Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Chase CDP-240BK OR Axus D2 Digital Piano? (Edited)

I have had a 61-key keyboard since I started piano but I feel that it is starting to impact on my progress as I learn pieces that require the other octaves(this forces me to only play half of the octave and changes the overall sound and strength of the sound.

I have decided to buy a digital piano but I have a small budget.

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EDIT

I realise that they aren't very well known brands and they don't seem to have gotten good comments, so after looking through a couple of brands I have a new choice of 3:

1) Yamaha YDP141

2)Casio PX-730BKC5

3) Yamaha YDP141C

The Casio is the cheapest, but I want to know

i) What digital piano do you think is best?
ii) Which one do you think will last the longest
iii) Do I need a piano stool? Currently I use a regular chair(no armrests)

Thanks.

I've never seen any mention of the Chase nor the Axus brands.

Everything here is about Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, Casio, Korg, and the occasional Kurzweil.

There have been a few scattered posts about Suzuki and Williams. But the off-brands don't seem to curry much favor.

The chances are that they're made in the same factory. Evidently you have a budget of at least £400 in which case look at Yamaha p95 and Casio px130 (both of these are currently being phased out so look for competitive pricing)

They are probably both an upgrade from your current keyboard. But really when spending at the limit of your budget you ought to touch and see them first. I know Amazon has a good returns policy, and you might get lucky. They are not mainstream models so not many people, if any, on here will be able to provide you some thoughts.

What I think I would do is visit a couple of music stores first, and just look around, and play, and ask, to get a feel for what's available close to your budget, new or second-hand. Then armed with that knowledge make a decision from there.

It's possible that these unknown manufacturers could come out with a good product that is significantly better value than the established brands. It's just that for each good off-brand product there are several that are just junk.

Of the two, I find the Axus ad to be a bit less cheapo-looking, but you can't tell what they are like from the write-up. The feature lists are pretty much irrelevant, and it comes down to what the key feel and sound reproduction is like, and how long they last. The only way you can get some idea of that is to actually play it and see how it goes.

The safer options are the known brands such as Yamaha P series, or Casio PX or CDP series in this price bracket. The budget no-name models might add good competition to the market, but it will take guinea pigs trying them to prove their worth.

Come on all of you! You are ignoring the obvious here. Never mind helping the OP with suggestions - just revel in the unmitigated awfulness of this video! One of the very worst - right up there with the videos of Sulinda DPs on YouTube. That EP sound - Epic fail! The "jazz" organ, the piano, the strings. Someone was very determined to ensure that absolutely everything about the Chase DP is total shite, including their advertising videos. Great laugh though - although surely it's not appropriate to employ an old man with learning difficulties to present sales videos?

Anyway, I suppose I should justify the presence of my response by offering advice to the OP - buy a second-hand Yamaha P85 or Casio PX-130. Or anything. Anything at all. Just not a Chase DP (or a Sulinda DP).

It could be good, bad or awful. Or so so.

Problem is with an unheard of brand or a rebadged you're taking a risk.

But

Seriously a Casio PX135 can be bought for £415 off ebay (off a dealer) that £15 is going to be well spent. The its a shop called Normans. It has everything that CDP240 has and comes from a well known big company.

A lot of those Chase CDP, Asux etc are rebadged Chinese Medeli brand.

http://www.medeli.com.hk/products/dp/index.html

The fact it has to latch onto the Casio CDP namesake... makes me feel uneasy.

I take some of comments back. The Chase is practically a 9 foot Steinway compared to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GByHMBpObfA

(Enjoy)

I can only assume those two are probably not very good or realistic piano simulators. If it were me I would save for a little while longer and buy an instrument from one of the Big 3 (Big 4?) makers. I do understand that 600-700GBP can be a lot of money but you would probably be happier in the long run.

I take it you know the gentleman well, which qualifies you to make an uncalled for, ill mannered, personal comment about him?

Lighten up man.

@Teenagepiano,

As mentioned above I would avoid those brands and take a look at Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, Casio,* Korg,* and, Kurzweil* digitals.

*Extra note:

There are also question marks regarding sustainable decay and sufficient actions with Casio, Korg, and, Kurzweil.

So, I would go with Roland, Yamaha, and, Kawai.

Any other brand usually spells "trouble."

I'll gladly take this Schoenhut, instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fL1k4Yu0eM

Has real strings with dampers, too!

Difficult to find one, though:

http://www.ronjuneshop.com/sc44repibgrp.html

Here's one, in red:

http://www.amazon.com/Schoenhut-String-Baby-Grand-Piano/dp/B001M1OZOS

Or, an upright:

http://www.madisonartshop.com/44key-string-upright.html?cmp=amazon-ppc&kw=44key-string-upright

Sold out:

http://www.tsctoys.com/sc44keystbag.html

Here's a white one, however, can't find any in black:

http://www.pianosforkids.com/white-44-key-string-baby-grand-piano_details

They all require real tuning, also.

Medelli pianos really suck. I tried once one rebranded by Thomann. Every aspect (sound, decay, damper pedal, action...) was wrong! If I would started learning on one of them, I would quitted for sure.

I totally agree with the other members: it's better making a safe bet and choosing a leading brand. Even the cheaper model of a big company will have a minimum quality that the others cannot reach, not even close to (and there isn't such a price gap, high quality starter DP's are relatively affordable).

I've edited the OP with 3 different digital pianos, consisting of Yamaha and Casio.

Urgh..I wish I had enough money and space to buy a grand piano

Is there a reason that you want a furniture type?

With the Casio range rather than the 730 you'd probably do better getting a 150.
With Yamaha probably P105.

I planned to stick with this purchase and I didn't want to have to buy a new piano because it doesn't have the right pedals for the piece I want to learn.

My teachers' piano also has 3 pedals and I think this will make the transition from digital piano to real piano easier when I play on uprights in my teachers studio, etc.

Pretty sure the only difference between the YDP-141 and YDP-141C is the colour of the veneer on the cabinet, with the the C version for "light cherry". So purely personal preference on appearance between those two.

The YDP-141 is similar to the P-105, but with the cabinet and pedals. If you get the matching stand and pedals for the P-105, it may end up costing nearly as much. The YDP-141 is pretty reasonable, but probably not as favoured as the YDP-161, because the 161 steps up to the higher grade of keyboard (GH rather than GHS) and so stands out as a good value option.

The PX-730 would be similar to the PX-130, but with the cabinet. It has been supersceeded by the improved PX-750, so you might be seeing a good deal because of that. With a price low enough, it would be good value.

For these models, I prefer the Yamaha feel, but opinion seem pretty divided on this forum between the Yamaha and Casio. With the lower price on the Casio, it might be giving you the better value option.

Both the Casio PX150 and Yamaha P105 can be had with 3 pedal stands .... I'd stick with either of those.