to wait for you until you play the note correctly. It also shows the actual notation along with the "waterfall" game style color lines simultaneously, so you can see both ways of playing the song. The point I am trying to make here is that there are other iOS/Android Apps out there which can recreate some of the the cool features of The ONE App, but that will work with any USB/MIDI digital piano...as long as you realize there are no LED lights to look at on your piano keys. Also good to know and remember is that all of the good apps (including The ONE App) offer a large library of popular and classical music from Hal Leonard publishing, Alfred, Faber, and other song and lesson curriculum publishers which will cost you money. The charge for those songs are approx $2 to $4 per song depending on the song popularity, along with other factors, In some cases you can purchase the entire digital lesson or song book which has a group of songs in it for a reduced price. But overall, many of the songs are $3.99 each and after purchasing 25 of your favorite songs to learn in sheet music form, you could have spent and additional $100 for that. It's similar to purchasing iTunes but instead it's songs to play through the App so you can utilize the learning features of the App. This would be true for The ONE App, Synthesia App, Piano Maestro App, Notestar by Yamaha, and others. You usually don't get something for nothing except if the (US) government is involved...but that's another story:)

In the final analysis, if you do want a follow-along light up instrument then I would also recommend considering the 61-key keyboard version that this company offers called The ONE Light. It uses the same ONE App but you purchase & play a keyboard with spring-loaded keys instead of the piano version. A keyboard is not my preference (because of the lightweight spring key action) but if you just love the idea of the ONE Smart Piano App and the follow lights, you can do it for a lot less money with their LED light keyboard ($263 internet selling price), and have a great time. Then when you are feeling more confident about your playing and commitment to music, you can move up to a real (better) digital piano and use other apps if you still want to do that. As far as low cost on-line piano lessons or lesson Apps, there are a number of them available including the full lesson video tutorial library from Joseph Hoffman which you can still use with any piano (digital or acoustic) even without the lights. If your digital piano doesn't have a bunch of sounds on it and you want more, there are iPad instrument Apps which you can get for your tablet which gives you access to many other instruments which are MIDI controllable from your digital piano or keyboard and similar to the instruments in The ONE App. If you want a speaker system to play songs through and you don't have one for your external tablet or other device, you can always buy a low cost Blue-Tooth speaker for wireless/cordless connection and you can still have full independent volume control over your iTune music, although The ONE keyboard has its own built in speakers to hear the piano and the app sounds.

Don't get me wrong, overall I like The ONE digital piano and it's an interesting fun concept, although as I say, I've seen this light system on other keyboards and digital pianos, but not combined with an educational App. The ONE is musical tool for getting motivated to learn piano and have musical fun...and I am all about supporting that effort. But...I also have to be honest...The ONE piano as a piano is somewhat overpriced for what it is (minus the lights and App). I would also suggest that you could get a much better digital piano with many more useful features built into the piano for the same or more/less money and combine that piano with other USB/MIDI lesson Apps that you can choose from in the App store including music game Apps, video piano lessons, and extra sounds if needed, which would give a person more flexibility in my opinion, When you don't want or need the App(s) any longer or want to take a break from them, you still have a better piano as an alternative to The ONE which will, as I have already mentioned, likely take you much further as a better piano and offer a more realistic piano playing experience. For me and for many families, it's about getting that perfect balance of low cost lessons that work well, some great interactive supplemental piano/music education Apps and/or computer programs, and the best piano a person can afford. That's what it's really all about. I need to also point out that The ONE piano sound can never be muted while the piano is on. This is unfortunate because if you connect to other USB/MIDI learning or instrument sound Apps, those Apps have their own resident piano and instrument sounds which you will likely want to hear apart and separately from the ONE piano sound. To do this you need a feature on The ONE piano called "local off" which shuts off the "local" sound on your piano and most regular digital pianos have that function, but The ONE piano does not. So you will always hear The ONE piano sound when connected to other Apps whether you want to or not.

Finally, a real live qualified and enthusiastic piano teacher is definitely the best way of learning to play in my opinion (along with some good apps on your tablet) because the teacher can obviously monitor and motivate you in a personal way and it's difficult to replace that experience in other ways. The bottom line is...if you think The ONE digital Smart Piano or Keyboard is the best piano lesson and learning solution for you, then you should buy it, because at the end of the day...it's your money and your decision and I support a person's efforts in getting themselves and their family involved in playing music:). After all, without music in a person's life in some way, no matter how old or young you may be, I believe they are missing an important element of life which can never replaced. I also believe The ONE digital piano company is a good company and wants to help people of all ages learn to play piano in a fun, motivational, and constructive way and this new piano can help in that way. But, before you make a piano buying decision please note that for about the same money or less you could get a much better digital piano in terms of piano playing authenticity, so please contact me first and I will give you personal advice so you can make the right choice.

*A very good alternative to The ONE piano in its price range is the newer Casio AP470 home digital piano ($1499 discount price). The AP470 offers a much more authentic piano playing experience than The ONE piano because of its more advanced piano sound chip, noticeably more responsive & expressive key action, and much better pedaling sustain response. The AP470 also has a USB output to connect the piano to an iPad, Android, computer, etc, so you can experience a vast array of 3rd part piano educational apps that in most ways are superior to the proprietary Smart Piano app that comes with The ONE piano. With free shipping, no tax, full warranty, and special height-adjustable bench included, this is a very good buy. The Casio pianos are also a well known brand, unlike The ONE piano, and offers a complete 5 year warranty on parts and labor. I would definitely recommend you consider the Casio AP470 as well as options from other popular brands such as Kawai, Korg, Yamaha, and Roland in this price range. Click on the following link to read my AP470 piano review. Casio AP470 Review

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet, Amazon, store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

ES920 KEY ACTION

PIANO SOUND REALISM

PEDALS

INSTRUMENT SOUNDS

SPECIAL EFFECTS

VIRTUAL TECHNICIAN

GRAPHIC 4-BAND EQ

ACCOMPANIMENT BACKING TRACKS

RECORDING FEATURES

REGISTRATION SETUPS

BLUETOOTH WIRELESS

HEADPHONE SOUND TECHNOLOGY

CONNECTIVITY

INTERNAL SPEAKER SYSTEM

CONTROL PANEL USER INTERFACE

PIANO BODY DESIGN

PIANO MUSIC RACK

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 Top 25 models of new digital pianos under $2000 for 2020. Learn about how the latest models from Yamaha, Kawai, Roland, Casio, and Korg stack up against each other and why one might be better for you. Get new digital pianos for LESS MONEY than Amazon or internet prices incl free shipping, no tax, brand new.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW | BEST Digital Pianos under $2000 down to $1000 | Kawai, Korg, Casio, Yamaha, Roland, Samick, and more.There are many new digital pianos under $2000 these days and all them have something different to offer and there are definitely some of them that are much better than others. But how do you get through all of the "marketing hype" out there from all the manufacturers and the Amazon affiliate web and review sites so that you can actually get "real, organic, unbiased reviews" that will help you make good buying decisions on which piano would be best for your musical needs and budget? Well...that's where we come in! My name is Tim Praskins and I am a internationally recognized expert when it comes to playing, teaching on, and knowing about digital pianos. I have been working with all the brands and models for over 40 years playing them professionally, teaching lessons on them to thousands of students for many years, and advising people all over the world on what would instrument be best for their musical needs. I give free, personal piano buying advice and can also help you purchase new digital pianos for less money than internet price, Amazon price, store price, and used/demo model price if you are in the USA. Some of these models have recently gone up in price (or about to go up) due to increased production costs and the international tariffs that have been put into place so if you are interested in one of these pianos please let me know right away so I can help you avoid the new higher prices and still be able to help you get the lower 2020 price as long as you don't wait. Playing the piano can be a beautiful experience for both the player and the listener and to bring music into your life and/or the lives of your family is incredibly rewarding as it has been for our families.

We do not have a store or warehouse, but I work out of a large music studio that I own where I play & teach on acoustic & digital pianos, keyboards, synthesizers, organs, and a variety of guitars. I understand what digital pianos are supposed to do and which ones that will give you a realistic piano playing experience (based on my vast 40 year experience with acoustic pianos including concert grands as well as all the name brand digital pianos). Unlike all the other so-called reviewers out there, I have actually played all the the pianos I talk about and many more that I don't talk about. I have literally played thousands of digital pianos and keyboards during my music career. All my reviews are my opinions and done by myself for the public at large. If you want more info on me or my piano experience, go to the following link: 


There are many new model digital pianos being offered by the top piano manufacturers these days and sometimes it can be very confusing as to what the best digital piano is for a particular price range.  I have written this blog article (and others) to help out people looking for goodcabinet model digital pianos between $1000 - $2000. I also have done a review comparison of new digital pianos under $1000 which you can also read about on my blog at the following link:Digital Pianos under $1000. I consider the top digital piano manufacturers in this price range to include Kawai, Casio, Yamaha, Korg, and Roland. In the $1000-$2000 price range, the Korg digital piano company makes 2 cabinet pianos called the C1 Air and G1 Air which are very impressive for the money and I talk about them later because they offer special digital technology features no other brand has in this price range such as Bluetooth audio and special bass reflex internal sound systems that deliver a more powerful, higher quality sound than found in many digital pianos over $2000.

Almost all other brands of digital pianos (with a couple of exceptions) that may be available in some piano stores, on-line web sites, or consumer store web sites (like Costco in the US) are what I consider to be off brands. I would definitely not recommend these brands (at least not in the models they have out now) by such names as Artesia, Suzuki, Williams, Adams, Adagio, and a few others that I have seen and played. Stay away from them regardless of how inexpensive the price may be or how attractive the piano may look if you want a good piano playing experience, especially in these mini/micro digital baby grands that are out there. Many of them are just plain bad when it comes to key action response, dynamics, key action noise, durability, etc. I have written reviews on many of these brands and models so if you want more info, take a look at some of my other blog reviews. In this blog article I will be referring only to furniture cabinet style models (including portable pianos with nice furniture stands & pedals) and only those that have an internet or regular store discount price for $1000-$2000  which is where most consumers want to be when shopping for a new digital piano

Before I talk about my "recommended" brands below, there is another company that most people have not heard of before which produces just one digital piano model and it has an internet selling price of $1299. This digital piano is put out by a company called Wanaka and their digital piano is called "The ONE Smart Piano." Basically this model is a furniture cabinet style digital piano that has just 1 sound in it...piano, and also has a digital metronome in it for timing. Another more interesting feature of this model is that it has little LED lights above the keys which show you what keys to play as songs are playing back. The way you get songs to play back through this piano and what makes this model unique, is that it relies on a special App to be used with an iPad or Android so that you connect The ONE Smart Piano to an iPad or Android tablet using the Smart Piano App, and then everything is done through the App (Application/program). I have played and examined this digital piano and in my opinion it is definitely overpriced for what you get. But I think it's worth mentioning, so you can read more about it at the following link: The ONE Smart Piano REVIEW

One more thing that I want to share with my readers before you read more about the digital pianos under between $1000 to $2000 below. I recently did a full review of the TOP 3 new digital pianos for 2020 in every price category. Take a look at that review at the following link because it will help you narrow down the many digital piano options out there and focus on what is the 3 best and most popular digital pianos in every price range including $500 to $1000, $1000 to $1500, $1500 to $2000, $2000 to $2500, and so on. Top 3 Digital Pianos of 2020



ROLANDdigital pianos are fine instruments and that brand traditionally offers most of their digital piano models for well above $2000 and are thought of as a "higher end" company. However, Roland does have 3 newer model furniture cabinet digital pianos and one new self-contained portable model (furniture stand & pedals optional) which sell between $1000-$2000 and they're called the F140R ($1299 internet price), the RP501R ($1599 internet price), the new FP90 ($1949 internet price) self-contained portable piano (furniture stand & pedals optional). The RP501 is the identical piano as the previous RP401R with the exception that Roland replaced the WiFi technology with Bluetooth (but not Bluetooth audio streaming), and Roland changed the shape of the speakers in the RP501 and the piano is made in a different Roland factory. The RP501R and F140R are identical models in different cabinets and have upgrades over previous Roland pianos in this price range in past years. Roland is a very good value for the money and and are quite popular throughout the world. Roland has a newer portable model called the FP60 ($1499 internet discount price) which has a lot of similarities to the RP501R using the same key action and piano sound technology but having upgraded abilities, features, and polyphony. So when it comes to a higher quality portable digital piano, the FP60 would be a good option although for me personally, the piano sounds are still too brassy and bright overall and similar to the FP30 $699 internet price) in that way. Of all the Roland models under $2000 the more advanced FP90 is one of the more popular models given the features that it offers in this price range ($1949 internet price) although the piano sound can be a bit artificial in piano sound at times which for some people could be a problem. I have done a review of the FP90 so look for it under my "search reviews tab." Although all of these models have some unique and useful digital features, it's really the piano sound, key action, and pedaling authenticity that many people are looking for in this price range. I have played Roland home and stage pianos professionally for many years (along with other brands) and have enjoyed playing them. Roland is not as well known outside of the electronic music business because they do not produce regular acoustic pianos like Yamaha or Kawai and don't build many non-musical consumer products like Casio does. Roland concentrates on producing digital pianos and keyboards for musicians as well as recreational (and beginner) students & players who want higher quality technology in a musical instrument that is generally easy to use and in a reasonable price range. But it's not about how big you are as a company but it's about how good you are. I have detailed blog reviews on all of these new Roland models here on this blogsite if you want to read more about them.

KAWAI produces 4 digital pianos between $1000 to $2000 called the ES920 compact, portable piano ($1599 without optional furniture stand & pedals), the ES520 at $1199 internet price (stand and pedals optional), the CN29 traditional furniture cabinet model at $1959 internet price, and the KDP110 furniture cabinet model at $1199 internet price. There is a brand new model called the CA49 at $2299 internet price and I mention it because it's close enough in price to the $2000 price range to be considered and yet has attributes that no other digital piano in any brand has near or under $2000. It has a 3-senor, extra long wooden key grand piano key-action which is more balanced, more responsive, and quieter in movement than any other digital piano I have ever played in its price range. To get close to this new, responsive key action in any other brand you would need to go to at least $3500 or more. Beyond that, the stereo piano sound in the CA49 is resonate, dynamically satisfying, with beautiful long sustaining tone for legato passages and quick staccato response for fast playing notes. The new CA49 is definitely a great option to investigate if you mainly want to play piano and have a very satisfying and expressive piano playing experience all within an impressive looking cabinet whether you are a beginner or seasoned player. If you have questions about this the CA49 or any of these Kawai models just contact me.

KAWAI continued -  The ES920 had been upgraded from previous models for an even more authentic piano playing experience with a very impressive fast moving key action, resonate piano sound chip, quick pedal response and long sustain time, and other new functionality. If you want to read my new review of the ES920 you can go to the following link: Kawai ES920 Review. With its 256-note polyphony stereo piano sound chip, acoustic piano feel key action, automated accompaniment arrangements for ear training and interactive play, Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and a big full beautiful piano sound in a nice compact semi-polished ebony or semi-polished white cabinet, the ES920 piano not only looks cool (it can be a portable instrument too), it performs great for any playing skill level and I would recommend it. The CN29 ($1959) has a very good key action (same as ES920) which is realistically weighted along with the "let-off" function (which simulates a specific grand piano feature). It also has a larger 192-note polyphony piano sound chip, ivory touch keys, and great tone with some other good instrument tones. Although the CN29 is a minimalistic designed piano, it still has some very cool functions and sounds & plays great through its 40 watt internal sound system. The KDP110 is similar to the newer CN29 in some ways but uses a much different and downgraded key action and piano sound chip. It has a fairly good dynamic tonal range of piano tone and I do recommend it. If you just want a piano in a lower price range that focuses on mainly being a piano, I think the KDP110 is a good option. Go to the following link for my KDP110 review: Kawai KDP110 Review

CASIO has 3 cabinet pianos right now between $1000-$2000 including the new lowest priced CelvianoAP-270 ($1049US internet price), the new Celviano AP-470 ($1499US internet price - left pic), and finally the Celviano AP-650 ($1899 internet price) thatis my pick for "best bang for the buck" in this price range under $2000 for a cabinet model digital piano . I have played all 3 models many times, but with regard to the Celviano AP-650, in my opinion the keyboard touch, response, and key movement is surprisingly good and provides a fairly realistic acoustic piano playing experience along with the keytops having a Casio proprietary synthetic ivory & ebony material for smoother finger movement and control. There are 250 instrument sounds utilizing 256 notes of polyphony for advanced piano sound reproduction, along with a wav file audio recorder and playback feature which you can save and load to a USB flashdrive. The pedal movement and sustain/decay time is good in this price range and the piano even has damper & string resonance which produces the natural echo and sympathetic vibrations found in a real acoustic piano when pressing down on the damper pedal or playing the notes and hearing the strings vibrate. Other features include duet four-hand play, layering, splitting, transpose, and many other cool things. The control buttons are across the front of the piano so it's user friendly and intuitive to use. Casio has also included some advanced tech features like USB CoreMIDI connectivity (very nice for plug & play connection to iPad and computer) as well as having audio outputs. The AP-650 audio speaker system is surprisingly powerful at this price and includes four speakers going through 60 watts of stereo power with a lid opening feature which allows the sound to project more in an acoustic piano fashion. The AP-650 gives you the sense you're sitting in front of a real piano and it looks attractive in its furniture compact cabinet with sliding key cover and front designer legs. So for its $1899 internet discount price, this piano is a very impressive package and a great "bang for the buck" as far as I am concerned. Go to the following link to read my Casio AP-650 review: Casio AP-650 Review. Go to the following link to read my review of the new Casio AP-470: Casio AP-470 Review. Go the to following link to read my review of the new AP-270: Casio AP-270 Review.

Korg G1 Air

KORG is a Japanese keyboard, music products, and digital piano company more well known to pro keyboard players around the world since that's what Korg's target market has been. However, in just the last year Korg has revitalized their home digital piano division and come out with two new home furniture cabinet digital pianos under $2000 that have really caught my attention. Those pianos are called the C1 Air and G1 Air and I have played them both. My initial reaction to the Korg company trying to compete with the other main guys in this space was that Korg probably had a long way to go...however I was wrong on that assumption. These two new digital pianos are very impressive, especially at their lower prices of $1449 and $1799 respectively, The G1 Air is my favorite of the two models and for the money, the piano sound, expression, key action response, and pedaling dynamics and control the G1 offers is impressive. Also the sound coming through its impressive internal speaker system is 1st rate and in fact noticeably more authentic and full sounding than what Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai offers in this same price range in my opinion. To learn more about the new Korg models, particularly the G1 Air, please read my review of the G1 Air digital piano at the following link: Korg G1 Air Review

🎹 There are good Digital Pianos under $1500 and there are also bad digital pianos under $1500, so it's important to learn which ones to stay away from. The name we give to the bad digital pianos is "PSO" (aka: Piano Shaped Object). Stay away from the PSO's because they have very poor key action, piano sound, and pedal response. Find out what they are in this detailed review.  

🎹 Digital Pianos under $1500 | UPDATED REVIEW | October 2020 | If you are looking for a good new furniture cabinet digital piano under $1500 internet selling price then you need to consider the following digital pianos: Korg C1 Air, Korg LP-380, Casio AP-470, Casio AP-270, Casio PX-870, Casio PX-780, Casio PX-770, Yamaha YDP-164, Yamaha YDP-S54 - Yamaha YDP-144, Yamaha YDP-S34, Yamaha YDP-103, Kawai KDP110, Kawai KDP70, and Roland RP501R, Roland F140R, Roland RP-102. I have personally played and examined all of these digital pianos so I know how they actually play, how they sound, and what they do. There are also portable digital pianos that are available without the furniture stand and triple pedal unit, but in this review I will be focusing on furniture cabinet digital pianos that automatically come with a furniture stand, triple pedal unit built into that stand, and also a built-in key cover that closes over the keys which some other digital pianos do not have. I will also be primarily focusing on the price range from approx $1000 - $1500 in this review because I have already done a detailed review of digital pianos under $1000 here at the following link: Digital Pianos Under $1000. 

In this price range for new digital pianos under $1500 down to $700, there are a total of 16 models of furniture cabinet digital pianos among the 5 major brands. The Casio PX770 at $749 internet price is the lowest priced furniture cabinet digital piano of the major brands. Some of these cabinets are more traditional in style and some are more contemporary so it depends on what you really want as to which one would be the best for you. Besides cabinet differences, there are obviously big differences in functions and features among all these models. However, what almost everyone is looking for when shopping for a new digital piano is natural quality piano sound and natural piano "feel" when playing the music. This is also true when people are shopping for real acoustic pianos but it's no different when shopping for a new digital piano. So when it comes to a big, beautiful sound and a satisfying key action in a digital piano under $1500, I like a variety of models but am personally impressed with the Korg line of digital pianos, a brand that some people may not be familiar with. In this review I will mainly be focusing

Korg Kronos Pro Stage Piano

Korg is a company that is well known among professional musicians, recording studios, and teachers, among others, but Korg is not as well known in the mainstream world of families, churches, and schools. This is because Korg does not make acoustic pianos like Yamaha and Kawai do and they don't make consumer products like watches, calculators, and other consumer products. Also, Korg does not produce band instruments such as flutes, violins, guitars, and other similar instruments like Yamaha does. Korg only does one thing...they design and produce higher end music products in many categories directed towards people who appreciate more advanced and realistic digital technology in their musical instruments. Korg builds top rated keyboard and digital piano key actions along with impressive digital piano sound technology and they have been in business building music and percussion technology products for over 50 years.

Korg home digital pianos are not normally available at the more well known US consumer stores such as Costco, Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc. This is because the Korg Home Digital Pianos are considered "special order products" and are normally equated with higher price ranges when it comes to how they are rated by users, both professionals and beginners. Korg home digital pianos can sometimes be found on-line in a variety of on-line music stores as well as some local piano stores so it is possible to find them and play them, but the other mainstream brands such as Yamaha, Kawai, and Casio are generally easier to find. However, we do recommend that you seriously consider all of the Korg home digital pianos from $500 to $2000 because they are super impressive and have new digital piano technology that the other brands do not have, especially in this lower price range.

I have personally and professionally played on a variety of Korg music products over the years including their pro keyboards and digital pianos that are up in the $5000 price range along with having used their pro stage organs, digital piano workstations, drum machines, recording devices, and other technology products. So I know this company quite well and have always been impressed with what they put out there in terms of very cool stuff. I also like the fact that their digital pianos are designed and made in Japan unlike most of the other brands that may design their products in Japan but have them built in China, Indonesia, or Malaysia.


The size, power, and quality of an internal speaker system in any digital piano has a lot to do with the quality of piano sound that you hear. Starting off with Yamaha in this $1500 and under price range, the Yamaha YDP-164 digital piano sells for $1499US and it has 40 watts of power going into 2 amplifiers and 2 speakers, and the speakers are mounted inside the piano pointing down to the floor. The lower priced Yamaha YDP-144 at $1099US internet price has just 16 watts of total power going through 2 amplifiers and 2 speakers pointing down towards the floor. The piano sound on the YDP-144 is good but unfortunately and bit thin and tinny because of the smaller amplifiers in that model. The Roland RP501R and F140R digital pianos has just 24 watts of power going through 2 amplifiers and 2 speakers with the speakers mounted inside the piano pointing down to the floor. Like the Yamaha, the Kawai KDP110 digital piano has 40 watts of power going through 2 amplifiers and 2 speakers mounted inside the piano pointing down to the floor. If it were a choice between the 40 watt Kawai KDP110 or the 40 watt Yamaha YDP-164, I would take the Kawai over that Yamaha, especially considering the Kawai is $300 less than the Yamaha and sounds somewhat better to me. Even the newer Casio AP-470 digital piano at $1499 internet price with 40 watts of power going through 2 amplifiers and 4 speakers mounted inside the piano sounds better to me than the Yamaha model. This is because the Casio AP-470 has a top lid speaker projection system that helps the higher sounds come out towards the player. So when it comes to digital pianos priced at $1499, I like the Casio AP-470 better than the Roland RP501R or Yamaha YDP-164

Korg C1 Air

But when it comes to Korg home digital pianos, the most surprising and impressive piano in terms of piano sound under $1500 comes from the Korg C1 Air digital piano which has a discount internet price at $1449US. The C1 Air has 50 watts of power going through 2 amplifiers and 2 speakers so it has a bit more power than the Casio and Yamaha I mentioned, and twice as much power as the Roland RP501R and Roland F140R. However, the Korg speaker system is a newly developed sound that replicates a full, bass response grand piano sound as opposed to a smaller more treble small upright piano sound that is found on most other digital pianos under $1500. The Korg C1 Air achieves this big beautiful sound by offering specially designed speaker system components mounted into a sealed rectangular speaker box which is mounted under the piano. The speaker box is also uniquely electronically "tuned'  permanently within the speaker box and the speakers are pointing towards the player rather than down to the floor away from the player like most other digital pianos. The sound coming out of this model is produced in such a way that you "feel" the piano sound (like on a real grand piano) as well as hear it, which the other digital pianos cannot do. Even playing at lower volumes on the C1 Air still gives you the sense that it's a grand piano you are hearing instead of a smaller, more metallic sound that you would normally get out of other digital pianos such as the Roland digital pianos.

