Hi all,

I'm in the market for a digital piano. I live in a town without a large selection of pianos I can actually get my hands on.

I did manage to play a Kawai ES4 which I can get for $1495 w/ stand and sustain pedal. I love the look of it! It has all of the cable ins and outs I need (nice wattage at 26), 96 polyphony and decent onboard speakers. I can't really price compare because this particular piano is apparently only available through dealers(?)

Other contenders seem to be the Roland FP7 or the Yamaha P120. Others? Of course, not being able to play and hear these other models makes it hard to compare. I want to spend somewhere between $1000-1500.

My background: I can read music, have been in and out of playing an (old) upright for years. I'm at the point now where I really want to ramp up my playing time. I like the reliablity and size of a digital. I can practice with headphones and experiment with MIDI. If I ever become good enough to play with a small group, portability is a plus.

I guess my real questions are: 1) is that a reasonable deal for an ES4 and 2) should someone in my position go through the effort of tracking down and trying other comparable DP's?

I had the ES4 for a year and didn't like it much for various reasons. The P120 I hated. I like the new FP4 and the FP7.

I did read about your key grease issues. Aside from that, what do the Roland's do for you that the Kawai doesn't?

rintincop is a troll who throws in caustic statements about everything but what he owns at the moment. Ignore him.

I recommend the Kawai ES4. I've used one since Feb 2006 professionally and have had no problems or complaints with it. It looks, plays and sounds great. It also has a beautiful semi-gloss finish. The internal speakers are nice for lots of uses but they lack bass IMHO and I use a keyboard amp at gigs. My sole complaint is that the ES4 has some built-in drum patterns that are all but useless because they are hard to select.

Your price is close to what I paid for my ES4 however I got a Kawai-brand softcase with mine instead of a stand which has really been helpful in keeping the piano looking like new.

Below is a picture of my ES4 on an Ultimate V-Stand with a Music Pad Pro. Since the Music Pad Pro has an MP3 player - I run the audio from it to the input of the ES4 for playing backing tracks.

Hello,

I must say that I still find the ES4 as a wonderful choice for many points, but the one that makes the difference is the "finesse" of the touch.

All the best

Wow, the ES4 sure does look pretty. It doesn't look as complicated as the MP5 and has those helpful internal speakers!

I'm trying to find a showroom that has one ready to play. Can anyone point me in the right direction in the NYC area?

I checked the Kawai US site, but nothing remotely helpful comes up.

It's done- ES4 it is! I just didn't have the luxury of trying out different keyboards.

After about an hour of playing, I have no complaints. It's fairly easy to change functions; a lot of hold this down while pressing this. But honestly, I don't think it is much of an issue.

As for keyboard response and piano sound, well, perhaps later after listening, playing and actually have a chance to compare with another piano will I be able to comment more intelligently.

The dealer threw in a bench, a Gator carrying case and a few fake books so I'm pretty happy.

I'll be sure to post as I learn and discover! Thanks for those to reponded!