UPDATED - July 25, 2013 - Digital Piano Buyers Guide - The most thorough digital piano reviews on the internet for all major brands of digital pianos from $400 to $20,000!  I am a digital piano & keyboard specialist & adviser to top musicians, music teachers, studios, and churches throughout the country. I am also a longtime musician, composer, & well known piano keyboard, organ, and guitar teacher, and I continue to work with kids and adults in various music education programs as I have for over 40 years. I have taught thousands of music students in group and private lessons on pianos and keyboards of all types and I know how difficult it can be to figure out which digital piano is right for you.  It can be confusing out there and the digital piano "landscape" is constantly changing. There are many pianos that are very good and some that, quite honestly, are not good and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone and not afraid to say so. But how does the average consumer disseminate and figure out which new piano to buy or whether a used digital could be an acceptable option?

The answer is simply...ask ME, Tim Praskins. I am a digital piano expert, and a consumer myself, and I know these pianos inside and out. I have owned and played literally hundreds of digital pianos through the years and understand the technology and the piano fundamentals of these instruments. I get emails all over the world from people just like you who are looking for a digital piano that will meet their own or their family's needs and they also want some good help and advice on whether the prices they're getting from music stores are really good deals or not. I am a pro when it comes to understanding the "ins and outs" of digital pianos, how they work, what they sound & play like, and whether they are good for what you want and need.

Do yourself a favor and please contact me no matter where you may live, and I will be happy to respond by email, or also by telephone if you are in the continental US. Please go ahead and call me directly at 602-571-1864 and I will be happy to give you specific advice only if you live in the continental US. I do this because music is my passion and my mission. I want to see other peoples lives improved and enriched like mine has by playing a musical instrument...especially the PIANO, although playing any musical instrument is a wonderful thing to do!

I will caution you however that just because a musician and/or piano teacher is good at playing a piano or keyboard of some sort (especially a grand piano), it does not automatically qualify them to understand and review digital pianos. As an example, I have seen more than a few piano teachers and "musicians" who play well think they can evaluate digital pianos for their students and others. I can tell you that unfortunately, many of them really don't know what they are talking about when it comes to digital pianos because they simply do not have the experience with most of the new ones out there. In reality, good digital pianos can be great (and even better) alternatives to an acoustic piano in giving musical satisfaction to the piano player whether they are beginner or advanced. After 40 years of playing thousands of digital pianos and keyboards (I started when I was very young), working deep within the music industry with all kind of musicians, and playing some of the best acoustic grand pianos in the world including Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, Bosendorfer, Schimmel, and others, I can tell you what will work and what will not work for you as far as digital pianos go because I am an expert on these things. I do not "sugarcoat" my reviews because a piano store or manufacturer is paying me to be nice to them or I have a store full of pianos I have to sell so I can pay the bills. Also some of the information and reviews of digital pianos on the internet are old and outdated or done by the piano/music dealers themselves, so the information can be very skewed or irrelevant.

I offer a complete BUYERS GUIDE of REVIEWS on many of the digital pianos today by simply searching reviews here in my blog on the right side of the page using the search bar by putting in the brand & model number you want to know about. Have fun and do your homework. By the way, if you don't see something on this piano blog that you would like to know about, contact me as I will probably have helpful advice on that model too.

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

UPDATED REVIEW - July 27, 2013 -KAWAI MP6 -  RECOMMENDED - I originally reviewed the Kawai MP6 when it came out in early 2011 and although a couple of years have gone by, there is still nothing else quite like this piano in its price range and I still highly recommend it. It was ahead of its time when it first came out and is still on top today (in its price range) in terms of what it can do. The Kawai MP6 portable piano ($1499 internet discount price) has what I consider to be the best acoustic piano reproduction & key action movement with the most flexibility in a portable digital piano for under $1500 on the market today, and I have played them all. It is not only a great portable digital piano for realistic piano hammer weighted key action and acoustic piano sound, but I like this piano better than many higher priced portable & furniture cabinet pianos because the MP6 control panel allows for more flexibility in creating your own custom individual piano & instrument sounds, layers, splits, and effects possibilities that are not available on the other types of digital pianos. In other words, you probably won't grow out of the MP6 anytime soon:)

In simple terms, the MP6 is like having 4 different individual pianos in one (more is almost always better than less:). This is because you can use 4 independent acoustic piano and/or instrument sounds one at a time or all together (or in any combination) while being able to control them independently of each other. This would be like having four brands or models of acoustic grand pianos sitting side by side and being able to play them one after another (or even together) and controlling the individual volume, octave, pitch, resonance, sustain, etc. Pretty amazing stuff and simple to do. Now it is true that most people only need or want one acoustic piano but because there are so many varieties out there, the Kawai MP6 pretty much takes care of whatever acoustic piano sound you may like and allows you to move from one to the other in easy fashion. The true stereo grand piano tone inside this new model is so advanced that you may have a difficult time believing you're really playing an electronic piano:)

Kawai international headquarters

The Kawai piano company is well known throughout the world for producing excellent home and professional upright & grand pianos and their international corporate headquarters is (coincidentally) in the same city as Yamaha Corporate headquarters, which is Hamamatsu, Japan. Kawai was also chosen by the famous Steinway piano company of New York to build their "Boston" line of grand & upright pianos in their Japanese piano factory. The 'Boston' Grand Pianos sell for approx $20,000 and more and are used by respected universities, homes, churches, and many other venues all over the world (I have played many of them). If Steinway regards Kawai that highly to ask them to build acoustic pianos under the Steinway name, then as far as I'm concerned, that is a big compliment and shows that Kawai builds some very nice instruments if it can meet Steinway piano standards. 

Kawai acoustic grand piano

I must admit I was a little skeptical when I first laid my hands on the MP6 because up until that point, I knew Kawai had not been a big "player" (haha) in the world of digital pianos, although they have been producing some decent models for many years. However, they were still lagging behind Yamaha, Roland, and a couple of other brands in my opinion as far as digital technology and popularity. But for the first time I believe Kawai has really moved ahead of the pack for authentic grand piano touch and tone at a price well below the competition. In fact when I played the MP6 for the first time, I really did think I was playing a full size high quality acoustic grand piano by Kawai instead of a digital piano...I was pretty amazed to say the least.

If you're looking for a very convincing acoustic grand piano sound and key action in a user friendly model at a lower price, in my opinion the MP6 is it because it feels and sounds so natural (check out my MP6 song recordings at the bottom of this review). I would consider the key action movement on this piano to be medium or slightly firm (as opposed to light) which gives the player better control and dynamics in my opinion. However, the Kawai MP6 also includes 5 touch velocity control settings to change the way the keys respond to your touch including heavy key touch to extra light, so there is something to please nearly every kind of playing style. With that feature you can really tailor the velocity sound response to your personal taste.

To get everything you need for a great playing experience on this piano, you'll have to purchase some accessories including a sturdy stand, bench, and a small but powerful  (powered) stereo speaker system (assuming you don't have these things already), and then you'll be set. But I don't think this is a big obstacle because these accessories are relatively inexpensive and as consumers, we are used to purchasing accessory items such as added speaker systems, stands, and other things when purchasing larger flat screen TV's, computers, home stereo systems, or other electronic devices. Once you have these accessories in place, you'll still be under $2000 and will save a lot of money over the much higher priced furniture cabinet digital pianos, and I'm a big believer in saving money these days.

You should be aware that some Kawai & general internet dealers suggest certain stands, benches, and other accessories that are not necessarily good for this particular instrument. This is because they have may not have thoroughly played this instrument themselves as I have, or they just want to create a cheaper "package deal." I can tell you the proper MP6 piano stand, speakers, bench, and headphones, etc to buy (if you don't have those already) and tell you how to get them at low discount prices.

The Kawai MP6 can be used for many applications including home, stage, church, school, recording studio, gigs, etc. But overall this piano is being purchased by individuals and families for recreational home use, followed by churches, piano teachers, and professionals. When it comes to the acoustic piano sound, you can duplicate a variety of them including Yamaha, Steinway, and Kawai Grand Pianos (among others) as well as full cathedral pipe organs and beautiful symphonic orchestras. The MP6 also does a great job in reproducing the famous classic electric pianos from the 50's, 60's, 70's, & 80's such as the Wurlitzers, Fender Rhodes, Yamaha CP70/80, and Yamaha DX7's. It's like you're almost playing the real thing including the nuances of those electric pianos. And the Hammond tonewheel B3 organ sounds are convincing too with virtual adjustable drawbars along with a large variety of B3 tone combinations and effects which can be edited and easily saved into user memories. I have played actual Hammond B3's and know what they sound and play like. The MP6 even has a great Leslie rotary speaker reproduction with a fast/slow rotary speed control.  There is also an array of high quality solo instruments including sax's, trumpets, acoustic & electric guitars, flutes, harps, harpsichords, synths, bells, bass, percussion, and more. But don't let all these features & buttons fool you into thinking this instrument is complex to use, because is really isn't.

The only portable instrument which I believe is even better than the MP6 when it comes to the primary acoustic piano sounds and overall key action is the Kawai MP10 at $2499 (internet price). However, the MP10 has just 27 total instrument sounds compared to 256 very useful sounds on the MP6, but the MP10 piano sounds along with the specialized wooden key action are even more refined then the MP6 or any of the other digital portable pianos out there. If you want to know more about the MP10, then go to the following link:
http://azpianonews.blogspot.com/2011/03/kawai-mp10-digital-piano-review-best.html



The MP6 does some other very cool things like playing or recording your performance as a MIDI file as well as MP3 or WAV audio file directly on the piano and saving or loading from a USB flashdrive. That means you can take your favorite song from iTunes or any other MP3 song file and play along with it directly on the MP6. And if you want to record yourself, the MP6 recording will sound exactly as you played it and heard it with exceptional digital sound quality. This instrument is 192-note polyphonic and has 256 instrument sounds with 4 zones for layering and splitting (that means putting 4 separate instrument sounds together at one time for layering and/or splitting keyboard areas with individual editing and relative volume controls). It even has 30 pro sounding drum patterns so you can play along with your own drummer if you like, which is great for rhythm training and timing, plus it's fun.

When it comes to actual acoustic piano tone, the MP6 piano has intuitive editing features that allow you to control many of the aspects of an acoustic piano sound by adjusting and editing things like piano damper resonance, string resonance, key off effect, voicing, dynamics, cutoff, attack time, decay time, and release time. It will even analyze your finger touch and strength as you play the keys and automatically and set up a customized touch sensitivity curve for you with potentially unlimited touch settings. For those people looking to get even more than the easy to use 256 preset instruments on the Kawai MP6, using your editing features gives you thousands more possibilities.

The MP6 also has educational features for learning to play piano and specific songs because of its ability to play General MIDI song files over 16 separate tracks. This allows piano students to hear and play along with popular piano lesson accompaniments from their piano lesson books (Faber, Alfred, and others) as well as learn to play specific songs using tempo control to slow down the song as well as mute any of the 16 playback tracks for "music minus one" play-along. Not only do General MIDI songs sound great when your listening to them, but they make learning and playing the piano more fun. I use this method in my piano studio for students and it is an effective educational tool that I highly recommend.

The Kawai MP6 is super powerful and I believe it will absolutely inspire your "musical soul." I have never been a big fan of Kawai digital pianos in past years and always thought of Yamaha & Roland as offering more superior instruments for low prices and recommended them as such. But this time I believe everything has changed and the Kawai company has hit a "grand slam" with the MP6 as well as the top of the line MP10. Oh and one more thing, the Kawai MP6 does comes with the single damper/sustain pedal (which supports graduated half damper control) , but is also set up to use an additional & optional dual pedal unit for traditional piano functions incl soft, sostenuto, and damper/sustain. One of the pedals is even programmable to access a few of the keyboard functions for "hands free" sound selections.

Below are just some of the specs on this piano. Specs never tell the real story until you actually get a chance to hear & play one of these pianos. But that might be difficult as this model is in short supply and not easily found at local stores. Kawai is first and foremost, a builder of real Grand Pianos played all over the world, so these people know what they're doing but unfortunately they have not been able to keep up with the demand for these instruments since they came out and frequently are out of stock.I suppose that's a good problem for Kawai to havebut not so good for the consumer. I would recommend that you do your research, as well as listen to some of my personal audio demos below which will give you a good idea of what this MP6 actually sounds like.

• - Progressive Harmonic Imaging™ (PHI) (reproduces grand resonance). You can hear the nuances of real piano strings
• - Responsive Ivory Feel Hammer action with Let-off (reproduces grand piano touch)
• - USB Audio - MP3 and WAV files - play/record - load and save with flashdrive
• - 16 separate MIDI instrument tracks for General MIDI song playback
• - New Concert Grand and EP sounds along with all new symphonic instruments
• - 256 Instrument sounds total includes 22 pianos incl Concert Grands, 10 string symphonies, 10 pipe organs, 20 authentic vintage electric pianos, 32 authentic Hammond B3 organ tones, choirs, classical nylon & steel string guitars with overtones, choirs, vintage synths, bass guitars, and more
•  - 100 pro drum patterns for rhythm backup or music education
• - 192 note Polyphony to reproduce the most complex music passages and tone layers
• - 256 User Memory Setups to store all your custom settings
• - 4 Internal/External Keyboard Zones for layering & splitting
• - Special effects incl an array of reverbs, EQ's, chorus, analog editing, and more
• - Customizable piano sound and setups (to easily "create" the ultimate piano YOU like)
• - Custom Hammond organ drawbar with digital Leslie speaker and slow/fast control operated by a touch of a button 
• - Intuitive LCD display screen
• - Tilted/sloped control panel for easier use & viewing of buttons and LCD 
• - Mahogany wood sides

Roland V-Grand Piano

REVIEW - Roland DP90 & DP90S - Recommended - These pianos are for people looking for high quality piano sound and key action in a compact cabinet. The Roland company is a worldwide digital music and audio products company and produces a large variety of home digital piano models...approx 13 models in all (including a couple of impressive digital grand pianos), which is a lot! They have starter models, intermediate models, advanced models, educational models, and compact furniture models. When you add up all the cabinet finish colors in every model then you get approx 24 choices in all different price ranges. If you can't find something you like in the Roland line of digital pianos then you just aren't looking hard enough:). In additional to the home cabinet models, Roland has two new compact portable digital pianos called the FP50 & FP80 which can be used by professionals on the road or are for families at home, especially if you get an optional small furniture stand with them.

DP90 Satin Cherry & bench

With regard to the two models in this review, the Roland DP90 (internet discount price is $2499 - left pic) comes in two satin finish colors & the DP90S (internet discount price in polished ebony is $3399) comes in two high polish finishes and both models are actually compact furniture cabinet versions of the more traditional Roland cabinet HP piano series. The HP series consists of the HP503, HP505, & HP507 and the differences among these HP furniture cabinet pianos is mostly concerning the key action, internal speaker system, cabinet design & colors, and a couple of digital features. But otherwise they all have the same piano sound chip (called SuperNATURAL piano), same instrument sounds (347 total instrument sounds), same educational, recording and playback functions, same connectivity, and same LCD display screen found in the HP503/505. Attractive matching benches are also included.

DP990 satin black

The DP90 & DP90S also have the same speaker system that's in the HP503 which is 24 watts and 2 speakers. However, the big difference between the DP90 & DP90S is that the DP90S has the HP505/HP507 top of the line PHAIII key action whereas the DP90 has the lower level "S" keyboard action found in the HP503, which is not as advanced in key movement and feel as is the PHAIII key action. The PHAIII key action is also used in the top of the line Roland V-Piano 5' Grand (approx $20,000 selling price), so getting that key action is the best that Roland offers (it feels/moves more like an acoustic  grand) although the Roland "S" key action (in the DP90) is overall pretty good but responds more like an upright acoustic piano and is physically a bit noisier and less precise. Both key actions do have the "escapement/letoff" mechanism which helps to duplicate the feeling of playing a grand piano. Yamaha Clavinovas and Casio pianos do not have this feature although Kawai digital pianos do have it (which is quite nice).

DP90S polished white

So really when you boil it down to the basics, the difference between the Roland DP90 & DP90S is cabinet finish and key action. The DP90 comes in the high polished ebony and polished white whereas the DP90 comes in the natural satin cherry wood and satin black. Although the DP90S colors are attractive, the DP90S polished black or white cost a lot more money to produce (white is $200 more than black which puts it at $3599 internet price) and when you add in the upgraded key PHAIII keyaction, then the $900-$1100 difference in price between the 90 & 90S makes sense.

DP90 Cherry with top down

The DP pianos are unique in that the other top brands (Yamaha, Kawai, Casio) do not offer this kind of compact furniture cabinet or configuration especially with the slow closing flat key cover that folds down and turns the piano into a table top when closed up...kind of cool:). So if you like this piano and don't have a problem being in this price range then this may be the perfect piano for you. Kawai & Yamaha (not Casio) do definitely have some nice pianos to offer in this price range but they are in the more traditional cabinets like the Roland HP home series. But if you like the style, design, and finish colors of this DP piano series then there is really is nothing else competing with it and then I would say that you should consider getting one because I do like them for the way they look, sound, feel, respond, and the digital features offered. They can connect wirelessly to an iPad or computer, can take a USB flashdrive to play General MIDI song files, and can import audio wav files including vocal tracks for play-along, so they do have some very cool features.

If you want to know more about the DP series by Roland, then you should read my detailed blog review on the Roland HP503 & HP505 because as I mentioned earlier, the digital features are the same on those pianos as well as the key actions and I explain those details in my HP reviews. Go to the following link to read my HP503/505/507 review: Roland HP503/505 Review and Roland HP505 Review

Finally, if you want to turn the DP series pianos into a full sized 9' concert grand sound, then all you have to do is connect a good external stereo sound system (or stereo powered monitors) to the piano and then the piano sound will also come through that external system. I have done this many times before and the result is amazing! It would be like adding an good external sound system to your home TV, stereo system, iPod, or other audio device that has smaller built in speakers and people do that all the time and it does not cost much money to do. So connecting the DP90S to a good external stereo speaker system (doesn't have to cost a lot or be big) can make a world of difference and can fill up a huge living area, church, school, outdoor area, or whatever you can imagine. It would be literally like hearing the powerful sound of a huge 9' grand piano.

DP90S polished ebony

The bottom line is...Roland produces great musical instruments including professional digital drums, digital accordions, digital guitar products, digital pro keyboards, digital pro audio, digital pro pianos, and digital home pianos. They are a worldwide company and respected & used by musicians, music teachers, schools, churches, and families. When it comes to the DP series, my favorite is the DP90S in polished ebony. It looks classy, plays great with an organic key feel and rich stereo piano sound (the sound is actually taken/sampled from a large Steinway acoustic grand piano) that really allows you to have a personal connection with your music and has the features that will keep you entertained and impressed with what comes out of it. It does that for me when I play these pianos and I believe it will do that for you.  Which ever one you would choose (including the traditional HP series) you will enjoy the musical results and that's what really counts. Playing music is all about experiencing beautiful sound and responsive key action and also having a great feeling when you are playing the right piano for you. With that in mind, you certainly can't go wrong with the Roland DP series of pianos.

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 - Roland FP80 portable digital piano - Recommended - The Roland corporation recently released its new 2013 model FP80 pro quality portable digital piano ($1999US internet discount price not including optional stand or 3 pedal unit). This new model replaces the popular Roland FP7F, and the FP80 has some definite improvements over the previous model and can be used for home, church, stage, studio work, teaching, and more. Whether you are a beginner of professional, this piano can pretty much do it all including having very nice acoustic piano sound, realistic piano style key action, and lots of cool digital features.

First of all, it is good to know that the FP80 can be used in a variety of playing situations because it is not only portable but it also has a new larger, fuller sounding stereo internal speaker system which allows the high quality instrument sounds to come through in a very impressive way. The speaker system consists of 4 speakers balanced on both sides of the keyboard specially aligned inside the top and sides of the cabinet with the larger speakers inside an enclosed sound box for fuller bass reproduction. The power amplification consists of four separate amps powering each speaker independently with a total of 26 watts altogether, which is quite a bit for its portable size. With this kind of internal speaker system, you do not have to connect an external speaker system to it if you do not want to, and because the way the speakers and amps are installed and mounted in the compact FP80 cabinet, the sound is fuller and clearer than many furniture cabinet pianos I have played in this
price range including all of the Yamaha Arius series digital pianos as well as the Roland RP301 & RP301R digital pianos. So just because a digital piano is in a furniture cabinet does not necessarily make it sound better than one in a portable compact cabinet. The only other portable digital piano in this price range with a good internal speaker system along with competitive functions which would compete with the FP80 in my opinion would be the new Kawai ES7 digital piano (above left pic), and you can go to the following link to read my review on the Kawai ES7. Kawai ES7 review.

As far as the some of the cool features of the FP80 go, one of the things which impresses me is its larger, easy to read LCD display screen in the center of the control panel, which is convenient. This large screen displays lots of useful information for the user so that it is easier to understand what is going on inside the piano. I really like this LCD screen on the FP80 and wish other brands would do the same thing in this price range. There are a whopping 372 high quality instrument tones on this model, which is a lot for a portable instrument, and these instrument tones include a big variety of acoustic pianos, electric pianos, strings, pipe & pop organs (with drawbar settings), synths, horns, woodwinds, guitars, and many more. The sounds are impressive and have a live sound to them. You can layer any 2 of these instrument sounds together along with also being able to split two sounds anywhere on the keyboard so that one is on the left side of the keyboard and one is on the right. You can plug a microphone into the FP80 and sing through it and also use the vocal harmony function which adds other vocal parts to your own solo voice so it sounds like you are singing in harmony with other people...but the harmony is all from you! You can even record your vocal performances as an audio wav file to a USB flashdrive and save those recordings to be heard later or even sent by email to friends & relatives or converted to MP3 audio files.

The Roland FP80 also has the interactive ensemble chord arrangements so that you can play left and/or right hand chords and get the entire accompaniment just like a band with a pro guitar player, pro bass player, pro piano player, pro drummer, pro orchestra instruments, and more. These interactive arrangement styles include music from nearly all music genres such as rock, jazz, blues, swing, big band, country, classical, kids, Latin, and others. In all there are 180 different arrangement styles along with impressive introductions and endings, and in my opinion they are really great and musically tasteful...and fun to play. It does make it sound like you have an entire professional band playing along with you whenever you want...and the band always shows up on time and they work for free...what more could you want:)! The only drawback to the arranger setup is that unfortunately the bass line in the arrangements is permanently locked in to play a leading bass line only determined by the chord inversion you are playing. The bass line in the arrangement style should be setup to allow the player to have the bass line come out with a root note first, but the leading bass feature starts the bass note on the first note of the chord you are holding. In most cases this is not preferable or acceptable in live music. The leading bass setup should be an option in this piano and not standard and permanent within the chord arrangement. If this sounds confusing to you then that's OK...it just might be until you hear what I am talking about. I don't understand why Roland did it this way because it musically does not make sense. To get around this limitation you would need to play the root position of a chord every time and not only is not preferable to do, it's not natural. I hope that Roland can (through a software update, etc) correct this issue because it overshadows an otherwise terrific arrangement feature which no other piano in this price range comes close to.

The heart of any furniture style or portable digital piano is the key action, piano sound, and pedaling realism. The other features take a back seat to the primary needs of most people which is "how does the key action feel & respond, how smooth and dynamic is the acoustic piano sound, and how does the pedaling experience allow me to bring in the sustain in a realistic way? As far as key action goes, Roland is using its better piano style key action known as the ivory feel-S key action with 3 key sensors for each key which offers better key repetition response (upper left pic). Roland has three different key actions which include the ivory feel-G, ivory feel-S, and PHAIII. I personally do not like the ivory feel-G key action as it is too sluggish in movement and bottoms out with some noticeable irritating thumping sound (when playing the keys a bit harder) like the key is hitting a wood bottom with little or no padding. Most piano key actions do make some noise when the keys are going up and down, but the G keyboard action is especially noticeable in this area.  The ivory feel-G action is found in the new FP50 ($1499 internet discount price), RD300NX, and also the F120, RP301, and RP301R. So for me personally, I don't recommend Roland instruments with this key action as it is sluggish & noisy and it's better to spend more money (or even less) on something that will be a better longer term investment

The better ivory feel-S key action in the FP80 is a big improvement over the other one (ivory-G) I just mentioned and does play and respond very nicely to light or heavy playing styles and offers great dynamic range when playing the acoustic piano sounds. In fact, in my opinion this key action beats anything Yamaha has to offer in any of their digital pianos up to about the $3500 price range. The Roland FP80 key action simply feels much more like a real acoustic piano to me (and I have played hundreds of acoustic pianos) and it even has the escapement/let-off feature which simulates what a grand piano feels like when you press a key slowly and lightly. The top PHAIII key action is found in Roland pianos starting at about $2700 and goes up from there. I wish Roland had put their best PHAIII key action (which has some upgraded improvements) on the FP80 but the ivory feel-S key action is more than acceptable and certainly better than most of their competitors and feels good.

