I play both, still love the sound of acoustic. Digital is all I play when jamming with friends for the obvious hauling issues.

The other part you haven't mentioned- the sound of a digital keyboard must come through amp/speaker or combo and that's where most people scrimp and end up with a terrible sound. I use two (Yep two) of the highest end roland keyboard amp combo's to be able to reproduce the stereo effects and get deeper bass than a 9 foot grand. So my amps cost twice the cost of the keyboard and in my mind needs to- that's what your ears hear. It sounds awesome when jamming. When at home? It's always the acoustic grand for me, nothing can touch it yet. Just hit a nice note or chord and press down on the sustain pedal. You will know the difference between real pianos and digital ones after 3 seconds. Can't duplicate the sustain and natural note decay perfectly, and the harmonics of hammers, strings and wood seem more lifelike than any perfectly set up synthsizer.

Many musicians say that even high profile models are unable to do that. But there are few who mention those nuances. So what are they?

In other words, what is the limitation for a digital piano nowadays?

Is it possible that old pianists are too conservative and just don’t follow modern technologies?

One of the greatest piano teachers of all time, Mattahi, taught that there were 7 distinct sounds a pianist could get out of any note if the finger/wrist were adjusted to influence the blow to the string by the hammer. Let me see you do THAT on a digital piano!

I know this is a controversial topic, but it is interesting too. Having played exclusively digitals for 20 years I bit the bullet and got myself a Yamaha GC1 5'3" grand piano about five weeks ago (couldn't accommodate bigger).

I should say I've owned many many digital pianos including the Roland V-Piano, two other Supernatural-equipped Rolands and a Yamaha GranTouch (with full grand piano action).

My first impression of the acoustic was one of total wonderment at the....well, the....I don't know how to properly describe it....the amount of information in the sound (this is the best I can do). So I would say the nuances are about resonance, harmonics, overtones and....sustain. That quite shocked me, the length of the sustain...it just kind of goes on forever. An acoustic piano feels and sounds like a living thing and whilst I agree the V-Piano has some qualities absent in ALL other digitals it is still a long way off that feeling of "aliveness" (I know that word doesn't exist!).

Fast-forward to now...I have this small grand piano at home and I'm not playing it. I've arranged for the dealer to take it back. Why? It's too loud. WAY too loud. And the bass and lower mids are ugly (for want of a better word). That tuneless thud/twang that small grands and uprights tend to give in the lower areas I just cannot live with. That is 20 years of having digitals for you...they are phenomenal in the bass - for obvious reasons - you are hearing a 9 foot piano.

But the nuances are all there in an acoustic and are largely absent in all digitals...if you can mentally block out the bad bits (the unmusical bass and drifting tuning) and enjoy the good bits for what they are I think a decent acoustic offers an experience that stimulates ALL the senses. I now never would knock acoustics...but they are not for me until and unless I can get a reasonably large, sound-proof room in which I can fit a quality grand piano of at least seven feet in length. Until then....digitals I'm afraid.

Just my thoughts...

Steve

The comments above, while interesting and potentially enlighening, focus on the sound produced. I would like to focus on the experience of playing the instrument.

To be brief, there is nothing like playing an acoustic piano. You are playing a musical instrument, and you and the piano together are producing music. Granted, pianos are machines, but they have myriad moving parts, and they produce nothing without you.

So if the experience of playing is important to you, in my view an acoustic piano is the right choice. Incidentally, the experience of playing is a vital part of playing the piano for me.

There has to be a reason that most piano teachers insist that their pupils play on acoustic pianos. They can't all be Luddites.

I just can't get rid out of the feeling that digital piano is calculate music through the microcontrollers and not give full control of music(

Listen to recordings of both and see if you can tell which is digital and which is acoustic (though all recordings will have to go through an amplifier and speakers).