Korg C1 Air control panel

The key action of the Korg C1 Air as compared to the Roland and Yamaha is much more expressive and moves a bit easier than the more noticeably firm key actions of the Roland pianos and Yamaha YDP-164. In fact the Korg key action in the C1 Air called the RH3 key action, is the same key action that is used in their lower priced LP-380 at $1099 and same key action used in their higher priced Grandstage digital stage piano which sells for $2199. So the Korg C1 Air and LP-380 key action is a higher quality, higher end key action unlike some of the other digital pianos out there who use entry level key actions in this price range under $1500 that really do not feel like pianos. Another thing I like about the C1 Air is that it is easy to operate, has some very cool features along with offering Bluetooth audio wireless connectivity, and can close up flat when the key-cover is put down over the keys.

Casio AP-470

There are certainly other good choices under $1500 for a furniture cabinet digital piano including the new Casio AP-470 ($1499) which I like very much as some impressive features along with the Casio AP-270 ($1049) and Korg LP-380 ($1099) that I already mentioned. Finally, Korg makes a higher price model called the G1 Air which is priced at $1799 internet price. The G1 Air but the piano sounds are upgraded even further with more advanced piano reproduction technology and all of that going through an 80 watt sound system which goes through 4 discrete amplifiers directed through 4 speakers. The 2 main bass speaker system is in a separate speaker box like the C1 Air but the 2 additional G1 Air speakers are mounted inside the piano near the top and pointing upwards to spread out the higher frequency sounds. The result of that system is incredibly impressive but it is higher priced than the Yamaha YDP-164 ($1499 price) and the Roland RP501R ($1599 price). The cabinet on the Korg G1 Air is also upgraded with the ability to hold twice as much sheet music along the top than any other digital piano in its class.

I do like other digital pianos under $1500 and as I mentioned earlier, I have a separate review of the digital pianos that are under $1000 at the following link: Digital Pianos under $1000. But for digital pianos, let's say from $1000 to $1500, in this specific price range then I would choose the Korg C1 Air at $1449 and then the Casio AP-470 at $1499. The Casio AP-470 has the much more traditional furniture cabinet design as compared with the Korg digital pianos and it comes with a nice height adjustable bench whereas the Korg pianos do not come with a bench. So if you want the best looking "traditional" furniture cabinet digital piano under $1500 that has a very satisfying piano playing experience, then I would recommend the Casio. However, if you want the bigger, better piano sound in a more contemporary but yet elegant compact style cabinet, then I would recommend the Korg pianos. If  a person could get closer to $2000US then I would recommend the  Casio AP-650 furniture cabinet digital piano which I have reviewed and like very much. Factory warranties on both Korg and Casio are 5 years parts & 5 years labor against factory defects, which is a huge warranty. Warranty on the Yamaha and Kawai pianos under $1500 range are 3 years parts & labor, and warranty on Roland is 5 year parts and 2 years labor.

STAY AWAY FROM A "PSO." Something I think everyone should be aware of is that there are a few (off) brands out there that I do not recommend, because very simply put...I do not like them.Those brands would includeWilliams, Kurzweil, Gewa, many Suzuki models, Artesia, and Adams. There are also a few brands not carried in the US that are not very good either,  but I am only focusing on models sold in the US. The (off) brands, as I call them, generally look good on the outside, but really are just PSO's..."Piano Shaped Objects." I have played many of these piano shaped objects, both under and over the $1500 price range and I've generally been very disappointed with them, especially with their key actions, piano sound and dynamic tonal expression, and pedaling. Some of those pianos do have a bunch of "bells & whistles" but even those bells and whistle features sound like toys. Just because something is a cheap price and looks OK on the outside does not make it good on the inside. Beware of the "off brands" when shopping for a digital piano.

Casio PX-770 digital piano

Actually, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the digital pianos I mentioned here between $1000 - $1500US. When it comes to furniture cabinet  and even portable digital pianos under $1000, as I mentioned earlier, I already have reviewed those portable and cabinet pianos under $1000 and there are some good ones there too, especially the Casio PX-870 and Casio PX-770. But in the $1000 to $1500 price in furniture cabinet pianos, the differences between the pianos that are priced under $1000 compared to the digital pianos that are priced at more than $1000 can be pretty significant. So when considering how much money you should spend on a digital piano to get a good piano playing experience that can last you for many years, I always recommend that if you can stretch your budget, you will reap a longer term benefit in having an instrument that you can grow into rather than owning something that you could more easily grow out of. Also, please make note that I can help anyone get these digital pianos for less money than internet and Amazon price. So don't buy anything from anyone until you contact me first. More reviews at the links below:

- Review of electric 88-key digital pianos under $1000
- Digital Piano Reviews Under $1000

If you want more info on these pianos and lower prices than internet, Amazon, bundles, or store discounts in the USA including helping you with credit and no interest if paid in full in 6 months on purchases over $100, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864

The Casio AP-470 for 2020 is the only digital piano under $1500 that has real grand piano sound going through a 4-speaker 40 watt internal sound system housed in a full furniture cabinet with front support legs along with full length brass pedals and USB audio recording. This model is now considered the "biggest bang for the buck" in its price range.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - October 2020 | Casio AP-470 Celviano Digital Piano | LOWER PRICE HERE |  The Casio is a very popular model under $1500 and is offered in matte black, matte walnut brown, matte and white. This model is internet priced at $1499 and has an upgraded stereo piano sound chip, key action, pedaling, and speaker system along with adding some new, impressive interactive features such as a proprietary controller app called "Chordana." This new app allows you to control the piano features and functions from your tablet color touch screen which the previous models could not do. Sometimes upgrades are not very noticeable in new models and sometimes they are. In this case the upgrades make the piano playing experience a lot more enjoyable than ever before and that's what really counts. After personally playing this new model many times, here are some of the main reasons (below) why the new AP-470 digital home piano is, in my opinion, one of the best digital pianos under $1500 that you can buy if you are looking for a very satisfying piano playing experience from beginner level all the way up to more advanced playing along with having a beautifully designed furniture style cabinet. (click on pics for larger views)

The piano key actions in Casio digital pianos are very consistent in being able to replicate a nicely balanced and piano weighted key movement with very good response under the fingers. I have always liked the way the keys move in terms of weight and speed and I know that many people at all skill levels agree with me. There are 3 key sensors under each key which allow for better key repetition recognition than some other digital pianos along with a more natural graded weight as opposed to brands that have keys that are either too light or much too firm. One of the new improvements on the AP-470 is the new proprietary synthetic ebony and ivory keytops that are now smooth and more lifelike as compared to previous models that were highly textured. This is a welcome improvement to the way the key tops feel to the fingers and it also allows for the fingers to move even more quickly when playing faster notes than on previous models. So when it comes to the physical keys themselves along with the way they move, the AP-470 is a pleasure to play and I believe people of all playing skill levels will like it very much. I will also say that all piano keys exhibit a bit of noise when the keys move and this is true for the Casio AP-470, especially if the piano sound is at lower volumes. Real acoustic piano keys are a bit noisy when they move up & down, but because real pianos are always so loud and there is no volume control to play acoustic pianos quietly, the loud piano volume covers up the key noise and you won't hear it at all. This is the same thing that happens in digital pianos only digital pianos can be played very quietly because you can turn down the volume, so then you more easily hear the keys move, but that's fairly normal for digital pianos. The AP-470 also has full 256-note (maximum) polyphony piano processing power so notes don't drop out when playing many notes or instruments at one time. With a fast action, 3-sensor responsive hammer weighted & graded key action, overall I believe the Casio key action in the AP-470 is more natural than ever before and enjoyable to play, especially as compared to other top brands in this price range including Yamaha and Roland.


The Casio AP-470 has a new piano sound chip which is improved over the previous AP-460 in a number of ways. They added a new custom made New York Steinway concert grand piano sound sample which is quite unique to find in a digital piano and definitely different than the more traditional Casio acoustic grand sample they have been using in their digital pianos. Not only is the New York Steinway piano reproduction a very good one with lots of expression, but the tonal consistency and dynamic tonal nuances of that sound is quite impressive and I believe those people who play at higher skill levels will really appreciate that. There are many more elements of a natural acoustic sound in the AP470 sound chip than can be found in many other brands and models of new digital pianos in this price range, especially as compared to the Yamaha Arius pianos in this same price range. But Yamaha has not upgraded their piano sound chip in a number of years so they need to come out with something new to compete with the new Casio Celviano pianos. The acoustic piano sounds have even more natural expression with a wider dynamic tonal range for an evenly balanced transitional tone from mellow to bright when playing any notes from low octaves to higher octaves. A lot of digital pianos have more compressed piano samples so that the tonal expression when playing different notes are not very good and have a narrow range of tone from mellow to bright as a person play lightly and then increases velocity and playing harder with more force. Tonal and volume expression is what music is all about and the musical expression you get from that is extremely important. The Casio AP470 is quite impressive in this way and goes way beyond most digital pianos under $2000 when it comes to playing with expression and putting out many more "musical colors" than digital pianos normally can do.

In the AP-470 there are other piano and instrument sounds giving it a total of 22 sounds including 9 different acoustic piano sound variations, 4 different electric pianos, harpsichord, 2 string symphony variations, 4 organ sounds, and a string bass to be used on the lower part of the keyboard. But it's the piano sounds that most people focus on and want to play. Casio has 2 distinct sound samples which include the New York Steinway grand and their traditional European grand (which is quite nice and very expressive) along with variations of each of those sound samples giving you nine piano variations total as I mentioned. The other non-piano instrument sounds are actually very realistic and in my opinion all the sounds that the AP-470 offers are more authentic than what Yamaha or Roland has to offer with those specific sounds in this price range.

Another part of piano playing that is sometimes overlooked but is essential to any piano are the pedals. Although there are 3 pedals on a regular piano, it's the right damper-sustain pedal that is used 95% of the time by most people playing piano and the other two pedals are seldom used although the left soft pedal is used in playing piano some of the time depending what your piano playing skill level is and what song you are playing. When you press down the pedals then those pedals need to respond correctly in terms of how much weight from your foot it takes to press the pedal, how the pedals move, and on the right pedal, how is triggers the damper sustained tone. Also, when it comes to the right pedal and the sustained piano tone, when you hold down the pedal and play a piano sound in the middle of the keyboard, that piano sound should fade out on its own after a little while when you are holding down the pedal. On a regular piano it may take 15-20 seconds or more before the piano sound fades out when you hold down the sustain pedal. However, on many digital pianos, especially the "cheap" off-brands, that piano sound may fade out after only 4-6 seconds which makes the music sound choppy and not at all like it is supposed to sound. Unlike other brands and models or digital pianos from the past which had short decay times, the new AP-470 has noticeably longer sustain pedal decay times for its acoustic piano sounds.This is due to a big increase in the power that comes from the new digital piano sound chip in the AP-470 model. The increased piano sample memory is a significant improvement and really shows up especially when you play at higher skill levels where you will be expecting and needing a better performance from your piano. The Casio AP-470 is the first model in the 400 series that has this improved performance and something that I was personally excited about. Now instead of the music coming out with less character and less resonance, the new AP-470 brings out more tonal character through the new sustaining ability and allows for much better sound reproduction along with being able to apply better playing technique with your music so that the result is a more natural, more organic piano sound experience that is very satisfying for many people. In addition to that, the AP-470 also has the "half-damper" feature allowing for a variable amount of pedal sustain depending upon how far down you press the damper-sustain pedal. So unlike some other brands & models out there which only have on/off sustain, the Casio AP470 has the realistic half-damper feature which is similar to the way real pianos do it. So when it comes to pedaling, sustain-decay time, variable sustain time (half-damper), and resonance, the AP470 really hits a home-run. Plus, the full length brass pedals on this model reproduces what real piano pedals feel like which is helpful in replicating the real piano playing experience.

When it comes to extra features, the AP-470 has no shortage of other things it can do. It has a key transpose function, touch response control for hard, normal, of soft, octave shift for instrument sounds, brilliance control to apply brighter or mellower tone to the piano sounds, a digital metronome with tempo & time signature control, layer & splitting any two sounds, chorus effect to add to electric piano sounds to give them more body and presence, relative volume control between layers or splits, and a duet mode allowing for two people (parent-student, teacher-student, siblings, etc) to play the same song with the same notes simultaneously by electronically splitting the 88 notes into two separate 44-note keyboards independent of each other, the Casio AP470 offers some cool features but these features are also typically found in other brands and models of name brand digital pianos in this price range.

The unique proprietary features offered on this model include having a "Concert Play" music library incorporating 10 fully orchestrated popular classical songs in audio wav files built into the piano for playalong where the songs can be controlled for speed to slow it down without affecting the pitch of the song, part mute, separate volume control to balance the song playback with the live play volume of the piano, and 3-step learning in a way that makes even a pure beginner sound great. I have personally used this concert-play system and Casio did a great job of offering beautifully orchestrated music in a play-along learning format that you just do not get on other digital pianos, especially in this price range. Another exclusive feature is the Hall Simulator which allows the piano to resonate just like it would be heard in specific buildings or structures like a large Dutch Church, A old French Cathedral, or Concert Hall. These special "hall" effects give the piano sound a rich tonal quality to them like you would hear if a grand piano was playing in those actual buildings...big, reverberation, resonating tone that make the piano sounds on the AP470 bigger than they really are. Sometimes these type of effects really add "presence" to the piano sound and other times they are not necessary depending on the type of music you are playing. But either way, this feature can be useful and enjoyable to have.

The AP-470 also has two digital recorders; one being a 2-track MIDI recorder allowing for independent recording of left and right hand for practicing songs and then playing them back one hand at a time. This is a very useful technique for properly learning a piece of music and being able to actually listen back to your left and right hand part separately and see how it sounded and then also play both parts back simultaneously to hear how both parts sound together as they should be. This is a great feature and I use this type of recording method when teaching students how to recognize their mistakes while they were playing the lesson song. The 2nd recording feature is a 1-track audio wav file recording which allows you to record the song in one "take" or track with that song being recorded in CD quality as a audio wav file. Once this recording is done and you like it then you can save it on a USB flash drive that you can plug into the piano. You could then take that audio file and play it through your computer to hear how you sounded "live" or even make an audio MP3 file from it to play on your personal iPhone or iPad mobile or tablet device. You can also save a library of audio wav file songs that you recorded on the piano to a USB flash drive so that you can create a library of recorded songs for playback at a later date. This is also true of the 2-track MIDI recordings which can also be saved on the USB flash drive.

For 2020 Casio has done something quite special for their new digital pianos and designed their first "controller" app for digital tablet (iPad, etc) called Chordana Play so that you can control the functions and features of the AP-470 through a USB connection from an intuitive user interface on your iPad color touch screen instead of needing to always rely on less intuitive controls on the piano itself. For many years Casio and other digital piano companies have stuffed all kinds of sounds and features into their digital pianos which required a lot of buttons, sliders and other hardware on the piano to operate correctly. However, because of consumer demand, digital piano companies wanted to reduce the physical and electronic "clutter" on their digital pianos so that the cabinets would look more streamlined and minimalistic to give those cabinets a more natural piano look to them. To accomplish this goal the manufacturers put many of their functions and features in a menu on the piano accessed  by a single function button and pressing a specific key on the piano to trigger that function. Some other functions are accessed by pressing a button multiple times to get the function you were looking for. To really know what feature you were selecting you needed to sometimes go into the owners manual to find a chart for these features and look at that somewhat cryptic chart to see where the functions were located on the keys. There are certain digital piano companies that still do this on many of their models and some shoppers don't care but many shoppers do care about getting a digital piano which is easier and more user friendly to operate and maintains a minimalist appearance. To balance out making the digital piano look nice along with having fewer buttons but still offering many cool, useful features that need to be easily accessed, a few different digital piano manufacturers have recently come out with proprietary "controller apps" designed to let you access and interact with the controls of the piano through your iPad tablet. The Casio company just came out with their first piano controller app and it's very cool. But if you don't have a digital tablet like an iPad then you can still certainly access many of the cool "extra" functions on the AP470 from the left side control panel on the piano with some nice easy to use buttons that are intuitive 😀.

I have tried the Chordana Play app out in person on the AP-470 and in my opinion Casio has really done a spectacular job designing this new multi-use controller app for tablet because not only does it offer very nicely laid out and engaging controls for the functions on the piano, but it also offers additional interactive technology including Music Score PDF files displaying music on an iPad for the internal song library in the piano. It also has a Piano Roll feature with follow-along songs for learning and music fun. For the AP470 you can select all the instrument sounds with the Chordana Play app, control the volumes of different set-ups, use the special 2-track recorder and talked about earlier and operate it much more easily, easily change transpose key, change touch sensitivity control, octave shift, select and play the music library and Concert-Play songs, and so much more. You can even bring up music notation to read on your tablet while playing the songs from it and there's so much more you can do as well...all from the large color touchscreen on your iPad. If you don't already have a digital tablet (ie: iPad), buying this new Casio AP-470 is a very good excuse to go get one. You don't have to buy the latest greatest iPad (tablet) to use with the piano...even some slightly older models will work just fine as long as the operating system is brought up-to-date. But no matter how you slice and dice it, Casio have finally arrived into the future with having created a multi-function useful and intuitive app to much more easily control the functions on the AP-470 along with being able to do many other fun things on the piano while interacting with and enjoying piano playing more than ever.

With regard to the internal speaker system and internal sound projection, the AP-470 really shines in this area based on my personal experience with it. First of all, it has stereo amplification of 40 watts going into 4 speakers which offers a good amount of power and the 4 speakers is more than most digital pianos in this price range which offer only 2 internal speakers . Beyond that, the AP-470 offers a unique piano sound projection system by designing this piano with a top lid that can be propped up and kept open to more easily project the sound towards the player rather than have the sound contained and boxed into the piano where the speakers are only underneath the piano pointing down which is the case on all the other popular digital pianos under $1500 out there. With this speaker projection "open lid" feature, the piano sound has more presence coming out more clearly towards the player to enhance the listening experience. This kind of thing works well and puts the Casio AP-470 above just about any other digital piano brand and model under $2000 as far as the internal speaker system goes. Casio also has a special new feature called "headphone mode" which allows for a headphone listening experience than other digital pianos do.

As far as digital and audio connectivity is concerned, the AP-470 has two 1/4" stereo headphone jacks on the left side front of the piano for playing in privacy with up to two people using headphones simultaneously. Also, one of those stereo headphone jacks can also be used to connect the piano to an external sound system if you are playing in a big venue, church, school, etc. When normally connecting any device through a headphone jack, the internal speakers are cutoff and muted. However, with the new AP-470 there is a mode that can be set to turn the internal speakers back on so that the player can monitor their playing through the internal speakers while the external speakers are also still on. This is a nice feature for digital pianos that have no separate audio output jacks which is the case with the AP-470. This piano also has a USB/MIDI out output jack to connect to external devices such as computers, tablets, etc to use interactive music programs and apps which are now widely available. There is also a built-in USB flashdrive input for saving both 1-track audio wav file and 2-track MIDI recordings that you can do on the piano and then storing them on the flashdrive for later playback from a custom song library you the user can create. Along with this feature you can also download regular MIDI piano song files from the internet, load them into a flashdrive and then play them back on the piano so you can play along with those songs. This is a very useful way of learning new songs as well as having fun playing along with other music.

The cabinet design, structure, and appearance of this new AP-470 piano definitely has the most "furniture" looking appearance of any digital piano under $1500 that I know of given that it has an attractive, sturdy cabinet offered in 3 distinct matte color finishes with front support legs for extra cabinet stability and a more formal look to it. Along with the lid that raises up, the AP-470 has a full size music support rack, a built-in metal sliding key cover, and a high quality height adjustable matching padded bench (no one else in this price range offers a height adjustable padded bench which is an upgraded item), the AP-470 is a "total package" with functions and features that the vast majority of piano shoppers seem to be looking for in the lower price range under $1500. Beyond the appearance and style of the cabinet, the Casio company offers the longest US factory warranty in the digital piano industry for new digital pianos under $1500 with a full 5 year parts & labor warranty for manufacturer defects along with in-home service. Although other digital piano companies have some good warranties, the maximum labor warranty in most other brands is 3 years whereas Casio offers 5 years which says to me that Casio must be confident that their pianos will last awhile and they are willing to stand behind their products.

To sum it all up, given what the new Casio Celviano AP-470 is all about and what it offers, I definitely recommend this model to any family who is wanting a piano with a big, full realistic acoustic piano sound going through a fairly powerful internal speaker system housed in an attractive, durable cabinet with functions and features that puts it in a class by itself for digital pianos under $1500. I also want to point out that this is the first time in the Celviano AP400 series that Casio has offered an attractive matte white cabinet finish. I have seen the white color in person and it really looks good. There is really only one thing I wish the AP-470 had and that is Bluetooth audio and Bluetooth MIDI for wireless connectivity with external devices. However, the MIDI portion can be taken care of by connecting a USB cable from the piano to the device so that is not a big issue. Nevertheless, I do like the idea of being able to remotely and wirelessly control music that can be played through the piano speaker system from a tablet such as an iPad and play iTunes or other audio music through the piano and not needing to connect by audio cable. As Bluetooth technology in digital pianos becomes more common then these limitations won't exist anymore. But for now in this AP-470, what do you get in terms of the piano playing experience housed in a very attractive cabinet is definitely worth the price of admission. For its relatively low cost, the AP-470 is clearly a winner:).

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 "Best bang for the buck portable digital piano under $1000?" The Casio PX-S1000 for 2020 at $649 discount price has an innovative embedded touch sensor flat control panel that no other digital piano under $1000 has. With a completely new piano weighted key action, stereo acoustic piano sound,  responsive pedaling, Bluetooth wireless audio streaming, and a new proprietary function control app for tablets, the PX-S1000 has set a new standard for digital pianos at its low price.   

UPDATED REVIEW | October 2020 | The PX-S1000 is a new model in a new series of digital pianos for the Casio company. Casio of Japan has been designing and producing digital pianos and keyboards for decades and has always been known for offering a lot of "bang for the buck" in the lower price ranges near or under $1000. So it comes as no surprise to me that Casio has "upped their game" with this new series (PX-S1000, PX-S3000) in a way that no other digital piano company has done before them. In fact, Casio has designed new innovations into the PX-S1000 that are pretty amazing given the low discount price of this model in the US. The PX-S1000 (aka: S1000) is also available in both gloss top white with white cabinet and also gloss top black with black cabinet. In addition to that, Casio has a special edition "limited time" gloss top RED color that is very impressive which no other brand or model has. If you love the way this RED color looks, grab one quickly as they may be gone soon and not available for the holidays if Casio does not get anymore. The RED color is also the same price as the black or white colors which is surprising because typically "special edition" colors are more money in many cases. The PX-S1000 also is the lowest priced digital pianos that Casio has which can be controlled by a proprietary app called Chordana Play for Piano that can be used on your iPad or Android. It's a really cool way to control a digital pianos with lots of features and the Casio PX-S1000 definitely has them.

Before I talk about some of the impressive features in this new piano, let me just say up front that before I tried this model and did a full evaluation of it, I really did not expect much change in this model from previous models of Casio portable digital pianos including their current model Privia PX-160 ($549) and discontinued model PX-350. I also did not think this new PX-S1000 at $649 would be better in terms of offering a more natural piano playing experience than the current model portables from Yamaha, Casio, Roland, and Kawai at or near this price range. Even the popular Casio PX-770 ($749) furniture cabinet piano doesn't come close in our opinion to the new PX-S1000 in terms of piano playing authenticity for key action, piano sound, and pedaling sustain response in my opinion...and I don't say that lightly, but the advances Casio has made in this new series are very impressive.