The acoustic piano sound itself is very enjoyable and the dynamic range is excellent for its price range. The built-in speaker system as I described earlier, really helps bring out the quality of the Roland SuperNATURAL acoustic piano sound (a higher grade of acoustic piano reproduction) unlike its little brother the FP50 which has an average on board speaker system and nothing near the FP80. The piano sound is quite realistic and fairly balanced, and in its price range the only brand that competes with it is Kawai which also offers excellent key actions that feel great. The synthetic ivory on the key tops also help with key feel and finger movement and allows for the natural sweat in the fingers to be absorbed so the keys remain dry and not greasy...that's a nice feature. So when it comes to reproducing a natural piano sound playing experience, the FP80 does a very good job. The pedaling is also competent and offers half pedaling good decay times, and damper resonance for the acoustic piano sound all of which contribute to more piano realism. Roland has also included some extensive editing features for the acoustic piano sound which is great for people who would like to "tweak" the piano sound to their own taste and then save that in memory on the piano. Some of these tweaky features include Soundboard Behavior (Off, 1 to 10), Cabinet Resonance (Off, 1 to 10), Hammer Noise (-2 to +2), Damper Noise (Off, 1 to 10), Duplex Scale (Off, 1 to 10), Damper Resonance (Off, 1 to 10), String Resonance (Off, 1 to 10), and Key Off Resonance (Off, 1 to 10). These musical acoustic elements are (in part) what makes up an acoustic piano sound and you can edit these functions on the FP80 for your own customized acoustic piano sound. I think this is a very cool thing and am glad Roland included this kind of sound flexibility in the piano. You can also edit and add reverb/ambiance, as well as change the EQ settings for your own environmental sound-room control to increase or reduce instrument sound brightness, bass, etc.

In addition to these sound editing features, there are also some realistic special effects (chorus, tremolo, delay, etc) that are built into the electric pianos, synths, and other instrument sounds. However, if you layer any one of those sounds (with the nice built-in effects) on top of an organic sounding acoustic piano tone with no effects (which is a common layer), the nice effects on those instrument sounds do not work when layered with an acoustic piano tone, and as far as I know, there's nothing you can do about it. That's disappointing to me and something that Roland should improve upon and upgrade its software/hardware to accommodate that situation. I don't know why Roland allowed that to slip by.

The FP80 also has the capacity to play complete 16-track General MIDI song files off a USB flashdrive for learning songs, practicing lessons, or just listening to or singing along with great music. The Roland company developed the General MIDI format many years ago and the quality of the playback instrument sounds are very realistic and the best that I have heard in or around this price range. You can purchase and also download some free GM songs from among thousands of selection on the internet. You simply load them onto a standard USB flashdrive and the piano will play them. You can slowdown the tempo to any speed that you like which is great for learning and you can also transpose the key up or down to whatever vocal range would be best for you or whatever key the sheet music might be written in. Go to the following link for my review of the General MIDI format: General MIDI info. The FP80 also allows for audio wav file recording and playback from a USB flashdrive which then gives you the flexibility of having live CD quality music from your favorite CD's playing on the piano along with some tempo control and transpose capability. You can even mute out the center vocal/melody track from your audio CD song so you can take over and play or sing that part instead of the song playing it...that is lots of fun. You can record your own CD quality audio file and then save it to a flash drive and load it into your computer for use with notation programs or further audio recording.

The Roland FP80 has 128-note polyphony piano technology and 100 levels of key-touch velocity sensitivity so that you have plenty of horsepower when it comes to reproducing a high quality, smooth dynamic sound simulating a real piano responding to your personal finger touch in an organic way. The motion of the keys is especially good for its price range because the keys push down easily while still offering a graduated hammer weighted feel of a good piano without the action being too heavy or too light. There certainly are other good keyboard actions out there in other brands and models, but for all this piano does in its class, it's hard to complain and gives you a good finger to sound connection as I call it. This is when your fingers play the keys and you can connect emotionally to the sound that is being produced.

Roland offers plenty of external device connectivity including USB output to iPad and computer, audio outputs and inputs, MIDI in/out, headphone jacks, mic input for singing, and special 1/4" inputs for an optional 3-pedal unit (with assignable pedals) which I highly recommend. You can also buy an attractive Roland FP80 furniture stand at an additional cost in case the piano will be placed in a nicer area in your home. At 52lbs this model has a bit of weight to it for those that need to move it often but considering what this piano does and how solid it is with internal speakers, that's not to bad. I do like the control panel and longer plastic buttons that light up on this model because they're fairly easy to use and easy to see. The FP80 can even connect wirelessly to an iPad or computer which is helpful especially because there are so many exciting iPad piano/music apps available for learning songs, understanding music theory, sight reading drills, and many fun educational music games. I use them in my studio all the time.

If you want a fun, easy to use, good sounding, nice feeling digital piano with a variety of useable, high quality features in a well made compact cabinet at a reasonable price, I would definitely recommend the Roland FP80, which is offered in both a satin black and satin white finish. This instrument is certainly not a perfect digital piano as I would like to see a few changes in it, but overall for the price, I do like it and enjoy playing it. The FP80 comes with a music stand/rest and one Roland made piano style sustain pedal and so all you need to do is put the piano on any good keyboard stand (I do recommend some specific models), plug it in, and start playing...and that's what it's all about...making good music and relaxing with a quality instrument:) There are also other good digital pianos out there so if you want suggestions on what might be best for you, please contact me and I will be happy to answer your questions.

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 - Yamaha NU1 digital piano - Recommended - Very good but not perfect. The 2013 compact (approx 40" tall and 18" deep) upright contemporary style Yamaha NU1 in polished ebony ($5499 approx store retail price) is what they call a "hybrid" model digital piano. This is because it has a real wood key action with wood keys, wood action parts, and other organic key action parts from a real acoustic vertical piano coupled with the piano sound being produced digitally through speakers. Since the #1 thing piano teachers, piano players, and shoppers generically look for first in a digital piano is key action realism as compared to a good acoustic piano, and the Yamaha NU1 in my opinion is a winner in that regard. I have played the NU1 and I personally like the upright key action very much and it is noticeably more realistic and enjoyable to play than the popular Yamaha Clavinova series of digital pianos. I would consider the action movement to be medium in key weight & resistance and moves up & down quite nicely. The closest Yamaha Clavinova digital piano models to the NU1 as far as store discount selling price goes would be either the CVP601 in polished ebony or the CLP470 in polished ebony. I have found that the Yamaha store discount price in the US on the NU1 is approx $4700 (plus or minus) depending on your local dealer and product availability, so it is not inexpensive. With that price in mind you could instead purchase a new or very good late model used acoustic upright piano (in a variety of brands) for that price or less and get a 100% real acoustic piano playing experience if that's what you wanted. But there are obvious advantages to good name brand digital pianos and that's why people buy them.

NU1 key action

So why would someone want a Yamaha NU1 digital piano instead of an acoustic upright piano anyway? Here are some reasons: it won't go out of tune and that can save $100's and even $1000's of dollars over a lifetime of piano playing assuming you keep it for a long time...and as far as  not going out of tune, it really is a pleasure to play a piano that is NOT out of tune especially if your ear is sensitive to "out of tune" pianos, like my ear is:). Eventually all acoustic pianos go out of tune and some more quickly than others depending on the local climate and particular piano, and then you've got to put out the money to get a good tuner (don't want a bad one) over to tune it. So always being in perfect tune is a very good thing! Another advantage to digital pianos (regular & hybrid) is you can use stereo headphones for private practice which is a great feature when not wanting to disturb other people in the family while you're playing your favorite loud song:) The NU1 piano has other notable functions like instantly recording yourself (1 track recording only) so you can hear what you sound like and then saving that recording to a USB flashdrive as an audio wav or MIDI song file. It also has four other very nice instrument sounds so you can play a sound other than the main piano tone. You can electronically transpose the key of your song up or down in half steps so you can hear the song in a different key than what your playing in. This is especially useful if singing along and your voice needs to be in a more singing key range. This transpose function can be found on nearly every digital piano out there in all price ranges but it is something I use from time to time especially when I want to modulate up 1/2 step on a song.

When it comes to the piano sound itself, Yamaha has a new sampled acoustic sound not found in their other digital pianos which they call CFX sampling using 256-note polyphony, and in my opinion this new piano sound sample is better than what's in their Clavinova series as well as what's in the higher priced AvantGrand series. It's really a very pleasing tone and well done utilizing some advanced sampling technology and taken from Yamaha's best acoustic grand pianos. However, even though the piano sampled sound itself may be inherently good and realistic, the piano needs an excellent & well positioned speaker system for the sound to be heard correctly and unfortunately that's the weak point of the NU1 in my opinion. The audio power in this model is super big and loud (if you want it to be loud) at 160 watts total (four 40-watt amps) into 4 speakers, but when your sitting at the piano it seems like most of the sound comes out under the piano keyboard where your legs & feet are and then goes out into the room without the player getting the full effect of what a good upright should sound like. If you think about it, an acoustic upright style piano such as the one pictured above left (which this NU1 is trying to replace) has hammers which strike the strings nearer to the middle (or above) of the piano (and resonating/amplified through the soundboard behind the

Acoustic piano with open top

piano) above your waste & hands so that you hear a great amount of the sound resonating and coming out towards your ears and not at your legs. The same would be true on a regular acoustic grand piano where the hammers strike the strings and you hear much of that sound above your waste & hands as opposed to coming out at your legs or feet. Although the NU1 actually does have hammers moving and striking above the waste and hands and located where it should be (upper left pic NU1 see-through demo model), you need to remember there are NO strings in this NU1 piano...the piano sound comes out of the cabinet electronically by optical key sensors in the action with the sound coming out through a built-in speaker system projecting the sound mostly out through the bottom of the cabinet instead of somewhere behind the moving hammers resonating through a soundboard...and that is the the one main issue that I have with this piano...the sound should mostly be coming at you and around you from approximately where the key action is moving, and it wasn't happening in that way for me. In fact, on many models of acoustic vertical pianos you can open/prop up the top slightly (above left pic) to let out even more piano sound which does make a greater difference in hearing and feeling the overall tone. That's why grand piano lids mostly stay open, so the sound is not stuck inside the piano...make sense?:). The NU1 lid does not open and therefore sound cannot come out in that way.

acoustic piano back soundboard

Because of all this, I felt somewhat of a "disconnect" when playing the NU1 through its own speakers (as opposed to through headphones) because I wasn't feeling & experiencing the piano sound and the way it came out like I do on a regular upright or console piano. Also as I just mentioned, on an acoustic console or upright piano, there is a full size wood sound board on the back of the piano (left pic) which allows the organic piano sound to naturally vibrate and travel through the grains of the wood (usually solid spruce wood) up to near the top of the piano, but this cannot happen on the NU1 because it has no wood soundboard, only speakers. But that would be true of most digital pianos so the NU1 is no exception. For someone who is listening to the NU1 in another part of the room while another person plays the piano, then the piano does sound full and resonate because of how sound travels out into the room. But up close & personal, in my opinion the NU1 needs help reaching the players ears in a more natural way. Fortunately you can connect a powered speaker system or power monitors to the piano and place the speaker system above or beside the piano so that the sound also comes out towards your ears where it should be heard. Once you do this then everything is great (well at least great for me). But...that setup requires extra expense, space, and you need to connect the speakers up with cables connected to the lower right front panel of the piano which can take away from the clean compact lines of the cabinet. It's interesting that when using a good pair of stereo headphones, the piano sound fullness and quality is really enjoyable and is inside your ears (obviously) and there are many people who will be playing the NU1 through headphones, so the headphone listening experience does take care of the internal speaker issue...at least it does for me. The overall piano tone, the pedal sustain time, the natural damper resonance, dynamic tonal range, pedaling movement & functions, and other sound elements are very good & quite enjoyable, but not perfect...but good enough for most people and for most playing styles. I just happen to know what a real good acoustic piano sounds like when playing it and how the sound comes out and how it makes you feel, so I am a bit more critical in this way.

With only 5 instrument sounds (1 full stereo grand piano, one brighter basic piano, 2 nice electric pianos, a very nice pluck harpsichord), and basic digital functions (such as reverb, touch sensitivity levels, & a metronome) mounted in the side block to the left of the keyboard, the NU1 is not very advanced technologically in that way, but it obviously wasn't designed to compete with all the extra digital piano technology out there in other models and brands with lots of sounds, drum rhythms, multi-track recording and playback, General MIDI, MP3 audio, etc. The user display is just a small, simple LED with numbers instead of having a more understandable and user friendly multi character LCD display such as what is on the Yamaha Clavinova CLP480. Yamaha obviously did that to make this piano as minimalistic as possible and they did a very good job of it, and some people will like that quite a bit, but it just depends on what you want. There is a USB flashdrive input under the front of the piano so that you can
connect a flashdrive to it and save your recordings and play them back (very nice). The piano volume knob is also underneath the front of the piano so that it is hidden to provide that minimalistic look (a nice touch). There is also 1/4" audio inputs, 1/4" audio outputs, MIDI connectors, and a USB to computer or iPad connection. I happen to use an iPad quite a bit in my studio and connect to my digital pianos for educational and song practice apps. If you put an iPad in front of you on the NU1 you must connect it with a USB cable going over the side or over the top of the piano and then into the connectors under the front of the piano. Unfortunately the position of the USB input jack on the front bottom panel of the piano instead of putting it on the back of the piano does not allow you to hide the cable and may likely make it a bit messy looking to connect the iPad. Even putting on the back still requires a cable connection to go over the top to the back. If Yamaha had instead included a wireless capability in the NU1, then that cable connecting issues would have been unnecessary. Roland has wireless capability in all of there HP/LX home digital pianos so Yamaha should have been able to do that too. It's a small issue but would gave been good to do.

When it comes down to what you are getting for the money, for most people, the new NU1 does deliver an elegant look with a slow close key cover and chrome pedals with half-pedaling function, very good piano tone (especially through headphones), minimalistic sophistication, and above all, an excellent wood key action movement in a small compact contemporary cabinet size. Speaking of compact size, the NU1 does not have the height of a real upright piano since it is only 40" tall. A real upright acoustic piano like the popular Yamaha U1 is 48" tall so the NU1 digital piano is much shorter and more like a small console piano in height. However, the sound is not generated by the bigger hammers, bigger upright piano strings, or large soundboard of a taller acoustic upright piano because the NU1 sound is produced 100% digitally so it does not need to be bigger and/or taller than what it is...except maybe to have extra room for an internal speaker system that would produce a more realistic acoustic sound experience, as I mentioned earlier. The NU1 does not have the new synthetic ivory keytops (it uses Acrylic resin white keytops like regular acoustic pianos), nor does it have the duet 4-hand function which splits the piano keyboard in two equal 44-key keyboards and lets two people play the piano at the same time in the same octaves (teacher student, etc). It also does not allow for layering of two instrument sounds together which is a disappointment for me because I love to layer sounds, especially grand piano and strings. The NU1 does not have a string sound (a favorite for many people)...and that is a big disappointment to me for sure. With no strings and no layering I cannot utilize the big 256-note polyphony in the NU1 and enjoy my favorite sound layer (grand piano and string symphony)...but hey, this piano is minimalistic in its approach to functions and features so if you want more than what the NU1 can do and you can be happy with another key action in the same price range, you should then look at the Yamaha Clavinova series of digital pianos. Or, you can buy an external instrument MIDI sound module or get additional instrument tones from ipad apps which would also work. But you would have to connect your sound module or iPad audio and MIDI outputs to the NU1 which will create that exposed cable issue I was talking about. So it's probably best not to worry about getting extra external sounds and functions if you want your piano to look unencumbered by cables and just keep it simple.

Yamaha NU1 w/closed key cover

Is the NU1 something that can make most people happy who want nothing more than what I described?...the answer would likely be YES. However, in my opinion the Yamaha company should have added some more height to this model and installed an additional "knock-out" speaker system towards the top of the piano and also allow the lid to be opened/propped up manually if needed which would address the sound issue I talked about...sound placement and lack of "in your face" fullness. As another reviewer-writer in a known piano publication said in her NU1 review as compared to a Yamaha acoustic upright piano: "whereas the U1 (a popular Yamaha regular acoustic upright piano) wrapped me in a blanket of sound, the NU1 produced what was more like a column of sound that came at me as if through an open door to a loud room — very focused, and a little canned." "Next I tested the instrument using Yamaha HPE-170 headphones. This time I found the sound to be rich and realistic, and very close to the sound of the acoustic U1(acoustic piano)." The reviewer also said: "using only the built-in speakers, the decay of the NU1's sound was unlike that of the acoustic U1. I played a C octave on both instruments at similar volumes, then timed their decays. The NU1's sound lasted half as long as the U1's, and, rather than tapering off slowly, as an acoustic instrument's sound usually does, after several seconds it just stopped."** I would agree with this reviewer on the points that she made which is that the Yamaha NU1 does have some piano sound deficiencies, but as far as I'm concerned they are noticeable only if you know what to listen for and have had experience playing and listening to good regular acoustic pianos which many people do not....and even if you did, you may not be bothered by these deficiencies because they may not be critical to you at all in the way you play & hear pianos.

Roland LX15

When it comes to buying and playing a digital piano, we all have different piano listening & playing experiences, different ears & frequency listening ranges, different finger muscle strength, different acoustic environments in our homes/rooms, and different playing skill levels. I do recommend the NU1 because it is really an impressive piano overall, and as I mentioned earlier, for most people I believe this new piano will be a nice addition to any home for many years and can make owning a digital piano very enjoyable. If you want a digital piano that in my opinion offers a better internal sound system, an attractive sleek polished ebony cabinet, and a much greater array of usable and enjoyable digital features, then I would recommend you also consider the new Kawai polished ebony CS10 and the Roland polished ebony HP507 & LX15 which you can find on their respective web sites. Here is a review I did on the Roland HP507 & LX15: Roland HP507/LX15 review

** quoted text in my review is from Rhonda Ringering in the Acoustic & Digital Piano Buyer publication Spring 2013
 

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.

Kawai CP209

UPDATED REVIEW- July 9, 2013 -Digital Grand Pianos...What to know when shopping for one - Digital Baby Grand Pianos from Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, Kohler, Omega, Suzuki, and others with full featured ensemble & music functions can be lots of fun to own! I receive inquiries from people who are looking for a good digital Baby Grand piano with lots of "bells & whistles" on it with cool digital technology. In this Digital Grand Piano buyer guide, I try to help educate people on "how" to purchase a good full featured digital Baby Grand Piano and what is available with regard to various brands and price ranges. The sizes of these pianos can be the small mini sizes which are less than 3 feet deep on up to 5' deep. Price is not necessarily an indicator of cabinet size so you need to decide what size piano will be best for you. However typically the larger the piano the bigger and fuller the sound will likely be.

Yamaha CVP409GP

The features many people ask for in full featured pianos are a large & good variety of higher quality instrument sounds including good acoustic pianos, strings, brass (a variety of horns), woodwinds, reeds, flutes, synthesizers, guitars, world instruments, and others. People also ask for a good helping of drum rhythm patterns, ensemble style chord backing tracks, easy play features, a bigger user interface screen, a mic input for singalong/karaoke, extensive recording & song playback options, an authentic acoustic piano feel, and a full sounding speaker system, and even a built-in moving key player piano system. Polyphony note memory can be anywhere from 60 notes to 256 notes, and more polyphony is important if you are a more advanced player with a much higher skill level or are doing extensive recording or multiple layering with accompaniments. However for normal use in most families who just play for fun and are not skilled players, 64 notes of polyphony will likely be sufficient. In addition to all this, it seems everyone wants the best looking Baby Grand piano they can get with the most authenticity in cabinet design and function and they want it all for generally around $5000 or less. That's where the most popular price points generally are, and although there are people who can and are willing to spend more money to get what they want, they are in the distinct minority of buyers.

Omega LX802

The problem with wanting to get a good digital baby grand piano is that you will normally need to make many sacrifices to get what you want in the lower price range. Yamaha, Roland, & Kawai which are all great digital piano manufacturers with super fun digital technology along with great on-board educational features for students, do produce some exciting and impressive full featured  ensemble type digital Grand Pianos in small & larger sizes. You can be very happy with any of them as they are all great. However, they are NOT in the $5000 or less price range. In fact those models which include the Yamaha CVP609GP (which just replaced the 409GP) & CGP1000, Roland KR115M & 117M, & the Kawai CP209 are all normally priced at well over $10,000 and going up to $20,000! So they're not cheap:) 

Samick SG450

The digital piano brands that currently offer a full featured ensemble Baby Grand at around $5000 or less include Adagio, Suzuki, Williams, Samick (left pic), Viscount (not available in most states), Omega (above left pic), Sejung (not available in most states), Cameron & Sons (private label), and a couple of others. Typically when you spend less money on a digital Baby Grand you get less quality and reliability. If you see them selling for around $1500-$2000 or so, they will likely be very poor in key action and sound and those are the main features I recommend to people to look for 1st and then the fun ensemble & digital features should come after that. The lower priced digital pianos are typically measure anywhere from about 3 feet deep (mini or micro size) to a larger 4' deep size and are normally "hybrid" cabinets with regard to the cabinet style, construction, finish quality, lid, bench, legs, pedal assembly, etc. This is done to save money because a full size real authentic acoustic grand cabinet between 4'-5' deep is considerably more money just for the cabinet and finish and Kawai, Yamaha, Kohler, and Roland do have those sizes.

Adagio 8820

As far as the digital technology & quality of the brands I do not recommendunder $5000 (based on years of personal experience), there are a number of them that have poor piano tone, key response, key action, tonal dynamics, key velocity realism, and other digital features. I refer to those piano and brands simply as GPSO's..."Grand Piano Shaped Objects" and little more than that:) They don't play good, sound good, function well, or hold up good over time. I have been around most of these brands and various models my entire music career and there are just certain ones that have not improved much (or at all) and still are on my "not recommended" list. Those brands include, Suzuki, Adagio, Williams, Sejung, and a small variety of "house or private label brands." A house brand is one that is sold by a piano or music store and they buy a pre-made digital piano from a Chinese manufacturer and have their own name put on the piano so that they can have an "exclusive" name that no one else has. It makes marketing and promotional sense for the music store to do that, but it certainly does not mean it's a good piano. In fact, is likely not a good piano. Cameron & Sons is one of those "house brands" as is Williams, Adagio, & Suzuki. Not all house brands are bad (some are good because they have control over the quality or technology used) but it is not common. Sejung is an actual Chinese brand you made not have heard of before but I have actually played them and was definitely not impressed with tone, key action, or construction and these are the main ingredients that need to be good in a digital piano, and that's probably why most piano stores won't carry them. Sometimes you do get what you pay for:). I was however recently impressed with the new Omega LX802 and had the experience of playing this new Omega digital 4'1" Grand and was quite impressed with the piano tone, key action, and dynamics for its price along with some cool digital technology including a large color touch screen, all for under $5000.

Suzuki MG350

It's great to have lots of cool functions in a digital ensemble Baby Grand piano and they are fun to use, and many of these low quality baby grands have those functions. So on paper they might seem to be good pianos to consider. But if you cannot get a quality piano that plays and responds well as a piano, then I don't believe it really matters what else is in the piano and what it does. And in the lower quality pianos, even those extra functions are generally not so hot much of the time. As for Suzuki & Adagio, just because they are sold primarily by Costco (and they are) does not mean they are good. Adagio is really not a brand (as far as having their own manufacturing facility) and there are no parts in the piano that come from North America (all Chinese). Suzuki is also not a brand in the traditional sense and they do not build their own pianos (all are pre-made in China as far as I know). The Suzuki piano also brand has nothing to do with any other Suzuki products made either including motorcycles, cars, violins, lessons, or anything else connected with their name. I done a number of reviews on Suzuki & Adagio pianos have been very disappointed with all of them especially for there key action, velocity response, tone dynamics, and quality, and I have personally played many.

Roland KR117M

It's important to know that just because a piano is completely or partially made in China does not mean it's bad, and I don't want people to think that. There are some very good piano manufacturing facilities in China now and even Yamaha & Kawai get a number of their pianos made there these days. Whether we like it or not, we all live in a world economy and China is a big part of it. As long as the piano is produced with good oversight, good construction, and reliable technology with up to date musical features, that's what really counts and the brand is not the always the issue.

