UPDATED REVIEW - December 15, 2014 - I do not recommend the Williams Rhapsody digital piano ($499 internet and store price), especially if you are taking piano lessons. The Williams digital piano brand is a private label brand made specifically for Guitar Center and its affiliates/subsidiaries including Musicians Friend, Woodwind & Brasswind, Music & Arts, and other Guitar Center companies. In fact, the internationally known company Bain Capital, which was made even more famous during the last presidential election cycle with Mitt Romney being talked about as one of its founders and owners of Bain, is the owner of Guitar Center and its affiliates. In an effort to have their own "house brand," the Williams brand is exclusive to those companies for better or for worse. The Williams brand has nothing to do with the brand being made in the US other than its name being created in the US. The pianos themselves are made by unknown Chinese digital piano manufacturers using what appears to be much lower quality digital technology in a somewhat nicer looking cabinet.

I do not recommend the Williams Rhapsody because it simply sounds and plays bad as a piano in my opinion and it doesn't reach even minimum standards of piano playing and sound reproduction. Although the keys are weighted and certainly feel more like a piano than a keyboard does, the acoustic piano tones themselves sound very bright and more like a guitar than a piano, and the volume sensitivity and dynamic range of these piano tones as you press the keys almost sound as if there isn't any dynamics and volume changes at all when pressing on the keys. In other words, this instrument as far as fundamentals go, including the actual piano sound realism, volume sensitivity (when pressing keys from soft to hard), and dynamic range (mellow to bright when pressing the keys harder) is nothing like a real piano. The foot pedal action is also another important area of piano playing and the 2-pedal unit on this piano seems flimsy and makes squeaky noise, at least on the one I tried out. The pedal sound sustain response should include "half-pedaling" to be more realistic, and this piano does not have that feature but in this price range I did not expect that. If you or a family member is taking piano lessons, getting the "half-pedal" sustain feature can be very important as you progress in your piano playing skills.

What this piano does have that is positive is a fairly attractive dark brown cabinet (no built-in keyboard cover) and a nice front panel layout with easy to use controls and a LED display screen to better navigate the functions. The other instrument sounds including electric pianos, guitars, strings, organ etc, actually sound OK for a piano in this lower price range and are acceptable. Other useful functions include layering and splitting of tones, recording, metronome for timing, and other nice features which can make this piano fun to play. It even has dual audio outputs and a USB to computer output (below left pic) which is pretty cool. But just because it has a USB output does not necessarily mean it will work and connect well to another device.

Overall if you were to just look at this piano visually you might decide that this is a nice instrument and buy it, especially for just $499. However, you can get even more of these fun features with better piano playing results on inexpensive $200 keyboards (though I don't recommend that), so just because something seems to be good on the outside does not mean it's good on the inside. Looks should not be the primary reason you buy a digital piano. In fact, I refer to a piano with decent looks but inferior and downright disappointing piano playability as a PSO or "piano shaped object." Looks good, plays bad, which is true of other digital pianos I have reviewed, so this is not the only one.

A digital piano should be purchased with one main primary goal in mind, and that is to reproduce the acoustic piano playing experience as closely as possible in specific price ranges, especially if you will be taking piano lessons. When you know little or nothing about the way real acoustic pianos play, then you may not realize how deficient some of these "off brand" digital pianos can be. Although the $499 price is very low in comparison with most new digital pianos, especially when it comes to furniture cabinet models, the looks as well as the amount of buttons & functions at a low price should not be the main criteria for choosing one piano over the other. It should always be the piano playing experience realism and on the Williams Rhapsody, this piano falls way short to the point where you probably would be better off with a less expensive name brand small keyboard instead.

Another not-no-pleasant feature of the the Rhapsody is its noisy, clunky key action. On most digital pianos when you are playing the keys a little harder and using more force, when the key touches the keybed below it, the sound the physical key makes should be fairly muted and relatively quiet. However, when the keys are played a bit harder on the Rhapsody, the keys hit bottom and make a clunky noise like the key is hitting wood with little padding in-between. I have heard this on other key actions before and you may not notice this until you get it into your house and start playing it. This kind of "banging sound" can be very distracting especially if you are using headphones for private practice where other people are then subjected to hearing the keys banging while you are listening to music through headphones and not as aware of the clunking sound.

A much better alternative to the Williams Rhapsody would be the new Yamaha P35 or Casio CDP130 both internet priced at $449 each not including stand, pedals, or bench. A bit further up from there would be the Yamaha P105 ($599 internet price) and Casio PX150 ($499 internet price) not including accessories. These instruments are so much better in reproducing a more realistic piano key action and playing experience than the Williams Rhapsody, it's not even close. A bit further up from there would be the new Casio Privia PX750 (above left pic) furniture cabinet model internet priced at $799. Although the Casio PX750 is quite a bit more money than the Williams Rhapsody, it's worth every penny and would make a much better investment into your family's musical future. Go here for my review: Casio PX750 Review

By the way, just for the record, I do not recommend any Williams digital pianos because they all share similar deficiencies in the key action, sound response, touch, tone, pedaling, etc, based on my experience. I would just save your money and go purchase a Yamaha or Casio for slightly more money than see you put it into an instrument that may cause you to develop bad playing habits and/or keep you from enjoying the true beauty of a good piano playing experience that other digital pianos can give you. Do your homework and be careful of off-brands like the Williams, Suzuki, Adagio, Adams, and other brands that don't meet very basic standards. You do get what you pay for so be sure you make the best purchase decision you can. If you want some help, please contact me directly.

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 - February 17, 2015 - Kawai MP11 Digital Piano - RECOMMENDED - Portable Stage Digital Grand Piano - The Kawai piano company is known for producing some fine acoustic grand pianos played all over the world by accomplished pianists. After playing many Kawai acoustic pianos through the years, I believe they know what it takes to design professional quality grand pianos. Kawai has finally produced a portable digital piano that I consider to be as close to a grand piano
key action as I have ever felt in a portable digital piano under $4000. Natural playing, high quality grand piano key actions is what all good piano companies aspire to produce and the key action is the #1 feature that any piano shopper should consider when purchasing any piano, acoustic or digital. For the first time that I know of, the all new Kawai MP11 has full length acoustic grand piano natural wooden black & white keys which have been designed to actually play & function like a full  acoustic grand piano. This new MP11 digital piano ($2799 internet discount price) replaces the previous MP10 which was a very popular piano for the Kawai company for a long time and also had a very nice wood key action. However, the MP11 has been upgraded in very significant ways including key action, piano sound, pedaling, functions, cabinet redesign, and more, and it is well worth its slightly higher internet discount price ($2799) over the previous MP10 and other digital pianos including pro portable pianos that cost more money than the MP11.

Up until now all portable digital pianos have had limitations with regard to how the black & white keys moved & are weighted because the key length and fulcrum points are different on digital pianos as opposed to a real grand piano. Although many of the new digital pianos play quite well and are enjoyable to play as compared to an upright piano, the amount of finger pressure it takes to push a regular digital piano key down because of upward key resistance along with proper key travel for both black & white keys is like that of an acoustic upright piano instead of a grand piano. People say to me all the time "I want a lower priced digital piano under $3000 (portable or cabinet) that plays just like a real grand piano." Well my answer is "forget about it," and all the hype about how many of these new digital pianos play just like real top name grand pianos is just not true when it comes to the key action! I am not saying that many good digital pianos don't feel great and are not a pleasure to play, but all these other portable stage type pianos don't come close to the Kawai MP11 in actual grand piano keyboardplayability in its price range, and if you played this piano as often as I have done, I know you would agree.

Typically when you play the black keys as well as the near the back of the white keys on most digital pianos, your fingers will need to exert a much larger of amount of pressure to push down the keys as compared to the front of the keys. This is called static touch weight because it's a measurement of pressure you need to push the keys down from resting position. If the touch pressure needed from your fingers is too heavy or too light, you will not get the correct dynamics, smoothness of sound, and proper playing technique when trying to play a piece of music well including possibly feeling fatigued in your hands and fingers if the touch weight of the keys is too heavy. Whether you are a beginner or pro, key movement and keyboard touch weight are very important and the MP11 is very responsive in this way. There are some digital pianos that are more difficult to play than others with regard to this static touch weight situation (the resistance of the keys to finger pressure) and some well known brands are very unreasonable in the amount of resistance the keys give when trying to press them down. In fact, on the new Kurzweil cabinet and portable digital pianos, pushing down the black keys and the backs of the white keys is so hard you think there might be something holding them up from going down easily. I would never recommend a piano like that to my students but unfortunately piano shoppers overall are not aware of how a good piano key action should really play and they think because it has black & white keys and sounds like a piano, then it must really play like a piano. This is a common mistake people make when shopping for a digital piano but understandable if you don't play piano well and don't have lots of experience playing many different kinds of pianos, like I do.

Acoustic upright & grand pianos (left pics) have different key action movements and construction compared to each other because of the key length, design of the key actions themselves, gravity exerting itself in different ways on the key action, and size of the area the key actions have been installed in, to name a few reasons. This would be true for most digital pianos that normally use shorter length key with a pivot/fulcrum point & key weighting not conducive to full grand piano key response. To make my point, assuming you have an opportunity, just play (push on) the keys slowly from front to back on the black & white keys on a good acoustic grand piano and then try doing that on many brands and models of digital pianos such as Yamaha/CLP/CVP/DGX, some Roland & Kawai digital pianos, or Casio PX/AP digital pianos for example. You will likely find that none of the Yamaha or Casio digital piano key actions in those pianos are near as easy in pushing the black or white keys down as you get to (play) the back of the keys as opposed to the front of the black& white keys. This harder, more resistant key touch is characteristic of upright pianos and there are certainly a lot of people that enjoy playing upright acoustic pianos. But...good name brand grand pianos (overall) offer a richer playing experience that allows for subtle nuances and playing results are are simply not possible on most other pianos. With inconsistent, overly resistant, or unbalanced digital piano key actions out there, you may have a more difficult time with proper playing technique, key and note response, and overall enjoyment playing the piano depending on what you buy, especially if you have higher expectations. This is not to say that top name digital piano companies don't make some excellent "non-grand piano" digital pianos with comfortable & enjoyable playing key actions, but what it does mean is that there are some notable differences in key action amongst brands and you need to sure about what you're getting.

It is true that many new top name brand portable digital pianos other than the Kawai MP11 have, overall, very enjoyable & highly playable key actions such as the new, less expensive Kawai MP7 with its responsive RH2 key action including the escapement mechanism that is found in grand pianos. But with regard to giving you real authentic grand piano key movement, key travel, & balance no matter where your fingers are on the keys and what keys are being played, the new Kawai MP11 Grand Feel digital piano is the only new portable digital piano that will do
that in my opinion, and I have never felt a key action in a portable digital piano ever get that close to a real concert grand feel before. With acoustic grand piano features such as letoff/escapement which is the subtle notch or hesitation you feel as the key is depressed about half-way down when playing slowly, staggered balance pins that allow for a traditional grand see-saw key movement, brass guide pins that go through the key from top to bottom that offers key stability and restricts side to side movement of the key, or counterweights that balances the the
hammer weight of each key which helps lighten the touch during more delicate passages of music, there is just nothing else that comes close to it. In fact, if you are a more advanced piano player and you close your eyes while you are playing the Kawai MP11, you may think you are playing a $100,000 concert grand in terms of key action feel, movement, and response. The most authentic key action built in a top name digital piano these days is the Yamaha AvantGrand N series digital grands which use an actual complete grand piano action, but those pianos are in furniture cabinets and start at approximately $7500 discount price in piano stores and go up in price from there to about $15000. Other than these expensive Yamaha specialty pianos, the Kawai Grand Feel key action in the MP11 is the next best thing in the lower price range under $3000.

The new Kawai GF (Grand Feel) key action is really the heart and soul of the Kawai MP11 piano. Although the acoustic piano sound itself and 3-pedal system is very impressive and realistic, there are other good portable digital pianos out there under $3000 that also sound quite good such as the Kawai MP7 ($1799 internet price) that I mentioned earlier, or the new Roland RD800 portable digital piano ($2499 internet price). But when it comes to authentic grand piano key movement, key size, key structure, graded hammer weighted key balance, key feel, and key response, the Kawai MP11 is in a league of its own and there is no question about that as far as I am concerned. The keytops have the Kawai ivory touch material which is a satin reproduction of actual ivory used on older acoustic pianos and it really feels good to the fingers to play on and is sweat absorbent, and it is visually attractive as well.

The actual key movement is very quiet as compared with other brands and that is something Kawai key actions are known for...being sturdy, well built, and quiet while moving easily with a reasonable amount of touch weight required to play the keys. Then you add to that the newly designed 3-senor electronics under each key to better sense key/note repetition so that when you are playing the keys, no matter how fast your key repetition is or at what height the key is at when pressing them back down (strike point), the new 3-sensor electronics will keep up with your playing and not miss any notes. In addition, Kawai’s action technology also monitors the speed at which each key is lifted. These subtleties influence the release character of piano sounds, providing a greater range of expression between staccato and legato playing. Yamaha, & Casio also use 3-sensors in their digital piano key electronics so this is not exclusive of Kawai pianos. But not all key sensors are created or installed equally on different brands so to me, the MP11 seems to be a bit more responsive in that way then other brands I have played. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2014

The new MP11 piano sound chip has a huge 256-note piano polyphony memory which allows the piano sound to be played with as much complexity as possible without running out of notes. The Kawai MP11 piano sound comes directly from their best concert grand pianos and is sampled in stereo using two microphones positioned in just the right way on a concert grand to get the authentic sound of what a real grand piano should sound like. I like the Kawai piano tone very much and it has a natural complexity to it regardless of the type of music you are playing. Kawai calls its new acoustic piano sound Harmonic Imaging XL (HI-LX) 88-key sampling,
which is just a fancy way of saying that Kawai has increased the memory chip capacity they use (over the prior model MP10) to capture more of the acoustic grand piano sound as well as having recorded each note on a full size Kawai concert grand one at a time for a closer reproduction of an acoustic piano sound as opposed to recording one note and then digitally stretching that note to become other higher or lower notes like some other piano brands do. The digital note stretching process that some brands use does save time and money in creating the digital piano sound, but it is not nearly as realistic as 88-key individual note sampling with its large capacity piano memory chip such as what Kawai is using. That's why some of the cheaper digital pianos (and a few that are even more money) don't sound as good...because they sound more digital instead of natural.

In a real acoustic grand piano there are also all kinds of organic elements going on inside that piano when you are playing it. Things like damper pedal resonance, damper noise, dynamic tone, brightness, sympathetic vibrations,/string resonance, key noise, hammer noise, plate noise, resonance, etc. Reproducing these natural occurring acoustic piano sounds takes a lot of memory in the digital piano electronics and the Kawai MP11 does a fine job of this. In fact you can edit these acoustic elements within the MP11 so that it suits your own particular musical desires & needs. The dynamic range & tonality (soft to loud/mellow to bright) of the MP11 piano sound is also impressive and you can electronically change that range so that the overall piano tone can be more or less dynamic with different tonal changes. That function is called the Virtual Piano Technician and there are so many ways of editing and modifying the piano sound on the MP11 it's really quite amazing, and I, for one, like that kind of thing because then I am not locked into someone else's sound. I just make a few simple changes through the user display screen under the editing functions and turn a knob or two, and then I have made my changes and can save them to memory. So when it comes to acoustic piano sound, the MP11 is outstanding in its price range in my opinion.

One thing about playing a digital piano that many people overlook is the piano pedaling and whether or not it is authentic and will keep up with your music allowing for realistic control over damper/sustain, sostenuto, and soft pedaling. Pedaling is very important for expression and adding the required amount of resonance and sustain effect, and the MP11 does a great job of this. The MP11 comes with a pro quality triple pedal unit that functions like acoustic piano pedals. The pedals are heavy duty, durable, and feels good to push down with your foot. The damper pedal portion also does something that many included pedals with portable pianos don't do...and that function is called half-pedaling. Half-pedaling is the amount of sustain you get when you press down the pedal about half way and you would hear a medium amount of sustain rather than just on or off. The amount or type of half-pedal sustain can be adjusted in a few different ways depending on how you want it and if you would be connecting to external MIDI pianos or instruments. In either case, the pedaling realism on the Kawai is very good.

Another part of the pedaling experience is being able to get an adequate amount of damper pedal resonance along with the proper amount of piano decay/sustain time. Pedal resonance is the sound you get when you hold the sustain pedal down and strike a note and the sound will naturally reverberate for awhile inside a real piano. This acoustic piano pedal resonance has been digitally recreated in the MP11 and is also adjustable for more or less of that effect...and it sounds very realistic. Pedal sustain decay time has to do with how long (how much time) the piano sound will be heard while your damper pedal is pressed down and you let go of the key after playing it. The longer the decay/sustain
time, especially in the bass and mid-range key sections, the more natural the piano sound will sound. The MP11 has some good natural decay time but in my opinion it could be longer in some ways. On most other digital pianos you cannot change that function (length of sustain/decay time) but on the MP11 you can change it by using a control that lengthens or shortens the amount of time the piano sound will decay/sustain. This is a very cool feature and allows the player to customize the pedal playing experience to suit their musical needs. Although this pedal decay time feature is quite usable, the average player may not need it. But to know it's there is a good thing and I have used it myself to adjust for playing different kinds of music that require different pedaling results. So as you can see, pedaling can get complex or it can be simple...and the MP11 is excellent is recreating pedal realism with the included F30 triple pedal unit so the player can access all three standard pedal functions and have the traditional piano experience including the sostenuto and soft pedal. The triple pedal unit can also be assigned to control other aspects of the MP11 including changing instrument setup sound selection, organ rotary speed activation, and triggering other useful features.

The MP11 is unique in its operating control panel and functions setup and not at all like any other portable digital piano under $3000 in the way you use it. The control panel has been redesigned and is now even more simple, straight forward, visually intuitive, and operates in a way which in my opinion will make you want to play music for hours. Rather than have many buttons, sliders, knobs, and other controls very close to each other for all sounds & effects (as you would find in most other brands and/ore models), the MP11 is like having three separate instruments in one.  In other words you don't to be a rocket
scientist or keyboard pro to use the functions & features. There is a nice size user LCD display screen directly above the middle of the keyboard (near middle C) in the center of the panel. To the far left of the display screen there is a separate acoustic piano sound section with all of its own controls and buttons and a variety of acoustic piano sounds (12 of them). The pro quality piano reverb and efx controls really help with the overall piano sound authenticity and the piano editing section has some extra cool features like being able to play a second piano at any octave above or below the main first piano at the same. So basically you have two distinct acoustic pianos in different octaves playing at the same time on all keys and you can adjust both piano's relative volume and other functions as well. It's just like hearing two pianos at once and you can use it for single finger octave playing too. Then there is a separate electric piano section with all of its own controls & buttons and a variety of impressive vintage electric piano sounds and clavinets (12 of them). It is important to point out that the electric piano section has three independent quick access effects buttons where you can layer and control a variety of special effects (129 of them including phaser, chorus, amp simulations, etc) to the electric piano sounds which gives those electric pianos a natural, organic feel as you might experience with the real instruments. It is unusual to get that kind of control in this type of instrument. Finally, there is a miscellaneous instrument sub section with a variety of non-piano sounds including some very realistic
sounding strings, pads (synths), mallet instruments, European harpsichord & jazz bass selections (16 total sub sounds). Each section also has its own velocity touch curve settings which means that each sound section can have its own key touch response with six preset touch weights giving you the perception that the keys weight has actually been altered. That means, as an example, that you can have a heavier piano key action, a slightly lighter electric piano key action, and an even lighter or quicker sub sound category key action for the strings, pads, etc so it feels closer to playing a synth keyboard with those sounds as opposed to a piano. Once you set up each section the way you like, you can then save those settings in the setup memory area (below left pic) and easily recall them later without having to recreate your setup all over again. Having three completely independent sound sections offers enormous flexibility found in few new digital pianos at any price range these days based on my experience with them. 

In each of the three separate instrument sections you can only play one instrument per section at a time, but you can combine each of the 3 sections together and play (up to) three instruments at the same time. So for instance you could have the concert grand piano in the piano section (section 1) combined with one electric piano in the E Piano section (section 2), and then combine those two sounds with the symphony strings in the miscellaneous sub section (section 3). Unfortunately you cannot play more than one sound at a time within one section. As an example, the harpsichord sound the sub section 3 cannot be combined with the
symphony string sound, which is also in sub section 3. Personally I think the classic harpsichord sound in the MP11 (which is quite realistic) would sound great together with a symphony string orchestra sound. Also, another example would be to be able to split the keyboard and have an upright jazz bass sound on the left hand and a stereo vibraphone sound on the right hand as is common in jazz and other music. Unfortunately you cannot do that on the MP11 because both of those sounds are in the same section and only one sound can be used at a time in a section. You can do that on the lower priced Kawai MP7 portable digital piano because the operating system on that model is very different from the MP11 when it comes to playing and combining tones and there is much more flexibility in that way, as there is on other brands of digital pianos. But Kawai obviously did not design the MP11 with unlimited sound combination flexibility in mind. It is, after all, mainly for playing piano.

However, the MP11 has something which somewhat makes up for that shortcoming which the Kawai MP7 does not have. In addition to the three separate instrument sections on the MP11, in each of those sections there are three additional sounds (they are the same in each section) that can be added one at a time (or in any combination) to the main  instrument that is playing in that section. Those three extra sounds include what Kawai calls Air (sounds like an airy synth), Bell (sounds like synth bells), and Vocal (sounds like a choir). Each of those three additional sounds have their own independent volume controls accessed from within the display screen using the knobs on the outside of the screen. The main volume control of each section also controls the overall volume of the main sound in the section together with any of the three extra sounds. Those three additional tones cannot be played without the the main sound in that section being heard. 

Explaining this in  words can be a bit confusing so here is an example of what I am saying. In the Acoustic Piano section 1 you could add the vocal choir sound to any one of the acoustic pianos. In the Electric Piano section 2 you could add the Air sound (and maybe the Bell sound too) to one of the Electric pianos, and in the sub section 3 you could add a vocal and bell sound to the string symphony tone because you can use up to 3 additional tones added to any one section sound. If you used the 3 additional Air, Vocal, and Bell sounds in each section (controlling all their volumes independently) and add them simultaneously to each section which can play one main instrument sound at a time, you could
actually have up to 12 sounds with their own independent volume settings playing on every note that you play! I have done this and it's a massive sound that comes out of that piano (like a huge orchestra) when you do it right and max it out completely...and the large 256-note polyphony at that point is not enough to handle that kind of output as many of those sounds are stereo, there is pedaling involved, and if you play complex arpeggio movements on the keyboard, you will run out of polyphony. But I tend to torture these instruments when I play them and do a review like this, so that is no surprise. Few other people would do what I do on these digital pianos when it comes to using these features, especially all at one time. It is worth noting that you can, once again, save all of your custom layered settings into user memories (upper left pic) for easy and quick recall later on.

The acoustic piano playing experience is the meat & potatoes of the MP11 and the rest of the features and functions is the "frosting on the cake."  I believe that is the best way of looking at this piano when considering a purchase. However, there are some amazing electric piano sounds on the MP11 including Fender Rhodes, Yamaha DX7, Wurlitzer vintage electrics, beautiful string sounds, soothing pad/synth sounds, accurate old world harpsichord, beautiful vibes, and percussive marimba tones, and great upright bass sounds that have that organic acoustic feel with that string twang and tone to them which are very impressive. You can easily split the keyboard into (up to) three independent sections with dedicated split buttons and assign a different instrument sound to each section of keys and decide where that sound needs to be and how many keys it should occupy. You can change the transpose key, octave, intonation, organic elements, reaction times, reverbs, effects, EQ settings, touch sensitivity, voicing, and a whole host of editing parameters that enable you to modify the sounds you are using in each section in ways you cannot believe! Once you make those editing changes you can save them in a huge bank of internal memories for later instant recall with a total of 248 memory banks for combination memories as well as individual sound memories.

There are 100 professional sounding preset drum patterns for play-along with the built-in drummer. These patterns include a variety of rock, jazz, Latin, blues, funk, waltz, gospel, country, and many other popular rhythm styles. You can control the tempo, volume, and other aspects of the rhythm section and its fun to interact with the rhythms, especially if you enjoy a little help in sounding better than you are or you are just wanting a drummer to join in on your music.. The 100 drum rhythms are part of the metronome feature which also includes different adjustable metronome timings to help you practice a piece of music.

A feature that I find very useful on digital pianos is the ability to recordyourself and play it back. Almost all digital pianos have some sort of a recording feature with some being better than others. The MP11 can do this is two ways... either a 1 track MIDI (non-audio) recording for simple song play and music writing ideas, or a multitrack overdub audio recorder that lets you record multiple tracks, one instrument over the other, in either wav (CD quality) recordings or MP3 audio song files. This feature is not found on any other digital piano under $2000 and is incredibly cool because it allows you to orchestrate and arrange any song so that you can play & record each instrument that you want in the song so that when one instrument is recorded, you play that recording back while you record the next instrument audio track over the top of that. Each instrument can be individually setup exactly the way you want it to sound and then recorded and saved to a USB flashdrive to be played back on your computer or MP3 player (iPod, etc). You can also convert a MIDI recording to audio for playback as a wav or MP3 file. You can even take an audio or simple MIDI song and play a specific part of it over and over for practice in a non-stop loop so that you can playalong with that part to learn it better.
With an independent volume slider controller on the panel of the MP11, you can also plug in a microphone or any instruments (including iPad sounds) and record it live through the piano and mix it with your recorded keyboard playing, including loading in iTunes to the audio player to play along with them and record them into memory, which sounds great. Multitrack audio overdubbing and playback using the actual sounds on the MP11 (as well as external sounds) is a fantastic way of creating music in ways that you could never do before on a digital piano in this price range. It's good to be aware that the MP11 does not play or record 16-track General MIDI type song files. I believe this functionality should have been included in the MP11, but hey, who am I and what do I know?:). It would have obviously added to the cost of the instrument and Kawai probably thought this feature was not necessary in the MP11...although I would have used it.

The Kawai MP11 is also known as a master (MIDI) controller piano and that ability is useful for beginner players up through seasoned professionals. A controller is something that controls things such as external devices that you want to add to the MP11...makes sense, right?:). Well, when it comes to giving the player ultimate control over all types of external devices, the MP11 does an excellent job and it now has 4 independent MIDI out zones to make controlling multiple external devices even easier and more intuitive. You can control the over 60 parameters of each MIDI channel independently along with zone volume settings and see them in the display screen.
You can also save all of your MIDI setups in a large bank of user memories so that you do not ever have to reconfigure them, which can take a lot of time. One of the useful things that people like to do these days when wanting to connect external MIDI devices and use the MIDI zone controllers to add new things to their existing digital piano is to connect an iPad. The iPad music and piano apps are quite exciting and you can add new sounds from an iPad to your playing by controlling them from the MP11 when you play the keys. In this way you can get the additional instrument sound layering and splitting through MIDI devices that the MP11 does not provide on its own. So this pretty much solves that problem and opens up the MP11 do do things musically it may not be able to do by itself.

The way a iPad works with the MP11 is that you would connect your iPad to the piano by using a USB adapter and cable and plugging the iPad into the MP11 USB port. After you do that then you can also route the audio signal of the iPad by connecting the appropriate audio cable from the iPad (mini headphone jack) to the audio input on the MP11. The audio input also has a real time volume control slider on the front panel of the MP11 called Line In. When you play the keys (a song) on the MP11, your playing would trigger the new instrument sounds or any other MIDI functions on the iPad, and then you could hear those new sounds coming back through the audio input in the MP11 which would go out to your external audio speaker system or stereo
headphones. The controlling aspect is further enhanced because you can assign your iPad device to one of 4 zones/channels of the MP11 and activate the MP11 independently or in conjunction with the sounds in the MP11 (as I mentioned earlier). In other words, adding iPad apps including Garage Band, is like adding brand new sounds, drums, recording, effects, interactive music education, etc. You can also do this with a laptop computer interfacing with notation software for music composition or arranging all easily controlled by the Kawai MP11. Professional players use iPad as well as MIDI sound modules, MIDI keyboards, virtual computer software for laptops, and other devices to add even more controlling power to the MP11. In fact, you can connect MIDI devices with MIDI connectors into the MP11 using the in-out-thru jacks on the piano and also connect a USB device like a computer and use (and control) the external devices at the same time. This is a big feature for people who want to have external controlling flexibility of devices that have different connectors.

As far as additional connectivity on the MP11 goes, on the back of the piano it has MIDI  1/4" audio outs, fixed XLR outputs with a ground lift (for pro applications), dual audio inputs, single damper pedal input, three separate pedal inputs for damper-sostenuto-soft, expression pedal input to control expressive
sustained instruments such as pipe organ, church organ, synths, strings, etc, all on the back of the piano. Kawai has (finally) written the names of the connectors on the top back of the piano directly over where the connectors are located so that you know where they are. Prior to this you's have to actually look behind the piano to know where to pug in things and that is always a big pain! So that has been taken care of too...and I commend Kawai for doing that. On the front of the piano it has a stereo headphone jack input and a USB flashdrive input for loading and saving recorded songs and backing up panel memories. 

The cabinet color and case materials has been upgraded from the previous MP10 and is now a sleek semi-gloss textured black metal top. It comes with a sturdy metal removable music rack to support your sheet music. The lettering/names of the functions and buttons on the case itself have been redone in a more contemporary design and the text is a brighter white and much easier to see. I like the ergonomics/layout of the MP11 and it feels comfortable to look at. The knobs, light-up buttons, and sliders are high quality and feel sturdy and solid to the touch and are easy to use with good spacing between them. The body of the MP11 has been extended in depth by slightly over 1" to accommodate the longer key action inside the piano. The end caps of the piano are made of mahogany veneers and add a touch of class to this model and the MP10 had that as well which I like very much because the other stage pianos are typically all black/white plastic and/or metal. The piano weighs in at almost 72lbs which is not light, but for this much piano given its durable metal construction (not plastic), solid cabinet, and hammer weighted keyboard, that's not bad. The piano measurements are approx 54' wide x 18' deep x 7 1/4" high. If you need a case for this piano semi-hard travel case with wheels for those people who want to take the piano with them for events or functions.  

The Kawai MP11 is considered to be a portable stage piano (controller) because it has no speakers built in and with its built-in external controller functions, it can easily control many other MIDI devices including computers, keyboards, and sound modules that recording studios and professionals use when creating music. It also has two wheel controllers (pitch bench & modulation) which work well and are assignable to other functions for quick, specific controlling. Although all of these controller functions can help users in a number of ways, for many people they may not use any (or very few) of those things because they really just want to play the piano
 ...and that's OK as far as I am concerned. At its heart the Kawai MP11 is an excellent piano that can be played anywhere by anyone at any skill level who enjoys good piano music and wants the most authentic piano key action along with a beautiful acoustic piano sound and excellent pedaling they can get in a portable digital under $3000...period. Although having hundreds of instrument sounds and functions can be fun as well as useful for some people (I like them), there is something to be said for an elegant, simple to use digital piano like the MP11 focused on fewer things but offering the best results in playing piano in this price range.

Kawai MP11

In the final analysis I believe this will be what most people will use this piano for...to play piano and many people will set this instrument up in their home living rooms, family rooms, home recording studio rooms, in their church, school, or other traditional venue where it will be connected to some nice speakers (there are specific ones I recommend) or to some high quality stereo headphones so that you will feel like you're playing a real 9' concert grand piano...and really, isn't that what it's all about? The MP11 will put you there and give you control over your music along with some nice additional features to add even more life to your music so that it will move your musical soul, inspire you, and allow you to play music on a digital piano in
ways you may not have thought possible. The piano action is designed to move without all the complexity of an acoustic grand piano, although in reality, even this piano will not replace a real top quality 9' grand piano anytime soon. But it sure does offer the closest rendition I've ever played in this price range...and I would recommend this piano to anyone who believes this is what they want. Unfortunately, there is one problem with regard to actually buying and owning the new MP11. They have been so popular since coming out a few months ago that they are out of stock everywhere in the US and there is, from what I am told, a huge waiting list to get one and it may be awhile yet until they're available again. It's that old "too little supply for too big of demand" which is causing this huge delay for the Kawai company here in the US. So if you want one of these little babies, you better not be in a rush at this point because it's going to be awhile. But I believe it's worth the wait if you want really want what this piano has to offer and you're willing to spend the money to get one. My advice would be...put one on order now to get in line, wait, and just be happy that you will get one at all whenever they become available again!

Kawai MP7

By the way, for those people who cannot afford or don't want to be in this $2799 price range, the new "little brother/sister" of the MP11 (called the MP7) has many of the same functions and controls of the MP11 and even has the same piano sound and pedaling functions, but is at a much lower price of $1799US internet discount price. It's really not "little" as the MP7 has a very similar size and appearance compared to the MP11. At $1000 less than the MP11, the MP7 may be a very good option for you (I like it a lot) and although the key action of the MP7 is not the MP11 key action, it is the best key action under $2000 of any digital piano built today in my opinion and it's super enjoyable to play. Check out my Kawai MP7 review here: Kawai MP7 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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

UPDATED REVIEW - March 1, 2015 - Roland HP504, HP506, HP508Home Digital Pianos - Recommended - The Roland Corporation started making digital pianos many, many years ago and is well known throughout the world for building higher quality, advanced digital music products that piano students, players, teachers, professional musicians, churches, and studios use. I have played and used many of the Roland music products including digital drum kits, MIDI guitars, home organs, pro keyboards, digital pianos, pro audio systems, keyboard & guitar amps, headphones, special effects systems, MIDI products, and other music gear.

HP508 polished ebony

When it comes to digital pianos, which is my specialty, I am very picky about quality and realism in terms of accurate piano key action and key touch, authentic piano sound  & dynamics with full expression capability, realistic pedaling response, and durability, especially in the higher priced models such as these new Roland HP series pianos. The HP (stands for home pianos) series has been out for many years and Roland is well known for them. These pianos seem to get better every time a new model comes out and the Roland HP series is a strong competitor to the Kawai CN & CA series as well as the Yamaha Clavinova CLP digital piano series in similar price ranges. Since Roland does not publish its retail or store discount prices on its web

Roland HP504/HP506 control panel

site or dealer web sites, nor are these instruments available on the Internet in the US, getting price info is a little hard to come by in the US. However, it's my best guess at the moment, based on what I've already seen at Roland piano stores, that the HP504 in satin finishes are selling in local US stores for approx $2700-$3000US, the HP506 in satin finishes are selling approx between $3300-$3700US, and the HP508 in satin finishes are selling approx between $4500-$5000US. Actual selling prices will vary depending on where you live, your local Roland dealer, the prices they charge, and the demand for a particular model. The HP506 and HP508 are also offered in a special high polished ebony finish which increases price by about $600US each...so there is definitely a premium for buying a high polish ebony finish, but they are certainly beautiful to look at.

I have already played these pianos many times and I really did not expect them to be much better than the previous model HP503, HP505, and HP507 because the pianos appear to be somewhat similar overall, and based on digital feature specifications, it did not look like much had changed. However, I was very surprised that they had changed (improved) in a big way with regard to the fundamentals of piano playing including key action, sound & dynamic response, and pedaling. The best product change analogy I can use is when Apple computer company upgraded their iPad2 to the iPad 3 with Retina display screen. 
The iPad Retina display was a huge upgrade in terms of the screen display quality and realism for images, the processing power was greater too and buyers were very impressed and bought them in huge numbers. The new Roland HP504 (left pic with bench), HP506, & HP508 is much the same way in its new upgrades of noticeably superior piano performance over previous models. The new key actions are much quieter and move better, the piano sound and dynamic range is much more realistic & pure, and pedaling is improved. For those people who play digital pianos or have played good acoustic grand pianos, they would be able to tell how good these new Roland pianos really are as compared to anything that Roland and other piano companies have had before. The subtleties in tonality, nuance, dynamic range, and expressiveness are evident when playing complex music in ways not possible on Roland pianos in the past.

Roland has two new upgraded piano hammer weighted graded key actions and they have been given names beyond the boring model numbers used in the past. The best key action, which is in the HP506 & HP508, is called Concert Keyboard (an appropriate name actually). The key action in the HP504 is called Premium Keyboard. The difference between the two is that the Concert Keyboard in the HP506 & HP508 feels even more like a grand piano to me and the Premium Keyboard action in the HP504 (below left pic) is just slightly less like a grand piano compared to the Concert Key Action, but still very enjoyable to play and much better than most other brands in its price range. As compared to the low priced Roland RP401R (under $2000) which I have reviewed elsewhere in this blog, the HP504 Premium Key Action is definitely a higher quality piano playing experience but it is also substantially more money than the Roland RP series pianos found at general music stores. This is the first major key action upgrade for the HP series in many years in terms of feel,

Roland HP504

key sensor ability and sensitivity, reaction time, and overall quietness of key movement and keybed. For the first time ever in any major brand of digital piano that I know of, Roland now has 4 electronic key sensors per key (this 4-sensor info came directly to me from Roland US). The new 4-sensor piano sound electronics is in all of the new DP, HP, & LX models and makes a huge difference in overall touch sensitivity, dynamic range, and piano tone subtitles and is especially noticeable if you are a more advanced player.  When it comes to piano sound, it's really all about expression and expressing yourself in a musical way. These new models do such a fine job of that, that even an experienced piano/music teacher like myself would not hesitate to recommend these pianos over many acoustic pianos out there when it comes to having the necessary fundamentals a student or player needs to make good music. So if you ever hear a piano teacher say "I would never recommend a digital piano to my students if they want to be serious about their musical growth," then that teacher has not played a new higher quality digital piano lately, especially the new Roland pianos.

New synthetic ebony keys

As I mentioned before, unless you have a very musically trained ear for listening to or playing high quality acoustic pianos, you may not be able to recognize how good these new Roland digital models are as compared to some lower priced digital pianos. This is because sound and feel are, at the end of the day, subjective & personal and objectivity for the untrained ear and fingers can be difficult to obtain. Having said that, the piano sound realism, key sensitivity, and dynamic range along with a much quieter key action than ever before is really quite amazing in all three new models, and it really does give you the impression that you are playing a real top quality acoustic piano and much more so than previous Roland piano models. The key weight and static touch weight (amount of finger pressure required to press keys when keys are at resting position) are excellent as well as key balance from bass through treble range and from black keys to white keys. Unless you get a chance to play one of these pianos locally you'll just have to take my word for it:).

New synthetic ivory keys

Both new Roland key actions (Concert & Premium) also incorporate a grand piano simulation movement with a "let-off/escapement mechanism." This key movement simulates the key action feel of a grand piano as opposed to an upright piano. When you press the keys down slowly on a real grand piano, you can feel a slight hesitation or notch about half way down when the key action is moving and this is called the escapement or let-off effect. Generally speaking, upright acoustic pianos do not have this feature but grand pianos do. Is this let-off/escapement feature a necessity for playing a piano?...not really...but it's cool to have because it does offer even better playing feel, especially for more advanced players:) The white piano key tops are coated in a synthetic ivory material which (tries to) duplicates the feel of the older acoustic pianos which had real ivory keys and has a slight textured feeling to them. This synthetic ivory was on the previous models too. But on these new models Roland has added new synthetic ebony for the black keys (Concert Action only) which completes the total realism of playing a real organic piano keyboard on all keys. This synthetic substance on both black & white keys has a slight texture and helps absorb sweat from the fingers and offers a smoother playing experience. It also looks a bit classier than the all shiny white and black keys and I personally like this feel very much.

HP506 rosewood

The piano cabinet and control panel in all three models have been redesigned with more contemporary lines and a sleeker looking panel layout with redesigned buttons and functions that are a bit more intuitive to use. The satin cabinet finishes also look more realistic than previous models and are more scratch resistant along with the cabinets being more elegant to look at. Even the Roland HP piano logo on the HP pianos was redesigned and relocated to the top of the music rack where it looks elegant and classier, which is a small but important detail in my opinion. Roland did keep something that was on previous models and that is where the control panel is located and the fact that the key cover is a two stage cover allowing the player the ability of covering the control panel without covering up the keys. This allows for a visually more minimalistic acoustic looking piano when playing it and yet you can easily slide the cover back up inside the piano and expose the control panel again so you can use the buttons to change functions and features. I really like how that works and I am a big fan of having the buttons up above the keys as opposed to on the left or right side of the piano keyboard as in other digital piano brands and models.