When people are shopping for new digital pianos, besides the obvious differences in design and aesthetics (the looks) of a digital piano, it's mostly about what's "under the hood" that really counts in terms of the most realistic piano playing experience a person can get in a certain price range. It has to do with the piano sound technology, the key action realism as compared to a real acoustic piano, and the pedaling response as compared to a real acoustic piano. It also has to do with the internal speaker system of that digital piano and how well it can put out volume and sonic quality of sound. Getting all of those aspects to mix together in a way that "works well," particularly in a low price range under $1000 and especially near or at $500 price range is no easy task in the world of digital pianos...at least until now.


So what is it that makes this new Casio PX-S1000 "special" as compared to all other new portable digital pianos out there under $1000? First of all, there are no buttons on the PX-S1000 piano except for a flush mounted power button. Beyond that, there is just one large ergonomically attractive master volume knob to control the overall volume of the piano. The entire top control panel along with the power button and volume knob is made of a clean looking contemporary gloss black hard plastic that gives this model a very elegant appearance when you first look at it. But even more importantly, there are no other buttons, knobs, sliders, or any other mechanical access switches to clutter up the elegant look of the PX-S1000. So when the piano is not powered on all you can really see is a black knob and a gloss black top...that's it, and because the power button is smaller and flush mounted within the control panel, you hardly notice it's there at all. This portable piano is as minimalistic as they come so then you have to ask the question..."where are all the sounds, functions, features of this model and does it really do anything?" The answer is...yes, it actually has buttons and it does a lot, but not in the way one might think.

The first thing you'll notice when the piano is powered on is that it "comes alive" with a simple and elegant display of 7 digitally lit bright white buttons that show up only when the piano in powered on and you cannot otherwise see them when the piano is off. These "touch sensor" buttons would be similar to any virtual button or app you have on your cell phone or tablet...when you press it you trigger that button or app to start working, like calling someone on your phone. The touch sensor buttons on the PX-S1000 are very responsive, easy to see and use, and indicate each time when you press one of those 7 buttons with a quick blink of the button...pretty smart. There is an acoustic piano touch button, electric piano touch button, song record button, song play button, metronome timing button, sound mode "stereo surround sound" button, and function button...that's it. You can even dim or minimize the lite-up buttons if you want to and select a timer to automatically turn off the piano so that it doesn't stay on for hours after you are through playing it.

Besides the operation and design of the PX-S1000 being so unique is the fact that it is so compact, even by current standards. It measures 52" wide x 9" deep x 4" high and weighs just 24.7 lbs without the lightweight music rack that comes with it. Another very unique thing this model does in terms of its operation is that it can be powered not only by the power adapter that comes with the piano, but also by 6 AA batteries! Yes, you heard that right...batteries! It's hard to believe that an 88-key fully piano-weighted key action digital piano with all that this piano has to offer also allows you to go anywhere you want to without restriction. To the park (I've done it), to the beach, camping, in your backyard, out on safari, in the street, wherever you happen to be...because of this new battery powered feature. The speaker system is super powerful so there is no problem hearing the piano and it has a noticeably good quality sound going through its internal sound system even when on batteries...but I will talk about that in more detail a bit later in this review. When using batteries the piano can be powered up to 4 hours of continuous operation which is a very long time given what this piano is and the power it would normally require if it were any other brand. Since the PXS has an "auto-shutoff" for its battery power, if you don't play the piano for 6 minutes then the power will automatically shut off during battery power, although you can disable that auto shutoff if you like. All I can say is...how cool is that!

Another really cool new feature not previously available on any digital piano model in this price range under $1000 (especially at or near $649) is the inclusion of built-in Bluetooth audio wireless capability. Many of us have and use Bluetooth audio with our personal devices in that you can wirelessley transmit music or any other sound from your personal device (phone, tablet, etc) to an external set of stereo (or mono) speakers without needing any cables. This enhances your listening experience when viewing and/or listening to videos, music, etc. With the PX-S1000 this Bluetooth feature is great for a number of reasons such as learning new songs from your digital music library going directly through the piano internal speaker system so you can play along with them whether using the internal speakers of the piano or using headphones in the piano. You can also just listen to your favorite music through the piano speaker system from your personal device so that the PX-S1000 becomes your personal stereo sound system wherever you might take it. You can also use the exclusive stereo 3-D surround sound system (called "sound mode") which is built into the piano to enhance your listening pleasure with the music coming through the piano speakers....very impressive, although I will talk more about that a little later. The Bluetooth audio receiver setup is easy to activate in the piano so that it "pairs" quickly and reliably with your personal music/video playing device....I've done it so I know it works.

The final thing that sets this model apart from all previous portable Casio digital pianos as well as most of its competition is the new proprietary Casio Chordana app for tablets and mobile devices which allows you to control the various aspects and features of the PX-S1000 from your color touch screen in your device. The larger the color touch screen in your device, the easier it will be in navigation the functions & features in the app. This makes the PX-S1000 extremely intuitive and for the first time lets the user access functions that have been previously been very difficult to find using the conventional function button while touching a preset key by looking at a menu in the owners manual. This traditional method made it so that you really did not want to find or use those cool features because the interface was so confusing overall. But with this new easy-to-use app that Casio designed for these pianos, now even the most obscure feature that you may not have tried before is quickly accessible from your color touch screen on your tablet device when then makes it more likely you will use that function or feature and find out how cool it is and what you may have been missing out on before. Beyond that, some of the new PX-S1000 sound and performance features are all brand new and not found in previous models, and they can impact your music in some very cool and useful ways. So I found it really great to be able to trigger these performance features so intuitively and easily from my iPad using the "Chordana Play for Piano" app. Whether you are selecting one of the 18 instrument tones in the piano, layering 2 of them, splitting 2 of them (bass & another sound), adding special reverb and ambiance effects to your sound, changing volumes on each sound, editing the piano sound to be even more realistic and natural, using the 3-D surround sound system in a customizable way, making and playing back a recording you've done, whatever you want to do you can do it from this new app.

The Casio Chordana app also does things that the PX-S1000 cannot do without the app including providing a fun piano learning game experience using a dedicated portion of the app to activate a "MIDI Player" similar to the Synthesia game app for keyboards. You can import the built-in songs in the piano and play them through this MIDI game so that you can visually see "streaming colors" indicating what keys to press on the piano so that you can play along with the song. There are all kinds of functions & features in this game app to control the songs and how those songs will be playing along with the live interaction you can have with them.This is a very cool part of the Chordana app and definitely lots of fun for the whole family no matter what age or playing skill level you are. Beyond the "MIDI Player" song system, Casio also has created proprietary software within the app called "Audio Player." This player system allows you to import songs from your digital music library on your phone or tablet device (such as iTunes) so that you can play any of those songs through the piano using the Chordana app and then play along with those songs live on the piano and the piano being heard simultaneously through the piano speaker system. You can also wirelessly connect that song player in the Chordana app to the piano using the Bluetooth Audio feature so that you do not need any cables for connection....completely wireless. Apart from that very cool feature, you can take any song from your song library on your device and when running it through the Casio Chordana app you can then raise or lower the key (pitch) of the song along with being able to slow down or speed up the song...and you can do all of that quickly and easily from your tablet color touch screen without any degradation of that audio quality of the song when playing in a new key or different speed. In other words, if there is a vocal part in one of your favorite songs you are playing from your digital song library through the Chordana app, if you raise the pitch of the song, the vocal part is also raised just like that person is actually singing in that new key. If you slow down the song so that you can more easily play along with it while trying to learn it on the piano keys, the song is slowed down without any noticeable distortion or unwanted digital noise when you slow down or speed up the tempo...or change the key. You can also mute out the melody or accompaniment of that song, although that feature is only average and there is some noise and distortion doing that...but I was expecting this to happen so it wasn't a surprise to me. You can also apply the special DSP effects which is called 'sound mode' (reverb, echo, 3-D sound, etc) within the piano directly to the song playing back so you can enhance the natural sound that you might find in a recording studio using more sophisticated effects. Simple to use and definitely makes a big impact on the music. So for someone to say that the Casio Chordana app is "just an app" or that you probably wouldn't use (I have heard some people say this) is very short-sighted in my opinion. If you have a tablet (I use iPad in my studio) then you'll definitely want to use it in conjunction with the PX-S1000 because it makes this new piano way more powerful (in very practical ways) than it already is. There are other very impressive things this app lets you do with the piano and I will talk about those things a bit later in this review.

OK...now that I have discussed the things I think are very unique with regard to this new Casio piano model, I want to move onto the #1 most important thing that piano teachers (like myself), piano players (like myself), and music students are most concerned about when shopping for a new digital piano...and that is the key action. It reality all the "bells & whistles" that a digital piano offers is meaningless at the end of the day as compared to how the piano responds and plays as a "piano." There are plenty of digital pianos out there with all kinds of "cool features" in a variety of price ranges, but when it comes to reproducing a pleasing piano playing experience, some of those digital pianos are good, some are average, and some are just bad...and I have done a number of reviews on the poor quality models and bad ones....and most of those pianos are the "off-brand names." The key action in the new PX-S1000 is a new & improved design by Casio being currently offered in the new PXS models only and not any other model of Casio digital pianos. The key action is improved and upgraded in a number of ways that are noticeable to me including the key weight, responsiveness, overall balance between the keys going up and down the keyboard, and the quietness of the keys when being played. Of all the key actions out there for a portable digital piano under $1000 I can say, for the first time, that the PXS piano key action has the most realistic "feel" as compared to real good acoustic pianos I have played...not too heavy and not too light, although different people do have some different opinions when it comes to key actions and the weighted keys, but it just depends on your playing experience and which acoustic pianos you have played in the past.

I think that it is important to note that I have played literally thousands of acoustic upright & grand pianos in my long music career including Fazioli, Steinway, Bosendorfer, Kawai, Yamaha, Bechstein, Young Chang, Samick, Boston, Pearl River, Essex, Kimball, Story & Clark, and many more so I know how weighted keys feel and how they are supposed to move. The PX-S1000 does have slightly shorter keys (the part of the key you cannot see that goes beyond the visible key and underneath the piano panel behind the key) than other digital pianos and therefore the key weight towards the very backs of the white keys and black keys is harder (firmer) and therefore the keys are a bit harder to press down when playing flats & sharps. You can know what key weight actually is because key weight is measurable in terms of down-weight & up-weight which is the amount of pressure measured in grams that it takes for a key to go down when it is pressed by a finger. Just so you know...the actual keys on digital piano don't have much weight to them at all. It's the extra weights placed inside the key (in acoustic type piano keys) or attached to the keys or within the key action (in digital pianos) that give the plastic and/or wooden keys their complete weight. The Casio PX-S1000, like all the other portable and furniture digital pianos under $2000 are more like upright acoustic pianos in that digital pianos in that price range do have shorter keys which is true of regular acoustic upright pianos. Acoustic Grand pianos have longer keys (the part of the key you cannot see that goes under and behind the panel into the piano cabinet) and that is why professional piano players and advanced pianists always prefer to play on grand piano key actions because they can play their music better with more balance between the  backs and fronts of the keys in terms of key pressure and key stroke. However, key weight (the force or pressure it takes to press the key down) is measured on the top front of the key, top middle of the key, and top back of the key. For some of you out there these extra "details" about keys may not be of interest to you and that is fine. But for other people you may enjoy knowing about these details which I am happy to explain.

As a real example, the down-weight of middle C# key (black key measured in the middle of the key) I have personally measured key-weight movement on some Yamaha acoustic upright/console pianos where that key down-weight is about 60 grams of down-weight pressure. The down-weight pressure on the same key measured in the same place (middle of key) on the Casio PX-S1000 is approx 65 grams. But if you take that same measurement on the popular Yamaha P515 portable digital piano ($1499 price) the down-weight measures approx 90 grams on that same black key in the same position...this is true of the white keys as well. The Yamaha digital piano key action is noticeably heavier in that key position not only against regular acoustic upright and grand pianos, but also as compared to Korg, Kawai, and Roland digital pianos with Roland needing more key pressure than Kawai, Korg, or Casio. On a real grand piano the amount of finger pressure needed to press down the key is even less than upright acoustic pianos. In other words, the keys are even lighter and take less effort to press down on grand pianos as opposed to upright pianos in the middle of the key and also towards the fronts of the keys. However when pressing the key downward towards the very backs of the keys on the new PXS models, the Casio keys are heavier/firmer and do take more finger pressure than the other brands. It's definitely a trade-off because the Casio key weight is much more realistic on the first 3/4 part of each of the (visible) 88 keys. But the back 1/4 of the visible key is heavier (requires more force) to push down than the other brands of digital pianos and heavier than the other models of Casio digital pianos as well. To get a more portable and slimmer size digital piano, Casio obviously had to compromise to produce that new reduced size in the PXS. But...given the fact that (overall) the 88-keys outplay the other brands of portable digital pianos under $1000 when it comes to key weight and movement...I think it's a reasonable compromise other than not having a slim cabinet and instead making each key a bit longer....which is what I would have personally preferred because that "slim design" is not the reason I would necessarily buy this model just to save an inch or two in depth...it's having the best piano playing experience I could get in this price range for a portable digital piano along with all those other cool features. The bottom line for this new key action is that although the PX-S3000 has (overall) a very playable "feel" and the overall weight and movement of the keys is comfortable and responsive, if you are primarily a classical pianist and/or play lots of sharps and flats towards the very backs of the keys then this key action may not be as comfortable and responsive for you as you may need. I hope this all makes sense to you:)

Is this new Casio key action perfect and exactly like a real piano?..definitely not and no one should expect that in this price range. But the question really is, given that there are key action variations among different brands of portable digital pianos under $1000, which one has the most similarity to a good acoustic piano? With that question in mind, for me it would be this new PXS model. It's quite responsive having their new "High Definition" key senor electronics for good note repetition reaction, it's got good weight under the fingers (not too heavy and not too light as I just mentioned) and Casio has added a new proprietary key technology that allows each key to have a slightly different weight than the next one offering linear weighted keys which they have never had before. So the increase and decrease of the graduated weight of the keys as you go up and down the keyboard (Casio calls their new key-action "smart scaled") is something that no other digital piano manufacturer has right now. Beyond that, the synthetic ivory & ebony key-tops feel good under the fingers and the texture of those keys has been greatly improved over previous Casio models including the PX160, PX350, PX360, and other Casio portable digital pianos. Another thing I noticed about the key action is that it's quieter than previous models when the keys move up & down. This is a big deal, especially for Casio because many piano want or need the key action to be as quiet as possible while still moving up & down correctly with good "key travel." So based on my initial testing of this model and many subsequent tests I've done with this key action, I can say that although it is not "noiseless"when the keys move, it is definitely quieter than before and there is no thud, thumping, or knocking sounds when the keys are going down and there is reduced noise when the the keys come back up. In addition to that, when the keys come back up they don't bounce near as much as previous models which means they are steadier and and more refined. So the bottom line is this...the Casio PX-S1000 has a more enjoyable and quieter key action than the other brands for portable pianos in this price range under $1000 including other Casio non-PXS models, Roland, Yamaha, and even Kawai...although I do like the Kawai key action in their portable ES110 digital piano ($699 internet discount price). All I can say is..."Casio, you did an amazing job creating this new key action," and although it's not perfect, for $649 it is outstanding in its class."

The piano sound authenticity is certainly the 2nd most important aspect of any piano and the PXS1000 has a brand new piano sound chip in it that no other portable or furniture cabinet Casio piano currently has had. This new sound piano sound chip has been improved in a number of ways over previous models and all other Casio portable digital pianos. First of all, their are 3 main acoustic piano tones in the PX-S1000 with one being the concert sound, a brighter piano sound, and a mellow piano sound. There are also some other acoustic piano sounds but the 3 main ones are what most people will be using. The dynamic tonal range and organic nature of these 3 piano tones are very impressive and more expressive than ever before. From very soft to very loud and everywhere in-between, playing the piano sounds, especially the concert Grand sound is so dynamically rich in tone that it's hard to believe Casio could do that in a $649 portable digital piano. The nuanced tones at every pressure level when playing the keys are pretty spectacular and you can even hear the "virtual strings" resonate and vibrate in ways that $1500 digital pianos have a hard time doing and you can hear what are known as sympathetic overtones and hammer noises & resonances, just like the real thing...and with the Chordana app using its "acoustic simulator" features, you can control the amount of those organic vibrations & resonances you hear. So if the sound is a little bit "too much" for you in terms of all those organic tones that Casio has captured in their piano sound chip, you can easily reduce those organic elements or even increase them if you want more of it. The piano tone (overall) is very natural even when coming through it's own PX-S1000 internal speakers and as with most all portable digital pianos with internal speakers, the bass response is usually a bit weak particularly considering the cabinet is so compact without much mass for the PX-S1000. Perhaps that small size is a compelling reason why Casio created a new proprietary "3-D" surround sound technology within this model to give the sound a presence that I have not heard in any other portable digital piano under $1500. When you play the piano sound through the stereo speaker system in the PX-S1000 you get a stereo sound that is pretty good and better than some other portable digital pianos. But when you switch on the 3-D stereo surround sound mode, your ears almost cannot believe what they are hearing. The piano sound comes to life in a way that none of the other brands can do (and I have heard and played them all) and it feels like the sound is all around you and coming from different positions near & through the PX-S1000 piano. The 3-D surround sound mode also adds more volume and clarity to the piano sound and gives it expression in tone that you don't have when that mode is switched off, although there are times when you might not want to use this surround sound mode.

In addition to the 3-D surround sound, the PX-S1000 has a mode for adding special effects to the sound, such as reverb. All digital pianos have a reverb effect so that is nothing new. However none of these other portable digital pianos under $1500 have a DSP reverb mode that takes a basic reverb/echo effect and brings it to another level that you would find in professional recording studios. Casio has recreated the actual environmental room effect of specific types buildings and/or places that a pro concert might be held at or a pro singer might be singing at such as an Opera Hall, Cathedral, Stadium, etc. That sound mode in the PX-S1000 is called "hall simulator." When you activate the hall simulator system you then get professional sound environmental reverb effects recreating these different places I just mentioned and the result is a piano sound that really does become more alive because it makes piano sound become even less artificial and more organic. You can switch on the hall simulator effect and the 3-D surround sound effect at the same time and then when you play some piano on the keyboard you just want to say...WOW, that's really cool! I am not exaggerating about this because that's exactly how I felt when I tried it and no other previous Casio portable digital piano I have ever played (and I have played them all) has made me feel that way. Once you set up your Hall Simulator and 3D surround sound effects the way you want them through the app you can then toggle them off and on from the control panel of the piano with the touch of the "sound mode" digital sensor button so that you don't have to use the app all the time to get those effects, makes it easy. OK...if that was not enough, I connected the PX-S1000 to some external powered monitors which are pretty good but not expensive...about $300 for a pair and they have a relatively small footprint. I just took a couple instrument cables coming from the separate audio outputs on the piano and plugged them into the monitors and placed them on the floor next to the PX-S1000, and as soon as I did that and powered on the monitors, the PX-S1000 became a big grand piano with all the frequency and bass response you could want out of a small portable digital piano. Actually it was pretty unbelievable hearing this instrument that way.

So...when it comes to the piano sound on this new model, don't get me wrong, it does not actually play like or sound exactly like a grand piano because after all, even though the piano sounds in the PX-S1000 are very good digital recordings of grand pianos, those sounds are coming out of speakers and the key action that is triggering those piano sounds are not grand piano keys with all the natural organics of a real grand piano. But for the uninitiated and those people who have not had a lot of playing experience on a real top quality grand piano like I have (I've played literally thousands of grand pianos in my music career), you might be fooled into thinking the sound in this Casio PX-S1000 actually is a grand piano...it's that good, especially when listening through a good pair of stereo headphones or connecting to some good monitor speakers. With Roland, for instance, I can easily tell their piano sound is more artificial and not as real...although nevertheless I still like it. Same holds true with Yamaha and a few other brands. You can only expect so much is this price range under $1000, but with this new PXS series, Casio has really done their homework and improved things in a way where they now have taken a big leap forward in piano playing realism.

At this point in my (lengthy) review, if you are still with me I want to talk about the pedals. All pianos have pedals and without them there would not be a piano. That's because the pedals, particularly the right damper/sustain pedal is so important for holding and sustaining the piano sound so that you can play your song with all the notes always producing a staccato sound where the note is heard and then quickly shuts off when you let go of the key. You definitely want notes to sustain their sound by holding down the damper/sustain pedal for a period of time depending on the notes and chords you are playing at any given moment in the song. damper pedaling is critical to the outcome and realism of any song you play on the piano. Other instruments like harpsichords, organs, etc do not have sustain pedals because the sound does not operate that way. On a real piano (upright or grand piano) one of the hallmarks of any piano sound in that piano is how well the damper pedal can sustain  and hold that tone and keep up the volume of that piano sound as it is sustain and then decaying away over time. In other words, you should be able to hold the sustain pedal down, play a key on the keyboard maybe in the middle of it, and that piano sound should hold on and sustain naturally for about 15-20 seconds (or even more depending on the piano) until you do not hear it any more, The bass notes have twice as long of sustain time and the high notes have less sustain time than in the middle of the keyboard. With digital pianos almost all of them have had problems with being able to sustain notes for longer periods of time like real pianos can. For the first time Casio now has a natural organic note sustain that is a long and as loud as a real acoustic piano and it also decays and fades out like a real piano. What this does for the piano is to offer the better intermediate or advanced player the ability to play music in a way that they can do on a real piano...and that's the point. Even the beginner sounds better because the longer, bolder piano sustain ability "fills in the holes" just by pressing and holding the sustain pedal. It's like adding thousands of new colors to your pallet, it all just comes out more beautifully...that's what great pedal sustain is able to do for the pianist. The more natural the piano sound, key action, and pedaling is on a digital piano, the more natural your music will sound and the more you will enjoy it...and that should be the goal.

One of the normal downsides of using a damper/sustain pedal on a Casio digital piano is that the pedal included with the PXS pianos are small, square, very lightweight plastic pedals that don't stay in one place and move around on the ground when you are using it. This pedal work OK and is  included free with this model, but it is not something I would recommend for any long term use. So the solution for that is to purchase a heavy duty full size, better weighted metal pedal for about $30-$40 and then the pedaling experience will be much nicer. However, that still only gives you one pedal, and since there are 3 pedals on a piano, Casio has designed and built a new proprietary tripe pedal unit that is portable and plugs directly into the PX-S1000. This pedal system is called the SP34, and at $99 discount price, not only does it offer a much better pedaling experience, especially as you progress in your piano playing abilities, but it stays in place better on the floor and the sustain (right) pedal does something that the other Casio single pedals cannot do and that's being able to do "half-damper" pedaling. Half damper pedaling is when you press down on the right damper/sustain pedal and the further you press the pedal down the more sustain effect you will get. When the pedal is all the way down and you slowly release it then you can progressively less sustain effect. This is just like a real piano can do...and it's very natural and needed when playing at a bit more serious level. With the single sustain pedals, those pedals only offer on or off sustain and not progressive sustain. So is the Casio triple pedal system worth the $99?...I think it is but you may not need it right away especially if you are just starting out as a new piano student. The middle pedal on the triple pedal unit is the standard sostenuto function (most people do not use that pedal) and the left pedal is the soft pedal which is useful to soften any note(s) when pressing that pedal down which some piano players will use. Regardless, this is the first time Casio has offered a portable triple pedal unit instead of needing to have it built into a furniture pedal system connected to a furniture stand which is all that was available in previous Casio portable models. This means that you could take the PX-S1000 with you somewhere outside where there is no power, set it up on a portable stand, connect the triple pedal unit (or a single pedal), and play the PX-S1000 while powered with six AA batteries. Given the great sound of the PX-S1000 coming through its own internal speaker system (I will talk specifically about the internal speakers a bit later) and the fact that the piano sound authenticity combined with a very playable piano style key action and responsive pedaling system is so good, you can have musical enjoyment wherever you are and sound like a pro doing it.

When it comes to instrument sounds, effects, functions, and features, the PX-S1000 simple appearance is very deceptive. From the outside it looks like it does nothing when the power is off because as I have mentioned earlier, there are no function buttons other than a volume knob and a sleek flush mounted power button. So when you power up the keyboard then some functions appear on the smooth black surface and light up so you can see and activate them. But that appears to be very deceptive as well because by the looks of things from the piano control panel it seems as if there are only two instrument sounds showing, acoustic grand piano and electric piano, and that's it. However, under that "hood" there are actually 18 instrument sounds (17 + 1 string bass tone for split mode) which any one of the 17 instrument tones can be selected along with being able to layer/mix any of those sounds with another 17 sounds in a different menu, although both sets (menus) of sounds are the same. You can layer any one sound in the first menu with any one sound in the second menu such as concert piano with stereo strings or harpsichord with pipe organ, etc. You can also control the volume independently on both sounds which is very convenient and useful in balancing your layered sound. There is also a "split" function on the keyboard which allows for an automatic string bass tone on the left-hand split on a particular preset note and then any sound you choose for the right hand such as piano which is fun if you want to play a bit of Jazz bass/piano.. You can also select 2 sounds to be layered on the right hand along with a bass sound on the left-hand. The 17 sounds + 1 bass tone in this model are all quite good and noticeably improved over past Casio models including a variety of acoustic & electric pianos, orchestral strings, jazz, pop, and church organs, harpsichord and vibes.