When it comes to digital pianos, generally speaking, you can normally get more piano quality and features for the money ($5000 or less) if you do not get a Baby Grand cabinet and instead get a regular vertical upright style furniture cabinet. You will pay a premium for a nice digital baby grand furniture style cabinet, especially the larger cabinets in the higher priced models. But the look and sound of those instruments are certainly impressive and if you plan to own it for a long time and you have the "disposable income," go for it and enjoy.

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

REVIEW- Digital Piano key actions - hammer weighted, weighted, semi-weighted, and unweighted- What's the difference and which key actions are best for 2013/2014?! Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, Casio, Kurzweil, Korg, and more.

Question?...can digital pianos exactly duplicate acoustic piano upright & grand key actions in touch, movement, response, and overall playability? The simple answer is no, unless they have actual identical organic acoustic piano key actions in them. I want to say categorically that asking for a mainstream digital piano to give you a full and complete replacement of a good acoustic piano is like asking for a Toyota Corolla or Ford Focus to duplicate a Lexus or Mercedes Benz in the way they drive and feel! I don't care what the digital manufacturer tells you about how accurate their piano actions are, they are not exactly the same as a real acoustic piano...so don't expect it.* If digital and acoustic key actions were the same (including the sound realism & reproduction), then there would be little need for acoustic pianos. Duplicating a full & complete acoustic piano sound in digital pianos is also a big issue and that has not completely happened either due to limitations in current technology including cost, and I will deal with that issue in a future blog. *A few Yamaha digital pianos in their AvantGrand "N series" (starting at about $5000) are using acoustic piano key actions derived from their Yamaha acoustic pianos.

Famous Concert Pianist Van Cliburn

When it comes to playing  piano, there is nothing more important than the piano key action. It is the heart of any piano including both acoustics and digitals. Good, responsive weighted key actions give people an organic connection to the song...in other words...the feel, movement, response, and interpretation based on touch. Without a realistic quality key action in a piano, nothing else really matters. It would be like a transmission in a car...if it doesn't operate smoothly and correctly and built to last, it doesn't matter how good the engine or your multi-speaker stereo system is in that vehicle because without a good transmission, the other stuff really doesn't matter:). The same is true for the piano. It is a complex subject and not necessarily easy to understand so this blog review is comprehensive and long but I am here to educate you in easy to understand language that will help you make the right buying decision.

Acoustic upright piano felt hammers

In a digital piano, with the exception of only a few models that have actual acoustic piano key actions in them, all of the key actions in digital pianos use plastic, metal, and/or wood (in the keys themselves), or a combination, depending on the brand and model. Also, all of the connecting parts in an acoustic piano including the felt hammers moving and striking a string are absent from a typical digital piano because there aren't any strings in digital pianos so there is no need of those parts... (except for a few digital pianos that have all of the acoustic action parts, but don't have the strings and instead use a digital sound technology. In place of acoustic piano strings there are digital key contacts or optical sensors in digital pianos that trigger the digital sound (stored in a computer chip) to be heard through speakers inside the digital piano. The Yamaha "N" series AvantGrand digital pianos are good examples of this (as I mentioned earlier) with full acoustic key actions but generating sound through digital electronics. The key action movement and feeling are excellent but those pianos are quite expensive and the digital features are very minimal compared to most other digital pianos.

acoustic piano key with lead weight

Digital piano key actions can consist of either a fully hammer weighted key movement, a weighted key movement, a semi-weighted key movement, or an unweighted key movement. Another term used by manufacturers is graded key action which means whatever the type of key action the digital piano has, the weight of the keys themselves are slightly heavier on the left side and get progressively lighter as you go up to the right side keys. Otherwise each wood key in an acoustic piano would be very light and they would all weigh the same which would not be good in trying to strike different size strings inside the piano. There are actual lead weights inside the keys of an acoustic piano as you will notice in the picture above left. Also in acoustic pianos, the key action needs to overcome inertia and move properly when the key is played repeatedly. This requires the key action to be built and setup in the proper way and is in addition to the actual weight in the key. However, on many of these digital pianos it's difficult to tell if the weighted or unweighted keys are really

spring loaded key action

"graded" properly or not, and the grading can be so subtle that you cannot feel it unless you are very experienced. Most importantly, however, is that the key action itself has to be a good one to begin with, or the grading effect is useless and will not really help the action if the action is a bad one. Are you getting confused yet??:)...I am!:). I bet you didn't think a piano key action could be so complex?! Have you ever studied car transmissions or engines and what makes them work correctly? A piano action is a similar thing compared to what makes one transmission or engine good while another transmission & engine might not be so good.

unweighted plastic keyboard keys

Almost all "keyboards" that have 61 keys & 76 keys (or somewhere in-between) have unweighted key actions (although a few may still be "graded." Some of them have semi-weighted key actions, and a couple of them have fully hammer weighted (simulated acoustic piano movement) key actions. An unweighted key action is what it sounds like, there is no weight in the key mechanism...it is a spring loaded key movement (pic above left) which allows for the key to come back up after you push it down. That's fine for some cheap keyboards and even many pro keyboards because they are not as concerned with proper piano playing and are used more often to control other sounds such as brass, woodwinds, guitars, etc., and also make the entire instrument lighter. *It's important to note that nearly all digital pianos and keyboards are touch sensitive. That means when you touch the keys harder of softer you will get a different volume out of the sound depending on how hard you play the keys. This is obviously important and it is normal in pianos. Some keyboards under $100 are not touch sensitive and this is OK for a young child for a short while as they get used to playing. But it's not something you would want to use for lessons or practice very long or that child (or adult) will likely get into bad piano playing habits.

acoustic piano with weights in keys

Weighted digital piano key actions are even closer to the feel of acoustic pianos with some being better than others and they have some weight/counter-weight in the key action and do not use a simple spring mechanism. Fully "hammer-weighted" (simulated) key actions generally have a much more realistic acoustic feel and those key actions will give you the best reproduction of key actions in a digital piano without having to use 100% acoustic piano parts which is otherwise very expensive. Real acoustic pianos have actual individual weights inside the pianos keys to make them heavier and acoustic keys can have a different amount of weight in them depending where the key is on the piano as I mentioned earlier (above left pic).

Yamaha CP1 digital piano key action

Most (but not all) 88-key key with hammer weighted (and graded) actions produced by the top digital brands including Kawai, Yamaha, Roland, and Casio (left pic) are quite good in various price ranges with some being better (more accurate & realistic) than others. At that point the choice gets to be a bit subjective depending on your playing experience, skill level, and expectations. I would advise that a person should stay away from unweighted and semi-weighted key actions (found mostly in 61 and 76 key keyboards) if they want to learn to play the piano correctly. If you don't have the budget for (cannot afford) a digital piano with weighted keys, then a keyboard with spring action is certainly better than nothing, although you will likely get into bad piano playing habits if you play on it long enough which I recommend you don't do, especially when it comes to your kids! 

Carbon fiber acoustic grand action

Real acoustic pianos are divided up into two basic categories...vertical & grand. The vertical pianos have different names due to their height and they consist of spinet, console, studio, & upright pianos. Depending on which one of those vertical pianos you play in the same brand, the key action will feel differently from each other. To make matters even more confusing, different brands can feel different from each other! Some key actions are harder to play, easier to play, slower to respond, quicker to respond, etc. Then there are grand pianos (digital & acoustic) in several different depths from about 3' deep to over 9' deep which consists of micro grand, mini grand, baby grand, grand, concert grand, etc. Beyond that, there are brands like Kawai which use special composite material in some of their acoustic grand pianos (ABS carbon fiber material) as opposed to all organic wood parts so they can strengthen certain parts that otherwise would be wood. The pianos with these carbon fiber parts will (according to the manufacturer) be more consistent over time, not wear out, and not be subject to weather conditions in areas with more dryness or humidity, which can adversely affect the acoustic piano key action's ability to operate correctly. Wow...so many variations in key actions that it can make your head spin!

acoustic upright piano key action

People constantly say to me all the time "I want a digital piano that feels & responds like a real acoustic piano." When I hear that I will inevitably say to them "have you played many different acoustic pianos? Do you know what an acoustic piano should feel like?" It is rare that I speak with someone who really knows what they are talking about when it comes to piano key actions and what they should feel like when playing them and that's because unfortunately there really is no standard where all acoustic pianos feel one way. It's like saying that all vehicles should feel the same when driving them but that's just not the case. Cars, SUV's, van's, sports cars, etc, ride differently, move differently & behave differently, and so it is with piano key actions...and that's why there is such a wide variety so people have choices based on how they want to play and feel their music.

So how does somebody decide on what is right for them, their kids, their school, their church, their band, etc? It's obviously not an easy task and there is no "one size fits all" answer. The manufacturers try to make you believe their key actions on their brand & models are the best...but you wouldn't expect them to say anything less...would you? After all, they are in business to make money. A variety of digital piano companies say things like "our piano feels just like a grand piano," or "moves just like a grand piano," or "simulates a grand piano nearly to perfection," or "has a superior grand piano experience," or offers a "comfortable playability of a grand piano," or "you can enjoy a grand-piano experience at a fraction of the size and price," or offers a "mechanical
design that closely resembles that of our grand pianos’ actions," or that "you can enjoy the playing response and expressive capability of a concert grand piano," etc, etc, etc. It's a wonder
that regular acoustic grand pianos sell at all anymore given that every digital piano key action is said to be able to do just what a grand piano can do, and your enjoyment will be just as great! With that being said, it looks like there is no reason anymore for anyone to want a Steinway, Yamaha, or Kawai acoustic grand piano apart from looks, cabinet style, and the volume/loudness of sound since grand pianos are larger and louder. But other than cabinet, getting an even louder piano sound in a digital piano is no problem because you can connect a larger and better external speaker system to most digital pianos. This means that for all practical purposes, acoustic grand pianos are obsolete now and a thing of the past...right? So why do Yamaha & Kawai (as examples) continue to produce thousands of great acoustic pianos worldwide if their digital pianos are so great with regard to reproducing the grand piano key action movement & response along with good tone and cool functions in nice looking cabinets?! You can figure that answer out for yourself:)

Roland PHAIII key action

A question many people ask me at that point is "why would I need a regular grand piano when I am being told by the manufacturers through their advertising and marketing that their digital pianos can replicate what a grand piano can do?" I just tell them to buy the least expensive new digital piano they can and then you'll have a grand piano!!...Just kidding!No, I don't do that...because that would not be true. In my opinion all of the digital piano manufacturers are kind of making this stuff up (is like, sounds like, plays like, is just like, etc) when it comes to comparing any digital piano they have to a real top name acoustic grand piano, with maybe the exception of the expensive Yamaha AvantGrand "N series" digital pianos which feel great and are very authentic because they are real acoustic piano key actions, but

Yamaha AvantGrand N3 digital piano

even they have their drawbacks in other ways). It is fair to say that the good digital piano manufacturers do try to obtain the highest level of piano playing realism they can, given the constraints of technology and price points. But at the end of the day if they were really honest about it, the manufacturers would tell you that their pianos are certainly not identical to acoustic piano key actions, but in most situations a person can have a very satisfying piano playing experience with many of the new digital pianos out there including their brand. Since most people play for recreational purposes just for themselves, playing and listening to a good digital piano can be beautiful and exciting and can come "close enough" to the key action and sound of an acoustic upright or grand piano where the average person and many experienced players could not tell the difference...and isn't that what counts?It about you not being able to tell the difference and also knowing a particular digital piano is good enough to play most music in a very enjoyable (and proper) way.

I personally know of pro piano teachers and musicians who prefer playing on digital pianos because touch sensitivity velocity curves, voicing, and other key action attributes (left pics) can be easily & electronically adjusted which you cannot do on an acoustic piano (plus good digital pianos don't go out of tune). You can also change other parameters of digital piano key action response (such as how the "hammers" behave) as well as parameters of the piano sound. These kinds of changes can give you the feeling that you are playing on a real organic acoustic piano and allows you to personally "connect" with your music. Ultimately, the music you hear coming from a piano is subjective (and personal), and to prove that point, I have had people tell me they enjoy listening to and playing a piano they bought that in my experienced opinion was a really bad digital piano (a piano that I know is very sub-standard). But these people thought their piano was good. In fact, they were so certain they had a great instrument that they bragged about it and gave those digital pianos good internet reviews ...Yikes! But...it is really no surprise to me this kind of thing happens from time to time because it just depends on your point of view and what kind of music experience you have had in your life. This also means that some (but not all) of these consumer reviews you see on-line cannot be trusted because of who may be reviewing the particular piano...so you gotta be careful when reading personal consumer reviews!

So what is a person to do who does not have piano playing experience and is looking for a good digital piano and knows they should get a good piano key action? Can you trust local piano stores, music stores, piano teachers, salespeople, piano technicians, internet amazon consumer reviews...what & who can you trust for you to make an informed decision on key actions? In just looking at the

Casio Privia piano key action

variety and complexity of 88-key digital piano weighted key actions from each of the good digital piano companies, you will see as of the date of this blog article (as far as I know) that Roland has 3 different key actions, Korg has 2 different key actions, Kawai has 6 different key actions, Yamaha has 7 different key actions, Kurzweil has 6 different key actions, and Casio has two different key actions. Some of these actions try to simulate an acoustic upright piano and some try to simulate a full grand piano action with let-off/escapement mechanism. As I mentioned earlier, each digital piano manufacturer tells the consumer that each of their key actions is superior to any other brand in their price ranges. They also say that their key actions are realistic in just about every way and very reliable...but what else would you expect them to say?:). They are all in business to make money (as I mentioned before) so they need to

Digital Piano wood keys

say these things...even if these statements are not entirely (or nearly) accurate which in some cases they are not based on my playing experience with some or all of their models. Roland calls one of their digital piano key actions "progressive hammer action," Kawai calls one of theirs "Grand Feel," Yamaha calls one of their digital piano key actions "Graded Hammer 3," and Casio calls one of their key actions "Tri-sensor Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard II (that's a mouthful!)." There is no shortage of key action names but remember, they are only names and names are irrelevant if the key action is not good!

Kawai digital piano ivory feel keys

Some of the brands have come out with a synthetic ivory & ebony material that is supposed to duplicate the feel & texture of older acoustic pianos that used real ivory & ebony on their keytops during the days when that was allowed. Many years ago various world governments set up laws forbidding the use of ivory on pianos to save elephants where the ivory was coming from. If you have ever played an older upright or grand piano with real ivory keys on the keytops, an elephant gave their life (or tusks) for you to have that! Real Ivory on piano keys is a sweat absorbing material and also can help with finger movement smoothness. But...the real organic ivory also had a tendency over time to dry out, crack, break off, and to have yellowish discoloration. The newer synthetic ivory keytop material used on some of the digital piano models has a non-stick, non slippery feeling to them and can make it more enjoyable to play. They will (as far as we know) not have the dryness or discoloration problems of organic ivory, but durability of this new synthetic material has not been proven yet over time so no one really knows. In fact, on one of the major brands, the synthetic ivory they first came out with had a few negative issues which I think have been resolved at this point. But the overall synthetic material "feeling" is subjective and not necessarily something you need to have, especially considering most current model name brand acoustic pianos do not have ivory keys... they have the regular white plastic keytops. So if regular shiny white key tops are good enough for some of the best grand pianos out there, do you really need this new synthetic ivory material? That question is fairly subjective and therefore ivory feel keys may or may not be important to you.

Fatar weighted key action

When it comes to the design, construction, and installation of digital piano key actions, some of the key actions out there are done by the actual manufacturer such as Roland, Kawai, Yamaha, & Casio whereas other key actions are made by someone else for them (such as Fatar key action company in Italy). In some cases "off-brand" digital piano actions do not even meet the most key action basic standards (typically designed and made in China, but not always) so I tell people to stay away from them. A good key action moves smoothly and helps the piano sound to come out incrementally with minimum key force but with enough downward key weight and upward key weight & resistance to build good finger muscle strength. A good key action must have proper "hammer style" graduated key weighting, proper key travel depth, key pivot point, proper key width & length, static & dynamic downward & upward touch-weight, and good solid key movement with minimal noise levels. Unlike almost digital piano key actions, acoustic piano key actions need to be adjusted from time to time by an experienced piano technician, just like the alignment on your vehicle has to be calibrated and aligned by an experienced auto mechanic. Digital pianos (without acoustic piano key actions) have a big advantage over acoustic pianos with needing no key action maintenance, which is obviously a money and time saver if you plan to own the piano for many years.

Kawai digital piano key action

Wear & tear and long periods of time can also change the characteristics of key action feel, movement, and response, for digital as well as acoustic pianos. Action changes over time can also occur due to internal lubrication (or lack of it) of action parts, and outside high humidity (as well as dryness) in the air at different times of the year can affect acoustic piano key actions as well as some digital piano key actions. The list of differences in the way key actions behave due to inside & outside conditions plays a part in the overall playing experience a person will have with a piano. Due to the numerous variations of piano key actions in acoustic pianos & digital pianos, I have known some very picky people who have shopped acoustic & digital pianos for months and even years until they finally found theirperfect key action that was adjusted and regulated (for acoustic) and it played in a way that was perfect for that particular shopper. Some of that pickyness is usually due to a person's finger muscle strength, type of songs they play, personal expectations, piano playing experience, and playing skill level.

Korg digital piano key action

So, will it be like that for the average digital piano shopper in needing to spend months or years shopping for a digital piano with a good key action?...definitely not!:) As an example, the Casio digital piano company, which only offers two key actions, does a good enough job in my opinion for a majority of digital piano buyers and players who want to be in the "under $1000 price range." Kawai has some very enjoyable key actions in furniture cabinet digital pianos for over $1000 as does Yamaha, Roland, and others, as I mentioned earlier. Are all models and their key actions in those brands (and other brands) all good?...not necessarily. A few key actions in those brands have noticeable deficiencies which in my opinion may get in the way of your playing success and enjoyment, and that would not be good. This is because there are some key actions that have bad volume/velocity response, noticeably unrealistic key movement, loud mechanical noisy movement, and/or other deficiencies.

I am generally pretty lenient when it comes to criticizing name brand key actions but I must be honest and say that I do not like the following key actions: The Korg SP280 NH (natural weighted hammer action) key action which is quite heavy and mushy to push, unnatural in movement, bad in dynamics, and unenjoyable to play overall. If it wasn't for the key action, the SP280 would otherwise have been a good choice. Korg had a much better key action in the previous model but they changed it and in the process created a bad key action (at least for my taste). The other higher priced Korg key action is enjoyable to play. I don't like the Roland ivory feel-G key action used in their RP301/301R, F120, R20, and RD300NX. It is also unrealistic to play (in my opinion), mushy, and produces a very loud knocking noise when playing the keys harder. Other Roland key actions are much better and quite enjoyable to play. I am not a big fan of the Yamaha GH key action in the Arius & P155 pianos. The action is not bad but it just takes too much touch weight (for my liking) to get the keys to go down from a resting position and can be a bit fatiguing to play in my opinion. The  Kurzweil digital piano company also has a couple o poor key actions in my opinion with their MP10 and CUP2 digital pianos. Sluggish, harder to push, inconsistent, etc. However some of their other key actions (made by the Fatar key action company) are enjoyable to play.

I would advise that when doing your digital piano research and trying to figure out what model has a good (acceptable) key action, that you contact me first I will be happy to give you more detail about what you should know concerning key actions and what best would fit your particular needs. I can also help you find good new digital pianos (with the proper key action) for less money. At the end of the day, you can be happy playing on many of the quality key actions that are manufactured today by the name brand digital piano companies including pianos for under $1000 as well as in the higher price ranges. However, just because a digital piano costs a lot of money does not necessarily make its key action good, as I can personally attest to in my own professional playing experience. Please don't buy any digital piano anywhere before you ask me about it:). Better to be safe than sorry!

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.

Piano Lessons for your kids is one of the best things you can do for them in their life! Please don't ever say the word "if or when" with regard to piano lessons for your children. It should never be "if they like it, if they ask for it long enough, if they do well in other things, if I think they deserve it, if, if, if." Don't say "when they're ready, when they prove to me they're ready, when I'm ready, when I get enough money or time to make it happen, when they get old enough, when they have messed around on their little cheap keyboard long enough (I hear that one a lot), when I find a teacher, when my child behaves better at home, when, when, when." There are always excuses, but keeping kids away from the joy of playing music is one of the worst decisions you as a parent or guardian can make. I do understand that there are money issues for some families as far as paying for local lessons, for a piano/keyboard, etc. However there are inexpensive ways to temporarily get around that situation so even the money excuse can be resolved for most families and I can give you suggestions on that if you ask. Kids and adults are naturally attracted to music and most kids like to move to music even when they're 1 year old or less. It's natural and one of the most natural things they relate to. Music is in our cars, our ear-buds, in stores, restaurants, church, walkways, the internet, youtube, parking lots, on the street, in videos, in movies, on TV (American Idol, X-Factor, themes to shows, etc), on our iPhone and iPod...it is everywhere around the world and in the universe! Imagine our world and life without music?...wouldn't that be terrible!?

So why is music everywhere you go? Because it can make you feel good or feel sad, or feel joyful, or feel a personal connection...music brings out feelings that you can relate to and it's a way to express yourself unlike anything else out there. In the Arts there is also dance, singing (my 3 daughters sing), playing other instruments, painting, sculpting, and other forms of expression which also are great to do. But there is something simple, primal, and deeply moving when hearing or playing certain kinds of music on a piano. Unless you have experienced this for yourself, you cannot know what your kids are really missing out on if you deny them the opportunity of getting piano lessons, learning to play, and encouraging them along the way as opposed to hoping they will fail because it costs you (the parent) money, time, and energy to support your child in this way. Your child cannot do this for him/herself. They don't have the money and ability to take lessons without your help to get them the right piano and the right teacher whether that teacher be local, internet, CD lessons, iPad lessons, or someone else that can teach them.Playing piano also helps greatly in learning to sing and being able to play other instruments well (which I recommend). I don't think piano is the only instrument which people should play, but it is definitely a foundational instrument and one that allows for a better understanding of music overall.

Kids these days are busy! I know that because I have 4 grown children who were always busy with school activities, outside activities, homework, sports, plus both parents working, so adding piano lessons takes planning. When my kids were growing up but we made sure they all had the opportunity to take piano lessons...and they did (I did not teach them but other teachers did:). We took time, energy, and spent money, but it was worth it to see the positive things it did for them. Playing piano stimulates the mind, helps with creativity, allows kids to do better with regular school curriculum (makes em' smarter), gives them self confidence, and helps to make them overall happier people based on all my experience teaching kids how to play piano for over 35 years. Your kids do not need to become professional or get to an advanced playing skill level because it's all about personal enjoyment and playing recreationally. Two of my daughters became piano teachers themselves although that was not my goal for them at all, it just happened because they loved playing music so much. Another
daughter became a flute teacher (same scenario) although they all have their full-time "civilian jobs" now and the teaching is part-time at this point. My son Erik plays digital & acoustic
piano, guitar, and drums, and my wife and I play multiple instruments (quite a musical family but I believe most families should and could be that way). I teach piano, keyboard, and guitar out of my studio and have taught thousands of students over the years. Adults say to me all the time, "I wish I would have taken lessons when I was young but my parents didn't give me that opportunity" or they say "my parents let me quit when it looked like I wasn't doing well and I didn't want to practice, and I wish they had not done that." But I say "it's never too late," especially with the technology we have now (like the iPad and music learning apps - above left pics) and how that helps to stimulate students to practice and enjoy the experience! It almost doesn't seem like work using all the cool stuff that can help kids learn to play and it makes the practice time go by fast:).

Roland LX15 digital piano

Listening to music, dancing, and singing to music is awesome and kids should do that too, but playing a musical instrument (especially piano) is even better. Do it for your kids, do it for yourself, and do it for your soul and survival (your personal getaway)...you will never regret it. Invest the money, time, and energy, and get the right piano (digital pianos are the way to go for most families), a good caring teacher, and the right piano curriculum and teaching aids (like iPad piano learning apps) and you and your family will be blessed beyond measure. Perhaps someday your child and/or yourself will be playing on a $100,00 Steinway 9' concert grand piano like the little girl in the pics above! (that's my granddaughter:)

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 - October 10, 2013 - Yamaha CLP430, CLP440, CLP470, CLP480 - Recommended - For many years I have enjoyed playing and performing on Yamaha acoustic & digital pianos (I have two of them in my music studio incl one acoustic Yamaha - left pic). The Yamaha Clavinova CLP400 series digital pianos are excellent instruments overall with fairly realistic key action and piano sound. The newer 400 series models came out in early 2011 so they are a bit older in technology now as compared with some newer digital pianos in other famous brands including Kawai, Roland, & Casio, but they're still very popular and are current models with new furniture cabinet styles. The current Yamaha models include the CLP430 (approx $2999retail US), CLP440 (approx $3899 retail US), CLP470 (approx $4799 retail US), & CLP480 (approx$6999 retail US). Polished ebony cabinets are available in all models and are priced about $500+ higher (in many Yamaha stores) than non-polished ebony. You can figure the store discount prices on Clavinova's in general should be about 25% off retail prices (give or take) depending on the dealer, model, and availability. These instruments get better as you go up the line with better piano tone, better piano touch (plastic keys/wood keys), more features, better internal audio system, and nicer cabinets.