The acoustic piano sound itself (taken from Steinway acoustic grand pianos) on all the Roland HP pianos are identical regardless of model and they all have 128-note polyphony piano memory (how many notes can be played and sustained at one time) which is more than enough for even the most complex piano pieces because of Roland's advanced polyphony voice allocation. It's a fancy way to say you won't run out of notes even when layering two sounds together or playing complex MIDI song files while playing live over the top of it. Roland calls its acoustic piano sound SuperNATURAL Piano meaning that
Roland has attempted to reproduce a much  more "natural & beautiful" acoustic stereo sound in their digital pianos and I feel they have done this quite well on these new models. In fact, if you plug in a good pair of stereo headphones to one of these pianos they would all basically sound the same to most people and have a great piano sound except the higher priced HP508 would have many more key touch sensitivity settings (100 of them as opposed to 5 on the other two models) as well as more digital sound
enhancements including what Roland calls Piano Designer effects.  The additional touch sensitivity settings are really a big upgrade and allow for incremental changes in how the piano sound reacts to your finger touch. The key touch is much more customizable (for children or adults, beginners through advanced) on the HP508 because of so many more touch sensitivity settings, which is a good thing. There are also certain tones that occur inside a regular acoustic piano when the hammers hit the strings and the strings are vibrating, as well as how the pedals influence the piano sound. Some of the acoustic piano elements include duplex scale, hammer noise, damper noise settings, soundboard behavior, and digitally opening and closing the lid of a grand piano at different height levels, and they are included in the HP508 (and LX15e) but some are not in the HP504 & HP506. Whether or not these additional acoustic piano elements are something you will personally hear one way or the other is hard to tell depending on your ears, expectations, musical experience, and sensitivity. But I can assure you that the extra piano sound upgrades in the HP508 (as compared to the HP506 & HP504) do bring another level of piano playing authenticity to the HP508 and I can hear the difference. The main function of any good digital piano is to play & sound like a real high quality acoustic piano and a good piano manufacturer is always looking for a better way to do that and yet keep their digital pianos at affordable prices.

Overall, I like the SuperNATURAL piano sound very much and it offers a beautiful acoustic playing experience more closely associated with the Steinway grand piano sound and I can hear that and it's impressive. However, everyone has different ears and reacts to sound differently but I personally enjoy playing and listening to the Roland acoustic piano sound in these new models and in the HP508, it's a big resonate piano sound also because of the substantially upgraded internal speaker system. People who own these new pianos have told me they really can't believe their ears at how good the piano sound is and how much it sounds like they are playing a real piano. For me personally, the sound of any of these new models, especially through headphones, really moves my musical soul and allows me to create the music that's in my head and on the music in front of me. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2014

With regard to the piano pedals, they operate very smoothly and feel realistic to press down and incorporate the three traditional pedal functions (damper/sustain, sostenuto, and soft) of regular acoustic pianos. They do work better than other digital pianos I have played and also simulate a good note sustaining experience using a damper continuous detection pedaling feature. This function gives the player incremental note sustain amounts rather than just on & off or half pedal. It is definitely a much more realistic acoustic piano playing experience than other brands as well as physically feeling like the pedal is changing resistance when being pressed down. Roland calls this feature Progressive Damper Action. Having quality piano pedals & accurate piano pedal operation is very important, especially to more advanced players. Roland does not skimp on this area of piano playing like some other digital piano manufacturers do. Even the height of the pedals (an important aspect of pedal playing) is accurate as compared to concert grand pianos like the Steinway acoustic grand pianos. Every aspect of pedal playing can make a big difference in technique and performance and these are not features and functions that should be overlooked.

HP508 control panel

The HP models offer many high quality instrument sounds divided into 4 control panel buttons above the keyboard. These sounds include 14 variations of acoustic grand pianos, 5 upright pianos (uprights are generally not found on other brands), 10 electric pianos, and 321 additional instrument tones (just about anything you can think of including strings, organs, banjo, synth, sax, trumpet, sitar, guitars, individual drum sounds, etc:) for a total of 350 tones which is a lot! You can see all of the instrument names and other function descriptions in the LCD user display screen which is very nice for displaying relevant info and the HP508 has a slightly better and larger display screens for accessing even more information. On the panel button with the 321 extra instrument sounds, it can be a bit tedious in getting to the sound you want by scrolling to it with the value +/- button, but this is true of other brands as well. However, Roland has created a special iPad app that allows you to select all of the instrument sounds on the piano (all Roland HP models) from an iPad connected wirelessly to the piano. This iPad Roland app called Piano Partner, displays all
350 tones from within the piano which are easy to find and select right from an iPad touch screen (left pic). Of course you need to dedicate an iPad to the piano which not everyone can do as it does add extra cost, but it is very cool to do that and personally I think an iPad is a great addition to these pianos . On the piano buttons themselves, you can change the "tonality" of the sounds by increasing or decreasing the brilliance or mellowness of the piano & instrument sounds and you can take any two sounds and layer them together or split them separately on either side of the keyboard. The pianos also have the duet twin piano feature which lets you electronically divide the 88-keys into two identical 44-key keyboards playing the same notes in the same octaves so that two people can play the same music at the same time. It's a great feature for teacher-student, parent-child, etc, and many of the top brands are including that feature in their pianos too.

USB ports

A digital MIDI recorder is built into each model featuring 3 tracks of recording and playback (for up to 3 separate instruments) and being able to save the songs on a USB flashdrive which is very cool. There is also an audio wav file recorder which allows actual CD recording and playback giving a precise rendition of your song which you can then play along with or save on a USB flashdrive for loading onto your computer to use in notation programs or attach to emails to send to family & friends so they can hear you on their computers...lots of fun with that. You can also plug in another instrument or microphone into the pianos and record that sound along with the piano and combine them. You can also use a key transpose feature on the pianos to transpose your recording (including the external audio source) to another key for singing or modulating the song up or down in semi-tones one step at a time. Even playback speed of MIDI and audio song files can be adjusted up or down which is very cool for audio and most digital pianos cannot do this on audio wav/CD files. So that means you can play along with your favorite CD song direct in your piano and slow it down to 75% of original speed to learn how to play it at a better (slower) speed while learning...and it still sounds good! I have not seen audio/CD song tempo control before on any other brand that has audio record or playback. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2014

General MIDI sound

All Roland piano HP models playback General MIDI song files from a USB flashdrive which is a great feature and one I use all the time in my studio. The General MIDI song format allows you to play your piano parts along "with the band or orchestra" and to interact with multiple instruments at one time using well known piano lesson books including thousands of popular songs from a variety of music styles and eras which can be found on the Internet. For more info on the General MIDI format go here: General MIDI and Playing Piano. The MIDI song titles can be accessed and seen from the LCD user display screen which make using it much more intuitive as compared to only having LED display screens or none at all. Roland has a number of other ways its pianos can record music and playback songs for music education & learning that are quite useful and can be important when trying to learn music whether you are a beginner or professional. The recording and playback can be done as an audio WAV file which allows you to have an actual CD quality song that can be played on other devices such as your computer or converted to a MP3 audio file to play on an iPad, iPod, or iPhone. But this comes as no surprise to me because for years Roland has built professional recording & music learning devices for musicians, teachers, and students who use them in their home or studio (as I do) for more effective practice sessions. If you want to know more about this you are welcome to contact me.

All of these models can connect directly to an iPad for another interactive way of learning about music and playing the piano, and I use iPad piano learning/teaching apps all the time in my studio which provides a cutting edge visual way of interactive piano practice and learning. A unique feature of the Roland HP pianos is that they can do a wireless USB connection to an iPad using an optional Roland wireless USB adapter and specially created Roland iPad apps such as the Piano Partner app (see pics on left). The Piano Partner iPad app does a number of things including visually letting you access all of the instrument sounds in the pianos by selecting the specific instrument sound (more than 300 of them), which I mentioned earlier, and touching the iPad to get it. It's intuitive and really something every owner of a new HP models new Roland piano should have. The Piano Partner app also displays the actual musical notation for all 200 lesson songs built inside the Roland pianos so that you can see the music and play along at any speed you like. You can also mute the right and/or left hand so that you can play that part live while the other "hand" is is being heard playing back on the iPad Piano Partner app. The songs include popular lesson songs that teachers use for their students and there are even orchestral accompaniments for some of the songs to make it sound even more exciting. It's easy to use, fun, and quite motivational and is recommended by music teachers and I really like it. The app also displays a flash card game that allows you to learn to identify notes on the staff so that you become better at sight reading. Beyond all that, on the Roland pianos there is wireless audio to play music from your iTunes songs (with tempo & transpose control) and hear it through the piano speakers by way of a new Roland Air Performer app without the need of connecting audio cables from the piano to the iPad. This is very cool and unique and I have not seen this feature offered on other brands before. The audio sound & USB connections from other non-Roland iPad music apps still need connecting cables, but that's true of the other brands too.

The speaker/audio system in each model is good and gets better as you go up in models with the HP508 being noticeably best of all. Each piano model has more audio power, bigger speakers, and more speakers than the model before it and the better internal speaker systems do make these pianos sound more realistic. The HP504 has 24 watts of total audio power going into 2 amplifiers and 2 speakers and although that specification may not seem like much, this model is surprisingly loud and full for its smaller size due to special Roland speaker technology and competes quite well with the bigger 40 watt audio power of other digital pianos. Even though the HP504 specs are quite similar to the much lower priced Roland RP401R, the HP504 piano sound system has a noticeably richer more resonate piano quality to it as compared the the RP401R in the "under $2000 price range." The HP506 has 74 watts (an upgrade over previous model) of total audio power going into 4 amplifiers and 4 speakers, and the HP508 has 150 watts (an upgrade over previous model) of total audio power going into 4 amplifiers and 6 speakers. The HP508 is a bit taller piano (about 45" tall with music rack up - about 38" tall with music rack folder down) so that the 6 speakers can be laid out inside the piano with two near the top, two near the keyboard, and two below pointing forward (instead of down in the other two models). This system gives a more balanced approach to recreating the acoustic piano playing experience and it really makes the piano sound like a big acoustic grand piano. So it's not only the power or the internal audio systems themselves, but how and where they are installed in the piano and how the individual piano tones are projected through those different systems. Roland has been in the professional pro audio business for many years (I have owned and used some of their pro audio speakers) so they do have experience in this area and it shows in these digital pianos. 

The best way I can sum up and identify the major changes in the HP504, 506, and 508 from the previous models are as follows:

1. New PHA-4 Concert Keyboard with Escapement and Ebony/Ivory Feel features Roland’s latest high-resolution touch-detection technology 
2. Fortissimo (dynamically very loud) playing styles are fully expressed with the new Dynamic Harmonic feature, which provides both a unique tonal character and powerful sound
3. New Individual Note Voicing to customize the sound to your taste by adjusting the pitch (tuning), volume, and character of each note independently including Stretched Tuning: -50.0 – +50.0 cent, Note Volume: -50 – 0, Note Character: -5 – +5
4. Headphones 3D Ambience effect sound experience while using headphones for private practice
5. Display music scores and selected HP-508 tones & songs with Piano Partner app for iPad
6. Independent volume control for headphones, volume limit function, and a 4 level tilt adjustable music rest which no other major brand has
7. Better connectivity with mini stereo input and output jacks as opposed to just standard 1/4 jacks

I do need to point out that while all of the upgrades on these new pianos are pretty impressive, the most interesting new feature to me is that for the first time that I know of on a top name home digital (upright style) piano, you can actually electronically adjust each of the 88 notes one at a time for tuning, volume, and character (voicing). On all other top name digital pianos you can only do this for all 88 keys at one time, but not for each note individually. This may not be useful or ever necessary for beginner thru early intermediate players, but for more advanced players you may have reason to want specific notes individually altered because of the way you hear your music and the notes that are playing. It's all about the "ear" and about your piano playing experience & skill level, thus you may find this new and impressive feature useful to be able to play your music exactly in the way you want it to sound over 88 individual notes. I have used this feature to customize the piano sound and I like the result very much.

Another new Roland creation I found intriguing was the "3D effect" through stereo headphones. It's supposed to give you the impression the piano sound is all around you coming from different directions as opposed to directly into your ears. Roland calls it "an immersive sound experience" which gives you the feeling you're not actually wearing headphones at all...and that's really the point of this feature. I tried it out and found that overall, it had a more natural effect than listening through stereo headphones without it. It actually did sound like I wasn't wearing headphones...although I was:). This is new technology in digital pianos and it's a nice feature to have especially if you'll be using headphones often. The 3-D headphone sound effect only works when the ambiance button on the piano control panel is selected and it can be turned on or off or controlled in incremental levels Also, it's important to have/own excellent sounding stereo headphones for private playing because you want to capture all the nuances of the new enhanced Roland piano sound dynamics and tonal qualities. I can give you some good recommendations if you don't already have headphones.

HP508 satin black

As with all lower priced digital pianos under approx $3000 discount price, I would have preferred the internal speaker systems on the HP504 & HP506 to be more powerful than they are, but this is true for the other brands too. I am just spoiled when it comes to sound (I play acoustic grand pianos often:) and I like the volume and tone to be big such as what is in the HP508. But for the majority of people, the HP504 & HP506 will have more than enough sound and volume for most homes and I have played them many times and they do sound great for their price. These new Roland models also have built-in audio outputs so you can add a small external sound system to any of the models (like you would to a TV, iPod, home stereo, etc) and then you can enhance the sound quality and volume even further if you want. 

HP506 rosewood closed key cover

If you want a realistic and satisfying "acoustic piano" style playing experience without an over abundance of digital features (no drum rhythm patterns, no automatic chord styles, etc), the new Roland HP504, HP506, and HP508 would be an excellent choice depending on your budget, and I do highly recommend them. They are a big upgrade from the prior models in key action & piano dynamics and play great. Also, as compared against the other popular name brands such as Yamaha & Kawai, the new Roland pianos have the latest piano technology out there right now, and in a number of important ways (which I discussed previously) they surpass what the other brands do in similar price ranges. Although these new HP pianos do a lot more than I have mentioned in this review in terms of digital features they have, those things are just "frosting on the cake" as far as I am concerned. Once you get up into this price range it's mostly all about piano playing in my opinion, and that's definitely where the Roland HP models excel. Roland products have been known to be very reliable overall and these pianos come with a 5 year parts, 2 year labor labor warranty which is quite good. As I always tell people, do your homework before making a buying decision, especially when it comes to some artificially higher piano store prices out there, but you can't go wrong on any of the new Roland HP digital pianos and you can enjoy them for many years to come.

* Roland also makes an upgraded contemporary upright cabinet version of the HP508 called the LX15e. It is the same piano as the HP508 except in a different cabinet with a better internal speaker system. Go to the following link to read my review of the new LX15e: Roland LX15e Review

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

*Check out these videos below demonstrating various things about the new Roland pianos

PIANO TEACHERS & DIGITAL PIANOS - DO TEACHERS LIKE THEM and DO THEY RECOMMEND THEM? - I get asked all the time by piano shoppers, "will a digital piano be good enough for my child to learn on?" In some cases I also get told by piano shoppers the following statement: "my piano teacher does not want my child to practice or learn on a digital piano, they want me to have an acoustic piano because they say only an acoustic piano will allow the student to learn properly?" There are other teachers who say that "they don't care as long as the digital piano is a good one because a good digital piano will also help a student learn how to play piano." Then finally there is a fairly large percentage of piano teachers who say "I like digital pianos and recommend them because they offer many features that stimulate students to practice more, are less money than new acoustic pianos, they do allow for a very good piano playing experience, and require virtually no maintenance or upkeep as compared with acoustic pianos and you can practice in privacy with headphones." I would personally consider myself in that group of qualified piano instructor.

So what is a piano shopper to do? What piano should they buy? Those are questions I constantly get asked to answer because I am a long time, extremely experienced piano teacher (as well as teaching guitar, synth, and organ for many years) and I have taught thousands of piano & keyboard students in group lessons and private lessons. I teach a variety of music styles including classical, rock, jazz, Latin, blues, country, oldies, as well as teaching beginners how to compose, write, and arrange music in ways that make the learning experience super exciting for students and gets them to want more and practice more...and that's what it's all about...fun, desire, practice, motivation, and the love of playing music on a piano. Once a person understands why they or their child should take piano lessons, then they will better understand what piano would be the best purchase for them.

My quick answer to the question about teachers either wanting or not wanting their students to have a digital piano is..."a student should have an instrument that inspires them to want to play music and enjoy it in the best way possible for them." Playing music is really all about passion and the feeling a person gets when playing music they like. It's really all about "how does it make you feel?" It's definitely not about...should I get a digital or acoustic piano because some of the new digital pianos available from top companies like Roland, Casio, Kawai, and Yamaha are absolutely incredible and are a joy to play as are good acoustic pianos. Many of the new digital pianos offer the ability to record yourself to analyze your playing as well as play the actual lesson songs from your curriculum so you can hear how it should sound at home and play along with it which is like having the teacher there to accompany you. There are even digital pianos that have big color display screens built in with proprietary piano teaching technology which is quite impressive.

A really big thing to do these days is to use an iPad with your digital piano which allows you to use special music education apps that help you understand piano/music fundamentals in a visually stimulating way that few other things can do. I use an iPad with some very cool apps in my studio and it's absolutely incredible how much a piano student can learn from it in such a short amount of time. Even 3-4 yr old children excel at learning that way because they are growing up in the iPad world and feel comfortable with the technology. When you can play a key on a digital piano and have the iPad piano lesson app tell you if you did that right or wrong and show you visually how to do it right, that certainly helps develop a student's ability to understand many musical concepts that would otherwise take much longer to learn.

If you think about it, based on all the people you know and have met throughout your life, how many of those people play piano? How many of them can actually sit down to a piano and play some music and have that music sound pretty good? I bet your answer would probably be "not many" or not any. When it comes to personal relaxation and things a person likes to do, I would bet you know many, many people who would be able to "shoot some hoops," swing a bat, play a game of football, sing a song, play tennis, play ping pong, cook a meal, play a guitar, work out at the gym, draw a picture, text a message, read a book, watch a movie video, play a video game, go to a concert, or talk on the phone. You may even know people who can repair a vehicle, paint a house, fix a hole in the wall, or take pictures with a camera.

But playing the piano is something few people can do because the perception of people who are considering taking piano lessons is that "piano lessons are boring and all I am going to be taught is classical music...and I don't want to play just or any classical music." People also have the idea that piano practice is not fun, can be frustrating, and learning the piano takes SO long. If you are an adult and want to play piano then that complicates matters further because in many cases adults have less time for practice than children do and they generally don't want to go through years of lessons to learn to play...so they don't try to learn piano in many cases. Retired older people tell me all the time that they finally have the time to learn and they want the intimate relationship with music they have always dreamed of by playing piano and they're sorry they never learned to play when they were much younger! When you are young you still have many years ahead of you. But when you are older in your 50's, 60's, 70's, etc, you don't have many years remaining on this earth so every minute is important and precious to that older person and they just want to play music and play it soon. Finally when it comes to parents giving their kids lessons, the financial considerations and being able to afford the cost of lessons is an expense many parents either do not want to take on (even though they could) or really cannot take on.

I personally know doctors, lawyers, business owners, movie stars, golf pros, football players, basketball players, artists, nurses, and just plain everyday people who do play piano and they normally play it for one reason...because it makes them feel so good and relaxes them. Playing music is therapeutic on so many emotional levels and it's one of the best emotional and spiritual outlets a person can develop in their lifetime. Playing music can become a vital part of a person's overall mental and physical health and can add years to your life. As an investment in time and money, playing piano can bring big rewards and most of the playing ability that students come to understand is because some hard working, caring piano teacher took the time and energy to help develop that piano student into what they are today. Piano teachers who really care about their students and support and motivate them provide a service to your child or yourself that extends way beyond the price you pay for those lessons.

The average cost of piano lessons throughout the country is approx $20-$25 per half hour per week at the teachers home studio. In some cases depending on the teacher and where you are located in the country and the facility you are taking lessons at, the half hour lesson per week can be higher at approximately $25-$35 or more. So the cost of lessons per month can be from about $80 to over $100 per month. The financial cost is a big commitment on the part of parents and if those parents don't play piano or some other musical instrument, then typically it's difficult for them to understand the true value of playing a musical instrument and the huge positive impact it can have on the life of a young person. Those benefits are enormous and they touch the mind, the body, the soul in a way that is difficult to explain to a person who has not had that experience before.

To spend up to $100 a month on a 5 or 6 year old child is not something I find that most parents eagerly want to do. Paying $80-$100 per month can buy a lot of stuff like gas in your car, food to eat, movies to watch, coffee to drink, utility bills to pay for, etc. So piano lessons or lessons on similar things can take a back seat to "life" as many parents see it. Is that a right decision to make? Only the parent can be the judge but in the end it's the child who loses out, especially if they have a love for music and they express it by singing or dancing all the time. It is the responsibility of the parent to step out of their comfort zone and spend the money especially when they see that their child or children have a special musical gift when they are naturally attracted to it. I say to all parents "do not let the opportunity for piano lessons pass your children by. No one else will do it for them and yes, it is a sacrifice in time and finances, but it is totally worth it when you see what it can do in the life of your child."

For me personally, I put all four of my children through piano lessons with a couple of great teachers (I did not teach them) and although it was not easy and cost a bunch of money, it really paid off in so many ways. Two of my daughters are now piano teachers (although both are nurses too), and another daughter has taught flute for a number of years (that was her "second instrument"), and my son plays a few instruments as well. The fact is, kids do love music and if you get them involved with learning to play good melodic music on a piano or another instrument, that ability helps to give that child a higher degree of intellect in understanding academics in school, becoming more social and interactive with people and more self confident, and generally becoming a better person all around (I have witnessed this hundreds of times). Learning and playing music is notrocket science! It is something which can be achieved by many people all all abilities and all ages. What would our world be like without music in our lives. It is everywhere we go and it is a part of daily life. Get your kids involved and support them along the way!

OK, so let's say you have wisely decided to invest in piano lessons for your child (and it is an investment)...now what do you do when it comes to which piano to get them? Should it be a digital piano or regular acoustic piano? Should you buy them a cheap keyboard instead of a piano? Should you buy new or used? Should you spend a lot or a little? Should you order on-line, buy at a music store, on Craigslist, at Costco, from a friend, etc?There is a lot to consider when it comes to making this kind of decision and it can become overwhelming! People come to me all the time asking me to help them get through the madness and I am happy to do that so here's my 1st word of advice; most piano teachers have little experieince with the new digital pianos out there so they are usually not a good resource when you are making a piano buying decision. I play acoustic pianos often including concert Steinway, Yamaha, and Kawai grand pianos and I love those instruments but I also love good digital pianos too. There are so few people who can actually play a piano as compared to all the other things people do that learning to play the piano should be about "making music" and having fun and doing what it takes to keep the student and player interested and motivated. It's easy for some piano teachers to try and put together an argument against anyone buying a digital piano. This is because that teacher is on a mission and that mission is to teach students how to play a piano perfectly rather than make enjoyable music.

So why would a piano teacher ever say that they don't want you or your child to have a digital piano? The main reasons for this is the teacher's comfort zone. Teacher's are like anybody else...they have comfort zones. Those comfort zones are a part of that teacher's point of view but unfortunately comfort zones can be a negative thing if the teacher's opinion is not based on reality. There are some teachers (not most) who cannot see the forest from the trees. They only see the piano as a piano and not as an enjoyable musical instrument or a vehicle in which a person can be motivated to want to practice and play music and enjoy it in whatever way they can. It is true that a piano student does better when they have a good piano as opposed to a bad one and I love it when a student excels to a point where they become a great pianist and can play a variety of music styles while sight reading with no problem. I believe all students should aspire to that level but if they don't get there then it should not be counted as a loss, but the level they have achieved should be counted as a gain as long as they are enjoying the personal fulfilling experience of playing music at the skill level they have achieved on a good piano that stays in tune and has a beautiful tone and nice key action touch.

It is true that there are many great acoustic pianos which offer a more natural piano playing experience than many digital pianos...that's just natural:). But is that more natural organic acoustic piano playing experience really necessary for the large percentage of piano students and recreational players? The answer is NO because most students and recreational players are not looking for piano perfection. They are looking for personal musical satisfaction in their piano playing and listening experience and good digital pianos in a variety of price ranges definitely do offer that. Also, just because a teacher asks you to buy an acoustic piano does not mean you can afford to do so. New acoustic pianos are much more expensive than new digital pianos and require constant upkeep with tunings and adjustments which cost money every year. Since new acoustic pianos cost so much money, then people who think they need an acoustic piano have to opt for a used acoustic piano. That option presents a whole host of potential problems because the key action, piano sound, and overall functionality of that used piano may be compromised by the fact that it is a used piano. The fact is, most piano teachers do one job very well...and that is teaching piano. They are not experts on digital pianos or even a variety of acoustic pianos and would not be able to tell you whether a specific used piano is a good buy or not. So my advice is when it comes to most piano teachers, they generally live a very insulated world with reagrd to pianos and no little about what the new digital pianos can do and how great they can be. There are times whena good acoustic piano may be the right choice but in many cases these days, new digital pianos are overtaking acoustic pianos as the right choice. After all...it's YOUR money and not your teacher's money when it comes to buying a piano, unless your teacher (assuming you have one) wants to buy you a good piano. At that point I would take that deal!

So here's the bottom line...good digital pianos are great instruments to take lessons on, practice with, and grow in your piano playing skills so that you can enjoy music in the way you want to. Be aware that there are bad digital pianos out there (as there are bad acoustic pianos too) which can definitely get in the way of learning how to play piano properly and will also cause bad playing habits. Stay away from those brands or models (I can tell you what they are). If someday you feel that you would really like an acoustic piano, then a good grand piano is the way to go. But when it comes to vertical upright styles of digital pianos by the top name brands, for most students and people that play piano, I recommend digital pianos as a fantastic way to enjoy music and do things you could never do on a traditional acoustic piano. If you want more information on which digital piano might be right for you, please contact me.
 
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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

DIGITAL PIANO COMPARISON REVIEW from $3000-$7500US - Yamaha CLP535, CLP545, CLP575, CLP585, NU1 - Roland DP90e, DP90Se, HP504, HP506, HP508, HPi50e, LX15e - Kawai CN35, CA65, CA67, CA95, CA97, CS4, CS7, CS10, Samick Ebony-3.So many choices and so much to think about - Find out more here and click on pics to see larger views!

Yamaha CLP585

There are many digital piano shoppers out there who want to invest in a "Premium" digital piano for their home, church, studio, or other area. I consider a Premium digital piano to mean something that retails for at least $3000 and goes up to at least $7500 or more. Once you start looking in that price range there are many good options and the field of available products is very large...and confusing too. In this report I will not be talking about or mentioning (what are known as) interactive auto-accompaniment pianos (1-man band pianos) such as the Yamaha CVP601, CVP605, and CVP609, or the new Kawai CP1, CP2, and CP3 digital pianos. They are for different purposes and typically not something that you buy primarily to play piano on. What I am talking about here are Premium pianos that people buy to primarily play piano on and then have a few other useful, fun, and practical features that make digital pianos great to own and an excellent and in many cases, better alternative to a regular acoustic piano. I have played every single model of the top name brand digital pianos in this Premium price range and they are all quite good in their own way. Some have nicer looking cabinets, some have more powerful internal speaker systems, some have more authentic key action, more authentic piano sound and tonal range, more realistic pedaling response, better and/or more numerous digital features, more intuitive user controls, more advanced innovative technology, and so on. The most important primary things a shopper needs to consider when researching new digital pianos is, in the following order, realism in key action movement and response, piano sound authenticity, and pedaling response (especially the damper/sustain pedal) and its interaction with the piano sound and key action. All other features and functions in terms of their importance should come after the primary features are satisfied.

Yamaha CLP545 satin finish

When shopping for one of these "premium" digital pianos from Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, and Samick, you will find that in the US, they are only available at local piano stores. In the US these pianos are not available on the internet or general music stores such as Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc. and you may not be able to find out what an actual discount selling price will be until you actually visit the local authorized piano dealer. In most cases you can find the retail price listed on the manufacturer web site so that will give you a starting place. The retail price will also be different depending on the cabinet finish color and furniture design. So for instance if you want a digital piano from Yamaha, Roland, or Kawai in the polished ebony finish, that will cost you quite a bit more money as opposed to the regular satin finish which usually comes in either black or rosewood and occasionally mahogany or white. I have found that in many cases in US piano stores, the dealer may not have one or more of the new models in stock or even a demonstrator model to see. This may be because that model is in short supply and not available at that moment or that store just sold what they had, or...that dealer simply does not want to stock that model because they don't think they can easily sell it. So do not be surprised if you cannot find what you are looking for near you. 

Kawai CN35 mahogany finish

So here's what you need to know about these premium pianos to make a good buying decision. First of all, every piano store will likely say that their brand is better than the competitive brand sold by another company, which is normally what they do, but that does not mean it's true. All of the top name brands make very good, reliable pianos that will last many years and be good instruments to play on. But that does not mean there are not significant differences among these pianos in a number of ways, some of which you may like and some you may not like. Piano key action, piano sound, dynamic tonal range realism, key touch sensitivity, pedaling sustain, and the speaker system the sound goes through are the vital components and features of any digital piano. There are some off brands (I have not listed them here) that are so bad they are not worth mentioning, but be aware that if you don't choose from these top brands I have listed here in this price range, then you will likely be asking for problems or disappointments at the very least.

Kawai CN35 control panel buttons

When shopping in this $3000-$7000 price range you may hear digital piano terms such as graded grand piano hammer action, wood keys, balanced, graded weighted plastic key action, escapement, let-ff, counter weighted keys, fulcrum, pivot point, synthetic ivory feel keys, synthetic ebony feel keys, decibel range, audio power, wood piano soundboard, digital piano soundboard recreation, individual note volume and character editing controls, 2-position key cover, minimalistic appearance, General MIDI, wav and MP3 audio recording & play back, piano designer, virtual technician, USB output, USB flashdrive input, multitrack MIDI recording, music library, wireless connectivity with iPad, 3D sound imaging through headphones, touch sensitivity curve, special effects, layering, splitting, LCD display screen, 2-position key cover, decay time, continuous detection pedaling, half-pedaling, redesigned, sympathetic vibrations, pedal resonance, organic, sampled, stereo, Steinway, Bosendorfer, Yamaha, Kawai, and many more. There are SO MANY terms and features used in some of these pianos that it can quickly become overwhelming and in many cases it usually does. But don't let these terms scare you. Just concentrate on the basics first and then everything else should fall into place...and if it doesn't, then you can always contact me and I will try to help you figure it out.

Here are some specifics you should know about these pianos below that may help you:

Yamaha - The CLP535, 545, 565GP, 575 have the same GH3 key action which they have been producing for many years, except that the CLP535 and CLP565GP have all plastic keys whereas the other models have wood keys, but to me that makes little difference in the movement of the key action although the wood keys are just slightly more natural. It is important to note that the CLP535 and CLP565GP are the same basic pianos except that the CLP565GP is housed in a mini baby grand piano style cabinet which is quite attractive but is priced at about twice the price of the CLP535 (around $5500-$6000 discount price for the CLP565GP). However the new top of the line CLP585 has a new redesigned key action (its about time) with what is known as key counterweights in each key which make that key action significantly more realistic for Yamaha and much better & more enjoyable to play than any other Yamaha Clavinova key action including the higher priced CVP series. All Yamaha CLP key actions have the escapement feature (previously only found in Roland & Kawai digital pianos) and synthetic ivory key tops. However in my opinion the escapement feature in the key action (a slight notch or hesitation about half way down the key travel when playing very lightly) is so light that it is almost non-existent as far as I am concerned. I like the fact that Yamaha added it to their key actions but it's simply not very realistic, especially compared to both Roland & Kawai escapement feature. The Yamaha NU1 is a specialty polished ebony digital piano with a real upright key action in it (no escapement feature at all) which is taken from a real Yamaha acoustic piano. It's not that the keys are just made of wood like some of the other digital pianos, but the
entire key action includes real acoustic piano moving parts such as hammers, etc and in my opinion this NU1 natural key action is much more realistic and enjoyable to play than any of the new Clavinova models with the exception maybe of the new CLP585. However, the NU1 key action does feel like an upright piano and not at all like a grand piano, but there are some key actions such as what is in a few Kawai & Roland models which feel much closer to a grand piano action in the NU1 price range even though they are not fully acoustic in construction like the NU1. In terms of piano sound sample realism including digital features & functions, in my opinion the Yamaha NU1 falls noticeably behind any of the new CLP models. The NU1 is very basic but is very good for what it is and what it does and no other brand has anything like the NU1. The downside to a digital piano with an all wood key action is that weather & humidity (or dryness) does negatively affect the key action performance over time so its necessary to have the key action adjusted or regulated periodically whereas an all plastic key action does not need that. The NU1 averages around $4500-$5000 discount price at Yamaha pianos stores throughout the US so it is in a good price range.

Roland HP506

Roland - The Roland company really has done a great job with their new line of digital pianos this year although they cost a bit more than the lower priced Kawai or Yamaha pianos. But you do get what you pay for most of the time, and Roland is no exception. The DP90e compact digital piano and HP504 full size digital piano key actions (called Roland Premium Key Action) are excellent in acoustic style key moment and response (graded hammer and balanced) and I enjoy playing them very much. Although the Premium key action is
not quite as good as the other new Roland key action in the DP90Se, HP506, HPi50e, HP508, and LX15e (called Concert Key Action), the Roland Premium Key Action is superior in response for its price range and better in a personal connection with the music than other brands and models I have played such as the Yamaha CLP key actions, with the exception of the new CLP585, but that one costs twice the price as the Roland HP504/DP90e with the Premium key action. The Roland Concert Key Actions in the other Roland pianos come closer to an actual grand piano feel than the Premium Key action and are on a high level of realism in key movement and key feel. All Roland key actions are plastic but are designed to try to replicate wood acoustic key actions in the way they move and feel. All no digital piano key action on any of these brands listed here exactly replicates an acoustic upright or grand piano, they do an acceptable job which gives the player a good level of satisfaction depending on the brand and model. All Roland key actions have the escapement feature found on grand pianos as well as synthetic ivory key tops which feel great. It is interesting to note that Roland is the only brand of the major brands that offers a furniture cabinet compact digital piano that has the Premium features but are housed in an attractive compact cabinet (in satin or polished finishes) with a fold down flat top (see 2nd picture from top of page).

Kawai CA97

Kawai - The new CN35 and CS4 have all-plastic key actions whereas all the other Kawai digital pianos mentioned here have wood key key actions which are called "Grand Feel." All Kawai key actions are hammer weighted, balanced, and graded just like the other brands. However, the key movement on Kawai pianos seems more fluid and easier (more lifelike) to play than the Yamaha CLP key actions in my opinion with the exception of the new higher priced Yamaha CLP585 which is very good with its upgraded key action design and construction. Kawai has three specialty polished ebony piano cabinet models called CS4, CS7, and CS10. They are actually the same pianos as the three regular traditional non polished ebony cabinet digital pianos that Kawai has. In other words the CS4 is really the CN24 (now discontinued and replaced by CN25) in an upgraded cabinet design, finish, and speaker system. The CS7 is really the CA65 (now discontinued and replaced by the CA67) in an upgraded cabinet and finish. The CS10 is really the CA95 (now discontinued and replaced by the CS97) in a super upgraded cabinet design and finish, and looks it looks beautiful.

Kawai CS10 polished ebony upright

To complicate matters a little more, Kawai is just coming out with three brand new pianos that (in Kawai's opinion) are supposed to be upgrades to the previous CN24, CA65, CA95, and in many ways they are upgraded over the current polished ebony CS4, CS7, and CS10. Those new 2015 models are called the CN25, CA67, and CA97 as I just mentioned and they have upgraded piano sound samples and organic piano sound and editing elements, upgraded "Grand Feel" key actions called GF2, and some upgraded digital features including a better internal speaker system on the new CA67 over the CA65. What that all means is the new Kawai CA67 and CA97 are better than

Kawai CS10 control panel

their respective CS7 and CS10 polished ebony piano cabinet versions in a number of ways. However, these new "upgrades" may really not be that important to you simply because you will not personally notice much difference or if you do, you may not need or desire those upgrades. Although this is a bit confusing unless you are paying attention, it has to do with when new models come out and when old models are discontinued. Since manufacturers do not change all models all at one time, there tends to be a staggered introduction of new product when new pianos come out, but this is true for the other pianos brands as well. I suspect Kawai will eventually replace their CS4, 7, and 10 polished ebony series with new models to match the new CN25, CA67, and CA97 respectively...it only seems logical and time will tell. I want to point out that visually the Kawai CS10 looks pretty tall in pictures, like a real upright piano. But in fact, the CS10 is just over 41" tall which is well below a real upright piano height of 48" tall. However for most people 41" is plenty tall and looks great. As a comparison, the top of the line Yamaha CLP585 upright digital piano is just under 40" tall and the top of the line Roland LX15e upright digital piano is a little over 42" tall which makes it the tallest in its class. Beyond that, the lid of the Roland piano opens up with a prop stick like in real upright pianos (neither Kawai or Yamaha has this feature). When you do that not only does it allow the sound to come out more like a grand piano, but the open lid extends the piano height to just under 45" tall. Regardless of height or design differences among these three brands, I like all of the new Kawai digital pianos and recommend them as good choices to seriously consider.

Yamaha CLP control panel display

When it comes to piano sound and all that it entails, each manufacturer tells you they have the most realistic, most authentic, most natural sound available in a given price range. What else would you expect from them? They use proprietary terms to make it sound like they have created the ultimate piano sound. However, piano sound is somewhat subjective depending on your ears (sensitivity to certain frequencies or tones), musical listening experience, piano playing experience, and your expectations. You could literally be happy playing any of these brands and models even though a local piano store would tell you otherwise because they want to sell their brand(s). The manufacturers use fancy and impressive words and phrases to describe their piano sound, but at the end of the day those words are meaningless when it comes to the actual sound you are hearing because it is subjective (as I mentioned) and also subject to the way the internal speaker system projects the sound from inside these digital pianos.

To get the best acoustic piano sound reproduction possible with available technology, Yamaha uses their own Yamaha acoustic pianos to make a sample/recording piano sound. Yamaha also uses a European Bosendorfer acoustic grand piano to sample/record another piano sound for their digital pianos. Yamaha uses Bosendorfer because they own the company...so why not:). Although I have played many Bosendorfer grand pianos over the years, it is definitely not my favorite piano brand as compared to the Yamaha, Kawai, and Steinway acoustic grand pianos in my opinion.
But once again, that's my opinion and should not reflect negatively on the Bosendorfer piano playing experience. The Kawai company uses its own Kawai acoustic grand pianos to record its pianos samples and then Roland primarily uses the famous Steinway grand pianos to record its acoustic piano sound samples, especially since Roland does not produce their own acoustic pianos. Once again, it's important to note that some brands of digital pianos have higher and lower quality piano samples depending on the model number of the digital piano and price range. For instance, Roland has a good, better, and best scenario for its piano sound (Roland calls their piano sound samples SuperNATURAL) where the quality of the SuperNATURAL sound becomes more advanced in realism as you spend more money on the higher priced models. Just like Roland, Kawai also has 3 levels of piano sound realism and Yamaha also has different levels of piano sound realism depending on price range and model. What you will like in terms of piano sound will depend on if you can personally distinguish the differences among the different levels of piano sound realism and authenticity in the different brands and models. The bottom line is...some people can tell a difference, but most people cannot, so it's best not to "overspend" when getting a new digital piano just because a store salesperson might tell you that you need to do that or you convince yourself you won't be happy unless you do. Take it from me, a person can be musically happy and satisfied on a new digital piano without necessarily spending more than you have to because even in the lower price ranges some of these digital pianos sound great.

Yamaha control panel

When it comes to the user interface control LCD screens, almost all of the Yamaha & Kawai models use a larger LCD display screen located to the left side of the keyboard. Roland uses a smaller display screen located in the middle above the keys. Although the Kawai & Yamaha pianos display info that is a bit easier to see with their larger screens (with the exception of the Kawai CN35 and CS4, and Yamaha NU1), I personally like the Roland design better because it is in your direct line of sight above the keys in the middle and is easy to see and the buttons are more intuitive to use in navigating the many features. 