Within the piano there are there approx 50 functions which are intuitively accessed by the Casio Chordana app and there are also approx 50 variations of those 50 functions to give you more control over how the sound comes out and also being able to more easily access features, songs, 2 track recording & playback (right-hand, left-hand), metronome, transpose,  5 levels of touch sensitivity control, music games, audio song file importing, and a host of other very cool things you can do with the PX-S1000. So all of these things can help you make music in ways that not only lets you sound better on this model than any other portable digital piano out there under $1000 in my opinion, but you get to do musical things that just makes piano playing more fun, more enjoyable, and allows you to customize your piano and instrumental tones in ways other digital pianos just cannot do right now. My point is...don't be deceived by the simple design and looks when the piano is off or even when it is powered on. When you use the Casio Chordana app on your personal device, that app will open up a world of technology which can be used with this piano which anyone from 3 years old to 93 years old can easily learn to do. It's interesting that you can also access these other features directly from the piano itself using a function button and then looking in the owners manual to find the correct key out of all the 88 keys on the keyboard which will then trigger that function you want. But that way of getting to those features is definitely not intuitive and requires a lot of memorization and tends to be tedious to use. The end result is that people usually avoid using those extra features because it's not easy and intuitive to use when you have to rely on such an antiquated operating system like that one..It's really all about using helpful technology (which I am a big supporter of) to make your music playing experience as exciting and personal as it can be, and this is the first Casio portable digital piano that can do that through an app on the color touch screen of your personal device (phone, tablet, etc). Don't have a personal device, especially a tablet like an iPad or Android?...then I recommend you eventually get one if you are going to purchase the PX-S1000...it's definitely worth it. It's still somewhat easy to trigger the 17 instrument sound from the piano control panel and keys without the need of an iPad/tablet as well as the recorder, metronome, and surround sound. But it's much easier and more intuitive to do it from a tablet color touch screen using the Casio Chordana app. There are a couple of other portable digital pianos that Casio produces which have been out for a year or two and they have a built-in 5" color touch screen in the center of the piano to allow users to much more easily navigate and use a variety of features in those models and that operating system works well. However the new proprietary electronics in the Casio PXS models along with the Chordana app is something the other Casio portable digital pianos don't have so it just depends on what you really want and what your musical goal is.

I think it's important to reiterate that the PXS series pianos as well as other brands of portable and cabinet digital pianos have a similar setup to the PX-S1000 when wanting to use the additional built-in features such as changing transpose key, brightness, touch sensitivity control, and other functions. You have to look in the owners manual at a chart to see where those functions are located in piano by manually pressing a specific white or black key on the keyboard while holding down the function or sound mode button. It's a bit cryptic and not user friendly and it's this operating method which prevents a lot of people from using these extra features intuitively and efficiently, so the result of this is that most people tend to shy away from trying to use those features because it takes a lot of effort to do so. But then you miss out on all the very cool and useful things these extra functions can do like changing the touch sensitivity control of the keyboard to help you play better depending on how you strike the keys. Perhaps you would want to change the brilliance control of the PX-S1000 so you can brighten up or mellow out the sound which customizes the piano tone to your ear as some people like an overall more mellow tone and others like a clearer, crisper, sharper tone. This is useful whether you are playing the piano sound, organ sound, or other instrument tones. The reverb and ambiance controls can make your music sound even more realistic and you can even control the depth or amount of that ambiance using internal controls. But all of that is likely going to stay unused or hidden within the piano because most people don't want to deal with memorizing which black or white key on the 88 keys triggers that function (see white chart above left pic) and there is no way to know unless you look in the owners manual each time to see where that feature is located in the chart and then trying to trigger that function by pressing the piano function button and the correct key. There is no indication on the keyboard itself where those functions are located. But as I previously mentioned, this type of operation is true for many other brands and models in this price range under $1000. That's why the Casio Chordana app is so important and so useful in allowing the user to finally have a very intuitive, fun, and efficient way of quickly accessing and trigger all these different types of features contained inside the PX-S1000. It just makes the PX-S1000 a very powerful musical tool so that your music can come out as pleasing to your fingers and ears as possible within the ability of the piano. I cannot overstate how important that app is to opening up what this piano can do.

However, if all you want is a simple portable digital piano that can instantly let you play piano just by powering up the instrument and playing, then the Casio PX-S1000 can do that too. Simple and clean in design and operation, the PX-S1000 will likely inspire you musically as soon as you start playing it. I also like the fact that this model has lots of great connectivity inside of it which includes 2 full size 1/4" audio outputs to plug into an external audio system for use in home, in studio, at church,  or wherever you may need to connect with external speakers to get a bigger, bolder, more powerful sound, a 1/8" stereo audio input, a USB output to computer, tablet, etc, a proprietary triple pedal output to connect the optional triple pedal unit, 1 sustain pedal output jack, and two 1/8' stereo headphone jacks located on the right front side of the piano for easy access to wearing headphones for private practice. I want to point out that the PXS1000 is the only digital piano of any brand I know of in this price range that offers a stereo audio input jack which is useful when wanting to use the PXS1000 internal speaker system to hear an external device like a computer, audio player, or other audio device. Bluetooth audio connectivity in this model is always nice to have as I mentioned earlier, but an audio input jack has specific uses that Bluetooth cannot do and there are a lot of external audio devices that don't have Bluetooth wireless or if they do then it may not practical to use depending on the application. So having a stereo audio input jack for wired stereo connectivity is very cool and I did not expect Casio to include it in this new model.

Speaking of the piano internal stereo speaker system, Casio has redesigned their previous internal speaker system they used in previous models and the PXS is the first new models to incorporate this new system in a portable digital piano. The speakers themselves are larger measuring over 6" at its largest point which is about 1.5" larger than in previous models, so they put out a bigger, fuller sound than before because of the expansion of the speaker surface area as well as better components. The 8 watt x 8 watt (total 16 watts) stereo amplifiers have been redesigned to offer a cleaner sound with less distortion and although 16 total watts seems like a small amount of power, you will be surprised at actually how much volume can come out of this piano...it's a lot!. The speaker ports in the PX-S1000 disperse the sound in a new way with sound coming out of the front and sound coming out of the back for better all around sound projection. The back speaker grills which are finished off in a black color are also flush mounted and somewhat disappear into the back of the piano to give the back a sleeker appearance. When you add it all up the new internal stereo sound system is a bonus feature also not expected in this new model. The internal sound system is even more impressive when you are using the special surround sound technology when playing the piano because that technology coupled with the new improved speaker system definitely makes the piano sound "come alive" with more bass, more volume, and more clarity (and with less distortion at higher volumes) than ever before, and previous and current Casio digital pianos (and some other brands) just cannot do that. It's important to note that the new "surround sound" feature does not apply to sound coming through headphones or to the sound coming through external speakers. Only through the internal piano speaker system will the surround sound mode work. With regard to the "bass frequencies" and bass power, if you are looking for that grand piano type bass response, you will still not get that with the PXS models. As I talked about earlier, you would still need to connect to a good sub woofer or some good stereo monitors from the piano audio outputs for that to happen. But if you do that (and it does not cost much to do it) then you'll get a big full bass response which will likely make you believe you are actually playing a real full size baby grand piano...I've done it so I know it really works that way.

The PXS series is normally available in both black or white cabinet finishes and come with a matching music rack that will support your sheet music or books. COLOR UPDATE: Casio has just come out with a "limited edition" gloss RED color (see pics above, below) that I have seen in person and it is very impressive. In fact this color is only available on this model and no other model in the Casio digital piano line or any other brand or models. So if you think this "limited edition" RED color would be perfect for your needs or someone else in your family I recommend you order one right away before they are all sold out because Casio may not be getting anymore. The top control panel is gloss color and the cabinet color is all red. However if you wanted a Casio furniture type stand then those items are only available in the standard black or white but it's definitely a nice contrast with the red piano color. The PX-S1000 comes with the single plastic sustain pedal and power adapter and Casio makes a nice looking furniture type stand called the CS68 which sells for $140 discount price on-line. The stand is nice looking, supports the piano so the piano can screw down to the stand, and with the optional triple pedal selling for about $100, you would then have a complete home setup. You can also just purchase a lightweight portable x-style adjustable stand on-line for about $30-$40 which can be a  more practical way of supporting the piano depending on your needs and budget. Overall, no matter what accessories you might be purchasing for the piano or how you will be using this instrument, you'll likely be very happy with the purchase. There certainly are other Casio portable digital pianos out there including the PX-160 or any CDP models, but because they don't come close to the PX-S1000 for what it does. The PX-S1000 does com with a Casio full 3-year factory warranty covering both parts and labor, so it's well protected. Casio also makes custom gig bag for this model which fits it perfectly and is very robust and nicely padded as compared to past Casio gig bags for other portable digital pianos. There are a couple nice sized pockets on the gig bag, a comfortable handle, sturdy full length zipper, and a couple of full length straps attached to the bag. The bag itself is not heavy but it seems to be constructed very well and the piano sits securely inside without wiggle room, and that is a very good thing. $150 may seem like a lot to pay for a "gig bag," but I believe you will be hard pressed to find a generic one out there that actually fits this "slim-line" model correctly while being robust. I think this gig bag is definitely worth the price and if you are going to travel with the piano at all, then I recommend you invest in this new gig bag to protect it. I also recommend that you eventually upgrade (sooner or later) to the better metal full length sustain pedal or triple pedal unit to get a more stable and better manageable pedal playing experience, which is no as important for first time beginner students but it will be necessary as you develop your piano playing skills.

Casio PX-S3000 Digital Piano

There is another new 2020 portable digital piano under $1000 that I would recommend beyond the PX-S1000 and that's its MORE POWERFUL Brother called the PX-S3000 at $849 discount price (above picture). For just $200 more the PX-S3000 is light years ahead of the PX-S1000 in terms of what it can do. In fact, the new PX-S3000 is so powerful in its music and piano technology that in my opinion it should be selling for $999 (or more) especially considering what else is out there in self contained (with built-in speakers) portable digital pianos. So it would be my recommendation that if you can go up in your budget just $200 then you should get the PX-S3000 instead because it's so much more musically enjoyable and can help you produce a lot more music in a number of different ways that the PX-S1000 just cannot do. The nice thing about the PX-S3000 is that it has the same piano sound chip, the same key action, the same pedaling response, the same Bluetooth connectivity, the same cabinet design and appearance except for a couple of additional controller knobs and a pitch bend wheel located on the very left end portion of cabinet, and the same Casio Chordana app (but with 100's more fun, educational, and useful features and functions). So all of the essentials of the PX-S1000 are there in the PX-S3000, which is very good. But when you see and hear what the PX-S3000 can really do, then I think a majority (but not all) of the digital piano shoppers out there would probably extend their budget to get the PX-S3000 instead...because it's just not that much more money for what you would be getting. But as far as the PX-S1000 goes, if what you have learned about it here seems like it may be enough for you and you just cannot stretch your budget any further, then even though I definitely like the Casio PX-S3000 and a few of the other portable digital pianos out there that are under $700 like the Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai models, this new PX-S1000 piano is going to be hard to beat at its $649 discount price, so I definitely recommend it. Please click on the following link to read my recent review of the new Casio PX-S3000: PX-S3000 Review

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 Yamaha CSP-170 & Yamaha CSP-150 REVIEW | Digital Pianos with Smart Pianist technology | 2020 | It was just a matter of time until someone out there (a piano company) thought "outside the box" and came up with a new digital piano that breaks all the boundaries of conventional thinking and creates a new digital piano category which is the first of its kind from a major manufacturer. This new category is using an iPad to control the entire piano from your tablet device.

The Yamaha piano company has two 2020 digital pianos called the CSP-150 ($3499 internet selling price in matte black, $3999 in polished ebony) and the CSP-170 ($4699 internet selling price in matte black and $5299 in polished ebony). From the outside these two models look like they do nothing but play piano because there are not all the buttons, sliders, and display screens so commonly attributed to digital pianos. In other words these pianos only have a power button and volume control on the right side of the keyboard, and a function button on the left side of the keyboard, but nothing else beyond that. The CSP-170 & CSP-150 digital pianos look as minimalistic in cabinet design and function as a digital piano could possibly be and still be digital. But you cannot judge a book by its cover and in the advanced tech world we are all living in, looks can be deceiving. Sometimes a complex looking electronic device can look like it does a lot, but it may not. On the other hand something simplistic may look like it's very limited in what in can do but when you actually use it then you know it goes way beyond what you ever thought it could do for you, and such is the case with these new pianos. So when you look at two new models from the outside and notice there is only one button on the left side of the keyboard and one button and slider on the right side of the keyboard, don't be fooled because once you see what Yamaha has done that no other manufacturer of home digital pianos has yet to do, you will likely shake your head in disbelief and want to know more, and that is what I am about to discuss here in this review. So take a deep breath and keep on reading, you'll be glad you did:). *click on pics for larger images so you can see important visual details.


Over the years I have had a number of digital piano shoppers tell me that they wished there was a really good digital piano out there that did not cost "an arm and a leg" (somewhere under $5000) and yet had the ability to replicate a real piano as closely as possible and that it would look great, play great, sound great, and also have a variety of interactive fun and educational features for people of all ages & playing skill levels along with allowing more advanced musicians access to professional interactive music features that would stimulate their creativity...but still look as piano-like as possible. The problem with getting all of these very cool, very high quality interactive digital features (that many digital piano shoppers would love to have) is that until now all those features needed to be built into the piano itself with lots of physical buttons, big internal color touch screen, and an array of controls and sliders to navigate all the functions which cost a lot of money. Some pianos have added built-in color touch screens now but even that technology is not necessarily practical for a lot of users because the operating system for the touch screen is proprietary for that brand and is not what people are used to using on their regular tech devices like iPhones, iPads, Android devices, etc. When all of the technology is built directly into the digital piano, especially in a higher price range, then these things tend make a piano look like a cockpit of an airplane with unfamiliar controls, and that is not what most piano shoppers want on their pianos anymore, at least that's what I am seeing out there. People generally like and want new interactive technology in their devices, but they want the technology to be intuitive, easy to navigate, and familiar to operate, something you won't outgrow...and at a reasonable price.

So here's a big question: what if you could do away with all the buttons, wheels, sliders, large built in display screen, and most other hardware on those expensive interactive, technologically advanced expensive digital pianos and take all of those features that are in those pianos and stuff it into an iPad or (selected) Android tablet and operate every function and feature of your  piano (thousands of cool features) from your iPad/Android alone using the familiar software controls of your iPad iOS/Android device to operate your piano? Then you would have your iPad or Android color touch screen with all the familiar controls that you are used to having (for those that have an iPad or Andoid tablet) and be able to have total control and nearly unlimited amount of digital piano features for your piano that up until now have only been available on the more expensive digital pianos with all the hardware buttons and sliders. Wouldn't that kind of thing be awesome?:)...I think so:).

This is precisely what the new Yamaha CSP-150 & CSP-170 digital pianos are giving people; a way to have a more understated but attractive digital piano in their home or venue that looks like a piano instead of an electronic device but actually musically outperforms any other brand or model and is easier to use than the more expensive top digital technology pianos like the Yamaha Clavinova CVP pianos along with some of the other brands. Using an iPad (or iPhone) and proprietary Yamaha software that operates in an iOS app in cooperation with Apple company (and now also available with Andoid technology), these two new digital pianos are the kind of instruments in my opinion that the industry has needed as an alternative to the more "ornate and over produced" digital pianos of the past and even some current models. These hardware saturated digital pianos rely on an abundance of buttons, sliders, and screens packaged and built into a cabinet that can easily become outdated because technology keeps changing. Having it all built into the piano cabinet can sometimes make it more challenging and more difficult to keep up with and retain resale value as opposed to offering a good, solid piano which uses  external digital technology to control the piano and what it can do that can easily be tweaked, changed, and updated without affecting the piano itself, the resale value, or the need to buy a new piano to get new technology. What an interesting concept now brought to life by Yamaha:).

But as far as these actual pianos go, when you power up either the Yamaha CSP-150 or CSP-170, you get Yamaha's best grand piano sound taken directly from its 9' CFX concert grand which has a maximum 256-note polyphony along with natural organic resonances and tonal vibrations. The dynamic tonal range is smooth and very wide and there is a lot of music expression you can get out of these pianos when playing them. Yamaha has provided many internal features on the piano without the need of using an iPad or Android device which can be simply accessed by holding down the function button on the left side of the keyboard and then simultaneously touching a specific key (from a chart in the owners manual) on the keyboard that triggers a preset function or feature. In this way you can have a variety of instrument sounds, rhythms, styles, metronome, and other features at your fingertips (literally) without needing to connect to any external device. There 10 instrument sounds including the Yamaha and Bosendorfer grand piano tones, 10 orchestrated playalong songs including "my heart will go on" from the Titanic movie, 10 drum rhythm patterns & 10 style accompaniments including rock, jazz, Latin, etc, tempo speed adjustment for metronome and rhythms, 6 levels of reverb effects, 6 levels of key touch curve sensitivity, and a few other features. So just playing the piano allows you quick access to some other cool features that many digital pianos in this price range do not have.

But what really makes these pianos incredibly amazing (in my opinion) is their proprietary Yamaha iOS app for iPad/iPhone called Smart Pianist. This is where all the real excitement and power resides and how these relatively 'simple" pianos become monsters:). But before I talk about this very powerful Yamaha app, it is important to know that the CSP-150 piano is really a Yamaha Clavinova CLP-635 piano in terms of its GH3X plastic key action and internal 60 watt sound system being the same along with its cabinet design. The CSP-170 (below left pic) is essentially a Yamaha CLP-645 in terms of its upgraded NWX wood key action and cabinet design but with increased internal audio on the CSP-170 power offering 180 watts of power going into 4 speakers with the main speakers housed in their own acoustic chamber speaker box mounted just underneath the piano which produces a fuller, more resonate sound with improved bass reproduction. Although the CLP-645 speaker system is quite good offering 100 watts of power going into 4 speakers with no speaker box, the CSP-170 is noticeably upgraded with bigger, fuller sound. I personally like the wood key action of the CSP-170 much better than the firmer key movement on plastic key action of the CSP-150. I notice a difference in the natural key movement of the CSP-170 over the CSP-150 with the CSP-170 key action being somewhat lighter, smoother, and an action that works with you more than the other key action. But I would expect that in the CSP170 given the price difference in those two models. The pedaling on both instruments works quite adequately and each pedal does what it is supposed to do in allowing damper sustain with long decay time for all notes with the right pedal, sostenuto sustain for selected notes with the middle pedal, and soft pedal control with the left pedal.

The Yamaha iOS/Android Smart Pianist app applies to both CSP models in exactly the same way with the same features although the Andoid version of the "Smart Pianist" app does not apply or work with all Android devices. So the choice for shoppers is...what can you afford to pay (your budget?) and which key action and internal sound system of these two pianos will most appeal to you? In my opinion there is only one choice assuming you can spring for the extra money, and that choice is...the CSP-170. This is because of its superior key action and its beefier internal sound system that really brings out the tone of the piano sound along with the incredible musical features of the Smart Pianist app. If you hope to only buy a good digital piano one time then if you can, go the distance to the CSP-170. If you cannot reach for the CSP-170 in terms of your budget then the CSP-150 is certainly a very nice piano for many families as the piano itself goes and both models connect to the Smart Pianist app in the same way. Also, both piano models interact with the features of the Smart Pianist app in the same way and what's especially important is that you will likely be able to upgrade the Smart Pianist app features in the coming years without charge which helps prevents obsolescence that you would normally find in a "hardware driven" digital piano.

Now lets talk about this Yamaha Smart Pianist app and some of the impressive musical things it allows you to do whether you are a beginner, a serious piano student, a recreational player, or an advanced pianist who wants to add even more enjoyment to their music. First it is important to know that when connecting an iPad to the piano for a simultaneous MIDI and audio connection so that your piano can "talk to" the iPad and the app, you can plug in a special USB lightning audio cable (included) from the iPad lightning connector going to the piano audio core MIDI connector located on the right side of the music rack. This connection is quick, simple, and secure and is two way communication so that you can hear the music audio portion of your iPad along with being able to control the various interactive features of the Smart Pianist app like triggering different sounds, songs, and other features while playing the keyboard on the piano. There is a separate MIDI port  on the piano with the input connector located on the left side of the music rack so that you can connect other USB devices like a home computer to do other interactive musical things simultaneously. It's so much nicer to have use of a large iPad color touch screen and/or computer screen rather than rely on the piano itself to see functions through a much smaller built-in display screen like some other digital pianos have which also would not be as usable as the better interface on an iPad or computer. Controlling all the features and sounds of the Yamaha Smart Pianist through these devices for activating all the sounds, recording functions, sheet music functions, and playalong features is really fun and hearing them through the piano speaker system or through stereo headphones when plugged into the piano is just like all the functions are built in to the piano but they are actually in the Smart Pianist app.

So what interactive musical things does this proprietary Yamaha iOS/Android Smart Pianist app give you so that you will have more than just a digital piano and a few extra features? In other words...what makes the CSP-150 & CSP-170 so cool? The first thing most people want to with their new digital piano is to...you guessed it...play piano! But with the Yamaha Smart Pianist, you can change many things on the  acoustic piano sounds in these pianos beyond what they do and sound like from the Yamaha factory. Yamaha has a feature called the "Piano Room" and in this virtual Piano Room you can make changes to the piano sounds to personalize them in a way that could be even more pleasing to your ears and fingers. You do this all with an intuitive, easy to understand list of piano sound changes on the app along with large icons/pictures of the pianos so you can see what is happening in real time. You can change up to 10 Piano Room functions in hundreds of ways by just using your finger on the iPad touch screen that makes it fun so that the end result will be potentially hundreds of new custom piano tones which you can create. You can change the grand piano lid position, brightness of the sound, touch curve of the key touch, the room or venue the piano is playing in (Recital Hall, Concert Hall, Cathedral, etc)...along with the control of that room and its depth of natural reverb and acoustic properties, you can change the master tuning of the piano, the depth of the damper resonance, depth of string resonance, and even be able to tune and control volume for each individual note as opposed to all the notes at one time. Therefore if you feel one note is a bit "out of tune" for your ear or the volume is not quite right as compared to other notes, you can individually adjust each note to your own personal tastes. If you mess up during these individual settings and restore the piano sound back to what it was, then that is easy to do by a reset function in the Piano Room. So hopefully you get the idea and understand that the very nice Yamaha acoustic piano sounds that come built in to these 2 models can be taken much further through instant access and control of the unique Piano Room in the Smart Pianist app.

I've only just begun talking about this new Smart Pianist app so here's a big list of features that are part of this very extensive feature laden Yamaha app: You get access to a library of over 700 very high quality (HD) instrument sounds from additional acoustic pianos, electric pianos brass, woodwinds, guitars of every type, stringed instruments including the most realistic guitars, banjos, violins, harps saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, flutes, world instruments, and just about any other instrument you can think of. The authenticity and tonal reproduction of these instrument sounds are so good along with their detailed nuances that it's easy to think that you are hearing them "live." You can even layer 2 or more instrument sounds together at the same time along with being able to split the keyboard anywhere you want to assign one instrument sound to the left hand and another one to the right hand with intuitive controls that would make an iOS iPad user very happy. These are not "toy" instrument sounds but they are sophisticated recreations of the real thing and like nothing you have ever heard before on a consumer home digital piano. You can also use those instruments in song recordings, live play, accompaniment style play, layered, split, or just about any way you want to. Yes, I know that many people just want a digital piano to mainly play piano...but music is so much more than that and as a long time piano, guitar, keyboard, and organ teacher I can tell you first hand that the more exposure you and/or your children have to music technology, the better musician you and/or they can become. Playing piano is a worthy endeavor but if you can have built in features on these pianos that adds to your musical enjoyment and satisfaction, then I say...why not:).