CLP430 dark rosewood

When you are paying up to $5000 or more for one of these new CLP's, you want them to be great and these Clavinova's do sound good. The Yamaha company, like all brands of digital pianos, use special words or phrases they have made up to describe their tone or touch technology and some of these phrases sound very impressive in their literature and write-ups. Yamaha has descriptive words such as Intelligent Acoustic Control (IAC), GRE, Smooth Release, Linear Graded Hammers, and Soundboard Speaker. Roland has SuperNATURAL Piano, Kawai has Progressive Harmonic Imaging, Casio has AIR, and Kurzweil has Triple Strike Piano.

New CLP440 satin white

But for me as someone who has played hundreds of different digital pianos over the years, these descriptive words are really meaningless because at the end of the day, your enjoyment level will not be based on the words manufacturers use, but on your playing reality instead. Does the piano you purchased feel & sound like a piano to you? Does it make you happy when you play and hear it? Will it reproduce the kind of music you like when you play the piano? Those are the real questions that you need to ask when purchasing any piano. Descriptive words used to define technologies and various models do give you a point of reference, but you must judge a piano by its own merit and not by the words used to describe it. Overall, I do like the new acoustic type piano sounds and nuances in these Clavinova's and they are quite nice, although sound and touch is still subjective based on one's own piano playing  experiences and skill level.

I did notice something on the CLP430 & CLP440 (left pic) which bothered me a bit. The plastic GH3 key actions in the CLP430 & CLP440 (the number 3 stands for a 3rd key sensor key which is a good thing) is overly stiff or resistant in my opinion when you play the keys lightly or softly across the keyboard. However, the CLP470 (lower left pic) & 480 wood key action seems to be better and I didn't notice that issue quite as much based on my experiences with them. Yamaha tries to design their CLP key actions to emulate an acoustic piano as all good piano manufacturers try to do. But when you play a real acoustic upright piano, the keys should be easy to press down when playing lightly and then get slightly easier to push down as you across the keys. The keyboard action is graded in weight and overall does get progressively easier to push the keys (it is subtle) as you move up the keyboard as other digital pianos brands do. But the general heaviness and resistance of the keys when pressing down from key resting position on the CLP430 & CLP440 is still noticeable to me. This may not be apparent to the average person who may not have much acoustic piano playing experience, but if you played a good Yamaha (or other good brands) acoustic upright piano and compared it with these specific CLP digital pianos, you would likely notice the difference. To me, the Yamaha CLP430 & 440 have key actions that feel less like an acoustic piano as compared with Kawai & Roland digital pianos in similar price ranges, but that's just my opinion.

CLP480 polished ebony

All of these Yamaha Clavinova pianos have good volume output, especially the CLP480 with a huge amount of power! The CLP480 has a total of 200 watts of power into multiple built-in speakers which will just blow you away if you want that high volume (and good sound), and the CLP480 also puts out quality tone with lower volume too. There is a noticeable difference in piano sound resonance and realism on the CLP480 because of its upgraded speaker system and speaker functions as compared to the other Clavinova CLP models. The CLP480 also has over 500 instrument sounds to choose from (wow!) as compared with just 28 on the CLP470 and the CLP480 is the only model of the bunch that can play & record General MIDI song files through 16 individual instrument tracks which helps with learning, practice, and is a lot of fun to play along with. Too bad you need to get the top CLP480 model to experience the General MIDI and multiple instrument 16-track sound and playback features. The CLP470 should have had those features as well considering that model sells for closer to $3500 at discount. Even some of Yamaha's least expensive piano keyboards like the new DGX650 ($799 internet price) have General MIDI song playback & recording and hundreds of nice instrument sounds available, but Yamaha obviously knew what they were doing by making people pay more money and forcing them up to the CLP480 if they wanted those cool features.The CLP480 is certainly my favorite amongst these models but it does come with a high price tag.

CLP480 w/key cover closed

All models have attractive, sturdy cabinets with front legs (above left), nice ivory feel keys (all except CLP430), USB flash drive device input for audio wav file and basic MIDI piano song play (does not play General MIDI song files except for CLP480) and overall good key 'feel' and piano sound. Yamaha has produced very good piano sound, pedal nuances, resonance, and longer pedal sustain decay time found in good acoustic pianos with their new technology. They have done a nice job of this and for some intermediate to advanced players or students wanting to get to an advanced level, the new piano technology would be a nice benefit. But for many families I know who are looking for a good, solid digital piano as a form of recreation and enjoyment for less money, there are certainly other options (different brands & models) that I believe would give people high quality & useful educational features, an attractive cabinet and a very satisfying playing experience other than Yamaha.

The lowest priced Clavinova model is the CLP430 which sells on average for somewhere between $2000-$2300US at Yamaha piano stores. However, the well known Kawai piano company has a newer digital piano available only in the US & Canadian market called the CE220 at $1899US internet discount price (left pic), which in my opinion, outperforms the Yamaha CLP430, and for less money and is an amazing instrument. The Kawai CE220 uses actual acoustic piano full length wooden keys installed over solid metal pins that creates a very stable key action with no lateral movement (lower left pic) along with graduated weighted hammer key action, 192-notes of polyphony (as opposed to 128 in the Yamaha CLP430), 3 traditional functioning pedals with half-damper control, 100 drum rhythm patterns for rhythm & timing training, 22 impressive instrument sounds including stereo grand pianos, 4-hand duet play function, and comes in an attractive satin black furniture style cabinet with bench. I have played and listened extensively to the Kawai CE220 and it is really impressive for
its lower price. Based on what I can see, you would need to go up to the Yamaha CLP470 (sells for approx $3500US in stores) before you get the kind of digital features and wood keys the Kawai CE220 has (and even the wood keys on the Kawai seem to have a more realistic assembly), although the Yamaha internal speaker system is better on the CLP430 & 440 and the Yamaha does have wav audio recording where the Kawai does not. But the CE220 also has USB flash drive input to save recorded MIDI songs, USB to computer/iPad output for connecting iPad (and Android) for interactive learning, stereo audio inputs & outputs, and some other very cool features like being able to play back many multi-track MIDI songs for educational purposes, which is a very cool thing and I use that technology in my music studio. The Yamaha CVP Clavinova's play back mult-track MIDI songs but those pianos start at about $4000 at discount price, although they are very nice. Take a look at my Kawai CE220 review at the following link: Kawai CE220 Piano Review. 

As I mentioned a bit before, for the higher amount of money these pianos cost, the Yamaha Clavinova 400 series pianos also have a noticeable lack of instruments on three of the CLP models as compared with other brands at similar prices, which may or may not be important to you. There are just 14 of instrument tones in the CLP430, 28 in the CLP440, 28 in the CLP470, and over 500 instruments in the CLP480. The models with 14-28 instrument tones do have good quality instrument sounds and are quite enjoyable to play such as electric pianos, harpsichord, acoustic guitar, organs, etc. However, Roland offers 337 quality  instruments on its HP line of pianos and even their less expensive RP301R ($1999) has many more instrument selections, assuming that would be an important feature to you. The Kawai company also offers many more instrument tones & features on their pianos priced at above $2300.

CLP440 polished ebony

The CLP 430 does not have the synthetic ivory keytops like the other Yamaha models do (Roland, Kawai & Casio do have the ivory feel keys in the lower price range) and the CLP430 has just  128 notes of polyphony as compared to the CLP440, CLP470, and CLP480 with 256-note polyphony memory which is generous and can be useful, especially for intermediate to advanced players. More polyphony memory allows allows for more complex piano playing especially when two or more instruments are combined and played at the same time (like piano & strings, etc). Most families I talk with typically want to spend less than $3000 for a digital piano so the CLP440 (above left - polished ebony priced higher) would be a good one in that range and is upgraded over the CLP430 along with a somewhat better internal sound system. The CLP440 does sound and look good, has 80 watts of power going through two speakers

CLP470 dark rosewood

(which I actually thought sounded a bit mid-rangy in tone as compared to other pianos), can play and record audio WAV song files as well as regular piano MIDI song files. It is a good piano and looks attractive along with having the new synthetic ivory keytops (which may or may not be important to you). It also has Yamaha's popular GH3 (3 sensor) key action which provides for more precise piano play as opposed to the lower priced Yamaha Arius series YDP162 & 181. The key action on the CLP430 & 440 is a bit noisier than Kawai brand pianos when the keys hit the bottom of the keybed and the keys do have some lateral movement as compared to Kawai digital pianos (with wood keys) and regular acoustic pianos. Key action is the heart of any digital piano and although Yamaha is good in the Clavinova series (especially in the CLP470/480), I like Kawai and Roland key actions better but that's just my opinion and personal taste.

If you want a furniture cabinet model in a lower price range, then you should also look at the new Yamaha Arius YDP162 ($1499US internet discount price with basic cabinet finish) or the Casio Privia PX850 ($1099US internet discount price - left pic) which are very nice pianos too. The Casio PX850 compact home cabinet model in satin black has the synthetic ivory & ebony feel keys, 256-note polyphony (very high polyphony in that price range), a wav file audio recorder/player using USB flashdrive (just like on the CLP's), fairly realistic acoustic piano tone and convincing acoustic piano key action (3 sensor key action for smoother play with 4-level stereo samples) and other cool things all in a contemporary compact cabinet. I have reviewed the Casio PX850 on my blog with the link here: Casio PX850 Review. As digital technology progresses and advances, it allows for better products at lower prices in many product categories (such as cell phones, tablets, TV's, digital pianos, etc), and such would seem to be the case in this new Casio PX850. I would also recommend in the higher price range (over $3000) the new Kawai CA65 & CA95 which are quite impressive with their grand piano let-off key action and also Roland's newer HP505 & 507 which offer more sounds and the let-off grand key action like Kawai. Those models compare favorably to the Yamaha CLP470 & CLP480.

Kawai ES7

Another new and unique digital piano to consider in the $2000 to $2500 price range that I really like is the new Kawai ES7 compact contemporary furniture style piano (left pic). It comes in a two-tone gloss ebony finish and gloss white finish and they both look attractive. The ES7 is using Kawai's newest upscale key action in that price range with 3 key sensors per key and 256-note polyphony acoustic piano sound technology along with having some very useful digital features. This model compares favorably with the Yamaha CLP440 and in my opinion actually offers quite a bit more in terms of performance and control along even better acoustic piano tone and key action realism as far as I am concerned. The Kawai ES7 piano is a serious instrument but yet fun at the same time (a great combination). With its flexibility, compact size, and realistic performance, I believe the Kawai ES7 should be a definite consideration for those people who want higher quality features in a solid, attractive, and functional cabinet at a lower price. Kawai also produces some fine digital pianos in more traditional piano style cabinets such as the CN34 (starting at $2399 internet discount price) which has some great features and easily compares to the Yamaha CLP440 in my opinion, but for less money. Go to the following link and read my review of the Kawai ES7: Kawai ES7 Piano Review

Roland LX15 studio digital piano

It's always good to look at other name brands especially when you are in the higher price range above $2000, so I also recommend you take a look at the newer Roland HP & LX line of furniture cabinet digital pianos as they are enjoyable to play and listen to and have some advantages over the Yamaha Clavinova's. The Roland HP503, HP507 & LX15 are particularly nice in their higher price range and give a very realistic piano playing experience for both key action and overall piano sound reproduction in my opinion. Go to my following review to read about the new Roland digital pianos: Roland HP & LX Digital Piano Review. Also, check out my comparison review of the top of the line Roland HP507 & LX15 here: Roland LX15 & HP507

CLP470 w/key cover closed

The Yamaha CLP digital pianos look attractive (particularly the polished ebony cabinets) and sound nice, especially when listening through good headphones, and for the most part, play very smoothly. The Yamaha CLP Clavinova's are popular pianos and have been that way for many years, and I believe most people will enjoy them.  The Yamaha brand has a great reputation for reliability, service, and resale value so I do recommend them as a good choice. Be aware that in the US, the Clavinova series of digital pianos is not available on-line and are sold only in local piano stores. In addition to that, discount pricing can be slightly different depending on the local Yamaha piano store and product availability, and you would need to physically go into a local Yamaha piano store to find out the discount price they are offering. This is also true for some digital piano models in other brands including Roland & Kawai. Yamaha does offer its lower priced Arius series of digital pianos in the US for sale on the internet at discount prices so you don't necessarily need to go into a store for those models. But no matter what digital piano you decide to buy, it's all about playing music, having a good time, expressing yourself, and bringing something into your home that is good for you and your family.

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

UPDATE - October 11, 2013 - Acoustic & Digital Piano Playing...It's how it makes you feel! - I have received a number of comments & questions from people around the world who are looking to purchase a good piano. People want to know if they are making the right decision in buying a certain brand or type of piano and they ask for my opinion.

Generally, most people play the piano because they want to and not because they have to (unless their parents make them:). Yes there are some musicians who do it for a living and therefore they have to and usually want to. But playing piano has always been a very personal experience in which one's deep personal feelings are satisfied by the experience they receive when playing their piano. So ultimately, owning a piano is a very personal choice based on a person's musical tastes and goals.

Mozart

If you know how to play piano and want to sound as much like Beethoven or Mozart as possible in concert, then you might want to buy a top of the line acoustic grand piano like a Bosendorfer, Steinway, Sauter, Grotrian, Fazioli, Estonia, or other fine piano. But just so you know, in the days of those classical musicians long ago, pianos were made differently because manufacturers didn't have the same designs, materials, and manufacturing processes as we have today, so unless you play one of the original pianos (which is doubtful) you won't hear the same music that composers like Beethoven or Mozart heard from their piano instrument.  Also, Beethoven didn't hear a lot of the music he wrote because he eventually went deaf while still writing his famous scores!

I am not here to talk about the history of the acoustic piano because I don't know enough to do that. However I can say that music is a personal expression of feelings within a person. It is an art and the canvas is the piano and the result is in the eye or "ear" or the beholder so to speak. In days gone by, owning a beautiful acoustic piano, especially a grand piano, was considered to be a sign of success, a sign of prestige, and an entrance into a higher level of society. The piano was also one of the few ways a person could have indoor entertainment that was good for the whole family, friends, and neighbors. The piano has influenced so many lives through the music of famous pianists like Billy Joel, Elton John, Liberace, Van Cliburn, Ray Charles, Duke Elligton, Roger Williams, Alicia Keys, Arthur Rubinstein,Sergei Rachmaninov, George Gershwin, david Foster, Jim Brickman, Keith Emerson, Bruce Hornsby, Scott Joplin, Barry Manilow, Yanni, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frederic Chopin, Vladimir Horowitz, and the list goes on and on. Beautiful, enjoyable, moving music from the piano players through the pianos they played on. Having a beautiful piano in the home was certainly a sign of status and success. But at the end of the day, it was all about the music and even if the
piano looked like a beat up piece of junk (as they did in many homes where wealth was not there but the desire to play piano was there, as long as music came out that moved you when you played it, that's all that really counted. I know many people who have or had old upright pianos that were not perfectly in tune, some of the keys were worn, and the piano cabinet had damage or was deteriorating, but the music was still beautiful to those people because they could not afford to pay for a new piano and/or the piano had sentimental value because it belonged to their Mother, Father, or close relative. Playing music comes from "within the soul" and not just from the page of sheet music, and when you play piano in that way, the need for the physical beauty of a $100,000 grand piano can disappear too.

Roland LX15 digital piano

These days in our fast paced electronic world, most of the standard reasons for owning a higher priced top quality traditional acoustic piano are going away because of economic concerns and changes in lifestyle. The need for that large, heavy, ornate grand or upright piano are quickly making way for the smaller, more modern digital pianos because they can now make beautiful music like never before. No matter what kind of piano a person buys, it's all about how it makes you feel when playing or listening to it, and if that means owning a $100,000 hand-built grand piano because of the way it makes you feel when you hear it and see it (and you can afford it), then buy it. If it means that you feel wonderful playing a lower priced digital piano like a Casio PX850 Privia or Yamaha Clavinova because of what those instruments offer, then buy one. In the end it's all about personal choice.

I know from my experience as a player, composer, arranger, and teacher, you don't have to spend a lot of money on a high priced instrument to be musically satisfied. Just like many things that one can own, there is a certain "snob factor" (as I call it) that permeates society which says "unless you play piano in a certain way or on a certain type of instrument, the music cannot be ultimately satisfying." I disagree with that because of the availability of technologically advanced keyboard instruments and a change in teaching materials and progressive attitudes of many piano teachers. Today more students, players, and teachers like me, are having a personally satisfying musical experience playing digital pianos because there are so many great digital piano options out there.

William Joseph

But...when it comes to musicians, they all have an opinion about which digital piano they think is "best" and many are "over-opinionated" (in my opinion:). However, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to play a piano or keyboard instrument no matter what they get, as long as it works well (key action, pedals, and sound) and the player can experience a good feeling when playing it. My "hat is off" to those who have taken traditional piano lessons for years, have studied hard and gone on to higher music education in some way. But that is not necessarily a sign of success. It's what you do with your music and how it makes YOU feel that counts. If you're doing it because you might make money one day from it or you're trying to please someone else, good luck. Do it because you want to...but PLEASE keep your day job to pay the bills:).

William Joseph

Did you know that many of the great pianists & musicians out there are or have been music/piano teachers? I have a good friend by the name of William Joseph (we have known each other for years and worked together) who was discovered by the famous record producer, song writer, and music artist manager David Foster (manager of Celine, Josh Groban, and Michael Buble, to name a few).  david also has produced music for many movies (like Saint Elmos Fire, Karate Kid, etc) and other artists including Peter Cetera and the band Chicago. So William is in very good company! William Joseph is now one of the most talented and sought after young new contemporary concert pianists out there today (he even writes most of his music and has song books available through the huge music publisher Hal Leonard) and is currently touring all over the U.S. and the world. He has performed in Las Vegas, on the Oprah show, many famous TV shows, and in large performing theaters internationally & nationally. William owns both digital & acoustic pianos and enjoys playing on both types.

William Joseph on grand piano

Before William got "famous" in the world of entertainment, he took years of piano lessons here in the Phoenix area and studied hard with an accomplished piano instructor, which is very important to have.  When that was done, William became a local piano teacher and played solo piano gigs on the side here in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area to help make money to support his family, which is typical for many accomplished music students & musicians, and that's usually the end of the musical road (so to speak). Then William was "discovered" in a most unlikely way by David Foster (it's a long story but very interesting)...and the rest is history. William is somewhat of an "anomaly" when it comes to actually making it as paid star performer with a bright future ahead because few people that want to do that ever get it. But William really plays piano because of the way it makes him feel, and now also because of the way it makes others feel. You can learn more about William (if you have not heard of him before) through his web site at the following link William Joseph Web Site. Also, see this amazing video below of William Joseph in Concert! When William isn't touring in concert or in the "studio," he is still teaching piano lessons in his hometown of Phoenix to his loyal students because he loves it. But for most hard working piano students and local gigging musicians, as I said before, PLEASE keep your day job to pay your bills...that's what I do:)

For more piano info or to find out how to purchase one for Lower Prices than Internet & Store Discounts, please call me at 602-571-1864 or contact me at tim@azpianowholesale.com 

Listen below to William Joseph in an amazing performance with a full orchestra behind him.
  

REVIEW - Kawai ES100 88-key portable hammer weighted digital piano - Recommended as a "best buy" at $799US internet price - The Kawai piano company of Japan has been producing digital pianos (and acoustic pianos) for decades and is well known & respected world-wide for building high quality instruments that piano teachers, professional pianists, universities/colleges, and recording studios recommend. I personally know many people who own Kawai acoustic & digital pianos but Kawai has not been a brand that has offered a digital piano priced under $1000 in the past. You would have had to spend more money or purchase a different brand.

ES100 with optional stand & pedals

The new 2014 model Kawai ES100 that just came out ($799US internet discount price) is part of the "ES series" of digital pianos and offers similar quality to the higher priced ES pianos, but at a much lower price point. This little baby is definitely not a toy! I recently got a chance to play the ES100 and was able to thoroughly check it out. The piano is offered in the US in a satin black color only and the design is sleek, elegant, and simple with eight small round push buttons and one volume slider control on the top above the keys near the left side. The buttons are solid, easy to push, and there is enough space in between the buttons so they're not all
jammed together. Also, there are no speakers or speaker grill cloth showing on the top of the piano...just a nice slightly curved top and clean lines with a large included music rack...a well thought out design considering how much this piano can actually do and how big the sound is. The piano is relatively small and lightweight and you can move it pretty easily by itself with no stand. It is only 52" wide and 11" deep so doesn't take up much space.

I did not have high expectations when I first tried it out because of the low price and I thought that Kawai would have to make some drastic compromises to produce a good digital piano at $799 that would also be up in quality to their higher priced ES models. Well I am happy to say that I was wrong and that Kawai greatly exceeded my expectations. The ES100 was obviously designed to do a few things extremely well in its price range and that include having a noticeably superior and sturdy (and quiet going both up & down) heavy duty graded hammer key action movement (Kawai calls it AHAIV-F Advanced Hammer Action), great acoustic stereo acoustic piano sound reproduction with  smooth velocity response, natural tonal dynamics, and a fairly even volume balance across the entire keyboard, as well as solid piano pedaling performance. It is worth noting that each note of all 88 keys was individually sampled from a Kawai acoustic grand piano as opposed to being sampled (recorded) from an acoustic piano in groups of notes. Sampling in groups of notes at one time like many other brands do is a less expensive way of getting a piano sound reproduction. But the Kawai ES100 had every key sampled one at a time...and the resulting piano sound in my opinion is amazing for the price, as I just mentioned.

The ES100 does offer many other features which I will talk about below, but this model was obviously built for the primary purpose of offering the best digital piano playing experience (in a portable model) a person can find under $1000 and it includes 192-notes of piano polyphony memory (a good thing) which is the highest in its class in this price range.  The internal speaker system is surprisingly full and loud with a total of 14 watts going through two higher quality speakers which are positioned underneath the keyboard. I put the piano speaker system through its paces and the sound was clean, did not distort even at loud volume, and was full from left to right across the stereo field. The overall volume is plenty for a medium sized room and it's got fairly good bass response for a small portable piano. However you can connect external speakers if you want to enhance the sound further.

ES100 control panel

The ES100 does not have hundreds of instrument sounds, USB flash drive input or USB output, automatic accompaniment styles, multi-track recording, user display screen, duet four hand mode, etc, etc. It is obviously not meant for that which is fine because it is focused primarily on piano playing. It has 8 acoustic piano tones which is a lot, along with a variety of impressive sounding strings, organs, electric pianos, harpsichord, and a few other tones. All of these extra instrument tones are exceptional at this price and better in my opinion than the competition for those specific tones. One very cool extra feature the ES100 offers is a drum rhythm section. Playing piano along with a drummer is a fun thing to do and also good training for rhythm and timing and allows a person to experience what it is like to play piano along with a drummer. The ES100 offers 100 different drum rhythms in nearly every type of rhythm style imaginable, and these drum percussive sounds are exceptionally realistic at this price. It really does sound like your playing along with a real drummer. I happen to personally enjoy doing that and use drum rhythms in teaching my students how to "feel the music" as opposed to only using a metronome for timing and drum rhythms are very useful in that way, especially when you can vary the tempo (faster/slower) and volume as you can on the ES100.

But all the drum rhythms in the world, automatic chord arrangements, extra sounds, or the latest USB technology is useless in my opinion if you do not have a realistic piano playing experience with a solid key action and good smooth dynamic acoustic piano tone. Although piano touch and tone is ultimately a subjective thing, when you compare a digital piano to a real acoustic piano there needs to be some definite similarities so the result is not completely subjective. There needs to be proper key weighting but not too much weight or too little weight. There needs to be a good piano tone but that tone needs to come with a good dynamic range so the sound is different as you are playing softer or harder. Dynamics are difficult to recreate evenly and with a large tonal range but Kawai ES100 seems to do a very god job of this and noticeably better than any new Yamaha digital piano I have played under $1500, so that ability is quite impressive to me.

