...as it is, (or haven't a good enough ear to tell when it is out of tune), ...

Snazzy

Of course it does, Glenn...why, do you have that problem?

I have an acoustic and a digital...I've never had to deal with that kind of issue.

Good luck.

Snazzy

What this thread has demonstrated more than anything is that there of course is a whole range of approaches to piano playing partly determined by level, expectations, style, genres and experience...

We can all agree that the convenience and cost of using a DP is significant and we all probably use and have used some sampled or modelled instrument of some kind either for practice, out of financial necessity or out of preference.

I think genre is a significant factor. The demands for pianists involved in the pop, rock, light or Jazz based arenas may also be different to the extent that the full capabilities of the piano as an instrument are not realised as much as in classical playing.. I don’t play piano seriously in these genres and I don’t feel confident about backing that up but it would appear to be the case.

......... Some of these qualities are captured in today’s digital instruments but others remain to be fully replicated: these qualities have been discussed in this thread - dynamics, resonance, key action, the effect of the pedals, the “life” and responsiveness unique to a real acoustic polyphonic instrument. It goes without saying that it is impossible to master these subtleties on a DP because they are unrealisable..


....... I agree with those who say that a DP is for many reasons a better practical choice than a really bad acoustic piano but perhaps for a bundle of reasons not entirely musical.

Digital pianos have made no impact on serious classical playing and I doubt there are any serious classical pianists and few advanced students who use them as their main practice instrument even. No classical pianists use them to record classical piano. Of course why would they if they don’t need to but the real reason is that its unthinkable because the real instrument is required.

DP manufactures’ and creators of sampled instruments make bold claims about their products to seduce the public into thinking they are buying the equivalent of the real thing. That is one of my complaints. It sells short what a real piano is and what piano playing as an art is about. One thing that amuses me is how cunningly chosen are the demo tracks offered by the manufactures. They tend to emphasize the dry un-pedalled qualities of the instrument at the expense of the subtleties involved in music rich in dynamic contrast and complex pedalling.

Those in this forum who doggedly defend their DPs have every right to do so for their own reasons but in the content of the debate about their usefulness in classical piano they are just wrong or simply don’t understand the richness of the thing under discussion. Maybe this is what the manufacturers of DPs rely upon.

Perhaps its going too far to say that the digital will never emulate the acoustic but my experience is that although DPs have improved and go on improving, they are in some senses a different instrument altogether. It remain to be seen where they end up but they have yet to cross some divide or make a decisive leap into something quite different before they emulate a decent grand.