The Smart Pianist app also has "Music Styles" so that you can have an interactive playing experience with a backup orchestra or band on your piano while playing your piano music. Just about any type of music styles you can think of is in the app including Jazz, Latin, Big Band, Swing, Hard rack, Classic Rock, Light Rock, Waltz, Blues, Country, Western, New Age, Alternative, Broadway, Disney, Motown, and everything in-between. When you select a Music Style from the Style library, whatever song you feel like playing on the piano keyboard, those piano notes will have a professional back up band or orchestra playing along with you at any tempo you choose. You can even access and control special interactive rhythm fills along with an introduction and endings to your song so they sound moire realistic. The styles themselves fill in the background with a band based on the chord you are playing and you play piano or any other instrument sound from the instrument sound library with your right hand and then you are the leader of your own personal band or orchestra and musical results are very exciting. I will say that the Yamaha CVP interactive music style models (especially the CVP-805) are much more adept at playing the rhythm music styles and offering much more in the way of realistic introductions and endings to your song, but the CVP models also cost quite a bit more money too. Perhaps someday Yamaha will upgrade its Smart Pianist app to offer more intros and endings on the CSP models. As a piano teacher for many years I know there are people who play piano and students taking lessons who may not care for or have not had the opportunity to know about these added musical features that interact with your playing. But the fact is that you can control those features to enhance your playing enjoyment in ways not possible in the past on conventional pianos, and all of it done from your iPad in real time. When you hear these Yamaha Smart Pianist interactive styles for yourself I think you might agree that it's all about playing music that makes you "feel good" and if this feature does that for you then that is what is truly important. At the end of the day music is all about feelings and personal expression and if you can gain more happiness from what these new pianos can do for you and/or your family, then that is what should really count.

One thing that I find that helps expand a person's musical ability and musical understanding is to be able to record themselves while they play along with being able to create more complex and engaging music. The Yamaha CSP-150 & CSP-170 Smart Pianist app offers these things with its ability to record your every note on one or both hands and then play them back in real time allowing you to slow the song down or even mute out left or right hand so you can analyse your piano practice and playing to get a better idea of what you really sound like. You control all aspects of your recording and playback from the intuitive recording/playback section of the app. You can also playalong with any recorded part live in real time like you would be playing along with your piano teacher of someone else. You can record your song either as a GENERAL MIDI song file or an audio wav file CD quality and save it on a USB flash drive and playback from the flash drive. You can also download General MIDI multi-track song files from the internet for full playback on the CSP models. To make things even more interesting you can learn to create full song arrangements with up to 16 different instruments from the Smart Pianist instrument library played and recorded one at a time and then played back simultaneously as one complete song arrangement just like you would hear from a band, orchestra, or other musicians playing together. You can control every instrument with regard to type, individual relative volumes, tempo, octaves, effects, and being able to mute any or all instruments during playback. I have done this type of song creation and recording many times and I can tell you that a person, regardless of piano playing skill level, can get a real sense of musical accomplishment when you create an entire score of music on your own and then hear it played back all at one time. You can editing your recordings, save them to digital memory, and also see the music on your iPad or Android device. Recording and playing back music is a very cool thing to do and it can either be very simple with a wav audio file 1-track piano recording all the way up to a full 16 instrument, 16-track musical arrangement of any song you like including writing your own music. You just may wind up with the next famous studio recorded song all done on your Smart Pianist app from playing one of these new CSP pianos:).

OK, so what else can this Smart Pianist app do? Well one of the most interesting things it does is something that just about everyone I know would like to have and no other piano offers this feature. You can take just about any iTune song (MP3 audio song file) from your iOS iTune library or Android audio songs and play it through the piano and use that very impressive speaker system as a place to hear your audio audio/iTunes song files in beautiful stereo sound. I have heard it and it really does sound good. What is even more impressive is that the Smart Pianist app can convert the audio playback of the iTune song to actual sheet music notation on the iPad so that you can following along with the song and actually play it from sheet music while even controlling the tempo and the transposed key. Imagine having sheet music displaying the notation to an iTune song and being able to play the piano along with the song. There are a number of built in famous, popular songs within the Smart Pianist app which display all the notation of those songs so there is a lot to play with already built in..Not only that but you can mute out different parts of the built in songs so that you can play the piano while controlling the accompaniment along with the right and left hand parts in different ways. If you do not read music then you can instead have the app translate the iTune song to a "chord chart" so that you can play along using chords that are shown in the correct order as the song is played. This is great if you play by ear, don't read music as I mentioned, want to play live guitar along with the song because guitar players use chords, or you do read sheet music but just want to play left hand chords and right hand melody. Given this new technology just came out in the Smart Pianist app, regular iTune/audio songs that you import into the Smart Pianist app will likely not show the treble clef/melody line at this point. The app may be "smart," but it still has some things to learn:) and the translation of melody lines from audio songs is still fairly difficult but I suspect Yamaha along with Apple (and conversion to Android) will be upgrading this app in the near future to be able to do these things along with other future improvements. There are over 400 built in songs in the Smart Pianist "song library" offering a huge musical variety of well known music and educational pieces that will give you access to instant song learning and playback that are very enjoyable for any age and playing skill level and work well for the piano. I believe people will be impressed by the instant music notation function and it will give you some musical tools which can be used in many ways for more immediate musical enjoyment. Also, having an up upgradable app certainly beats having to buy a whole new piano just to get the latest interactive features:)

But none of this would truly be complete without being able to sing along with your favorite song...right? Well...not only does the CSP-150 and CSP-170 allow you to plug in a microphone to the piano mic inputs to sing through the internal piano speakers, but the Smart Pianist app displays the words (lyrics) to many audio/iTunes songs so that that you can read the words and sing them while the song is playing, kind of like karaoke only better. Beyond that, you can add special vocal reverb effects to your voice to give you pro performance quality and play piano along with your singing and with the song that playing so you can experience and participate in a complete musical live performance. That's pretty cool, and also if the song is not in your singing range (too low or too high) then you can transpose the song into a different key to sing along in a vocal range that better suits your voice...wow! A lot of people enjoy singing along with their favorite song with or without playing an instrument and now all this can be done through the piano on your iPad in an easy to see, easy to read format that also allows you to control the volume of your voice so it mixes well with your playing. There are hundreds of songs you can get with lyrics and it's great fun for the entire family regardless of your age, musical ability, or singing ability. You can use this technology for schools, churches, parties, retirement centers, hospitals...you name it and this technology can satisfy a lot of musical needs and desires.

In addition to the lyrics feature and vocal mic connection to the piano and being able to control it, I know a lot of people who have always dreamed of singing with their favorite song but thought their voice was not good enough to do it, especially in "public." The Smart Pianist app also lets you hear the vocal tracks to the songs you choose so you can sing along to it and still hear the original voice on the song. However, when you think you are good enough to sing on your own without the original voice on your favorite iTune song, then the Smart Pianist app will allow you to cancel out or "mute" that voice track so that you become the exclusive singer of the song. Yamaha calls this feature a "Melody Suppressor" because it suppresses the melody or sing line. So as you become more confident about your voice and vocal abilities you will want to use this feature so that you can be the only voice on the song and sound like a pro:).

Ok so all that is very cool but there is still one more very impressive thing the vocal feature will do for you. If you are a singer in a band or orchestra and want other voices to harmonize with you then that harmonizing can really sound great and add to your singing and playing enjoyment in a big way. Since you are just one person singing through the mic to get harmony you would need other people to sing live with you, know the song, and be able to perfectly harmonize with your voice. Since this situation is not likely to happen anytime soon then if you want to take your singing dream even further, the Smart Pianist app provides an interactive vocal harmony feature when you sing. In other words, you can switch on the vocal harmony control and when you are singing then the Yamaha harmony feature on the Smart Pianist app will automatically and perfectly add harmony notes using your voice for those notes. So basically you will hear other people singing with you in a variety of harmonies that you can select from, and those harmonies are you! There are not 1, not 2, not 3, but 44 different harmonies you can choose from with the vocal harmonizer including duet, trio, open and close harmonies, 4 part, 5 part, jazz, and so many more. This takes singing to a whole new level so if you love to sing or have other people in your family (or friends) who do, or if you like to entertain, then this CSP-150 & CSP-170 vocal feature will give you even more musical enjoyment than you thought possible.

The Yamaha CSP-150 and CSP-170 both have a feature built into the piano themselves called "follow along" streaming lights. Streaming lights is a new and very impressive interactive feature that will identify the black & white keys in a visual way that you are supposed to play on the piano keyboard while playing along with built in songs in the Smart Pianist app. Yamaha currently has a variation of streaming lights built into other models they have and that function is called "lesson guide" using guide lamps just above the keys to indicate the keys to press down at the appropriate time while a song is playing back in that piano. Guide lamps are basically little lighted dots, one above each key and those dots light up. The Yamaha CVP series of Clavinova pianos has these more traditional light-up dots but those pianos are generally a lot more money than the CSP pianos and the light guide system is not near as cool or intuitive. Also, the streaming light function in the CSP pianos stream down above each key in a 4-step process so you know when that key (or keys) needs to be played. The new streaming lights are much easier to follow and give you that 4-step "countdown" during the light-stream so it is easier to play the correct key at the right time than with the convention light guide on the other models.

So...if you do not play piano at all or you just want to learn a song more quickly, the new CSP streaming lights can and will help you do that and you can even slow down the song to any tempo to learn the notes without the song jumping out ahead of you. Streaming light feature also has other things it can do and all of its features are controlled by the Yamaha Smart Pianist app on your iPad or Android device. You can take your favorite song in iTunes, see the notation, learn the chords, see the notes, follow the light streams (at different tempos) on the piano and even sing the lyrics and do this altogether while being able control how you use this system right from the app in a very intuitive way using familiar iPad/iPhone or Android controls. Music should be enjoyed by your family and friends in whatever way gets them involved, and based on my personal time playing and working with these new pianos and the Smart Pianist app, there's no way that you can't find something to really like them. Music, whether listening to or playing it, should generate an emotional feeling in you so you can express yourself and the CSP models do that like no other digital pianos can do in my opinion. There are videos of the streaming lights in action that you can see if you check out Youtube for demos on the CSP-150 and CSP-170.

It would be easy for me to continue talking about this Smart Pianist app as the list of things it can do goes on and on almost without end. But I believe the main functions and features that I have described so far should give you a clear idea of the musical potential of both the CSP-150 and CSP-170 so that you can enjoy playing music in almost any way that you chose to do. The piano does have the standard digital features that most all of the other digital pianos out there have including duet play, splitting the keyboard into 2 sounds, layering 2 any sounds together, using a digital metronome for teaching, practice, and focusing on tempo and timing while being able to just play the instrument as a piano. The CSP pianos also have all the connectivity that a person would need including the mic/line input as I mentioned before, dual stereo headphone inputs, auxiliary line input jack, audio output to connect to external speaker system if necessary (for church, school, outdoor event, etc), USB to device to connect external device to the piano (iPad, computer, etc), and standard MIDI connectors for MIDI in, out, and through to be used with older MIDI devices (keyboards, modules, etc). One more connection device that can work with these pianos is the optional wireless connector that Yamaha makes called the UDWL01. This WiFi system allows a MIDI connection from the piano to a wireless router so that you can connect your CSP piano in that way using the wireless adapter rather than a cable. I personally like a cable because that connection tends to be more immediate and secure. But for those people who want less cables plugged into their digital piano and device, then this would be the way to do that. This proprietary Yamaha WiFi adapter is the only one that will work for the piano and it will cost you on average about $90US. So it's not cheap and you have to rely on a good router and placement so that it will work well.

In the final analysis, the new Yamaha CSP-150 and CSP-170 digital pianos have what a lot of people have been looking for in this price range: impressive and more authentic looking piano cabinets in nice finishes (including bench) with very few buttons/sliders, no built-in user display screen in the piano to worry about, and a very satisfying piano sound, key action, and pedaling response, especially in the CSP-170. Then you take those basic piano fundamentals and combine them with cutting edge music technology offering literally thousands of digital musical options as I previously described, all controlled by a single Yamaha proprietary Smart Pianist app designed in conjunction with the Apple company for its famous iPad and the new conversion to include (many) Android devices as well. Then you have all the interactive music features you could ever want residing in an external device with a full color touch screen (your tablet and/or mobile device) instead of on and/or inside the piano. Yamaha also includes a full 5 year factory warranty for both parts & labor which is a sufficient amount of time and the Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos have proven to be very durable over many years. The digital piano has finally entered the age of personal interaction with a "monster" app on large color touch screen that can be updated with new features in the future or even be able to have potential "bugs" fixed like other apps do. Instead of relying solely on the piano itself  to provide all the interactive features built into it, you can now add just about whatever you want to your piano playing and musical enjoyment experience and you pay for it just one time...when you buy the piano. I suppose one could look at this and say that a person buying a CSP-150 would be paying about $1000 more than a Clavinova CLP-635 for the privilege and benefit of having the Yamaha Smart Pianist app than if he/she instead just bought the CLP-635 instead of the CSP150 since the CLP-635 is basically like the CSP-150 in terms of cabinet, speaker system, and piano sound, but without the app. There are a few other differences in those models but the app makes the biggest difference by far. Same thing comparing the CSP-170 to the Clavinova CLP-645 although the internal speaker system in the CSP-170 is nearly double the audio speaker power of the CLP-645.

If you have multiple people in your family who would be playing or learning to play piano, or you are a piano teacher or beginner through advanced student, a school, university, or church, or even a professional performer, there are so many features in these pianos and ways to use them, that in my opinion the new CSP-150 or CSP-170 are pianos which can fit almost anyone's musical desires including parents and their children who may want to go indifferent musical directions from each other and find that the Smart Pianist app would be able to accommodate a variety of musical goals and desires. If you play piano and just want to purchase a digital piano mainly for the sake of playing piano (just focusing on piano playing) then there probably are better options and for less money. But if you want a satisfying piano playing experience and some compelling interactive music features that can take you to the next level of music enjoyment and learning, then these pianos will make that happen for you. If you want to be entertained with songs and accompaniments then the Smart Pianist app does a tremendous job of that and you will enjoy it because everything sounds so real. If you want to write music, perform music, sing music, record music and create music, then all of that is available for these models. The app is free when you buy either a CSP-150 or CSP-170 but we all know nothing is really "free." But with the high quality music and operational technology that Yamaha in conjunction with Apple (along with Android technology) is providing through its Smart Pianist app, you otherwise would have had to spend way more money in a self-contained hardware driven digital piano than you would be in these new CSP pianos to get all that technology and it likely would not be upgradable either. So the question is...are the these new pianos worth the price of admission...and the answer as far as I am concerned is a definite yes. Are they the best digital pianos in terms of just playing piano in their price range?...maybe they are and maybe they aren't. There are other great brands out there including Roland, Casio, and Kawai to name a few that offer very good digital pianos in similar price ranges. But do those brands have anything like what the CSP's are offering in terms of connecting with an iOS/Android music app with almost unlimited educational and interactive music possibilities, especially in their price range?...the answer is definitely not. If you like what you see and hear when it comes to the new CSP pianos by Yamaha then I recommend you considering investing in one. Just be warned that when you get one of these pianos in your home and start playing on it, you may not get anything else done for awhile! 😁 BE SURE YOU CONTACT ME FIRST BEFORE MAKING ANY BUYING DECISIONS FROM ANYONE ON ANY BRANDS & MODELS...YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID.

- Smart Pianist Device Compatibility:Go to the following link on the Yamaha web site to see which model iOS and Android devices are compatible with the the CSP-150/170 models: Device compatibility Yamaha specification list for CSP Smart Pianist

*Take a look at the video below of the new Yamaha CSP150/170 and this should give you a much better idea of what these new "smart" digital pianos can do.  



If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

Roland HP704 & HP702 Digital Pianos |  UPDATED REVIEW & Comparison | 2020 | The Roland Music Instrument Company headquartered in Japan is well known throughout the world for producing high quality professional and home music products including guitar electronics, digital drums, digital accordions, pro keyboards, home digital pianos, audio gear, sound effects processors, digital recording gear, and so much more. I have been using Roland music products for most of my long music career and I have liked them very much. The latest home digital pianos that recently came out from Roland include a number of different models but for this review I am focusing on the 2 lowest price models in the HP (home piano) line of pianos which are called the HP702 (approx $2200 store discount selling price) and the HP704 (approx $3200) store discount selling price). The HP line of digital pianos has been out for many years but these two latest models were just introduced towards the middle of 2019 and are the only 2 models in the HP line. Roland pianos in the US can only be purchased in a local Roland piano store and not on the internet like other brands. So if you want to see one in person and decide to make a purchase, you must do that at a local store. In this day of the Amazons and internet stores of the world, a lot of people think that just about anything now can be purchased over the internet through a shopping cart or other electronic method. But this is not true for Roland pianos. You must buy them directly at a physical local store or at a local event where those pianos are represented and for some people this is still a good way of doing it. However, for other people this may not be as convenient depending on where you live and the amount of time you have to do local shopping. Yamaha, as an example, now has all of their home digital pianos for sale on the internet. All you have to do is read reviews, look at videos, etc, and then you can buy on-line at a number of places for a discount price. But with Roland you must go into a piano store and then you'll likely need to negotiate a discount price with that dealer...perhaps like buying a car the old fashioned way. But these 2 new HP pianos are definitely worth seeing and hearing so keep reading below to see why.

The HP704 and HP702 pickup where Roland left off on their previous discontinued series HP603 & HP601. These newer models offer new features and both the HP702 & HP704 have the exact same new digital features and piano sound chip with the exception of the HP702 having the Standard PHA4 all-plastic key action vs the HP704 having the upgraded PHA50 "hybrid" key action with longer keys than the PHA4 Standard, wooden key sides and plastic key interior, and a better balanced movement. The HP702 has a basic internal speaker system with 2 small speakers and just 28 watts of audio going through 2 smaller amplifiers vs 60 watt total internal power in the HP704 going through 4 speakers and 4 amplifiers. So the HP704 sounds noticeably better and fuller compared to the HP702. In my opinion, even though the HP702 does produce a good amount of volume when the master volume control is turned up, the fullness and bass frequencies just are not there, and for about $2000 I would have expected a lot more in that way. Even the popular Korg G1 Air home digital piano at $1599 discount price has a much better and fuller piano sound going through a powerful 80 watt speaker system with 4 speakers and 4 amplifiers with 2 of those speakers house in a separate acoustically tuned speaker box with forward facing speakers for a piano sound similar to a real baby grand piano tone. It's not until you get to the HP704 at about $3000 store discount price do you get the better and bigger internal sound system and even then it is still not necessarily any better than the speaker system in the Korg G1 Air at $1599. But for many people depending on the size of your room, both the HP702 and HP704 may be more than sufficient in terms of volume and sound quality.

The 4 major things that I recommend to people to look for in a new digital piano is (in this order) key action authenticity, piano sound realism, pedaling response, and internal speaker system. The key action is always the #1 thing that piano teachers and pro piano players care about in any piano and it is not different for a digital piano. As I already mentioned, the Roland HP702 has the entry level plastic PHA4 Standard key action. The overall response on this key action is actually pretty good although the touch weight of the keys is a bit firm/heavy compared to others, but still good. However, the key action can be somewhat noisy when playing the keys more aggressively when then keys strike bottom of key travel and it sound sometimes like the keys are hitting wood with not much dampening material underneath the keys. But when you play the key action normally and medium to soft levels of key attack then this noise issue is not a problem. The Standard PHA4 key action is also found in the low priced portable Roland FP30 digital piano selling for $699 internet price whereas the next key action model up called the PHA50 "hybrid" action is in the the higher priced HP704 and in other Roland models above that one as well. So to get the more advanced key action you'll need to be in the $3000 range whereas with Kawai digital pianos you can get a more advanced "hybrid" wood key action for around $2000. The Roland PHA50 key action uses actual thin wooden sides to the white keys while the larger portion inside the key is plastic. This combination of materials is supposed to provide a more stable key movement along with special stabilizer pins that make the key movement more secure. The weight of the keys are also more balanced and move a bit more quickly than the Standard key action. The PHA50 key action is also very quiet, especially as compared to the PHA4 Standard key action in the HP702. So for about $1000 more than the HP702, the HP704 does offer a more natural playing piano type key action but that key action is still more like an upright acoustic piano as opposed to a real grand piano because grand piano keys are substantially longer and move differently including the black keys. Both key actions have the "escapement" function that simulates the "feel" of a grand piano when playing the key very softly and slowly when you'll notice a "bump" or notch as you are dressing the key. This type of thing is pretty cool to have although it's only a simulation and not the real thing so if you don't have it it's not a big deal, but it's still a nice feature.

A grand piano would have longer keys (as I just mentioned) so there would be a better movement and balance from the back of the key to the front and from one key to the next. Roland does have an upgraded key action called the "Hybrid Grand" that gets closer to a real grand piano in the way the keys move, but it's still not there yet. But that key action is better and moves more naturally than the PHA50 key action and it (the Hybrid Grand) is found in the higher priced models LX706 and LX708 which I discuss in another review. If you are a beginning student then the HP702 may be more than sufficient as a digital piano. But if you have the extra disposable income then I would recommend the HP704 be worth your consideration not only because of the better key action, but also because the HP704 has a better sounding internal speaker system, and it looks better too. The key tops of the piano keys are in these models are made out of a proprietary material which simulates the look and feel of the old acoustic piano keys which were made from organic material of real ebony and ivory so you get an upgraded "fingering/playing experience" because of these synthetic materials being applied to the tops of the keys which helps absorb sweat from the fingers and also makes the keys look a bit classier in my opinion.

One important thing I want to point out when it comes to key actions is, when shopping for a digital piano always keep in mind that the #1 component of any piano is  definitely the "key action" in the way the keys move up and down, the downweight and upweight force of the keys, and also the length of the keys. You want the key to be as long as possible so you have the best front to back and side to side balanced movement as possible and you also want the "touch weight" of the key (the amount of force it takes to begin to press down the key) to be as close to 55 grams as possible. The Roland HP pianos have a touch down-weight measurement of about 68 grams which is pretty good. The length of the white key from front to back is just slightly less than 9" which is better than many other brands of digital pianos. However, as a comparison, on the Kawai competitive models CA48 ($2099) and CA58 ($2999), their piano key action has white keys that measure 12" long which is over 3" longer than the Roland keys which gives those Kawai white keys an even better balance and feel from front to back of the key than the Roland keys. The touch down-weight force required for playing the Kawai wood key action is approx 59 grams which is much closer to the standard acoustic grand piano measurement of 55 grams (measured on middle C with damper pedal down). That means the Kawai key action moves easier, quicker, the key is longer, and the key movement is more like that of a grand piano. Even the up-weight force is noticeably more realistic on the Kawai models coming in at approx 33 grams as opposed to a heavier and more forceful (approx) 46 grams of upward pressure on the Roland pianos. When I personally took those down-weight and up-weight measurements using a special piano key weight measuring device, I was able to see for myself what the difference actually was. The Kawai key action (called Grand Feel Compact) also has "all-wood" white keys as opposed to Roland just having wood slats on the sides of the keys with the majority of the inner key being all plastic. If you should get a chance to compare those 2 key actions then you may notice the difference, but you likely could be happy with either key action.

The acoustic piano sound that is simulated in these models comes from a technology called Physical Modeling. Unlike other digital piano companies who use the Sampling (recording) technology or a combination of Physical Modeling & Sampling to get and make the piano sound, Roland generates the sound from mathematical algorithms in "virtual reality" using computer generated piano sounds that did not actually get recorded from a real piano using microphones (sampling). The upside of virtual reality physical modeling technology is theoretically you can create a more realistic piano sound because you don't have the limitations of microphones, recording equipment, and processing of those original piano samples (recordings). But the downside of Physical Modeling is the fact that the piano sound is done "virtually" and so the limitations there is that is does not start out with the actual recorded piano sound and therefore the Physical Modeled sound can have an artificial tone to it sometimes depending on the notes or chords you play, how you are playing the song, and the amount and duration of the pedal sustain you are using. In other words, if you know what a real piano actually sounds like then you may find that the Roland Physical modeling piano sound chip in the HP702 and HP704 can be somewhat artificial at times, at least that is what I have found when playing these 2 models especially as compared to a real acoustic piano. The piano sound dynamic tonal range is very good offering a large range of dynamic tone from very mellow to very bright when you are playing the keys softly or with more force gradually playing with more or less velocity depending on which of the 4 piano sounds you select. So when it comes to piano sound, both the HP702 and HP704 are identical except for the key actions in getting the piano sound and also the more powerful internal speaker system in the HP704 which projects that piano sound in a noticeably better way will be more satisfying. But for me, a real "long" recorded piano sample from a real Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, Bosendorfer or other top name concert grand (which some people may call "old school" technology) is still the best way to reproduce a real acoustic piano sound using high quality microphones in a professional recording studio environment. However, if the digital piano manufacturer can "add" virtual physical modeling technology to the original sample (which a couple of digital piano companies are now doing) then that is best of both worlds because it gives you the benefits of both technologies and it reduces the chances of the reproduced piano being artificial and sounding fake.