Kawai ES100 included damper pedal

Then there is the damper sustain pedal which is sometimes overlooked as being important when shopping for a piano. The piano pedal that is included with the ES100 is a single heavy duty metal piano style pedal that also activates whats known as "half-pedaling." Half-pedaling is the ability to have a medium amount of sustain decay time when pressing the pedal down half way. The typical smaller plastic foot pedals that come with other brands can only offer an on/off sustain experience which is the way keyboards behave, but not real pianos. The sustain decay time when holding down the pedal and playing the piano keys is quite long and holds up well across the keyboard which was impressive to me. The longer decay times helps when playing more legato passages of music especially in classical pieces so even more advanced students and players will appreciate that. The included Kawai damper sustain pedal retails for $80 so it is not an inexpensive item to be included and brings the value of the ES100 up even more than it already is. The ES100 can also be connected to a
furniture style stand and a 3-pedal assembly which connects to the the stand which then makes the ES100 look somewhat more like a compact cabinet piano (although it does not have a sliding cover which portables do not). The internet discount price of the Kawai stand & 3-pedal unit together is $230 (pedal board & stand sold separately) but that is optional and not necessarily something you need to buy, but they do make the piano look nice, especially with the pedals being a chrome color, quite attractive. Yamaha & Casio also offer an optional furniture stand and 3 pedal unit for their lower priced digital pianos (P105, PX150) which is a good thing. The triple pedal units on all these pianos also supports the half-pedal mode. I did notice that the Kawai pedals were made out of metal instead of plastic as found on other brands and the ES100 pedal assembly and cross bar were thicker and seemed to be more durable than most. Also there is a large height adjustment screw under the pedals to adjust for carpet or hard floors so the price of the ES100 pedal assembly is definitely worth it based on its construction.

ES100 control panel

One of the most interesting things about the ES100 that I found is that you can edit the built in piano sounds in a variety of ways (using a menu key chart) and create your own personal custom piano tones that your own ears like:). Once you make those changes and edit the sounds which are fairly easy to do, then you can save those new sounds in 5 memories (4 panel memories plus a power-on user memory). In other words, what ever you do to the sounds including layering two sounds together, splitting two distinct sounds on either side of the keyboard, changing reverb, voicing, touch velocity curve, EQ, brightness, mellowness, and other functions. you can save those new settings so they can be recalled later by touch a button in 4 panel memories. That is a very cool feature and something not available on the Yamaha, Casio, and Roland models for their traditional low priced digital pianos. As an example, if you edited the piano sound to your liking and then mixed it with an organ sound, you could save that setting to be easily recalled later while you are playing the piano. Otherwise you have to recreate the entire setup(s) every time you turn on the piano, which is no fun.

acoustic piano dampers/strings

The ES100 also has some interesting additional functions built in which give the acoustic piano sound an even more realistic tone than it already has. One of the functions is called pedal resonance which means that which you press the pedal down you can hear the sound of the "virtual strings" echo or resonate just like in a real piano when the pedal is held down. This is not the normal sustain you find on most digital pianos when depressing the pedal (which the ES100 does have), but also a natural organic string resonation that is in additional to sustain. You can control the amount of resonation of the strings from a control function when pressing down the pedal, so that it is not too much or too little, something that the competitive brands in this price range cannot do.

acoustic grand piano hammers

Two other acoustic piano type features in the ES100 that are also digitally adjustable are called mechanical fallback hammer noise and damper rail noise. This is the mechanical sound of the damper rail and the key action in an acoustic piano when you let go of the pedal or let go of the keys when pressing down and the noise that is made when the parts go back to resting position. Rather than getting too complex about this (I don't like complexity and it's easy to that with this stuff) let's just say that these "noises" give you the feeling you are playing a  more organic sounding piano because you hear mechanical noise coming out of the ES100 speakers and those noises were originally recorded from a real acoustic piano and are then heard through the ES100 speakers (or through headphones). For me personally having those features is an interesting and stimulating  listening & piano playing experience, although I would say it's not absolutely necessary having all these additional piano/damper sound features to enjoy playing a digital piano. But the more realistic the overall piano sound is, the more likely you will enjoy it as you progress in your piano skills or are an accomplished player.

The ES100 does have a built-in digital recorder which offers one track of full piano recording and a 3-song memory to save your recorded songs. This is generally sufficient for most people although some of the competitors have a 2 track recorder separate left & right hand recording. Two separate tracks of recording is a nice feature and I would have wanted to see that in the ES100, but it is not absolutely essential. Most people just want to hear what they sound like regardless of whether the left & right hand are recorded altogether or individually. However, the ES100 does have a built-in music education lesson library consisting of Alfred's basic piano library of songs books 1A and 1B (a very popular lesson book series) along with Burgmuller 25 Etudes. With the built-in music library in the piano you can purchase the appropriate music books and then play along with the built in songs at any tempo you wish
(slower or faster) and also separate out the left hand and right hand parts for playback with controls in the piano accessed by the function button and keys. In this way you if you are a beginner or novice player you can listen to left and right hand parts separately (before you play the song yourself) to understand how each part sounds and to then play each part one at a time along with the song playing back. It's a pretty cool feature and one that you can take advantage of if you are a beginner young person or adult. Kawai is the only digital piano under $1000 with this kind of built-in lesson song library, but even if you never use this function, it doesn't really matter because this instrument is really all about playing the piano and having it be the one of the best you can get for a portable 88 key digital piano under $1000.

For those people that might want to play the piano in a very large room, outdoors, at a school, in a church, or other venue, you can connect the ES100 to an external speaker system by way of a stereo output on the piano in one of the two headphone connectors. When you connect in this way you can also decide if you want the internal piano speakers to remain on or not because otherwise the internal speakers would not work under normal circumstances when you plug into a headphone output. But the ES100 has an override function that allows the internal speakers to remain on...very nice. I do wish the ES100 had a USB output to iPad/computer as well as an audio input...that would have been useful. But some people do ask
for MIDI connectors (to connect to other sound modules, etc) which it does have, and you can always purchase a low cost adapter cable to convert a MIDI connector to a USB cable connector so that you can connect the piano to an iPad/computer at that point and use some fun interactive apps for creative visual learning and music playing. I use iPad apps in my studio quite a bit so I would definitely suggest that. Another feature the ES100 does not have is ivory feel key tops which Casio does have as well as Roland under $1000. Although some people do like that and it can be nice, it is not absolutely necessary and real acoustic pianos these days (and have for many years) use regular white hard plastic keytops and not ivory, so that material (simulated or organic) is not something you would see on a regular piano anyway.

For the money it is my opinion that the new Kawai ES100 overall is the new "home run king" of low priced portable digital pianos for piano sound and key action without question. In my opinion the key action is noticeably smoother and more realistic than the Yamaha GHS and GH key action found in the lower and higher priced Yamaha DGX and Arius models (including Clavinova CLP430/440 GH3), Roland ivory-G action, and a few other brands. Key action movement and realism is the number one feature to focus on in a piano and the only other digital piano brand which offers a fairly realistic key action in the low price range in my opinion is Casio, and I have done reviews of those pianos which you can read about on my blog. When you put it all together having a quiet quality hammer key action, a large amount piano polyphony memory, smooth touch, elegant piano tone and combine it with all the other features I mentioned in a sleek, elegant little portable cabinet weighing in at only 33lbs (without stand and extra 3-pedal unit), you have a real winner, especially with the name Kawai attached to it.

Kawai ES100 with opt stand & pedals

It is worth noting that I have had many people ask me about 88-key digital portable pianos (without a lot of "bells & whistles") for around the $500 (approx) price range. There is a variety of choices out there including the Yamaha P35, Yamaha P105, Casio CDP120, CDP220, PX150, Korg SP170S, SP280 and Suzuki SL1. But I would suggest that you consider moving up in price to the new Kawai ES100 ($799 internet discount price) if you can afford to do that because at the end of the day, if you intend on keeping the piano for awhile, your investment will go much further and the student or player can progress in their music making for years to come as opposed to growing out of the piano too soon. The Kawai ES100 is a piano even a pro can love if they are on a budget, want a limited but useful amount of features, and are focused on realistic acoustic piano sound and key action. But no matter what brand or model you may chose, it's all about the music and having an enjoyable playing experience and ultimately you can get that on many (but not all) brands and models. The Kawai ES100 isn't the only one to get in the low price range, but there's simply not much to complain about so it is definitely a winner for what it offers:).

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 - Kawai KDP90 furniture style digital piano ($1149US internet discount price) with 88-key hammer weighted action - Recommended - The Kawai piano company of Japan has been producing digital pianos (and acoustic pianos) for many years and is well known & respected world-wide for building high quality instruments that piano teachers, professional pianists, universities/colleges, and recording studios recommend. I personally know many people who own Kawai acoustic & digital pianos, but Kawai has not offered a full furniture cabinet digital piano priced under $1500US in this country before. Kawai had a previous furniture cabinet model KDP80 available in Canada and other countries (not in the US) for under $1500, but it was a basic model in terms of its piano sound & pedaling technology. So the new KDP90 is a big step forward for Kawai in my opinion when it comes to competing with Yamaha & Casio who have up until this point have consistently dominated the lower price range with their nice furniture cabinet digital pianos under $1500. 

Based on my personal playing experience with the new (just released) 2014 model KDP90, it really looks like Kawai brought out a digital piano which can definitely take business away its competitors, especially Yamaha in my opinion. Both Yamaha & Kawai headquarters are in the same city in Japan (so they know each other well) and both companies not only produce high quality digital pianos (as do other digital manufacturers), but Kawai & Yamaha are quite famous and very competitive with their acoustic upright & grand pianos. The new KDP90 cabinet comes in one color which is an attractive dark brown rosewood with matching padded bench, stylish brass triple pedals, and sliding built-in key cover... similar to the newer Yamaha Arius YDP162 ($1499 internet price) and Roland RP301 ($1699 internet price). Some brands of digital pianos offer their models in two colors with black being one of them, but the dark rosewood color of the KDP90 (the only color it comes in) is probably dark enough for people who might prefer black, especially in a darker or shadier room which causes dark brown/rosewood colors to look almost black (I have personally seen this). The piano is also fairly compact and measures approx 54" wide and 16" deep.

What really makes the KDP90 stand out to me is its impressive graded hammer weighted key action, beautiful stereo acoustic piano sound, and pedaling realism called "Grand Feel Pedal System" with 3 full size pedals...it's all simply amazing for the $1149US price it sells for, and I don't make those kinds of statements lightly. When I first played the KDP90 I said "wow!," because I really did not expect it to be as good as it was and in fact, I thought it would not compare very well to the popular Yamaha Arius series pianos (and other top brands). But the KDP90 not only was surprisingly realistic in recreating the acoustic piano playing & listening experience, it was noticeably better in that way in my opinion than any of the competing Yamaha, Roland, and Korg cabinet pianos under $2000.

KDP90 hammer key action

The KDP90 was obviously designed to do a few things extremely well in its price range and that includes having a noticeably quiet and sturdy graded hammer key action movement (Kawai calls it AHAIV-F Advanced Hammer Action), beautiful acoustic stereo piano sound reproduction with  smooth velocity response and resonance, natural tonal dynamics, and a fairly even volume balance & depth across the entire keyboard including the middle keys (which is not easy to do), as well as solid piano pedaling performance which Kawai calls "Grand Feel Pedal System". It is worth noting that each note of all 88 keys was individually sampled from a Kawai acoustic grand piano as opposed to being sampled (recorded) from an acoustic piano in groups of notes. Sampling groups of notes at one time, like many other brands do, is a less expensive way of getting a piano sound reproduction and not nearly as good as individual note sampling. The Kawai KDP90 had every note sampled from a grand piano one at a time...and the resulting piano sound in this piano is outstanding for the price.

The KDP90 also has some interesting additional functions built in which give the acoustic piano sound an even more realistic tone than it already has. One of the functions is called pedal resonance which means that which you press the pedal down you can hear the sound of the "virtual strings" echo or resonate just like in a real piano when the pedal is held down. This is not the normal sustain you find on most digital pianos when depressing the pedal (which the KDP90 does have), but also a natural organic string resonation that is in additional to sustain. You can control the amount of resonation of the strings from a control function on the keyboard, so that it is not too much or too little, something that the competitive brands in this price range cannot do.

Left side panel controls

The KDP90 does not have hundreds of instrument sounds, USB flash drive input or USB output, automatic accompaniment styles, multi-track recording, user display screen, etc, which may or may not be important to you. It the piano obviously not meant for that because it is focused primarily on piano playing and having a simple, easy to use control panel. All of the control buttons are on the left side of the piano keyboard and the KDP90 has 4 different acoustic piano tones including full stereo reproduction, along with a variety of (total 15) real sounding stereo strings, organs, electric pianos, choirs/pads, harpsichord, and a few other tones. All of these instrument tones are exceptional at this price and better in my opinion than the competition for those specific tones. Based on the fact that Kawai produces some very expensive Concert Grand pianos that sound great, they do have experience creating exceptionally good piano sound and the lower priced KDP90 is no exception.

A feature of the KDP90 which also impresses me is the 192-notes of piano polyphony memory, which is far greater than any of the competitors including Yamaha & Roland, except for the Casio PX850 ($1099 retail price) which has 256 note polyphony. Polyphony (pol-i-fony) allows for greater range of sound and pedal sustain in playing more difficult (advanced) music or when combining two sounds together at the same time. Having close to 200 notes of polyphony is generally plenty even for demanding musicians and the better you play the more piano computer memory (polyphony) you'll want to have.

Power switch & volume slider

The internal speaker system of the piano (at this price) is surprisingly full and loud with a total of 26 watts going through two higher quality speakers which are positioned underneath the keyboard, and the power consumption of this model is only 15 watts so it's quite low (especially compared to other brands) in terms of eating up your electric power. I put the piano speaker system through its paces playing a variety of music at different volumes and the sound was clean, did not distort even at loud volume, and was full from left to right across the stereo field. The overall volume and fullness from the internal sound system is good for a small to medium size room and it's got fairly good bass response for a small furniture cabinet piano. However for a much larger area or room, even though you can definitely hear the piano OK, a
more powerful and fuller sounding internal speaker system would probably be better. In that case you could consider another brand or model with higher audio power between 40-80 watts instead of the 26 watts in the KDP90 such as the Kawai CE220, CN24 or Yamaha YDP162, and YDP181 at 40 watts each. However those pianos do cost more money but I believe the volume of the KDP90 will be enough for most situations. If you ever wanted to connect an external sound system (or stereo monitors) to the KDP90 for a bigger sound experience, you could do that. However, the Kawai KDP90 does not have audio outputs to connect to external speakers, but instead you could connect external speakers to one of the two stereo headphone jacks to hear the external sound which can make the KDP90 sound HUGE (I have done personally that). But in this price range the KDP90 is very competitive and the internal speaker system and fullness of sound is really quite good, so it's hard to complain, especially when the Roland RP301 digital piano ($1699 internet price) is just 24 watts of power and the newer 2013 model Yamaha YDP142 digital piano ($1099 internet price) has only 12 watts of total power. That makes the Kawai look big at 26 watts of total power:). If you think you would really need a more powerful digital piano in terms of internal speaker speaker system but want to stay in this lower price range and still get a very nice piano playing experience, the Casio PX850 (above left pic) would be a good choice at just $1099 internet discount price. It has 40 watts of internal audio power going through four speakers and also has 256 notes of piano polyphony memory which is a lot. It's a pretty powerful piano for the price and has some cool functions on it as well. Go to the following link to read my blog review on the Casio PX850: Casio PX850 Review

Another impressive feature is the exclusive Kawai educational features that are built into the computer software in the KDP90 piano. None of the other big manufacturers have anything like this in this price range and it's a pretty cool thing to have, assuming you would use it. One of the educational fun features on this piano is called Concert Magic, an intelligent interactive rhythm training feature with built-in perfect song playback. Concert Magic can be very useful if you are a beginner of any age including being 2 years old or 92 years old. Imagine if you wanted to play a full song on the piano with both left hand and right hand together and you could push/tap any key on the piano and it would play the correct note or notes of the song...well that's what Concert Magic does. There are 40 complete built-in popular songs in the Concert Magic piano memory which you can choose from. Once you make you song selection, then you can play it. But playing it means you

Concert Magic for any age

would put a finger on any key and push or tap the key down and as you do that you would get the full left and right hand notes (chords) playing the song as you pressed the keys. In other words, you can never make a mistake! The point of that exercise is to help you understand rhythm, timing, and tonal dynamics while listening to the correct notes of the song. You don't have to know anything about reading music or using the correct fingers on the correct keys to hear a song (a nice concept). There are Christmas songs, standard songs, folk tunes, classical music, and others tunes offered with Concert Magic that you may recognize. The goal of Concert Magic is to allow anyone to press the any key down to hear the correct notes coming out and then try to keep the correct timing & rhythm using the built-in metronome which you can set for nearly any time signature and speed. It's so much fun watching a 2 year old press keys down and have the song notes sound perfect and moving along to the next notes every time they press any white or black key! If you are a beginner of any age and want to be able to press the keys and have perfect music come out instantly, then you'll really have fun with the Concert Magic feature while you are learning. Take a look at the video demo at the bottom of this page of a live impromptu recital using the Kawai KDP90 Concert Magic feature (the little girl in the video is my granddaughter Emmalyn:)

Another educational feature of the KDP90 is the built-in music lesson library consisting of Alfred's basic piano library of songs books 1A and 1B (a very popular lesson book series) along with Burgmuller 25 Etudes. With the built-in music library in the piano you can purchase the appropriate music books and then play along with the built-in songs at any tempo you wish (slower or faster) and also separate out the left hand and right hand parts for playback with controls in the piano accessed by the function button and keys. The Alfred piano leaning series of lesson books library is very popular with pianos teachers and is especially useful if you are a beginner or novice player so you can listen to left and right hand
parts separately on the KDP90 (before you play the song yourself) to understand how each part sounds and to then play each part one at a time along with the song playing back. It's a pretty cool feature and Kawai is the only digital piano company with this kind of built-in lesson song library. There are many other Alfred piano and music books beyond level two but the KDP90 does not have those songs built in. You would need to get a digital piano that is General MIDI compatible along with a built-in USB flash drive (such as the popular Casio PX780 - $999 internet price) to play other Alfred lesson book songs (including other lesson book publishers such as Faber). If you are taking lessons with a piano teacher you can use the Alfred curriculum in your lessons to correspond with the built-in Alfred instructional songs in the piano. But even if you never use this function, it's OK because this instrument is really all about the acoustic piano experience being recreated on a digital piano and having it be the one of the best you can get for a furniture cabinet digital piano under $1500.

Recorder button controls

The KDP90 does have a nice built-in digital recorder which offers one track of full piano (left & right hand) recording and a 3-song memory to save your recorded songs. This is generally sufficient for most people although some of the Kawai competitors have a 2-track recorder with separate left & right hand recording. Two separate tracks of recording is a nice feature and I would have wanted to see that in the KDP90, but it is not absolutely essential. Most people just want to hear what they sound like regardless of whether the left & right hand are recorded altogether or individually. The KDP90 also allows for electronically splitting the 88 piano keys into two equal 44-key pianos so that two people can play at the same time playing the same notes. The left hand part of the 88 keys is electronically changed to sound like the right hand part of the keys which is helpful if there is teacher-student practice or brother-sister, parent-child, etc. This can be a useful tool depending on your situation.

MIDI to USB cable connector

The KDP90 is equipped with MIDI connectors to computer/iPad or external MIDI instruments but I would have preferred the KDP90 having a USB output to iPad/computer as well as an audio input which would have been useful. But some people do ask for traditional MIDI connectors (to connect to other sound modules, etc) which it does have, and you can always purchase a low cost adapter cable to convert the MIDI plug on the piano to a USB cable connector so that you can connect the piano to an iPad/computer (with iPad adapter kit) and use some fun interactive iPad apps for creative visual learning and music playing. I use iPad apps in my studio quite a bit so I would definitely suggest that if you have an iPad. Another feature the KDP90 does not have is ivory feel key tops which Casio, Yamaha, and Roland do have under $1500. Although some people like the ivory feel keytops and it can be nice, it is not absolutely necessary and in reality, real acoustic pianos these days (and have for many years) use regular white hard plastic keytops and not ivory, so that material (simulated or organic) is not something you would see on a regular piano anyway. Besides that, I have had some people tell me they do not personally like the feel of some synthetic ivory key tops, so it's definitely personal opinion.

KDP90 with closed key cover

But all the drum rhythms in the world, automatic chord arrangements, extra sounds, synthetic ivory keys, or the latest USB technology are useless in my opinion if you do not have a realistic piano playing experience with a solid key action, good smooth dynamic acoustic piano tone, and realistic pedaling movement. Although piano touch and tone is ultimately a subjective thing, when you compare a digital piano to a real acoustic piano there needs to be some close similarities which is proper key weighting (not too much weight or too little weight), and excellent piano tone with good dynamic range from mellow to bright as you are playing softer or harder. Dynamic sound from mellow to bright as the hammers hit the strings in a real acoustic piano are typically difficult to recreate on a digital piano in this price range. But Kawai KDP90 does a very good job of this and noticeably better than any new Yamaha digital piano I have played under $1500, and the Yamaha pianos are generally quite good. 

Then there is the damper sustain pedal (along with the middle pedal sostenuto function and left soft pedal) which is sometimes overlooked as being important when shopping for a piano. The pedals themselves are made of a durable metal material (not plastic) and when using the right sustain/damper pedal it activates what's known as "half-pedaling." Half-pedaling is the ability to have a medium amount of sustain-decay time when pressing the pedal down about half way instead of just on or off sustain, which is more like a keyboard. It also has a smooth a smooth pedal movement using the Grand Feel Pedaling as Kawai calls it. The sustain decay time (amount of time the sustained note is heard before fading away when you let go of a key when holding down the pedal and playing the piano keys) is quite long and holds up well as you play keys across the keyboard, which was impressive to me. The longer decay times and larger 192-note piano polyphony memory helps when playing more legato passages of music especially in classical pieces, so even more advanced students and players will appreciate that.

KDP90 with matching padded bench

The Advanced Hammer Action of the KDP90 (key action is the heart of any acoustic or digital piano) is noticeably smoother and more realistic than many other brands and models in my opinion including the Yamaha GHS and GH key action found in the lower and higher priced Yamaha DGX and Arius models (including Clavinova CLP430/440 GH3), Roland ivory-G action, and other brands and models including Suzuki, Adagio, and Kurzweil. Key action movement, static touch weight (how much force it takes to initially press a resting key downward), and realism is the number one feature to focus on in a piano. Another digital piano which offers a fairly realistic key action in this low price range is the Casio PX850 (which I mentioned earlier), and I have done reviews of those pianos which you can read about on my blog. When you put it all together, the Kawai KDP90 is an excellent low price choice for its good quality realistic hammer key action, large amount piano polyphony memory, smooth touch, resonate piano tone, and fairly compact furniture cabinet weighing in at only 84lbs. 

It is worth noting that I consistently have people asking me about 88-key furniture style digital pianos (without a lot of "bells & whistles") for around the $1500 or less (approx) price range. There is a variety of choices out there but I would suggest that you consider this new Kawai KDP90 ($1149 internet discount price) if you intend on keeping the piano for awhile and want a very good investment in a high quality instrument that you (and/or your children) will likely not out-grow for a long time, if ever. The Kawai KDP90 is a piano even an advanced player can appreciate if they are on a budget, want limited but useful amount of features, and are focused on realistic acoustic piano sound and key action in a lower price range. But no matter what brand or model you may chose, it's all about the music and having an enjoyable playing experience and ultimately you can get that on some (but not all) brands and models in this price range. The Kawai KDP90 isn't the only digital piano brand to get under $1500, and in fact if you have the budget to spend even more money, Kawai has some very nice digital pianos selling for over $1500 as do other digital piano manufacturers. But there's simply not much to complain about on this one and there is a lot to like, so it is definitely a winner for what it offers...especially with a prestigious name like Kawai attached to 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.

*Go to the following link to hear actual song recordings on the Kawai web site taken directly from the KDP90: Kawai KDP90 song recordings
 
Click on the video below to see a short demonstration of the KDP90 Concert Magic feature

 

REVIEW - Kawai CN24 Digital Piano - Recommended - The Kawai company is well known the world over for producing very high quality acoustic upright & grand pianos and their home and stage digital pianos are no exception.  I know many people who own Kawai pianos including friends & family members. The 2013 model CN24 is not available at traditional internet sites in the US and found only in Kawai piano stores in the US, although it may be different in other countries. There are two models in the CN series with the first one being the lower priced CN24 ($1799US Kawai store discount price) and the other one being the higher priced CN34 ($2399US Kawai store discount price). The CN24 is comes in an attractive traditional furniture style dark brown rosewood finish with front cabinet support legs. The main features on the CN24 which impress me are realistic weighted & graded acoustic style hammer key action, natural stereo acoustic piano sound with a big dynamic range, and proper pedaling movement and response all in an attractive cabinet with sliding key cover and matching bench.

