UPDATED REVIEW - May 1, 2022 - Digital Pianos for 2022 and beyond - What new digital piano models are coming from Yamaha, Casio, Kawai, Roland, Korg, and others in 2022? FIND OUT HERE | LOWER PRICES HERE | The previous year 2021 has been the most challenging year ever with regard to lack of digital piano product availability from all major suppliers, new price increases, some piano stores going out of business throughout the US, increased consumer demand, and just overall uncertainty of our economy these days.
Speaking of the US economy, now we all are dealing with "inflation" for the first time in many years and it's going up much more quickly than most of us expected. High gas prices, high food prices, high housing prices, and overall much higher cost of living. There are many causes that can contribute to inflation, but regardless, we have it. So you put all this together with product shortages, price increases, and continuing supply chain issues, and unfortunately things don't look any better with regard to digital pianos for the remainder of 2022.
One of the main culprits contributing to uncertainty for digital pianos in 2022 is the world-wide computer chip shortage. It's a very serious situation affecting all of the digital piano manufacturers, some more than others. But it is a very real thing and I don't see it ending anytime soon. My best educated guess is that we will have digital piano product shortages through all of 2022 on many brands and popular models. Computer chips are in high demand for all kinds of consumer products and digital pianos are no exception. In fact demand for consumer chips worldwide is so strong that some of the overseas chip manufacturers are currently building multi-million dollar chip making factories right here in the US (it's about time) hoping it eases product delays here in the US one day asap.
TOP DIGITAL PIANO BRANDS RIGHT NOW
The Kawai piano company recently announced that they will "temporarily" reduce or stop production on at least 4 of their most popular digital piano models raging from approx $1500 to over $4000. These current model pianos have been extremely popular for the Kawai company but apparently they will not be able to get many or any computer chips for these models until sometime in later 2022.
Kawai really does not know when their digital pianos will be produced again in normal supplies because they don't really have control over computer chip production since those raw chips comes from other companies. The Kawai digital piano lineup right now includes the ES110, KDP75, KDP120, ES520, ES920, MP7SE, MP11SE, VPC-1, CN29, CN39, CA49, CA59, CA79, CA99, NV5S, and NV10S. All of these models are very impressive and start at $900 and go up well past $10,000.
Yamaha is having their own share of production delays and their most popular digital piano models including Yamaha digital grand pianos are very hard to get right now. Depending on the model, they will likely be delayed for approx 1-4 months or more for any new orders. That ETA could change but for now they are having big difficulties for all the reasons that other manufactures are experiencing including computer chip shortages, shipping delays from overseas, labor shortages, etc. In fact, Yamaha is so oversold on some models like the popular CLP-795GP digital mini grand piano at $7999 that it could be until near the end of the year 2022 until there is availability for new orders!
Yamaha's most popular portable & home cabinet models right now include the P-45, P125, DGX-670, YDP-103, YDP-S34, YDP-144, YDP-164, YDP-184, CLP725, CLP-735, CLP-745, CLP-765GP, CLP-775, CLP-785, CLP-795, CSP-150, CSP-170, CVP-701, CVP-805, CVP-809, CVP-809GP, NU1X, N1X, N2X, and N3X. Yamaha actually has more models (from their pro keyboard division) than that but I have listed only their popular cabinet and home portable models. Yamaha has, by far, the largest amount of models of digital piano manufacturers out there.
Roland is having the same issues as Yamaha with their most popular models are also delayed for possibly many months. Roland has many models of digital pianos including FP-30X ($860), FP-60X ($1229), FP-90X ($2449), F701 ($1450), RP701 ($1730), HP702 (approx $2400, HP704 (approx $3200), LX706, LX708, GP607, and GP609 at over $10,000. However, like Yamaha, Roland also produces pro stage digital pianos, electronic guitar products, electronic drum products, and many other categories of music digital products which are experiencing product delays as well.
The Casio digital pianos company has also had delays. But even though their home digital pianos are very popular, the Casio company has seemingly been able to get ahead of the curve of product shortages where the wait time for their piano models is not near as long as Yamaha, Kawai, or Roland. This is surprising considering that Casio sells far more "units" of digital pianos and keyboards than does any other digital piano company.
The current Casio models over $500 include PX-S1100 ($679), PX-S3100 ($879), PX770 ($849), PX870 ($1099), AP-270 ($1199), AP470 ($1699), AP-710 ($2699), GP-310 ($4199), and GP-510 ($6199). Casio also has some portable models and many 61 key keyboards under $500 which I have not listed here nor did I list the Yamaha or Roland portable digital pianos under $500. Of the Casio cabinet models currently on the market, the most popular models by far are the PX-870 ($1099), PX470 ($1699), AP-710 ($2699), and GP-510 ($6199). However...get ready! Casio will be having an overall PRICE INCREASE coming June 1st, 2022. If you decide you want a new Casio digital piano, get yours ordered before June 1st or you will definitely be paying more money.