I am a big fan of Roland music products and have used them professionally and in my home studio for many years. When I see and hear stuff that is a problem for me in certain digital pianos then it disappoints me when a good manufacturer did not do a better job given their abilities in the electronic music products world with regard to basic functionality. Unfortunately another continued issue for me with the physical modeling technology that Roland uses in these pianos and was also an issue in the previous models is the fact that when you change from one piano sound setting to another, whether that is a single piano tone or mixed with another instrument sound...when you make that change while playing a song live and you want a new piano sound setting in different part of the song, when you change from one sound to next when pressing the sound buttons, the entire series of notes that you have just played and are sustaining will immediately cut out and stop playing wherever you happen to be in the song. In other words, there is no smooth sound transitioning when playing notes and changing sounds...everything just shuts off until you replay the notes again. This inability to transition from one piano sound  to the next does not happen in most of the other major brands including Kawai, Yamaha, Casio, Dexibell, and others and a few of those brands also use physical modeling technology although it is slightly different in the other brands. In prior models before Physical Modeling technology, Roland never had this lack of "smooth transition" from one sound to the next. This "all notes off" issue is particularly frustrating if you are playing in a performance at an event or at home, church, school, and you want to change those sounds at different times in different parts of your song. You just cannot do it smoothly without this "all notes off" situation occurring. Roland has yet to make any changes to the way the piano sounds transition from one to the next so it's my guess they cannot do it because of the limitations of their technology...and that's too bad...at least for piano players like me who don't just want to use 1 sound setting for the entire song the entire time. I personally like to make piano sound setting changes during the song sometimes and have that change be seamless with a smooth transition and a lot of my musician and teacher friends like to do the same thing. But unfortunately on these Roland pianos this type of smooth sound transition cannot be done and this limitation is on all of the Roland models and would be a deal-breaker for me, but I am quite picky in that way in being able to transition to different instrument sound settings while playing a song and another person out there may not care about that at all.

There is a digital piano industry specification called "polyphony" and shoppers ask me about that all the time because most people do not understand it. "Polyphony" (pronounced po-LI-fony) has to do with how much power the piano chip has in producing enough notes simultaneously when you are playing the digital piano live or when playing back a recorded song. Polyphony is all about "piano memory chip power and if you play at an advanced level and use lots of fingers and play lots of notes and also use a lot of sustain pedal, will the piano play reproduce all those notes seamlessly and effectively and sound natural without "note dropout" which means that the notes will not drop out and stop playing because you run out of polyphony memory. Years ago when the piano recorded samples in digital pianos were low quality, low polyphony memory piano sounds, the notes being heard when playing a song would spontaneously stop playing and just drop out as you were playing a song. It was very annoying, especially if you were an intermediate to advanced player. For a beginner there would seldom be a note drop-out issue with polyphony even when polyphony was only 24 or 32-note maximum. But in today's digital piano world with the advent of much more powerful piano sound chips, now there is 192-note, 256-note, 384-note, and unlimited polyphony. That means the pianos sound are noticeably more authentic than years ago and there will likely be no note drop-out no matter how advanced of a pianist you might be. The Roland HP702 and HP704 has 2 polyphony ratings...one for the piano sound and another rating for all the instrument sounds. Since the HP models have the Physical Modeling technology then that technology offers unlimited polyphony power for the 4 acoustic piano sounds in these 2 models. For all of the other sounds that are non-piano sounds (harpsichord, electric piano, trumpet, strings, guitar, etc) the polyphony rating is 384-note polyphony (maximum mono rating) which is how many notes can be heard simultaneously when playing the piano using one of those sounds. Since some of the instrument sounds are in stereo then you would divide the 384-note polyphony by 2 which would give you 192-note stereo polyphony which is way more than enough given that a piano only has 88 notes (keys). If you layer 2 sounds together then you divide that polyphony rating by 2 again because you have added a 2nd sound to you playing. You just do the math and then you know what you have. The bottom line is that you'll never run out of polyphony note power in any of these Roland digital pianos.

I do like the pedaling response on both models and all 3 pedals work like a regular acoustic piano with the right sustain pedal, center sostenuto pedal, and left soft pedal. So those pedals do function correctly and the amount and length of the sustain is very long and quite good. However, I did notice from time to time that depending on the notes and chords being played, the sustain made the piano tone sound very saturated and overwhelming. This type of pedaling sustain experience can happen on regular acoustic pianos if holding the sustain pedal down too long...I am not talking about that. I am talking when just using the pedal normally that the sustained tone sounds artificial from time to time, like there is too much sustain and it is overpowering the individual piano notes. This is somewhat of a random occurrence and you probably will not notice it if you don't play piano well or have a lot of experience playing real acoustic pianos like I do. But apart from that occasional artificial sustained piano sound experience, the tone is good, the pedals work right, the pedals offer half-damper/continuous sustain so that you get different levels (length of time) for sustain and the sustain time is very long like a real piano. The left soft pedal works well and the middle pedal (sostenuto) is something that most people don't use or will not use because that pedal is typically used by very advanced players for only specific kinds of music.

There is a concert piano tone, ballad, piano tone, mellow piano tone, and bright piano tone. You can edit those 4 piano tones through a feature called "Roland Piano Designer." That's actually a good name for this feature because it allows you to modify the piano sound and "design it" in a different way than what is on the 4 default piano sounds. Keep in mind that all of these digital features including piano designer features, recording features, instrument library features, control panel features, connectivity features, etc, are identical in both models HP702 and HP704...there are no differences. Again, the actual differences are in cabinet design and size, internal speaker system, and key action. The Piano Designer editing features include The general editing functions on all models include Brilliance, Touch Sensitivity, and then a list of additional individual piano editing functions such as Lid, Key Off Noise, Hammer Noise, Duplex Scale, Full Scale String Resonance, Damper Resonance, Key Off Resonance, Cabinet Resonance, Soundboard Type, Damper Noise, Single Note Tuning, Single Note Volume, and Single Note Character. Those individual piano sound elements are found in real acoustic pianos and the idea here is that you can go into these individual "Piano Designer" elements and edit them to make the default piano sounds more "personal" depending if you think any one of those editing functions can help "improve" the default acoustic pianos sounds  and this goes for all of these models. As an example, the "Soundboard Type" and "Cabinet Resonance" functions have a noticeable impact on the default piano sounds and the way they come out. In a real piano there is an actual large wood soundboard located inside of an acoustic grand piano and on the inside back of an upright acoustic piano. There are 5 different "virtual soundboards" available on all Roland piano models trying to emulate the sound coming out of real wood piano soundboard sand using that specific editing function can make the Roland pianos sound better or even worse depending on which one you choose. So that one little editing function can have a huge impact on the piano sound you're using. It is the same for the key touch sensitivity where there are 100 levels of adjustment which can have a big impact (negative or positive) on the overall sound and expression of these pianos. There are so many ways to modify the 4 acoustic type piano sounds in these models that it can be overwhelming for a lot of people to the point of confusion in my opinion. It would be so helpful if Roland had a big selection of "preset" piano sounds set up by the Roland factory where those piano sounds were all different but all good that you could quickly choose from. However, from what I can tell on these many models, you are left on your own to figure it all out for yourself without a large library of pre-done piano and instrument settings. You pretty much have to be a digital piano "sound expert" in my opinion to make up your own sound settings that will actually sound good, other than the regular 4 acoustic piano tones that come with each of these models. You may think that because a real acoustic piano only has one piano sound, why should you be worried about needing more than one piano tone on these digital pianos? It's because these piano sounds are produced by digital physical modeling technology and if you do not like one or more of those 4 sounds then you likely want to get out your digital tool kit and edit those sounds...which, again, is not always easy to do to get it to come out right. Having a larger library of good factory pre-set pianos sounds such as what Kawai offers in their competitive models (not counting any editing functions) is something that Roland does not offer in their pianos from what I can see.

The Roland HP702 and HP704 both have a huge library of instrument sounds which not only includes those 4 acoustic piano tones, but also includes 320 sampled instrument sounds such as flutes, violins, organs, brass, woodwinds, reeds, percussion, synthesizer tones, guitars, etc. So there is definitely a huge library of instrument sounds at your disposal and those sounds are sampled and not using the physical modeling technology. Some of the instrument sounds are actually pretty realistic while other sound more like toys or cheaper keyboards. Nevertheless, it nice to have a big library of them because most digital pianos in this price range have a sound library of less than 50 total instrument sounds. The instrument sounds can be found in the tone group buttons in the piano control panel. Those buttons are large and round flush mounted into the control panel and also light up to show you which tone group you are using. Once you select your tone group from the 4 tone group buttons, then you can cycle through the instruments in those buttons to select the specif instrument you would like to hear when you play the keys. Roland has done a really good job here in making the user experience easy and intuitive in selecting the instrument sounds that you want. With regard to those instrument sounds, Roland also has a feature called General MIDI-2/GS which allows you to take General MIDI song files that you can download from the internet and play them from a USB flash drive that you insert into the piano drive slot and then you can listen to and play along with your favorite songs and that can help you to learn how to play them. You can slow down or speed up the song to play along with which is good if you need the song to go slower if you don't know the song very well, play them in any key that you want to which is good if the original key of the song is not in your vocal range, and you can play any instrument in the Roland sound library along with the song either to do melody or the entire left and right piano part. Those General MIDI song files can sound really great depending on the quality of the original arrangement.

The Ambience effects section adds a type of echo to the piano sound by simulating the natural echo effects you would hear in various types of rooms and/or buildings, venues if a piano was played in that environment. On the HP 702 & HP704 it is fairly easy to use and adjust the special ambience reverb effects using the Piano Designer function, then going to the ambience feature which then allows you adjust the amount (depth) of that effect that you would be applying to the instrument/pianos sounds. The added ambience tends to thicken up the sound a bit depending on how much of it you use so that the instrument sounds aren't so sterile and dry as opposed to more live sound with room reverberation so it is important to have in my opinion. As I previously mentioned there are are many other effects settings within the Piano Designer function but the ambience effect is separate from those other things and is a function that you will likely want to use more often depending on the depth of the effect needed for the kind of music you are playing.

Most (but not all) digital pianos these days at about $1000 on up has a number of common digital features including layering/mixing 2 instrument sounds together, splitting 2 different sounds with one for the left hand and one for the right hand, being able to have 2 piano students/players playing on the piano at the same time using a duo/twin piano mode to play the same song at the same time and also playing in the same octaves with the 88 keys electronically becoming two 44-note keyboards.  Most of these digital pianos can also digitally transpose the key you are in and go up or down in 1/2-steps without actually playing different notes. So if you want the piano to be in your vocal range when playing a song but the key (range) of that song is not in your vocal range, then you can move the key electronically up or down in 1/2 steps to get it into your vocal range without actually having to learn the song in a different key. You can also change the touch sensitivity of the keys to electronically be more or less sensitive to your touch as well as change the brightness/brilliance of the piano tone so that it can be more mellow or noticeably sharper/brighter in tone. This feature can be useful depending on the type of music you are playing. A feature that most digital pianos do not have is the Roland "registration feature." Roland has 36 digital "memories" called registrations which allows you to save 36 of your favorite settings including any favorite layers, splits, transposed keys, brilliance settings, and/or other setting you have created that you would like to save. These 36 memory settings do come in handy so that you don't have to always recreate your favorite setting when you want to use it. have 36 memory slots is a very nice feature. However, when you change from one memory setting to another, if that setting contains any piano sound then you'll still get that abrupt transition from one sound to another that I had mentioned before. So that does not change but at least you can save settings and Roland gives you a lot of digital memory slots to do that, which is a good thing.

Roland has built-in digital recorder functions in both of these models which includes a 3-track MIDI song recording and 1-track audio wav file recording sytem. These types of recording features are very useful and the Roland pianos are definitely more sophisticated in this way whereas some brands have only 1-track MIDI recording and no audio recording even though audio wav file recording is becoming fairly standard in many digital piano brands and models all the way down to digital pianos under $1000. These Roland pianos can also play back audio MP3 song files which is great because that's the way iTunes and other songs are recorded and saved...in the MP3 format. Roland pianos cannot record MP3 song files however whereas other brands can do this including Kawai digital pianos in this price range along with also being able to record and playback MIDI files and the audio wav files.  All recorded and playback song files can be loaded onto a USB flash drive for storage and song retrieval for instant playback so that a person can play along with the recorded songs, which is a lot of fun to do. I appreciate the control panel round buttons that are flush with the panel and operate easily and intuitively, especially as compared to other brands.

The internal speaker system of any digital piano can really "make or break" the sound that you hear. Even though there may be a very good digital piano sound chip in the piano, if the speaker system cannot output that sound well with a good frequency range, good bass response as well as clarity, and also robust tone at lower volumes, then your piano playing experience can be noticeably lacking in that area. The HP702 has 2 small speakers going through 2 smaller amplifiers at 28 watts total. Although this piano can put out enough volume for an average to larger size room, the richness and fullness of the piano tone was just not there for me personally. I really like it when I can not only "hear" the piano sound but that I can also "feel" it and get a bigger, bassier, richer tone out of it. When I play a good acoustic upright or grand piano then that's the experience I get. I don't get that on the HP702 mainly because of the low power smaller speaker/amp components in this model. For the $2000 price range I would expect more, especially considering what I can get from Yamaha and Casio in this price range along with what I can get even in lower price ranges like the Korg G1 Air ($1599) with 80 watts of power going through 4 speakers and 4 separate amplifiers, or the Casio AP470 ($1499) with 40 watts of power going through 4 speakers and 2 amplifiers. The HP704 does have a much better internal sound system and it's noticeably improved from the previous HP603 model with a total of 60 watts going through 4 amplifiers and 6 speakers (5"+1" x 2 and 2"x 2) with the 5" + 1"configured as coaxial speakers so your piano playing experience with this model will be much better and will sound more like a real piano in terms of volume, fullness, richness, bass response, etc. A coaxial speaker is actually 2 speakers in one with the main speaker and then a small tweeter type speaker attached to the center of the larger speaker...it's like 2 speakers in one and there are two of these in the HP704. But...that model is $1000 more than the HP702 so for that money it should be a noticeable upgrade! Since the piano sound chip is identical on both models then that means both models sound exactly the same through stereo headphones. So if you don't care as much about the internal sound system and having it be bigger and fuller and you don't feel you need the upgraded PHA50 key action in the HP704, then the HP702 with the PHA4 Standard key action may be the better option for you.

In terms of special connectivity features which would allow you output the piano to external speakers, use the piano internal speaker system to hear outside audio devices, connect with computers and iPads, etc, connect with headphones, or connect with Bluetooth wireless, the HP702 and 704 has it all. When it comes to Bluetooth wireless connectivity, you can play your external device music library from your mobile phone or tablet through the piano speaker system wirelessly which is very cool You can also connect wirelessley to an external device (mobile phone, tablet) to use special MIDI educational apps to help learn the piano, and you can even get digital sheet music for your tablet and control the page turning of that music with one of the pedals on the piano when using Bluetooth pedal "page turning" so that you can have a hands free experience assuming you have connected with an app on your tablet that allows you to do that. The connectivity array that is mounted underneath the left side of the piano also has a port for a USB flashdrive for loading music song files into the piano or saving recorded songs that you have done on the piano. Also, if you wanted to make the HP702 piano sound bigger and fuller you could connect a set of powered monitors to the piano through the audio outputs and that would definitely help the piano, but it would cost you about $300 to $400 to do that. There are audio outputs, stereo audio input, USB/MIDI output, 2 stereo headphone jacks, etc.

Roland also has a couple of proprietary apps for tablets called "Piano Every Day" and "Piano Designer" so that you can control a number of functions on the piano from your tablet color touch screen along with being able to add automatic one-man-band arranger styles to your piano playing experience. The piano doesn't actually have those fun "music styles" built in to the piano...they come from the app triggered from the color touch screen. It works well and is very enjoyable and no other digital piano company offers that kind of thing under $3000. Within the Piano Every day app there is also some digital sheet music that you can play along with and a number of songs in a digital music library. You can also buy sheet music from on off-site source and feed that music directly into the Piano Every Day app so you can see it play it, control it in different ways, and also use some educational features within the app to better learn that song and even record your practice time along with the digital sheet music and song that are are seeing in the app. You can isolate the right and left hands when learning the piano parts of those songs and also be able to add reprogrammed accompaniment with adds some fun orchestral background to the piano parts. The Piano Designer app lets you edit and control some of the Piano Designer functions I talked about earlier (touch, brilliance, resonance, ambience, etc), but instead of attempting to do everything though the piano user display screen and control panel buttons, you just do it through the app which is a lot more intuitive Comparison Review of all Roland Home Piano Modelsand fun to use.

The cabinets and control panels of the HP704 and HP702 really look attractive and Roland has done a great job with its design and construction of these  two models in my opinion. They look good, are well built, have very nice looking music racks and sliding key covers, and come in a variety of  attractive cabinet finishes. The control panel on the pianos is also very sleek, well designed, functional, and fairly easy to access because the control panel is centered in front of you rather than off to the left side of the keyboard like many other brands do it. The user display screen has been upgraded to a bright, easy to read OLED digital screen as opposed to the previous models which used the older back-lit screens. The control panel buttons and knobs are large, flush mounted, and light up to let you know what button is being used. The operating system is somewhat intuitive but you will need to read the owners manual or watch some videos to figure out how to use the controls properly. Roland also has a few other impressive advantages in that they offer one of the nicest benches for digital pianos with it being a matching padded duet (longer) size bench with music storage inside. These benches are sturdy and can seat two people as opposed to most other benches in different brands that offer a single size bench. Roland also offers a very big 10-year factory warranty with their HP pianos which covers parts and labor. 10 years is a seriously large amount of time for a warranty and it just shows that Roland really doesn't think that these pianos will break and need service...in other words they are reliable for a long time. Based on my vast experience playing these kinds of digital pianos for many years along with other brands, generally speaking these pianos last for many, many years and in most cases well over 20 years, The warranty covers parts and labor for factory defects and that's where the limitation is...it has to be a defect and not just wear & tear or problem caused by an outside source.

Overall I think both of these newer Roland HP702 and HP704 pianos are very good options to consider in the $2000 to $3000 price range because they are well built, have some compelling features, and they look good and should last a long time. They are the same in most ways as I mentioned earlier but since the key action, internal sound system, and cabinet design and size are the big differences, you'll have to decide if it is worth it to you to spend more money to get the HP704. Also, the HP704 is available not only in the matte finishes but also in a polished ebony gloss black finish which adds another approx $500 to the piano cost. The HP702 does not have that option. As far as the Physical Modeling technology goes, in my opinion Roland is heading in the right direction with that piano sound technology but since the piano sound does not contain any actual samples of real acoustic pianos, the overall piano sound is artificial to my ears at times depending what notes I am playing combined with sustain pedal tone, etc. There is another more impressive piano sound technology in my opinion that combines the benefits of real recorded piano sampling with the benefits of Physical Modeling technology adding organic type piano sound elements that are more difficult to get with just sampling alone. However, Roland is only using the virtual physical
modeled piano sound and regardless of what someone would believe otherwise, the combination of those two technologies rather than just relying on one or the other is the better way to go, but it also costs more money to do that and do it well. Personally if only given the choice of having a physical modeled virtual piano sound vs a sampled piano sound that is well done, I would take the sampled piano sound at this point because for my ears it sounds a lot more natural and organic. Also, you cannot change piano sounds or piano to instrumental sounds in "mid-stream" without the notes all instantly cutting out with the Roland physical modeled piano sound and for me...that would be a big issue...but it may not be an issue at all for you. I always advise people that when they are in this higher price range to also look at the "competition" to be sure you are making the right choice. The competitive models to the Roland HP702 would be the Yamaha Arius YDP184 ($2199), Kawai CA48 ($2099), and Casio AP650 ($1899). The competitor to the HP704 would be the Yamaha CLP635 ($2699) and Kawai CA58 ($2999) and you could probably like any of these pianos. If you want to read about all of the new Roland digital pianos being compared in one review including the LX705, LX706, LX708, GP607, GP609 then click on the following link to read my comparison review off all the latest Roland home digital piano models: Roland LX705, LX706, LX708, GP607, GP609 Review

*** IMPORANT NOTE: For me personally and as a long time piano teacher having taught thousands of students over the years, key action is #1 on my list of priorities for any piano whether you are a beginner or advanced player. You may be able to enjoy different piano sounds but the key action is paramount in expressing that sound and "connecting" with that piano. Also, key action cannot be changed or improved within the digital piano that you buy, so you need to do it right the first time, especially if you are in this higher "over $2000" price range. Although there are a few different brands and models of digital pianos that have good key actions, if your primary goal is to PLAY PIANO and have the best piano playing experience possible and you don't care as much about all the "bells & whistles," then my personal choice would be the new Kawai CA48 and CA58 pianos which are in the same price range as these new Roland HP702 and HP704 pianos. Please read my reviews of these 2 models at the following links: Kawai CA48 Review    Kawai CA58 Review




If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 Yamaha N1X, N2, and N3X AvantGrand Hybrid digital pianos are famous for their "real" all-wood grand piano key actions taken from a Yamaha acoustic grand piano so they feel and play just like the "real thing." Bold & beautiful expressive stereo piano sound with responsive pedaling...an impressive combination. Learn more in this detailed review and find out how to buy pianos for LESS MONEY HERE.

The Yamaha AvantGrand N1X ($8999 internet price), N2 ($10,999 discount price), and N3X ($17,000 approx store discount price) | UPDATED REVIEW | 2020 | Hybrid Digital Pianos - I have played various professional brands of acoustic grand & upright pianos for a very long time including Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, Baldwin, Mason-Hamlin, Bosendorfer, and many others. The drawbacks to playing large acoustic pianos in your home is that they are obviously big, they're always loud (or louder), they're very difficult to play at soft volume...and of course they need regular tuning & maintenance. Also, with all of the useful computer/iPad music technology out there these days for educational and music playing purposes, it is much easier to connect to that world through a digital piano as opposed to a traditional acoustic piano. Good acoustic pianos can still be an amazing instrument to play and if all you want to do is play piano, you are not concerned or bothered by the loud volume of an acoustic piano, and you are fine with spending money every year on maintaining the acoustic piano, and you can afford a top brand acoustic grand piano at a minimum of $15000 on up to $100,000 or more, then I would recommend you purchase an acoustic grand piano because there is nothing like the real thing. However, if you are like me and need a good high quality piano with a smaller "footprint," you don't like playing a piano that's out-of-tune often which can be the case depending on the climate you live in, you would like to play the piano very quietly at times so you don't disturb others in the house and you know you cannot do that on a regular acoustic piano, and you would like to easily connect with technology including an external computer, tablet, etc, then the Yamaha AvantGrand series of Hybrid digital pianos may be the perfect instrument for you to consider because it offers all of those desirable features without the size, cost, and maintenance of a full size acoustic grand piano.


It's was approximately 8 years ago when I did a review of the previous AvantGrand series which included the N1, N2, and N3. This was the 1st ever truly hybrid digital piano that combined a great Yamaha "acoustic grand piano key action" in contemporary polished ebony piano cabinets with all digitally sampled piano sound from real acoustic pianos, along with other digital piano technology. These 3 models have been popular ever since for people who wanted as close of a grand piano playing experience as they could get but without all the inconveniences and costs associated with a real full size acoustic grand piano. But after over 8 years of being on the market, Yamaha has "improved" the AvantGrand "N" series pianos and come out with a new version of the N1 which is now the N1X and a new version of the N3 which is called the N3X. It is interesting to note that so far Yamaha is keeping the previous N2 in the lineup "as is" with no changes...so far other than the selling price going down a bit. Whether Yamaha makes any changes to the N2 (they should) or even discontinues it is yet to be seen. In my opinion, of the 3 previous models the N2 was considered by many to be the one most people wanted to get because it had the much nicer cabinet (over the N1), much more advanced internal speaker system over the more basic N1, it took up a lot less room than the N3 4' deep grand shaped version while otherwise being the identical piano (with the exception of cabinet & internal speaker system), and it was definitely less money than the N3. So if someone wanted a big, full, resonate piano sound along with a big bass response (which most piano players love) and you wanted the actual grand piano key action playing experience (the real hybrid action), the N2 was the one to go for. I would have thought that Yamaha might have upgraded to N2 to the specs of the N3X by now, but as I just mentioned so far they have not done that. Then is it worth "dropping down" to the newer N1X to get the "upgraded" piano sounds and newer digital features but. at the same time, giving up the bigger and better internal sound system and the much nice cabinet design and construction...maybe it is and maybe it isn't. There are reasons to consider both sides of that question since the two models are only $1000 apart, and yet the N2 is way less money than the newer N3X at a difference of $5600 so then even if you can afford to purchase either the N2 or the N3X and you don't absolutely need to "grand piano shaped" model because was you are really after is that "grand piano acoustic key action, maybe the N2 is the better buy? I will explore those questions (and more) below.

