Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Amplified or miked grand piano

I love the look, feel and sound of a full concert grand.
Oddly enough I like the same attributes in Ferraris
Sadly I will not be purchasing either item in my lifetime

Since many grands end up being miked and amplified for stage use, it kind of negates the total acoustic argument against digital keyboards

My question is how close can a digital piano get to a grand piano sound with the right speakers and amps of course
Which model(s) have the best approximation on the market right now?

No, it doesn't, actually. You're thinking about it from an audience standpoint. As a player, you feel the vibrations through the instrument, not just hear the sound coming from the speakers. More importantly, it is the feel and responsiveness of an acoustic grand in good condition that a digital cannot touch.



This really is subjective, but the samples out there now are quite good. You may want to check out the digital piano forum for more info on the latest models. Usually the question is: how much do you want to spend?

To me, the operative word is "play". I know people who have expensive pianos but they live in a

condo/apartment and are resticted by the neighbours who can hear their piano - during the day or night, etc.

Does anybody know of anybody who lives in an appartment or condo costing millions or billions of dollars and are

able to play their piano 24 hours a day in any volume. Could John Lennon and his band, the Beatles, play as a band in the apartment/condo in New York City where he and Yoko lived? I don't know. You should know that these days all the people I know own or play a piano have ALL bought digital pianos in addition to the piano - and we all know why.

I live in a shack valued at about 6,000. and can play the piano anytime - even though I play it at all times

softly because I don't want the street people and the criminals to know I am home.

So the question is: how do you want to live your life? I am a beginner, but - if I have a good electronic piano and play well, because I can practice anytime, then when the opportunity arises, I can play the most expensive Steinway on the planet - given the opportunity -

I have a Clavinova and is it great, nice to play, big speakers not like my electronic keyboard. When I got a

piano I was humbled by the sound, intimidated by its mere presence in my 450 sq ft shack - call it a studio -

and a livingroom small enough that the piano takes up half the livingroom so there is no furniture except the

piano - no room for an audience. The piano is the last item I will buy in my lifetime. When you get to play a
piano, you don't need anything else except food to eat and a safe place to sleep.

Miking a good acoustic is still light years better than a digital, they are not the same...

Adding midi to an acoustic is different...my tech worked on the E street band piano (Yamaha c-3) and it is setup with midi and sounds better than any digital I've every heard...

>My question is how close can a digital piano get to a grand piano sound with the right speakers and amps of course

As said above, this is totally subjective. Some here rave about their DP. I think they all sound like crap, lacking attack and authority. I think the problem is the speakers and that there are maybe no "right speakers" for piano to start with.

From what I've heard, I can always tell the difference between acoustic and digital piano recordings, even if I'm not told which is which. The copy just isn't as good as the real thing, IMO.

Many on the digital piano forum think that the best sounding 'electronic' pianos are not via inbuilt digital piano sounds but from software 'VST pianos' run on a PC but still controlled from a digital. Of course this is evolving onto to iPad and similar.

Elton John's piano sound for the Million Dollar Piano show in Las Vegas is a combination of Yamaha Motif 8 rack units and surprisingly old school Roland MKS-20 piano modules. The piano is a fully functioning Yamaha grand but none of the acoustic sound is blended in with the digital for house or monitors. I don't suppose this makes it the best except as it serves EJ. I present it because EJ has full discretion and the means to have it anyway he wants on the show and this all digital set-up was the choice.

Kurt