Yamaha control panel

Also, even though the Roland LCD screen is smaller, it still displays plenty of info and usually no less than the larger Yamaha & Kawai LCD screens. The Kawai & Yamaha pianos limit their features to be accessed by fewer buttons than the Roland pianos with a bigger screen, but in a less convenient area of the piano. As an example, there are a number of features in the Yamaha CLP pianos that take many button pushes to get into the menu before you can actually access that function and you need to look over to your left side all the time to push those buttons. I

Roland control panel

personally find this positioning quite distracting and uncomfortable as I am right handed and prefer to use my right hand when selecting buttons. Another thing you'll notice (look at the left pics) about the Yamaha control panels is that they are made of shiny (black) plastic and they show fingerprints, dust, and smudges very easily and to me, it looks cheap. I don't mean to pick on Yamaha in this way (I like this company very much), but when you are buying a beautiful piano and cabinet you would think they could give you a non-glare, no-smudge control panel to go with it, especially when you will be pressing buttons often with your fingers. If you notice the Kawai and Roland control panel and buttons, they have a non-glare,

Kawai CA/CS control panel

no smudge surface which greatly reduces and even eliminates these issues. Generally speaking, the Roland control panel and button design is more user friendly and intuitive to use, and that is important to me. The buttons are in a linear format in front of you and they are spread out to be able to select and use them easier as compared to the Kawai & Yamaha buttons which are more squeezed together in a smaller area. The satin/mat finish on the Roland (and Kawai) control panel, in my opinion, also looks much classier and elegant than a shiny plastic material and the buttons themselves are smaller low profile which also gives the control panel a more elegant appearance. I really
don't want to give undue praise to Roland, but it is also worth mentioning that Roland has a 2-position key cover on their HP pianos which allows the key cover to slide over the control panel only, and then it hides the buttons completely while only the keys remain to be seen (left pic). Or, you can pull the key cover all the way closed and cover up the entire keyboard when you are not playing it (below left pic). So when it comes to a minimalistic button/control panel design, Roland takes it to another level. Yamaha used to be that way (easier to use, 2-position key cover, and more similar to Roland) on its prior
CLP400 series models, but they opted for a larger LCD display screen on this new CLP500 series to make their pianos seem more minimalistic in design (which it does), but unfortunately in doing that I think they created a much less friendly and less easy to use control panel positioned in more difficult to use place on their new pianos. Actually, I don't mind the controls and buttons being on the left side of a digital piano keyboard if they are simple, nicely laid out, don't have a surface that smears, and do not require many button pushes. The more features & functions in the piano there are to control, the more tedious and frustrating it can be to use them when the controls are not intuitive or user friendly. OK...enough said about that.

If you want to save money and stay in a lower price range, then buying a digital piano under $3000 will still get you a Premium quality digital piano in the Yamaha, Roland, or Kawai brand in a satin cabinet finish. The polished ebony Premium digital pianos always add a big increase in price to the name brand pianos in various price ranges, sometimes as much as $500-$1000 depending on the piano model. I believe all of the models here offer attractive cabinets, very good features, are reliable in quality, offer substantial factory warranties, and can satisfy a lot of musical needs, but as I

Roland DP90Se

said before, there are definite differences among brands and models. I like to stress that you cannot always "judge a book by its cover" in thinking a digital piano must be good if it has a nice looking cabinet. I have seen some very nice looking cabinets with beautiful finishes that are very poor pianos when it comes to how they play and sound. People constantly make the mistake of buying a piano on "looks" rather than how it really plays and behaves as a piano. One of the brands that are not near as popular but have some attractive cabinets is the Kurzweil brand. Based on all my personal experience with their current line of pianos, I find that the Kurzweil piano sound/touch response, pedaling, and key action are erratic and uneven and/or are missing fundamental piano playing technology found in the major brands and come nowhere close in quality and authenticity to the pianos I have listed in this report. Also based on my years of personal experience with their digital piano products, the reliability of the electronics and availability of service to repair Kurzweil digital pianos has not been very good over the years.

Roland LX15e

It's really best to stick with brands that are proven winners in overall piano performance, digital technology, and reliability and those brands are definitely Roland, Kawai, and Yamaha in the $3000-$7500+ price range. Just so you know, the top digital piano in each brand are the Roland LX15e polished ebony, Kawai CS10 polished ebony, and Yamaha CLP585 polished ebony and they all retail for approx $7000 or slightly more. The more money you spend in each brand, the more you will typically get in terms of features, functions, piano sound realism, key action authenticity as compared to getting closer to a grand piano feel, and also upgraded cabinet design and cabinet finish. Although I have played all of these new digital pianos, I have not done individual reviews on all of them yet. I will be doing that soon and when I do I will link those reviews from this blog post so you can get even more details from me on each model. You can also go to the manufacturer web sites to get more details, although those sites do try to "sell you" on their product...as they should:). However, I have completed my Roland DP, HP, and LX piano reviews so you can go to the following link to read about the Roland HP Piano Reviews, and then also search reviews in my blog for the other Roland pianos.

Samick Ebony 3

In the beginning of the report I mentioned a digital piano by the Samick piano company called the Ebony-3. I did not talk about it here prior to this for a few different reasons including that it is the only vertical upright style digital piano that the Samick company produces, and it's not even out on the market yet. The Samick piano company, headquartered in Nashville, TN (it is a South Korean company), is a very large acoustic piano company well known for producing acoustic upright acoustic and grand pianos, but is not well very known for digital pianos although they have been producing and selling them for many years. However, I have already seen this new model, heard it, and played on the new
Ebony 3 and for the money I believe it is worth serious consideration up against Kawai, Yamaha, and Roland in the $3000-$5000 discount price range depending on what you think you need. This piano has an intuitive digital control panel, easy to use functions, an elegant full size polished ebony piano cabinet along with USB, MIDI, and recording features. As I said, I have played this new piano already and I liked the key action and, piano sound, and pedaling along with the fact that there is an actual full size acoustic piano spruce soundboard on the back of the piano.
Although there are not as many digital features as the more popular digital piano brands have that I have talked about in this report, this new Samick Ebony 3 digital piano is one of those more minimalistic digital pianos in presentation and even has a separate closing display panel lid that will hide the buttons while the piano is in use (like the Kawai CS10) so it looks completely like an acoustic piano at that point. Although I believe the Kawai, Roland, and Yamaha key actions and sound chips are superior in this price range, this new Samick Ebony 3 can still satisfy a lot of needs both musically and visually and it's in a price range well below that of the other brands that look like this. I have already done a detailed review of this piano at the following link so you can learn more about it and see if this model might be a good one for you: Samick Ebony 3 Review

*Before you make any purchase on these higher priced Premium digital pianos, do your homework and research and then contact me and I can give you free helpful advice so that you can make the right decision for your musical needs.

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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

The Kawai piano company recently introduced a new upgraded model of their previous CN24 digital piano and they now call it the CN25...pretty imaginative model number, don't you think?:). Anyway, the CN25 is improved and enhanced in a number of ways. Some of these features are relatively minor and others are major but the discount selling price of this piano shown on the US Kawai web site has only increased by $100 to $1899US. Unfortunately the CN25 is not a regular internet piano in the US available at normal digital piano internet stores. Instead it is only available through authorized local Kawai piano stores in the US (too bad) so to see or buy one you'll need to go into a local store near you (assuming you have one) although you could also order it direct through the Kawai US web site but you would need to pay a big shipping charge and also sales tax depending on where you live. Of the major piano brands available out there in a more traditional furniture cabinet, the CN25 $1899 price puts it in direct competition with the Kawai CE220 at $1899US discount internet price, the Yamaha CLP525 in a satin finish at $2199US store retail price which actually sells for closer to approx $1800 in US Yamaha stores (not available in the US on the internet), the Yamaha YDP181 at $1699US discount internet price, and the Roland RP401R at $1599US discount internet price.

CN25 with closed key cover

The new Kawai CN25 has a nicely redesigned and more contemporary cabinet with sliding key cover, matching bench, and in the same satin rosewood color finish (the only color available in the US) from the discontinued CN24. It still has the simplistic left side control panel button layout, the larger 40-watt 2 speaker internal sound system, 192-note polyphony processing power which is plenty and a larger amount than other digital pianos in its class, 88-key individual sampled stereo piano sound chip called progressive PHI for a realistic grand piano type sound, 3-sensor electronics under each key of the key action for better key repetition sensing, full function piano pedaling called grand-feel which includes damper half-pedaling, synthetic ivory keytops on the white keys, the 3-song 1-track MIDI recorder (no audio recording), the ability to layer two sounds together, four-hands mode enabling two people to play at the same time, digital adjustable metronome settings, key transpose, and a few other functions. It is interesting to note that the weight of the piano has gone down from 99lbs to about 88lbs partially due to the power supply becoming external instead of being internal and therefore heavier. So initially it would appear as if the new CN25 is much like the previous CN24 and has not really changed and that's a good thing because the CN24 was a very nice piano.

CN25 RH3 key action

However, the CN25 has a new key action movement which is not obvious until you play it. Kawai calls it the RH3 which has undergone a change from the previous CN24 with a quicker moving, more piano-like response using counterweight technology in each key. These counterweights (small metal weights placed inside of the front of each key) allow the keys to move downward in a quicker, more natural way when pressing the keys down. I played the CN25 many times and do feel that the key action has improved in this way and allows for better technique and key movement in playing your music. The keys on the CN25 action are graded heavier to lighter as you go up the keyboard like most good digital pianos are, but they they keys come up a bit faster than on the previous non-counter weighted key action (called RH2) after they have been pushed down. Because of that I am not quite sure if I personally like this new key action better than the previous one because that RH2 action was very good as far as I am concerned. But regardless, the new RH3 key action with counterweight technology is very expressive to play and far exceeds anything that Yamaha currently sells for near or under $2000 including their CLP525 and CLP535.

CN25 with bench

Even though the new key action of the CN25 is very good, it is definitely not like a real grand piano and that's to be expected because none of the top name digital pianos in this price range feel like a grand piano. In reality, all digital pianos under $3000 feel much more like an acoustic upright piano in terms of weight, movement, etc. and good upright pianos are very nice to play and many good piano teachers and institutions own them. But unlike upright pianos, the CN25 has a key action feature called let-off  (aka: escapement) as did the CN24 which provides a closer feel to a grand piano because when keys are played slowly the key movement has a slight hesitation or notch about half way down in the key travel and this feel allows for more control over expression. It's a nice feature to have and is not found on many other brands under $2000 including Yamaha and Casio, although Roland does have this feature on their RP401R ($1599US internet discount price). With 88-key piano sound sampling, a new RH3 3-sensor key action, and realistic pedaling, for $1899US discount price, this new CN25 does an excellent job in simulating a smooth playing piano style key action feel in its price range.

CN25 control button panel

One thing that I generally do not like much in some digital pianos is when the control button panel is on the far left side of the keys. This was the case for the CN24 and is also true of the new CN25. There are just a few buttons that access all of the features in the piano and depending on the feature you want to access, it can be somewhat cryptic in figuring out which function you are getting. There is no LED/LCD display of any kind to tell you what's going on when selecting a function. So rather than Kawai improving this aspect of their new CN25 piano by putting in a display screen of some kind, they did something else entirely new and different. Kawai now has a what I call a feature/function finder called vocal assist. Simply put, there is a pre-recorded permanent voice function in the digital chip that vocally calls out the function or feature you are selecting. You actually hear a voice say what you are getting when you select something like "piano,""strings,""organ,""reverb," etc. The voice is not limited to basic instrument sounds but also calls out many of the editing functions such as transpose, key touch, pedal resonance, and so on. It really works and you can definitely hear this built-in voice tell you what feature you are selecting which previously was somewhat of a mystery unless you looked in your owners manual.

OK, so that lack of a display screen is now no longer an issue, right? Well yes and no. One of the down sides is that when a person is playing a song on the piano and wants to make a function change, it is definitely distracting to hear this "voice" talk to you and call out a function in the middle of your song if you decide you want a new sound or function during your song. So the vocal assist is obviously something which has to be used with discretion and is not good for all situations. If you happen to be a "blind" person, then seeing anything is unfortunately impossible and therefore the vocal assist feature is the perfect solution to blind people in being able to use some of the functions that otherwise may be very challenging to use. However I must point out that almost all of the functions are accessed (with or without the voice assist) by pressing a button and then a specific white or black key somewhere on the 88-key keyboard which would then access that feature. So the bottom line is you still need to know (or eventually learn) which of those 88 keys accesses the specific feature you are looking for and in that way, the operating system is a bit cumbersome and annoying after awhile...even with vocal assist. Personally for the $1899US discount selling price, I would like to have seen both a digital user display screen and the vocal assist. Those two features together would have been a much better solution to accessing the many features on this new CN25 digital piano. By the way, if you do not want the vocal assist feature to be on then you just turn it off and you don't have to hear it:).

Along with the new vocal assist feature, Kawai has also included another new digital feature called sound preview. Kawai increased their instrument sound selections from 15 in the CN24 to 19 in the CN25 with 4 additional new acoustic piano variations for a total of 8 different acoustic piano sounds. This is double the piano sounds in the previous CN24 and also the current Kawai KDP90 and having 19 total instrument sounds including the 8 piano sounds gives the CN25 a good variety of tones for all styles of music. The previous strings, choir, synthesizer, harpsichord, and electric pianos are in the CN25 and those non-piano tones sound very good and are enjoyable to play. The new sound preview function allows you to hear the piano play a little demo of the sound you choose so you know what it sounds like before you select it. This pretty cool and can be helpful in the beginning since it's nice to hear a sound, especially from the 8 available different piano sounds) before you select one. However, once you learn what the 19 instruments sound like, you really won't need the sound preview feature as far as I am concerned, especially after you figure out how to use the instruments on the piano and where they are located within the sound button and keyboard.

Speaking of new digital features, Kawai has added new improved piano sound technology that definitely makes the piano sound come out more natural than the previous CN24 did with the inclusion of Kawai's virtual technician feature. This function adds more natural organic piano elements to the piano sound including voicing, damper noise, string resonance, key-off effect, hammer noise, and stretch tuning. Rather than explaining all these words in detail, it is only important to say that these new features do add to the piano sound realism and brings the CN25 to a level of piano sound authenticity which the older CN24 did not have. The new string resonance effect is one of those new features that makes the piano sound have a more realistic string vibration although this feature is also on the new Casio

Virtual Technician iPad app

PX860 ($1099US internet discount price) and the new Roland RP401R ($1599US internet discount price). But in terms of Kawai digital pianos, this is the first model under $2000 to incorporate this new feature and definitely makes a difference over the CN24. Kawai has also just produced an iPad app which will allow you to control the virtual technician features from the iPad touch screen. Only in this way will the virtual technician features really be usable and intuitive in the CN25. Without it, then the VT function is much too cryptic to use within the piano in my opinion. So if you have an iPad, you can use it for the virtual technician feature and its parameters, which is very cool. Other piano sound editing features include a brilliance control and individual key volume control. With these two new features you can change the overall piano tone from very mellow to a more bright or brilliant tone and also change the volume of a single piano note on the 88 keys if you think the volume of that note is too loud or too soft as compared to the notes around it. It's obvious that the CN25 has a big variety of piano editing features which allows you to customize the piano sound to your preferences.

CN25 connector array

With regard to audio and MIDI connectivity, the CN25 now has a direct USB output to device (iPad, computer, etc) along with traditional MIDI ports. The CN24 only had MIDI ports so the new USB output is a very good addition and actually it's about time since all of the other major manufacturers already had this feature on all of their digital pianos under $2000 (except for the older Yamaha YDP181). There are no audio outputs or inputs so you cannot connect the CN25 to additional speakers through line output jacks. Also, there is no way to connect the sound of an external device back through the piano speaker system which is useful when using a computer, iPad, or MIDI sound module of some type. The Yamaha CLP525 has this limitation as well and do some other digital pianos in lower price ranges. However, the popular Kawai CE220 has both audio inputs & outputs as does the new Roland RP401R. Another connectivity feature which the CN25 does not have is being able to input a USB flashdrive to load in audio or MIDI songs or to store recorded songs that you may have done on the piano. A USB flashdrive input feature is pretty cool and unfortunately it is only on the next Kawai model up from the CN25 called the CN35 and that model is another $600 more...but it does quite a bit more too. However, the Kawai CE220 ($1899US internet discount price) has the USB flashdrive input as well as the new Roland RP401R and Casio PX860. The Yamaha CLP525 does not have it. You may not think that having a USB flashdrive input is that important or useful, but once you learn what can be done with that feature, you may think otherwise.

The CN25 retains the built-in piano lessons, but with some additional lessons, as well as the Piano Magic feature of the CN24 which is very cool and useful for piano playing education & fun for any age. For some people these features will be useless because they just want to play piano and don't want extra "bells & whistles" that they will not use. But for other people, especially beginner students or young children, the extra on-board lesson songs can be helpful as well as motivating. For more info on those 2 things please go to the following link on my previous CN24 review so that I don't have to repeat all that info here as it is pretty extensive:).  Kawai CN24 Review

CN25

So here's the bottom line concerning the Kawai CN25: when it comes to how this new model fits within the world of digital pianos under $2000, in my my opinion it is all about playing the piano. Even with the extensive piano editing features including vocal assist, sound preview, 19 different piano/instrument sounds, and other secondary features, many people don't use them or if they do, it's minimal and once you set your preferred piano setup into a power-on memory in the piano, people do not usually change it. So as it stands, the CN25 is all about looking attractive with its newly redesigned more contemporary cabinet, being electronically reliable and durable along with having a 5 year factory warranty, and a person just be able to sit down and play piano on the something that gives you a very satisfying piano playing experience.

CN25 control button panel

I will say again that I am definitely not fond of the overall operating system and panel button controls as I mentioned earlier, especially when the piano offers so many internal editing and sound features, although you can use an iPad app (assuming you have an iPad) for some of those features, but not all. A LCD display screen would have been the best solution for this situation or at least a simple LED display like the Kawai CE220. Even the Casio PX780 digital piano at $999US internet discount price has an intuitive LCD display screen to use its many features. Other manufacturers are beginning to offer special iPad apps for iPads so that you can visually access the piano controls from the iPad touch screen on those brands. The Roland & Yamaha companies have already done this for some of their digital piano models. But regardless of the control panel shortcomings, if you are looking for a good solid piano performance experience under $2000 you may not need to look further than the Kawai CN25 if what you want to do is basically just to play piano, and for a many people, that's all they are looking for.

Kawai CE220 control panel

There are definitely alternatives to the CN25 and as you do your research for new digital pianos, don't overlook the possibilities with the ever popular Kawai CE220 at the same $1899US price as the CN25 (CE220 with wood keys and counterweight) along with having a much more intuitive control panel as compared to the CN25, also the exciting Roland RP401R and the low priced Casio PX860 with stereo sound projection all under $2000 which I have also reviewed on this blog. The Yamaha CLP525, Yamaha YDP162, and Yamaha YDP181 under $2000US discount selling price are also good options, and although Yamaha produces some impressive piano products, in my opinion these models don't offer the same level of piano playing realism and features as the other pianos I mentioned. Go to my other reviews for more info on the many models I listed here and some that I did not list.

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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

REVIEW - Roland Piano Designer iPad (iOS) App - Recommended for specific Roland digital pianos including HP series, DP series, LX, and a few other models - The Roland company has recently come out with a very useful free Apple iOS (and Android)App for a number of their new digital pianos which allows piano sound editing functions (within the actual digital piano) to be easily configured and edited directly from the Roland Piano Designer App. The iOS device can be connected with Roland wireless piano technology using an optional WiFi adapter in the piano itself. In my opinion this new Roland designed "tuning" App is by far one of the most versatile, intuitive, useful, well designed, and visually pleasing apps I have seen for a digital piano in terms of being able to customize and fine tune the acoustic piano sound to your specific tastes. Why would anybody want to do that when all of these new higher priced Roland digital pianos already sound good using their built-in piano sounds? Why would anyone want to design their own piano sounds in this way? Keep reading to find out:). (click on pictures for larger view).

Although the Roland digital pianos are built to have pleasing acoustic piano sounds available at the touch of a button on the piano itself, doing some customized editing can make that piano sound become even more realistic and pleasing depending on what you like and the way your ears hear sound, which is different for everyone. Most, but not all of the new Roland digital pianos have the ability to edit the piano sound from within the piano itself using the buttons and LCD screen on the piano control panel. But doing this entails using the smaller control panel buttons and LCD screens to make these editing changes and in reality that kind of editing can be a bit cryptic or unintuitive, so many people don't use these extra cool editing features because of those reasons, and then they loose out on what these editing (custom) features can really do for them and their music. But now with the new Roland Piano Designer iOS App for your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, as well as connecting with Android, you can easily design your own custom piano sound or use Roland pre-designed tunings within the App right on your device touch screen using this functional and attractive graphical technology which will give you more control than ever in tweaking the acoustic piano sounds in ways you never imagined. It's just like hiring an experienced piano technician to work on your piano without the cost and time involved and you get to do it all yourself without the years of piano technician training!

I have used this new Piano Designer App a number of times and some of the very cool things you can do to your new Roland piano is to adjust (in the virtual realm) the acoustic piano sound and the way it resonates inside the piano cabinet, the way the sound resonates and is heard through a piano soundboard, the way the strings resonate, the harmonics (overtones) of the strings, the resonance that happens within the strings when the damper pedal is used, the key touch and response time to your personal touch (100 different incremental settings), the ambiance or natural sound echo within the piano cabinet, the brightness or mellowness of the piano sound, the overall tuning of your piano, and the way the piano sound is heard through headphones. All of these adjustment are done with the touch of your finger using a virtual slider control or a +/- button on your iPad to change the setting quickly and easily.

As a virtual Piano Designer, you can also control or adjust any individual note within the 88 notes of the piano keyboard which includes changing the actual character or tonality of an individual note. This is what professional piano technicians do in acoustic pianos where they make physical adjustments to the actual felt of the hammer so that the hammer will strike the string with a softer or harder felt material which in turns changes the way the string vibrates and the way the sound comes out of that individual string or combination of strings. Softening or hardening the felt of a piano hammer in a real piano can have a dramatic effect on the piano sound you hear and in the Roland piano you have 10 levels of dynamic virtual tonal adjustment for each string using the Piano Designer App. If you take 88 notes and multiply that number by 10 different tonal adjustments for each note, you have a total of 880 total tonal adjustments that could be done and saved into a memory so that when you get your "perfect piano sound" it is recalled instantly when you power up the piano the next time. There are even factory "preset" piano tunings for Concert Classical, European Classical, Jazz, etc, so that you can get an instant setup rather than you do it all yourself. Once you select that preset tuning and setup, you can then further tweak that preset setting in any number of ways using the editing parameters on the app.

Finally, this Piano Designer App allows the user to not only adjust the master tuning of the piano but to also set up and adjust the the tuning temperaments in 8 different tuning modes including historical Werckmeister, Meantone, Kimberger, Pythagorean, etc. The key of these temperaments can also be changed to any of the 12 standard keys from C to B. These historical or alternate tunings allow the player to recreate the actual piano-keyboard tunings that famous historical composers used at the time. In the distant past, different tunings (temperaments) were needed because of the type of piano-keyboard construction in those days or the string length and material of strings utilized, or because of the tonal scales most accepted in those musical periods. So this Piano Designer App allows you to hear what the composers and musicians of past centuries were hearing at the time....which is pretty cool.

If you decide to purchase and own one of the new Roland digital pianos, the Roland Piano Designer App is not something that everyone will need or use. If you do use it and are afraid you might "mess things up" when adjusting all these features of the app...don't worry because you can always reset everything back to the way it was before you made the changes:). It's pretty full-proof and as I mentioned before, easy to use even if you are not very computer or iPad literate. The Piano Designer App does need to be operated from the later iPad OS 7 or 8 and can also be controlled by iPhone and iPod touch...although I do recommend iPad for a better visual user experience. This App has more  features than what I mentioned in this review, but this will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect out of this App when using one of these new Roland digital pianos connected wirelessly with Apple iOS. I belive that these kinds of iPad apps along with other technology resources that help with using these digital pianos to a much fuller extent is just the beginning of what is to come in the future. But for now, Roland seems to be leading the way in this area including the availability of their popular Piano Partner (wireless) App, and I am sure the other name brand digital manufacturers such as Yamaha, Kawai, and Casio, are not far behind.

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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

UPDATED REVIEW-July 2, 2015- BEST DIGITAL PIANOS under $2500 down to $1000. For a recent review of new digital pianos under $1000 go here: New Digital pianos under $1000

As an expert digital piano consultant to many people throughout the world, I like to share my knowledge of digital pianos with people just like you. There are SO many choices when it comes to new digital pianos these days and people obviously want the best piano tone and touch they can get (with some other nice features) for the lowest price possible that fits within their budget. The variations of digital pianos can make it confusing because they can come in nice full size furniture cabinets, smaller slimline modern cabinets, lighter weight portable pianos with built-in speakers and optional manufacturer built stands & pedals, and also portable pianos with no built-in speakers. There are a number of digital piano configurations because people have different musical tastes and needs such as being used for home, church, school, stage, recording studio, gigging, or other venues.

Kawai MP7

A variety of models from the top manufacturers including Roland, Kawai, Yamaha and Casio digital pianos are very good with a few being better than others. The Kawai MP7portable piano keyboard (left pic - $1799 internet discount price) is one of my new favorites for great piano sound and key action in a portable model along with flexibility to make it a very enjoyable piano own. The MP7 plays very smoothly with an organic piano feel and tone that even a pro can appreciate. I would consider the key action touch weight on this piano to be medium (as opposed to light or heavy) which gives the player excellent control with piano dynamics for the softest tone to the loudest...and everything in between. The new MP7 is fairly easy to operate and has enough cool features for making music in ways that will enhance your overall playing and music enjoyment experience.

The Kawai MP7 does not have automatic chord arrangement styles like a few of the other pianos but it can play back general MIDI song arrangements for lesson piano books and general ear training which is a great feature to have. This feature also allow the player to mute out specific instruments so that you can play those parts along with the song for learning and enjoyment The MP7 is mainly built for superior grand piano tone and realistic key action touch along with
some very impressive instrument sounds including vintage electric pianos, symphonic strings, B3 jazz organs with digital drawbars, guitars, brass, flutes, synths, and more realistic instrument tones. And I am very particular when it comes to some of these sounds and the Kawai MP7 certainly passes my test with flying colors. If you are an experienced piano player, advanced student, very particular in wanting the most realistic piano tone & touch possible, or are a beginner and just want the best pure piano experience (and don't care about cabinet and built-in speakers), in my opinion this would be the perfect digital piano in that "under $2500US price range." Below is a link to a review I recently did on the MP7 with more details on this fine piano. Obviously this instrument is not in a cabinet so that can be a downside for some people and then you would need to look at something else. Go to the following link for my review on the Kawai MP7: Kawai MP7 Review

Casio PX860

The Casio Privia PX860 digital cabinet piano (left pic) is also a great choice in a lower price range and is pretty amazing for its low internet price of $1099 because the piano has most of the features of the more expensive pianos have like 40 watts of stereo audio power, ivory feel keys, USB direct output, realistic hammer weight & graduated key action touch, and more. It also has features that many of the higher priced pianos do not have such as 256-note polyphony piano sound chip, four internal speakers instead of two, USB flash drive audio wav file recording and playback, a lift top lid for sound expansion, and other cool features. Considering all of the possibilities out there right now for a great digital piano buy in a compact furniture cabinet, I would highly recommend this new Casio PX850. Go to my review to read more about this impressive piano: Casio PX860 Review *Casio also has a new model called the PX780 at $999 internet discount price. It's definitely worth looking at and has some very cool features and I would recommend you read my review of that model at the following link: Casio PX780 Review

The Kawai piano company has a very popular digital piano called the CE220 furniture cabinet piano (left pic - $1899) with the features that so many people want. The CE220 has actual wood acoustic piano keys (no one else has this feature in this price range) and a very realistic sounding acoustic piano tone using 192-notes of polyphony along with having many useful educational features in an attractive cabinet. This piano far surpasses anything that Yamaha has under $200 at this point in piano playing authenticity and digital features. The CE220 also has a very intuitive control panel with easy access buttons and a LED display screen to see what's going on when you press a button. Go here to read CE220 Review: Kawai CE220 Review

Kawai CN35

Kawai also makes another model called the CN35 (left pic) which has an internet/store discount price of $2499 for the basic rosewood color (black is $100 more). It's a great piano for someone who wants a good looking cabinet design, lots of digital features, helpful built-in educational software & functions, and a very smooth and dynamic piano hammer style (plastic, not wood) key action with realistic acoustic piano sound using a 256-note polyphony chip. This model also has 16-track MIDI playback & recording from a menu of 324 instrument sounds along with audio wav & MP3 recording & playback. So the CN34 has lots of things you can do with it and it sounds and plays good too. For a price very close to $2500, in my opinion the CN35 offers a great bang for the buck in this price range for a traditional furniture cabinet model digital piano when especially compared to what Yamaha or Casio has to offer. In fact, in my opinion, even the popular Yamaha Clavinova CLP440 digital piano which sells at piano stores

Kawai CN35 with key cover closed

for approx $3000 discount price (for basic cabinet color) is not up to the Kawai CN35 in many ways, except for a more powerful 80 watt internal speaker system in the Yamaha. However, for most families, the Kawai CN35 is plenty loud enough with its 40 watt full range speaker system. But when it comes to the Kawai brand it would seem that the lower priced CE220 is in a better price range and offers enough upgraded features to satisfy many families. Kawai also offers a compact furniture model digital piano called the ES7 ($1999 internet discount price). This model has a few similar features as compared to the CN35 but in many other ways is quite different and upgraded. Go to the following link to read my review of the ES7: Kawai ES7 Review

Yamaha YDP162

The Yamaha Arius YDP162 cabinet piano ($1499US internet price - left pic) is a really fine piano overall with nice piano sound and has many features including 128 note polyphony, ivory feel keys, 40 watts of power, layer & duo, a very smooth key action (although a bit heavy to play at times), and a more traditional cabinet. Yamaha makes a complete series of the Arius models and you can go here to read about some of them as well as my review on the new Yamaha YDP162: Yamaha YDP162 review. Yamaha also has the Clavinova series digital pianos with it basic model called the CLP525. The CLP525 is a new model and is quite similar to the YDP162 with a few exceptions and sells in US piano stores for about $2000US. Go here for my review on the CLP525: Yamaha CLP525 Review

Roland HP504

The Roland company is well known for making some impressive home & professional digital pianos over the years and they have a few new models called the F130R ($1299 internet price, RP401R ($1599 internet price), and the HP504 (approx piano store discount selling price $2699US - left pic) that is unique among the top brands for their new 4 part key sensing system and smooth acoustic piano style key action along with excellent continuous detection pedaling sustain and some very useful technology features. I think these models are quite impressive and surprisingly powerful for their compact size. I would recommend you definitely consider these pianos because the overall piano sound realism and tone quality rivals and surpasses the Kawai CN35 in some ways and definitely outplays the Yamaha CLP525 and the newer Yamaha CLP535 as well, in my opinion. I have done a blog review of these pianos at the following link: Roland HP504 Review, Roland RP401R/F130R Review 

Roland HP506

A person can spend a bit more than $2500 and have some other good piano choices such as the new Roland HP506, Yamaha CLP545, and others. So there are plenty of very nice digital pianos for more money (up to $22,000 and more for digital Grand Pianos), but most families who want to be under $3000 and actually under $2500, any of these pianos mentioned here would be enjoyable to own. Based on my experience both past & present, I recommend that people stay away from the off-brand names like the Williams brand which is a Guitar Center house brand and is only sold by the Guitar Center company and it's subsidiaries including Musicians Friend, Music & Arts, Woodwind and Brasswind, and a few others. Also I would stay away from the brand Benjamin Adams sold by the Sam Ash company as well as Suzuki& Artesia sold primarily in the US by Costco. It's all about having realistic key touch action, proper dynamics, smooth key volume response, realistic piano tone up and down the entire 88-keys, no unreasonable key noise, and proper pedal response. There are basic minimum standards that pianos need to have and these off-brand pianos simply do not offer it.

Also, the off brands or house brands (in many cases) are not actual piano manufacturers but simply created names produced by relatively unknown Asian factories with (what I consider to be) low quality technology and parts for a low price. Their names sound American to give you the impression that they are somehow as good or better than the Japanese brands, but they are not. They are all made in China and although generally speaking product being made in China is not an issue as far as I'm concerned because many of the top brands now have factories in China. It's what the product actually is, how it's made, the parts and construction that is used, and the quality control provided that counts. I have played all of the off brand pianos offered in the US that I have mentioned here and would not recommend them to anyone if they are looking for a good piano playing experience and long term investment (no matter what the price is). The piano cabinets themselves, extra sounds, and other features offered in these digital pianos are only important if the primary functions & features of the piano passes the test. Low price and an attractive furniture style cabinet alone is definitely not a good way to judge piano quality, although unfortunately many people do. You will likely purchase a piano that you'll want to keep for a while so be sure you do your homework and get something that is a good instrument from one of the name piano brands, you'll be glad you did.

When I evaluate digital pianos, I always look for higher quality and I believe that beginner piano students or recreational piano players should not have to spend a lot of money to get a good digital piano that performs properly. There are standards you should look for in a digital piano and if you do not get them, you will be sorry later on. 

I know it's difficult for most people to judge these various brands and models on their own when they don't have the experience & expertise.  It can also get even more confusing when different piano and music instrument stores tell you different things depending on the brands they're selling. That's why I am happy to help people who wish to contact me and will answer your questions about what might be best for you based on the actual facts about what these pianos can actually do. Even though the choices I have talked about here for my top digital piano picks are good ones, there may be other options for YOU depending on your particular price range and specific needs & wants.  I am committed to helping people get good digital pianos, playing good music, having good piano instruction, and enjoying the entire experience. Go to the link below to see what music involvement should be like in the lives of children and why you should should get your children and/or yourself involved in music.

Why Kids Should Play Piano!

REVIEW - Kawai CP1 Digital Grand Piano, Kawai CP2 & CP3 Digital Pianos - Recommended - The Kawai piano company is well known around the world for producing some of the best digital pianos available on market today. Kawai's international headquarters is in Japan where all of their product design and engineering comes from and for nearly 90 years, Kawai has produced musical instruments that have been played throughout the world and are recommended by piano teachers, prestigious universities, and famous pianists. They produce 9' concert grand pianos, regular grand pianos, upright pianos, and a variety of digital pianos. Kawai is also a relatively small company compared to some of the other major Japanese brands like Yamaha, Roland, and Casio because they concentrate on building pianos rather than have all of the other products that their competitors do like motorcycles, home audio, tennis rackets, snowmobiles, calculators, watches, etc. Kawai has been primarily known for their acoustic pianos and as a long time piano teacher I have personally played and performed on a variety of Kawai pianos over the years as have many of my colleagues. When it comes to Kawai digital pianos, the relatively new CP1, CP2, and CP3 Virtual Orchestra digital pianos (aka: ensemble digital pianos) are a big jump in technology over Kawai's other digital pianos, and that is why I am doing this extensive review...to help you get to know them better. The CP1 model digital grand piano ($21,999US factory retail price) is in an actual full size polished ebony 5'3 Baby Grand cabinet and the only one in its class out of any major brand of digital piano. The CP2 comes in satin rosewood ($8999 factory retail price), satin black ($9199US factory price), and satin mahogany ($9199US factory price), and is identical to the CP1 grand in features and function with the exception of cabinet and speaker system. The CP3 comes in satin rosewood ($5999US factory retail price) and satin black ($6099US retail price) and both the CP2 and CP3 are housed in vertical console cabinet models which are attractive and unlike any other Kawai models. The CP pianos (aka: Concert Performer series) are only built for and available in North America and no other countries, so if you want one you need to purchase in the US or Canada only:). It's not that the rest of the world wouldn't want these Concert Performer pianos, they're just specifically produced for the American and Canadian markets.
 
What makes these pianos unique to all other digital pianos produced by Kawai is that they are known as Virtual Piano Orchestras/Virtual bands. Unlike traditional digital pianos, the Kawai CP1, CP2, and CP3 are full blown interactive entertainment centers and are designed for people to sound great and have musical fun with minimal effort. Although the built-in digital technology that allows this to happen is very impressive, it is obvious to me that Kawai wanted these pianos to, first and foremost, be pianos. In other words, when you play a Concert Performer model you get the best key action movement and response, best acoustic type piano sound, and best pedaling reproduction in its price range for this kind of piano as far as I am concerned. So even if you did not have all of the Virtual Orchestra/Virtual Band technology built in, the pianos by themselves would be inspiring to play just for the piano playing experience alone, and to me, that's the way it should be. After playing all of these Performer models many times, I personally believe that anyone could benefit from owning one of these pianos whether you are beginner, amateur player, advanced player, professional level player, playing in a school, University, Church, recording studio, or home studio, or whether you are a piano student or piano teacher. You could be 2 years old, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 90 years old and be able to make music on the CP's...or you could have only one arm or one finger and make great music on the CP pianos. If your musical goal is for you and/or others to experience the joy of playing and listening to good music, then no matter what your past piano playing may be or what kind of music you like, if you can afford the price tag of the Concert Performer pianos then they should be a definite consideration in my opinion when shopping for a piano of any kind.

OK, so what is a Virtual Piano Orchestra/Virtual Band digital piano and why would someone want one? The best way I can describe these instruments is to list some of the things they can do very well. They are grand pianos, digital pianos, a kid's player piano with interactive control, concert pipe organs, concert theatre organs, symphony orchestras, player pianos playing full length pro quality original piano songs, educational teaching instruments to help learn piano for all ages, studio recorders to help create and record your music in many ways and formats, music composition tools for composing music in real time, sheet music notators with wireless printing technology, professional song arranger capable of instantly setting up the CP pianos to sound and play like some of your favorite music, an accompaniment band to play along with you in anystyle of music you want to make you sound better, and the list goes on. What ever you want to do with your music you can pretty much do on the Concert Performer series. It is important to for to say that these pianos are not for someone who primarily just wants to play piano along with doing a few other minimal things on the piano. If you just want the best digital piano you can get in a particular price range and don't want the extra music making technology, then you would need to look somewhere else because the CP pianos would likely be overkill in my opinion and may not be something you would take advantage of. If that is the case then I can help you figure out what you want, but if you are looking for something that can stimulate your musical senses in a way you never thought possible and allow you to play nearly every kind of music you may like that's out there (which is my preference), then a Kawai Concert Performer (CP) piano may be perfect for you.

Now it's time to talk about some of the things that make Kawai CP digital pianos unique among all other digital piano's, and the first thing to consider is key action.Everyone it seems is wanting the best key action feel and response they can get within their price range and in my opinion the CP pianos cannot be beat. The CP1 grand and CP2 console share the same 3-sensor wooden grand piano type key action which is called ivory-feel GF (aka: Grand Feel). The CP3 has Kawai's next best key action action design and construction and is made out of an all plastic material called ivory-feel RH2 (Real Hammer 2) and it also has the 3 senors under each key. Three key sensors within the key action under each key helps the piano achieve a better recognition of faster key movement when you are playing music that requires it. It helps the piano perform more like a grand piano than like an upright piano in terms of the repetition of keys. Many digital pianos (in lower price ranges) only have 2 key sensors per key so occasionally the note will not be heard as the key moves because there are not enough key sensors to recognize faster repetition and where the key is in its position at any given moment. So without a very good, smooth moving, great feeling piano key action, all the extra digital technology (aka: bells & whistles) are really unimportant if a manufacturer cannot get the key action right. The CP3 key action is a natural balance graded piano weighted key action which in my opinion more closely resembles a cross between an acoustic grand and upright piano. It is fairly quiet in movement, seems to be very durable, and is really a joy to play. The movement of the keys is quick, precise, and quite responsive to a variety of music that you could perform on this instrument. Most digital pianos do have plastic key actions and of all them, the Kawai CP3 (RH2) key action is among the best in my opinion. Good key actions are complex and expensive to design and build, and if it is was easy and inexpensive to create, all the brands would have wonderful key actions...but many of them do not. This is what separates one brand and/or model of digital piano from another...key action authenticity and durability as compared to a fine acoustic piano and the way it really needs to be. If you don't play piano at all or play it well, you may have a difficult time deciding on what key action offers the most piano playing realism for the money or does it really matter? In my opinion this is one of the primary features of the Kawai Concert Performer pianos which separate them from all other brands in this price range for this type of (ensemble) piano. The GF wood key action is unique because each individual key is an authentic full size Kawai acoustic piano key installed over a metal center pin to keep each key stable and secure. This is the exact way keys are made and installed into real acoustic pianos and Kawai is the only brand that does this in their CP1 & CP2 digital pianos. Beyond the fact that each key is done in this way, the key movement balance points, fulcrum position, graded weighting and counter-weight technology allows each key to move in a more precise way giving it an authenticity that cannot be found in other brands of ensemble pianos in this price range. Kawai also incorporates a feature in all three CP models called let-off (escapement) This is a feeling that you get when you press a key you get a slight resistance or notch about half-way down when pressing any key very slowly. The let-off function feel is mostly found on real grand pianos and allows for a more realistic piano playing experience. Kawai is not the only brand to have the let-off feel because Roland and Yamaha also offer this it which is a good thing, although Yamaha does not offer it in their CVP ensemble pianos. Finally, Kawai has produced a proprietary satin ivory-feel material for their white keytops on all three CP models Bottom keybaord keys pic is CP3) which gives better finger control with moisture absorbing properties. In addition to the ivory-feel keys, on the CP1 and CP2, Kawai has proprietary black ebony-feel keytops (2nd piano key left pic above is CP1/2) that reproduces the organic ebony keys that you might find on a high priced real acoustic grand piano, and the ebony-feel keys on the CP1 and CP2 really feel great and add a connection to the piano that you may otherwise not get get playing the keys. It's these organic details and authentic construction that in my opinion gives Kawai a huge edge in piano playing over the other brands in this product category. After playing all of the major brand ensemble full featured digital pianos out there, it's the Kawai key actions that in large part keeps me coming back to their models for the natural playing experience that I get. For more info please email me directly at tim@azpianowholesale.com

With regard to the all important acoustic piano sound authenticity, without a great piano sound, the "coolness and useability factor" of the other instrument sounds and features on digital pianos take a back seat to having a great acoustic piano sound reproduction. Reproducing a realistic acoustic piano sound in a digital piano is no small thing. It takes expensive piano sampling technology, a proper recording sound room, qualified recording and piano technicians to make sure the actual piano sampling is done right and is going to recreate the organic tonal qualities and nuances of a great acoustic piano. Even with this all being said, authentic piano sound in a digital piano can be a bit nebulous because it depends on the listener and what you are used to or what you "think" a good acoustic piano really sounds like:). Kawai uses their very expensive top of the line 9' concert grand piano as the instrument where all of the CP's pianos get their piano sound. Unlike some other brands, Kawai records the notes played by each of the 88 keys individually rather than use "stretch recording" which samples a single key and then artificially stretches that note up to the next key and so on. With 88 key individual piano sampling, the piano sound will be even closer to that of a real grand piano. I noticed that the piano sound of the CP's was very enjoyable to play and tonally was quite consistent from one note to the next. The CP1 and CP2 have the best Kawai piano sound chip and the CP3 has the second best piano sound chip. Both are 88-key sampled tones from a concert grand but are different in terms piano tone computer memory which allows either more or less piano sound authenticity and organic nuances. You'll just have to take my word for it that the CP1 and CP2 acoustic piano sound is even better and more realistic than the CP3...but all are enjoyable to play. It just depends on your budget and what your musical goal is as well as your comfort level and how picky you are concerning piano sound realism:). Speaking of being picky, all CP pianos have a way for picky people to personalize and customize the piano sound for their own musical tastes. This feature is called "Virtual Technician" and it allows the user to easily adjust various parameters of the piano sound on the color touch screen just like a real piano technician would do on an actual acoustic grand piano. Some of the functions of the "Virtual Technician" include having and adjusting Damper Resonance, Damper Noise, String Resonance, Key-Off Effect (incl. Key-Off Release), Fall-Back Noise, Hammer Delay, Topboard lid, Decay Time, and Soft Pedal Depth. I have personally played around with these adjustable aspects of piano sound and some of them can come in pretty handy depending on the type of music you play. This is why (user friendly) adjustments to piano sound can be important because even though the CP's offer a variety of acoustic piano sounds, adjusting them yourself gives you more control over how they sound and that can be so helpful when a person is after something that may not be preset in the piano sounds. Not all people will use this feature but some people definitely will and they will be
appreciative that it is there. Finally with regard to piano sound in the CP pianos, Kawai has a very intuitive feature called System EQ. This is a fantastic feature because it allows a person to further customize the piano sound and overall instrument sound by individually changing the type and amount of EQ (Equalizer) frequencies on the color touch screen in a very intuitive way. If you want more bass, more mid-range, more treble, or less of everything or adjusting other sound frequencies on the touchscreen, you can do it quickly and it can make a world of difference in what you hear coming out of the internal speaker system in the CP piano. Once you get that "perfect mix" of sound, then you can save it so it comes up that way every time you turn on the piano. It's very useful and I think most people would take advantage of what it can do because it's easy to work with. If it wasn't for the ease of use on the color touch screen, then I think few people would take advantage of it. But in the case of CP pianos, you will be glad it's there and how easy it will be for you to make these custom sound adjustments to make your music sound even better:).