It is worth noting that at just $100 more, the CN24 is noticeably better to me in these fundamental areas than the competitive model Roland RP301 ($1699 internet price) and Yamaha YDP181 ($1699 internet price) which have been out longer than the newer CN24. Although Roland & Yamaha build some great digital pianos, the Kawai CN24 piano technology is, in my opinion, vastly superior and I don't say these things lightly. There are, of course, some nice features on some competitive brands which the CN24 does not have such as more extensive recording abilities, USB flash drive, more instrument sounds, drum rhythms, more cabinet colors, etc.  But when it comes to what people really want most in a digital piano, it's my opinion that the Kawai CN24 is in the lead when it comes to having a realistic piano playing experience.

CN24 triple sensor key system

The CN24 utilizes a new key action which also has a feature called "let-off" that is supposed to simulate a grand piano movement as opposed to an upright piano key movement. Without making this too complex, let's just say you could probably be happy with either an acoustic upright style or grand piano style key action in a digital piano and both can give you a satisfying  & enjoyable playing experience. I have played on both types for many years teaching in my studio and playing professionally and I find them enjoyable to play. The Kawai CN24 also has triple sensor key electronics (see above left pic), as opposed to 2 sensors in other digital pianos, to give the more advanced player better key sensing repetition for faster notes being played. This will not be important in the beginning stages of playing and perhaps you'll never really take advantage of it, but it is a good thing to have in case you should advance to higher levels of learning and performance. The key action which Kawai calls Responsive Hammer II Action, is graded & medium weighted (which most people will like) and has noticeably quiet sturdy keys when moving up & down (even when playing aggressively). I could really dig into playing a variety of music and I felt that I was really connecting with the music and able to express myself with this key action.

As far as piano tone goes, the acoustic stereo piano sound reproduction in the CN24 is beautiful in this price range with smooth velocity response, natural tonal dynamics, and a fairly even volume balance across the entire keyboard. It is worth noting that each note of all 88 keys was individually sampled from a large Kawai acoustic grand piano (left pic) as opposed to being sampled (recorded) from an acoustic piano in groups of notes. Sampling in groups of notes at one time like many other brands do is a less expensive way of getting a piano sound reproduction. But the Kawai CN24 had every key sampled one at a time...and the resulting piano sound in my opinion is amazing for the price, as I just mentioned.  

The piano sound polyphony memory is 192-notes which is very high in this price range, especially as compared to Roland & Yamaha which have 128-notes of polyphony memory. This is again important if you are at a higher skill level or are playing 2 instrument sounds together at the same time such as acoustic piano & strings or organ & harpsichord, or electric piano & synthesizer sound, or acoustic piano & choir, etc. Speaking of instrument sounds, their are 15 high quality tones which are quite impressive to me considering that other instrument sounds on these digital pianos tend to be on the unrealistic side based on all my experience with them. The CN24 stereo strings, choir, organs, synths, etc are amazingly real and really beautiful to listen to, especially when you combine two of them together at the same time. But besides the key action, it's the acoustic piano tone that really drew me to this model and the piano's internal 40 watt 2-speaker sound system seems to be up to the task of handling the sound. Typically you would need to spend a lot more money (well over $2000US at discount) on other furniture cabinet brands & models to get this kind of a natural non-digital sounding piano tone. It's a joy to play, at least it was for me, and with my extensive professional experience playing real acoustic pianos for many years, it's somewhat difficult to impress me when it comes to digital pianos.

The CN24 does have a few cool fun (and useful) educational features too so it's not without a few "bells & whistles." One of the educational fun features on this piano is called ConcertMagic, an intelligent interactive rhythm training feature with built-in perfect song playback. Concert Magic can be very useful if you are a beginner of any age including being 2 years old or 92 years old. Imagine if you wanted to play a full song on the piano with both left hand and right hand together and you could push/tap any key on the piano and it would play the correct note or notes of the song...well that's what Concert Magic does. There are 40 complete built-in popular songs in the Concert Magic piano memory which you can choose from. Once you make you song selection, then you can play it. But playing it means you would put a finger on any key and push or tap the key down and as you do that you would get the full left and right hand notes (chords) playing the song as you pressed the keys. In other words, you can never make a mistake! The point of that

Concert Magic fun at any age

exercise is to help you understand rhythm, timing, and tonal dynamics while listening to the correct notes of the song. You don't have to know anything about reading music or using the correct fingers on the correct keys to hear a song (a nice concept). There are Christmas songs, standard songs, folk tunes, classical music, and others tunes offered with Concert Magic that you may recognize. The goal of Concert Magic is to allow anyone to press the any key down to hear the correct notes coming out and then try to keep the correct timing & rhythm using the built-in metronome which you can set for nearly any time signature and speed. It's fun watching a 2 year old child press keys down and have the song notes sound perfect and moving along to the next notes every time they press any white or black key! If you are a beginner of any age and want to be able to press the keys and have perfect music come out instantly, then you'll really have fun with the Concert Magic feature while you are learning. Take a look at the video demo at the bottom of this page of a live impromptu recital using the Kawai Concert Magic feature (the little girl in the video is my granddaughter Emmalyn)!

Another educational feature of the CN24 is the built-in music lesson library consisting of Alfred's basic piano library of songs books 1A and 1B (a very popular lesson book series) along with Burgmuller 25 Etudes. With the built-in music library in the piano you can purchase the appropriate music books and then play along with the built-in songs at any tempo you wish (slower or faster) and also separate out the left hand and right hand parts for playback with controls in the piano accessed by the function button and keys. The Alfred piano leaning series of lesson books library is very popular with pianos teachers and is especially useful if you are a beginner or novice player so you can listen to left and right hand
parts separately on the CN24 (before you play the song yourself) to understand how each part sounds and to then play each part one at a time along with the song playing back. It's a pretty cool feature and Kawai is the only digital piano company with this kind of built-in lesson song library. There are many other Alfred piano and music books beyond level two but the CN24 does not have those songs built in. You would need to get a digital piano that is General MIDI compatible along with a built-in USB flash drive (such as the popular Kawai CN34 - $2399 internet price) to play other Alfred lesson book songs (including other lesson book publishers such as Faber). If you are taking lessons with a piano teacher you can use the Alfred curriculum in your lessons to correspond with the built-in Alfred instructional songs in the piano. But even if you never use this function, it's OK because this instrument is really all about the acoustic piano experience being recreated on a digital piano and having it be the one of the best you can get for a furniture cabinet digital piano under $2000.

Recorder button controls

The CN24 has a useful built-in digital recorder which offers one track of full piano (left & right hand) recording and a 3-song memory to save your recorded songs. This is generally sufficient for most people although some of the Kawai piano competitors have a 2-track recorder with separate left & right hand recording. Two separate tracks of recording is a nice feature and I would have wanted to see that in the CN24, but it is not absolutely essential. Most people just want to hear what they sound like regardless of whether the left & right hand are recorded altogether or individually. The CN24 also allows for electronically splitting the 88 piano keys into two equal 44-key pianos so that two people can play at the same time playing the same notes. The left hand part of the 88 keys is electronically changed to sound like the right hand part of the keys which is helpful if there is teacher-student practice or brother-sister, parent-child, etc. This can be a useful tool depending on your situation.

MIDI to USB cable connector

The CN24 is equipped with MIDI connectors to computer or external MIDI instruments but I do wish the CN24 had a dedicated USB output to iPad/computer as well as an audio input...that would have been useful for more instant connectivity. But some people do ask for  actual MIDI connectors (to connect to other sound modules, etc) which it does have, and then you can always purchase a low cost adapter cable to convert a MIDI connector on the piano to a USB cable connector so that you can connect the piano to an iPad/computer at that point and use some fun interactive apps for creative visual learning and music playing. I use iPad apps in my studio so I would definitely suggest that.

Another feature the CN24 has is ivory feel key tops which other brands have as well including Casio, Roland, and Yamaha in this price range or less. The synthetic ivory material used on the key tops simulates the feeling of real ivory that was used on real upright & grand pianos many years ago. Although some people do like the ivory feel keytops and it can be nice, it is not absolutely necessary and real acoustic pianos these days (and they have for many years) use regular white hard plastic keytops and not ivory, so that material (simulated or organic) is not something you would see on a regular piano anyway. Besides that, I have had some people tell me they do not personally like the feel of some synthetic ivory key tops, so it's definitely personal opinion, although I do like it and it helps absorb sweat in the fingers. If you are a sweaty person then you may like this feature even more:) 

Then there is the damper sustain pedal (along with the middle pedal sostenuto function and left soft pedal) which is sometimes overlooked as being important when shopping for a piano. The piano pedals (pic on left) are covered in protective plastic which can be taken off after you assemble the stand. The stand (including pedals) can be removed from the piano top and the pedals themselves are of a durable metal material (not plastic) and when using the right sustain/damper pedal, it activates what's known as "half-pedaling." Half-pedaling is the ability to have a medium amount of sustain decay time when pressing the pedal down about half way. Kawai did a great job as compared to other digital pianos I have played in the transition from off to on sustain with attentional levels in-between with a smooth pedal movement using the "Grand Feel Pedaling" as Kawai calls it. The sustain decay time (amount of time the sustained note is heard when you let go of a key) when holding down the pedal and playing the piano keys is quite long and holds up well as you play keys across the keyboard which was impressive to me. The longer decay times (and extra 192-note polyphony) helps when playing more legato passages of music especially in classical pieces so even more advanced students and players will appreciate that.

CN24 key action

But all the drum rhythms in the world, automatic chord arrangements, extra sounds, synthetic ivory keys, or the latest USB technology is unimportant in my opinion if you do not have a realistic piano playing experience with a solid key action, good smooth dynamic acoustic piano tone, and proper pedal action & response. Although piano touch, tone, and pedal response is ultimately a subjective thing, when you compare a digital piano to a real acoustic piano there needs to be some definite similarities.  In my opinion the key action and pedaling of the CN24 is noticeably smoother and more realistic in key movement and weight than the Yamaha GHS and GH key action & pedaling found in the lower and higher priced Yamaha DGX and Arius models (including Clavinova CLP430/440 GH3), Roland ivory-G action, and a few other brands. Key action static touch weight (how much force it takes to push the key down from resting position) and realism is the number one feature to focus on in a piano and this Kawai model does it well. Another digital piano brand in the lower price range which offers a fairly realistic key action in this low price range in my opinion is Casio, and I have done reviews of those pianos which you can read about on my blog.

CN24

I always seem to get many people asking me about new 88-key furniture style digital pianos without a lot of "bells & whistles" for less than $2000 (approx) price range. There is a variety of choices out there including the Yamaha YDP162, Yamaha YDP181, Yamaha YDPV240, Casio PX850, PX780, Korg LP380, Roland RP301, Roland RP301R, and Kurzweil MP10, and others. But I would suggest that you consider the Kawai CN24 ($1799 Kawai store discount price) if you intend on keeping the piano for awhile and want a good investment in a high quality instrument that you will likely not grow out of for a long time. The Kawai CN24 is a piano even an advanced player can appreciate if you are focused on realistic acoustic piano sound and key action. you have a real winner... especially with the name Kawai attached to it. But no matter what brand or model you may chose, it's all about the music and having an enjoyable playing experience and ultimately you can get that on some (but not all) brands and models in this price range. The Kawai CN24 isn't the only digital piano brand or model to get for under $2000, but it is certainly a good one. If you have the budget to spend slightly more money, Kawai has a very popular digital piano priced at $1899 called the CE220 as well as a similar model to the CN24 called the KDP90 for a lot less money at $1149 internet discount price. In fact, the new KDP90 has many of the attributes of the CN24 and although the action and piano sound are different on the KDP90, it is still very impressive and close to that of the CN24. So if you want or need to spend less money, then take a look at my KDP90 review. Go to the following links below to read my reviews on these two other Kawai digital pianos: KDP90: KDP90 Review - CE220: Kawai CE220 Review. 

With a quiet quality hammer key action, realistic pedal action, a large amount piano polyphony memory, resonate piano tone with great reverb and brightness settings, along with some cool useful features that all fits well into in a fairly compact furniture cabinet weighing in at only 99lbs, the CN24 is a winner in my book.

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.

*The video below is showing off the Piano Magic feature. The piano itself in the video is the lower priced Kawai KDP90 which has the same exact Piano Magic feature as the CN24. My 1.5 yr old granddaughter sounds like she really knows what she's doing!

 

UPDATED - October 31, 2013 - TOP 7 Digital Piano Shopping Tips - READ THIS BEFORE YOU BUY! Shopping for a new digital piano is generally not an easy thing to do. There are so many brands, models, sizes, styles, colors, prices, and places to buy them from that it can make the shopping experience a difficult one. So what can a person do to make this an easier, more enjoyable experience when it comes to shopping for and then actually purchasing a new digital piano? Well...I'm glad you asked because I have some good answers for you!

I have been working with, playing & teaching on hundreds of different types and brands of digital pianos and keyboards over my long music career. I keep up on all the latest brands, models, and digital technology and understand the things you need to know when shopping for a new digital piano. My digital piano blog is the finest resource for digital piano reviews and info on the Internet and you can find some useful info. However I want to share with you my top 7 things that I believe will enable you to more easily make an educated, informed decision on buying a new digital piano. Although the info I am providing here for you is very useful, you will still likely have questions and want some specific advice while doing your research on digital pianos, and if that's the case, I invite you to contact me personally with your questions and I will respond with the best advice I can give you (at no charge). The best way to make contact with me is to email me first, and if you live in North America, I am also available to talk with you by phone once we establish what your questions are by email.

1.Know what your budget is before you shop - If you can, have a pre-determined budget before you go out shopping and also allow some room for increasing your budget based on the "wow" factor of the piano either in its appearance or because of its digital features that impress you. Don't limit your budget but don't spend more than you have to to get what you want. There are many good, competitive brands out there and some can do similar or even more advanced things for less money than a more expensive model in another brand, so shopping around and doing research is important. If you don't know what digital pianos cost or have no idea how much you'll need to spend to get what you really want, then just keep an open mind and don't settle for something just because it's a cheap price. You're buying a piano and it needs to work correctly and help you make good music. Go here for my reviews on digital pianos under $1000: Digital Pianos under $1000. Go here for my reviews of digital pianos under $2000: Digital Pianos under $2000.
Go here to read about the new Roland HP pianos priced between $2500-$5000: Roland HP 500 series Digital Piano Reviews. Go here to read about Yamaha Clavinova CLP 400 series digital pianos priced between $2000-$5000: Yamaha Clavinova CLP400 series Reviews

2.Know your what your musical goals are before you shop - Who will be playing and/or taking lessons on the piano? Are you looking for your kids to learn the piano? Are they beginners or more advanced? Do you want them to learn to play recreationally for fun or do you (or they) want to be involved with playing music in a more advanced, serious way? Will any adults be playing the piano? Do they already play well or are they beginners? Is the latest, cool digital piano technology desirable to have in the piano such as USB/MIDI plug & play output to iPad for utilizing exciting music educational apps? Would a better, more realistic piano key action be important? How about having the ability to play along with lesson songs recorded in the General MIDI format which helps with practicing your lessons at home? Digital piano features including more realistic piano sound & key action are usually directly related to your musical goals. Be sure you know what your goals are before you shop for and buy a new piano. Don't let a piano sales web site or piano/music store salesperson sway you into buying what you don't need one way or the other. You might be able to accomplish your musical goals on a $1000 digital piano or maybe you'll need a $4000 digital piano instead? But just because someone says you need a $4000 digital piano doesn't mean that you really do. You may be able to have a great time and accomplish your musical goals for half that price or less.

3.Know what style and/or color of digital piano you prefer - Are you wanting a portable digital piano that can easily be removed from a stand and transported or easily carried or would you like a more attractive furniture style cabinet in an upright or baby grand style? Some of these digital pianos look very beautiful in a home or studio depending on their cabinet design and finish. Do you prefer brown, black, white, satin or polished finish, etc? All of these considerations are important things to think about before you start shopping because different cabinet finishes, styles, and designs can add some cost to the final price you pay. You can also get digital pianos in the small baby grand furniture cabinets and I happen to like digital pianos in the small baby grand cabinets and I know a lot of people who feel the same. But they may either be out of your price range or too large to fit in your space. Just because a piano can look good on the outside does not mean they are good musical instruments on the inside. So be careful to not be "pulled in" by cabinet alone. After all, you are buying a musical instrument to play and enjoy music, and if the piano does not play well then at the end of the day, the cabinet will be of little consolation to you.

4.Know what to expect when you shop "on-line" or go to a local music store - When you are shopping for a piano and doing research, unfortunately many salespeople who work at on-line internet stores, general merchandise stores (like Costco, Sam's Club, etc) or local "mainstream" music store chains such as Guitar Center, Sam Ash, American Music, etc, typically do not know what they are talking about when it comes to new digital pianos, based on all my personal experience. They usually cannot explain the differences or why one piano model might be better than another for your particular needs and musical goals. They don't know the right questions to ask you to determine what you need or even how to use the various features & features of these pianos. In reality, many of these people are simply clerks or order takers depending on where you shop. I know this because I have been to these stores and have talked with numerous salespeople & clerks over the years who try to help you (when you ask them to), but they are mostly too inexperienced with these kinds of products to know much, if anything. Occasionally you'll find a knowledgeable salesperson who can help you and has your best interests in mind, but this is pretty rare. Mainstream music or general merchandise stores carry pianos that are usually lower priced models (under $1500) than what you'll find at an actual piano store. But price is not everything because you need to make sure you're getting the right one for your needs. When you shop for digital pianos at an actual piano store, those salespeople tend to know a lot more about the products they have and can help you better, but the pianos they carry are generally higher priced models over $2000, but you can negotiate with the salespeople for their "best discount price" as some piano stores are flexible on their discounts. You will see many new digital pianos in traditional piano stores that are simply not available in the mainstream music stores and you may really like one of them and be able to spend that kind of money. Different types of stores have different price ranges and experienced or inexperienced salespeople, so it can become a bit frustrating to shop for a new digital piano because you can wind up becoming confused as to what you really need and how much you should pay for it! However, if you want help with clearing up the confusion...Contact me forFREE ADVICE BEFORE YOU BUY! My motto is, "you do not have to spend a lot of money to get a satisfying digital piano playing and practice experience!"

5.Know what the digital piano feature"terminology" means - Have you heard of term "polyphony,"graded hammer key action, key action escapement/letoff mechanism, key sensor dynamics, half-pedaling, General MIDI song accompaniments, ensemble style arrangements, drum patterns, multi-track recording - synthetic ivory keytops, sound attack & decay control, reverb, plastic vs. wood keys, stereo sampling, USB Core MIDI connection, MP3 & WAV file audio recording, harmonic overtones, sympathetic vibrations, etc? These are terms which are used to describe various functions and features of the piano sound, key action, and other technologies available in digital pianos that may be of importance to you. Is it important to have 256 notes of polyphony as opposed to 64 notes or have more key sensors in the piano as opposed to less? Is synthetic ivory keytops really necessary for a good playing experience? Is a more powerful built-in audio/speaker system better to have when trying to recreate an acoustic piano experience? Is a portable piano with external speakers better than a furniture cabinet piano with internal speakers? Do you need built in visual music notation in the piano as opposed to connecting your piano to an iPad or laptop computer to get the same thing or have even better results that way? Should you get a piano with a good user display screen as opposed to a piano without a display screen? Is MP3/WAV file audio recording important and/or would General MIDI song files help you practice better and have more successful results?  Do you need a USB flash in the piano to save and play your recorded music or input other prerecorded music such as iTunes directly into your piano? Can you sing into the piano through a microphone and if so, will the piano record your voice and play it back, or are there other better ways of doing that? Which of these features are more important and necessary if you are a beginner player as opposed to an advanced player? As you can tell, all of this can be overwhelming to think about but they are all considerations when looking to buy a digital piano. I can help you sort through some of these things if you want help...just let me know.

6.Know what brands & models are available -  There are many of them and some are good and some are...bad. I have personally seen some of the digital piano brands sold through general merchandise and mainstream music stores and some of them are just inferior overall and in some cases, down right terrible. Those brands can look great on the outside and have a very low price, but as far as investing in your piano future, you would be very sorry you spent the money, especially if your goal is to get a good piano. Here are some examples of digital piano brands that are available (not in any particular order): Roland, Kawai, Yamaha, Samick, Kurzweil, Omega, Korg, Viscount, Kohler, Adagio, Suzuki, Adams, Casio, Williams, and there are others. Within these brands there are multiple models available. So how do you choose and where can you see them? In many cases, you cannot physically see many of the brands or models in a store because of many reasons. Some stores cannot afford to carry many models so they limit their selection, they may not have the space, or they may not be able to get those brands. You just have to research and eventually place your order (if you haven't actually seen it in person) and trust that it will work out good. And even if the brand is a highly respected manufacturer, that does not guarantee you the model they have is superior to another or is the right piano for you. As an example, right now Yamaha has a digital piano model called the Arius YDPV240 that sells for around $2000 and yet it uses the same lighter weight key action called the GHS key action as is in their $600 portable digital piano. However if you spend LESS money at approx $1700 for a Yamaha YDP181 or YDP142, you get their upgraded GH key action found in the more expensive Yamaha CLP Clavinova line. Just because one piano is more or less money than the next model does not necessarily translate into a better or worse piano. In my opinion the piano models should stand on their own and they need to have the right balance of technology, construction, reliability, and price to compete and be the right piano for you. So don't rule out one piano over another just on "paper specs" alone or what a brochure says. All the brands and models are considered WONDERFUL & AMAZING by their makers because that's what they're supposed to say as they are in the business of selling them to people like you. But what you read may not be the actual reality as I have found many times. So be careful when shopping for a specific brand and limiting yourself to that brand or model just because a friend, piano teacher, or on-line consumer review says it's a really good. There may actually be better choices out there. The great thing about digital pianos is that their technology (in most of the good brands) keeps getting better & better as the years go on. And with the amazing technological improvements we see in everyday electronics like cell phones, iPad's/tablets, computers, TV's, home audio & video recording, GPS, and a host of other incredible devices, one thing is for sure, digital pianos will become even more exciting in the future than what they are now.

7. Know the conveniences of owning a digital piano - On most digital pianos you can play in privacy using stereo headphones which is one of the nicest features about owning a digital piano and great for a families sanity when you have other noisy things going on in the house at one time! Plus you don't feel intimidated or embarrassed when you play wrong notes cause no one can hear you:) You can (on some models) electronically divide the 88 keys into two identical 44-key pianos and have two people play at the same time including teacher & student, brother & sister, etc. You will not need to tune your digital piano...EVER! That will save you a minimum of $1000 if instead you had an acoustic piano and tuned it just once a year for 10 years which is fairly normal for people who own acoustic pianos. You can connect to the internet from a USB/MIDI to iPad/computer output. There is an
incredible world of music related learning, notation, and composing apps and programs out there that make playing & learning the piano great fun, especially for kids. You can't do that on an acoustic piano:). You can record yourself playing and then listen to how you did. That helps with understanding what you did right in your piano playing and what you did wrong. It's a great practice tool. A furniture cabinet digital piano is typically much lighter than a regular acoustic piano so it's fairly easy to move, and a portable digital piano can easily by moved and you can even take it with you as many of these portable digital pianos weigh anywhere from about 25lbs to about 50lbs. You can be creative and mix instrument sounds together to create a full orchestra or band which motivates many students and players because you can better recreate the music that you hear on CD's, radio, iTunes, etc.

In reality, some people can be just as happy playing and learning on a $800 digital piano as they can on a $5000 digital piano and that's because they cannot recognize the differences based on their previous piano experience. It all really depends on your playing skill level, your piano playing or music experience, and what your expectations are. In the $1500 range, there are digital pianos that play & sound great for the price and have helpful built-in digital piano technology and will be more than enough to satisfy many people. But there are also $2500-$5000 (and up) digital pianos which do many things, some of which you'll never use, but the realistic full acoustic piano sound and higher quality key action are so good that it justifies the price in some cases.

You can be certain there are usually big differences among various new digital piano brands and models, but you just have to know what those differences are and why you might want or need them. You don't necessarily have to go to a traditional piano store to buy a digital piano because you can get good ones on-line these days for low prices at internet stores. But piano stores do offer some very cool models with great technology that you will not see in the mainstream music stores. Some of that newer digital piano technology on the higher priced pianos is great for helping you learn and play better and some of the furniture style cabinets look quite attractive in a home living area. One of the big questions I get asked by many people across the US and the world is "do I really need all those bells & whistles on a digital piano?" As an experienced piano teacher & musician my answer is always "it just depends what your musical goals are and the kind of music you'll want to play." Music is supposed to be enjoyable to play...that's why most people do it...it feels good and it can be a very deep, moving experience for many (it is for me). So will the "bells & whistles" make you feel better? They just might do that (and for many people they do) and then you'll be very happy you have them. But for those people who are absolutely positive that they want to primarily play piano and do little else on the instrument except get the best key action movement and piano sound realism they can for their budget, there are definitely digital pianos that do a better job of that than other models. I can give you free help with your questions if you email or call me direct (calls from North America residents only please).

