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| Casio CDP120 |
UPDATED REVIEW - June 10, 2013 - TWO NEW PORTABLE DIGITAL PIANOS UNDER $500 - I recommend the new Yamaha P35 (left pic below) & Casio CDP120 (left pic above) basic 88-key lightweight portable digital pianos (both $449 internet price each). Although it's sometimes good to spend as little money as possible to get a new 88-key digital piano, there are certain things you should know about before you buy. For most people looking for a good but inexpensive digital piano, it can be very difficult to determine whether or not an instrument is right for you. Low price does not always equate with the best "deal" either. This may be the case with the Casio CDP120 and Yamaha P35 (the P35 is a stripped down version of the Yamaha P95). They both sell for the identical internet price ($449 each), have similar features (which a couple of exceptions), and can be adequate for a time depending on your musical background and playing/learning goals.
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| Yamaha P35 |
Both instruments are very basic in design, functions, sound, and key action but are better than any 61 or 76 note keyboards out there in that the piano key action is clearly more realistic than keyboards are, and that's a good thing. The Yamaha P35 has 10 instrument sounds with a fairly nice sounding piano tone for it's size, as opposed to 5 instrument tones on the Casio (the difference is no big deal really since most people seldom use the other instrument tones). The Casio CDP120 has a nice piano tone for its size and has 48 note polyphony piano memory as opposed to 32 note polyphony on the Yamaha (better on the Casio but not a huge upgrade over the Yamaha). Polyphony is the amount of computer memory used to create a good piano sound, and just so you know, the average amount of polyphony memory on new digital pianos these days is 128-note polyphony or 4 times as much as the Yamaha P35 and 3 times as much as the Casio CDP120. This extra polyphony (piano/instrument key memory) will be important as you progress in your piano playing and lessons so that you get a more realistic piano experience along with better dynamics, overtones, expression, etc as well as having better digital power to combine 2 instrument sounds together. Both Yamaha and Casio have upgraded piano models with a lot more polyphony memory (and other features) for just $599 each. Those models are brand new Yamaha P105 and Casio Privia PX150 (see links below).
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A great way to learn how to play is to be able to record your playing one hand or the other and then play it back to hear how you did or to play along with it using the other hand that you did not record. You can slow down the playback speed to accomplish this task and it works well. Neither the Casio CDP120 or Yamaha P35 can do this but the two models above them do have that function (digital recording) and it's quite useful and I recommend it to all my students as well as using that function myself when I want to learn or play separate parts. It's pretty cool and definitely worth having if at all possible.
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| Casio CDP120 |
As far as key action moment, although both the Yamaha P35 and Casio CDP120 are much better than cheaper keyboards, the key action on both of them is nowhere near the new Casio Privia PX150 ($599 not incl optional furniture stand or 3-pedal unit) or PX750 ($799 internet price - includes both the furniture stand & 3-pedal unit) in reproducing the acoustic piano playing experience. The key action movement in the upgraded Yamaha P105 ($599 internet price not incl stand or pedals) is identical to the Yamaha P35 which is OK but still does not feel like a real piano, at least to me based on my experience. I was hoping the new upgraded Yamaha P105 would have a better, more realistic key action like the upgraded Casio PX150, but it does not. So by default, the Casio PX150 wins "hands down" in that way over the Yamaha P105, and that is the number one most important thing to look for when buying a digital piano for any price...proper piano key action moment so that you can keep the piano for a long time and not have to worry about needing to buy something else later on, unless you want to.
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| Casio PX150 with stand & pedals |
Another thing you cannot do on either the Casio CDP120 or Yamaha P35 is add a traditional 3-pedal unit to the piano. A full 3-pedal unit will give the student/player the experience of playing a real upright acoustic piano when it comes to the pedaling, which is important as you progress in your music. The "half-pedal feature" and the Yamaha P105 and Casio CDP120 is also helpful to students as they progress in their skill level. Optional 3-pedal units from Yamaha & Casio are relatively inexpensive and easy to add to both the Yamaha P105 and Casio Privia PX150, but they cannot be added to the lower price pianos I am talking about here. Also, the sustain pedal length (decay time) is somewhat short compared with with the Yamaha P105 and Casio PX150. Decay time is the amount of time the sound will stay resonating when you press down the sustain pedal after you play a key on the piano. This function is also important as you progress in your skill level and the Casio CDP120 and Yamaha P35 have relatively short sustain/decay time. This makes it harder to play legato, slower music and have longer pedal sustain resonance. As a beginner you will not notice this deficiency, but if you have played regular acoustic piano for any length of time or are at a higher skill level, this situation may bother you.
These pianos are lightweight, easy to carry, easy to use, and fun to play for basic piano practice and playing (especially over using a keyboard) and I do recommend both the Yamaha P35 and Casio CDP120 digital pianos if you have very limited funds. But I do so only if you cannot spend slightly more money on the better pianos such as the Yamaha P105 and Casio PX150. When you really analyze it, if you plan on keeping the piano for at least a few years (most people keep their inexpensive digital pianos for about 3-5 years), the $150 difference in price for the better piano over a 3 year period is only about 4 dollars per month, and if you keep the piano longer than 3 years then your cost of ownership per month obviously goes down even further.
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| Casio PX750 |
I would recommend you consider investing in the better piano if possible (especially the new Casio Privia PX150 or PX750 with the better key action movement) because it will payoff in the long run in lots of great ways along with holding its value better because of the better functions, much better key action, and vastly upgraded polyphony memory amount. Either way, the bottom line is; get a good digital piano (regardless of price) and experience the happiness and joy that it can bring you and/or family. That's the most important thing! If you want to learn more about the other pianos I have mentioned here, please go to my reviews at the following links below:
Yamaha P105 ReviewCasio PX150 ReviewCasio PX750 ReviewIf you want more info on these and other pianos and lower prices than internet or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call me direct at 602-571-1864
