I'm kind of a traveling idea salesman in my day life, and I hate not being able to practice on the 75 or so nights a year I spend at hotels.

Anyone else in a similar situation?

The options seem to be:

1. Skip practicing those nights (what I'm now doing -- or not doing).

2. Find a piano on the road and play it (at the hotel, a school, a friend's, a music store, etc.).

3. Get the best combination of portability/touch I can find in a portable keyboard, take it along, and keep the nights from being practice wastelands.

Most of my trips are flights, so an 88-key DP doesn't seem too feasible. Is there anything that can be carried onto a plane that will stand up to the beating and bear enough resemblance to the experience of playing a real piano that it would be worth the effort?

Am I missing something obvious, like the prevalance of practice pianos at good hotels, piano stores that rent practice time, etc.?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions/thoughts.

How strong are you? I bet you could get one of the lighter gigging pianos and a hard case to put it in and check it (not carry it on). My old piano was 35 pounds or something. The CP33, for example, is 40 pounds. Still pretty heavy and awkward to carry around though.

There was a thread a bit ago where someone had actually cut their piano down so it was 76 keys or fewer. The electronics sometimes don't go all the way to the end of the board. That may be another possibility if you are into DIY.

I used to travel sometimes with a "stick bass" that collapsed into a hardshell golf bag case. With all the traveling accoutrements, I'm sure that package was between 50-60 lbs. I could DO it, but it wasn't worthwhile, since the experience of playing the stick bass wasn't close enough to playing a real upright bass to make the practice experience all that valuable.

So tell me about the CP-33. When you traveled with your gigging piano, did you need a stand, and if so, how much did that weigh? Did it come with a hardshell case, or was that an extra? Did the stand fit into the case, or did you have to manage that separately?

Any other thoughts I should toss in the hopper?

On the playing side of things, how satisfying did you find the action? My piano at home is an AvantGrand N2, and while I don't expect the same keyboard/action in a travel pack, how good is the action on something like a CP-33? How good does it sound through headphones?

I've never traveled enough to take a piano around with me, but I'm pretty sure you'd find the action and headphone sound quite satisfying, for a travel instrument.

If I traveled a lot (especially by airplane) I probably wouldn't mess with taking a stand. Hotels typically have a desk about the right height.

You could also go cheaper/lighter and look to the lower end keyboards since it's just a secondary instrument. The sound would not be as good nor would the action be, but it's a compromise for weight. Someone else may have a suggestion--someone with the experience.

Good luck! I'll be interested to see what other ideas people on the forum come up with.

The CP33 has the same GH action used in other Yamaha stage pianos. More than a few people have used these for paid public performances. The GH action has a feel that is a lot like all the other mid to higher end Yamahas except the AvantGrand. It has one of the more "firm" feel keys in the industry. Yamaha is know for that. The sound is good enough for practice but not solo performance. You can however have world class sound if you also have a computer in your room and can run a virtual instrument on it. But you should not need that for practice.

But really. A CP33 in a ATA flight case is going to come in close to 90 pounds and will cost a FORTUNE to ship as baggage. And if you go for a lighter non-ATA case the airline, rightly so, will refuse to cover any damage. You need a real "ATA" case, those are the big black wood cases with aluminum corners and butterfly handle latches the weight 50 pounds empty and cost about $500. DOn't buy the cheap ones sold at Guitar Centers. Get one mad with 1/2 baltic birch and 2" packing foam. The case will be full-on huge looking.

Better idea, I think is a small 26 key midi controller. Of course you can't play classical music on that but you can practice other things. Work on chord voicing ideas, left hand bass lines and, you'll think of stuff. Maybe all you play is classical but having a short keyboard and many nights in a hotel room will give you reason to branch out into genre that will "work" on a short keyboard. Lean to play some non-piano patches. Learn to do multi-track recording and you can lay down an entire concerto in 26 keys and Garage Band

If you need 88 piano weighted keys and decent road worthy quality the Yamaha CP33 stage piano in a ATA flight case is about as economical as you will find. But that is kind of nuts. Better give up on the 88 keys requirement and find something that will fit under the seat and then adapt your practice to fit your new instrument. If it goes under a seat then all you need is a light weight "gig bag" and you can lift it yourself without help.

Very helpful thoughts, Chris.

Are there any choices in between an 88 key stage piano and a 26 key midi controller?

Cost isn't the big issue for me here; portability and the quality of the action are much more important issues.