When it comes to the three piano pedals on most acoustic and digital pianos, they definitely cannot be overlooked when considering a piano purchase. The three pedals include the right damper (sustain), middle sostenuto pedal, and left soft pedal. Based on my many years of teaching piano and playing professionally, the right damper pedal is by far the most important followed by the left soft pedal, and then followed far behind by the center sostenuto pedal. The damper pedal's job is to left the dampers off the strings in a real acoustic piano so the strings can sustain and continue to be hear over a shorter or longer period of time. Without an effective damper pedal, piano music would not sound beautiful and in fact could not be played properly. You could have the best piano sound and the best piano key action in the world, but without the right damper pedal working properly or not having one at all, you might as well give up playing piano in any serious way...the damper (sustain) pedal is that important in the effect it has on the piano sound in real time. With regard to the authenticity of how the right pedal works, it should be a full size, full length pedal or as close to that as possible and also should have a particular weighted feel to it as your foot presses down. There also needs to be some resistance to the pedal when pressing down so it doesn't just flop down to the bottom when barely pressing it. The pedals should be sturdy, quiet, durable, tight fitting within the cabinet and built with good materials so the pedals don't squeak and wiggle side to side like piano pedals I have played on other digital piano brands. The Kawai CP series definitely has high quality pedals which they call Grand Feel pedals and they do feel real based on my experience using them. When the damper pedal is depressed the sound of the piano is effected by sustained overtones, sympathetic string vibrations, pedal resonance, pedal sustain decay, and other organic elemental recreations. In other words, there's a lot of sound movement going on when the right pedal is used on an acoustic piano and Kawai does an excellent job in being able to duplicate much of this authenticity with their pedaling and sound technology. This is no easy thing to do and the result of the piano sound quality in these models is very impressive when using the pedals. It's quite real sounding along with having half-damper sustain control (which is also electronically adjustable) for different amounts of sustain depending on how far down you press the right damper pedal. If all this wasn't enough, the center and left pedals can also be programmed to do other things. Since most people will not be using the center and left pedals in a traditional way when playing on the CP pianos, they can use these pedals in a more practical way by triggering digital features which you would have to otherwise get by pressing buttons on
the control panel or display screen. This allows for a smooth transition and use in functionality because using your foot allows your fingers to stay on they keys instead of taking them off to press buttons while you're playing a song. Some examples of this are bring able to control the built-in drums and accompaniments and turn them on or off, change variations, trigger intros/endings, breaks, etc, as well as create as setup a steel/Hawaiian guitar pedal glide control, and many other things. All of this simply helps you make more beautiful inspiring music and although you may not use this all the time, once you get use to using the pedals in these ways, you'll be glad you have it and will want to use it often regardless of your playing skill level. It just helps make you sound better than you really are...and isn't that what counts:)!

Polyphony is a word that is thrown around quite a bit when it comes to digital piano specifications that people think is important. Polyphony is a name given to describe how many notes (keys) can be played at the same time along with pressing the damper pedal to sustain those notes without the sound of the notes dropping out unexpectedly when playing a song. This is never an issue with a regular acoustic piano because it only has one piano sound and 88 keys so you would never need more than the 88 keys to play the piano notes. However there is more to the piano sound than meets the eye. There are all the small organic elements within the piano that make the piano sound the way that it does while vibrating on over 230 individual strings. So even though there are 88 keys on a piano, each key (except for some low bass notes) is activating a hammer which is striking more than one string at a time. Over 230 strings is a lot of strings and if you were to play all 88 keys at one time while holding down the damper pedal, to reproduce that experience on a digital piano would be very difficult unless you has sufficient polyphony processing power and a great piano sound chip. In the CP series, Kawai has the industry maximum of 256 notes polyphony, however, Polyphony is given in mono numbers and not stereo. The Kawai piano sound is recorded in beautiful stereo as is done on other digital piano brands too. When you have 256 notes of polyphony in the piano, in stereo you actually have half of that which equals 128 notes of polyphony because each stereo note (key) take up 2 notes of mono polyphony. Then when you add (layer) another instrument sound with the piano sound and that extra instrument sound takes up some of that polyphony away from the piano sound. In other words as you add more sounds together including rhythms, accompaniments, etc, you need as much polyphony processing power as possible to handle it all. With 256 note polyphony on the Kawai CP pianos, you won't run out of polyphony even when playing more complex music or using more complex arrangements. I have tried it and the piano sound and features hold up well with no sudden loss of notes when playing a song. When you can play complex, more advanced piano music or have professional arrangements which use multiple instruments and not run out of notes, your music will sound better and you will be able to do things musically that you have not been able to do before which will bring your musical enjoyment to a new level.

Speaking of making you sound great, Kawai has included some exclusive features in all CP models that help you sound like a pro without being one...and if you are a pro you'll be able to make music that you may not otherwise be able to do on your own. One of these very cool features is called instrument arrangement Registrations. A registration is actually a memory button where you would store your own instrument setups and combinations for later use that you created on the piano. Registrations can also be instrument and functions setups done by professional musicians from the factory that are stored in the piano registration buttons. The CP1 and CP2 have 160 professionally made instrument/sound setups and the CP3 has 80 of them, so there are significantly more professionally made selections on the CP1 & CP2. The registration memories are setup into groups of instruments such as pianos, strings, brass, pipe organs, drawbar organs, theatre organs, synthesizer, electric pianos, big band, orchestral, etc, which you access from the color touch screen so they are easy to get to. Within each instrument group are a variety of individual selections which you accessed from front panel buttons numbered 1-8. So there are 8 variations of each instrument group and each of those preset variations were created by those pro musicians at Kawai to give you a complex sound setup which you otherwise may not be able to do on your own and if you could, it may take you hours, weeks, months, or maybe never to figure out the best combinations of instruments, relative volumes, effects, octaves, etc to correctly come up with a great sound. These instrument combinations get their instruments from among the 1000 individual instrument sounds in the CP1 and CP2 sound library and from among the 700 instrument sounds in the CP3 sound library. In other words, with these unique instrument registration memories you will instantly get fabulous sounding piano symphonies, brass bands and orchestras, concert pipe organs, gospel church organs, old time theatre organs, contemporary synth band arrangements, woodwind and string orchestra arrangements, etc with basically just the touch of a button. These registration instrument arrangements are not just good...they're great! In fact when you play these instrument combinations, depending and how hard or soft you play the keys, some instruments will fade to the background and others will stand out which emphasizes true volume and tonal dynamics like a real orchestra or band would do. To make matters even better, the preset registration combinations are on the home page of the color touch screen showing the separate instrument names and color pictures of those instrument groups so you know exactly what is going on. In this way you can also learn to createyour own registrations yourself because Kawai shows you what instruments they use and visually makes this clear through the color icons in the touch screen, so it doesn't get easier than that. Most of these registrations don't have the one finger/fingered accompaniment chords, drum rhythms, or or other accompaniment features built in because they are mostly instrument combinations. After going through nearly all of them, I find that using these full setups allows me to make incredible music without being an incredible technician in having to know how to do it. All I do is press the sound category button, press the variation button within that category, and then I have an awesome sound when playing the keys and it sounds super professional even with only playing a few notes. So regardless of your playing skill level, you will sound fantastic. You have to hear it to believe it and all I can say is those Kawai musicians must have spent hours upon hours putting all that together so that you can have instrument sound setups like the pro's do. For more info please email me directly at tim@azpianowholesale.com
 
There are so many types of music styles out there which I greatly enjoy listening to and I love to get the chance to hear great music performers in person playing live instruments. To me, music is like a beautiful rainbow of color which mixes different elements of sound to come up with meaningful, inspiring music. What is musically inspiring to me may be different for you. Whether it's watching a great symphony orchestra, a hot uptempo jazz group, a Latin band playing Salsa, Bossa Nova, Rhumba, or Latin Rock, gospel music with authentic Hammond B3 organ sounds, listening to awesome movie themes (from my favorite movies), a toe tapping country band, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's music, contemporary rock, contemporary Worship music, theatre organ players, polkas, ragtime, and various kinds of culturally based music from around the world...whatever it is, when I'm in the mood for it then I love to listen to it, especially if it is live. With that in mind, I enjoy being able to play those styles of music for myself, but on most digital pianos from Kawai and the other major brands, you cannot do that. There is no band, no orchestra, no individual musicians playing all those instruments and certainly no way to reproduce those types of musical arrangements and interact with them for the music I mentioned, especially if you want to play it live and control all those musicians and instruments and not have it pre-recorded on audio or MIDI files. The CP series pianos solves that dilemma by allowing you access to all these styles of music with a wide variety of interactive bands, orchestras, organists, and other musicians. This is commonly referred to as a Virtual Band feature which are professionally created ensemble accompaniment stylesthat allow a person at any playing skill level to play the kinds of music I was talking about with full drum percussion patterns, bass lines, guitar strumming, piano arpeggios and chord playing, organ backup, horns, etc. Basically you select the music style group you want from the color touch screen and then press a color touch button selecting from hundreds and hundreds of your favorite music styles including hundreds of intros and endings to make your playing sound even more realistic. Beyond that, when you listen to live music, those players are playing in musical patterns and those patterns change over the course of the song so they are not always the same. There are some ensemble type digital pianos where the instrument sounds and playing patterns sound "canned" and unrealistic, and you know that what you are hearing is not real. Even though there are hundreds of accompaniment variations on these CP models, most of them do sound live and very real with musically correct changing patterns for each of the interactive players along with the ability of the user (you) to customize each of the hundreds of arrangements by changing the types of musical patterns and progressions that are in the arrangements and saving them so that they sound the way when you want them to. Kawai calls this feature the Conductor Easy Style Edit system and you access it in a very intuitive way through the large color touch screen...easy to do and get an instant result with being in charge of the entire orchestra or band. I do like this unique feature and it just helps keep the music fresh:). You really cannot make a "mistake" using the Easy Style Edit and if you don't like what you did, you simply reset the accompaniment style back to the factory setup.

To make things even more realistic, the CP pianos have a function called 1-2 Play which has predetermined professionally arranged right hand instrument sounds as well as song tempos and other facets of the song that correspond in a musically realistic way when playing any of the hundreds of left hand ensemble accompaniment styles. This means that you don't need to figure out what melody instrument sounds would go best with the left hand accompaniments...the Kawai CP 1-2 Play will automatically do that for you by you touching the accompaniment
music style & variation that you want on the large color touch screen. As the piano changes style accompaniments with their variations, your right hand sounds will instantly change along with those styles giving you an ever changing and perfect rendition of how everything should sound for both left and right hand. No more guessing or sounding like an amateur player (which is not a bad thing:) when trying to set up the best sounds and accompaniments. The CP will do that for you and make you sound great in the process. In fact there are many configurations and combinations that could take years to work out on your own, so having it done for you with a touch screen button is an awesome way to make the kind of music you have only dreamed of and never thought you could. These are not some cheesy renditions of fake music but they are actually stylized like real musicians would play them and I found them to be very convincing in using them with many styles of my favorite music. So there really are few barriers on the CP pianos in my opinion that would prevent you from making absolutely exciting music regardless of your age or musical abilities. Yes you do need to play some sort of song when using these features but if you happen to be a novice beginner, you can slow down the accompaniment to any speed you like and just take it a little bit at a time. Even in this way you will enjoy yourself...and if you play really well then you'll still be amazed at how good it all goes together.

Most people have a library of specific songs through the years that they enjoy listening to and it would be great to play some of them on a CP digital piano. Well you could definitely do that using some of the features I have mentioned already, but how do you set up one of your favorite songs to sound as close as possible to the original arrangement of the actual song? What rhythm accompaniment would you use? What right hand melody instruments would you use? and how would you put that altogether correctly? You would need to have an understanding of the original song and its instrumentation, rhythm accompaniment patterns, and then where to find those settings on the CP piano (if you can find them at all) and how to put it altogether. This could take weeks or months to figure out, if not years because achieving a close arrangement authenticity to the original song
takes a greatear and lots of musical training. Well, once again Kawai has made even this kind of thing very easy with a feature they call Song Stylist. The Song Stylist takes the instrument sounds, rhythms, arrangements, and patterns that are in the CP pianos and puts them together in a special way so that they reproduce the style and feel of the original song that you like in a huge library of popular songs built in to the piano. As an example, the CP pianos have setup arrangements for songs like the Beatles "Hey Jude," Elton John's "Candle in the Wind," James Taylor's "Fire & Rain," Jobim's "Girl From Ipanema," Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night," Elvis Presley's "Love me Tender," Oklahoma's "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," Sound of Music's "Edelweiss," and Chicago's "Hard Habit to Break" just to name a few, and the list goes on & on. There are literally hundreds of famous songs including Christmas, Hymns, Contemporary, Jazz, Big band, and many more all built into the pianos and you can search for them in the color touch screen either by song category or by alphabetical letter. When you press the name of the song you want, the piano is automatically and instantly set up so that you can play that song and the arrangement of the song style will instantly remind you of the actual song. The Song Stylist does not actually "play" the song...you have to do that. What it does is allow you to sound like the song as far as it's original band arrangement goes. This is no small thing and certainly took hundreds of hours for Kawai to put this kind of thing together with all this music. OK, so you see the song in the screen and you want to play it but you need the notes and the chords and maybe even the lyrics so you or someone else can play it and sing along. No worries because Kawai offers a series of five music books (purchased separately for $14.95 each) which is produced by Hal Leonard Publishing called the "Decade Series." These books have hundreds of songs among them compiled by decade and they are in the Easy Play format using easy to play in keys (C, F, G, etc) along with simple melody music with the note letter written into the musical note along with the left hand chord symbols above the staffs. In my opinion those books are a small price to pay for the enjoyment you be getting using them with the CP pianos. This means even a beginner can play their favorite music without having had much past playing experience. If you are more advanced then you will still have fun with these books or you can buy your own more advanced music and use that instead because there are no limitations. There are also other additional books beyond the Decade Series from Hal Leonard for other songs in the CP1 and CP2 (not CP3) so you have many to choose from (up to 15 total books) if you want to buy them. Regardless of how you do it, you really will sound like a pro with the Song Stylist feature and your playing will no doubt be more enjoyable because you will sound great with less effort, and if you have more playing experience then you can put more effort into it and sound better than you would otherwise. I know that's the way it was for me when I took advantage of the Song stylist feature and I enjoyed every minute of it and it kept me wanting to play more...it is just way cool assome people might describe it:). For more info please email me directly at tim@azpianowholesale.com

In keeping with the educational and entertainment value of the CP pianos, Kawai has included a special piano learning system with a complete library of well known favorite songs throughout the decades and centuries especially arranged and orchestrated to provide hours of listening, singing, and playing fun with a self instruction program for absolute beginners of any age to play music on the keys perfectly the first time you touch the keyboard. This exclusive system is called Kawai Concert Magic (CM) and it is appropriately named. You play perfectly like magic and it sounds like a concert:). The way it works is that you select a song from the large song library which includes folk songs, popular standards, country-western tunes, internal songs, classical music kids music, patriotic songs and so on. Once you have selected the song on the color touch screen then you decide how you want to see it. There are a few different options including seeing the actual sheet music score on the display screen, seeing the lyrics to the long which has a red bouncing ball letting you know where you are at all times, or you can select the Note Navigator mode which allows you to play by rhythmic dots and plus signs indicating when to strike a key so that you do not need to read music. You can set speed and go at your own pace and when you press any key black or white, that key plays the correct note regardless whether it is the correct note or not! As a long time piano teacher who has taught thousands of individuals how to play piano, I was impressed with how intuitive and useable this system is and what it can do for a beginner to instill playing confidence while helping to teach the important fundamentals of rhythm & timing along with proper playing dynamics and note reading. The songs are preset with fully arranged orchestrations and instruments so they sound great just like pro musicians would play them and you control those musicians by playing the any keys in any order and getting that song to play. This may sound like a toy but it definitely is not. It will subliminally teach musical concepts and in the process you will sound amazing. In addition to the learning and playing aspect, the song library in these Concert Performer pianos contain 176 songs which can be heard like a player piano where the songs will play one after another by themselves and you can sing along to them with the lyrics to each song displayed in the large color screen or you can connect the piano to an external large video monitor to see the lyrics in a bigger way so they can be displayed like Karaoke music for the entire family or group of people in the room. You can also select from the Vocal Harmony feature and turn your voice into multiple voices at one time singing different parts (choosing from a variety of vocal harmony styles), just like a small vocal group might do. The CP pianos can even display the sheet music notes to each song along with lyrics in the music in case you want to read and sing along with the actual notes as well. You can change the key and speed of the player music to suit your vocal range better and the tempo you want to sing at. This Concert Magic system is super great for kids, seniors, families, Mom's and Dad's, beginners or even professional players like me because it's FUN and makes you sound great and the player piano sing-along aspect of it just adds to the pleasure you will get when using these different Concert Magic features! There is so much more this CM feature can do that you'll just have to try it out and be careful that you don't loose track of time when using it because it provides hours of fun and learning for the entire family. As a teacher and performer I highly recommend it and no other digital brand has anything like it. Check out my videos at the bottom of this page to see the Concert Magic feature in action...live!

If all of these preceding functions and features I have already talked about weren't enough, Kawai also has created an exclusive feature called Player Piano Music which is entirely different than Concert Magic. This special feature is accessible through the large color touch screen and contains (according to Kawai) over 7 hours of original piano music composed and played by top pro pianists in full length songs that will play by themselves just like a player piano. The keys on the piano don't move but the songs will play individually one after another just like a real pianist would do. These songs are not ordinary demo songs that you'll find on so many other digital pianos, but they are piano only high quality original compositions or new versions of great songs played entirely in "real time" and not done on a computer or pre-programmed. These songs sound completely live as if you had hired a great pianist to play a grand piano in your living room and entertain the audience. You know these songs are live and original just by listening to them and hearing the tempo changes, nuances, dynamics, and flavor of the original songs from contemporary mood music to jazz, blues, Latin, and other forms of music. Along with full length original compositions you can also choose from well known classical music played live in the original arrangements by pro pianists at Kawai and these well known pieces are exceptional in their movement, feeling, and quality of performance...and I should know:). Also there is a Christmas song library within the player piano which will play piano versions of well known Christmas tunes in new contemporary arrangements which are brilliantly played and can add extra enjoyment to your Christmas holiday. You can also record you playing your own piano music on the CP piano and save those songs into the player piano library to play back within the Player Piano feature...how cool is that! But when it comes to professionally composed original music played live in concert or having that musician come to your home to play live at a home event, if you personally paid a pro pianist to write over 100 song arrangements and play them live for you, it is likely you'd be paying that person hundreds of dollars and perhaps much more depending on who the pianist is, so this Player Piano feature is no small thing in adding more music enjoyment to the piano. Another really cool feature of this Player Piano Music is that you can play along with any of the songs, assuming you can play by ear or have the music, and you can select any instrument sound (piano, strings, choir, trumpet, bells, etc) on the CP piano to use as your play-along instrument. This adds some very nice interactive enjoyment to the player system and allows you to participate in the playing of the song if you wish. With the exceptionally realistic grand piano sound of the CP pianos being played by the Player Piano Music Library, the combination is really outstanding. Regardless of how you use it, just listening to the piano song library as you go about your day or evening is worth the price of admission. Finally, it's important to note that only the CP1 and CP2 have the Player Piano. The CP3 does not have it which makes a compelling case to spend a bit more for the CP2 as opposed to the CP3. For more info please email me directly at tim@azpianowholesale.com

I know there will be a number of people who will purchase these instruments but they may not be much more than beginner players just wanting to learn to play and have fun. Or maybe you do know how to play pretty well but need to brush up on a variety of music and exercises and improve your playing and fingering skills. With this in mind Kawai has a comprehensive feature built in to these pianos called "Piano Lessons." These piano lesson songs are actual lesson songs that are pre-recorded and saved directly into the piano from well known piano lesson books by Alfred Publishing and other educational curriculum. There are literally hundreds of songs and finger exercises along with classical music which allows you to buy the actual books that teachers recommend and them play back the song or exercise recordings in the piano while looking at the music from those books. You can slow down the lesson song temp to any speed you like as well as select specific parts of the song you may be having difficulty with so you can loop that part from the start of a measure to ending at any measure you choose and then looping those measures so the song keeps repeating that part of the song over and over. In this way you can keep practicing the part that is difficult for you without needing to play the rest of the song during your practice sessions. The color touch screen and value wheel dial on the control panel allow you to easily and intuitively access the features of the Kawai Piano Lessons so that you can access the various built in lesson book songs fro kids, adults, more advanced players, beginners, and a number of other selections to help in better being able to play a piece of music. It makes the learning and practicing of a lesson more enjoyable, gives you a better feel for the song you are playing, helps you with you rhythm and timing, and intimately makes you sound better than you are when learning the piece. Another useful component of the Piano Lessons is the ability to turn down the volume or shut off completely either the left hand or the right hand of the song playing back to you. In other words you can listen to and play along with both recorded hands (bass clef & treble clef). However if you want to isolate the right or left hand playback without hearing the other hand, you can easily do that and then when you have learned that part (bass or treble clef) you can play it live with the recorded playback of the other part so you have something to play against while making you sound good. To test out how well you have learned the right or left hand, you can actually record it into the piano by touching a record button on the color touch screen and save it and then you can play back your recording of that practice part along with the actual perfect recording so you can tell how you are really doing! This is a fabulous way to learn to play and practice as well as develop your ear to hear notes and understand rhythm & timing better. Also, aside from the built in lesson songs, the CP series can play General MIDI lesson song files from both the Alfred and Faber lesson curriculum for additional ways to interact with music education using additional lesson books beyond the songs that are already in the piano. General MIDI song files can also be purchase to go along with a vast array of music books containing some of your favorite songs. Unlike the song "styles" that I spoke about earlier that don't actually play the song but instead allow you to have an instrument arrangement style that sounds like the original songs instruments and patterns, General MIDI song files are the actual full length songs with full instrumentation that allows you to play regular piano along with the songs. The CP1, 2, and 3, are General MIDI compatible which means there are literally thousands of songs you can get (some free, some you buy) that will play through your piano either one at a time so you can learn and play along, or one after another without stopping like a continuous player piano and you have control over speed, song volume, key, etc and then if you like you can play the regular piano parts over that song. General MIDI has been used for years by piano teachers, students, and pro players like me to learn favorite songs, have more fun with lesson, and overall to just make playing music more enjoyable. Go to the following link to learn more about General MIDI: General MIDI Info. If you want to play and understand music better, the Kawai Piano Lesson song features are something I have not seen on any other brand before (except for external General MIDI) and it absolutely does help with furthering your music education regardless of your age or playing ability. For more info please email me directly at tim@azpianowholesale.com

When it comes to recording what you play on the piano, the CP pianos have extensive audio and MIDI recording capabilities which can be accessed from the color touch screen. It is not only fun to record yourself to hear what you sound like and how you're doing, but you can create music, write songs, and put together full musical soundtracks. There is a simple easy record mode which you can quickly access off front panel buttons where you can play a song and record it and then play it back immediately.This is perfect for people who just want a simple no hassle way of recording themselves without needing to be rocket scientists to figure out how to do it. Then for the people who want more of a comprehensive recording system, the Kawai CP's allow you to record and play back up to 16 different instruments and tracks at one time. With this more advanced recording system there are a number of editing controls and functions which you access from the color touch screen and allow to to control things like the relative volume between each instrument, the effects, actual instrumentation, and a host of recording details to help you make the perfect recording whether it's your own original composition or a cover of a famous song. You can then save those recordings as a MIDI song file or an audio wav or MP3 file and then save that into a USB flashdrive to load it on your computer or elsewhere. In addition to recording yourself, you can also see that song in the form of sheet music on the color display screen and print that song out on your computer home wireless printer. You will see the actual notation and be able to have that as a tangible piece of music although this is only for convenience and not to replace properly formatted and sized sheet music. There are better and more practical ways of converting your recorded songs into sheet music using specific notation software you purchase for your computer which would give you more control over the sheet music and the printing capabilities, as well as extensive song editing. But for a  simple and quick approach to getting some sheet music to come up, the Kawai CP pianos do a good job with that. As far as the actual recordings themselves, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised how professional they will sound using the Kawai Song Recorder system based on all my experience with that. Even some of the more "advanced recoding features are fairly easy to navigate and surprisingly intuitive using the large color touch screen and the value wheel/dial. There are many detailed editing and recording features within the CP pianos so whether you want simplicity or more advanced studio quality multitrack recordings, I believe the Concert Performer pianos will be able to keep up with most demands for quality music when it comes to recording, playback, and seeing music notation.

As far as some of the other features that are good to know about, The CP1 and CP2 have the capability of combing four instrument sounds together whereas the CP3 can layer only two sounds. Layering two independent right hand instrument sounds together is what you'll find most digital pianos can do. But layering three independent high quality right instrument sounds together that compliment each other is not generally available on digital pianos. This ability to hear three instruments at one time plus a fourth one with a separate left hand sound and having full control over each instrument volume, effects, and other aspects of the sound is what helps to make the CP1 and CP2 sound so good, especially when it comes to using the registration combination presets. This is another good reason why the CP2 console cabinet model is, in my opinion, more exciting to play than the CP3 console cabinet model because the flexibility of the instrument sound combinations are so amazing. Sure, you can enjoy playing the piano on both models and some of the other great instrument tones and dual combinations on the CP3. But once you experience the CP2 you will likely be spoiled and unless you don't have the budget to afford the CP2, there is no question the CP2 will impress you when it comes to playing more instrument sounds together and having all those additional registration combinations. Other important but secondary features of the CP models that I personally use include reverbs: Room, Lounge, Small Hall, Concert Hall, Live Hall, and Cathedral. Key Touch sensitivity curves: Light+, Light, Normal, Heavy, Heavy+, Off (Constant), User 1, User 2. Temperaments: Equal (Piano), Meantone, Pure Major, Pure Minor, Pythagorean, Werckmeister, Kirnberger, Arabic 1-2, User, Key of Temperament. Tuning: Stretch Tuning, User Tuning, User Key Volume, Half-Pedal Adjust, Minimum Touch. (Selectable Split Point), Mixer, Master Volume, Accompaniment Volume, Transpose, Octave Shift, Tune, Portamento (CP1 and CP2 Only), MIDI (16 Part Multi-Timbral Capability). Chord playing setup: Fingered, One Finger, Full Keyboard, Bass Inversion, Right Hand Harmony (10 Types), Special Effects: Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Brilliance, Tremolo, Delays, Panning all with micro edit control, Vocal Mic Effects: Vocorder, Bear, Robot, Duck, and more,...and other cool stuff I won't talk about here.

In these higher price ranges all digital pianos should have good connectivity when it comes to hooking up external devices to the pianos, and the CP's definitely do have the connection jacks you need to connect just about anything you'll want. The CP1 and CP2 both have the full compliment of connector jacks whereas the CP3 has less ability. Whether it's connecting a USB computer to the piano, an iPad, external speakers, a video monitor for connection to a much larger color monitor screen for Karaoke and Digital Sheet Music sing along, a pro XLR cable connection for use at events, churches, outdoor activities, etc, standard MIDI connections, or even plugging in your MP3 player to the piano through a front panel 3.5mm mini jack (not available on the CP3), you'll find these pianos can do it well. There's even 2 headphone jacks for each piano so 2 people can practice in privacy at one time. Also next to the headphone jacks is a microphone standard 1/4" input jack with separate volume control to control the vocal volume when you are singing or speaking in the mic through the piano speaker system. It's easy to see that Kawai uses high quality components and connectors as opposed to other digital pianos I have seen who use cheap parts which cause problems over time. The CP3 does not have all the capabilities in these ways whereas the CP2 and CP1 do, so that is another reason why the CP2 console cabinet model is so compelling to buy over the CP3 console cabinet model.

The piano cabinets on these three models are very attractive, especially the CP1 full size polished ebony 5'3" baby grand..that one is absolutely beautiful in person. As I mentioned in the beginning of this review, this is the only digital baby grand of its size on the market today and Kawai uses an authentic acoustic baby grand case (including sprucewood soundboard) they make for their acoustic grand piano line and they install all of the CP1 electronics, speakers, key action, etc in this cabinet....so it is the real thing. The nine individual speakers (including a large 10" bass woofer) going through a 3-channel 200 watt sound system are spread through the cabinet in the wood soundboard which helps disperse the sound in different areas of the piano and allows the sound to passively vibrate through the wood grains in the soundboard, so you get both a powerful stereo sound through the speakers combined with the natural wood soundboard, and the result is very impressive.  The larger size of the CP1 cabinet helps the sound system to work well, making the piano sound beautiful. The piano lid has two opening positions along with the lid also being able to lay down flat, just like a real grand. The brass hardware including hinges, knobs, wheels/casters, etc are all high quality materials (I tested them) and add elegance to the CP1. The specifications of the CP1 are 57” x 63” x 39” and 430 lbs in weight. Even though the factory retail price of the CP1 is $21,999 which is no drop in the bucket and comparable in price to fine acoustic grand pianos that are even larger in size, with the CP1 you are buying a complete interactive music entertainment center as opposed to just a piano. I love playing great acoustic grand pianos, but once you play and hear the CP1 just for the piano experience alone coupled with all of the impressive technology features it offers, you'll get the best of both worlds. However, you really need to be fairly certain that what the CP1 offers will be of benefit to you and your family as opposed to purchasing a high quality new acoustic grand piano. With regard to the CP2, the  cabinet has a 4-speaker (mains and tweeters) 100-watt high quality speaker system which also has plenty of power and fullness for its size and will easily fill up a large room with a big, bold sound. I have tried it and and put the volume at different levels (and also tweaking the digital EQ) and the result was very good in that it can handle small rooms or very big rooms and Kawai did a good job at optimizing the sound for the size of the cabinet. However, the CP2 sounds even better when connecting a couple of good powered monitor bi-amped speakers to the piano which you can do for about $300US. That extra boost of clarity and power allows the piano to reach it's full sound potential like when you connect a great speaker system to your home audio/TV. The CP2 cabinet (below left pics) has front support legs that add an element of design and a touch of class to the piano. The available cabinet finishes on the CP2 are what Kawai calls Premium satin black, satin rosewood, or satin mahogany and the specs are 56.1” x 22.8” x 38.1” and 190 lbs in weight. The CP3 piano with a 2-speaker 100-watt sound system which also has a big powerful sound, although not quite as crisp and defined as the CP2 because it does not have the added tweeter speaker system. The CP3 (lower left pic) does not have front cabinet legs and is a pedestal model, but still very attractive and the available cabinet finishes are satin rosewood and satin black and the specs are 56.1” x 22.8” x 38.1” and 146 lbs in weight. All piano cabinets have a large sliding key cover to fully cover over the control panel and keys to protect them as well as matching benches which have storage space, although I would like to have seen the benches have height adjustment capability or perhaps longer duet size benches so two people could sit down at the same time. The only slight disappointment I have with the CP2 and CP3 cabinets is that they are not offered in polished ebony like the CP1 and other digital piano models in the Kawai line. Polished ebony does raise the price quite a bit, as and much as $600-$700 or more in most cases in this cabinet style, but at least a polished ebony finish would have offered another good finish option. However, it's important to note that polish ebony is applied as a polyester coating (plastic) which is true of all high gloss polished ebony finishes on other brands and that finish can scratch and show dust much more easily than satin finishes. I personally prefer the satin black finish in the CP2 or CP3 models because the black color is sleek and timeless and in a low maintenance finish in that cabinet design.

I did forget to mention something that I almost never talk about in reviews and that is the built-in "demos" in these pianos. I usually don't pay attention to factory demos because most of them are boring or just typical stock demos and not very creative in showing off the piano. I happened to try out the factory demos on these pianos and was, as they say, blown away! Yikes, these things are awesome and whoever put them together at Kawai did an outstanding job. There are dozens of demos in all kinds of music styles including pure classical piano, orchestral, Latin, Country, patriotic, jazz, country, pop, Gospel, church, pipe organ, Celtic, international, Big band, Swing, oldies, movie theme style, full concert grand piano demos, funk rock, blues, contemporary jazz rock including live sounding band arrangements and many (not all) of these songs are original music written by pro players from Kawai and saved into the Concert Performer pianos as demos. These demos (many are not complete songs but still great) can be played one after another for literally hours without stopping or you can select the one you want and just have it play. If you closed your eyes while listening to these demo songs I think you may have a difficult time saying if they were real live players having been recorded, instead of just sounds coming from a digital piano. Awesome demos....really...and fun just to listen to, like a player piano playing great tunes. It's just another way to turn the Concert Performer into another type of "player piano" because the sound and accompaniment demo songs are so good and it sounds like just about every kind of grand piano, organ, band, or orchestra you can think of. This demo system inspires you to want to play like that and you know it's possible because all those sounds and accompaniments are actually in the piano...you just need to play them. The demo function also displays a tutorial showing the user what some of the many piano functions do like keyboard action, piano sound, and a huge variety of features along with pictures and a easy to understand explanation without absolutely needing to go into the owners manual. It's a quick way to learn about the piano and figure out what some of it does and what some of the strong points of the piano are. All of these demo features are accessed in the large color touch screen and are very intuitive to use. With regard to the huge library of demo songs, the song names and pictures change by themselves on the color touchscreen while the music is playing so visually it looks pretty cool too. Playing all those demos will also allow you to hear what these pianos are capable of doing, even if you can't do it! If you were brave enough or accomplished enough, you could try to duplicate those demos yourself by recording your owndemos in the 16-track pro recorder feature, then you can make your own music:). So when you see the "demo button" on the CP pianos, don't think this is a small thing because when you press that button, tucked away inside the piano is a huge library of amazing songs that will play in full stereo all day if you let it and it's just one more very impressive feature of the Kawai CP series that few other digital pianos have including other Kawai pianos. Just open your windows wide and turn on those demos and your neighbors will think you are an incredible musician...assuming you are not one already:)

In the final analysis, the Concert Performer pianos offer a lot of playing pleasure for people of all ages, all musical tastes, and all playing skill levels, no doubt about that. The question is...do you need or want these upgraded technology features on the CP pianos and are you willing to pay the price for it as opposed to a standard digital piano? Are the CP features necessary? Would you be able to use it and figure it all out, take advantage of what the pianos have and make the investment worthwhile? Those questions are important and valid and should be asked. Why spend money and potentially waste it if you don't have to? There are many great digital pianos out there for under $5000 retail/discount selling price that you may be just as happy with, if not more so, but how do you know what is the best piano buying decision for you? The reason I went into SO much detail in this review is because I wanted to point out that the Concert Performer pianos really do offer many excellent ways to achieve musical enjoyment and satisfaction that you just cannot get on standard digital pianos. As far as I am concerned and something I have learned in my own life, you really cannot put a "price" on something that reaches deep down into your soul...your musical soul. Ask yourself this question "do you love music and if so, how much?" If one or more of your answers is that music moves you, it relaxesyou, it stimulates you, it makes you feelyoung, it takes you to a mental and spiritual place that few other things can do, it allows you to connect to world in so many positive ways, it gives you a personal way to express yourself, and you also believe it could do that for others in your family, church, school, studio, etc,...then in my opinion, the investment in the CP pianos is totally worth the price. The more these many music making features in the Concert Performers drive you to want to play music, I believe you and your family will reap great benefits from that. With all my many years teaching piano to thousands of people and playing professionally in many types of venues, I can say with certainty that playing music changes lives for the good and is one of the very best things you can do for yourself as an adult and for your children or other children that you know. Out of all the Kawai pianos as well as other major brands, the CP pianos offer the most ways of making and enjoying music first hand, up close and personal. The Concert Performer pianos are not only great pianos for the traditional and classically minded person, but the CP pianos are also Virtual Orchestras and Rhythmic Bands as I previously mentioned that allow you to make music in ways you could never do on the other traditional pianos. Think about this: when you go to a movie that would probablynot like that movie, that movie is likely full of music going on throughout different scenes and it has theme song which is normally an original complex arrangement of instruments and rhythmic percussion, and sometimes there are vocal tracks too. Think of Disney films like Beauty & the Beast, Pirates of the Caribbean, adventure films, movies like Star Wars and Star Trek, Superman, you name it, and most movies have famous themes and lots of music that you can evenhum or sing from memory. That music may be classically oriented, fully orchestral, or may be pop music, jazz (think of the Pink Panther or the Peanuts Charlie Brown theme), country, romantic, etc. There is all kinds of music of in movies but most people could never play it like that athome because they only have a piano. Without that wonderful music in the movies you near as much and would not be as visually and mentally stimulated.Movie music as well as many other music styles through the years can be played and enjoyed on the Concert Performer series in a much more versatile and realistic way than you could ever get out of a traditional digital piano...take my word for it. You combine those awesome CP features with the pure piano playing you get and then you'll have the best of both worlds wrapped up in one piano. Oh, and if you are using some of these impressive Virtual Orchestra or Band features and you don't know how to get back tothe piano sound and turn off the other features, well even that dilemma is taken care of with a default Grand Piano button that you just push and hold for 2 seconds and it instantly resets everything on the CP back to sounding only like a grand piano when you play. It couldn't be easier and that feature is what I call the "panic" button. Overall, it still may take you a little while to get used to the control panel buttons and touch screen functions, but they are fairly easy to learn and the balance between the control panel buttons and features in the color touch screen are such that there are not as many buttons on the piano (which is a good thing) as a number of other digital pianos I have seen. In fact the operation of the piano is easier than most because of the easy touch virtual buttons on the large color touch screen and their intuitive nature. However, when you want that concert grand piano sound to come up and all other features and functions to shut off, you just go to that piano "panic" button and all will be good:).

