Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Digital Piano shopping

Okay, first post. I'm interested in purchasing a digi piano. The final group is:

Roland RD150
Yamaha P80
Casio PS20

All are "fully weighted, heavier low, lighter up high" 88 keyed, portable stage pianos. BUT, the Casio seems to have some really good reviews on the web. When you call the big musician's warehouses, they go straight to Roland or Korg. Now, being a musician, I know Roland and Yamaha have names in the business, but that does not mean something new and better can not come along. (Remember when no one drove a Lexus?)

Anyway, looking for info on two areas:

Acoustic feel, and piano sound.

I've tried the Roland RD150, but not the others.

Any reviews/info/etc., would be greatly appreciated.

Rich in NM

Hi Rich. A few things to consider:

1. By all means, try them all. Your ear will be the best tool you have in researching these products.

2. The reason you don't get steered to Casio when you call most dealers is that Casio is not really a music company. Most of the technology in their keyboards is outsourced. They just don't make products for musicians the way these other companies do. True, they have some inexpensive keyboards available. But it's not likely that serious musicians anywhere will start to play Casios anytime soon. Personally I've always thought of Casios as "toys".

3. The new model year for most music products is at its end. A great deal of new products will be released in a few weeks. It's possible that whatever you buy today will be discontinued in 3-4 weeks. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you may not benefit from the steep discounts that usually accompany a discontinued item if you buy now. Also, there may be a new keyboard in this class that you haven't yet seen or heard of.

Hope this helps.

I'm also researching for a basic digital piano for my children to learn on. I have a $1000 cap. I've been to two competing stores in town. One sells Rolands and the other sells Clavinovas. The bottom line Clavinova is the CLP 110. I think the comparable Roland is MP500, but I don't remember for sure. I'm curious if there's really a difference between the two. Then in my online research this evening I found a product by Viscount, which seems to be a comparable product, for $1000 at Music 123 ("Viscount Verona"). I've never heard of Viscount and nobody on any chats or reviews have anything to say about them. So I'm wondering if I should stay away from them. I've also noticed a lot of positive comments online about the Yamaha P80, which is just a keyboard--no headsets or speakers. It sounds like a good thing, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to get that. I want my kids to learn to sit at a piano, not at a keyboard on the kitchen table. Growing up, whenever I played on another piano, I was always distracted by the way the other piano felt different. Am I over ambitious to think I can get a basic digital for $1000 somewhere? If I get one used am I taking too big a risk? The other concern is that my experience with computers (MS Word crashes regularly, for example) warns me that a digital piano could start to lock up or freeze on me in three years. Any input would be great, even if it's not something I touched on here.

I believe that Viscount is made by GeneralMusic, an Italian company. They have traditionally specialized in piano sounds and do very good ones. A friend preferred theirs to a top-of-the-line Roland. I used to have their RealPiano Pro2 and enjoyed it. The keyboard feel was a little light for me but that's personal preference and things have undoubtedly changed over the past 5 years since I had it.

Yamaha P80 and P120 are also very nice keyboards. Add a couple of hundred dollars for amp and speaker for the P80 if you want to play anything besides headphones. Or, run it through your stereo.
jim

You'll notice a really nice touch on the Yamahas. Consider also that Yamaha has been making real pianos for the last 100 years, so people I've spoken to will 10 to none choose a P80 (albeit an older model) over a Roland RD150.

For something of a furniture piano for your living room, the Clavinova CLP110 is a good start, too.

Good luck!