Chris, so you feel like the 15 pound ones won't survive a flight?

Something like this maybe?

Recently I got tired of bringing my 88 to a gig where I would only be playing a few songs. So I was looking for an alternative. I went with the Yamaha NP-30. 76 semi-weighted keys. Some cool features I was able to take advantage of. Can run on batteries, so completely portable, can play anywhere. On board speakers, again to play anywhere. Piano sample sounds pretty good. And the biggest advantage, a little over 10 pounds. Action is definitely softer, but not that bad for the weight trade off.

I was looking at the NP30 on Amazon. At the price it looks great. Too big to take on a plane easily though?

Well, since you basically indicated that price is not a consideration in this situation .... search for VAX77 Foldable Keyboard. It might be exactly what you want.

That's a pretty cool product, Don. Thanks for pointing it out. Take a little laptop with a software piano with you and you are golden.

I wonder how good the action is.

I don't even know if that product is actually being sold anywhere. I did not find anything with a recent date on it. Everything seemed to be 2007 - 2010.
So, it may not even be available.

Well, after a bit more searching I did find a website that appears to be the creator of this item. It is for sale at that site.

http://www.infiniteresponse.com

Wow. Now that's cool. Thanks Don, now I want one!

I've never flown with the NP-30, but it's smaller than a guitar (and thinner too) so I can't imagine it not traveling in an overhead bin.

Recent purchase experience here.

Cheers,
James
x

New to all this -- for purposes of this discussion, how does the Yamaha YPG235 compare to the NP30?

Discussion on some other threads suggests that other potential candidates might be the Yamaha NP11 and PSR E333.

The NP11 looks cleaner and more compact from what can be seen on the Amazon photo, and I wonder if the $10 price difference isn't to pay for a lot of synthesizer stuff that doesn't interest me.

Anyone have any experience with either of these? Portable? A touch/action that's "close enough for jazz"?

BTW, I didn't mean that money is NO issue in my quest -- only that it's not the most important issue. $3KUSD is a lot for a travel piano, especially one I've never heard or seen in person.

I'm not saying ABSOLUTELY NOT to the VAX, but I'm not there yet. Especially if I can get something for about $150 that's a decent experiment in travel pianism and at worst would be welcomed as a donation by some school or charity.

In the meantime, I wonder whether the next year or two will produce a less-expensive but still high-quality hinged keyboard. The idea sounds so compelling that I'll be surprised if no one else runs with it.

Didn't look at the specs, but the Yamaha 2___something boards are not velocity keyed--only loudness control is the knob. The review James links to, above, is impressive--much like others have written about the VAX77. So if $3500 is not an issue and you travel with a laptop.....

At the other end, do not overlook the NP-11. It will be as "playable" as the NP-30 but is only 41" long. The PSR/YPG boards are only 37", but 15" deep, where the NP's are just 10". Are airplane overheads more than 41"?

ClsscLib,

What the heck, American Musical will free ship you a "scratch and dent" NP 11 today for $124! Just make sure all features work, including the batteries.

Looks like the NP-11 is just the 61 key version of the NP-30. Looks very similar. If you think 61 keys is enough for you, I'd say that's a pretty good deal. Plus it's smaller and lighter.

The YPG is part of the home keys series, a little less professional sounding and comes with all the beats, play-along songs and stuff. The NP series is more of a lower professional line, similar quality to the higher end models, but stripped down for cost and portability. Would you guys say that's a fair assessment?

I have been taking the Jupiter along with me, but sometimes I just take my Novation SL MK2 49 key. Practicing on semi weighted on the road and weighted at home has made me very comfortable with both types of actions.

That's a good point. Especially if you plan to play any organ, getting used to both actions is a big advantage. I usually have 2 boards at gigs. Bottom board is weighted for piano/EP, etc sounds and the upper board (Roland RS-9) isn't for organ/strings/weird noises, etc.

If you have instrument software on your computer, maybe a little MIDI controller would be the way to go.

I have a NP 30 that I take to the beach (by auto) on vacation. But for air travel and at the office I use:

1. M Audio Key Rig 49 midi controller (feather light and not too long)
2. Small square DP cheapo damper pedal
3. Laptop with Pianoteq (I bought a laptop that has "relatively good" speakers so I don't need headphones.
4. A folder with "49 key pieces". All the notes of these pieces fall within the range of the keyboard. Of course the controller has octave shifting that can enable a final low note, etc.

You would be surprised at how much music is out there that falls within the 49 key range.