Before you make any purchase, especially in this price range, I recommend you do your research and homework so that you can make the right decision. But with regard to these new Kawai Concert Performer pianos, you certainly cannot go wrong with them even if you don't take advantage of all the features. Some people would classify these things as bells & whistles, toys, or even "cheating" but I say that's nonsense! Music comprises a huge world of possibilities and to limit piano playing to just a piano sound or two and to certain types of music or ways to play it, is very short sighted in my opinion. I believe every person should have the opportunity to get a good music education so that they can play music well, learn to play the piano in a traditional way, and understand playing technique and structure as well as sight reading...I fully support and teach that. The pure beauty of listening to great piano solo music is awesome and I am blessed with 2 daughters who are local pianos teachers who play grand pianos in amazing ways and I love to listen to them. In fact one of my daughters owns a largeKawai grand piano and loves it.But to limit piano playing to a narrow musical structure and way of playing it in my opinion removes the enjoyment of the music many people (but not all) could really have if they had the right instrument to do that with. Such is the Kawai Concert Performer piano seriesand with a factory 5 year parts & laborwarranty along with in-home service and an excellent reliability track record based onmy personal experience with this brand, these pianos should last for many, many years. My feelings are..."you only live once so go for it, play the music you love, and do it with a great piano!"

*In the video below of Eden, a 7-year old piano student that I know very well, she is using the CP Concert Magic feature to experience what it can do for her and how much fun it can be. One of her favorite songs happens to be the song "Once Upon A Dream" from Sleeping Beauty, and she found it in the Concert Magic music library. She thought that was pretty cool:) 



**In the video below, the Kawai Concert Performer piano is being played by a very young 3-year old piano student named Emmy who is using the Concert Magic feature to interact with the piano to help her learn and understand Rhythm & Timing along with volume dynamics, while letting Emmy play and interact with one of her favorite songs...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! She loves this thing and it encourages her too. As a piano teacher, I love when that happens:). 


  
"Please contact me at tim@azpianowholesale.com for more important piano shopping info before you buy anything from anyone."

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

REVIEW - Williams Allegro 2 Digital Piano - Semi Recommended - The Williams digital piano brand is made for and sold exclusively by Guitar Center and its affiliate companies (they own them) including Musicians Friend, Music & Arts, Music 123, Woodwind & Brasswind, and a couple of additional GC related internet sites. It's almost like a monopoly:). The Williams name piano is a product created by a Chinese manufacturer for Guitar Center and it's Guitar Center's house brand and not American produced even though the Williams name sounds like it, so don't look for it elsewhere. Guitar Center salespeople will suggest this model as a good one because after all, it's their brand name and you cannot buy it through a non-Guitar Center company as far as I know. The Williams name does not produce regular acoustic pianos and is not a brand that I have ever recommended in the past. With that being said, I do "semi-recommend" this new Allegro 2 portable 88-key digital piano ($299 store/Internet discount price) which has taken the place of the previous Allegro model. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2015

In the world of digital pianos and trying to get a good one for a low price, the Williams Allegro 2 tries to rise to the occasion and for $299 does a good job in terms of this model having 88-keys with some weighted response to the keys, having an OK piano sound with some touch sensitivity along with 64-note polyphony which is plenty of note processing power for beginners, and having a sustain pedal connection to hold and sustain sound when pressing the pedal down. So when it comes to very basics, the new Allegro 2 has it. However, regardless of what you may otherwise see in on-line consumer reviews or Guitar Center hype, these basic features do come with noticeable limitations, at least they were things that I definitely noticed playing it, and these things could easily be a hindrance to students trying to learn to play piano. That is why I only "semi-recommend" this piano, primarily because it is a cheap price.

So here are the negative downsides to the new Allegro 2 digital piano that I feel are worth mentioning and they mostly have to do with key action and piano sound authenticity:  

1.There is only a small volume range of dynamics when you are pressing the keys at different velocity (speed/strength) levels. In other words, when playing the keys you really don't hear much change in volume touch sensitivity and the minimum volume never goes to zero. So no matter how softly ypu play the keys, the volume of the softest note is much too loud and comes in too quickly (more on that later). These limitations will likely not be apparent to beginners, but if you start to progress in your music as a student or you already know how to play, your music will come out in a way where it won't have much expression or musical authenticity in my opinion. Just because a piano type of sound comes out of the speakers doesn't mean the rest of what you hear and play is normal in terms of piano sound and dynamics. There is an editing function to change velocity curve touch sensitivity, but adjusting this to a different setting doesn't really help change this deficiency much at all. It just basically makes the sound louder, not better. 

 2.The keys themselves are pretty lightweight. Williams claims in their ads that the Allegro 2 has "hammer action" but this isn't anywhere close to what a real upright or grand piano feels like.It's much better than a spring action keyboard like the Williams Legato or any of the Yamaha and Casio keyboards, but as far as it having a key movement just like a real piano...forget about it because it does not. Maybe like a worn out used piano with a loose key action, but nothing beyond that. If you play on a lightweight key action like this one, you will eventually get into poor playing habits later on, especially as a student who is hoping to get the proper expression and key action response of a real piano. Beyond the lightweight keys, when you are pressing the keys with a harder touch, the keys bottom out and sound like they are hitting a hard surface underneath, There is very little padding or noise reduction material preventing this loud knocking noise. This issue is not uncommon with some inexpensive digital pianos and keyboards, but unfortunately this Williams model also has this problem as do most Williams piano models I have played. It's even more noticeable when you areplaying the piano wearing headphones and other people in the house have to hear this loud clunky sound knocking when the keys go down and bottom out...very distracting. If you press the keys lightly then it's not an issue, but that's not how music is played with just a light touch all the time.  

3.When you press a key down on a real acoustic piano or a higher quality digital piano, you are not supposed to hear any piano sound until the key touches the bottom. This is normal and helps with proper note timing, expression along with volume control, and proper technique. Unfortunately when pressing a key down on the Allegro 2, the note is heard before it touches the bottom at about half-way down. This not at all natural and will generate a piano sound before it is intended to be heard. I have played on digital pianos with this kind of unrealistic key action volume sensing before and it is something to stay away from if possible. The Allegro 2 uses old and inadequate key sensing technology which makes a sound well before it should as the key is depressed and this will throw off a person's playing in terms of volume dynamics. You can notice this issue especially if you play slowly or softly. Once again this is something which can cause poor playing habits for students as they progress in their skills and may also inhibit and distract people who already know how to play piano and want a more realistic playing experience as well. I certainly would never recommend this piano to my students if they could adjust their budget and spend a bit more on a digital piano which plays correctly and that they could grow into instead of grow out of.

4.When pressing a key from a light touch to a hard touch on a real piano or on a higher quality digital piano, you would hear a number of tonal changes in the sound.I am not talking about volume changes (loud & soft), but instead I am talking about what pianos are supposed to do in terms of going from a mellow tone when pressing the key lightly up to a very bright and vibrant tone when pressing the key hard. This is called velocity tone changes or tonal dynamics. In a good piano you are not supposed to hear the tonal changes in a distinct way but instead, you should hear them in a wide range of subtle change going from mellow and on up to bright in a very small steps. On a good digital or acoustic piano, you would press the keys with your fingers from a soft touch and get
progressively harder in your touch until you are really playing hard. You will hear a subtle but noticeable increase and decrease in tonal range. Not so on the Allegro 2. There are just 3 piano tonal changes (or samples) per key...mellow, bright, very bright and nothing in between, and those 3 tonal changes are obvious and distinct instead of a seamless transition like slightly higher price digital pianos. In fact to get (hear) the 3rd velocity "very bright" sound, you really need to play super hard on the keys just to hear it, which is unnatural to begin with. When you play the keys hard, that key knocking noise will be heard which will cause you to NOT want to play hard enough to get the extra dynamic. If you do get that very bright dynamic sound, it comes in suddenly and unnaturally. So what I am saying is, even though Williams (in their web site piano sound description) may claim they have three piano velocity samples coming from a "10' 2" Italian Grand Piano," even if that is true, the execution and implementation of that sound along with the velocity tonal changes of that sound is just bad...period. In reality it's done very poorly (difficult to control the what's coming out) and you could get much playing better results on a $250 Yamaha keyboard. This is all about expression and good tonal dynamics when you play the piano, and as a beginner you will likely not notice this issue because beginners don't know what to expect or listen for. But if you want to have your music come out like it would on a real piano or a good digital piano, the Allegro 2 is pretty much mostly hype and will definitely not do it because of these limitations...and believe me...I tried to get it to sound good (and I know what I'm doing) and it just did not do it. 

 5. When playing or transitioning from one key to the next, you are supposed to have the sound characteristics of each key be very similar to the key before it or after it. This will change a bit when going from bass, the mid range keys, and then up to high treble, but if you were only playing in the middle of the keyboard up and down, then the piano sound should be even and sound consistent. This is not the case on the Allegro 2 and in fact it sounds as if you are playing two entirely different pianos when pressing one key and then going to the next. One key may be mellow, the next instantly bright, the next quieter, the next louder, and so on. Inconsistent and unrealistic is the best way to describe this issue but once again, if you are a beginner it is unlikely you will notice this because you won;t know what is normal or abnormal when it comes to playing piano. When your piano sound is different and uneven from one note to the next (this does not happen on every note, but it does happen on many) then this will affect your expression, technique, and ultimately will sound unrealistic.
 
So what do I like about this Williams Allegro 2 digital piano? Well there definitely are some things that I do like including having an easy to use intuitive control panel with one touch buttons, easy editing features, very nice non-piano instrument sounds such as electric pianos, organs, and strings. The regular piano sample itself is OK but not great (sounds a bit plunky when playing staccato style), and not anywhere near in realism as compared to the slightly higher priced Yamaha & Casio portable digital pianos. The control panel buttons are pretty cool looking and work good and the panel has an intuitive LCD display with a blue backlite screen and a control knob. Editing the functions and features is really easy and is done with a press of the function button and turning the control knob to the function you want to edit and then just turning the knob to make the adjustment. It's a much more intelligent system than what either the Yamaha or Casio low priced digital pianos have and I am all for things being easy to use. Also, the Allegro LCD screen is not something which Yamaha or Casio has on their regular low priced portable digital pianos so that's a big plus for this piano. However the surface of the control panel is a large piece of shiny black plastic and although it looks cool, it shows fingerprints, scratches somewhat easily, shows dust, and the black plastic smears like crazy and is not something I would ever want on my piano. A non-smear, no scratch surface would have been much better, but remember, this thing is only $299 so you just put up with all the fingerprints, potential scratches, and smears...right? As I mentioned earlier, I do like the (optional) sustain pedal and pedal decay time for the piano sound, so that is OK for the piano's $299 price. The Allegro 2 also offers the ability to transpose key (up or down in half steps) for singing or playing, layer any two sounds together, split two sounds apart (left hand bass, right hand instrument sound), add reverb (echo), chorus, and special effects to the instrument sounds along with changing the octave of the instrument. The functions include having a separate EQ for the brightness control as well as having rotary speed control (fast/slow) for the B-3 type Jazz & Gospel organ sound. For rhythm and timing training, there is a digital metronome which you can hear and change timing settings into 4/4. 3/4, etc. There is also an easy quick record and playback feature which allows you to quickly and easily record yourself as a 1-track MIDI file and then play it back to see how you did, which is a nice feature.  So as far as features go, the Allegro 2 does a very nice job and it has a sufficient amount to keep you busy.  

The Allegro 2 also has a decent internal speaker system with enough volume for the average indoor space, but if you need more volume you can connect an external speaker system to the 1/4" audio outputs on the back of the piano. A headphone jack is also provided for private practice and and you can connect a sustain pedal to the piano. The Allegro will work on 6 D cell batteries which is a nice bonus when no electric power is nearby and the piano takes an a/c adapter for electric current but that adapter along with pedal and small (cheap sounding) headphones will cost you an extra $30 bucks whereas some other brands include a free a/c adapter and/or sustain pedal. There's even a USB output jack to connect to external devices like tablets, computers, etc which is pretty handy, although a USB
output jack is not unusual these days on digital pianos and keyboards and has become a standard feature where not too many years ago you didn't see a USB jack provided too often. The piano itself weighs almost 30lbs, comes with a black metal music rest, and is not too big, whereas the previous model was much heavier and clunkier. The warranty on this model is only 1 year, but what do you expect for what I consider to be a throw away digital piano...because that's what it really is. But for only $299 you really cannot expect more than what this piano offers, and after having played this model a number of times, in some ways it offers a lot and certainly a big upgrade in these ways over the previous Allegro. However, instead of investing your hard earned money into the new Allegro 2, I recommend you save your money or spend a little more now and go up to the new Yamaha P45 portable digital piano ($449 internet discount price), Casio CDP130 portable digital piano ($399 internet discount price), or the brand new Casio PX160 portable digital piano ($499 internet discount price). The deficiencies in this new Allegro 2 that I outlined in this review are, in my opinion, too important overlook. If all you have to spend is $299 plus $30 for the adapter & pedal, plus local tax, then I suppose the Allegro 2 is better than nothing and that's why I "semi-recommend it." It's because it's such a low price. But if instead you look at the brand new higher quality Casio PX160 which is quite impressive and comes with a sustain pedal and a/c adapter at no charge ($499 discount price), once you add the pedal & a/c adapter cost to the Williams and add sales tax for most states in the US, the Allegro price comes up around $350 and for just a bit more you could instead own any of the other portables I mentioned or go up to the Casio PX160. My review of the PX160 is coming soon but I have played it as well as the others so if you want to know more about them or want my advice, don't hesitate to ask me.

At the end of the day it's important to know that a higher quality key action movement along with proper key sensitivity, quality, response, weight, and other aspects of key action along with good piano sound dynamics and tonal realism costs money to produce. You just don't get something for nothing when it comes to those things. All the pretty lights, shiny buttons, cheap black plexiglass plastic, easy to use functions and nice non-piano instrument sounds will never make up for a poor piano playing experience, especially if a piano student is trying to learn to play the right way so they can avoid getting into poor playing habits. If you want a fun keyboard with some cool functions, you can do that for under $200 in a brand new Casio or Yamaha keyboard. But when it comes to piano, and playing it so it will satisfy you or your child and allow you to grow musically in the right way, you can pretend to do it on the Allegro, but you can really do it by spending a bit more money and know that you can keep that piano well into the future instead of just having a short term solution in trying to spend less money. The old saying is still mostly true..."you do get what you pay for:)" If you think the Allegro 2 is the right instrument for you, then buy it. This is, after all, your decision and not mine:). 

Please read this - *As I have stated many times before on my AZPianoNews.com blog, the real reason you will see so many inflated positive "reviews" on certain digital pianos from some other so-called review sites is simply to get you to buy one on Amazon because those people make money (an affiliate commission) when you do that and most of them obviously don't care what they say to get you to buy one. As for Amazon user reviews, here's one I just read on the Allegro 2: "This is the best keyboard I have ever bought! It feels and sounds just like a grand piano. Highly recommended!"Really?...you've got to be kidding!That's like saying a McDonald's hamburger tastes like Prime Rib...not possible:). But fake or extremely naive reviews by unknown people are everywhere. If you believe the Allegro 2 is just like a grand piano then I have a free piece of land for you in the middle of the Arizona desert that you'll love...with no water:).

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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

REVIEW - Williams Legato Digital Piano Keyboard - NOT Recommended - OK...you are probably immediately wondering why I don't recommend this keyboard? After all, the Williams Legato is a new 88-key keyboard at a cheap price of just $199US internet discount price and it seems like it may be a great starter piano without having to invest much money...right?. The answer would be...no...it would not be a good starter piano for any beginner piano student or even for a person playing recreationally as far as I am concerned. You never want to judge a book by its cover, regardless of price, and the same would be true for this digital keyboard and I will outline my major concern about this model below.

The Williams keyboard brand is a private label brand owned by Guitar Center and its affiliate stores of which there are many including Musicians Friend, Music 123, Music & Arts, and the list goes on. I have never fully recommended any Williams piano/keyboard product in the past and unfortunately I cannot recommend this Legato keyboard at all as it has what I consider to be a fatal flaw. The Williams Legato is a keyboard and not really a digital piano. A digital piano by nature most commonly has actual piano style weighted keys (like an acoustic piano...more or less) and the keys move more like a real piano with some brands and models doing a much better job of that than others. The Williams Legato is a keyboard in the sense that it has what all non piano weighted keys have...unweighted spring activated keys. The springs (they are not weights) under or on the back of each plastic key have a certain amount of upward tension just like real springs have. Try pushing down on any spring (depending on the size and strength of the spring) and it will take a certain amount of downward pressure to push that spring down to overcome the upward resistance or tension of that spring. Springs want to stay at resting position and if that spring is pressed down, it wants to pop back up immediately. The more the upward tension/pressure and resistance there is of the key from being pushed down, the more pressure it takes to push the spring down in the first place. Simple physics actually.

All Yamaha & Casio low priced keyboards along with professional stage keyboards from Roland, Korg, and Yamaha use unweighted (non-piano non-hammer weighted) spring loaded keys. Some of these brands and models have better spring key action than others but they all are spring loaded. The Williams Legato is no exception. The fatal flaw of the Legato that I am referring to is the fact that the spring loaded keys are exceptionally stiff to push down and take an unnecessary and fatiguing amount of finger pressure to push the keys down on a constant up & down basis. In fact, the keys are so stiff that in my opinion it will easily cause a piano student or recreational player to have to compensate for this unnatural key action in the way they play their music. The keys are simply uncomfortable to press down and completely unrealistic in response, particularly when you need or want to play softer and easier portions of the music you are playing. It's just difficult to play softly with a light touch and the dynamic range is thrown off because of this. When playing on almost any low priced Yamaha or Casio keyboard, the key action playing experience is much better with their spring key actions along with being much easier and more enjoyable to play along with less unnatural stiffness interference with playing correctly.

The upside of the Williams Legato is that it has 88-keys whereas the low priced Casio & Yamaha keyboards do not. The most keys on those brands in the $200 price range is 76 keys, however for most recreational players and for all beginners and beginner intermediate players, 76-keys is more than sufficient to play most popular music and lots of complex classical pieces. The difference between 88 keys and 76 keys is only 12 keys and that is counting both black & white notes. So in reality there is not much of a difference in keys and I would rather have a much better key playing experience than just having more keys. There really is no comparison to getting quality as opposed to quantity and when it comes to the Williams Legato key action, it is definitely not quality in the ways the keys play. This spring loaded key mechanism cannot be changed or adjusted in any way. You can change the velocity touch curve response in the Legato as you can with all popular keyboard brands, but that just changes volume response and not the physical nature of the keys. Regardless of what you might otherwise read about the Legato, the key action is not semi-weighted, fully weighted, piano weighted, or any other weighted...there are no "weights" in or on the keys like there are in real digital pianos. It is only spring loaded action and any so-called "weight" you might think you feel is only resistance from the spring underneath or behind the key, and the key stiffness can be misinterpreted as weight...but it is not. 

As for the features and functions of the Legato keyboard, it definitely has some nice features for $199 including 5 good instrument sounds which include electric piano, synth, jazz organ, and bass. The acoustic piano simulation is actually OK, although the polyphony processing power for playing simultaneous notes is quite low at only 32-note max in mono polyphony). The Legato also has the ability to work on batteries (other keyboards can do this too), layer and split keyboard sounds, has a built in adjustable digital metronome, USB output to computer or device, audio outputs for connection to external audio, has special effects which include reverb and chorus, headphone jack, and some nice function editing features. There is also a sustain pedal which can be plugged in and an a/c adapter that can be connected but those come at an extra cost of about $30 which adds to the price. The Legato case is also fairly attractive, comes with a metal music rack, and has some cool aluminum/chrome looking buttons to push and things are laid out on the control panel in a pretty intuitive way. The editing functions must be done by referring to the owners manual because there is no way to know how they work from the keyboard itself. However, those features pale in comparison to what you can get with a new Casio or Yamaha keyboard which blow away the Williams piano in nearly every way including having access to internal educational and recording features, especially with regard to much improved key action and piano sound in my opinion. The Williams piano sound is somewhat digital toy sounding through the internal speakers but does sound better through headphones or external speaker system, and the keys are noisy when going up and down but that is sometimes true with other low priced digital keyboards too.

Casio WK245

Although the Williams looks like a good, is inexpensive, simple to use 88-key keyboard that would be nice to own at what seems to be a very low price for 88-keys, in my opinion the key action completely disqualifies this model for being taken seriously as an instrument which would provide a good, solid playing experience, especially for piano students just learning as it can get them into bad playing habits pretty quickly. I recommend you save your money and upgrade to a good Yamaha or Casio 76-key spring loaded keyboard like the Yamaha YGP235 at $249 or Casio WK245 at $199 (including the accessories) both with a much smoother and less troubling key action along with better sound and more usable features and much better names...(especially for resale value), or go up to a real portable digital piano like the Casio CDP130 ($399 internet discount price), Yamaha P45 ($449 internet discount price, or the new Casio PX160 ($499 internet discount price).

I challenge you to go into a store with the Williams Legato on display and then press and play on the keys and do the same on a competing Yamaha or Casio and you will feel the difference immediately...because not all springs and spring loaded actions are created equally. Yes, there are some people who will say they like this model and that's fine, but they are just fooling themselves into believing that keys are supposed to feel and move that way when in fact they are not...not even close. If you like a stiff key movement then perhaps you'll enjoy the Williams Legato...however I definitely do not enjoy playing it (I don't hate it, I just don't like it) and I would not recommend it to any of my students or friends who play piano and want a low price keyboard and hope to get 88-keys, regardless of how low the price is. Yes, a good keyboard player can make this piano sound pretty good (although without soft legato playing), but the sound is only half the playing experience...it's the key action that is the other half and that is not something you can feel by watching a video of this piano. Do your homework when researching these pianos and don't believe everything you read when it comes to consumer reviews because much of the time they just don't know what they are talking about. Ignorance is bliss sometimes:).

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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

Digital Piano Shopping Secrets - 6 Secrets You Need To Know!

I am about to reveal to you 6 little known shopping SECRETSyou need to know before selecting a New Digital Piano in the US. It's good to be informed before you shop for & buy a new digital piano from Kawai, Yamaha, Roland, Casio, Korg, Kurzweil, Williams, Artesia, Samick, and many more. There are well over 50 models to consider in many price ranges on-line and at local stores and some salespeople will try to take advantage of you. So be ready!

SECRET #1. Most Music Store salespeople in the US (including in the big chain stores) know very little or virtually nothing about digital pianos. They may know about guitars, drums, band instruments, audio products, sheet music, pro keyboards, etc, but when it comes to digital pianos...you can pretty much forget about it! I have been into hundreds of these stores all over the US for years and their "sales associates" (clerks) just make stuff up to sound smart, lie on purpose to make more commission off of you on an item their manager told them to sell because it makes them more money, or they just don't know much (they are ignorant) other than maybe price and perhaps how to play a song. They may be nice people but that does not qualify them to be talking to anyone about digital pianos. So if you go into a local general music store (especially the big chain stores), you can pretty much forget about getting solid, knowledgeable, and truthful advice from nearly any of them on the brands they carry. I have tried literally hundreds of times to get those sales clerks (especially in the big chain retail stores) to give me a fact filled demo on a variety of digital pianos and they just cannot do it at all. Ask them the difference between one piano and another and their tongue usually hangs out because they just don't know. They might even say, "this one is really good and that one is not so good." Wow...that's so useful, and you can't even trust that statement! When you go to a music store don't ask for help unless you know exactly what you want and are ready to buy. Otherwise you are probably wasting your time and energy and will just get bad info...well maybe they'll at least play you a fun song...assuming they can play at all:).

SECRET #2. Local piano store salespeople in the US usually know much more about their products than general music stores, but they usually have fewer brand selections and favor one brand over another typically because they make more money on you that way. Ask them about a brand they don't carry or they are not showing you (and there are many) and they'll usually say that the other brand is bad, falls apart, doesn't play good, that brand is going out of business (when it's not), and so on. In other words, they talk the other brand way down and in fact lie about the competitive brands in some cases. I have shopped many piano stores all over the US for many years and this is not uncommon. In other cases some stores have salespeople who are also poorly informed or make stuff up just to make them look smarter than they really are. Some piano stores in the US do have a few well educated, experienced, helpful, musically talented, smart product specialists who work there, but you never know what you get until you walk into that store. If you find one of those good salespeople who truly want to help you and are not just trying to sell you something and purposely knocking down everything else, then you are in a good place. But that can be difficult to find so don't expect it.

SECRET #3 - One of the things you may find at a local piano store is that the salespeople may try to convince you that you or your children cannot or will not have a good piano playing experience unless you spend a certain amount of money on a new digital piano...usually well over $2000. They may even tell you they have a big sale going on with huge savings. But generally speaking these so-called sales are just made up to get you to buy now. If you went into that piano store at another time you'll likely be able to buy the piano at the same price. If you experience these tactics then I would advise you to tread lightly and not get caught in this trap if your budget is limited. I know of a few excellent digital piano choices under $2000 that would be great for not only beginners, but also for advanced players too. All I am saying here is, you don't always have to spend a lot to get a lot.

SECRET #4. Some people tell me that they don't want all the "bells & whistles" on a new piano, just mainly piano sound, quality action, and a few other functions or features. Before you make a decision to eliminate the need for "extra features" you might do well to research and ask me more about that because the new technology on some of these digital pianos allows for interaction with educational features that can go a long way in helping to develop better piano players, better piano students, better practice sessions, and more enjoyment overall. "Bells & whistles" as the extra features are referred to on some of these pianos, are not necessarily bad or distracting for a good musical outcome regardless of the player or students age. This is a secret that many people don't know or understand...that interactive digital technology actually can help you play better, want to play more often, and help you practice more completely.

SECRET #5. On-line reviews by mysterious reviewers or people on Amazon should generally NOT be taken seriously. Consumer owners of certain digital pianos are notoriously uninformed when it comes to reporting on their digital piano purchase and some of those "so-called" reviews are completely bogus and made up. How do I know...well for me...let's just say it's very easy for me to tell....and not as easy for you. Review sites that seem to be informed but in reality are not, have probably rarely if ever played the instruments they are talking about. They just collect data on the internet and regurgitate it into their own review and sometimes stick in someone elses video or comments on the subject. Then when that reviewer is all done with their review, they link you to Amazon to buy that piano at regular internet price. They generally don't care about you, what you buy, or when you buy it...they are just hoping you buy anything through their Amazon link because they make money each and every time someone buys that way.

SECRET #6. If shopping on-line instead of a local store, regardless of what a web site may say, if the digital piano is anything but brand new in a factory sealed box, I recommend you do not buy it. The ad may say open boxperfect condition, all your money back, floor model hardly been touched, new warranty, used only once, etc...but that web site can say anything they want to about that item...there is NO law against lying when it's difficult to know if it is a lie or not, and there is no internet police to protect you either. You will always be taking a risk when not buying brand new in an unopened box. I have just seen way too many horror stories concerning people who did not get what they were hoping for all because they thought they could save a few bucks. DO NOT short change yourself...spend a bit more and get it brand new current model piano knowing the factory warranty will be honored if needed. It's important especially if you plan on keeping the piano for a long time. Do it right the first time...you won't regret it.

SPEAKING OF PRICES...You do NOT have to buy a new advertised piano at the posted internet discount price whether it be on-line or in a store. In many cases you can by a new digital piano for LESS money than an ad price (Amazon, store sites, etc) if you contact me directly and ask me how. In fact, I can show you how to get some new digital pianos for even less money than many used or floor model piano prices. I can only share the DISCOUNT PRICE SECRET with you over the phone if you are in the US. Unfortunately I won't be able to help people with price outside the US.
 

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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

UPDATED REVIEW - August 1, 2015 -Roland RP401R & Roland F130R digital pianos - RECOMMENDED - The Roland Corporation is a well known music products company which has been producing home and pro keyboards, digital pianos, and many other music products for decades. They are famous for all kinds of digital musical instruments and pro music devices including digital drums, digital organs, digital audio, digital accordions, digital guitar products, and the list goes on. I have personally played Roland digital pianos and keyboards throughout my pro music career as a teacher and pro musician and know them very well. Some of their products I like very much, and some products in the past I have not liked as much...you can't win them all:)

RP401R

The 2015 model RP401R furniture cabinet model has been out for just less than a year and in my opinion there is still no other brand or model in this price range comes close to this piano ($1599US internet discount price including matching bench) weighing in at only 88 lbs. The F130R compact model ($1299US internet discount price, bench not included) weighing in at only 76 lbs is the same piano as the RP401 with the exception of the cabinet design and size. These two digital pianos are the latest in a series of RP & F model pianos that Roland has produced over the years. I have played all the Roland RP & F series pianos since they came out and I must say that these two models are noticeably & substantially better than the previous RP301 & F120 models that are discontinued, and the 401R is even less money than the previous 301/301R model...which is always a good thing for the consumer. The lower priced models look better, sound better, play better, have more useful features, and are just overall much more satisfying and inspiring to play. They would be great for family home use, church, schools, music rooms, and offer a satisfying playing experience not only for beginners, but also for more advanced players to enjoy. So don't think these "entry level" digital piano cabinet models by Roland are only for beginners, because they are definitely not. I am happy to see that Roland made some needed improvements on these new models over the previous ones because I did not particularly like the previous models with regard to what I considered poor key action and sound in them. The new improvements and upgrades here are not only impressive to me, but really make these two models very competitive with the other major brands in this price range. In fact, when comparing the RP401R or F130R to what Yamaha has to offer right now in a similar price range, Yamaha has some serious catching up to do. Even the new Yamaha Clavinova CLP525 digital piano (approx discount price $1700) doesn't come close to the RP401R. Since typical "life cycles" of digital pianos are approx 3-4 years until they are discontinued and a new one comes out, depending on the brand and model, these pianos should have a lot of life left in them:).

F130R compact piano

The actual differences between the RP401R and the F130R is the cabinet design & construction, control panel layout, and bench. The 401R has the more traditional sturdier furniture cabinet design with a 3/4 high back privacy panel,  available in an attractive satin black or satin rosewood. The F130 has the smaller compact cabinet design, no privacy panel, available in satin black and satin white. The RP401R has a larger, more traditional music rack which is at the correct piano music height, along with built-in music rack holders that flip up from the piano to hold open music book and sheet music pages...a very cool feature. The 401R also has a metal sliding key cover which works well and fits all the way back inside the piano when the key cover is opened. The F130R has an integrated fold down key cover that also acts as a music rest for the music (and/or iPad) when the fold down top is opened , which I do not like quite as  
much as the traditional RP401 music rack although the F130R cover is sturdy and functional and is good for its compact size. The F130R key cover can also fold down flat across the top of the piano when the piano is not in use. The control panel buttons on the RP401R are directly in front of you above the center of the keys which make it easier to see and use, which I like. The F130R has the control buttons all the way to the left side above the left keys which is a somewhat inconvenient place to access them, but this is true of some other digital pianos as well. However, this was likely necessary to accommodate the compact F130R compact cabinet style with the  fold-down cover and overall the button operation works well. The RP401R comes with a Roland matching piano bench (with music storage inside) and the F130R does not come with any Roland bench. So for the money, I think the RP401R is the better buy over the F130R, unless you need or want the F130R compact cabinet design and modern styling. In that case the F130R would be a great option.

So what is it that makes these two new models worth considering? First of all, Roland finally got it right in this price range and has produced a very good hammer weighted graded piano key action, acoustic piano sound, and pedaling realism that far surpasses what I expected from them and better than many other pianos in this price range. Their new RP401R/F130R key action is completely redesigned from the previous model RP301/RP301R/F120 and is called Standard Keyboard action, which is far better than the previous Ivory feel-G action. The fluid key movement, proper weighting on all keys including very nice touch weight (how much finger pressure needs to be exerted on a key in resting position), graded weighting from low to high keys with nice smooth synthetic ivory feel material on the keytops, is all a big improvement. The new Standard Keyboard action also has an escapement/letoff feature which is impressive, and this time you can actually feel the escapement/let-off which you could not do on the previous model. Although this escapement key movement function is somewhat subtle...at least it's a more noticeable than in the past. Escapement/letoff feature is what grand pianos do when you're pressing the keys softly and feeling a slight hesitation bump or notch from the key movement. This is not something which absolutely necessary to have but it's nice to know it's there when you want it and no other piano in this price range has it. The previous ivory-G key action in the RP301/F120 was very noisy/thumpy when the keys struck the bottom when playing a bit harder as well as being sluggish when playing slowly and softly, and that was very irritating to me. Roland has  dramatically improved this new key action by decreasing the key noise to a very acceptable level and also taking away the sluggish key movement, and I was happy to see that so no more complaints from me on those issues. There is no question that the new Standard Action has really risen to a new level. It is important to note that the new Standard action is not as good as the key actions in the new higher priced Roland HP digital pianos over $2000 such as the HP504 & HP506, but that is certainly to be expected. When I say "not as good" that simply means that although the F130R/RP401R has an exceptionally good key action in this price range, you can get Roland pianos with key actions that are upgraded beyond that for even more authentic key movement. It would be like comparing a good acoustic upright piano to a good grand piano. So if you want or need an even higher level of key action authenticity (generally a smoother and slightly lighter touch), look at the the higher priced Roland HP series pianos.

When it comes to actual acoustic type piano sound, Roland has a 128-note polyphony sound chip which they call SuperNATURAL Piano. The Super natural piano sound in Roland digital pianos has been around in previous models but is different depending on the models. There are three different qualities or levels of this SuperNATURAL piano sound in the various models of Roland pianos which I call "good, better, and best." The RP/F series piano sound is good, the more expensive HP504/506/DP90e piano sound is better, and the top of the line HP508/LX15e/DP90Se piano sound is best. Roland really should have specific names for these 3 levels of SuperNATURAL sound, but they don't...possibly just to confuse everyone...which I believe they do:). However, an experienced piano player like myself can hear the difference and I am happy to report that the 401R/F130R sound realism has been greatly improved over the previous RP301/F120 sound chip, and it's quite noticeable. It is more balanced and sonicly smooth with more organic changes in tone color across the entire 88 keys, and it doesn't have the drawbacks of the previous models, so that the piano sound upgrade really impresses me.

Piano pedals and pedaling ability on digital pianos is also very important and should not be overlooked whether you are a beginner or advanced player. The most important pedal is the right damper/sustain pedal because that's where 95% of the pedaling happens for most beginners through recreational players. The other two pedals (soft & sostenuto) are used in much less degrees depending on the type of music being played and your pedaling skill level. Roland offers what it calls continuous detection electronics for the damper and soft pedal which means that it will allow for more incremental damper sustain time and soft tonal changes when pressing the pedals down or letting them up instead of just on or off changes the way other digital pianos work. Some piano companies have the half-damper sustain pedal electronics which give a middle range of sustain for the right pedal which is good, but Roland takes it a step further with the ability to continually detecting changes in sustain time not only with the right damper pedal but also with soft tonal changes when using the left soft pedal. This is a very cool feature and one that I especially like for more advanced players or students who are progressing in their playing skills. When I was trying out the damper sustain pedal I noticed two things which made the sustain sound more realistic. One of these things was a damper resonance feature giving the piano tone a natural organic sound such as what you would hear in acoustic pianos, along with a much longer sustain/decay time allowing for longer natural decay instead of shorter pedal decay times found in cheaper brands.

Natural pedal sustain/decay time is how long the sound takes to fade out after striking keys and letting them go while holding the right damper/sustain pedal all the way down. The longer the "damper/sustain pedal decay time," the better and more natural your music will be. On nearly all digital pianos under $2000 that I have played (and I have played them all), the amount of damper pedal decay time is typically not very much when holding down the right pedal after playing some keys, especially the keys/notes on the right side of the keyboard. Those are the treble notes on the right side of the keyboard and they fade out the fastest (because they are shorter strings in a real piano while the left keys (bass notes) have the most/longest fade-out time because they are longer strings. This is a VERY BIG DEAL because real acoustic piano strings keep resonating for approx 15-25 seconds (or more) after a key has been played
in the normal playing range with the pedal held down, and a digital piano really needs to get close to that time to offer a natural piano sound playing experience. On many (most) digital pianos in a normal playing range on the keyboard, the pedal decay time can run from approx 2-15 seconds depending on which notes are being played...not very long at all! It takes advanced sound/pedal decay time technology in a digital piano to allow the longer pedal sustain/decay time to take place. The Roland RP401R & F130R has more natural pedal sustain/decay time of approx 8-22 seconds including a natural volume reduction over that time, depending which notes are being played! That is substantially longer and smoother than most of the other digital pianos out there and is an important element not to be overlooked when shopping for any piano. If you are a beginner student then the advanced pedal technology will mean very little to you. But as the student progresses in the playing ability or you are already at an intermediate playing skill level or higher, that pedaling sustain time technology will become very important and these new Roland pianos will definitely rise to the occasion.

The middle sostenuto pedal is so seldom used that Roland has also given a person the ability to control various functions of the piano by triggering them with the middle pedal such as on/off drum rhythm function, into/endings, fill-ins, and other things which give a more professional ability to using these extra features. The middle pedal can still trigger the traditional sostenuto function, but it also does these other things too. The bottom line is that full size pedals are important in the way they move, feel, their height position on the piano, and their ability to recreate the actual acoustic piano pedaling experience, and to me that's something I look for in a digital piano. If the student is a beginner or very small where their feet cannot reach the pedals yet (little kids), then the more advanced pedaling of these new Roland pianos is irrelevant, but later on you will likely be glad you have it:).

If the new more advanced key action, piano sound, and pedaling functions was all that were in these new pianos, they would still be very competitive with other brands...but there is so much more that it's pretty amazing in my opinion. Let's start with the instrument sounds and related features. First of all there is a total of 316 tones including 6 primary stereo acoustic piano sounds in a button called "piano" (the acoustic piano sound was originally recorded from a 9' Steinway concert grand), along with a large selection of impressive strings, choirs, electric pianos, mallets, church/pop/jazz organs, voices, harps, guitars & banjos, accordions, bass, synthesizers, horns, reeds, woodwinds, special effects environmental sounds, and more in another access button called "other." These sounds are not your average quality found in other brands, but they are at a much higher quality rendition of the actual instrument tone. 

On the control panel, a bright LED display screen reads out info on these various sounds and other features which helps you know what sound or function is being used. Many of the instrument sounds are in stereo and you can combine two sounds together to create a layered sound. You can also split the keyboard into a left and right section wherever you choose, and then assign one sound to the left hand and another sound to the right hand (such as piano on the left hand and harpsichord on the right hand for some interesting classical music), or an upright bass and cymbal on the left hand and a grand piano on the right hand for a bit of jazz, all of which is fun to do. There are also preset sound layers already built-in (such as grand piano and string symphony) which is quite nice, so that you can combine a preset layer like that one with another individual instrument sound and get 3 sounds at one time. That's a very cool thing because it gives such fullness to the overall sound to have three instruments playing at one time with every key that you touch. You may not use that type of feature often, but I personally like it, especially when trying to reproduce orchestral instrument combinations, and no other pianos I know of under $2000 can do that, and it can make anyone sound good without trying too hard:).

One of the more fun things these pianos offer is the Roland intelligent interactive chord ensemble styles. This kind of function goes way beyond just having drum rhythms or simple accompaniment sounds. The Roland interactive rhythm & chord accompaniments actually sound like CD quality band arrangements including drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, horns, etc that you would hear a live band play. They sound like the real thing instead of toy-like sounds that you would find on other brands of digital pianos and keyboards. With this new interactive chord accompaniment system, you control the band with the chords you play on the left hand and the right hand. This is not a new feature since all the major brands have a system like this including Yamaha, Kawai, and Casio. What makes this one unique is how realistic it sounds as compared with a real band (as I mentioned) and also the flexibility you have with adding or subtracting parts of the band playback chords as well as controlling relative volume with your right hand melody line so one does not overpower the other. There are 72 intelligent rhythm chord accompaniments with an additional more complex arrangement for each one, offering a total of 144 accompaniment patterns, and they all sound great. The band arrangements include a variety of light, medium, and heavy rock bands, jazz bands, 40's big band, swing, disco, hip-hop, boogie, country, 50's, Latin, gospel, polka, march, waltz, and ballads from all eras and music styles. 

You can use the intelligent accompaniments in three different ways. The first way is you can electronically split the 88 keys into two parts wherever you choose on the keyboard, and then you play a 3 finger (or more) chord on your left hand and play a melody with your right hand to go along with the left-hand chord, and the result is that you sound like you are playing in a band, only you are controlling and determining the song you're playing. A second way of using the feature is to play 1-finger (root note) left hand intelligent chords if you don't know anything about playing piano at all so even beginners can have fun. This intelligent chord feature is great for beginners (it makes you sound better than you are:) and its also great for accomplished players who can play full chords like me because it adds an entire live band to whatever music I want to play with both hands using as many fingers as I want. I've  got to say that I was very impressed with the musicality and complexity of these accompaniment chord patterns and the fact you could also control other aspects of the intelligent chords by taking out or muting the actual instruments, bass line, or drum rhythms, or a combination of two or more of those functions while you're playing the chord. It's like you have total control of the band and I find that very liberating and useful as compared to other pianos like this under $3000. You can even use the drum beat patterns by themselves to help you with your rhythm and timing by adding a drum beat to your music (instead of using the metronome) without using the interactive chord arrangements. There are super cool intro's and endings for the arrangements that make the music sound naturally organic, and it offers professional band play-along realism at the touch of a button.