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

UPDATED REVIEW- November 1, 2013 - I recommend the 2013 Casio PX350 ($799US internet discount price) & Casio PX150 ($499US internet discount price) digital portable pianos. After 30 years of producing digital pianos & keyboards, the Casio piano company continues to improve their digital piano models using the latest technology and keeping prices low, which is what they are known for. The PX350 (upper left pic) has a interactive LCD display screen, 250 instrument sounds, 17 track General MIDI playback & record functions (no one comes close to that), 128 notes of polyphony which is twice as much memory as the Yamaha DGX640, 360 drum patterns and auto chord styles, and many other useful features including midi in/out & stereo 1/4" audio outputs & inputs which the Yamaha DGX640 and some other pianos do not have in this price range for full featured digital pianos. Also, it weighs just 25lbs which is very light but it's still a solid instrument and easy to move if necessary.

The Casio company has its worldwide headquarters in Tokyo, Japan (left pic) and has been producing digital pianos for over 30 years. They also produce keyboards, pro synthesizers, as well as being famous for calculators, advanced digital cameras, sports & consumer watches, advanced digital technology for communication devices, and some very impressive new digital computer technology. Casio produces their own computer chips and proprietary micro technology and is able to do it at a fraction of the cost of some of it's biggest competitors. That is why Casio tends to have lower prices. Some people equate lower prices with lower quality but in my opinion these new Casio digital pianos are quite impressive. Beyond that, Casio has a new 3-year parts & labor warranty  which shows they are serious about giving consumers product protection and have confidence in their new pianos. Most warranties on digital pianos under $1000 have no more more than 1 year labor or maybe 2 at the most, so 3 years is outstanding in my opinion.

Casio PX350 w/stand & pedals

The noticeable upgrades on the PX350 are a much improved acoustic piano reproduction over previous models with way more realism and better overall sound and decay times, improved & upgraded key action, ivory & ebony feel keys (very nice & no one else has that in this price range), USB flash drive device input (in place of SD card), digital audio wav file recording of your performance to USB flashdrive (no one else has this in this price range and it's very cool), and more. Take a look at some videos of the PX350 being played live at the bottom of this review. Notice that one of the videos has an internationally famous Jazz & blues musician playing the PX350 in his hotel room while on tour. His name is Joe Sample and according to Casio (I can only take their word for it), Joe thinks this is one of the best portable digital pianos he has ever played and has since ordered two of them. I personally wouldn't have believed a musician of his stature would even want to play a low priced digital piano from Casio let alone own one, but seeing is believing.

I have personally played this piano from top to bottom and not only has the piano sound and key action been substantially upgraded over the previous model as I mentioned earlier, so have some of the additional instrument sounds, drum rhythms, arrangement styles, and other features including digital storage to USB flashdrive capabilities. 

Casio PX350

The PX350 control panel (left pics) is similar to the discontinued PX330 but with a modified button layout which is more intuitive to use and sleeker looking. An optional Casio furniture style stand & 3-pedal unit especially made for the new PX portable pianos is available for an extra cost. The Casio factory warranty on this model is 3 years parts & 3 years labor which is more than sufficient in the world of digital pianos and actually quite long compared to other brands in this price range. The closest competitor to the Casio PX350 that I recommend is the current model Yamaha DGX640 as I mentioned earlier. Although both the Casio & Yamaha are fun to play and work good, the new Casio seems to be a superior instrument in many ways including acoustic piano sound & much more realistic graduated hammer key action, wider piano dynamics, longer decay/sustain time, double the polyphony, and many other functions. Yamaha uses their basic standard GHS action in the DGX640 as compared to the more realistic (in my opinion) Casio upright piano feel hammer key action. It is noticeably different than the Yamaha although some people may like a lighter weight key action, I prefer the Casio type of piano weighted key action for my piano students and for people interested in reproducing the acoustic piano key weight and action as closely as they can. Just for the record, sound and key action is subjective and not an exact science. While there are many people who will think the Casio is fantastic for the price in every way, others will be more critical and want to hear even better sounding instruments, chord arrangement styles, and drum patterns which are the other parts of the PX350. But for the money I believe most people will think the PX350 is the best "portable package" in the marketplace at this moment for all that it does and has at a selling price well under $1000. When you attach the optional furniture stand and 3 pedal unit to the piano it looks like a smaller compact piano and behaves just like a real upright piano which I like.

Casio PX150

The Casio PX150 (left & upper left pics) replaces the older PX130 and is upgraded in some big ways, most notably the piano tone & piano key action which is identical to the new PX350. The PX350 has four speakers and 16 watts of power and the PX150 has 2 speakers and 16 watts of audio power which is generally sufficient for portable and cabinet digital pianos. The PX350 however does sound better than the PX150 because of its two extra speakers. The cabinet on the PX150 as well as the PX350 has been slightly redesigned in styling & colors (both available in satin black & also satin white - above left pic) and I like those improvements. The PX150 has 18 instrument tones as opposed to 16 in the former PX130 and although that's only two more sounds than the PX130, they are the most important sounds that people ask for...which is the acoustic piano sound. In all, the PX150 has 5 acoustic piano reproductions incl classical concert piano and pop piano among others. The PX150 also has a core compliant USB/MIDI plug & play connection to iPad or laptop computer (as was in the PX130) which is a very useful feature especially with so many people wanting to connect to iPad/tablet or laptop for educational and/or music composition software & apps. Also very nice are the new ivory & ebony feel key tops which the PX130 did not have. This gives the fingers a better playing surface on which to play on which is way cool. It even makes the keys look classier instead of just having white plastic like the Yamaha's still do in this price range. The PX150 also has key transpose, duet/4-hand playing mode, 2 headphone jacks, a 2-track MIDI song recorder, and other features. An optional furniture style stand and 3-pedal unit is also available for this model.

Yamaha P105

The nearest price and piano quality competitor to the Casio PX150 is the Yamaha P105 for $100 more ($599US internet discount price). The P105 is the replacement for the Yamaha P95 which has been out for quite a while and recently discontinued. The P105 is a huge upgrade over the older Yamaha P95 (I have the P105 extensively and listened to one in person), but even with the big upgrades in features including much improved piano sound, as far as reproducing realistic acoustic piano key action and acoustic piano sound with a much greater range of tonal dynamics, it's my opinion the new Casio PX150 is noticeably better. This is because it has a higher level of acoustic piano sound realism and 3-sensor weighted hammer key action technology over the Yamaha for faster repetitive action recognition. Also, the Casio offers five different acoustic piano tones (which is a lot in this price range) whereas the Yamaha offers just two acoustic piano selections. The P105 is still using its standard GHS key action (even in this new model) which they have had out for years. While it is adequate in its price range, the GHS action is somewhat light (and a bit noisy-plasticky) in key movement and response as compared with Yamaha's better GH action in their higher priced digital pianos. But even the Yamaha GH key action in my opinion does not simulate playing an acoustic piano as well as the new Casio 3-sensor (Casio calls it tri-sensor) key action. However, the new Yamaha P105 has a few cool features over the Casio PX150 that I really like (basic drum rhythms & piano chord styles) but I don't think I would sacrifice the higher quality and more realistic piano sound and key action on the Casio's for a few of the "cool" digital features the Yamaha has. I can always get some exciting musical & educational features off my iPad or laptop connected to the Casio PX150 if I needed or wanted to. I will say that the internal speaker system of the Yamaha P105 does sound a bit fuller & richer than the Casio PX150 so that is a plus for Yamaha since having fuller internal sound is usually a good thing. But when you listen through headphones, the Casio PX150 does sound noticeably better to me and you can connect to external powered speakers if you wish.. The Casio PX350 has four independent speakers as opposed to two in the PX150 so the PX350 sounds better than the PX150.

I have played and listen to both of these new Casio models and as I just mentioned, I was personally impressed by the upgraded piano sound & key action from previous models, especially for their low prices. Unless you were a fairly good piano player, you might not be able to tell much difference between an actual acoustic piano and these new Casio models as far as touch & piano tone, especially when listening through a good pair of headphones (the on-board speakers are good for a portable piano, but connecting to an external speaker system through audio outputs would be even better). I have played all of the new pianos out there including other brands not mentioned here and you can have satisfying playing experiences on many Yamaha's, Kawai's, Roland's, and other brands. But if you want a relatively inexpensive digital piano that sounds & plays great (for the money), is lightweight to carry or store (25lbs for the piano itself), and has lots of useful features including plug & play USB output to iPad & computer (see iPad music app pics at left and above), then I recommend the new Casio PX150 & PX350 for people looking in these price ranges and wanting something with higher quality technology.

Is it worth buying the PX150 & PX350 since they are $100 more each over even less expensive more basic digital pianos (and there are some out there)? It really depends on your budget and your musical goals? However I believe there are compelling reasons to purchase either of the new Casio models and spend a bit more money because if you plan to own the piano for awhile and want to grow into it instead of "out of it," you might as well beahead of the curve in terms of technology and getting much closer to replicating the piano tone & key action of a real acoustic piano. If that's important to you then I believe getting a the PX150 or PX350 and spending a bit more will worth it in the long run:). 

Note: There are some people out there who think I purposely favor the Casio brand over others, but I do not. I like all of the major brands including Roland, Kawai, Casio, and Yamaha, and a couple others. In the lower price range under $1100, there is really nothing else right now that comes close to the new line of Casio Privia pianos and that includes Yamaha, one of my favorite brands. Take a look at these new videos (down below) I found of the PX350 in action from Casio's main US product designer & specialist, Mike Martin as well famous Jazz pianist Joe Sample, and a classical concert artist by the name of Anthony Patterson. Once you hear the stereo multi-sampled acoustic grand piano sound on the PX350 in these videos, you will know why I am impressed with these new models at their low prices and being a piano teacher and musician myself, lower prices always make me smile:)

Casio PX750

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

CASIOPX350/PX780 DEMO SONGS BELOW - Please listen to them as everything is played live without overdubs. I made a few live playing mistakes but that's what you get sometimes when you improvise with no sheet music. I made up the songs as I played them but the point was just to show off some of the rhythm accompaniment style features along with a few of the other instrument sounds including acoustic grand piano. Hope you enjoy:)

   Dynamic Grand Piano Pop by Tim Praskins on the Casio PX350

   Organ-piano Jazz Groove by Tim Praskins on the Casio PX350

   Light County Rock by Tim Praskins on the Casio PX350

   Acoustic-Elec Piano rock by Tim Praskins on the Casio PX350

 






Legendary pianist Joe Sample playing a Casio PX350 live in his hotel room impromptu and not rehearsed, and on camera too... that's called being brave:)


Joe Sample showing off his piano playing skills in Concert with George Benson 

Yamaha DGX650

REVIEW - Yamaha DGX650 - Recommended - The Yamaha DGX650 portable digital piano ($799 internet discount price including matching stand - pedals optional) is the most recent update of the popular DGX series of lower priced Yamaha portable digital pianos. I say portable because you can play the piano without its stand and move it, but it is a bit large and heavy (approx 50lbs) for being a true portable piano as compared to other brands or models of portable pianos in this price range such as the Yamaha P105. However it is still small and light enough overall to fit into many areas of your house or apt.

There have been a number of DGX models over the years with the newest DGX650 version replacing the DGX640 with much needed and appreciated upgrades in this 2013 model including more polyphony (128 notes vs 64 in previous model which is a welcome change), better piano sound sample (more realistic piano tone), slightly better internal speaker system, and a nicer, more contemporary cabinet offered in black with dark brown rosewood side trim and an all satin white color with a bit of silver accents, instead of just the traditional wood tones from previous models (I didn't personally like those much) which are no longer offered. This new DGX model still does not offer any kind of built-in key cover. The best way for me to describe the new DGX650 is to say that it is really like putting together the newer Yamaha P105 ($599 internet price) piano sound chip with pedal resonance & 128 note polyphony, and mixing it with some of the fun educational features of the former DGX640 along with some additional cool features, more connectivity, and as I mentioned earlier, a slightly upgraded speaker system and better cabinet colors.

Yamaha DGX650

However, the single most important part of any piano (digital or traditional) is the key action. The key action is like the transmission in a vehicle...the way it moves, behaves, sounds, and operates is "key" (haha) to playing a piano properly. The DGX series of pianos has not changed its key action in many years and uses what Yamaha calls its GHS (standard) key action. Although the GHS action has been around a long time and seems to hold up fine over time, it is not, in my opinion, a very realistic reproduction of an actual acoustic piano key action. Yes, it is weighted across the keys and graduates in weight and feels much more like a piano than a keyboard does. However in my opinion, it is not near the realism in movement or static key touch weight (when a key is first depressed from resting position) as compared to Casio or Kawai 88 key digital pianos in the lower price range under $1000. Also the keys themselves are a bit plasticky feeling and make some plastic sounding noise at times when the keys go up & down. The upgraded Yamaha GH key action is definitely quieter in movement and gives a more solid and natural feel overall...but that key action is not in Yamaha models until a minimum of $1499. So just to be clear, if you want the best piano key action you could get in this lower price range, there are other piano choices.

However, the fun educational and musical features of the DGX650 cannot be overlooked and they are numerous. There is the very nice user digital display screen (left pic) which no other piano under $1000 has that is larger and displays musical notes, lyrics to songs, and general function information. The piano has over 500 individual instrument sounds built in (wow!) with different variations of some of those tones including some very realistic sounding instruments such as saxophones, trumpets, marimbas, electric pianos, synthesizers, and many others. The DGX650 has a ton of special effects including 35 different reverbs, 44 types of choruses, 235 types of DSP effects, and 5 types of EQ so that you can "tweak" the individual sounds using these effects. There are also 195 preset chord/drum pattern styles including jazz, latin, rock, country, waltz, and just about anything you can think of. There are "easy-play features including auto chord play for 1 finger, 3 finger, and multi finger auto play, style drum intro, ending, fill-in, and variation, and so much more. The DGX650 (like its predecessor DGX640) has a 6-track MIDI player recorder which can play MIDI song files including General MIDI format songs which I use quite a bit with student training and learning lesson & popular music songs. General MIDI capability is also found on other brands as well.

chord iPad app

Ultimately what the DGX650 is really all about, is...playing the piano keyboard and interacting with a virtual band using ensemble chord style playing (instead of bass clef/treble clef traditional method) with a new smart chord feature and a new style recommender which allows you to play in a certain style and then the piano will identify that style and pick the appropriate automatic chord/instrument arrangement. These new features are actually pretty cool and fun to use and I have tried them for myself many times. The piano will also display visual notation in the user display screen for a variety of playback songs as well as display the lyrics to selected songs for singalong. But playing by piano chords which is similar to playing chords on a guitar as far as learning chord patterns go, is knowing how to place 3 fingers or more in a visual pre-set pattern which then forms a chords such as C chord, D chord, A minor chord, and so on. Piano teachers usually do not teach this method to children although some piano instructors will teach it to adults as a faster easier way of playing piano without the work and time needed to learn and read bass clef and then have to transfer that knowledge onto a piano. Usually once you get the fundamentals down of playing/reading music the correct way and being able to sight read that music, then a student or player can go on to play by the preset chord method with recognizing chord positions, inversions, & patterns when you see them on the sheet music. and that is ultimately the best way to use all of the automatic features on the DGX650. The chord method is also known as "fake music" by musicians & teachers and there are actually fake music books that only have right hand notation along with left hand chord symbols above the melody treble staff.

As far as connectivity (left pic), the DGX650 has USB to iPad/computer output which is good, USB flashdrive input to load and save songs, and an axillary input to run external sound through the piano speakers, which the previous model did not have. However, the DGX650 does not have audio outputs so you cannot run line outs to external speakers and still use the internal speakers, if you wanted to do that. The DGX650 4-speaker system is improved with regard to the tweeters (small speakers) being 2 centimeters bigger than before (5cm each instead of 3cm). The audio output is still 12 watts total which is on the low side of power, but because the speakers face upward instead of down, the sound feels louder for a lower wattage system.

Another cool new feature on this DGX650 is its ability to record audio wav files and save them on a USB flash drive. This enables you to record your piano playing as a CD audio quality file and save it onto USB flash drive and then save it for later listening use, play along, or take it and put it into your computer to use with software or attach it to an email and send it to your friends and relatives. Other brands are also coming out with or now have audio wav recording on their digital pianos as that technology is getting much less expensive to include in digital pianos. But I am happy Yamaha includes it in this piano.

The DGX650 has all the previous and popular (from the previous DGX640) digital features such as sound layering, sound splitting, octave changing, key transpose, individual volume controls, and lots of buttons and user functions to control the myriad of features on this piano. The DGX650, like its former self the DGX640, has some follow-along lessons which you can see in the user display screen with musical notation and you can follow along with it at your own speed. This has always been a fun way to use the piano although at the end of the day, you really don't want to get in the habit of looking down at the screen if you
intend on learning to read or already read music. Looking down can turn into a habit and can be hard to break later on. The DGX650 is fairly intuitive to use overall with its display screen and there are lots of easy to see buttons. The piano seems to be sturdy and Yamaha products are very reliable, but I personally think this model is a bit too industrial looking with exposed speaker grills on either side of the piano top, white and gray buttons and knobs, and the open window cut-out style music rack with 2 square cutouts on either side. Yamaha also produces an optional 3-pedalboard unit ($75 internet price) to add on to make the piano look and function more like real piano with 3 pedals. However the pedalboard itself is just OK and has slightly awkward playability issues as compared to a real piano.

In summing up this new model, I see it as an instrument that is very cool if you will be mostly be using the automatic chord playing functions and new features that go along with those functions instead of playing traditional bass clef/treble clef piano style. In other words, if you or a family member is taking lessons or plays piano in a more traditional (normal) way, this piano may not be for you because the primary features of the DGX650 has to do with using this piano in a non-traditional way including staring down at the display screen instead of straight ahead at music. As for a "portable piano", the DGX650 model is really a bit too big and heavy to carry around on a regular basis (as compared to other models in this price range) and it has dimensions closer to a full size digital piano cabinet. Finally the all important key action in a digital piano that everyone wants is not in this model as compared to higher priced Yamaha digital pianos (GH action) and lower priced Casio and Kawai digital pianos, as I mentioned earlier. So if you really want the best piano playing experience, then realistic key action movement and behavior should be at the top of your list. Also, if you or a family member (adult or child) will be taking lessons from a piano teacher, it is extremely doubtful that teacher will be using or teaching the auto-chord easy-play fun features very much, if at all. It would be a shame to get all of this cool technology and not really use it:(. But that's OK because there are other piano choices out there.

A better solution in my opinion to playing piano in a more realistic way using a bit more traditional method but incorporating fun and useful technology, and all within the same price range as the DGX650, would be to consider either the new Casio PX780 ($999 internet price - left pic) digital cabinet piano or Kawai ES100 ($799 internet price - lower left pic) portable digital piano. In my opinion both of these pianos have much better and more realistic piano hammer weighted key actions and nicer looking cabinets with a cleaner look. The Casio PX780 also has a sliding key cover, ivory feel keys, and a more powerful 40 watt speaker
system along with some very cool educational features using General MIDI and wav files for interactive learning. It even has the automatic chord/rhythm styles like the DGX650. To add even more fun  and learning technology that some people may want or need, I would suggest you connect a digital piano to an iPad utilizing the exciting new iPad piano & music apps that are out there which are amazing! I use these apps in my studio all the time to motivate and help students visualize music in a more personal way along with the more traditional teaching methods that I use. The iPad would be placed on the piano music rack directly in front of you where it should go, and then the visual interaction with these apps enables you to learn in ways that are super fun but yet help you with fundamentals of music. You can learn to read and understand music, timing & rhythm, playing along with and learning  your favorite songs while interacting with them, and having fun in ways that makes learning piano seem like it's not boring and demanding because you want to do it instead of being forced to do it! The iPad (or computer piano software) is not the total solution because piano teachers are still important, especially good local piano teachers who can guide you and hold you accountable, although there are some nice on-line and CD interactive piano learning courses (using a piano MIDI connection to computer) which are also quite educational and helpful.

The Yamaha DGX650 is a great instrument for the right purposes and offers fun entertainment for the entire family. But whatever you do, do your digital piano research, think about how you want to and likely will be using the piano, and what your piano playing priorities and expectations will be. At the end of the day you could be happy with many digital piano models including the new Yamaha DGX650 because it's all about playing music, expressing yourself, doing something good with your time, and giving you something rewarding that you can do for the rest of your life. Playing music can be extremely relaxing, fulfilling, fun, inspirational, emotional, and joyful...so don't wait too long to make it happen because you will not regret it for yourself, for family, and/or for your children:). Also, take a look at the links below that go to my reviews of what I consider to be the two best new digital pianos at their respective price points under $1000 for what they do and how they play:
Casio PX780 review
Kawai ES100 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.

Suzuki DG10 digital micro grand

REVIEW - November 6, 2013 - Suzuki DG10 Micro Grand digital piano - Not Recommended - Suzuki is a well known name for many things including motorcycles, cars, violins, and music instruction. However, the piano company name is privately owned and the name Suzuki is borrowed (or licensed) to this company and they have nothing to do with the vehicle or music instruction division. Although the Suzuki music company's piano products have been around for a number of years, Suzuki has moved their product sales in the US primarily to Costco stores. The new DG10 digital mini grand ($1399 Costco store discount price) is the latest small digital baby grand from Suzuki and (unfortunately) it utilizes the same key action electronics and sound technology as their low priced small SD10 vertical digital piano (approx $800-$900 internet price), which has been out for awhile.I have done a review of the SD10 at the following link if you would like to read about it: Suzuki SD10 review.


Once again, Suzuki has done a good job in producing an attractive, compact (55" wide x 31" deep, 165lbs) polished ebony cabinet that makes people say "that is really cool looking, and "I'd like to have one." American buyers (in many cases) tend to buy things impulsively because the item is pretty/beautiful or cool looking without really researching what's on the "inside." The Suzuki DG10 micro grand is a perfect example of that. It looks good on the outside, is a very low price for what it appears to be, has lots of buttons and a LCD display screen, connects to iPad, and has some fun features too. The keys themselves even go up and down like a real piano and have some weight to them so they do feel OK. There's a headphone jack for playing in privacy and a full 120 watt speaker system for loud volume if necessary. Add to that the ability to have and use drum beats, auto chords, and have a multitrack recorder for song recording and playback from a USB flashdrive, and it would seem like a fabulous "deal" at just $1399. The piano also includes a matching bench and factory warranty along with the fact that it's available at Costco for easy purchase and a full return policy if needed...what more could you want?

DG10 side view

Well...you could want a LOT more. Unfortunately the DG10 micro grand really does not sound like an acoustic piano and certainly does not play like an acoustic piano based on my experience playing it. I was actually hoping this new model was better in the fundamentals of piano playing than previous Suzuki models, and with the exception of a much quieter key action (which is good), the way the piano response behaves is not good. The key sensors under the keys that detect motion and trigger the piano sound do little to change tonal dynamics and volume sensitivity including dynamic range for proper expression from mellow to bright as well as soft to loud. Key repetition (playing multiple keys together fast & slow and how they respond) is weak and sometimes notes do not play, and overall piano playability including proper pedaling (this model does not have half-pedal function) is sorely lacking.

DG10 with closed lid

The piano polyphony on the DG10 is only 64-notes and in this price range many of the other digital piano brands are 128 notes to 256 notes of polyphony piano memory. Polyphony is the ability of the piano to play multiple notes at one time using sustain pedal. The more polyphony there is, the better. 64 notes of polyphony is OK and would not be an issue if the rest of the piano played good and was like a real piano. To some people the DG10 may actually sound like an acoustic piano and behave like one, but it really doesn't and it's obvious if you have played a good acoustic piano in the past and know what to listen for, which unfortunately most people do not know. All the extra "bells & whistles" are indeed fun to have and do work fine on the DG10, but just playing it as a piano is not a pleasant experience, at least for me and I wasn't trying to be overly critical.

Kawai CE220

To get a much better piano playing experience you could buy a very low price nice compact (portable) digital piano from Yamaha, Casio, or Kawai for under $800 which would far exceed the ability of the Suzuki DG10 in recreating realistic piano playing. If you chose to spend around $1000-$1500 (or slightly more) on a regular vertical cabinet model digital piano by Yamaha, Casio, Kawai, Roland, Kurzweil, or Korg, those brands and models would absolutely be a huge upgrade in piano realism over the Suzuki DG10 with regard to the fundamentals of piano playing including proper weighted key action, sturdiness of keys, piano sound, proper and full expression, responsiveness, pedaling, and other important piano playing functions. They just don't come in the cute, compact micro-grand cabinet:).