What makes the AvantGrand series of pianos unique is that they have Yamaha Grand piano key actions in them...actual all wood fully implemented original parts with the exception of the felt hammers which are instead metal rods that trigger optical sensors which are located at both the hammer portion of the key action as well and the keys themselves. As the "hammers" move back & forth when striking a key, they trigger that special advanced optical sensing system which causes the piano sound chip to make the piano sound. The sound you get is also relative to the velocity of the keys that are moving and the optical sensors can tell how fast or slow the keys are going in fractions of a second at any given time. There are no strings in the piano or acoustic wooden soundboard like you would find in a real acoustic piano. So the thing that makes the AvantGrand series of pianos be referred to as "Hybrid" is the fact that they have a real fully functional (but without hammers) acoustic key action which is ultimately what most piano players are primarily concerned about...key action, followed by piano sound and pedaling response...and then cabinet design and structure. The N1X, N2, and N3X all have the same acoustic "grand piano" key action in them including the let-off/escapement feature that is found in real grand pianos. The key actions are not patterned after upright type pianos but instead the actions come from actual Yamaha acoustic grand pianos and then slightly modified (in size and configuration) for the AvantGrand series. This means that no matter which model AvantGrand that you would purchase, the key action movement and response will all be the same...and that's a very good thing. The key action really is a joy to play, especially for those people who have had experience playing full size acoustic grand pianos and this key action gives you a great range of sensitivity which allows you to get a full dynamic range of tonal expression out of the piano sound. When it comes to pianos in general including both acoustic and digital pianos, the "weight" of the keys and the minimum force it takes to press the keys down and the maximum force of the keys coming back up once you press them down is of critical importance to advanced pianist and acoustic piano key actions can (for the most part) be "regulated & adjusted" to get the movement of the keys to be set to exacting standards. Key weight/force and key resistance can be measured in grams as far as how much force the key requires from the fingers to press down aka: touch-weight/down-weight) and how fast or slow the key returns to its resting position (aka: up-weight). Although there is no "exact" perfect regulated weight for key actions, there are some approximate rough standards for acoustic grand pianos and that would be about 50-55 grams of touch-weight pressing the keys down and approx half of that weight coming back up. Some people prefer it to be lighter at about 47-50 grams going down and other people prefer it to be slightly heavier at 55-60 grams of touch-weight with about half that weight (23 - 30 grams) for the return force of the key. I am talking about these things because when you are spending this much money on an Avantgrand model you definitely want the key action to be regulated as close to a large acoustic grand piano as possible. When I measured key action weight on a new Yamaha acoustic 9' CFX grand piano, the touch-weight as measured on Middle C was 53 grams and the up-weight was 27 grams which is just about perfect. It could be a bit less or a bit more but those figures are very good for key action movement. When I took a measurement recently on a new N3X AvantGrand, the touch-wight/down-weight of the key action at Middle C was 55 grams and the up-weight was 23 grams which means that the up-weight of the action was just a bit too weak. Fortunately that can be adjusted on all keys because the Avantgrand key actions are real acoustic key actions. But the adjustment process can take quite a while and can be somewhat expensive for a technician to do. So although adjustments can be made in the key actions and for some advanced players should be made, the optimum key action weight settings are approximate and the key movement can be enjoyed as long as it moves within acceptable guidelines. I also took the measurements of a N2 key action weight which is the same key action as in the N3X. That N2 key action measurement was 59 grams of down-weight and 23 grams of up-weight on the one I measured, although I have played many of them. The N2 was on the slightly heavier side of down-weight force when initially touching the key but it was 23 grams of force coming back up. So either the down-weight needs to adjusted to be lighter or the up-weight needs to be adjusted to be heavier, or both need to be slightly adjusted...but that all depends on the player and what they want and how the key action feels to them. It is true that friction, weather, and humidity can make a big difference in how those keys actually move so things can change in an acoustic key action depending on the area of the country you live in and how you take care of your piano.

The piano sampled sounds in the new Yamaha N3X and N1X is from their top of the line Yamaha CFX 9' acoustic concert grand and the Bosendorfer 9'6" acoustic Viennese concert grand. Yamaha owns the Bosendorfer grand piano company of Vienna, Austria so that is why they also include that piano sound in the new Avantgrand models. Both of those pianos are rich and vibrant in their tone but yet uniquely different with the Yamaha being a more bombastic, energetic tone while the Bosendorfer has a more melodic, sweeter piano tone but still with depth of tone. Both are rich in flavor and you could like either one or both of them depending on the music you are playing. On the older Avantgrand model N2, the piano sound comes from Yamaha's previous 9" concert grand called the CFIIIS which was equally as popular and beautiful as the newer CFX model, in my opinion. I say "equally" because both those 9' acoustic grand piano models  had a big sound and Yamaha's proprietary way of building acoustic grand pianos that many professional players love. The CFX model AvantGrand has had some "tweaks" and other things done to it as compared to the CFIIIS AvantGrand including the addition of "Virtual Resonance Modeling" (VRM) which tries to simulate the vibrations that occur organically in the real wooden grand piano in terms of having "virtual" cabinet vibrations and sympathetic string and tonal vibrations. But the "recorded" piano sound that is put into the former N3 and current N3X is still done with microphones and technology that tries to capture the original sound of those acoustic pianos and they can only go so far given the sound is recorded electronically and then heard through speakers in the digital piano. Without an actual soundboard, real strings, and an all wooden case built like a real piano, all digital pianos just try to "copy" the real thing but they aren't the real thing. In that way it just depends what your playing experience is on real acoustic concert grand or regular grand pianos and how often you have played them which can determine how you will feel about the authenticity of this hybrid digital pianos. One advantage to the new "X" series is that they more & different acoustic piano samples in them with both the Yamaha and the Bosendorfer, as I mentioned as opposed to only the Yamaha in the N2 model. However, when you think about it, acoustic pianos have just 1 piano sound per piano so what you get is what you have. In a digital piano there are more sound options for grand pianos typically, so in the N3X and N1X you have 5 different grand piano sounds and in the N2 there are just 2 grand piano sounds....but hey, that's still one more than a real piano! The bottom line is, all 3 pianos offer a very satisfying piano playing experience overall, and with that very special Yamaha acoustic grand piano key action, the combination is really nice. I will say that the sound of the N3X is much more immediate to the ears when sitting on the bench playing music with the music rack down in a flat position. When the music rack is up in its normal position so that you can put sheet music on it, in my opinion that rack partially blocks the sound coming from the speakers flowing directly towards your ears. With the music rack in the down/flat position then the piano sound flows without being blocked in any way and so is more clear, more immediate, and overall more enjoyable, at least it was to me. I did not get that same impression with the N2 or N1X as the speakers are much closer to the player and the sound flows more quickly and naturally...at least that's the impression I had.

One other thing that is interesting about piano sound in a real acoustic piano is that sound is made up of vibrations and those vibrations travel through the air along with resonating and vibrating physical things that the sound comes in contact with and the wood soundboard of the piano is what amplifies those frequencies and vibrations into the piano sound. Without the wood soundboard there would be no piano sound in a real acoustic piano. That's what the speakers in a digital piano do, they are in place of a wood soundboard and that's where the sound comes from. But that's not the only thing sound vibrations in a real wooden piano...you can also "feel" those vibrations coming through the wooden cabinet of the piano as well as through the wooden keys of the piano. In fact when you are playing piano keys using your fingers to press the keys down, you can "feel" sound vibrations coming through the keys themselves and going into your fingertips giving you an organic sensation that helps further connect you to the music you are playing. Since the piano sound in digital pianos come through speakers and the cabinets of digital pianos are not actually solid core wood or wood veneers but instead are usually MDF board, then there are few or no vibrations coming through any other part of a digital piano cabinet or keys themselves. An example would be if you had a big stereo sound system in your home connected to your TV and you're watching a scene with lots of dramatic music going on with big bass frequencies coming out of those speakers. You can feel those vibrations coming into you and rattling the walls of your room, etc...so not only do you hear a big sound, but you also feel it. With the AvantGrand digital pianos, Yamaha created a digital system called TRS (Tactile Response System) that would give the player the physical sensation you would get in "feeling" vibrations in the keys themselves on the AvantGrand N2 and N3X like you would get in a real piano. The N1X does not have this TRS feature so you need to bump up to the N2 to get it. The amount of vibrations you get through the keys is electronically adjustable as well so you can change the amount of "vibrations" you get from the keys. There are no other digital pianos I know of with this feature and although it may not be "deal-breaker" if a digital piano did not have this system, which most do not, it is a cool feature to have and it adds a touch more of that organic playing experience that more advanced pianists will appreciate.

All three pianos have fairly smooth pedaling allowing the nuances needed for all kinds of music, although the piano keyboard itself does not physically move laterally when pressing down the "soft pedal" like it would when using the una corda/soft pedal on a real acoustic grand, but it doesn't have to because it's after all...it's a digital piano and there are no dampers for pedaling, it's all electronic in that way. All three models have a built-in sustain/damper pedal with half-damper effect, middle sostentuto pedal, and left soft pedal. Since the N1X and N2 are upright vertical style, the pedals are built into the bottom of the piano. On the N3X there is a traditional looking triple pedal lyre so that it has the look and feel of traditional grand piano pedals but without the full compliment of parts. The pedals are quite firm to press down as is the case on some acoustic grand pianos. So if you like firm pedals then you'll like the pedaling experience on the AvantGrand models. It did appear as if the height of the triple pedals when measured from the floor up to the bottom of pedals on the N3X seemed a bit higher than on a traditional acoustic Yamaha grand piano, and my preference are for pedals that are a bit closer to the ground for easier access and less ankle strain...but that is a preference that I have and not everyone is the same in that way. The half-damper effect for the sustain pedal is adjustable and also the sustain/decay time for the piano sound is very long which is good, and you have variable sustain amounts using the sustain pedal in a "half position." The pedals overall reacted nicely and a variety of music can be played knowing the pedals do a good job of reproducing what they are like (with the exception of physical una corda pedal.

N1X

The AvantGrand series is obviously not intended to be a digital piano with a vast array of built-in technology & features let alone many extra instrument sounds, layering, splitting, drum patterns, etc. These digital instruments are primarily made to replicate an acoustic grand piano playing experience with cutting edge digital technology in beautiful (and very contemporary looking) polished ebony cabinets designed to replace the actual acoustic grand piano experience whether in an upright configuration or baby grand style configuration. Do they actually completely replace that acoustic grand experience for everyone? No they do not because different people have different musical standards, tastes, and musical experiences so they will all have different opinions as to what constitutes a "real" grand piano playing experience. So for some, this piano will not do it, and for others it's more than they dreamed of having. As far are the digital functions and features of the pianos, the N3X and N1X each have 10 instrument sounds including 5 acoustic piano tones, 3 electric piano tones, and 2 harpsichord tones. The less expensive N1X actually has 15 instrument sound which is 5 more than the N3X and those sound include the same 10 instrument tones but also adds celesta and 4 different organs (3 pipe organs & 1 jazz organ). The organs tones are really very nice and why the N1X got more sounds than the more expensive N3X, I don't know...but you would think it might be the other way around. The N2 has just 5 instrument sounds including 2 acoustic pianos, 2 electric pianos, and 1 harpsichord. Those sounds are very good, particularly the acoustic piano tones, but there are just 5 of them. Unfortunately there are no strings, choirs, or other tones in these pianos. You can access all of these Avantgrand tones on the control panel slide-out drawer by pressing the sound button and simultaneously pressing the +/- button or through the Smart Pianist app for iPad (which I talk about below). There are a few reverb/echo effects for more realism in the instrument tones, a brilliance control to add more brightness to the tone or make it more mellow, and an adjustable digital metronome to help with keeping you "on the beat."

Yamaha's 256-note polyphony piano sound chip in the AvantGrand pianos (polyphony is important when more notes and damper pedaling are used at the same time in a piece of music) is still very high for today's digital piano standards. A good digital piano reproduces an acoustic piano sound that is recorded in stereo on a chosen acoustic piano with multiple microphones placed near or inside the acoustic piano, and that recording is what you hear in the digital piano along with other technology that adds to the organic nature of that sound. In a stereo piano sound (not mono) of a digital piano, each part or side of the stereo recording takes up separate polyphony so that 88 keys really needs a minimum of 128 notes of polyphony per side. On top of that, if there is damper resonance coming from the damper/sustain pedal and this would also require polyphony memory. Also, in my opinion the AvantGrands should have been made to allow the player to mix or layer two stereo instrument tones together which is a more common feature of other digital pianos that have many more instrument sounds including strings, choirs, organs, etc. Even the more basic Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos have many more instrument sounds that I personally enjoying listening to and playing. I am guessing Yamaha did not do that because maybe the so-called "wise" people at Yamaha just didn't think people would care to layer/mix 2 sounds together in these new AvantGrand models such as harpsichord & piano or piano & strings, etc, because the pianos are marketed to people who just mainly want to play piano and those people would not care about this feature, but I would disagree with that thinking.

All three pianos have a digital transpose/modulation feature which is great if you want to modulate the key you are playing in (up or down) and you don't know how to do that by manually playing in another key, a 1-track MIDI recorder and also wav file audio recorder to record your playing in either format and be able to save it for playing back later.  The upright style N2 (and N3X) has a concealed sliding drawer (left pic) that pulls out from under the piano keyboard to expose the instrument control buttons needed to change sounds and functions. This is a very nice way to hide the controls to make the piano look more natural although the buttons are very small on the control drawer which can make it a bit difficult to select functions and features, especially if you have "fat finger tips" like I do. The buttons on the N1X are exposed on the front right side panel of the piano (to the right of the keyboard) and those buttons are unusually hard to push down although the N2 buttons are a bit easier to press...but not by much. Why Yamaha chose to have two different sets of control buttons on the N1X, N2/N3X doesn't make sense to me, but no doubt it saves them money. You will likely only want to push the buttons when changing instrument sounds and maybe for a couple other features like recording, and for many people the grand piano sound is the main reason why someone would buy one of the AvantGrand digital piano models. However, I will go on record and say that I personally do not like the small, hard-button user interface on these pianos. When the previous models (N1, N2, N3) first came out I was disappointed in the user interface and the way it worked (although I did like the slide-out control drawer itself). But now that Yamaha "refreshed" both the N1 and N3 to the N1X and N3X, I thought that Yamaha would have updated that user interface and made it more intuitive and easy to use...but they did not...and I am definitely disappointed with Yamaha on that level. Also, there is only a basic LED user display which only reads out basic numbers or letters to indicate the feature or function you have chosen. In these newer versions Yamaha certainly could have updated that older, clunky display to a more modern, user-friendly LCD with more displayed information so you could know what going on when you press a button...but again, Yamaha did not do that. On the N2 and N3X, being able to tuck away a "sliding drawer" back under the piano keyboard is a great idea, but not at the expense of such a clunky interface, especially in this day and age of more advanced user interface technology. However, with this in mind, Yamaha does have an excellent "work-around" to this clunky interface that is on the N1X and N3X and it's a proprietary iOS app called "Smart Pianist." This very cool app allows you to take an iPad and use your color touch screen to control the piano functions and features instead of doing it with the buttons on the piano. It works well, it's fun to use, and it gets the job done in a much more intuitive way. All you need is an iPad, a cable connection to the USB output of the piano, or an optional wireless device to allow you to connect with Bluetooth wireless MIDI connectivity. Unfortunately because the N2 model is from the previous generation (non-X) AvantGrand series, the Smart Pianist app does not work with the N2...bummer! But...if you mainly just want to play piano and occasionally use another sound here and there and maybe do a basic recording, then the slide-out drawer should be enough, especially because there are only 5 instrument sounds on the N2.

I think it is also important to mention that there is another way to navigate through the additional functions and features of the AvantGrand pianos including metronome, song volume, brilliance control, transpose, etc, and for this additional navigation method you would you a "chart" found in the owners manual of the pianos called "Quick Operation Guide." The chart shows you how to press either the song button, piano/voice button, or the function button plus simultaneously pressing a specific white or black key on the keyboard which would then trigger or activate that function or allow you to change that function in some way like adding more to it or less to it. For instance, if you want to use the metronome then by pressing the metronome button on the control panel slide-out drawer and then pressing the B or Bb note in the 4th octave of keys, you could  decrease the tempo incrementally. If you wanted to increase the speed of the metronome tempo then you could press the metronome button on the control panel and then at the same time press the D or Db key in the 5th octave of keys to incrementally increase the metronome temp. This might seem like a lot of work just to alter one function in one way...and you would be right! But...for some people this may be a workable alternative in using features if you chose to do it that way. Personally I would rather have a dedicated button and an LCD display screen to quickly tell me what was happening...and that's why, at least for me, the Smart Pianist app is the way to do it.

The Yamaha Smart Pianist App has a number of specific advantages over using the physical control buttons on the piano in that slide-out drawer on the N3X and the button panel in the N1X. Just so you know, you either need to connect your iPad to the piano USB output using a USB cable and Apple "Camera Kit" Lightning adapter cable.or purchase an optional Yamaha Bluetooth MIDI wireless adapter so that you can connect without a cable (which definitely would be nicer to do). Some of those advantages to this Smart Pianist app are pretty apparent such as you don't have to find and press those silly, small, hard buttons on the control box slide-out drawer or on the side panel of the N1X. To choose a sound on the slide-out control drawer you have to press the "piano/voice" button and then while holding that button down you have to simultaneously press the +/- menu navigation button to scroll to the instrument sound number that you want to get to. So as an example, you want the Bosendorfer Imperial Piano sound, then you hold that  piano/voice button down and then press the +/_ button twice so that the LED display screen says number 2. Number 2 is that sound and you only know that the #2 is that Bosendorfer sound because you looked in the owners manual in the sound list. The LED display itself tells you nothing except showing a number and/or basic letter depending on what function you are trying to find. Since that drawer is on the far left side of the piano under the keyboard, just reaching over there is a challenge and then to use one hand and two fingers to hold down those 2 buttons simultaneously is a big "pain" as well....that is unless you want to also reach over with your right hand and then use 2 hands to switch sounds...NOT. You would think that once you have selected a sound that you want then when you switch that sound to another one all you should have to do is press the +/- button and go up or down to the number you want. But nooooo...you gotta hold that piano/voice button and the +/- button simultaneously again to move to another function/sound...and all this grief for a mere $17,000...ridiculous. So...the Yamaha Smart Pianist app is how Yamaha overcomes this navigation mess with a slick, easy to use interface on your iOS iPad device by using you color touch screen to easily switch to different instrument sounds, do song recording, play songs, transpose the key, see actual sheet music notation, play audio MP3 siles. and do many other things not available without that app.. Some of those features that are both on the piano and in the app you might NEVER want to do using the piano slide-out drawer where getting what you wants happens generally by coincidence and not necessarily because you navigated correctly. I guess you can tell that I really despise the control drawer and the way it is set up, especially because after 7 years Yamaha left it the way it was on the previous model because after all...it costs less money to do it that way. But...the app solves those issues and I am very happy about that, especially because there are some very cool features in the N3X and also in the N1X that you otherwise would likely not use because it just takes too much work to figure out and use. However, if you don't have an iPad or don't really want to use that type of thing then you can use your iPhone to control the app as well...although that's too small to comfortably navigate those functions and features in my opinion. One more caveat to the app...Although it does work nicely on the N3X and N1X, it does not work with the N2 because the N2 is from the previous generation before this app was available and it is not backwards compatible. So for you AvantGrand N2 shoppers...you just need to be happy with that slide-out drawer on the N2 and mainly just play the piano sound (which is what many people do) and occasionally switch to one of the other sounds and maybe do a simple recording from the control box. But as I said, for some people what they mainly want to do is play piano so at that point using an app on your tablet device to control the piano is not necessary.

The biggest major difference (although there are some others) among these pianos besides cabinet structure, is the on-board internal sound system. Each piano is different in that way and the sound system in each model was designed to give the player the spacial feeling of playing a real acoustic piano as much as possible within the size and structure that that model. We're talking about a lot of speakers, a lot of dedicated power amps, and about strategic placement of these speakers and power amps to give the player the sense of playing the real thing. That has always been one of the main problems and downsides with digital pianos; spatially and environmentally that mostly don't emulate the organic nature of sound coming out of a good acoustic piano. However, Yamaha has done an excellent job with trying to solve this dilemma and it shows. Overall the key action feels great to play (yes it is like playing a real grand piano) and the grand piano sound is overall also satisfying, but let's not lose sight of the fact that there is no standard for "greatness" when it comes to grand piano touch and tone in any good grand piano. Everyone has different expectations and experiences and so these pianos will either blow you away, or you may be slightly disappointed when comparing them to what you "think" a grand piano should feel and sound like. It's quite subjective, especially if you happen to play at a higher skill level like I do, but I happen to like these instruments a lot and they are a joy to play for me. The sound system in the N3X includes a whopping 615 watts of total power which is powered by 15 separate amplifiers going through 12 speakers that are configured in 4 sets of 2 speakers each on the inside of the piano pointing upward and 4 larger speakers at 6.3" in size (for the bass response) under the piano pointing down. It's really quite the powerful speaker system for one piano. The N2 internal speaker system consists of 380 watts of total power which is powered by 12 separate amplifiers going through 12 speakers with 2 larger speakers being 6.3" in size...and that's a lot of power and speakers for an "upright style" cabinet. The N1X piano has 180 watts of total power which is powered by 6 separate 30 watt amplifiers going through 6 speakers with one larger speaker being 6.3" in size. So when it comes to speakers, amps, and power, all three models obviously do a very good job and the lid of the N2 and N3X opens up whereas there is an inset grill just behind the music rack in the N1X so the higher frequency piano sounds can more easily escape (sound escapement feature) upward and out so the player can hear it better and more distinctly even though there is no lid that opens up like the other 2 models.

With regard to the other things these pianos can do when it comes to extra digital features, the AvantGrand pianos have some useful things, but they are relatively basic as compared to the lower priced "standard" Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos which have many more features than do these much higher priced AvantGrand "N" series hybrid pianos. There is no doubt that Yamaha was thinking that their AvantGrand pianos were designed to give you the best piano playing experience in a digital piano for any price and for Yamaha to include lots of "bells & whistles" were just not necessary and would only raise the price even further (maybe). So instead of giving you nice easier to use and read LCD display screens, adding hundreds of instrument sounds, and multi-track recording functions, Yamaha built these pianos to be obviously "minimalistic" in the way they look and they way they work. I think some people will like that and others will not...it just depends on your point of view on that subject and alos the fact that both the N2 and N3X have slide-out/in drawers that are hidden just under the piano keyboard when you want them to be and the N1X has the control buttons and small LED screen inserted into the left side block just to the left of the keyboard and is always exposed...but it's definitely minimal.