When playing chords in the split mode (left hand/right hand), it recognizes the proper bass line no matter what inversion of the chord you are playing (root, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion), and that makes the song you're playing sound musically correct all the time. Prior Roland piano models could not do this so it's a nice improvement. There is a 3rd way of using interactive intelligent chord accompaniments playing your music wherever your hands are on the keyboard without you splitting the keyboard into two distinct parts and having to keep your left hand on the left side all the time. With this method, which is useful for more advanced players, the bass line will follow the outline of the chord inversion and play those notes rather than root position notes in the normal accompaniment split position. This feature is called "leading bass" and for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, don't
worry about it because it really won't matter to you in using this interactive chord feature. The advanced players will appreciate this 2nd way of using the accompaniments because then you can determine the bass line by the chord structure and play keys anywhere on the piano without constraint. One thing is for sure, you'll have fun no matter how you choose to use this new intelligent accompaniment system. You can also change key and transpose the right hand instrument sounds as well as interactive chord accompaniments so that you can play in a key more conducive to your singing range for singalong, or if you just want to modulate to a different key to change it up a bit. One downside to the transpose function is that you need to go into the editing menu to get that to happens and make changes. Roland should have had a dedicated transpose button on the control panel for easier access as some other digital pianos do because going into the editing menu is not intuitive to get to the transpose feature to work. Why Roland did not ask me about designing it the better way on these models, I don't know...but they should have:). When it comes to the rhythm section, you can control the rhythm by selecting any tempo/speed and even do some sing-along by plugging in a microphone directly into an audio input of piano. It's true that there may be some people who may not be using the interactive accompaniment ensemble features much, and that's fine because you don't have to use it. But for other people (like me), it's nice to have it there and be able to have more musical enjoyment because you feel like you are part of a real band or orchestra...and to me that's always fun.

F130R control panel buttons

When it comes to recording and playback of songs on the RP401R/F130R, these 2 models do a very good job and offer both audio wav file playback of songs (which is CD quality sound) as well as MIDI recording& playback and this MIDI recording function can be very good to have for educational and practice purposes. The MIDI recording feature allows for 1-track recording and playback to occur and you save your recording onto a USB flashdrive inserted under the left side bottom of the piano keyboard. You can then load that recording onto your computer hard-drive and use it in a number of ways to playback your songs and also insert into notation or recording software The MIDI recorder does not actually record sound but only the notes played. The MIDI instrument sounds comes directly from the instrument, computer, or MIDI device it is played through. However, MIDI song playback tempo can be easily changed from fast to slow as well as the transposed key it's playing back in as opposed to audio recordings that are not able to be manipulated in that way. MIDI playback songs are available on the internet to buy and download and they number in the thousands and I have personally used MIDI files (songs) for years professionally as well as to help my piano students understand music better. All of the Roland digital pianos can do something that few digital pianos can do and that's having the ability to play complete General MIDI files which I talk more about later in this review.

On the down side of the recording features, I would liked to have seen a 2-track MIDI recorder built in to these new models instead of just the one track so that you could record left & right hand independently and play them back independently or at the same time. With a few exceptions, most of the other pianos and brands in this price range have at least 2-track MIDI recording and playback, but many of those pianos do not have the high quality CD audio wav file playback feature which also allows you to mute the melody track as well as slow down tempo or change key. So there are always trade-offs and having the CD quality audio wav file playback is pretty cool and something you don't usually see in this price range in a furniture cabinet digital piano. You can even convert MIDI file recordings to audio wav file or MP3 recordings with computer software and then play them on your computer or Apple devices like iPods, iPhones, etc.

There are a couple of nice caveats to the 1-track MIDI recorder on these pianos; the control panel will allow you to actually record 2 separate tracks provided you use the split keyboard function with one instrument sound on the left hand and a different instrument sound on the right hand, like piano on left and electric piano on right, or whatever two sounds you choose. In this way the 2 parts can be played back one at a time or together and you can play live on top of that. The same is true when you layer two sounds together as they will be recorded independently on right and left channels played back together or independently. You can even rewind & fast forward digitally. Yikes!...these new models really do a lot if you want to get into it all! It just depends on what you need out of a recorder (and the other features) and what you don't need. Leave it to Roland to stuff in a ton of technology into their pianos.

The Roland RP401R/F130R models can playback General MIDI/GM song files from a USB flashdrive which is a great feature and one I use all the time in my studio for teaching and playing professionally. The General MIDI song format allows you to play your live piano parts along "with the band or orchestra" using well known songs or lesson book songs (from popular lesson curriculum) in the General MIDI format and to interact with up to 16 instruments playing at one time (stored on a USB flashdrive inserted in the piano) using thousands of popular songs which can be found on the Internet such as movie theme songs, Christmas, famous pop, country, Latin, or Jazz music, and so on. The two largest publishers of piano lesson books in the US have produced General MIDI (GM) files for their lesson books for student playalong and the RP401R and F130R are the only cabinet pianos found on the internet between $1000-$2000 that can play full General MIDI format 16 track songs. For more info on the General MIDI format go to the following link: General MIDI and Playing Piano.

Another useful educational feature offered on these pianos is the ability to electronically split the 88 keys into two equal 44-note keyboards which Roland calls twin piano. This feature digitally sets up the two 44-note keyboards to have the identical piano sound in the identical octave while having the right pedal be used for sustain for the right 44 notes, and the left pedal becomes sustain for the left 44-notes. This allows for two people to play the music at the same time playing the same notes in the same key with the same sound. It's useful when a teacher and student are playing at the same time in a lesson, or when two family members are playing the same song at the same time. Although I have seen similar duet type functions on other digital piano brands and models, it's definitely a specialized function and not everyone needs or wants it because they'll just never use it. But for others, it could come in handy depending on what you are doing musically. Finally, as far as fun educational features go, there are nearly two hundred famous and useful piano practice songs in the memory of the RP401R/F130R to be accessed by the touch of a couple buttons. The actual notation and control of these songs can be visually accessed by the Roland Piano Partner iPad app using an iPad connected wirelessly to the piano. This kind of feature makes practicing not only fun, but it's motivational and helps with learning music. I talk more about the Roland iPad apps and connectivity below.

As with most other digital pianos, there are many editing features in the RP401R/F130R which include being able to incrementally adjust the brightness level of the sound coming through the piano or headphones which allows you to customize the overall sound from mellow to very bright., You can also adjust the ambiance/reverb amount from minimum up to maximum, change volumes of many functions & features, select and change metronome beat and tempo, adjust 5 separate levels of key touch sensitivity, change relative volumes between left and right hand parts and accompaniments, and digitally limit the maximum volume of the piano so that you can limit the total loudness through speakers or headphones even if a child should turn the volume all the way up. You can also save editing changes you make in the piano to a user memory so that they will instantly come back up again upon powering the piano up at another time, and other editing functions. 

A brand new feature I found very interesting was the 3Deffect through stereo headphones. It's supposed to give you the impression the piano sound is all around you coming from different directions as opposed to directly into your ears. Roland calls it "an immersive sound experience" which gives you the feeling you're not actually wearing headphones at all...and that's really the point of this feature. I tried it out and found that overall, it had a more natural effect than listening through stereo headphones without this feature and the 3D effect can be adjusted incrementally to fine tune it to your personal tastes. It actually did sound like I wasn't wearing headphones when playing the piano...although I was:). This is new technology in digital pianos and it's a nice feature to have especially if you'll be using headphones often.
This headphone 3D sound effect comes on automatically when powering up the piano but can be turned on or off (and adjusted incrementally) so that can also hear the sound in your stereo headphones without the 3D feature on if you prefer it that way, and some people do. Also, it's important to have/own good sounding stereo headphones for private playing because you want to capture all the nuances and quality of the new enhanced Roland piano sound dynamics and tonal qualities along with the 3D sound effect. The RP401 has two headphone jacks so that two people can listen in privacy at the same time. You don't need special "3D headphones" because the Roland 3D effect works with any standard pair of stereo headphones. I can give you some good headphone recommendations if you don't already have headphones.  

Both models can connect directly to an iPad for another interactive way of learning about music and playing the piano, and I use iPad piano learning/teaching apps in my studio which provide a cutting edge visual way of interactive piano practice and learning. A unique feature of the Roland RP/F pianos is that they can do a wireless USB connection to an iPad using an optional Roland wireless USB adapter and specially created Roland iPad apps such as Piano Partner. I cannot stress enough
the unique ability of these new pianos to connect to iPad wirelessly using interactive Roland apps. The Piano Partner Roland iPad app will display every single instrument sound title in the piano, every rhythm arrangement title, and a variety of user controllable functions that allows you to visually access (with your iPad touch screen) many of the internal piano functions that otherwise would be more difficult and less intuitive to use like they can be on other digital pianos. The future for using digital piano functions is through an iPad tablet and the future is here now with Roland wireless iPad connectivity and I am a big proponent of
this technology and use it all the time. You will be amazed at just how easy and exciting it is to interface these two new models with an iPad. Also on these new pianos, there is wireless audio to play music through iTunes (with tempo & transpose control) and hear it through the Roland piano speakers by way of a new Roland Air Performer app without need of connecting audio cables from the piano to the iPad. You can download and hear all of your favorite iTunes songs coming straight into your piano with full iPad touch control of key pitch change, speed/tempo, looping any portion of the song to learn parts, and a lot more. The Air Performer app is visually stimulating and playing along with it is super fun when choosing any of the Roland instrument sounds. This is quite helpful and unique and I have not seen this feature offered on other brands before. The audio sound from other non-Roland iPad music apps still need some connecting cables but that's true of the other brands too. If you do not have an iPad, these pianos would make a perfect excuse to get one, and I recommend it! As far as other connectivity, both pianos have USB output to computer, USB 
flash drive input to load and save songs, 2 headphone jacks, and stereo audio input and stereo audio output jacks, so there is plenty of external devices that can be connected which is very nice to have, especially because some pianos in this price range such as Kawai & Yamaha do not have this variety of useful connectivity including audio outputs and inputs. I use technology to teach piano students in my studio, so the more a digital piano has, the better I like it. For me personally there can never be too much connectivity options to external devices.

The internal speaker system in the RP401R and F130R is the same with two speakers playing through two 12 watt amplifiers for a total of 24 watts of power. The stereo sound volume coming out of these pianos is surprisingly loud when you want it to be and is more than sufficient for most homes and studios and has been improved over previous models. The speakers carry the sound well and don't distort even at high volume. It is interesting to note that in this price range there are name brand digital pianos that have more powerful internal speaker systems which have up to 40 watts of power with up to four speakers. But the Roland RP401R/F130R volume output is plenty loud and when I played these models at full volume, they sounded like a big piano. I give credit to the Roland company in being able to maximize the efficiency of the RP401R/F130R internal speaker/amp systems because at 24 watts total you might not think that is enough audio power, but in reality it is more than enough. If you want an even louder and fuller sound in these Roland pianos you could plug in external stereo speaker monitors using the stereo audio output jack on the back of the pianos. In this way you could achieve a much greater instrument volume and fuller tone if you really want that and blow your window out:). Sometimes an external sub-woofer connected to the piano may be helpful to add more bass response if you should want that, but some of the off-brand sub-woofers I have seen out there would not help much so you need to be careful what you get, so don't go getting any extra speakers until you contact me first and I can help you. However, the internal audio system on these new pianos will definitely satisfy most situations in homes and classrooms.

In the final analysis, there are many good digital pianos between $1000-$2000US available on the market today. However, for shear piano playing realism combined with cutting edge useful educational & fun features, in my professional opinion there are no other name brand digital pianos available on the internet that can match the RP401R/F130R for what they do in their particular price range although there are some impressive new digital pianos for in lower and higher price ranges. For me personally, there are always a few things that I wish a manufacturer would have included in a new model and in this case I really can't think of much other than an LCD display screen (like what the Casio PX780 offers) instead of a simple LED screen so you could see more useful information to know what's going on when you select various functions. Also a 2-track MIDI recorder instead 1-track recorder would have been nice With regard to the LED display screen on these two pianos, although the internal function menu is not necessarily as intuitive to navigate using its LED display as compared to a larger LCD screen, at least they have a display because many pianos in this price range don't have any display at all, including Kawai & Yamaha. So once you get used to it, it becomes fairly easy to use. Overall I think Roland did a remarkable job this time in the $1000-$2000 price range (finally!), so both of these new models should be seriously considered when shopping for a new digital piano. Between the two models, for another $300 more, I believe the RP401R is the better buy of the two in terms of looks, elegant design, music stand usability with correct height & built-in sheet music holders, access and view to controls/buttons, and the inclusion of a Roland bench with the RP401R....and I do highly recommend it. However, the F130R is still much better than most of the other brands and models out there in its price range with regard to its ability to reproduce an authentic acoustic piano playing experience with some very cool digital features. Oh, and one more thing...the Roland factory warranty on these pianos is 2 years labor, 5 years parts with in-home service. That warranty is exceptional considering the price range these pianos are in so Roland must feel confident about the reliability of these new pianos, and they do make reliable product based on my experience with them throughout the years as a piano teacher and pro musician. Do your research and your homework before making any buying decisions because there are many digital pianos in this price range to consider, and I would be happy to help you figure it out if you contact me.  

*Just so everyone knows, the next Roland digital piano up from the RP401R is called the Roland HP504. This model has an even more realistic and upgraded piano key action, acoustic piano sound, pedaling, and cabinet along with a more user friendly control panel with more usable piano functions. This piano is for anyone who love music as well as for the more serious piano student, but the HP504 also costs quite a bit more money (approx $2700 discount price) and is only available in the US in Roland authorized piano stores and not on the internet. It is a more exclusive model and I have played it extensively and it is definitely the next level up in a true piano playing experience, but it is also normally more than $1000 more than the RP401R. Go to the following link to read my review on the HP504 and the entire Roland HP piano series: Roland HP piano review

I believe it is important to know that included in the Roland instrument sound library built-in to these pianos is the General MIDI-2 GS sound set. This library includes a number of additional acoustic pianos and many other instruments not listed in the Roland owners manual for these models. If you wish to know more about what is actually in that additional instrument sound library, please go to the following link to see it: General MIDI 2 Instrument Sound Library

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

- Although Roland has had its wireless iPad apps out a couple years for their higher priced digital pianos, they have not had them be compatible in this lower price range until now. Check out the video demo below to see how they work...it's pretty cool:)
  


* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

UPDATED REVIEW - June 16, 2015 - Kawai MP11 Digital Piano - RECOMMENDED - Portable Stage Digital Grand Piano - The Kawai piano company is known for producing some fine acoustic grand pianos played all over the world by accomplished pianists. After playing many Kawai acoustic pianos through the years, I believe they know what it takes to design professional quality grand pianos. Kawai has finally produced a portable digital piano that I consider to be as close to a grand piano
key action as I have ever felt in a portable digital piano under $4000. Natural playing, high quality grand piano key actions is what all good piano companies aspire to produce and the key action is the #1 feature that any piano shopper should consider when purchasing any piano, acoustic or digital. For the first time that I know of, the all new Kawai MP11 has full length acoustic grand piano natural wooden black & white keys which have been designed to actually play & function like a full  acoustic grand piano. This new MP11 digital piano ($2799 internet discount price) replaces the previous MP10 which was a very popular piano for the Kawai company for a long time and also had a very nice wood key action. However, the MP11 has been upgraded in very significant ways including key action, piano sound, pedaling, functions, cabinet redesign, and more, and it is well worth its slightly higher internet discount price ($2799) over the previous MP10 and other digital pianos including pro portable pianos that cost more money than the MP11.

Up until now all portable digital pianos have had limitations with regard to how the black & white keys moved & are weighted because the key length and fulcrum points are different on digital pianos as opposed to a real grand piano. Although many of the new digital pianos play quite well and are enjoyable to play as compared to an upright piano, the amount of finger pressure it takes to push a regular digital piano key down because of upward key resistance along with proper key travel for both black & white keys is like that of an acoustic upright piano instead of a grand piano. People say to me all the time "I want a lower priced digital piano under $3000 (portable or cabinet) that plays just like a real grand piano." Well my answer is "forget about it," and all the hype about how many of these new digital pianos play just like real top name grand pianos is just not true when it comes to the key action! I am not saying that many good digital pianos don't feel great and are not a pleasure to play, but all these other portable stage type pianos don't come close to the Kawai MP11 in actual grand piano keyboardplayability in its price range, and if you played this piano as often as I have done, I know you would agree.

Typically when you play the black keys as well as the near the back of the white keys on most digital pianos, your fingers will need to exert a much larger of amount of pressure to push down the keys as compared to the front of the keys. This is called static touch weight because it's a measurement of pressure you need to push the keys down from resting position. If the touch pressure needed from your fingers is too heavy or too light, you will not get the correct dynamics, smoothness of sound, and proper playing technique when trying to play a piece of music well including possibly feeling fatigued in your hands and fingers if the touch weight of the keys is too heavy. Whether you are a beginner or pro, key movement and keyboard touch weight are very important and the MP11 is very responsive in this way. There are some digital pianos that are more difficult to play than others with regard to this static touch weight situation (the resistance of the keys to finger pressure) and some well known brands are very unreasonable in the amount of resistance the keys give when trying to press them down. In fact, on the new Kurzweil cabinet and portable digital pianos, pushing down the black keys and the backs of the white keys is so hard you think there might be something holding them up from going down easily. I would never recommend a piano like that to my students but unfortunately piano shoppers overall are not aware of how a good piano key action should really play and they think because it has black & white keys and sounds like a piano, then it must really play like a piano. This is a common mistake people make when shopping for a digital piano but understandable if you don't play piano well and don't have lots of experience playing many different kinds of pianos, like I do.

Acoustic upright & grand pianos (left pics) have different key action movements and construction compared to each other because of the key length, design of the key actions themselves, gravity exerting itself in different ways on the key action, and size of the area the key actions have been installed in, to name a few reasons. This would be true for most digital pianos that normally use shorter length key with a pivot/fulcrum point & key weighting not conducive to full grand piano key response. To make my point, assuming you have an opportunity, just play (push on) the keys slowly from front to back on the black & white keys on a good acoustic grand piano and then try doing that on many brands and models of digital pianos such as Yamaha/CLP/CVP/DGX, some Roland & Kawai digital pianos, or Casio PX/AP digital pianos for example. You will likely find that none of the Yamaha or Casio digital piano key actions in those pianos are near as easy in pushing the black or white keys down as you get to (play) the back of the keys as opposed to the front of the black& white keys. This harder, more resistant key touch is characteristic of upright pianos and there are certainly a lot of people that enjoy playing upright acoustic pianos. But...good name brand grand pianos (overall) offer a richer playing experience that allows for subtle nuances and playing results are are simply not possible on most other pianos. With inconsistent, overly resistant, or unbalanced digital piano key actions out there, you may have a more difficult time with proper playing technique, key and note response, and overall enjoyment playing the piano depending on what you buy, especially if you have higher expectations. This is not to say that top name digital piano companies don't make some excellent "non-grand piano" digital pianos with comfortable & enjoyable playing key actions, but what it does mean is that there are some notable differences in key action amongst brands and you need to sure about what you're getting.

It is true that many new top name brand portable digital pianos other than the Kawai MP11 have, overall, very enjoyable & highly playable key actions such as the new, less expensive Kawai MP7 with its responsive RH2 key action including the escapement mechanism that is found in grand pianos. But with regard to giving you real authentic grand piano key movement, key travel, & balance no matter where your fingers are on the keys and what keys are being played, the new Kawai MP11 Grand Feel digital piano is the only new portable digital piano that will do
that in my opinion, and I have never felt a key action in a portable digital piano ever get that close to a real concert grand feel before. With acoustic grand piano features such as letoff/escapement which is the subtle notch or hesitation you feel as the key is depressed about half-way down when playing slowly, staggered balance pins that allow for a traditional grand see-saw key movement, brass guide pins that go through the key from top to bottom that offers key stability and restricts side to side movement of the key, or counterweights that balances the the
hammer weight of each key which helps lighten the touch during more delicate passages of music, there is just nothing else that comes close to it. In fact, if you are a more advanced piano player and you close your eyes while you are playing the Kawai MP11, you may think you are playing a $100,000 concert grand in terms of key action feel, movement, and response. The most authentic key action built in a top name digital piano these days is the Yamaha AvantGrand N series digital grands which use an actual complete grand piano action, but those pianos are in furniture cabinets and start at approximately $7500 discount price in piano stores and go up in price from there to about $15000. Other than these expensive Yamaha specialty pianos, the Kawai Grand Feel key action in the MP11 is the next best thing in the lower price range under $3000.

The new Kawai GF (Grand Feel) key action is really the heart and soul of the Kawai MP11 piano. Although the acoustic piano sound itself and 3-pedal system is very impressive and realistic, there are other good portable digital pianos out there under $3000 that also sound quite good such as the Kawai MP7 ($1799 internet price) that I mentioned earlier, or the new Roland RD800 portable digital piano ($2499 internet price). But when it comes to authentic grand piano key movement, key size, key structure, graded hammer weighted key balance, key feel, and key response, the Kawai MP11 is in a league of its own and there is no question about that as far as I am concerned. The keytops have the Kawai ivory touch material which is a satin reproduction of actual ivory used on older acoustic pianos and it really feels good to the fingers to play on and is sweat absorbent, and it is visually attractive as well.

The actual key movement is very quiet as compared with other brands and that is something Kawai key actions are known for...being sturdy, well built, and quiet while moving easily with a reasonable amount of touch weight required to play the keys. Then you add to that the newly designed 3-senor electronics under each key to better sense key/note repetition so that when you are playing the keys, no matter how fast your key repetition is or at what height the key is at when pressing them back down (strike point), the new 3-sensor electronics will keep up with your playing and not miss any notes. In addition, Kawai’s action technology also monitors the speed at which each key is lifted. These subtleties influence the release character of piano sounds, providing a greater range of expression between staccato and legato playing. Yamaha, & Casio also use 3-sensors in their digital piano key electronics so this is not exclusive of Kawai pianos. But not all key sensors are created or installed equally on different brands so to me, the MP11 seems to be a bit more responsive in that way then other brands I have played. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2014

The new MP11 piano sound chip has a huge 256-note piano polyphony memory which allows the piano sound to be played with as much complexity as possible without running out of notes. The Kawai MP11 piano sound comes directly from their best concert grand pianos and is sampled in stereo using two microphones positioned in just the right way on a concert grand to get the authentic sound of what a real grand piano should sound like. I like the Kawai piano tone very much and it has a natural complexity to it regardless of the type of music you are playing. Kawai calls its new acoustic piano sound Harmonic Imaging XL (HI-LX) 88-key sampling,
which is just a fancy way of saying that Kawai has increased the memory chip capacity they use (over the prior model MP10) to capture more of the acoustic grand piano sound as well as having recorded each note on a full size Kawai concert grand one at a time for a closer reproduction of an acoustic piano sound as opposed to recording one note and then digitally stretching that note to become other higher or lower notes like some other piano brands do. The digital note stretching process that some brands use does save time and money in creating the digital piano sound, but it is not nearly as realistic as 88-key individual note sampling with its large capacity piano memory chip such as what Kawai is using. That's why some of the cheaper digital pianos (and a few that are even more money) don't sound as good...because they sound more digital instead of natural.

In a real acoustic grand piano there are also all kinds of organic elements going on inside that piano when you are playing it. Things like damper pedal resonance, damper noise, dynamic tone, brightness, sympathetic vibrations,/string resonance, key noise, hammer noise, plate noise, resonance, etc. Reproducing these natural occurring acoustic piano sounds takes a lot of memory in the digital piano electronics and the Kawai MP11 does a fine job of this. In fact you can edit these acoustic elements within the MP11 so that it suits your own particular musical desires & needs. The dynamic range & tonality (soft to loud/mellow to bright) of the MP11 piano sound is also impressive and you can electronically change that range so that the overall piano tone can be more or less dynamic with different tonal changes. That function is called the Virtual Piano Technician and there are so many ways of editing and modifying the piano sound on the MP11 it's really quite amazing, and I, for one, like that kind of thing because then I am not locked into someone else's sound. I just make a few simple changes through the user display screen under the editing functions and turn a knob or two, and then I have made my changes and can save them to memory. So when it comes to acoustic piano sound, the MP11 is outstanding in its price range in my opinion.

One thing about playing a digital piano that many people overlook is the piano pedaling and whether or not it is authentic and will keep up with your music allowing for realistic control over damper/sustain, sostenuto, and soft pedaling. Pedaling is very important for expression and adding the required amount of resonance and sustain effect, and the MP11 does a great job of this. The MP11 comes with a pro quality triple pedal unit that functions like acoustic piano pedals. The pedals are heavy duty, durable, and feels good to push down with your foot. The damper pedal portion also does something that many included pedals with portable pianos don't do...and that function is called half-pedaling. Half-pedaling is the amount of sustain you get when you press down the pedal about half way and you would hear a medium amount of sustain rather than just on or off. The amount or type of half-pedal sustain can be adjusted in a few different ways depending on how you want it and if you would be connecting to external MIDI pianos or instruments. In either case, the pedaling realism on the Kawai is very good.

Another part of the pedaling experience is being able to get an adequate amount of damper pedal resonance along with the proper amount of piano decay/sustain time. Pedal resonance is the sound you get when you hold the sustain pedal down and strike a note and the sound will naturally reverberate for awhile inside a real piano. This acoustic piano pedal resonance has been digitally recreated in the MP11 and is also adjustable for more or less of that effect...and it sounds very realistic. Pedal sustain decay time has to do with how long (how much time) the piano sound will be heard while your damper pedal is pressed down and you let go of the key after playing it. The longer the decay/sustain
time, especially in the bass and mid-range key sections, the more natural the piano sound will sound. The MP11 has some good natural decay time but in my opinion it could be longer in some ways. On most other digital pianos you cannot change that function (length of sustain/decay time) but on the MP11 you can change it by using a control that lengthens or shortens the amount of time the piano sound will decay/sustain. This is a very cool feature and allows the player to customize the pedal playing experience to suit their musical needs. Although this pedal decay time feature is quite usable, the average player may not need it. But to know it's there is a good thing and I have used it myself to adjust for playing different kinds of music that require different pedaling results. So as you can see, pedaling can get complex or it can be simple...and the MP11 is excellent is recreating pedal realism with the included F30 triple pedal unit so the player can access all three standard pedal functions and have the traditional piano experience including the sostenuto and soft pedal. The triple pedal unit can also be assigned to control other aspects of the MP11 including changing instrument setup sound selection, organ rotary speed activation, and triggering other useful features.

The MP11 is unique in its operating control panel and functions setup and not at all like any other portable digital piano under $3000 in the way you use it. The control panel has been redesigned and is now even more simple, straight forward, visually intuitive, and operates in a way which in my opinion will make you want to play music for hours. Rather than have many buttons, sliders, knobs, and other controls very close to each other for all sounds & effects (as you would find in most other brands and/ore models), the MP11 is like having three separate instruments in one.  In other words you don't to be a rocket
scientist or keyboard pro to use the functions & features. There is a nice size user LCD display screen directly above the middle of the keyboard (near middle C) in the center of the panel. To the far left of the display screen there is a separate acoustic piano sound section with all of its own controls and buttons and a variety of acoustic piano sounds (12 of them). The pro quality piano reverb and efx controls really help with the overall piano sound authenticity and the piano editing section has some extra cool features like being able to play a second piano at any octave above or below the main first piano at the same. So basically you have two distinct acoustic pianos in different octaves playing at the same time on all keys and you can adjust both piano's relative volume and other functions as well. It's just like hearing two pianos at once and you can use it for single finger octave playing too. Then there is a separate electric piano section with all of its own controls & buttons and a variety of impressive vintage electric piano sounds and clavinets (12 of them). It is important to point out that the electric piano section has three independent quick access effects buttons where you can layer and control a variety of special effects (129 of them including phaser, chorus, amp simulations, etc) to the electric piano sounds which gives those electric pianos a natural, organic feel as you might experience with the real instruments. It is unusual to get that kind of control in this type of instrument. Finally, there is a miscellaneous instrument sub section with a variety of non-piano sounds including some very realistic
sounding strings, pads (synths), mallet instruments, European harpsichord & jazz bass selections (16 total sub sounds). Each section also has its own velocity touch curve settings which means that each sound section can have its own key touch response with six preset touch weights giving you the perception that the keys weight has actually been altered. That means, as an example, that you can have a heavier piano key action, a slightly lighter electric piano key action, and an even lighter or quicker sub sound category key action for the strings, pads, etc so it feels closer to playing a synth keyboard with those sounds as opposed to a piano. Once you set up each section the way you like, you can then save those settings in the setup memory area (below left pic) and easily recall them later without having to recreate your setup all over again. Having three completely independent sound sections offers enormous flexibility found in few new digital pianos at any price range these days based on my experience with them. 

In each of the three separate instrument sections you can only play one instrument per section at a time, but you can combine each of the 3 sections together and play (up to) three instruments at the same time. So for instance you could have the concert grand piano in the piano section (section 1) combined with one electric piano in the E Piano section (section 2), and then combine those two sounds with the symphony strings in the miscellaneous sub section (section 3). Unfortunately you cannot play more than one sound at a time within one section. As an example, the harpsichord sound the sub section 3 cannot be combined with the
symphony string sound, which is also in sub section 3. Personally I think the classic harpsichord sound in the MP11 (which is quite realistic) would sound great together with a symphony string orchestra sound. Also, another example would be to be able to split the keyboard and have an upright jazz bass sound on the left hand and a stereo vibraphone sound on the right hand as is common in jazz and other music. Unfortunately you cannot do that on the MP11 because both of those sounds are in the same section and only one sound can be used at a time in a section. You can do that on the lower priced Kawai MP7 portable digital piano because the operating system on that model is very different from the MP11 when it comes to playing and combining tones and there is much more flexibility in that way, as there is on other brands of digital pianos. But Kawai obviously did not design the MP11 with unlimited sound combination flexibility in mind. It is, after all, mainly for playing piano.

However, the MP11 has something which somewhat makes up for that shortcoming which the Kawai MP7 does not have. In addition to the three separate instrument sections on the MP11, in each of those sections there are three additional sounds (they are the same in each section) that can be added one at a time (or in any combination) to the main  instrument that is playing in that section. Those three extra sounds include what Kawai calls Air (sounds like an airy synth), Bell (sounds like synth bells), and Vocal (sounds like a choir). Each of those three additional sounds have their own independent volume controls accessed from within the display screen using the knobs on the outside of the screen. The main volume control of each section also controls the overall volume of the main sound in the section together with any of the three extra sounds. Those three additional tones cannot be played without the the main sound in that section being heard. 

Explaining this in  words can be a bit confusing so here is an example of what I am saying. In the Acoustic Piano section 1 you could add the vocal choir sound to any one of the acoustic pianos. In the Electric Piano section 2 you could add the Air sound (and maybe the Bell sound too) to one of the Electric pianos, and in the sub section 3 you could add a vocal and bell sound to the string symphony tone because you can use up to 3 additional tones added to any one section sound. If you used the 3 additional Air, Vocal, and Bell sounds in each section (controlling all their volumes independently) and add them simultaneously to each section which can play one main instrument sound at a time, you could
actually have up to 12 sounds with their own independent volume settings playing on every note that you play! I have done this and it's a massive sound that comes out of that piano (like a huge orchestra) when you do it right and max it out completely...and the large 256-note polyphony at that point is not enough to handle that kind of output as many of those sounds are stereo, there is pedaling involved, and if you play complex arpeggio movements on the keyboard, you will run out of polyphony. But I tend to torture these instruments when I play them and do a review like this, so that is no surprise. Few other people would do what I do on these digital pianos when it comes to using these features, especially all at one time. It is worth noting that you can, once again, save all of your custom layered settings into user memories (upper left pic) for easy and quick recall later on.

The acoustic piano playing experience is the meat & potatoes of the MP11 and the rest of the features and functions is the "frosting on the cake."  I believe that is the best way of looking at this piano when considering a purchase. However, there are some amazing electric piano sounds on the MP11 including Fender Rhodes, Yamaha DX7, Wurlitzer vintage electrics, beautiful string sounds, soothing pad/synth sounds, accurate old world harpsichord, beautiful vibes, and percussive marimba tones, and great upright bass sounds that have that organic acoustic feel with that string twang and tone to them which are very impressive. You can easily split the keyboard into (up to) three independent sections with dedicated split buttons and assign a different instrument sound to each section of keys and decide where that sound needs to be and how many keys it should occupy. You can change the transpose key, octave, intonation, organic elements, reaction times, reverbs, effects, EQ settings, touch sensitivity, voicing, and a whole host of editing parameters that enable you to modify the sounds you are using in each section in ways you cannot believe! Once you make those editing changes you can save them in a huge bank of internal memories for later instant recall with a total of 248 memory banks for combination memories as well as individual sound memories.

There are 100 professional sounding preset drum patterns for play-along with the built-in drummer. These patterns include a variety of rock, jazz, Latin, blues, funk, waltz, gospel, country, and many other popular rhythm styles. You can control the tempo, volume, and other aspects of the rhythm section and its fun to interact with the rhythms, especially if you enjoy a little help in sounding better than you are or you are just wanting a drummer to join in on your music.. The 100 drum rhythms are part of the metronome feature which also includes different adjustable metronome timings to help you practice a piece of music.

A feature that I find very useful on digital pianos is the ability to recordyourself and play it back. Almost all digital pianos have some sort of a recording feature with some being better than others. The MP11 can do this is two ways... either a 1 track MIDI (non-audio) recording for simple song play and music writing ideas, or a multitrack overdub audio recorder that lets you record multiple tracks, one instrument over the other, in either wav (CD quality) recordings or MP3 audio song files. This feature is not found on any other digital piano under $2000 and is incredibly cool because it allows you to orchestrate and arrange any song so that you can play & record each instrument that you want in the song so that when one instrument is recorded, you play that recording back while you record the next instrument audio track over the top of that. Each instrument can be individually setup exactly the way you want it to sound and then recorded and saved to a USB flashdrive to be played back on your computer or MP3 player (iPod, etc). You can also convert a MIDI recording to audio for playback as a wav or MP3 file. You can even take an audio or simple MIDI song and play a specific part of it over and over for practice in a non-stop loop so that you can playalong with that part to learn it better.
With an independent volume slider controller on the panel of the MP11, you can also plug in a microphone or any instruments (including iPad sounds) and record it live through the piano and mix it with your recorded keyboard playing, including loading in iTunes to the audio player to play along with them and record them into memory, which sounds great. Multitrack audio overdubbing and playback using the actual sounds on the MP11 (as well as external sounds) is a fantastic way of creating music in ways that you could never do before on a digital piano in this price range. It's good to be aware that the MP11 does not play or record 16-track General MIDI type song files. I believe this functionality should have been included in the MP11, but hey, who am I and what do I know?:). It would have obviously added to the cost of the instrument and Kawai probably thought this feature was not necessary in the MP11...although I would have used it.

The Kawai MP11 is also known as a master (MIDI) controller piano and that ability is useful for beginner players up through seasoned professionals. A controller is something that controls things such as external devices that you want to add to the MP11...makes sense, right?:). Well, when it comes to giving the player ultimate control over all types of external devices, the MP11 does an excellent job and it now has 4 independent MIDI out zones to make controlling multiple external devices even easier and more intuitive. You can control the over 60 parameters of each MIDI channel independently along with zone volume settings and see them in the display screen.
You can also save all of your MIDI setups in a large bank of user memories so that you do not ever have to reconfigure them, which can take a lot of time. One of the useful things that people like to do these days when wanting to connect external MIDI devices and use the MIDI zone controllers to add new things to their existing digital piano is to connect an iPad. The iPad music and piano apps are quite exciting and you can add new sounds from an iPad to your playing by controlling them from the MP11 when you play the keys. In this way you can get the additional instrument sound layering and splitting through MIDI devices that the MP11 does not provide on its own. So this pretty much solves that problem and opens up the MP11 do do things musically it may not be able to do by itself.

The way a iPad works with the MP11 is that you would connect your iPad to the piano by using a USB adapter and cable and plugging the iPad into the MP11 USB port. After you do that then you can also route the audio signal of the iPad by connecting the appropriate audio cable from the iPad (mini headphone jack) to the audio input on the MP11. The audio input also has a real time volume control slider on the front panel of the MP11 called Line In. When you play the keys (a song) on the MP11, your playing would trigger the new instrument sounds or any other MIDI functions on the iPad, and then you could hear those new sounds coming back through the audio input in the MP11 which would go out to your external audio speaker system or stereo
headphones. The controlling aspect is further enhanced because you can assign your iPad device to one of 4 zones/channels of the MP11 and activate the MP11 independently or in conjunction with the sounds in the MP11 (as I mentioned earlier). In other words, adding iPad apps including Garage Band, is like adding brand new sounds, drums, recording, effects, interactive music education, etc. You can also do this with a laptop computer interfacing with notation software for music composition or arranging all easily controlled by the Kawai MP11. Professional players use iPad as well as MIDI sound modules, MIDI keyboards, virtual computer software for laptops, and other devices to add even more controlling power to the MP11. In fact, you can connect MIDI devices with MIDI connectors into the MP11 using the in-out-thru jacks on the piano and also connect a USB device like a computer and use (and control) the external devices at the same time. This is a big feature for people who want to have external controlling flexibility of devices that have different connectors.

As far as additional connectivity on the MP11 goes, on the back of the piano it has MIDI  1/4" audio outs, fixed XLR outputs with a ground lift (for pro applications), dual audio inputs, single damper pedal input, three separate pedal inputs for damper-sostenuto-soft, expression pedal input to control expressive
sustained instruments such as pipe organ, church organ, synths, strings, etc, all on the back of the piano. Kawai has (finally) written the names of the connectors on the top back of the piano directly over where the connectors are located so that you know where they are. Prior to this you's have to actually look behind the piano to know where to pug in things and that is always a big pain! So that has been taken care of too...and I commend Kawai for doing that. On the front of the piano it has a stereo headphone jack input and a USB flashdrive input for loading and saving recorded songs and backing up panel memories. 

The cabinet color and case materials has been upgraded from the previous MP10 and is now a sleek semi-gloss textured black metal top. It comes with a sturdy metal removable music rack to support your sheet music. The lettering/names of the functions and buttons on the case itself have been redone in a more contemporary design and the text is a brighter white and much easier to see. I like the ergonomics/layout of the MP11 and it feels comfortable to look at. The knobs, light-up buttons, and sliders are high quality and feel sturdy and solid to the touch and are easy to use with good spacing between them. The body of the MP11 has been extended in depth by slightly over 1" to accommodate the longer key action inside the piano. The end caps of the piano are made of mahogany veneers and add a touch of class to this model and the MP10 had that as well which I like very much because the other stage pianos are typically all black/white plastic and/or metal. The piano weighs in at almost 72lbs which is not light, but for this much piano given its durable metal construction (not plastic), solid cabinet, and hammer weighted keyboard, that's not bad. The piano measurements are approx 54' wide x 18' deep x 7 1/4" high. If you need a case for this piano semi-hard travel case with wheels for those people who want to take the piano with them for events or functions.  

The Kawai MP11 is considered to be a portable stage piano (controller) because it has no speakers built in and with its built-in external controller functions, it can easily control many other MIDI devices including computers, keyboards, and sound modules that recording studios and professionals use when creating music. It also has two wheel controllers (pitch bench & modulation) which work well and are assignable to other functions for quick, specific controlling. Although all of these controller functions can help users in a number of ways, for many people they may not use any (or very few) of those things because they really just want to play the piano
 ...and that's OK as far as I am concerned. At its heart the Kawai MP11 is an excellent piano that can be played anywhere by anyone at any skill level who enjoys good piano music and wants the most authentic piano key action along with a beautiful acoustic piano sound and excellent pedaling they can get in a portable digital under $3000...period. Although having hundreds of instrument sounds and functions can be fun as well as useful for some people (I like them), there is something to be said for an elegant, simple to use digital piano like the MP11 focused on fewer things but offering the best results in playing piano in this price range.