The bottom line is...you just do not get something for nothing. If you absolutely want the look of the Suzuki DG10 micro-grand cabinet and it is so important to you that the other things do not matter near as much, then buy it. Is the DG10 a bad piano, no I am not saying that. But are there much better alternatives for an digital instrument that should
be able to play piano realistically for under $1500, yes I am absolutely saying that! As a beginner you may not be able to distinguish what is necessary or important to have in a digital piano piano. But please do not let all those digital "toy" functions that produce all the extra bells & whistles along with the "cute cabinet" sway your
decision and cause you to buy a piano that in the end, may only cause more harm than good with regard to playing the piano, even at minimal standards. The old saying of "do not judge a book by its cover" or "you don't get something for nothing" is true of the Suzuki DG10 in my opinion. Based on my experience playing this piano it's really a toy dressed up to be a piano that looks good at a cheap price. The old saying of "you get what you pay for" is also true of the DG10. You will get what you pay for in this model and if that's what you want, then you should get it.

So what about quality, reliability, etc, over the years of a model like this? I can only judge that by past personal experience with Suzuki digital pianos and it was not good. The new Yamaha & Casio keyboards that cost less than $300 sound much more realistic to me (and do more) than any of these Suzuki pianos and the main advantage the Suzuki DG10 has over these low priced keyboards is a heavier weighted key action and nice looking cabinet with a powerful speaker system. But even the cabinet had some issues on the one of the DG10's I played at Costco. The piano was new and yet had a key cover that did not close properly and got stuck (I
have seen this before) along with a very wiggly lid when you hardly moved it. Also when the key cover was completely opened up and slid back into the piano, the cover was still sticking out and partially covering up the top row of buttons including the button names. That is not a good thing and I tried to push the key cover up further into the piano where it should be, but the key cover would not go in any further. Perhaps its can be adjusted but the piano would need to be taken apart to get into it to see if anything could be done about it. Also, the dust that collects and sticks to the DG10 polished ebony finish can also be an issue in dusty areas, so if you want a low maintenance piano for keeping it clean and and cabinet features that work, this is not the one to get based on what I saw.

The good things about this DG10 are that it can play loud, sounds OK with 128  instrument sounds some of which are nice (electric pianos, strings, and other non-piano tones), looks cute, is pretty, is a small compact size, and you can have fun with it using 100 automatic fun accompaniments & drums including jazz, rock, Latin, country etc, a multitrack recorder, song playback system, duet and sound layers as well as auto harmony, MIDI & audio in/out jacks and USB computer connection, and convenient headphone jacks. So it really has a lot of "stuff." But as a piano, I give it a grade of "D." I wanted to give it at least a grade of C but this model isn't even average in actual piano playing realism.

There is not doubt the DG10 micro grand looks attractive from on the outside and can fit into many spaces. However, I would not recommend the Suzuki DG10 to my piano students or anyone else's students and certainly would not recommend it for someone who actually played the piano. If you don't play piano and will be a "one-finger" automatic chord playing person and you like the cabinet and the price, then this may be the perfect piano for you:). In America we have many choices and also if you don't like this piano after you buy it at Costco, you can always send it back to Costco because they are very nice about accepting returns, but good luck taking it apart and repacking it in the box:). Do yourself and/or your family a favor...get a digital piano that can play like a piano (when you need it to) and there are good ones out there, and you can find reviews of a variety of models in different price ranges on my blog. It is true that a small digital baby grand cabinet in a good brand will be well above $2000 and upwards to $5000 because you can't get something for nothing when it comes to quality in cabinet, sound, key action, pedals, and reliability. The Suzuki DG10 is a cheap price for a reason and that's why the Suzuki DG10 will sell...many people value appearance over substance, and if that is you, then buy the Suzuki DG10, you might be happy with it...especially when someone comes into your home and sees it and then says...wow, that's a cool looking, beautiful piano:).

At the end of the day it's all about enjoying your piano playing experience and being able to have the piano grow with you as you progress in your piano playing skills. As an experienced and accomplished piano instructor for thousands of piano students over the years and having played professionally on digital pianos as well as Steinway, Yamaha, and Kawai acoustic grand pianos, I can tell you that few things are as beautiful & satisfying as playing a piano. So if you (or family members) are going to do that, then do it with a good instrument that will bring you years of playing happiness and joy for the entire family knowing that you spent your money well.

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 - November 15, 2013- USED DIGITAL PIANOS...SHOULD YOU BUY ONE? What are they worth? Are they a better value than NEW Digital Pianos? Learn the answers HERE from an expert before you buy one!

I have worked with and played nearly all of the major brands of digital pianos throughout the years including Yamaha, Roland, Casio, Kawai, Kurzweil, Korg, Technics, Gem, Suzuki, and many more. I have played them professionally, recreationally, taught lessons on them and know how they work. There are always used digital pianos for sale on eBay, CraigsList, in various ads on-line and locally, in piano stores and various music stores. There seems to be no shortage of used digital pianos and a few are good and many are bad, and some are some in-between. Some models are newer, some are older, and some have useful technology, but many used digital pianos are outdated in terms of  not having a piano sound & key action along with having unseen internal wear, and therefore not worth owning.

Used digital piano

When it comes to used digital piano prices, there seems to be no set standard of what they may be worth or what a good deal is...it's really whatever the market will bear or however the seller is motivated to sell it. But as with all technology, new digital pianos keep on improving in nearly every way and with those improvements come even lower prices than used ones in many cases, or at least the prices don't go up much. Although used computers or flat screen TV's are a bit different than used digital pianos, the end result is the same. As an example, just try selling a 5 year old used digital TV and see what you get? You probably paid twice as much as they sell for now and it probably isn't even half as good as what there is now. Over time the new ones get better and the old ones just become less desirable... unless you're willing to give it away. In the case of used digital pianos, what used to cost $2000 some years ago in terms trying to duplicate the key action & piano sound of an acoustic piano, has now been replaced by brand new digital pianos that are 3 to 4 times as good and cost about 1/2 the price. Even though the used digital piano may be a good trusted brand name (like Yamaha or Roland, etc) and the used piano may even be physically in good shape, that does not mean it will be a good investment as compared to buying a new digital piano.

New digital piano technology

When it comes to higher quality, name brand new digital pianos, they are now closer than ever to duplicating the piano keyboard action and piano sound of an acoustic piano. People ask me all the time if they should consider buying a slightly used digital piano over a new one and my answer is "it all depends what you can be happy with?" If you want the best piano tone & touch for yourself and/or your children, then new name brand digital pianos are almost always going to be better in that way. Based on your personal piano playing experience or skill level, you or your children may not be able to tell the difference right away, but your ability to recreate the song you are playing (or trying to play) in the right way will be helped greatly by the better and newer digital piano technology. If you want the latest in music educational functions on a digital piano, then new pianos will always be better for that as well. Many new digital pianos (not all) now have high speed USB to iPad or computer interface connections which are very important in today's world of music education for both kids and adults. Have you seen the available music education, composition, & notation apps for the iPad lately? They are fantastic and so useful in personal music development and understanding. Does the used piano have that ability and function?... maybe and maybe not. There are MIDI connections on many used pianos which can connect to computers, but the high speed, CoreMIDI compliant USB output to iPad/laptop that many new digital pianos have these days, is the way to go. You shouldn't miss out on super fun and instructive things an iPad/tablet or laptop can do for you with the right apps or music education software programs.


Other important considerations when shopping for a used digital piano are: how much polyphony piano sound memory does the used piano have? 32, 64, 128, or more and does that matter? Do the pedals support "half-pedaling" for more realistic pedal function and does that matter? Are the keys using the latest in key sound sensors to achieve greater and smoother dynamic range in playing songs and does that matter? What is the piano sound pedal decay in the used piano as compared to a new one? Can you do recording on the piano and if so, what kind is it? Does the piano save recordings to an old floppy disk drive  or a newer technology USB flash drive or SD card, or does it save songs at all? Is the key action lightweight, medium weight, heavy weight, progressive hammer, and is the key action quiet or is it noisy with loose keys. Perhaps the key contacts under the keys are starting to wear out (which they do), and that would be bad.

Bad keys - common problem

With all used pianos in private ads, there is no factory warranty and therefore you do take a risk and that risk could cost you hundreds more dollars in repairs in the long run (I have seen this personally). Repairing a digital piano can get quite expensive depending on the problem if it should occur, and the cost of a repair can cancel out any savings you may get on a used digital piano. Also, depending on where you live, there may not be a digital piano technician in your area or parts may not be available anymore which does happen...I have seen this often. At that point you just have to throw out the piano. Occasionally there is a good deal out there, but not too often and how would you really know? Are you willing to take the risk in buying a used piano because there is no warranty, and for many people, they think nothing will happen. But it only takes one "breakdown" with the piano to make things bad. Digital pianos don't last forever and eventually things start to wear out (on some more than others and some sooner than later). So be very careful when looking to buy a used digital piano because even though they may look good on the outside does not mean they are good on the inside.

Bad internal circuit board

One of the problems with used digital pianos for sale on the open market is that many sellers think their piano is worth a high price when in fact, it may have little or no value at all. This is typical of people who buy something (especially electronics) for a lot of money and then still think it's worth a lot of money later on, even after many years. The fact is, digital pianos over some years depreciate in a big way and they can and will also wear out. Also, older digital pianos just don't hold high values and in fact may be almost worthless in comparison to many of the newest lower price new digital pianos.

A false belief some people have is that if it's "used" it must be a better deal than new because it's less money, but that's is just not the case any more. You can get a new digital piano now for about $700-$1000 that blows away the keyboard action and piano sound quality of older digital pianos that were selling for over $2000 just 5 or 6 years ago. Yet, I have seen some piano stores and/or general music stores offer used pianos for sometimes nearly three times the price than they are worth because they think they can get away with it. Those same stores may offer free delivery, free lessons, free trade-up with your money back on a higher priced used digital piano, but you just don't get something for nothing these days and the "free things" don't come close to how much you may have over-paid for that used digital piano as compared with getting a better new one for less money.

Broken-loose piano keys

Call or email me directly if you are in the US and I will be happy to help you and answer questions but I don't give price info on individual used digital pianos as they will all differ in usage and wear along with being subject to individual conditions which can be hidden inside the keyboard actions or electronic parts. Establishing a general market value for a used digital piano can be difficult because of these variables as well as the owners not recognizing what their used piano is really worth. When you buy used, you also take a risk (as I mentioned earlier) and there is no way to get around that. 

So, are good (and the word "good" is very important) used digital pianos better buys than getting a new one? The answer is..."occasionally," but it depends on many things and you definitely don't want to pay too much or get stuck with something that seems good on the outside but has problems on the inside which you may not see or know about! As I said before, it only takes one broken key or bad part on a used piano to potentially add up to hundreds of dollars in repairs (kind of like a used car). A good deal on a used piano is only good when you are absolutely sure the piano is in perfect working order and you have carefully compared it to new digital pianos in the same price range. In some cases a used digital piano in a lower price range can have a more attractive furniture cabinet than a new one in that same price range. However, the piano sound realism, proper key action movement, and pedal function realism may be much less realistic than a low priced new digital piano, so it depends on what is most important to you and your family and what your music expectations are. At the end of the day it's all about enjoying the piano playing experience for you and your family. Don't short change that experience because making music whether you are a beginner is what counts so do it on a good piano that will last a while and offer the things that are important... including a good factory warranty with a good company to stand behind it. For more info, you can contact me and I can answer your questions no charge, but please understand that I do not help establish values for specific used pianos. 

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

REVIEW - Kawai CN24 Digital Piano - Recommended - The Kawai company is well known all over the world over for producing high quality acoustic upright & grand pianos, and their home and stage digital pianos are no exception.  I know many people who own Kawai pianos including friends & family members. The 2013 model CN24 is not available at traditional internet sites in the US and found only in Kawai piano stores in the US, although it may be different in other countries. There are two models in the CN series with the first one being the lower priced CN24 ($1799US Kawai store discount price) and the other one being the higher priced CN34 ($2399US Kawai store discount price). The CN24 is comes in an attractive traditional furniture style dark brown rosewood finish with front cabinet support legs. The main features on the CN24 which impress me are realistic weighted & graded acoustic style hammer key action, natural stereo acoustic piano sound with a big dynamic range, and proper pedaling movement and response all in an attractive cabinet with sliding key cover and matching bench.

It is worth noting that at just $100 more, the CN24 is noticeably better to me in ways I've just mentioned than the competitive model Roland RP301 ($1699 internet price) and Yamaha YDP181 ($1699 internet price) which have been out longer than the newer CN24. Although Roland & Yamaha build some great digital pianos in this price range, the Kawai CN24 piano technology is, in my opinion, vastly superior and I don't say these things lightly. There are, of course, some nice features on some competitive brands which the CN24 does not have such as more extensive recording abilities, USB flash drive, more instrument sounds, drum rhythms, more cabinet colors, etc.  But when it comes to what people really want most in a digital piano, it's my opinion that the Kawai CN24 is in the lead when it comes to having a realistic piano playing experience for key action and piano sound.

CN24 triple sensor key system

The CN24 utilizes a new key action from Kawai which also has a feature called "let-off" that is supposed to simulate a grand piano movement as opposed to an upright piano key movement. Without making this too complex, let's just say you could probably be happy with either an acoustic upright style or grand piano style key action in a digital piano and both can give you a satisfying  & enjoyable playing experience. I have played on both types for many years teaching in my studio and playing professionally and I find them enjoyable to play. The Kawai CN24 also has triple sensor key electronics (see above left pic), as opposed to 2 sensors in other digital pianos, to give the more advanced player better key sensing repetition for faster notes being played. This will not be important in the beginning stages of playing and perhaps you'll never really take advantage of it, but it is a good thing to have in case you should advance to higher levels of learning and performance. The key action which Kawai calls Responsive Hammer II Action, is graded & medium weighted (which most people will like) and has noticeably quiet sturdy keys when moving up & down (even when playing aggressively). I could really dig into playing a variety of music and I felt that I was really connecting with the music and able to express myself with this key action.

As far as piano tone goes, the acoustic stereo piano sound reproduction in the CN24 is beautiful in this price range with smooth velocity response, natural tonal dynamics, and a fairly even volume balance across the entire keyboard. It is worth noting that each note of all 88 keys was individually sampled from a large Kawai acoustic grand piano (left pic) as opposed to being sampled (recorded) from an acoustic piano in groups of notes. Sampling in groups of notes at one time like many other brands do is a less expensive way of getting a piano sound reproduction. But the Kawai CN24 had every key sampled one at a time...and the resulting piano sound in my opinion is amazing for the price, as I just mentioned.  

The piano sound polyphony memory is 192-notes which is very high in this price range, especially as compared to Roland & Yamaha which have 128-notes of polyphony memory. This is again important if you are at a higher skill level or are playing 2 instrument sounds together at the same time such as acoustic piano & strings or organ & harpsichord, or electric piano & synthesizer sound, or acoustic piano & choir, etc. Speaking of instrument sounds, their are 15 high quality tones which are quite impressive to me considering that other instrument sounds on these digital pianos tend to be on the unrealistic side based on all my experience with them. The CN24 stereo strings, choir, organs, synths, etc are amazingly real and really beautiful to listen to, especially when you combine two of them together at the same time. But besides the key action, it's the acoustic piano tone that really drew me to this model and the piano's internal 40 watt 2-speaker sound system seems to be up to the task of handling the sound. Typically you would need to spend a lot more money (well over $2000US at discount) on other furniture cabinet brands & models to get this kind of a natural non-digital sounding piano tone. It's a joy to play, at least it was for me, and with my extensive professional experience playing real acoustic pianos for many years, it's somewhat difficult to impress me when it comes to digital pianos.

The CN24 does have a few cool fun (and useful) educational features too so it's not without a few "bells & whistles." One of the educational fun features on this piano is called ConcertMagic, an intelligent interactive rhythm training feature with built-in perfect song playback. Concert Magic can be very useful if you are a beginner of any age including being 2 years old or 92 years old. Imagine if you wanted to play a full song on the piano with both left hand and right hand together and you could push/tap any key on the piano and it would play the correct note or notes of the song...well that's what Concert Magic does. There are 40 complete built-in popular songs in the Concert Magic piano memory which you can choose from. Once you make you song selection, then you can play it. But playing it means you would put a finger on any key and push or tap the key down and as you do that you would get the full left and right hand notes (chords) playing the song as you pressed the keys. In other words, you can never make a mistake! The point of that

Concert Magic fun at any age

exercise is to help you understand rhythm, timing, and tonal dynamics while listening to the correct notes of the song. You don't have to know anything about reading music or using the correct fingers on the correct keys to hear a song (a nice concept). There are Christmas songs, standard songs, folk tunes, classical music, and others tunes offered with Concert Magic that you may recognize. The goal of Concert Magic is to allow anyone to press the any key down to hear the correct notes coming out and then try to keep the correct timing & rhythm using the built-in metronome which you can set for nearly any time signature and speed. It's fun watching a 2 year old child press keys down and have the song notes sound perfect and moving along to the next notes every time they press any white or black key! If you are a beginner of any age and want to be able to press the keys and have perfect music come out instantly, then you'll really have fun with the Concert Magic feature while you are learning. Take a look at the video demo at the bottom of this page of a live impromptu recital using the Kawai Concert Magic feature (the little girl in the video is my granddaughter Emmalyn)!

Another educational feature of the CN24 is the built-in music lesson library consisting of Alfred's basic piano library of songs books 1A and 1B (a very popular lesson book series) along with Burgmuller 25 Etudes. With the built-in music library in the piano you can purchase the appropriate music books and then play along with the built-in songs at any tempo you wish (slower or faster) and also separate out the left hand and right hand parts for playback with controls in the piano accessed by the function button and keys. The Alfred piano leaning series of lesson books library is very popular with pianos teachers and is especially useful if you are a beginner or novice player so you can listen to left and right hand
parts separately on the CN24 (before you play the song yourself) to understand how each part sounds and to then play each part one at a time along with the song playing back. It's a pretty cool feature and Kawai is the only digital piano company with this kind of built-in lesson song library. There are many other Alfred piano and music books beyond level two but the CN24 does not have those songs built in. You would need to get a digital piano that is General MIDI compatible along with a built-in USB flash drive (such as the popular Kawai CN34 - $2399 internet price) to play other Alfred lesson book songs (including other lesson book publishers such as Faber). If you are taking lessons with a piano teacher you can use the Alfred curriculum in your lessons to correspond with the built-in Alfred instructional songs in the piano. But even if you never use this function, it's OK because this instrument is really all about the acoustic piano experience being recreated on a digital piano and having it be the one of the best you can get for a furniture cabinet digital piano under $2000.

Recorder button controls

The CN24 has a useful built-in digital recorder which offers one track of full piano (left & right hand) recording and a 3-song memory to save your recorded songs. This is generally sufficient for most people although some of the Kawai piano competitors have a 2-track recorder with separate left & right hand recording. Two separate tracks of recording is a nice feature and I would have wanted to see that in the CN24, but it is not absolutely essential. Most people just want to hear what they sound like regardless of whether the left & right hand are recorded altogether or individually. The CN24 also allows for electronically splitting the 88 piano keys into two equal 44-key pianos so that two people can play at the same time playing the same notes. The left hand part of the 88 keys is electronically changed to sound like the right hand part of the keys which is helpful if there is teacher-student practice or brother-sister, parent-child, etc. This can be a useful tool depending on your situation.

MIDI to USB cable connector

The CN24 is equipped with MIDI connectors to computer or external MIDI instruments but I do wish the CN24 had a dedicated USB output to iPad/computer as well as an audio input...that would have been useful for more instant connectivity. But some people do ask for  actual MIDI connectors (to connect to other sound modules, etc) which it does have, and then you can always purchase a low cost adapter cable to convert a MIDI connector on the piano to a USB cable connector so that you can connect the piano to an iPad/computer at that point and use some fun interactive apps for creative visual learning and music playing. I use iPad apps in my studio so I would definitely suggest that.

Another feature the CN24 has is ivory feel key tops which other brands have as well including Casio, Roland, and Yamaha in this price range or less. The synthetic ivory material used on the key tops simulates the feeling of real ivory that was used on real upright & grand pianos many years ago. Although some people do like the ivory feel keytops and it can be nice, it is not absolutely necessary and real acoustic pianos these days (and they have for many years) use regular white hard plastic keytops and not ivory, so that material (simulated or organic) is not something you would see on a regular piano anyway. Besides that, I have had some people tell me they do not personally like the feel of some synthetic ivory key tops, so it's definitely personal opinion, although I do like it and it helps absorb sweat in the fingers. If you are a sweaty person then you may like this feature even more:) 

Then there is the damper sustain pedal (along with the middle pedal sostenuto function and left soft pedal) which is sometimes overlooked as being important when shopping for a piano. The piano pedals (pic on left) are covered in protective plastic which can be taken off after you assemble the stand. The stand (including pedals) can be removed from the piano top and the pedals themselves are of a durable metal material (not plastic) and when using the right sustain/damper pedal, it activates what's known as "half-pedaling." Half-pedaling is the ability to have a medium amount of sustain decay time when pressing the pedal down about half way. Kawai did a great job as compared to other digital pianos I have played in the transition from off to on sustain with attentional levels in-between with a smooth pedal movement using the "Grand Feel Pedaling" as Kawai calls it. The sustain decay time (amount of time the sustained note is heard when you let go of a key) when holding down the pedal and playing the piano keys is quite long and holds up well as you play keys across the keyboard which was impressive to me. The longer decay times (and extra 192-note polyphony) helps when playing more legato passages of music especially in classical pieces so even more advanced students and players will appreciate that.

CN24 key action

But all the drum rhythms in the world, automatic chord arrangements, extra sounds, synthetic ivory keys, or the latest USB technology is unimportant in my opinion if you do not have a realistic piano playing experience with a solid key action, good smooth dynamic acoustic piano tone, and proper pedal action & response. Although piano touch, tone, and pedal response is ultimately a subjective thing, when you compare a digital piano to a real acoustic piano there needs to be some definite similarities.  In my opinion the key action and pedaling of the CN24 is noticeably smoother and more realistic in key movement and weight than the Yamaha GHS and GH key action & pedaling found in the lower and higher priced Yamaha DGX and Arius models (including Clavinova CLP430/440 GH3), Roland ivory-G action, and a few other brands. Key action static touch weight (how much force it takes to push the key down from resting position) and realism is the number one feature to focus on in a piano and this Kawai model does it well. Another digital piano brand in the lower price range which offers a fairly realistic key action in this low price range in my opinion is Casio, and I have done reviews of those pianos which you can read about on my blog.

CN24

I always seem to get many people asking me about new 88-key furniture style digital pianos without a lot of "bells & whistles" for less than $2000 (approx) price range. There is a variety of choices out there including the Yamaha YDP162, Yamaha YDP181, Yamaha YDPV240, Casio PX850, PX780, Korg LP380, Roland RP301, Roland RP301R, and Kurzweil MP10, and others. But I would suggest that you consider the Kawai CN24 ($1799 Kawai store discount price) if you intend on keeping the piano for awhile and want a good investment in a high quality instrument that you will likely not grow out of for a long time. The Kawai CN24 is a piano even an advanced player can appreciate if you are focused on realistic acoustic piano sound and key action. you have a real winner... especially with the name Kawai attached to it. But no matter what brand or model you may chose, it's all about the music and having an enjoyable playing experience and ultimately you can get that on some (but not all) brands and models in this price range. The Kawai CN24 isn't the only digital piano brand or model to get for under $2000, but it is certainly a good one. If you have the budget to spend slightly more money, Kawai has a very popular digital piano priced at $1899 called the CE220 as well as a similar model to the CN24 called the KDP90 for a lot less money at $1149 internet discount price. In fact, the new KDP90 has many of the attributes of the CN24 and although the action and piano sound are different on the KDP90, it is still very impressive and close to that of the CN24. So if you want or need to spend less money, then take a look at my KDP90 review. Go to the following links below to read my reviews on these two other Kawai digital pianos: KDP90: KDP90 Review - CE220: Kawai CE220 Review. 

With a quiet quality hammer key action, realistic pedal action, a large amount piano polyphony memory, resonate piano tone with great reverb and brightness settings, along with some cool useful features that all fits well into in a fairly compact furniture cabinet weighing in at only 99lbs, the CN24 is a winner in my book.

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.

*The video below is showing off the Piano Magic feature. The piano itself in the video is the lower priced Kawai KDP90 which has the same exact Piano Magic feature as the CN24. My 1.5 yr old granddaughter sounds like she really knows what she's doing!