Korg is another major digital piano and keyboard company which is very popular with many of their products actually made in Japan as opposed to all made in China. Korg products are well known and used by professional musicians around the world for their quality piano key actions and piano sounds in attractive contemporary cabinets with powerful internal speaker systems. Korg is also having big product delays on their most popular models for as long as 3 months or more wait time.
The most popular Korg pianos right now are the B2SP ($649), XE20SP ($999), LP-380U ($1249), C1 Air ($1599), G1B Air ($1999), and SV2S ($2499). Korg has a few other portable digital pianos as well, but the ones I listed here are most popular. The Korg home cabinet digital pianos don't go beyond $2000 internet price whereas Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, and Casio all have models above $2000 and beyond.
TOP DIGITAL PIANO BRANDS FOR 2022
So what do things look like for new models this year in 2022? Well here's the confusion lately with that question. Starting with Yamaha, almost all of the Yamaha pianos out now, especially the Clavinova CLP and CVP series, have not been out very long. However the CSP Clavinovas have been out for a few years and it's my best (educated) guess that those 2 models called the CSP-150 & CSP-170 will be upgraded towards the end of 2022 with the newer Yamaha key actions along with some possible "tweaks" to the speaker system, cabinet design, and maybe a few of the Smart Pianist app functions. I also anticipate perhaps 2 more CSP models including a top of the line wood (longer key) key action model and also a CSP model in a mini grand cabinet (that would be very cool!)
Update:The Yamaha "Arius" home digital pianos between $1000 and $2000 have been manufactured for many years under different model names. The most recent Arius models between $1000 and $2000 called YDP-S34, YDP144, YDP-S54, and YDP-164 have just been replaced by new ones and a couple of these 2022 models are available now in limited supplies. Those new model numbers are YDP-S35 ($1199), YDP-145 ($1299), YDP-S55 ($1599), and YDP-165 ($1799).
These brand new models have also gone up in price approx 9-13% over the previous models. The price increases are due to new production and shipping cost increases because overall the new models have not changed much over the previous models. Cabinets are the same, key action is the same, internal speaker system is the same, and functions are pretty much the same. It would appear that Yamaha made some tweaks in the piano sound engine and improved it a bit along with upgrading the USB connectivity in a couple models, but that's about it.
I am disappointed that Yamaha did not improve their key action weight and key movement in the higher priced Arius models because those actions are somewhat heavy and stiff in my opinion, especially when playing more lightly. The higher priced Yamaha Clavinova models had the same issue and Yamaha just redesigned those key actions in a good way to improve playability so I was hoping Yamaha would do the same in these new Arius models, but they did not.
Roland has had their lineup of home digital pianos out for about 3-4 years but that's really not a long time in the world of digital pianos. The Roland FPX portable series just came out last year as did the 701 model pianos so those won't change for awhile until a couple years from now at least. The oldest models for Roland home pianos would be their digital grand pianos GP607 and GP609. Even though those 2 models are still popular for Roland, they are due for updates to key actions, piano sounds, additional features, etc. So unless Roland cannot catch up with production on current models, I do see a change coming for their digital grand pianos but I don't see any changes coming for their vertical (upright) style digital pianos.
But the real issue with Roland, like the other guys, is that their current lineup of digital pianos for the HP, LX, and GP series are still "sold out" in many cases and on back-order with big delays along with continued price increases. When that happens then the motivation for updating those models is much lower on the list of things to do and just getting current models produced in larger quantity usually becomes the most important task for those factories, and not so much making new models right away. At least that's how it usually goes.
The current model Kawai digital pianos overall are still fairly new in the last couple of years with some of them having just come out within the last 9 months or so. That means Kawai is likely not very motivated to bring out new product this year, especially considering their most popular digital pianos that I previously mentioned may not be available again until many months from now because of the severe computer chip shortage and that would include the CA series models CA49, CA59, CA79, and CA99.
There really could be a long wait for current model popular digital pianos from that company! So with regard to getting many Kawai digital piano models in 2022, it's going to continue to be difficult. We always have up-to-the-minute on these things, so ask us! The oldest models in the current lineup are the ES110, MP7SE, and MP11SE portable pianos. I do see changes coming for those models but not sure if it will happen later this year or not.
Casio may come out with a couple new models because they seem to be overall ahead of the inventory curve now and for the rest off the 2022 year as I mentioned before. They just came out with a new replacement for their popular portable model PX-S3000 (was $849) called the PX-S3100. The 2022 PX-S3100 is selling for $879 but it also has some very nice upgrades which more than makes up for the $30 price increase for the new model. The most popular current Casio PX-870 and AP-470 models do not have Bluetooth wireless connectivity yet whereas a few of their new portable digital pianos do have that technology. Remember...June 1st will be a Casio PRICE INCREASE so don't wait if you want a new Casio digital piano.
So when it comes to Casio, it is possible they'll upgrade a few of their current furniture cabinet models with the Bluetooth technology along with some other new features, perhaps at some point late in 2023. But they could also raise price of those models AGAIN accordingly, so we'll have to wait and see. I am also anticipating a couple brand new models by Casio either late 2022 or 2023 in the $2000 price range because I think they need one there and likely they have recognized that need as well.