Kawai MP11

In the final analysis I believe this will be what most people will use this piano for...to play piano and many people will set this instrument up in their home living rooms, family rooms, home recording studio rooms, in their church, school, or other traditional venue where it will be connected to some nice speakers (there are specific ones I recommend) or to some high quality stereo headphones so that you will feel like you're playing a real 9' concert grand piano...and really, isn't that what it's all about? The MP11 will put you there and give you control over your music along with some nice additional features to add even more life to your music so that it will move your musical soul, inspire you, and allow you to play music on a digital piano in
ways you may not have thought possible. The piano action is designed to move without all the complexity of an acoustic grand piano, although in reality, even this piano will not replace a real top quality 9' grand piano anytime soon. But it sure does offer the closest rendition I've ever played in this price range...and I would recommend this piano to anyone who believes this is what they want. Unfortunately, there is one problem with regard to actually buying and owning the new MP11. They have been so popular since coming out a few months ago that they are out of stock everywhere in the US and there is, from what I am told, a huge waiting list to get one and it may be awhile yet until they're available again. It's that old "too little supply for too big of demand" which is causing this huge delay for the Kawai company here in the US. So if you want one of these little babies, you better not be in a rush at this point because it's going to be awhile. But I believe it's worth the wait if you want really want what this piano has to offer and you're willing to spend the money to get one. My advice would be...put one on order now to get in line, wait, and just be happy that you will get one at all whenever they become available again!

Kawai MP7

By the way, for those people who cannot afford or don't want to be in this $2799 price range, the new "little brother/sister" of the MP11 (called the MP7) has many of the same functions and controls of the MP11 and even has the same piano sound and pedaling functions, but is at a much lower price of $1799US internet discount price. It's really not "little" as the MP7 has a very similar size and appearance compared to the MP11. At $1000 less than the MP11, the MP7 may be a very good option for you (I like it a lot) and although the key action of the MP7 is not the MP11 key action, it is the best key action under $2000 of any digital piano built today in my opinion and it's super enjoyable to play. Check out my Kawai MP7 review here: Kawai MP7 Review

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

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

REVIEW - Artesia AG28 & AG40 digital micro & mini grand pianos - NOT Recommended - I have reviewed the Artesia digital piano brand before and have not recommended any of their models in the past and these new 2015 models are unfortunately no exception. Although the AG28 2'8" depth micro grand ($1599US regular price at Costco) and the AG40 4' mini grand ($2799US regular price at Costco) offer a boat load of digital features and great looks, you cannot judge a book by its cover as the old saying goes. I like to call these pianos a PSO or "piano shaped object" because even though they look like a nice piano on the outside, they do not play like a nice piano on the inside. These two models are identical pianos except for their cabinet design, size, and cost and also the larger AG40 comes with a longer, nicer bench.

It is important to know that the new Artesia AG28 & AG40 are not all bad because many of the digital features are fun to use and play with including the drum patterns, interactive auto arrangement chords, playalong songs, MIDI recording features, and additional instrument sounds. It has lots of connectivity to many external devices including iPad, computer, and external speaker systems as well as headphone jacks for private practice, so all of that is good. The AG28/AG40 have a number of sound EFX and editing features to adjust the sound and other functions so there is plenty to keep the average person busy. However, getting a piano is really all about getting a realistic and satisfying piano playing experience and this is where the Artesia AG28 falls short. All of the digital features in the world are not enough to help this piano become something that it is not...a piano. I have played $300 Casio & Yamaha keyboards that have more realistic piano sound and dynamic response than the AG28/AG40. Also, when it comes to all of the many rhythm backgrounds and extra non-piano instrument sounds, the AG28/AG40 don't come close to those $300 keyboards I was just talking about. 

First and foremost I want to talk about the AG28/AG40 key action. In the past, the Artesia brand, which is designed and built by a Chinese digital piano manufacturer, was using an all Chinese designed and built key action and those key actions were terrible. They were noisy, clunky, and played bad. However, on the new AG28 & AG40, it would appear as if Artesia has substituted a better key action made by the Fatar key action company in Italy. This is a good thing and a welcome addition to the Artesia pianos. The Fatar key action company produces a number of different model key actions for different purposes and have different costs associated with them. Based on my personal playing experience with the new AG28/AG40, it is easy to tell that this particular Fatar key action is the basic bottom-of-the-line key action. Although it is a better built key action than the previous Chinese made key actions, this key action is still not very realistic at all and has some noticeable key action movement noise and deficiencies when playing the keys, especially when the keys are coming back, they make noticeable action noise. Also, many of the keys emit a slight squeaking sound when they go up and down which I found to be quite irritating to me. 

AG28 micro grand

When playing the keys a bit harder with more force, the keys hit the bottom of the keybed and make a noticeable knocking noise, and this is a problem with a few other key actions as well, including all the Chinese built key actions I have ever played. The keys on this Fatar key action also come back up a little too quickly and take a bit more effort to push down when playing lightly or softly (as compared to a real piano) which is referred to as static key touch weight. So is this new key action bad?...not really. But is it good?...the answer would be no, it is not good. It is just OK and certainly better than on previous models of Artesia pianos, however for a lot less money you can get a regular upright style Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, or Casio digital piano that would have much more advanced and upgraded key actions than the ones in the current model Artesia digital pianos. But of course you would have to give up that pretty shiny black cabinet:). If you are a piano student or know how to play the piano, the key action is by far the most important feature of any piano so be sure you get something that will last for many years and can duplicate the best possible, most authentic piano playing experience in your price range. Artesia claims this key action in their pianos is "teacher recommended," but if that is so then those so called "teachers" have little experience playing a real piano and any good teacher I know would never actually go out of their way and voluntarily recommend these Artesia pianos when it comes to the key action.

The 2nd most important aspect of any piano (digital or acoustic) is the piano sound itself. With regard to the Artesia AG28/AG40 pianos, the so-called "stereo" piano sound is noticeably bad. When I say "bad" I mean that the acoustic piano in these pianos sound is nothing like a real piano and isn't even as good as a basic $200 Yamaha or Casio keyboard (and I am not kidding about that). First of all, the piano sound in most good digital pianos is recorded in stereo to reproduce the movement of natural acoustic piano tone from the left hand up through the right hand. Although the Artesia brand claims the AG28/AG40 piano tone is recorded in stereo, if it is, it's the poorest sounding stereo I have ever heard because it sounds just like basic mono! Stereo piano tone moves from left to right or right to left as you go up & down on the keys. This piano sound does not move at all, it just comes out in the middle, like mono. Clearly this is a cheap piano sample of a real piano. Not only that, the piano sound itself is very thin and "toy-like" as compared to a real piano and most other good new digital pianos. I was quite surprised how cheap the piano tone sounded as compared to better sounding low priced digital pianos and keyboards. The sound is simply not beautiful or even near being beautiful, especially as compared to a real piano. It is true that there
are some piano shoppers who have little or no piano playing experience and may not recognize a poor quality acoustic piano sound when they hear it. So for those people the Artesia AG28/AG40 may actually sound good to them. But in reality, it's a poor recreation of what a real piano sounds like and doesn't come close to some of the good Casio, Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland digital pianos for under $1000. There are only two acoustic type pianos sounds on the AG28/AG40 grand piano and bright piano. The grand piano is not grand at all...it sounds like a toy. The bright piano is even worse and does not really sound like a piano and it does not fade out like a piano does when you hold down a key, which makes that bright piano tone actually sound like an organ because the sound keeps going until you let up on the key. So essentially these Artesia pianos have just one acoustic piano sound and it's definitely not very good in my opinion, and I have played hundreds of digital pianos and acoustic pianos. Most other good digital pianos have a selection of anywhere from approximately 3-10 different grand piano sounds with noticeable actual stereo imaging so those brands offer a good variety and good quality, but the Artesia pianos do not.

The 3rd most important aspect of the piano is its ability to smoothly and accurately control the dynamic range and tonal color of the piano sound. What I mean by the that is the differences between soft and loud, mellow and bright, and everything in between. When playing easily/softly on a piano keys you should be able to get a really quiet sound out of the piano and when you press the keys harder and harder you should get a smooth transition of volume going up to very loud. This key playing action will also cause the character of the piano sound to go from more mellow when playing the keys lightly to
brighter and sharper when playing the keys hard and more aggressively. When a person is a beginner these variable aspects of piano sound response is not so important because beginners don't get into that right away. But as a person progresses in their piano playing and they become a bit better, then having a piano sound that responds to your touch in the correct way is very important! The Artesia AG28/AG40 does a very poor job of this and it shows in the tonal dynamics and expression being choppy, unpredictable, and not easily controllable. In fact when the piano keys are being played faster and harder, the sound dynamics and volume is almost impossible to control, it misses some notes altogether, and the sound gets stuck in a lower volume range no matter how hard you press the key, when it should be playing the note at a higher volume. In my opinion all of these deficiencies are due to bad key action electronics, low quality and low number of key sensors under each key, giving the player a less than desirable piano playing experience. Beginner piano students would probably not notice these things but anyone who plays piano (even just recreationally) will likely notice them. Even with all that being said, a person can still have fun playing this piano but don't expect it to work like a real piano in these important ways.

AG28 micro grand

The next and final fundamental aspect of playing a piano is the three pedals down below the piano. On the Arteisa AG28/AG40, these pedals look good and feel good and do as intended, but with a couple of exceptions. One notable exception is that when you press up and down on the right sustain pedal when playing a song on the AG28 micro grand, which is what is used 95% of time as opposed to the other two pedals, the entire piano shakes and moves. This situation is very distracting when playing the piano, and as far as I am concerned, not acceptable. This piano cabinet shaking and moving back & forth when pressing on the pedal is due to the construction and design of the piano legs. The legs are tapered from top to bottom and there seems to be little physical support (of the legs) in this way to keep the piano from moving and wiggling like it does. The larger AG40 doesn't have that same problem because the piano is larger and the legs are larger and they have casters on the bottom of the legs. The sustain pedal is also listed as being able to control and activate half-pedaling function which is a medium amount of sustain when the sustain pedal is pressed down half-way. Although this half-pedaling feature does exist on these new Artesia pianos, it doesn't work very well as compared to the name brand pianos and the effect is just OK. But at least they tried and it's better than nothing, so that's a good thing. As I have said over & over, just because a piano looks good does not mean that it is sturdy and plays, sounds, or feels good.  

OK so now that I have pointed out the most important features in what to look for when shopping for a good piano, I want to talk about the other less important features that many digital pianos offer which can add to the overall enjoyment of playing a digital piano . The new Artesia pianos have 136 built-in instruments sounds (including the 2
piano sounds) such as strings, brass, woodwinds, guitars, organs, electric pianos, harpsichord, bells, synthesizer, etc. There is a split & layer function to take any two instrument sounds and mix them together of play them on either side of the piano keyboard simultaneously. These pianos also offer 99 interactive rhythm and
accompaniment arrangements such as rock, jazz, Big Band, swing, march, waltz, country, Latin, etc, a built-in metronome for timing, editing controls for special EFX, autochord features for playing 1-finger or 3 finger left hand chords, a 16 track MIDI song recorder and player which can play General MIDI files from a USB flash drive, a
auto-harmonizer for playing single notes and getting the entire chord, and the list goes on. There is even a digital function to turn the 88 notes (bass and treble clef) into two 44-note keyboards that play the identical octaves. In other words, two people can play at the same time and play the exact same notes in the same octave even though one person os on the bass note side and the other playing the treble note side. This function is called the duet feature and is useful for teacher-student or any two people who want to play together and learn the same song. So when it comes to "fun features," there is really no shortage of those things on these pianos. But is that really the most important thing when considering a new digital piano purchase...I don't think so.

Although the polyphony chip in this piano is only 64-note polyphony, it does a pretty good job of handling beginner through intermediate level players as long as you aren't playing big chords, large arpeggios, or layering two sounds together. The non-piano instrument sounds and interactive auto accompaniments are OK with some sounding pretty good and others not so good. This is typical in pianos like these but they are overall fun to play. However the instrument sounds and auto accompaniments in many other digital pianos under $1000 are much superior to these Artesia pianos, but those pianos are not in a polished ebony upright style or mini grand piano case like the Artesia's. It's a trade off for either getting a much better musical instrument with substantially more music realism, or a better looking piano with basic low quality instrument sound and accompaniment backgrounds which gives you much less musical realism.

The buttons across the control panel are easy to see and the LCD user display screen lights up nicely and reads out info to tell you what functions you are using when you press a button. So as control panels go, it's a good one and there is a new data entry knob that allows for easier access of the many features in these pianos, so that is a good thing. However I found that the buttons themselves are quite hard to push and not that comfortable to use. If the button switches were of higher quality, they would likely have been easier to press and go from one to the next. The material and surfaces of the buttons and control panel are fine, it's just the
resistance of the buttons to pushing on them that bother me. It may be a small issue to some people, but if there are going to be a lot of buttons, they should be easy to push, and they are not. It is interesting to note that some of the aspects of these control panels, knobs, buttons, and LCD display screen have been on previous Suzuki digital pianos which I have reviewed in past years such as the low priced Suzuki SD10 compact vertical piano, which I did not like. So I suspect the Chinese digital piano company who produces this Suzuki piano is also the same company who supplies the Artesia brand pianos. I am not surprised as there are a lot of similarities amongst many Chinese built digital pianos.

The new Artesia pianos are definitely attractive pianos, they have loud built-in speaker systems with 120 watts of power and 6 speakers, and as I mentioned earlier, the pianos do a lot of things and have many enjoyable functions. These pianos also have very good connectivity to external devices including blue-tooth access to iPad fro audio streaming, USB connectivity to computer, audio output connectivity to external speaker system, audio inputs to connect other devices to the piano like a microphone along with independent volume control, and MIDI
to connect to other MIDI devices. There are headphone jacks for private practice and listening
and a USB flash drive input to access songs to play on the piano for playalong and/or singalong.
Artesia even includes a USB flashdrive with pre-loaded songs to play on the piano, which is nice. However, most of the preloaded songs are not very good, you probably would never have heard of many of them, and they are just free songs that mean very little to most people. However there are some familiar songs that most people would recognise including Christmas songs, some classical tunes, and some pop music. It's hard to complain when the music is included for free:).

So here's the bottom line: if you want a digital piano that looks great (they also come with a very nice matching padded benches) and can be fun to play, the new Artesia pianos are a good choice. The AG40 has upgraded cabinet design and hardware over the AG28, but it also quite a bit more money too. However, if you want to be sure you get a digital piano which allows you to have a decent quality piano playing experience when it comes to reproducing what a real piano is actually like, then the Artesia pianos are definitely not going to do that as far as I am concerned...and I don't think I am being too picky about that. These pianos are pretty to look at and have fun extra features that are entertaining and even useful to some degree. But as a piano, it doesn't pass the test...not even the basic test. There is a reason for this and it's called MONEY. It costs a lot more money to produce a great looking piano cabinet that has equal quality piano playing realism. That is why the well known major brands cost more money for their pianos...they sound and play good like pianos should:).

AG40 mini grand

It is because of the fundamentals of what a piano should play and sound like at basic levels that I do not recommend these new Artesia pianos. If you want a pretty toy then there are certainly other things you can buy when it comes to that. If you want a good piano 1st and the toys second, then look elsewhere because you won't find it here. Oh, and one more thing; the Artesia company piano warranty is only 1 year parts & labor according to their company info, which is a small warranty time compared to the name brands which offer 3 year long warranties. In my opinion a 1 year warranty is not nearly enough time especially for an "off-brand" like Artesia who doesn't actually design or build their own pianos. They are made in China and when that happens it is good to have a well known respected company behind you when it comes to potential warranty service. It is difficult to say how long these pianos will last when it comes to build quality because they have not been out that long, so you also need to take all of that into consideration before you purchase anything.  Your real shopping questions on these Artesia pianos need to be; "do I want a pretty shiny black cabinet and a fun musical toy as my primary reason for buying a digital mini grand piano, or am I more concerned about it actually playing and sounding like a real piano? It certainly would be nice to get a beautiful cabinet AND have it be a good piano (that's what everyone really wants), but that's going to cost you more money and unfortunately the Artesia pianos won't get you there.

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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

Artesia AP120e

UPDATED REVIEW - May 1, 2015 - Artesia AP120e Digital Piano at Costco - NOT Recommended - This Artesia upright style digital piano is one of three new Artesia pianos offered by Costco this year. The other two models are digital micro & mini grand pianos. All three models including this AP120e ($999US Costco price) are identical in every way except for the cabinet design and shape and internal speaker system. The AP120e is the lowest priced model and is actually very attractive in its polished ebony finish, especially for the low price. The Artesia digital pianos are designed and manufactured in China and the Artesia name is not actually the manufacturer (it is a made up name to make the piano brand sound pretty:) but the name is owned by the Virgin Musical Instrument Company who is the distributor of the Artesia digital pianos in the US. This brand is not the only one produced and sold in this way because it is also true of the Suzuki and Adagio brands as well. Costco used to carry those brands but now only carries one off-brand which is the Artesia name.

Although there are many products including top name digital pianos made in China and other assorted countries, some are very good and others are OK, and then others are of poor quality. Unfortunately the AP120e made in China is overall of very poor musical quality in my opinion, and I have been teaching piano and playing professionally for over 40 years since I was very young. I have played 1000's of digital pianos throughout my career and am knowledgeable on nearly all the latest digital pianos out today, especially the ones available in the US. So when I say this AP120e is of poor musical quality, I know what I am talking about. This is not to say the piano will break down or physically fall apart because I have not personally experienced that, but based on everything I see in this piano as far as getting a quality piano playing experience out of it, the Artesia AP120e doesn't come close to an acoustic piano or name brand digital pianos in a similar price range. In fact, other than cabinet design and finish, you could do much better buying any less expensive Yamaha or Casio digital piano in terms of how they play and what they sound like.

The AP120e selling feature is its nice looking cabinet and bench, attractive polished ebony finish, and more powerful internal speaker system at 80 watts power going into 4 speakers. It also has lots of buttons, a nice LCD display screen, and a handy sliding key cover. All of these "superficial" exterior and interior features are great if you want a loud instrument that looks great. But you should never judge a book by its cover because this piano is really what I call a PSO, better known as a "piano shaped object." I am not trying to be critical of this model for no reason. It's just that it plays poorly and sounds unacceptable compared to almost any good digital piano I have played with the exception of perhaps the Suzuki, Adagio, & Williams digital pianos which are equally disappointing and are of a similar nature. You generally get what you pay for and in digital pianos just because they look good does not mean they are good. These pianos are not a cheap price for no reason.

Roland RP401R

If you want to read a full detailed review of these new Artesia pianos, then go to the following link below to read my review on the small baby grand versions. Everything I describe on those pianos as far as playability, piano & instrument sounds, key action, functions, digital features, pedaling response, etc, are the same as this AP120e. If you want to be sure you are investing your money into an instrument that will allow you to play it and actually behave and be much more like a real piano, then look at Casio, Yamaha, Kawai, or Roland as a much better alternative. When a brand name like Artesia gives you a good looking cabinet in polished ebony with lots of buttons in this price range, they have to sacrifice something and that 'something" would be a realistic piano playing experience, it's not even close in my opinion. If that does not concern you then the Artesia AP120e may be a good choice for you. Read my detailed review at the following link...you be glad you did!
Artesia AG28/40 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.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

UPDATED REVIEW - August 1, 2015 - Roland HP504, HP506, HP508Home Digital Pianos - Recommended - The Roland Corporation started making digital pianos many, many years ago and is well known throughout the world for building higher quality, advanced digital music products that piano students, players, teachers, professional musicians, churches, and studios use. I have played and used many of the Roland music products over the years including their digital drum kits, MIDI guitars, home organs, pro keyboards, digital pianos, pro audio systems, keyboard & guitar amps, headphones, special effects systems, MIDI products, and other music gear, so I am very familiar with their products.

HP508 polished ebony

When it comes to digital pianos, which is my specialty, I am very picky about quality and realism in terms of accurate piano key action and key touch, authentic piano sound  & dynamics with full expression capability, realistic pedaling response, and durability, especially in the higher priced models such as the Roland HP series pianos. The HP (stands for "home pianos") series has been out for many years and Roland is well known for them. These pianos seem to get better every time a new model comes out and the Roland HP series is a strong competitor to the Kawai CN & CA series as well as the Yamaha Clavinova CLP digital piano series in similar price ranges. Since Roland does not publish its retail or store discount prices on its web

Roland HP504/HP506 control panel

site or dealer web sites, nor are these instruments available on the Internet in the US, getting price info is a little hard to come by in the US. However, it's my best guess based on what I've already seen at Roland piano stores throughout the US, that the HP504 in satin finishes are selling in local US stores for approx $2700-$3000US, the HP506 in satin finishes are selling approx between $3300-$3700US, and the HP508 in satin finishes are selling approx between $4500-$5000US. Actual selling prices will vary depending on where you live, your local Roland dealer, the prices they charge, and the demand for a particular model. The HP506 and HP508 are also offered in a beautiful high polished ebony finish which increases price by about $600US each (or more)...so there is definitely a premium for buying a high polish ebony finish, but they are certainly quite elegant in their appearance.

I have already played these pianos many times and I really did not expect them to be much better than the previous discontinued model HP503, HP505, and HP507 because the pianos appear not to be much different and based on digital feature specifications, it did not look like much had changed on the inside. However, I was very surprised that they had changed (improved) in a big way with regard to the fundamentals of piano playing including key action, sound & dynamic response, and pedaling. The best product change analogy I can use is when Apple computer company upgraded their iPad2 to the iPad 3 with Retina display screen. 
The iPad Retina display was a huge upgrade in terms of the screen display quality and realism for images, the processing power was greater too and buyers were very impressed and bought them in huge numbers. The Roland HP504 (left pic with bench), HP506, & HP508 is much the same way in its new upgrades of noticeably superior piano performance over previous models. The new key actions are much quieter and move better than before, the piano sound and dynamic range is much more realistic & pure, and pedaling is improved. For those people who play digital pianos or have played good acoustic grand pianos, you would be able to tell how good these new Roland pianos really are as compared to anything that Roland and other piano companies have had before. The subtleties in tonality, nuance, dynamic range, and expressiveness are evident when playing complex music in ways not possible on Roland pianos in the past.

Roland has two new upgraded piano hammer weighted graded key actions and they have been given names beyond the boring model numbers used in the past. The best key action, which is in the HP506 & HP508, is called Concert Keyboard (an appropriate name actually). The key action in the HP504 is called Premium Keyboard. The difference between the two is that the Concert Keyboard in the HP506 & HP508 feels even more like a grand piano to me and the Premium Keyboard action in the HP504 (below left pic) is feels slightly less like a grand piano (more like an upright) as compared to the Concert Key Action but still very enjoyable to play and much better than most other brands in its price range. As compared to the low priced Roland RP401R (under $2000) which I have reviewed elsewhere in this blog, the HP504 Premium Key Action is definitely a higher quality, more authentic piano playing experience but it is also more money than the lower Roland RP series pianos found at general music stores. This is the first major key action upgrade for the HP series in many years in terms of feel,

Roland HP504

key sensor ability and sensitivity, reaction time, and overall quietness of key movement and keybed. For the first time ever in any major brand of digital piano that I know of, Roland now has 3 electronic key sensors per keyalong with an additionalkey scanning processor dedicated to processing key velocity information. This new 4-part electronics system is in all of the new DP, HP, & LX models and makes a huge difference in overall touch sensitivity, dynamic range, and piano tone subtitles and is especially noticeable if you are a more advanced player.  When it comes to piano sound, it's really all about expression and expressing yourself in a musical way. These new models do such a fine job of that, that even an experienced piano/music teacher like myself would not hesitate to recommend these pianos over many acoustic pianos out there when it comes to having the necessary fundamentals a student or player needs to make good music. So if you ever hear a piano teacher say "I would never recommend a digital piano to my students if they want to be serious about their musical growth," then that teacher has not played a new higher quality digital piano lately, especially the new Roland pianos.

New synthetic ebony keys

As I mentioned before, unless you have a very musically trained ear for listening to or playing high quality acoustic pianos, you may not be able to recognize how good these new Roland digital models are as compared to some lower priced digital pianos. This is because sound and feel are, at the end of the day, subjective & personal and objectivity for the untrained ear and fingers can be difficult to obtain. Having said that, the piano sound realism, key sensitivity, and dynamic range along with a much quieter key action than ever before is really quite amazing in all three models, and it really does give you the impression that you are playing a real quality acoustic piano and much more so than previous Roland piano models. The key weight and static touch weight (amount of finger pressure required to press keys when keys are at resting position) seem to be quite natural & organic (moves smoothly) as well as balanced from bass through treble range and from black keys to white keys. Unless you get a chance to play one of these pianos locally you'll just have to take my word for it:).

New synthetic ivory keys

Both new Roland key actions (Concert & Premium) also incorporate a grand piano simulation movement with a "let-off/escapement mechanism." This key movement simulates the key action feel of a grand piano as opposed to an upright piano. When you press the keys down slowly on a real grand piano, you can feel a slight hesitation or notch about half way down when the key action is moving and this is called the escapement or let-off effect. Generally speaking, you cannot feel escapement/let-off in upright acoustic pianos. Is this let-off/escapement feature a necessity for playing a piano?...not really...but it's cool to have because it does offer even better playing feel, especially for more advanced players:) The white piano key tops are coated in a proprietary synthetic ivory material which (tries to) duplicates the feel of the older acoustic pianos which had real ivory keys and has a slight textured feeling to them. This synthetic ivory was on the previous models too but the new HP series have been improved and feel and look more natural. Also, Roland has added new synthetic ebony for the black keys on the Concert Action only, which completes the total realism of playing a real organic piano keyboard on all keys. This synthetic substance on both black & white keys has a slight texture and helps absorb sweat from the fingers and offers a smoother playing experience. It also looks classier than the all shiny white and black keys, and I personally like this feel very much.

HP506 rosewood

The piano cabinet and control panel in all three models have been redesigned with more contemporary lines and a sleeker looking panel layout with redesigned buttons and functions that are a bit more intuitive to use. The satin cabinet finishes also look more realistic than previous models and are more scratch resistant along with the cabinets being more elegant to look at. Even the Roland HP piano logo on the HP pianos was redesigned and relocated to the top of the music rack where it looks elegant and classier, which is a small but important detail in my opinion. Roland did keep something that was on previous models and that is where the control panel is located and the fact that the key cover is a two stage cover allowing the player the ability of covering the control panel without covering up the keys. This allows for a visually more minimalistic acoustic looking piano when playing it and yet you can easily slide the cover back up inside the piano and expose the control panel again so you can use the buttons to change functions and features. I really like how that works and I am a big fan of having the buttons up above the keys as opposed to on the left or right side of the piano keyboard as in other digital piano brands and models.

The acoustic piano sound itself (taken from Steinway acoustic grand pianos) on all the Roland HP pianos are identical regardless of model and they all have 128-note polyphony piano memory (how many notes can be played and sustained at one time) which is more than enough for even the most complex piano pieces because of Roland's advanced polyphony voice allocation. It's a fancy way to say you won't run out of notes even when layering two sounds together or playing complex MIDI song files while playing live over the top of it. Roland calls its acoustic piano sound SuperNATURAL Piano meaning that
Roland has attempted to reproduce a much  more "natural & beautiful" acoustic stereo sound in their digital pianos and I feel they have done this quite well on these new models. In fact, if you plug in a good pair of stereo headphones to one of these pianos they would all basically sound the same to most people and have a great piano sound except the higher priced HP508 would have many more key touch sensitivity settings (100 of them as opposed to 5 on the other two models) as well as more digital sound
enhancements including what Roland calls Piano Designer effects.  The additional touch sensitivity settings are really a big upgrade and allow for incremental changes in how the piano sound reacts to your finger touch. The key touch is much more customizable (for children or adults, beginners through advanced) on the HP508 because of so many more touch sensitivity settings, which is a good thing. There are also certain tones that occur inside a regular acoustic piano when the hammers hit the strings and the strings are vibrating, as well as how the pedals influence the piano sound. Some of the acoustic piano elements include duplex scale, hammer noise, damper noise settings, soundboard behavior, and digitally opening and closing the lid of a grand piano at different height levels, and they are included in the HP508 (and LX15e) but some are not in the HP504 & HP506. Whether or not these additional acoustic piano elements are something you will personally hear one way or the other is hard to tell depending on your ears, expectations, musical experience, and sensitivity. But I can assure you that the extra piano sound upgrades in the HP508 (as compared to the HP506 & HP504) do bring another level of piano playing authenticity to the HP508 and I can hear the difference. The main function of any good digital piano is to play & sound like a real high quality acoustic piano and a good piano manufacturer is always looking for a better way to do that and yet keep their digital pianos at affordable prices.

Overall, I like the SuperNATURAL piano sound very much because it's quite expressive and offers a beautiful acoustic playing experience more closely associated with the Steinway grand piano sound and I can hear that and it's impressive. However, everyone has different ears and reacts to sound differently but I personally enjoy playing and listening to the Roland acoustic piano sound in these new models and in the HP508, it's a big resonate piano sound also because of the substantially upgraded internal speaker system. People who own these new pianos have told me they really can't believe their ears at how good the piano sound is and how much it sounds like they are playing a real piano. For me personally, the sound of any of these new models, especially through headphones, really moves my musical soul and allows me to create the music that's in my head and on the music in front of me. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2014

With regard to the piano pedals, they operate very smoothly and feel realistic to press down and incorporate the three traditional pedal functions (damper/sustain, sostenuto, and soft) of regular acoustic pianos. They do work better than other digital pianos I have played and also simulate a good note sustaining experience using a damper continuous detection pedaling feature. This function gives the player incremental note sustain amounts rather than just on & off or half pedal. It is definitely a much more realistic acoustic piano playing experience than other brands as well as physically feeling like the pedal is changing resistance when being pressed down. Roland calls this feature Progressive Damper Action. Having quality piano pedals & accurate piano pedal operation is very important, especially to more advanced players. Roland does not skimp on this area of piano playing like some other digital piano manufacturers do. Even the height of the pedals (an important aspect of pedal playing) is accurate as compared to concert grand pianos like the Steinway acoustic grand pianos. Every aspect of pedal playing can make a big difference in technique and performance and these are not features and functions that should be overlooked.

HP508 control panel

The HP models offer many high quality instrument sounds divided into 4 control panel buttons above the keyboard. These sounds include 14 variations of acoustic grand pianos, 5 upright pianos (uprights are generally not found on other brands), 10 electric pianos, and 321 additional instrument tones (just about anything you can think of including strings, organs, banjo, synth, sax, trumpet, sitar, guitars, individual drum sounds, etc:) for a total of 350 tones which is a lot! You can see all of the instrument names and other function descriptions in the LCD user display screen which is very nice for displaying relevant info and the HP508 has a slightly better and larger display screens for accessing even more information. On the panel button with the 321 extra instrument sounds, it can be a bit tedious in getting to the sound you want by scrolling to it with the value +/- button, but this is true of other brands as well. However, Roland has created a special iPad app that allows you to select all of the instrument sounds on the piano (all Roland HP models) from an iPad connected wirelessly to the piano. This iPad Roland app called Piano Partner, displays all
350 tones from within the piano which are easy to find and select right from an iPad touch screen (left pic). Of course you need to dedicate an iPad to the piano which not everyone can do as it does add extra cost, but it is very cool to do that and personally I think an iPad is a great addition to these pianos . On the piano buttons themselves, you can change the "tonality" of the sounds by increasing or decreasing the brilliance or mellowness of the piano & instrument sounds and you can take any two sounds and layer them together or split them separately on either side of the keyboard. The pianos also have the duet twin piano feature which lets you electronically divide the 88-keys into two identical 44-key keyboards playing the same notes in the same octaves so that two people can play the same music at the same time. It's a great feature for teacher-student, parent-child, etc, and many of the top brands are including that feature in their pianos too.

USB ports

A digital MIDI recorder is built into each model featuring 3 tracks of recording and playback (for up to 3 separate instruments) and being able to save the songs on a USB flashdrive which is very cool. There is also an audio wav file recorder which allows actual CD recording and playback giving a precise rendition of your song which you can then play along with or save on a USB flashdrive for loading onto your computer to use in notation programs or attach to emails to send to family & friends so they can hear you on their computers...lots of fun with that. You can also plug in another instrument or microphone into the pianos and record that sound along with the piano and combine them. You can also use a key transpose feature on the pianos to transpose your recording (including the external audio source) to another key for singing or modulating the song up or down in semi-tones one step at a time. Even playback speed of MIDI and audio song files can be adjusted up or down which is very cool for audio and most digital pianos cannot do this on audio wav/CD files. So that means you can play along with your favorite CD song direct in your piano and slow it down to 75% of original speed to learn how to play it at a better (slower) speed while learning...and it still sounds good! I have not seen audio/CD song tempo control before on any other brand that has audio record or playback. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2014

General MIDI sound

All Roland piano HP models playback General MIDI song files from a USB flashdrive which is a great feature and one I use all the time in my studio. The General MIDI song format allows you to play your piano parts along "with the band or orchestra" and to interact with multiple instruments at one time using well known piano lesson books including thousands of popular songs from a variety of music styles and eras which can be found on the Internet. For more info on the General MIDI format go here: General MIDI and Playing Piano. The MIDI song titles can be accessed and seen from the LCD user display screen which make using it much more intuitive as compared to only having LED display screens or none at all. Roland has a number of other ways its pianos can record music and playback songs for music education & learning that are quite useful and can be important when trying to learn music whether you are a beginner or professional. The recording and playback can be done as an audio WAV file which allows you to have an actual CD quality song that can be played on other devices such as your computer or converted to a MP3 audio file to play on an iPad, iPod, or iPhone. But this comes as no surprise to me because for years Roland has built professional recording & music learning devices for musicians, teachers, and students who use them in their home or studio (as I do) for more effective practice sessions. If you want to know more about this you are welcome to contact me.

All of these models can connect directly to an iPad for another interactive way of learning about music and playing the piano, and I use iPad piano learning/teaching apps all the time in my studio which provides a cutting edge visual way of interactive piano practice and learning. A unique feature of the Roland HP pianos is that they can do a wireless USB connection to an iPad using an optional Roland wireless USB adapter and specially created Roland iPad apps such as the Piano Partner app (see pics on left). The Piano Partner iPad app does a number of things including visually letting you access all of the instrument sounds in the pianos by selecting the specific instrument sound (more than 300 of them), which I mentioned earlier, and touching the iPad to get it. It's intuitive and really something every owner of a new HP models new Roland piano should have. The Piano Partner app also displays the actual musical notation for all 200 lesson songs built inside the Roland pianos so that you can see the music and play along at any speed you like. You can also mute the right and/or left hand so that you can play that part live while the other "hand" is is being heard playing back on the iPad Piano Partner app. The songs include popular lesson songs that teachers use for their students and there are even orchestral accompaniments for some of the songs to make it sound even more exciting. It's easy to use, fun, and quite motivational and is recommended by music teachers and I really like it. The app also displays a flash card game that allows you to learn to identify notes on the staff so that you become better at sight reading. Beyond all that, on the Roland pianos there is wireless audio to play music from your iTunes songs (with tempo & transpose control) and hear it through the piano speakers by way of a new Roland Air Performer app without the need of connecting audio cables from the piano to the iPad. This is very cool and unique and I have not seen this feature offered on other brands before. The audio sound & USB connections from other non-Roland iPad music apps still need connecting cables, but that's true of the other brands too.

The speaker/audio system in each model is good and gets better as you go up in models with the HP508 being noticeably best of all. Each piano model has more audio power, bigger speakers, and more speakers than the model before it and the better internal speaker systems do make these pianos sound more realistic. The HP504 has 24 watts of total audio power going into 2 amplifiers and 2 speakers and although that specification may not seem like much, this model is surprisingly loud and full for its smaller size due to special Roland speaker technology and competes quite well with the bigger 40 watt audio power of other digital pianos. Even though the HP504 specs are quite similar to the much lower priced Roland RP401R, the HP504 piano sound system has a noticeably richer more resonate piano quality to it as compared the the RP401R in the "under $2000 price range." The HP506 has 74 watts (an upgrade over previous model) of total audio power going into 4 amplifiers and 4 speakers, and the HP508 has 150 watts (an upgrade over previous model) of total audio power going into 4 amplifiers and 6 speakers. The HP508 is a bit taller piano (about 45" tall with music rack up - about 38" tall with music rack folder down) so that the 6 speakers can be laid out inside the piano with two near the top, two near the keyboard, and two below pointing forward (instead of down in the other two models). This system gives a more balanced approach to recreating the acoustic piano playing experience and it really makes the piano sound like a big acoustic grand piano. So it's not only the power or the internal audio systems themselves, but how and where they are installed in the piano and how the individual piano tones are projected through those different systems. Roland has been in the professional pro audio business for many years (I have owned and used some of their pro audio speakers) so they do have experience in this area and it shows in these digital pianos. 

The best way I can sum up and identify the major changes in the HP504, 506, and 508 from the previous models are as follows:

1. New PHA-4 Concert Keyboard with Escapement and Ebony/Ivory Feel features Roland’s latest high-resolution touch-detection technology 
2. Fortissimo (dynamically very loud) playing styles are fully expressed with the new Dynamic Harmonic feature, which provides both a unique tonal character and powerful sound
3. New Individual Note Voicing to customize the sound to your taste by adjusting the pitch (tuning), volume, and character of each note independently including Stretched Tuning: -50.0 – +50.0 cent, Note Volume: -50 – 0, Note Character: -5 – +5
4. Headphones 3D Ambience effect sound experience while using headphones for private practice
5. Display music scores and selected HP-508 tones & songs with Piano Partner app for iPad
6. Independent volume control for headphones, volume limit function, and a 4 level tilt adjustable music rest which no other major brand has
7. Better connectivity with mini stereo input and output jacks as opposed to just standard 1/4 jacks

I do need to point out that while all of the upgrades on these new pianos are pretty impressive, the most interesting new feature to me is that for the first time that I know of on a top name home digital (upright style) piano, you can actually electronically adjust each of the 88 notes one at a time for tuning, volume, and character (voicing). On all other top name digital pianos you can only do this for all 88 keys at one time, but not for each note individually. This may not be useful or ever necessary for beginner thru early intermediate players, but for more advanced players you may have reason to want specific notes individually altered because of the way you hear your music and the notes that are playing. It's all about the "ear" and about your piano playing experience & skill level, thus you may find this new and impressive feature useful to be able to play your music exactly in the way you want it to sound over 88 individual notes. I have used this feature to customize the piano sound and I like the result very much.

Another new Roland creation I found intriguing was the "3D effect" through stereo headphones. It's supposed to give you the impression the piano sound is all around you coming from different directions as opposed to directly into your ears. Roland calls it "an immersive sound experience" which gives you the feeling you're not actually wearing headphones at all...and that's really the point of this feature. I tried it out and found that overall, it had a more natural effect than listening through stereo headphones without it. It actually did sound like I wasn't wearing headphones...although I was:). This is new technology in digital pianos and it's a nice feature to have especially if you'll be using headphones often. The 3-D headphone sound effect only works when the ambiance button on the piano control panel is selected and it can be turned on or off or controlled in incremental levels Also, it's important to have/own excellent sounding stereo headphones for private playing because you want to capture all the nuances of the new enhanced Roland piano sound dynamics and tonal qualities. I can give you some good recommendations if you don't already have headphones.

HP508 satin black

As with all lower priced digital pianos under approx $3000 discount price, I would have preferred the internal speaker systems on the HP504 & HP506 to be more powerful than they are, but this is true for the other brands too. I am just spoiled when it comes to sound (I play acoustic grand pianos often:) and I like the volume and tone to be big such as what is in the HP508. But for the majority of people, the HP504 & HP506 will have more than enough sound and volume for most homes and I have played them many times and they do sound great for their price. These new Roland models also have built-in audio outputs so you can add a small external sound system to any of the models (like you would to a TV, iPod, home stereo, etc) and then you can enhance the sound quality and volume even further if you want. 

HP506 rosewood closed key cover

If you want a realistic and satisfying "acoustic piano" style playing experience without an over abundance of digital features (no drum rhythm patterns, no automatic chord styles, etc), the new Roland HP504, HP506, and HP508 would be an excellent choice depending on your budget, and I do highly recommend them. They are a big upgrade from the prior models in key action & piano dynamics and play great. Also, as compared against the other popular name brands such as Yamaha & Kawai, the new Roland pianos have the latest piano technology out there right now, and in a number of important ways (which I discussed previously) they surpass what the other brands do in similar price ranges. Although these new HP pianos do a lot more than I have mentioned in this review in terms of digital features they have, those things are just "frosting on the cake" as far as I am concerned. Once you get up into this price range it's mostly all about piano playing in my opinion, and that's definitely where the Roland HP models excel. Roland products have been known to be very reliable overall and these pianos come with a 5 year parts, 2 year labor labor warranty which is quite good. As I always tell people, do your homework before making a buying decisionespecially when it comes to getting the most for your money, but you can't go wrong on any of the new Roland HP digital pianos and you can enjoy them for many years to come.

