Hello!

I am new to this forum and am writing in from India. I am looking at buying my first digital piano having had a rented Rachals acoustic upright for the last 6 years. I also love accompaniments (bells and whistles) and have a 8 year old Casio keyboard/arranger which I am also looking at upgrading.

I have 2 options since I cannot afford an acoustic piano at this stage:

1.To buy a pure digital piano like the Yamaha CLPs or Roland HPs and an arranger alongwith it like the Roland E-09 or Yamaha S500

2.To buy a digital piano with a built in arranger like the Yamaha CVP series or Roland KR series

The market here is limited in terms of choices and I have the following deals at almost similar prices:

1.Yamaha CLP-230 bundled with a Roland E-09
2.Yamaha CVP-301
3.Roland KR-103
4.Pearl River UE-88

I have played all the above and while I like the Yamaha action on the CLP-230, the piano sounds better on the Roland KR-103 and the CVP-301 has far more bells and whistles than all. Not very keen on Pearl River.

Could anyone please give me a suggestion as to which would be the best/optimum choice if I am to upgrade again after 7-8 years?

Thanks in advance,
Chax

i would consider a CLP240, if i were you, just a few hundreds more than CLP230 but with better sound, and you like Yamaha action anyway.

Thanks signa! Much appreciate your reply. I did try the clp-240 too. Its about $300 more than the clp-230 in my country but apart from the quality of the speakers didnt find much difference than the clp-230. Polyphony is also 64 notes.

if it's just $300 difference, go for CLP240 which has 3-level dynamic sound sampling vs. CLP230's 1-level and you won't regret it. the idea is to buy the best you can afford, because you'd use it for at least 3-5 years.

thanks! will try them out once more next week and take the plunge. will let you know.
Btw, what do you think about the Roland KR-103? The piano sounds better than the CLP-240 plus it has the arranger features and it comes at the CLP-240's price.