Hi all you pianists. I'm wanting to change my Grand Piano soon and am seriously considering a Yamaha Disklavier Grand. Does anyone have one or play one one? I'd be really interested on what you think. I'm a piano teacher and it would be such a great teaching tool. I could record the pupil's playing on the piano they're used, to to let them hear (almost) exactly how they're sounding. Also, I could record the duets and trios and get them to play their part to the recordings, which would free me up to concentrate on their teaching, rather than playing with them. I do also own a Clavinova (digital piano) and have used this in this way, but when I move the pianists over to it, they don't play the same as the keys feel so different (apart from the few who own clavinovas themselves). I might add my piano tuner is trying to put me off, which is why I'd love further advice, which would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi
my advice would be to steer well clear.
I think they are fascinating instruments, but they suffer from a problem which in my opinion makes them unsuitable for teaching and practising - the extra mechanics involved in making they 'play themselves' (eg: fibre-optics, mechanical wizardry etc) cause in my view an extra delay - ever so subtle - between depressing a note and it sounding.
I was in the market for a piano and surveyed a lot of these pianos as I am into gadgets and love the idea of this piano, but I was put off by this extra delay, and a professor of piano when I discussed it, wouldn't recommend these at all. In one showroom I played the diskclavier, then normal, then swapped back, and this is what convinced me, as I also liked the idea of the benefits these have to offer. But my budget and space didn't allow for both.

Recently my promising child pianist performed for a distinguished group - on one of these pianos. When we arrived the piano was playing itself - some clever jazz, very impressive of course - but I winced as I suspected that this piano - in very good condition and tuned the same week - would cause problems - and sure enough, it was different. Now you'll say - all pianos are different, and I know this, and its a skill all pianists must acquire. My kid is very used to going up to any piano and performing, but she didn't play her best on this in the time given, sure enough she learnt to give it that minute extra time it required (a bit like a pipe organ), but it wasn't ideal - given that otherwise it was a fantastic piano and sounded great. I should add that pianissimo was very difficult to achieve for her, and in the end we agreed in the warmup that pp=mf and we solved that one quickly.

I stress - these are my personal views - and I woudln't be considered an expert on these matters. These pianos have their place, but I don't believe that place is in a teaching or practice environment, and not for kids.

I would advise getting a lovely acoustic piano with no electronics that no-one can detect any difference as there is no difference, and investing in some of the fabulous easy-to-use recording gadgets out there which do a great job (eg: Edirol R-09).

Like indy I believe your money would be better spent getting a stand-alone Grand piano and a flash-media recording device like an edirol R-09. I have one of these devices, and I'm impressed. It's allowed me to record Piano parts of pieces for my singers to use as practice tracks, and to record the second half of a concert.

It's easy to burn them onto CD, you up-load them onto your PC in the same way as you would for a digital camera!

Drawback- they're not cheap!

I agree with the others. I love 'gadgety things' but there's just too much technology to go wrong with the Disklavier.

Yamaha make good pianos of all types, digital, hybrids and acoustic. Having owned both digital and acoustic types, I prefer the sound, and touch of their acoustic baby and full sized grands.

(This is my 2nd attempt at posting this message, so if my first one eventually appears, please excuse me for repeating myself).

Thanks for your help and I have to admit I'm disappointed with the results, as I so fancied a disklavier! However, I don't want to make an expensive mistake though and it's really important to buy the 'right' piano as I regularly hold Special Exam Visits at my home.

Indy and Jod - I like the idea of the Roland Edirol. I must admit I gave up recording live a long time ago due to the poor quality. Does the Edirol give a good clear result without picking up too much background noise? I tend to record on my clavinova these days, but the piano pupils find this hard due to it being a different 'feel' to the acoustic piano. I usually use my clavinova for silent practise or for the keyboard pupils as they love the feel of the weighted keys and the dynamic range they can get, in comparison to the so called touch response on the keyboards, which is not very good at all.

Roger - My piano tuner agrees with you, in that there is too much to go wrong. He particularly feels that recording a pedal action is likely to damage it in the longterm. Which Yamaha Grand do you like?, as it looks like I'll have to investigate the acoustic grands on the market. I have a Daewoo Royale which is not co-operating well, especially with the pupils at the higher standards. The tone's not very even and it's hard to play large chords with one sound (often 1 or 2 notes are not sounding). As for the younger players, they often get frightened by it's power!

Many thanks again for all your help.

If you have the money, you could buy a Boss multitracker and a Rode coincident pair condensor mic. The mic has two capsules so you do get a very very very clear stereo recording from it. It's compact too. I'll find a link and post...

Edit:

Rode NT4
Boss multi-tracker

I appreciate that they are expensive, but you said you were after quality so these could well be up your street. They're good entry/semi-professional level pieces of equipment.

I have a Yamaha baby grand GB1. It's the cheapest and smallest in their range of baby grands but I think is good value for the money. You can get one brand new for around £5000. The sound is a little on the 'brilliant' side when new but mine has settled down quite nicely now (18 months old)and after three tunings in that period.

I've only had indirect experience of the Edirol, but I've been very impressed. Jane recorded several items at the Woodford concert on hers; my Syrinx on the recordings site (and possibly the Charlie Wilson Blues too??) was recorded on it, and the sound is really clear and very good, even though I was some yards from the device.

Thanks for that Roger. I'll have a look around as soon as I can (we're in the middle of moving house). I do like to have a Grand, as it gives the pupils a chance (even if only once a week) to perform on one, as they normally have to at the local Festivals and if they have to go to the local Centre for exams.

I have been very happy with my edirol. If youlook on the forums recordings site, there is a recording of me singing "Music for a While" that I recorded on it. I only recorded it as an MP3 file, but when I recorded the second half of my concert it was able to record at CD quality. (That has too much copywrite music to distribute easily)

For a small gadget I've been very impressed with the quality of the two stereo condensor mics.

Hi. Thanks for that Jod, but I can't find the forums recording site. How do I find it please?

GM - see the pinned topics on the General Music Forum.

Thanks Carol. Can't believe I misssed it, but now I've found the recordings I'll be vising regularly (not to perform, just to listen, as I'm a coward!! That's why I teach ).
Recordings sound very good - quality and performances. I'll definitely look into this.
Thanks everyone!