N2

If you're using a good set of headphones in the AvantGrand pianos, which is great to do, then all of the spacial speaker placement and cabinet resonation are not relevant and do not work at that point. Then what you have remaining is that great grand piano key action coupled with the proprietary piano sound chip coming through headphones. I will say that when listening through headphones on the N3X and N1X, the Yamaha CFX piano sound has a special "technology" for the headphone sound experience called "Binaural Sampling." Essentially this process makes the recorded acoustic piano sound that you're hearing come "alive" with great stereo separation, a wide audio range left to right, and just a more organic, natural piano sound. However, this Binaural experience is limited to the one Yamaha CFX piano sound and does not apply to the Bosendorfer piano samples or other piano sounds. So when listening through headphones I was very pleased with the stereo headphone listening experience when using the CFX piano sound, but not pleased at all when using the other piano sounds when the Binaural effect was on. It was as if something was noticeably missing...like the sound felt narrow and lacked realism...especially as compared to the CFX Binaural tone or just playing the piano without headphones and listening through the internal speaker system. I am not sure why Yamaha could not have a better headphone listening experience and being able to have that "binaural" sound when using those great Bosendorfer piano samples (and other piano tones), but for some reason that was not included...and that to me is a big disappointment...especially when paying nearly $10,000 and more for these models. Interestingly, the N2 piano sound through headphones including the main piano sound and the 2nd brighter piano sound were almost as good (but not quite) and full sounding as the Binaural CFX sound through the N1X and N3X using headphones. However, that binaural effect can be turned off in the N1X and N3X and when that happens then the stereo headphone sound changes and the Yamaha CFX piano sample doesn't sound as realistic and full but the other piano sampled sounds (Bosendorfer, etc) do sound better and more realistic than when the binaural effect is on. It sounds a bit strange but that's the way it works. So it's may be better to leave the CFX binural effect off when using headphones if you plan on switching between piano sounds a lot or else you can just leave the CFX binaural effect on if you will be using that specific piano sound most of the time and then turn off that effect through the Smart Pianist app while listening through headphones to the other piano sounds, which is the best way to do that.

Connectivity on digital pianos can be very important for a lot of people because you may want to connect the piano to an external sound system for various reasons, especially if the piano is for a larger venue like a church, school, etc, or connect to a computer or other external device to use software programs for recording or writing music notation, or you may want to play music through the piano speaker system from your personal device digital music library (iTunes, etc). The AvantGrand N3X and N1X have 1/4" audio line outputs, stereo line input mini jack, USB output to external device, USB flashdrive input for MIDI/Audio file storage, standard MIDI in/out connectors, and dual stereo headphone jacks. The N2 does not have the USB output connection to external device because on the first series that came out back some years ago, those Avantgrand models did not have a regular USB output so you had to reply on MIDI connectors on the piano to connect to a computer, iPad, etc and would need to purchase an option connector cable to convert the MIDI signals to USB so that you could more easily connect to a computer or tablet at that point. That was a bad move on the part of Yamaha to not include a standard USB connector in the piano...especially given the cost of these piano. So at least they went ahead and added the USB connection in the new "X" models. The N3X additionally has in &out audio XLR output connectors for pro live applications if you were to be running very long cables to connect to an external sound system such as in a very large venue, concert hall, etc. A few of the connectors are underneath the front left side of the piano and can be accessed from the front of the piano while the other connectors including the USB output are located towards the back of the piano towards the left side.

I feel it's also important to mention that there is no Bluetooth connectivity on any of the AvantGrand models so you cannot connect audio or MIDI wirelessley by way of Bluetooth being built into the piano. Although not everyone uses MIDI or audio with these pianos, some people do and using an external device like a computer or iPad is an example of when people might want a wireless connection so that you don't have to run a cable. Also on other (but not all) Yamaha digital pianos, Yamaha has added streaming audio that is able to be transmitted through a USB cable when connected to the piano. That means that if you do need to connect your external device to your digital piano with a USB cable, you can hear any of the music generated in an app or program through your piano speaker system without the need for an additional audio cable. The AvantGrand models do not include this type of newer technology either. However, there is a so-called "work around" which means that you can purchase an optional Yamaha Bluetooth MIDI wireless connector that plugs into the MIDI ports of the piano and will allow the piano to transmit a MIDI signal wirelessley to an external device without the need of a cable connection so you can use MIDI apps on your tablet such as a nice array of educational piano lesson curriculum or additional instrument sounds that are available in the app store. You can also buy an optional Bluetooth wireless "audio connector" and plug it into the stereo audio input of the N3X or N1X and then you can hear the audio/music from an external device (your digital music library, etc) come through the piano internal speaker system without need of connecting cables. The N2 does not have the single stereo mini input jack but instead has the older and less practical dual 1/4" input jacks, so you would need an additional adapter to connect to the N2 to use any optional Bluetooth wireless adapter. The bottom line is that you can get the job done when it comes to Bluetooth wireless connectivity...but you have to jump through some "hoops" to make it happen. Yamaha could have done a much better job in this area by providing state of the art technology built into the N3X and N1X since those are the new models...but they did not do that and no doubt because of the costs in doing so and retrofitting all of that into the cabinet and electronics that were already in there from the old models.

The cabinets on these 3 AvantGrand models are definitely contemporary and attractive for their sizes. They are only available in a polished ebony finish which is by far the most popular color along with chrome hardware and cabinet accents on the body of these models and chrome casters and pedals on the N3X. Each model is unique with the least expensive N1X upright style model having a completely open bottom with no privacy panel or solid cabinet below the piano keyboard area like the N2 has. Some people will like this design and some people will not...just depends on your tastes in furniture and also how much money you want to invest in one of these pianos. The least expensive N1X measures 58" wide x 39" high (not including music rack height) x 24" deep and weighs in at 258 lbs. The N2 measures 58" x 40 x 21" and weighs in at 313 lbs. The N3X grand shaped model measures 58" x 40" x 47" deep (just under 4 feet in depth) and weighs in at 439 lbs. A traditional baby grand piano averages about 5' in depth and can weigh nearly twice as much as the N3X so for a lot of people the N3X will be a good size because it can fit into more spaces. It was surprising to me that the N3X only had one height position for the lid which was "opened all the way" instead of 2 height positions normally found on a grand piano which are "full height" position and also 1/2 height lid position for a lower profile appearance. The N3X lid can be lowered to a "closed" position as all regular acoustic grand pianos can do, but that flat lid position does noticeably muffle the sound quite a bit because it covers up most of the speakers although you can still hear it...it's just muffled and not as clear. When it comes to traditional heights of acoustic upright pianos, the height is generally about 48" tall and the height of a more basic shorter acoustic console piano averages about 42" tall, so the height measurement of the N1X and N2 cabinet is below that of an acoustic upright or console piano. However, when you have the music rack on the N1X and N2 in the up position to support sheet music, then you add extra height to the piano in that way if you measure from the floor to the top of the music rack. But it is only the music rack at the front of the piano that gives it this extra height. Otherwise, the cabinet measurements are for the actual cabinet itself. All 3 models have a "slow-close" key cover (fallboard) so that when you close the lid over the keys the cover comes down very slowly so that it will not crash down on fingers by mistake which was a problem with regular acoustic piano key covers some years ago. The cabinet design of the N3X is very different as compared to a normal acoustic grand piano because of the extra contemporary geometric design that Yamaha has used for this cabinet and its noticeable at the back of the piano as well as the front and interior of the piano with its distinctive interior color and design where an acoustic grand piano soundboard would normally be. You will either really like the cabinet design and "interior design" (and color) of the N3X or you won't...it's usually one way or the other. The same is true with the N1X and N2...they are definitely not traditional in their appearance and for a lot of people that's a good thing when it comes to digital pianos these days. I personally like the N2 cabinet design and appearance as well as the big piano sound that it puts out. But I do still run into a number of people who want a completely traditional look when it comes to piano cabinets and if that's you, then you may not buy any of these AvantGrand models simply because of cabinet and not because of how they perform. Cabinets are always quite subjective when it comes to getting something you you personally like and when you are in this price range then it needs to be a careful consideration.

To sum up my experience with the AvantGrands, I really do enjoy playing them with those authentic Yamaha acoustic grand piano key actions minus a few parts including dampers/damper rail, felt hammers, etc, because there are no strings and therefore you don't need those parts in the key actions. Knowing that you can turn down the volume in these pianos with a volume control and also use headphones for private practice are big reasons why people buy this series of pianos along with never having to tune the piano. Certainly being able to connect the piano to an external device with apps or software for creating music notation or utilizing special multitrack recording features and educational curriculum are also good reasons to own a hybrid digital piano such as an AvantGrand over a traditional piano. The impressive speaker systems in these models do put out some convincing volume & sound that will fill up a big room and make them sound like they are 3 times their size, although the N2 and N3X go beyond what the N1X does in that way. But, for its size the N1X does sound impressive in its attractive cabinet. Also, the fact is that all three models will give you the same grand piano key action playing experience and the N1X will give you the same great piano sound chip as the N3X does, especially if using a good set of stereo headphones because then the internal speaker system doesn't matter, it's all going through headphones which makes the playing experience on the less expensive N1X the same as the N3X grand. There are also some additional functions and features of the AvantGrand series of pianos that I have not covered in this review because they are secondary in my opinion to the info I have provided here, so there definitely is even more that you can do with these pianos...but overall I have discussed the things that are most important to know in making an educated buying decision in this higher price range, especially is you are comparing them to regular acoustic pianos or other digital pianos. Whether you are at a very advanced piano playing skill level (professional, etc) or even a beginner, in my opinion, if you have the disposable income and like what these pianos do and how they will work for you and your musical needs, then buy one, enjoy, and make beautiful music!

If you want more info on these and other pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 TOP 3 BEST DIGITAL PIANOS IN EACH PRICE RANGE! $500 - $1000, $1000 - $1500, $1500 - $2000, $2000 - $2500, $2500 - $3000, $3000 - $3500, $3500 - $4000, $4000 - $5000, $5000 - $6000, and Top 3 Digital Grand Pianos. 

UPDATED REVIEW - October 12, 2020 - After years of reviewing new digital pianos and watching market and digital piano buying trends, especially in the USA along with talking with thousands of digital piano owners and shoppers, I can say with some authority based on my personal experience that there are definite top selling digital pianos out there in various prices ranges this year. This review and report is on the Top 3 Digital Pianos in America USA that are in a variety of price ranges and this review will give you important information on which new digital pianos you should seriously consider purchasing for yourself, depending on your budget and musical goals. Be aware there are a number of digital pianos out there with lots of "bells & whistles." While having a bunch of different features and functions can be useful and fun for some people other people may prefer to focus more on the actual piano playing experience as opposed to all the extra stuff that are on some models. There are a few pianos below which rank very high not only for offering a very good piano playing experience, but they also have many useful and enjoyable "bells & whistles" that I like very much, so they are on this list too. This review is what I consider not only to be on the most popular instruments overall, but also how they rate for "the best bang for the buck" in each price range when it comes to a more authentic piano playing experience. The focus here is mostly on the furniture cabinet digital pianos, but there are a couple of portable models included here as well just because they do a better job in producing a great piano playing experience in their price as opposed to a full furniture cabinet digital piano. It really all depends on your musical goals, your budget, and desire to play music. We believe there are many musical instruments you can play so that you can enjoy music in a personal way. However, we believe playing the piano is the best way to musically express yourself as a solo instrument because you can play melody and harmony at the same time as well as sing with your playing if you feel like doing so.

Just to be clear, there are other nice options out there in terms of new digital pianos that are not on this list and I would consider them to be good choices as well and I can share that info with you if you ask me. However, there are only so many digital pianos that can fit into these lists of  "3," so just because you don't see one here you may be interested in does not mean that it may not be a suitable choice for your musical needs. Also, it's good to be aware that there are other digital piano brands out there, especially in the USA, that are not acceptable and poorly made so you need to be careful of those digital pianos. The 7 acceptable brands right now are (in no particular order) Yamaha, Kawai, Roland, Korg, Casio, Samick, and Dexibell and I can also help you with getting lower prices than internet, Amazon, or store prices so don't buy anything, anywhere until you check with me first!

It's interesting to note that there is a unique category of digital pianos which are all about the "baby grand" style grand piano shaped instrument. Many piano shoppers and music enthusiasts love the look of a grand piano and in the world of digital pianos, some of the manufacturers do produce these types of products. There is a very small version called the "micro-grand" which measures approx 28" to 32" deep, then there is the small mini-grand which measures between 36" (3 feet) deep to about 45" deep, the regular size mini-grand which measures 48" (4 feet deep) to about 58" deep, and then finally the full size baby grand cabinet which measures approx 60" (5 feet) deep to 5'5" deep. Roland and Kawai are the only top manufacturers who produce a full size digital baby grand (5 feet deep and over), Yamaha and Samick are the only manufacturers who produce and regular size 4' deep mini baby grand, Roland & Yamaha are the only top manufacturers who produce a small mini baby grand, and Samick is the only top brand who produces a micro sized baby grand (2'6" deep). The "micro sized" cabinet design is pretty cool because it's still very attractive and for its small size it still sounds great and has lots of useful higher quality features too. The entire cabinet can fit into a small footprint in a room or home with limited space which is very compelling because there are a lot of smaller homes, apartments, or rooms that have limited options in terms of where the piano would go but yet people still want that "look" of a small baby grand along with big sound and great features. The Samick piano company definitely offers something in that way that the other big guys don't do. Check out my lists of baby grand digital pianos near the bottom of the Top 3 digital piano review list.

Finally, the "off brands" out there that generally play and sound like toys or are very artificial in different ways are not ranked in this review because of their inability to sound and play like real pianos. I call these types of brands and/or models  a "PSO," otherwise known as a Piano Shaped Object. Please stay away from these PSO brands if you want a digital piano that will play more like a real piano, will last lots of years, and that you can enjoy without finally realizing one day that you made a big mistake with your purchase. Based on all my personal playing experience over many years with all these digital pianos, some of PSO's include the brands Williams, Suzuki, Artesia, Kurzweil, Adams, GEWA, and a few others.

- In these price ranges below for new digital pianos, in my opinion the TOP 3 best models in the USA for the most realistic piano playing experience in each price category at approx internet/store discount selling prices are as follows:

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $500 to $1000

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $1000 to $1500

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $1500 to $2000

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $2500 to $3000

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $3000 - $3500

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $3500 to $4000

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $4000 to $5000

Top 3 Digital Pianos from $5000 to $6000

If you want more info on these pianos and lower prices than internet, Amazon, bundles, or store discounts in the USA including helping you with credit and no interest if paid in full in 6 months,  please email me at 602-571-1864 or call direct at 602-571-1864 

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - October 1, 2020 - Kawai VPC1 88-key Digital Piano Controller - Recommended - Kawai is well known throughout the world for building high quality upright and concert grand acoustic pianos and they even produce a line of pianos called "Boston" for the Steinway piano company. So it comes as no surprise to me that Kawai has produced a digital piano controller that does an outstanding job of reproducing a grand piano key action playing experience beyond that of conventional digital pianos which connects to virtual grand pianos (computer software generated) giving you that 9' concert grand piano sound experience.The Kawai VPC1 ($1849 internet discount price) which I have played extensively, is a new product concept from the Kawai piano company and is not for the average piano buyer. First of all it has no sounds of its own and no built-in speakers...that's right, nothing except a piano key action in a sleek attractive case. A true piano controller usually has a control panel on it in a generic looking portable keyboard "slab" and you'll see a variety of on-board functions & confusing buttons/sliders (at least they look that way) to control external MIDI instruments on other keyboard or sound modules and/or computer or iPad. But that is not what you'll find on the VPC1.

The VPC1 has Kawai's professional wooden graded hammer piano key action with simulated ivory grand piano keys allowing for a great keytop feel featuring a grand piano let-off/escapement function, new 3-sensor key electronics for authentic sound dynamics and sensitivity, high speed core compliant USB/MIDI connectivity, all housed in a very attractive satin black piano style top. The VPC1's chassis is engineered from industrial aluminum & steel with a reinforced keyboard base providing extra stability when playing big chords, and yet it is portable (although it is a bit heavy) and looks like a piano without the stand or base. It's designed to give the piano player the best "key action feel and piano response" (because of its advanced 3-sensor key electronics) you can get in any regular digital piano under $5000. I have played various new Kawai digital pianos with this new key action and I would agree that no other brand comes close right now. The action movement feels solid, moves smoothly with great tactile finger feel on the synthetic ivory keys, and has an overall organic feel that can make you believe you are playing an acoustic piano. However, it is not a Steinway, Kawai, or Yamaha acoustic grand in that it is not an exact acoustic key action copy, but for most people it doesn't need to be, and plays sufficiently to get a realistic experience in response and expression that is necessary to connect your inner soul to the piano sound coming out (it's true:). As far as connectivity of this instrument, you connect the VPC1 virtual controller piano to an outside digital piano instrument source such as a virtual grand piano sound library which you can buy, load onto, and access from a laptop computer (with the appropriate on-board memory), or you can connect to a MIDI sound module or keyboard of your choosing which range in all different price ranges.

MP11SE

If you prefer an "all-in-one" solution such as a Kawai MP11SE portable piano with built-in Kawai stereo piano sounds and useable control features (so that you don't have to connect to an outside source for sounds and functions), then that model is certainly a great option. But for the people who want to think "outside the box" and want something very simple and a bit more elegant in design, and don't mind connecting devices together and using virtual or MIDI instrument sounds, then the new Kawai VPC1 is definitely a winner and nothing else comes close to the way it looks or plays.

So who is the VPC1 primarily made for? Well it really is made for people (anyone) who want to play piano, have something portable which can be used with headphones or external stereo monitors, and they want to keep the price down while getting a high quality piano playing experience by using high quality virtual grand piano sounds. These virtual piano sounds come from computer software developed by piano software companies who produce specialized grand piano sounds taken and sampled directly from famous acoustic pianos such as Steinway, Bosendorfer, Yamaha, and others. These companies have utilized the latest technological advances in piano sound capturing & sampling to reproduce life-like copies of those acoustic grand pianos. These piano sound reproductions are so good that they can and do fool many advanced piano players.

However, the extremely difficult part of reproducing a real grand piano playing experience in a digital piano is not only the having the right key action and key electronics for authentic dynamics, but also having the correct velocity touch curves (left pic on computer monitor) when playing the keys on the digital piano. A velocity touch curve, generally speaking, is the ability of that piano sound to come out naturally & dynamically in reproducing subtle volume changes from soft to loud as well as the subtle dynamics of the the sound from mellow to bright when pressing the keys. No matter what the piano sound sample is by itself and no matter who makes it, it may not sound and play right unless you have a digital piano controller keyboard action that is or can be geared to these individual virtual piano sound libraries and their particular velocity curves and dynamics. In other words, setting up a regular digital piano controller correctly to access the sounds is not an easy task and that is one reason many people have not wanted to use these "virtual piano sound libraries" in the past...it just took too much work, and a lot of times the result wasn't that great for all the expense, time, and effort.

So that means that just connecting a good quality piano controller keyboard to a laptop computer with great piano sounds is just half the equation. The other half (and best scenario) is for that piano controller to be designed by a piano company (like Kawai) along with the cooperation of those piano sound companies to come up with the right software inside the "controller piano" to control and play the software virtual piano sounds the way they were meant to be played and heard. That is another thing that makes the VPC1 so special...it has those specific velocity touch curves and dynamics approved by the piano sound software companies so you can correctly play the grand piano sounds from those companies such as Ivory, Pianoteq, & Galaxy, to name a few.

The VPC1 is designed to make the playing experience using virtual grand pianos quick and painless, but many pianists and software musicians who use virtual pianos (as they are referred to) enjoy customizing their setup too. For those users, the VPC1 includes a dedicated software editor, providing greater control of their sound setups including advanced MIDI routing. Individual setups can be created for different needs and stored to a memory preset in the piano (there are five of them), and then recalled without a computer using a simple key control on the piano... that's pretty cool:). There is even laptop space on top of the VPC1 to fit a computer along with the piano having a music rest, which is not the norm for "controller digital pianos." The piano even comes with a portable but yet durable and heavy weight 3-pedal foot unit for playing traditional acoustic piano style using damper with half-pedal, sostenuto, and soft pedal control. The VPC1 weighs only 65 lbs so it not too heavy but certainly heavy enough for one person. However with it being in a nice looking more formal cabinet top, most people will probably not be moving this piano very much and they'll use it primarily in their home, home studio, church, pro studio, school, or other more permanent locations. The VPC1 does not have a matching stand (or bench) and Kawai does not make one...yet. Whether they will produce a matching stand or not, I really don't know so you would need to purchase a portable metal stand that you would use for other portable digital pianos and I can tell you which one I would recommend.

Another huge factor in considering the purchase of a VPC1 and using it to control virtual piano software on a laptop computer, is the computer itself. It would need about 85-90 gigs of free disk space to comfortably hold something like the piano software from Synthogy called Ivory II. Ivory II reproduces 3 full size 9' concert grand pianos in nearly every way with an organic sound experience (using a Kawai VPC1) that you likely have never encountered playing a digital piano. Other virtual piano software such as Pianoteq do not require the same power or memory space in a computer that Ivory does so it really depends on what virtual piano software you choose. You can definitely enjoy yourself with other software like Pianoteq, galaxy, or others, but the pianos by Ivory are my favorite and that's primarily what I am referring to here.

As far as the Ivory II pianos go, you would need to have a laptop that would be a stand alone device sitting on or near the VPC1 with enough hard drive space, a powerful CPU, and enough RAM to support the size and strength of the virtual piano program. In other words, this is no small thing. It's like physically forcing three full size 9' concert grands inside of your computer, so just imagine that when considering what your laptop computer would have to do! The you would need a separate speaker system or stereo monitors for the piano sound to go through so you could hear it. Those monitors could cost anywhere from $400-$1000 or more depending on the space you have in the room and the fullness of the sound you might want. To really reproduce an actual acoustic 9' concert grand you would need at least 2 main speaker monitors and a good sub-woofer. I mean really, what's the point of getting the VPC1 and then spend the money for a separate laptop computer (which you may need to do) for use with the VPC1, and not have a great sound system? It's like having a great stereo recording and listening through cheaper speakers or headphones...it just won't sound great.

Getting the piano sound to be great when using a piano controller takes a lot of things. It takes a great piano keyboard action, a great piano sound source, a place (a fast and efficient laptop computer with plenty of power, memory, and hard drive space) to store the virtual piano sounds, and a great speaker system (and headphones) to reproduce those fabulous virtual piano sounds as they were intended to be heard such as the ones on the Ivory program by the Synthogy company. There is a cost to all of that once you put it all together and when you add it up you're likely pushing more than $4000 for everything if you are starting with nothing. If you already own any of these components, then your cost would obviously be less. To save money you could use a laptop if you already had one as long as it could meet minimum requirements for the intended software, and if you already owned an appropriate external speaker system then that would cut down cost, even if that system was not as good as it could be. If you didn't need a pair of stereo headphones (I only recommend good ones that give you a great in-ear listening experience and those headphones are not necessarily inexpensive), that would also reduce price but what you already have may not give great piano listening results. In addition to that, if you decided you didn't want or need to have those virtual pianos and already had a MIDI keyboard or sound module, you could connect to those devices/instruments and use their sounds depending if you like them or not. That would save you the cost of the virtual piano program and for having to use a computer to support and run it. So there are ways to reduce overall price. So in reality, all you might really need to get the job done is the VPC1 piano and basic virtual piano software if you already had everything else. Then the investment would be somewhat minimal.

However, if you want to use the Kawai VPC1 and have your playing experience be the best possible outcome at a reasonable price and you did not already own any of the necessary equipment, then you would probably need to spend close to $4000 or more to get it. But if you think about it this way; three new 9' concert grand pianos would cost you well over $300,000 and you would need a huge amount room to put them in (and that's why those piano sounds take up so much space on a computer hard drive, because those pianos are so big!), so spending a bit over $4000 and getting it all to fit in a much smaller space is a real bargain and I think it is worth it for that "real acoustic concert grand piano playing experience" in a digital piano!

Kawai VPC1

I would definitely recommend the Kawai VPC1 playing experience to anyone not afraid of or opposed to having the necessary component setup to achieve the intended result. I will admit and agree that you may not want this setup in formal living area, but that's OK because there are nice full size shiny black upright style digital pianos that fit that purpose and you can have a nice playing experience on those pianos too. But with regard to the VPC1, I can also recommend the piano virtual software for the best grand piano sound experience as well as the right speaker systems, stand, bench, headphones, etc that would work best for you. I would also recommend that you consider avoiding pre-packaged or bundled setups offered on web sites because they may not be the best solution to what you'll need. Many of these packages or bundles are set up to minimize cost to the dealer and to you, but at the same time they can minimize quality and your playing experience. Please contact me and I can give you more info and help you make the right decision on those things too.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

No Digital Pianos for November - December 2020 Christmas season? Yes, it possible and even likely. Please read this new report!

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts NOW, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

UPDATED REVIEW - September 1, 2020 -  CHURCH Digital Pianos - BEST TOP 10 for 2020! Which digital piano is right for your church?I have played piano at churches for many, many years and have played on all kinds of brands and models. Acoustic grand & upright pianos, digital grand & vertical pianos, hybrid digital pianos, digital portable pianos, keyboards, stage digital pianos, synthesizers, and all the rest...you name it and I have probably played it.