Casio currently has the AP-470 at $1699 and their AP-710 at $2699, but they do not have a model in-between those prices. So it is a large jump in price from that model to the next and an additional model in that missing price range would help them out a lot and I would personally like to see that because they certainly have the technology for it.
Korg just recently updated their LP-380 piano ($1249) to include a USB port because it did not have one before. They now call that new model the LP-380U and I have done a review of that model. The other Korg cabinet pianos are still "relatively new" and have been selling so well for them over the past couple years that I really don't see any changes in 2022 for those models, especially because they have also had extensive product delays from their factories because of computer chip shortages and shipping delays in general.
ADDITIONAL PIANO INFORMATION
The bottom line is this: If current model digital pianos by the main manufacturers are not that old and still selling better than ever because of the pandemic with increased product demand couple with some severe product shortages, I really think there will be very little overall product change among the major digital piano manufacturers for the remainder of 2022. I believe there will be a few new models perhaps, but not many. If there are some changes or new additions then likely we won't see them until late in the year 2022 or into 2023.
The off-brand digital piano companies that regular piano stores typically do not carry are names that you can find at big consumer products stores like Costco, Guitar Center, and other similar businesses. They sell brands that are usually exclusive to them and some of those brands are "house brands" that they have made for them from factories in China. Based on my experiences playing those models, they are not anywhere near the capabilities of the name brands in being able to produce an authentic piano playing experience, and actually a few of them are not good at all in some notable ways which generally have to do with the piano playing experience.
Off-brands, (not the well known name brands generally seen in piano stores), include Williams, Suzuki, Artesia, Donner, Eastar, Kurzweil, the One, and a few others. Their digital pianos are not bad, and a few of them have some pretty cool "bells & whistles" on them as well as some nice looking cabinets. But I would personally not recommend them because of my disappointment with those key actions, the piano sound realism, and pedaling issues that I have found on many of those models. In most cases those brands just don't allow you to have a good piano playing experience...and for me that's ultimately what it is all about. Off brands can be less money but you "usually get what you pay for" as the old saying goes.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When it comes to the purchase of a new digital piano, in my opinion it should not just be about the lowest price, a beautiful cabinet, or bells & whistles like color touch screen, or big speakers. It should be more about how good can that instrument be in trying to recreate the piano playing experience you would get on a good acoustic upright or grand piano. In that way those off-brands as I call them just don't cut it at all and that's why they are a cheap price.
If you want the best piano playing experience that you can get for around $500 to well over $10,000, then stay with the name brands including Kawai, Casio, Yamaha, Roland, and Korg. They offer the best and most realistic piano performance, best authenticity, best durability, best warranties, and best resale value of all the brands out there.
Don't get fooled by "slick advertising" and slick promotional videos for some of those off-brands that I mentioned. I have done reviews of most of those lesser known brands and models so that you can know more about their pianos As for those brands possibly coming out with new models yet in 2022, it's possible but I doubt it because they are having similar production delay issues and most of their models are still relatively new from what I can see.
If you are wanting an up-to-date, new digital piano which will offer a great piano playing experience from a name brand digital piano company...do not "wait" for any new models. Other than what I mentioned here, they likely won't have much (if anything) in 2022 in the way of new models beyond what I have already talked about. You'll be fortunate just to get what you want in the major recommended brands anytime soon in 2022 because product supply is delayed now and into the future, shipping delays from overseas are still a big problem, and computer chip shortages unfortunately may likely get worse before they get better.
I have heard from reliable sources that Kawai has a customer waiting period on many of their popular newer digital pianos of 3 months to 4 months or more as I have mentioned earlier which means new orders now will take even longer to get. Roland has severe product shortages with a waiting time of more than 3 months on some of their most popular digital pianos as does Korg. Casio is doing better (as I mentioned earlier) but is close to running out again of their popular models and is currently out of their top-of-the-line popular Grand Hybrid GP-310 ($4199) and GP-510 which sells on-line at $6199, and they're getting very low on their other popular models in the lower price ranges. Yamaha has 4 popular models called CSP series along with CLP-745 and CLP-795GP that may not be available for up to 6 - 9 months from now...yep...crazy stuff!
I have been told by a number of people around the country waiting for their piano orders that they are still waiting for their piano order to come in that was placed over 6 months ago or more. This is not counting new orders placed now. It really is that bad.
So again, if you want a new name brand digital piano anytime in the near future, please do not wait. Take my advice and put in your order now or as soon as possible. Most places will allow you to order with a relatively small deposit that can be refundable should the piano not come in or if you get to a point where you don't want to wait any longer.
So my recommendation is...get in line, know that you have to wait awhile, and be patient...you'll eventually get the piano you want and likely have it for years to come. So what's another few months when you'll have it for many, many years into the future?! Also...please contact us before you buy any piano from anyone. We will help you get what you want (and maybe even sooner) and at lower prices with free shipping and no tax, brand new.
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.
