Buying a new digital piano -- help!

Subject: Buying a new digital piano -- help!
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 12:40 PM

Hi piano players -- I'm looking at buying a new digital piano (my first) I'm considering the model on this web page:

CLP920
88-Key Clavinova Digital Piano with Stereo Sampling, GH Keyboard

Can anyone who owns/plays one give advise? Thanks!

Subject: RE: Buying a new digital piano -- help!
From: Noreen
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 01:03 PM

Have played a Clavinova, Lad and was VERY impressed with everything about it. Proper piano tone, clever extras, and the electronics so that you can record/load to/from external sources.
This was 10 years ago, so no doubt even more advanced since.

There was a thread a while ago from someone asking a similar question, I'll see if I can find it for you.

Subject: RE: Buying a new digital piano -- help!
From: *daylia*
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 01:04 PM

Pink a few of my students have practiced on Clavinovas over the years with good results - never heard a complaint from them or their parents.

The only problem I found with them as a piano teacher is that the action is quite different from an acoustic instrument, so these students tend to be very 'heavy-handed' when playing a regular piano. I remember one boy who just couldn't seem to play softly no matter how much I 'bugged' him - till finally I asked him "Don't you ever play softly at home?" And he said "Oh yes, that's easy - I just turn down the volume!" I had to ask his mom to tape up that volume switch so he'd learn to control his fingers and arm weight!

That was a few years ago though, and the technology does improve every year it seems. But there are some effects you just can't achieve on a electronic keyboard - sustaining tones, "echo" effects etc. There's something about a wooden instrument that just makes it more responsive to human touch ... more 'alive' sounding and resonant ... more sonorous harmonically ...(you play one key, and that pitch causes all the strings tuned an octave/fifth from that one to vibrate according to the laws of harmonics, creating a much richer, 'deeper' sound impossible to achieve on a keyboard).

I do have a Roland digital piano which I love for it's ability to record and it's small size - and it's Midi compatible too! - but I much prefer the experience of playing a 'real' piano ...

daylia

Subject: RE: Buying a new digital piano -- help!
From: p.j.
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 01:06 PM

Hey there BigPink,

I played the model you're looking at for a while, and liked it fine until I got a Yamaha P80 which I think is much better. It has a nicer action in your hands; the key depression depth is more like an acoustic piano, whereas the Clavinova was a little shallow-- it felt more like an electric instrument.

The sound on both is great (I'm a big Yamaha fan, acoustic or digital) but the P80 is less expensive and portable. That matters to me because I love being able to carry my piano to pub gigs instead of using whatever big ol' outa-tune clunker that's there. I can also keep it in the back room of my house where I do most of my practicing, or move it into the livingroom for a party. The Clavinova is way too heavy to move (at least for me.)

The downside about the P80 is that you need an external speaker. This allows it to be portable, but adds one more piece of expensive and heavy equipment to the process. I have the Yamaha MS60S Monitor Speaker, which is great for home and small gigs, and even has an additional input if you need to run a vocal mic or somebody's fiddle pickup through it. For larger gigs it works great as an on-stage monitor for the keyboard, which has a second out for the mainboard line.

Hope those opinions are helpful, it's probably more than you wanted to know... best of luck shopping for your new baby!

p.j.

Subject: RE: Buying a new digital piano -- help!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 09:20 PM

I don't play keyboard, so I have only second-hand info, but my acquaintance tell me that most of the major builders do offer "piano feel" keyboards - probably for a little extra $$$$. I'm told that they can be almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

I don't know whether these keyboards are available in "portables," but they seem to be an option on the big'uns. My impression was, a few months ago, that you have to look for the feature, as it's not too much advertised.

An intermediate approach, using just "weighted keys" was not much liked by those I've talked to, with the exception of a couple of church organists I met briefly.

John