Speaking of piano playing, Roland has a new wireless App for iPad (iOS) that makes the piano playing experience on these Roland HP pianos go beyond what you would normally expect out of a digital piano on its own. If you have an iPad, iOS, or Android device with the proper operating system, then you definitely will want to take advantage of this technology that Roland has created which will give you more precise and intuitive controls over the actual piano sound and organic elements of that sound which you can control and modify just like a real piano technician, but without the knowledge and years of piano technician school you would otherwise need:). I have done a review on this remarkable Roland App for iPad (and Android) called the Piano Designer. Go to the following link to read my review of this amazing and useful new App: Piano Designer Review

* Roland also makes an upgraded contemporary upright cabinet version of the HP508 called the LX15e. It is the same piano as the HP508 except in a different cabinet with a better internal speaker system. Go to the following link to read my review of the new LX15e: Roland LX15e Review

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

*Check out these videos below demonstrating various things about the new Roland pianos

UPDATED: June 2, 2015 - Explanation of Digital Piano Polyphony - The topic of "polyphony" in a digital piano and what it means, is actually a pretty boring subject but one that is good to understand, especially if you're looking to purchase a digital piano. 

I have been playing digital pianos, organs, keyboards, and guitar for many years (over 40) since I was quite young because my parents got me into music lessons early, and I thank them for that. My first instrument was guitar (I played in bands), my second instrument I learned was piano but I dropped out early because I was young and I didn't enjoy it, my next instrument was organ, and then finally I played piano again and this time I loved it because I was playing fun things on a digital piano and could practice in privacy with with headphones. I learned about piano polyphony memory in digital pianos & keyboards a long time ago because it became important as I progressed in my playing skills. Polyphony (pol-y-pho-ny') with the "y" sounding like a short "i" with the emphasis on the "i" and the accent on the ny' (knee) is the ability of the instrument sounds and notes you are (at any moment) playing on the piano to be heard all at the same time without interruption or note "dropout" including any drum patterns, chord arrangements, and sustain pedal being used.

In other words, if I am playing 2 or 3 sounds layered together in the right hand along with 4 instrument sounds & drum patterns (which includes auto chord arrangements) in the left hand on a digital piano, and I am playing about 6 or 7 notes minimum at a time on the keyboard using both hands with sustain pedal being depressed by my foot at the proper times along with recording it on separate tracks, I would need enough polyphony (digital note memory) to keep it all going. Most people don't play that way so polyphony needs are relative to how well you play, the type of music you'll be playing, the way the acoustic piano sound was sampled on that piano, and how many sounds and features you would use at one time along with how you record them.

Yamaha - 256 note polyphony

So the general formula is: the complexity of the (stereo) piano sound sample in the piano, the amount of stereo instrument sounds & effects (reverb, chorus, etc) plus the amount of notes (keys) you're playing at one time, plus the amount of pedal sustain time, and the amount of recorded parts (tracks) that you'll be doing equals the need to have enough digital processing power to keep that all going properly. If the sounds are all in stereo as opposed to mono (some pianos have stereo instruments and some do not), the digital piano needs even more polyphony. Digital note and sound processing power in many cases is referred to as "polyphony." Confused yet? I used to be:) In the "beginning," man made only 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6 notes of polyphony. Then there was 8, then there was 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128, 256, and so on. As technology progresses it's typical that manufacturers give you way more than you'll ever use and this is true of many electronic devices, appliances, TV's, etc, where people just don't use even 50% of what that device is capable of doing with regard to its technology power

Yamaha YPG535 - 32 note polyphony

Long ago when there was only 8 notes of polyphony (I had a few of those pianos & keyboards) and you had two instrument sounds on (in a layer like piano & strings) at one time and were playing about 6-8 keys at one time in both hands (no drums or extra stuff on), you could only hear a maximum of 4 notes played on the keyboard at one time because usually each sound took up a note of polyphony when you played the keys! In other words, you couldn't hear everything you were playing because the piano ran out of memory! Notes would drop out as well as sounds and it made the music sound bad. And if you tried to record that on a digital recorder, it would only play back a few notes and sounds at a time and the song would continually be interrupted by the loss of polyphony or memory. It was a very sad time for me and others in the digital piano & keyboard world:( But it was all we had and I suppose it was better than nothing.

Kawai - 192 note polyphony

Then over the years, little by little, digital keyboard manufacturers developed better technology and with that, more polyphony memory. Pretty soon I was able to play more complex songs with more sounds without too much note dropout or sound interruption. But then came more sophisticated tones like stereo acoustic piano sounds with natural acoustic quality harmonics, overtones and string samples and more complex left hand accompaniments which all sucked up digital memory like a sponge.  I remember playing not only professional music jobs, but also in church for many years (I still do today) when people had little knowledge of polyphony and its importance. I was using a very cool Roland digital piano (at the time) with 32 notes of polyphony and a sophisticated Kurzweil sound model with 24 notes of polyphony as well as another sound module (all the modules were rack mounts) with 16-notes of polyphony all connected (MIDI'd) together. That gave me a huge 72 notes of total polyphony combining everything and at the time, that was pretty much unheard of. I had two sounds coming from the Roland, one sound coming from the Kurzweil, and one sound coming from the other sound module all layered together for a really full sound with little note dropout most of the time (depending on how I played). People couldn't believe how good it all sounded. But that was many years ago and you had to know how to put all that together properly and make it sound good.

Roland - 128 note polyphony

Now manufacturers have started to figure out how to put more polyphony memory and other ingredients (including more cool sounds) at a lower cost (cost is always an issue) into one keyboard or digital piano so you don't need to have (own) more than one instrument. So basically, more polyphony "frees up" your music so you can use all the functions on the digital piano to their maximum. However, I will say that many cases, 64-notes of polyphony will be adequate for a lot of people people depending on how they play, especially if they are playing mostly piano music at beginner to intermediate levels. But if you are more advanced or will be laying two stereo instrument sounds together, then 128 notes of polyphony would be more desirable.

Kawai CP3 - 256 note polyphony

If you want to progress as a player and eventually learn how to use more of the functions in your digital piano, especially if you are recording your music up to 16-tracks and many notes, then be sure to get as much "polyphony" as you can for your budget. It's like buying a computer these days...you may not use all the memory and speed it has right away, but you may want to know it's in there in case you do:). I will say that having 128-note polyphony is way more than enough note processing power even if you are at a very advanced playing skill level as long as you will not be recording multiple tracks of music with simultaneous playback of many stereo sounds and notes. Larger polyphony is really ultimately important with this kind of playing and recording in mind. Layering 2 to 3 sounds together and playing them live in a complex music score will not use up the polyphony unless the instrument cannot electronically allocate the polyphony correctly. Roland digital pianos are great examples of 128-note polyphony that can play without any loss of notes even at very complex music be played by a professional pianist. It just depends how good the overall technology is inside the piano. The polyphony number (128, 256, etc) is not always a good indicator of what you'll actually be getting and the piano price is also not an indicator of the amount of polyphony you may get in that instrument.

Casio PX860 - 256 note polyphony

With regard to the 256-note polyphony instruments of the new top name brand digital pianos in a furniture cabinet for under under $2000 being made today, Casio is the only one that has 256-notes of polyphony (the largest there is in this price range), and their new PX860 digital piano has this technology for just $1099 internet price, and you definitely can't go wrong with that. Check out the new 2015 model Casio PX860 by reading my blog review at the following link: Casio PX860 Review



If you want to know more about digital pianos or want to find out how to get one for LESS Money than internet, Amazon, & store sale prices, please contact me at tim@azpianowholesale.comor call direct at 602-571-1864

UPDATED REVIEW - August 11, 2015 - Brand new & improved Casio PX860 digital piano Privia series for 2015. The new & improved PX860 has replaced the Casio PX850 which was their best seller and most popular digital piano for the last few years. The price of the PX860 is the same price as the recently discontinued PX850 ($1099US internet price) and the features is largely unchanged with regard to cabinet design with opening sound projection lid, finish colors, control panel, internal sound system, and functions, but has notable upgrades to the actual piano sound & instrument samples and reverb effects system. PRICE UPDATE: Casio has just announced through their US dealers that the normal PX860 internet selling price of $1099 has been reduced by $100 to a new temporary price of just $999 until September 30th or when supplies run out. The piano is still a brand new model and is not discontinued but Casio has decided to offer the public a "deal too good to pass up," in their words....and I would definitely agree with them assuming this piano fits your needs.

PX860 satin black

I have played this new PX860 quite a bit already and the sound upgrades over the PX850 include more realistic instrument sounds which are taken from Casio's pro piano keyboard called the PX5s including noticeably improved strings and electric pianos and put them into the PX860, which is a very nice upgrade. Another interesting feature Casio has created is their new reverb settings call Hall Simulation which gives the stereo acoustic piano sound a more spacious effect such as you would hear in a large concert hall or church where there is natural echo that occurs when playing an instrument. It's a very good sounding feature and adds to the sonic presence of the acoustic piano sounds and makes the piano more enjoyable to play depending on the kind of music you are playing. I have heard these kinds of effects before in other higher priced digital instruments and they can add to the realism of piano playing, but these effects are not always necessary especially with pop, jazz, or other types of non-classical or traditional piano music.

PX860 satin brown oak

Finally, with regard to new features, Casio has included a new music library that consists of 10 orchestra classical songs which you can play along with using the piano sounds. The 10 songs are in an audio wav format (recorded from live orchestra) and sounds just like a real recording of the instruments as you would have in a regular CD. The new songs are independent in their sounds and format (the piano itself does not have these sounds) but you can interact with them by playing along. The 10 songs are standard classical music and although they are fun to play along with, you would need to be able to read music (or play by ear) and play along at the song skill level so that you could interact with the music properly.  You can slow down the songs, mute either right or left hand playback sound for live playalong and do a few other things with the orchestra accompaniment which are all fun to do and helpful for learning. But there certainly are other ways to do this (iPad apps, etc) and with much larger music libraries that offer a better variety of music in multiple music categories. It's a nice feature and certainly sounds good, but it did not "knock my socks off" since there are only 10 songs available and they're all in the classical category, and you pretty much have to know how to read music at a more advanced sight reading level to play them accurately.

Overall I believe the new upgrades in this PX860 are certainly good, but beyond these features in the PX860, this piano is the same as the previous PX850 in all other areas which is a good thing since the PX860 offers even more for the money than its competitors in the same price range. For a more in-depth review of the PX860 please read my review of the prior PX850 and then you'll know much of what the PX860 does from that review, and I have played the PX850 many times so I know that piano well. The PX850 was very popular because it had a big piano sound utilizing some advanced digital sound technology with 256-note polyphony processing power, a
responsive ivory/ebony feel key action that's by far the best in its price range, was fairly easy to use, had lots of cool features that most other pianos in its price range do not have, and it looked attractive in its sleek contemporary cabinet. The new PX860 retains all of those features because sometimes it's difficult to improve on successful products so why change it much if people love what it already does:). Casio kept most of the "good parts" of the PX850 piano and upgraded a portion of it to the PX860 for an improved acoustic piano experience using the new hall simulators, new concert strings, vintage electric pianos, and organ sounds as well. You will notice the control panel in the left picture which is located above the keys instead of over to the left side of the keyboard as is the case on a a few Yamaha and Kawai models in this price range. I really like when the functions and buttons can be accessed more intuitively above the keyboard as opposed to the side of the keyboard. The PX860 does a very good job of this especially considering its lower internet price.

There are other high quality digital pianos out there in other brands in this lower price range, but in my opinion for $1099 internet price, the PX860 cannot be beat for what it does and excels over its competition in many ways. This model is really for people who really want a piano and not too much else. If you really just want to play piano and enjoy piano music with a few extra features (bells & whistles) and you want to stay near $1000, then the Casio PX860 may be the perfect instrument for you. I can also help people with getting lower prices than Amazon as well as internet stores and local stores on the new PX860 and other popular brands & models. Contact me before doing anything and I will be happy to help you get what you want and give you helpful advice. Also, even with the new temporarily reduced price of the PX860, I can still help you purchase a brand new one for less money than that:). Contact me for more info if you are interested.

* Go to the following link to read my prior review on the previous PX850 which will give you most of what the new PX860 can do other than the new things that I mentioned here:
Casio PX850 review

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

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

UPDATED REVIEW - August 18, 2015 - Recommended - Kawai MP7 Digital Piano - The Kawai piano company is well known for building some great acoustic upright & grand pianos used by piano teachers, professional pianists, and concert venues all over the world. Kawai is also known for their high quality home & professional digital pianos and for the last few years has had a very popular stage piano called the MP6 which I have recommended as a best buy in its lower price range. The MP6 has now been replaced by the all new 2015 model MP7 ($1799US internet discount price) and the upgrades in this new model far exceeds what I expected them to be. The MP7 has a new bigger brother called the MP11 ($2799 internet price) and you can read my review of that model at the following link: Kawai MP11 Review
*click on all pics to see larger views

The Kawai MP7 digital piano is the type of  instrument that can provide a very satisfying piano playing experience to a wide variety of piano enthusiasts including families, students, professionals, churches, schools, and just about anyone wanting a portable 88-key digital piano with the highest possible piano playing realism under $2000. In fact after thoroughly playing and exploring this new model and all it can do, I can safely say this is the finest new stage digital piano under $2000 that I have ever played, and I have played them all including Roland, Yamaha, Korg, Kurzweil, Casio, Kurzweil, Nord, and others. What sets this piano apart from all the others are the features that everyone is looking for: the most realistic key action, the best dynamic response from the piano & instrument sounds, the most control over musical expression, smooth and responsive pedaling, and an overall playing experience that will move your musical soul. This is what the new MP7 is...a way to bring out any piece of music so that the listener and the player will believe they are playing a good acoustic piano as well as a host of other quality instruments.

Although the previous model MP6 was an amazing instrument in my opinion for its low price of $1499US discount price, the MP7 has gone way beyond that by offering (what I call) a gourmet pallet of ingredients that allows the player to fine tune their piano sound (both acoustic & electric) in such a way that you are experiencing music in ways not achievable in the past with any digital piano that I know of in this price range. In other words, when you are creating a gourmet meal, you use the finest ingredients possible and fine tune those ingredients in such a way that no other standard meal comes close. Another analogy would be like driving a fine tuned precision made Lamborghini as opposed to a standard Mercedes. That's the difference between the former Kawai MP6 and the new Kawai MP7 in my opinion, and as compared to other brands of portable digital stage pianos under, near, and over $2000, the difference is even more dramatic. If you have played piano for any length of time you will immediate notice the power, smoothness, the detail in sound and key action, and the realism of every note on the keyboard that makes you say "wow." All this is not to say that the MP7 will replace a Steinway, Kawai, or Yamaha grand piano any time soon (it'll be awhile before that happens!), but it's the closest thing you can get under or around $2000 in a digital piano based on my playing experience with all of the new digital pianos in this price range. I would also submit that the MP7 is not perfect because you can always want something to be better, but no digital piano is perfect. But once again, for its price it really is amazing and that's why this model continues to very difficult to get as the Kawai company seems to be continually back-ordered on this model..

When it comes to the non-piano instrument tones such as guitars, brass, woodwinds, percussion, strings, choirs, synths, and so on, I know there will always be a difference of opinion as to what brand and model is better. Although the MP7 offers very high quality in this area and all the instrument sounds are improved over the prior model MP6, there are other great brands that offer nice instrument sounds too. But when it comes to the bread & butter of what most people want (as I mentioned earlier) which is the acoustic piano sound authenticity, electric piano sound realism, a precise and responsive key action with superior dynamic range and lots of nuanced control, this is where the MP7 really shines.

The Kawai MP7 has a new redesigned cabinet and control panel layout as compared to the former MP6 and the thing I noticed right away was that the cabinet itself looks more like an acoustic piano and less like a keyboard and it is also easier to hold/pickup. The MP7 closely resembles its newer bigger brother called the MP11 ($2799US internet price) in looks and design. You'll notice that the front of the MP7 has some height to it above the keys where the Kawai logo is placed on the cabinet. It not just a flat at about the same height as the keyboard like in other brands of digital pianos, but there is a height difference between the keys and the piano top that really makes you feel as if you are in front of an acoustic piano. Sometimes just feeling like you are playing a real acoustic piano makes a difference too, and that's true in this case. Beyond the physical difference, there is the new user interface. The display screen is larger and it reads out more internal information to the user so that you can move from one sound or function to the other more quickly and easily.

The MP7 has 256 high quality instrument sounds including 28 different acoustic piano settings, 20 electric pianos, 36 Hammond style organs (jazz, rock, gospel), 20 pipe organs, 20 string orchestral selections, and a large assortment of choirs, brass, woodwinds, synths, guitars, percussion and more. I find that in many cases, the manufacturers have created their individual instrument sounds with a certain amount of effects built into that sound such as how bright or sharp that tone is, how much and what type of reverb/echo it has, the touch sensitivity curve applied, and other aspects of sound. Sometimes I like what the manufacturers have for their individual default sounds and sometimes I don't. In the case of the MP7, on most piano presets as well as
other instrument sounds, Kawai uses very little reverb as compared with what I personally like to hear as well as the sound can sometimes be a bit too mellow more me. On other brands and models you can change those effects settings live while you're playing, but unfortunately cannot store them for later recall. However on the MP7 you can edit the factory tones & effects however you like and save/store them in their same places. Once you do that then every time you power up the piano, the original
sounds have the edits you put in place and they come up that way. In other words, you can customize even the individual tones including clarinets, trumpets, flutes, organs, pianos, etc when you just want to quickly get one sound (out of the 256 instrument tones) rather than needing to create a full setup or layer to do it....very cool. If you want to reset the entire piano back to factory defaults you can do that too. The MP7 also has an additional 256 high quality factory preset combination layers & splits from bands and orchestras that give you famous recognizable multi-layered sounds already setup on the MP7 to use instantly instead of having to create all the settings/layers/splits yourself. There are 100 professional sounding preset drum patterns (left pic above) for play-along with the built-in drummer including rock, jazz, latin, blues, funk, waltz, gospel, country, and many other popular rhythm styles, and the MP7 allows you to control the tempo, volume, and other aspects of the rhythm section.

As far as the user interface goes, and as I just mentioned earlier, the MP7 has a new larger LCD display (which I like) and the piano itself is laid out with lots of buttons, sliders, and knobs, and if you have not used a stage piano like this before, it may look a bit intimidating at first, somewhat like the cockpit of an airliner:). But in reality, the piano is fairly easy to use (it's true:), and access to the functions and sounds  (even for a beginner) are understandable once you get familiar with the basics, so that after a short time anyone can make great music on this piano. The nice thing about the larger LCD screen is that the editing functions including the 4 sound control access knobs and buttons that surround the screen and are right in front of you as opposed to having controls sitting much further way from the screen like they are on
many other brands of digital pianos. Also, when it comes to making great music on the MP7, it is virtually limitless with the things that you can do, even if you don't play well. If you happen to be a skilled pianist, you can play advanced levels of classical, jazz, or pop music and it will keep up with you and provide you with the musical inspiration you're hoping for because you can get to the editing functions fairly quickly and make those subtle changes to your sound that professionals love to do.

However, be aware if you are not already, that the MP7 does not have built in speakers, has no furniture stand available for it, and does not come with any bench. It is a stand alone portable "stage" piano (but certainly not just for stage) so you would need a good set of powered stereo monitors, a sturdy and functional digital piano stand, a reliable comfortable bench, and so on. Accessories from one manufacturer to the other are not all built the same, and some differ in quality and may not be a good match for this MP7, including what is in some of the prepackaged bundles on the Internet. Please contact me directly before you buy anything and I can tell you what would work the best for this piano at a low price. Once you get the proper speakers, stand, bench, and headphones (should you need them), then you make make inspiring music on the MP7 that will keep you playing for hours.

The acoustic piano graded hammer key action simulation on the MP7 (left pic) is Kawai's RH2 action with a key movement that is smooth, quick, accurate, has the escapement/letoff feature of a grand piano which allows it to respond more like a grand instead of an upright and produces a slight notch/hesitation about half-way down the key travel when the keys are played lightly. The key weight balance between the bass & treble sections and between the black & white keys is very good...really feels like you're playing an acoustic piano in that way. The keytops have the Kawai ivory touch material which is a satin reproduction of actual ivory used on older acoustic pianos and it really feels good to the fingers to play on and is sweat absorbent. The key movement is noticeably quiet as compared with other brands and that is something Kawai key actions are known for...being sturdy, well built, and quieter while moving easily with a reasonable amount of touch weight required to play the keys. I am always concerned about static touch weight because that's how much pressure you need to have to push the keys down from resting position. If the touch weight needed from your fingers is too heavy or too light, you will not get the correct dynamics, smoothness of sound, and proper technique when trying to play a piece of music, as well as possibly feeling fatigued in your hands if the touch weight is too heavy. Whether you are a beginner or pro, key movement and touch weight are very important and the MP7 is pretty responsive in this way.

The new Kawai MP7 key action now has 3 key sensors per key (left pic) instead of 2 key sensors that was on the previous MP6and other portable pianos under $2000. The additional key sensor is especially helpful is recreating the correct response from the notes when playing faster and more repetitive key movement. The articulation of sound and response from the new key action is a big upgraded and adds to the authenticity of what you get out of this instrument and I could tell the difference. Now when you play on this new instrument and you are repeating the notes at a fast velocity and not letting the keys come all the way up before you replay that key again, the new 3-sensor action will sense the keys and won't miss that note sounding again. This is certainly an issue if you play either a bit sloppy or are just a much better player and need a precise repeating action with balanced key weight and the correct velocity sensing key electronics.

Kawai calls its new acoustic piano soundHarmonic Imaging XL (HI-LX) 88-key sampling, which is just a fancy way of saying that Kawai has increased the memory chip capacity they use to capture the acoustic grand piano sound as well as record each note on a full size Kawai concert grand one at a time for the most complete reproduction of piano sound, as opposed to recording a note and then digitally stretching that note to become other notes rather than actually recording each one. The stretching process saves time and money in creating the digital piano sound but it is not nearly as realistic as 88-key individual note sampling with its large capacity piano memory chip. That's why some of the cheaper digital pianos (and a few that are more money) don't sound so
good...because they sound more digital instead of natural. The MP7 sounds quite organic (natural) because of this upgraded piano sound chip and I was very impressed when I put it through its paces. It has beautiful tone, nice sustain & decay, overtones, resonance, and other organic nuances that piano sound should have. In fact, using the micro editing features provided on this instrument allows the user to change the personality of the MP7 piano sound so you can also recreate other acoustic pianos like Yamaha, Steinway, etc, so there really is no limit to what you can come up with if you don't mind using some of the cool editing and sound creation features on the MP7 piano.

Then there is the upgraded 256-note maximum polyphony chip in this new piano memory chip. 256 notes of (non-stereo) polyphony translates to how many notes or keys can be played and sustained at any one time (while using the pedal) before the memory gives out and the single notes cut off. On a regular acoustic piano there are only 88 keys but when an acoustic piano is played from one side to the other, you are hearing the sound in stereo (bass strings on left, treble strings on right) and the sound also organically moves around inside the piano. I don't want to get too complex with explanations but just understand that whatever the polyphony number is stated on any digital piano, you need to divide that by 2 if you are using a stereo piano sound
(such as what's in the MP7) or other stereo instrument sounds. If you combine/layer other instrument  sounds with a stereo piano sound and play them at the same time (such as piano & strings), each key played would take up even more polyphony memory until you could possibly use up all the memory when playing and then some sounds wouldn't be heard anymore. So in simple terms...the more polyphony piano memory the piano has, the more complex your piano sound can be and the more you can do with your music. For a beginner this is never an issue and 256-note polyphony is far more than necessary. But for an advanced player or someone who likes to combine multiple sounds together on their digital piano such as an acoustic stereo grand piano, stereo symphonic violins, classical guitar, and stereo choir, 256-note polyphony memory can be a very important thing to have. Higher polyphony is also important when playing back multiple MIDI sound tracks when using the MP7 16-track MIDI playback system. In all cases, the Kawai MP7 has more than enough sound polyphony memory to satisfy even the most demanding player.

One thing about playing a digital piano that many people overlook is the piano pedaling and whether or not it is authentic and will keep up with your music allowing for realistic control over damper/sustain, sostenuto, and soft pedaling. Pedaling is very important for expression and adding the required amount of resonance and sustain effect, and the MP7 does a great job of this.The MP7 comes with a pro quality single damper pedal (left pic) that looks like and functions as a acoustic piano pedal. The pedal is heavy duty, durable, and feels good to push with your foot. The pedal also does something that many single pedals included with portable pianos don't do...and that function is called half-pedaling. Half-pedaling is the amount of active sustain you get when you press down the pedal about half way and you would hear a medium amount of sustain rather than just on or off. The amount or type of half-pedal sustain can be adjusted in a few different ways depending on how you want it and if you would be connecting to external MIDI pianos or instruments. In either case, the pedaling realism on the Kawai is very good. Copyright AZPianoNews.com 2014

Another part of the pedaling experience is being able to get an adequate amount of damper pedal resonance along with the proper amount of piano decay/sustain time. Pedal resonance is the sound you get when you hold the sustain pedal down and strike a note and the sound will naturally reverberate for awhile inside a real piano. This acoustic piano pedal resonance has been digitally recreated in the MP7 and is also adjustable for more or less of that effect...and it sounds very realistic. Pedal sustain decay time has to do with how long (how much time) the piano sound will be heard while your damper pedal is pressed down and you let go of the key after playing it. The longer the decay/sustain time, especially in the bass and mid-range key sections, the more natural the piano sound will sound. The MP7 has
some good natural decay time but in my opinion it could be longer in some ways. On most other digital pianos you cannot change that function (length of sustain/decay time) but on the MP7 you can change it by using a control that lengthens or shortens the amount of time the piano sound will decay/sustain. This is a very cool feature and allows the player to customize the pedal playing experience to suit their musical needs. Although this pedal decay time feature is very usable, the average player may not need it. But to know it's there is a very good thing and I have used it myself to adjust for playing different kinds of music that require different pedaling results. So as you can see, pedaling can get complex or it can be simple...and the MP7 is excellent is recreating pedal realism with the one included pedal. Kawai also offers an optional F30 triple pedal unit so the player can access all three standard pedal functions and have the traditional piano experience including the sostenuto and soft pedal. The triple pedal unit can also be assigned to control other aspects of the MP7 including changing instrument sound selection, organ rotary speed activation, and other useful features, and I would definitely recommend the triple pedal unit to give you the complete piano playing experience.

The electric piano sounds on this piano are definitely worth noting and talking about because they are very impressive. Professional keyboard players are always looking for the most authentic reproduction of the classic electric piano sounds that originated from Wurlitzer electrics, Fender Rhodes electric pianos, Yamaha DX7 digital piano keyboards, and a number of other well known electric models from the past. Unless you know what the original electric pianos from these brands and models actually sounded like, you can't really know if a digital piano does a good job in reproducing
them. But if you are more experienced with those original electric pianos, you'll notice right away the realism of the MP7 electric piano reproduction technology with micro editing which enables even the most obscure detail of those sounds to be accessed and  sounding "real." You can hear the organic noise of the keys move, the key clicks, the internal metal tines and parts that come through in the MP7 sound reproduction, the organic reeds used in the old electric pianos, the old style bell like tones of the vintage instruments that all the pros are looking for. They are all there in the MP7 and you can dial in special effects in ways not possible in past Kawai models so that you can customize your electric pianos exactly in the way you want them. For those players who love the vintage electric piano & keyboard sound experience, the MP7 will amaze you like few other digital pianos will, especially in this price range. 

Another thing pro players look for as far as requested instrument sounds on a digital stage piano is the famous Hammond B3 tonewheel electric organ (left pic), which is a staple of jazz, rock, blues, and gospel players all over the world. If you haven't heard of the Hammond B3 organ before, don't feel bad because even though you may have heard the sound before in recordings or being played live on stage, typically only musicians know the name of the organ. I have played hundreds of electric Hammond organs over the years and the Kawai MP7 does an amazing job of not only recreating that B3 sound in factory preset buttons for easy & quick access, but for the first time on a Kawai digital piano it also gives the player digitally interactive reproduction of the famous Hammond B3/C3 organ tonebars/drawbars which you can control in the MP7 display screen in real time through buttons or by slider bars located to the left of the screen, which is very useful. This interactive feature lets the player control the tonebars in minute detail just like using them on the real Hammond organ. All of the Hammond organ style sound & control features can be recreated with special micro editing allowing you to true B3 sound while changing the functions of the organ in real time. This would include Leslie rotary cabinet effects, incremental rotary speeds which then can be activated by the modulation wheel, buttons, or foot pedal including editing and control of vibratos, EQ, amp simulations, stereo field, reverbs, digital effects, and you can combine many of these micro editing features in ways that allows you to create literally hundreds of new organ sounds. You can use the MP7 factory presets to get your sounds instantly or customize them exactly as you want it (as I just mentioned) and then save that customized sound to a memory button for recall later on. There are a total of 256 memory buttons in the piano to save your custom setups in and then you can transfer those sounds to a USB flashdrive if you like for safe keeping. Whatever you want the organ sound to be, this piano can do it including having huge pipe organ sounds for the classical music lover...I am one of those:). The traditional classical/church pipe organ sounds are also very convincing and there is a big variety for all styles of classical & church pipe organ music which are impressive. All of the organ sounds and control in the MP7 is a huge upgrade over the former Kawai MP6.

As for all the other sounds on this piano, some people will use them and some won't. After all, the MP7 is first and foremost a piano and the best I have ever found under $2000. But some people will want the additional instrument and keyboard sounds and have good use for them including the synths, strings (the strings are beautiful stereo reproductions), pipe organs, guitars, choirs, brass, reeds, and so on. All of the instrument sounds are really good with some much better than others. However, another reason all these 256 instrument sounds are so important is
because the MP7 has the ability to play back16-track MIDI song files from a USB flashdrive, and those playback songs use many of those live 256 instrument sounds in real time performance. These multi-instrument song files can be used for piano education and playalong as well as for learning a multitude of new songs of which there are hundreds of popular pieces in every music category that you can think of and can get off the internet and load into the MP7 for song playback. There are playback controls for song tempo, transpose key, and even the ability to select separate instruments in the song and mute them (turn off that instrument sound) in the playback mode. Those are great features and if you want to learn more about MIDI songs and what they can do go to the following link: Play and learn piano using MIDI songs.

One of the things I like to do on the MP7 is to have immediate and easy access to multiple sounds at one time (layers) so you can add or subtract them while you are playing using an actual mixer with volume slider controls. This kind of feature allows you to layer up to 4 individual sounds at one time such as Concert Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, synth/strings, and B3 organ, or any of the other 256 sounds on the piano. You can also layer 4 different acoustic pianos and play them at the same time or even play four different electric pianos at one time, which is a very cool thing to do and gives you an amazing sound like few other pianos in any price range can do. You simply choose any 4 sounds and put them into groups of four (main & 3 subs) and then save them as a setup into a memory button. You can then access each saved setup without having to recreate it and then use them in any combination (1,2,3, or all four at one time and control each instrument's volume relative to the other in real time as you play. You can also customize each of the four sounds that are selected using effects such as reverb, chorus, EQ, sustain, pedal decay, transpose key, octave, brightness, key touch sensitivity, and the list goes on. In other words it's like having a real group of four instrument players and each one can play and tune his instrument independently of the other and yet all four can play at one time with the perfect volume and dynamic balance that you control...and that's pretty exciting, at least it is to me:).

The instrument sounds can also be split across the keyboard into and up to 4 zones. A zone is any section of the 88 keys that you choose to setup as its own area. In other words, you can split up the keyboard into four areas of any size, as long as all 4 zone areas add up to 88 keys. You could then assign a different sound in each of those four areas such as pipe organ in the 1st 15 keys, harpsichord in the next 20 keys, piano in the next 25 keys, and concert trumpet in the remaining 28 keys, which all add up to 88 keys being occupied by 4 sounds. You can even control a sound from an iPad instrument app in one or more of the zones. You can then individually edit each sound with regard to the key that it is in and move it up or down in octaves so the sound isn't too high or
too low so that each sound compliments the other, or you can adjust each sound's brightness, effects, volume, vibrato rate, touch sensitivity setting, damper pedal effect and sustain, and so on. You could also set up just 2 zones within the 88 keys and have 1 instrument sound in the left zone (left hand) and 3 sounds in the right zone (right hand) such a piano in the lower zone of keys and strings, flute, and brass section in the upper zone with each sound setup in it's own octave, brightness,
sustain, and even have one of the 3 sounds/instruments in the upper zone only play when you strike the keys at a certain velocity or finger strength. That kind of feature is called velocity switching and allows you to control which sound comes in and when, just depending on how hard you strike the keys. Now that's a lot of power. What's really interesting is that this kind of split keyboard setup with multiple zones is easy to do and takes less than 1 minute to setup and save...it's that simple. You can can be as complex in creating your split keyboard setups as you like or as simple as you like such as 2 zones with 1 sound each or 2 zones with 2 sounds each (total 4 sounds) with no editing...whatever level you are at on the MP7 can likely accommodate your musical needs and then some. 

A feature that I find very useful on digital pianos is the ability to recordyourself and play it back. Almost all digital pianos have some sort of a recording feature with some being better than others. The MP7 can do this is two ways... either a 1 track MIDI (non-audio) recording for simple song play and music writing ideas, or a multitrack overdub audio recorder that lets you record multiple tracks, one instrument over the other, in either wav (CD quality) recordings or MP3 audio song files. This feature is not found on any other digital piano under $2000 and is incredibly cool because it allows you to orchestrate and arrange any song so that you can play & record each instrument that you want in the song so that when one instrument is recorded, you play that recording back while you record the next instrument audio track over the top of that. Each instrument can be individually setup exactly the way you want it to sound and then recorded and saved to a USB flashdrive to be played back on your computer or MP3 player (iPod, etc). You can also take a MIDI recording from any MIDI file found on the internet and convert it to
audio for playback as a wav or MP3 file. You can even take a audio or MIDI formatted song and play a specific part of it over and over for practice in a non-stop loop so that you can playalong with that part to learn it better. With the new 1/4" audio inputs and independent volume slider controller on the panel of the MP7, you can also plug in a microphone or any instruments (including iPad sounds) and record it live through the piano and mix it with your recorded keyboard playing, including loading in iTunes to the audio player to play along with them and record them into memory, which sounds great. Multitrack audio overdubbing and playback using the actual sounds on the MP7 (as well as external sounds) is a fantastic way of creating music in ways that you could never do before on a digital piano in this price range. 

All digital pianos have some special effects which are necessary to help recreate the organic playing experience you would get on the original instrument. Those special effects might include a variety of reverbs, chorus, phasers, chorus, amp simulations, pitch shift, detune, compressors, wahs, a multitude of individual EQ settings (as well as global EQ settings), etc, depending on the sophistication of the effects section of the digital piano. The MP7 has a sophisticated, but easy to use effects section as well as having what is known as virtual piano technician effects. This system gives you the ability to add and subtract the actual organic elements of an acoustic grand piano including being able to "voice the hammers" of the piano to increase or decrease the mellowness or brightness of the piano tone with regard to how hard of soft the felt is on the actual piano hammers in a real piano. There is also a function called Topboard (below left pic) that simulates raising or lowering the lid in a grand piano from and higher position to a closed position. This function will act like the grand piano lid being moved up or down and this effect changes the piano sound coming out of it. This feature is not normally found on pianos in this price range...and it really does work. Copyright AZPianoNews.com. may not use without permission.

Most effects systems on digital pianos in this price range are fairly minimal and some are not very good at all, but the MP7 uses new pro effects not offered before and in a much higher quality range (recording studio quality), and this makes a big difference in recreating the surround sound and multi effects that you would naturally get with the original instrument being played live. Each of these special effects can be edited and adjusted independently of the other and independently for each of the 256 sounds in the MP7, as well as independently for each of 4 sounds that reside in each of the 256 combination setups that you can create from scratch and save, or just use the automatic factory settings. Yikes!...that's what you call a lot of editing and creation power. The MP7 piano and instrument sounds are already very nice just out of the box, but everyone has there own tastes when it comes to sound and realism, so the MP7 is not limited to the specific sounds built into it but instead can be adjusted to a person's own individual musical tastes and expectations and quickly saved in the over 500 memory slots in the piano for easy access when you want to get to your personal sounds....that's a lot of power.       

The Kawai MP7 is also known as a master (MIDI) controller pianoand that ability is useful for beginner players up through seasoned professionals. A controller is something that controls things such as external devices that you want to add to the MP7...makes sense, right?:). Well, when it comes to giving the player ultimate control over all types of external devices, the MP7 does an excellent job. One of the useful things that people do these days when wanting to add new things to their existing digital piano is connecting an iPad. The iPad music and piano apps are so varied and advanced these days that you can add new sounds to your playing by controlling them from the MP7 when you play they keys. The way it works is that you would connect your iPad to the MP7 by using a USB adapter and cable and plugging the iPad into the
MP7 USB port. After you do that then you can also route the audio signal of the iPad by connecting the appropriate audio cable from the iPad (mini headphone jack) to the new audio input on the MP7. The audio input also has a real time volume control on the front panel of the MP7. When you play the keys (a song) on the MP7, your playing would trigger the new instrument sounds or any other MIDI functions on the iPad, and then you could hear those new sounds coming back through the audio input in the MP7 which would go out to your external audio speaker system or stereo headphones. You can control the input device volume directly from the MP7 using a volume slider control independent of the other volume controls on the MP7 piano. The controlling aspect is further enhanced because you can assign your iPad device to one of 4 zones/channels of the MP7 and activate the MP7 independently or in conjunction with the sounds in the MP7 (as I mentioned earlier). In other words, adding iPad apps including Garage Band, is like adding brand new sounds, drums, recording, effects, interactive music education, etc. You can also do this with a laptop computer interfacing with notation software for music composition or arranging all easily controlled by the Kawai MP7.  Professional players use iPad as well as MIDI sound modules, MIDI keyboards, virtual computer software for laptops, and other devices to add even more power to the MP7.

As far as additional connectivity on the MP7 goes, on the back of the piano it has MIDI in/out/thru/ audio outs, dual audio inputs, single damper pedal input, optional triple-pedal input for full acoustic piano pedals, expression pedal input to control expressive sustained instruments such as pipe organ, church organ, synths, strings, etc, all on the back of the piano. Kawai has (finally) written the names of the connectors on the top back of the piano directly over where the connectors are located so that you know where they are. Prior to this you's have to actually look behind the piano to know where to pug in things and that is always a big pain! So that has been taken care of too...and I commend Kawai for doing that. On the front of the piano it has a stereo headphone jack input and a USB flashdrive input. 

The cabinet color and case materials have been upgraded from the previous MP6 and is now a sleek semi-gloss textured black metal top as compared with a charcoal grey-black top that more of a plastic feel. Even the lettering/names of the functions and buttons are in a more contemporary design and the text is a brighter white and much easier to see. The pitch and modulation wheels which change the pitch and vibrato of any instrument, as well are assignable to control any number of functions on the piano, are standard on this model and have been moved into a more useable position than was on the MP6. Even the design of the keyboard cheek blocks (other the left and right side of the keyboard) have been redesigned for better functionality and are in a more durable material, and they just look better. The end caps of the piano are made of mahogany veneers and add a touch of class to this model which I like very much because the other stage pianos are typically all black/white plastic and/or metal. The piano weighs in at just 46lbs which is not light, but for this much piano given its durable metal construction (not plastic), solid cabinet, and hammer weighted keyboard, that's not bad. The piano measurements are approx 53' wide x 13' deep x 7' high, and Kawai produces its fitted own semi-hard travel case with wheels for those people who want to take the piano with them for events or functions.  

In the final analysis, after playing this new piano many times already, I believe the Kawai MP7 surpasses any other brand or model for what it does in its price range under or near $2000 including some some pianos over $2000, and what it does is pretty amazing both in features & functions offered, especially the realism of the acoustic piano playing experience. Ultimately the MP7 is designed for people who want, what I consider to be, the best overall combination of excellent responsive piano key action, acoustic & electric piano sound realism, user interface, and additional useful features all rolled up into one portable piano. Whether you are a beginner and just want to play piano without using most of the additional features, or you are someone at a higher skill level who also wants a piano they can grow into and you like using additional sounds and features, the Kawai MP7 is a very good choice. It looks good, sounds good, plays good, and allows you to make awesome music...so what more can you ask for?!

ES7 piano with optional cabinet

By the way, Kawai also makes another portable digital piano model with some features from the MP7 but in a much simpler form with a powerful built-in speaker system for people who want the excellent key action of the MP7 combined an impressive 256-note polyphony piano sound chip, and great acoustic piano sounds. This model is called the ES7 and it may be a good option in the same price range for people who will primarily want it to play piano along with a few "bread & butter" sounds such as great vintage electric pianos, strings, choirs, a few organs and lots of great editing effects and recording features. It even has its own very cool "one-man-band" interactive accompaniment section which the MP7 does not have. Check out my review of the ES7 at the following link: Kawai ES7 Review.  

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

*Listen to the MP7 demos below that I put together. All instruments & effects, including percussion, are played live by the MP7 in the MIDI format using the 16-track song playback feature with individual instrument volume and mute controls. There is a good variety of instrument sounds which you will hear in these song recordings and all MIDI performances were converted to audio wav files.

Jazz 1 

Classical Harpsichord Orchestra 

Classical Piano Orchestra 

Classical Pipe Organ 

Bluegrass! 

Ragtime! 

  
*I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!