Hi
I am sure this has been discussed before, so apologies for boring people! However, my daughter is grade 6 on the oboe and needs to learn the keyboard to some degree. She is probably never going to be a pianist, but she wants a piano and as she wants to do GCSE and A level Music I don't mind buying her one.
I have had a look at a Yamaha Clavinova and it seems very nice and would look quite nice in our living room. However whilst looking at it, I also saw a Casio digital piano, which was seriously cheaper than the Yamaha (but didn't look quite as nice). Now I know that the Yamaha is probably better, but are Casios okay? Bearing in mind that I am going to have to spend around £3500 on an oboe fairly soon, I am looking to cut corners where possible.
Any advice most gratefully received - also I don't want a real piano as I want to "plug her in" with a headset and I would also like a USB socket so that she can connect to the computer.
Full Version: Digital Pianos
Casios have got better in the last few years.
What's the difference in spec between them? If there are too many bells and whistles that aren't needed on the Clavinova, than Casio may be the road to take. Have you got the model numbers for both makes?
What's the difference in spec between them? If there are too many bells and whistles that aren't needed on the Clavinova, than Casio may be the road to take. Have you got the model numbers for both makes?
Just to add something else to the mix - I wonder whether you have seen any of the Yamaha personal piano range ? These cost around £500 so less than a clav - not sure what the casios retail for. At least one of the range (YDP 131) has headphone sockets and will connect to a computer - not sure to what extent the others tick all your boxes though.
I should add that I have not actually played one of these - a couple of my pupils have one and seem pleased with it. You won't get the extensive rhythm section and range of voices/ instrument sounds that a clav gives you - but you may not need these ( as John mentioned ) so may not be something you want to pay extra for. I've had a clav for some years and have been generally pleased with it - but it does have these extra features.
You could do a search on the Yamaha website and find out a bit more. I'd be interested to know if anyone has any experience of playing one of the personal piano range.
I should add that I have not actually played one of these - a couple of my pupils have one and seem pleased with it. You won't get the extensive rhythm section and range of voices/ instrument sounds that a clav gives you - but you may not need these ( as John mentioned ) so may not be something you want to pay extra for. I've had a clav for some years and have been generally pleased with it - but it does have these extra features.
You could do a search on the Yamaha website and find out a bit more. I'd be interested to know if anyone has any experience of playing one of the personal piano range.
I did a lot of research when buying a digital piano for my daughter a year ago, and eventually decided to get a Kawai after many recommendations. It has been a good buy- I remember it being around £1000.00, and it has hammer action, etc. However, as my daughter has progressed on the piano to around grade 5, she finds the lack of a 'real' piano a little limiting and we are looking to upgrade to a proper piano.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
The Roland pianos are very good. We chose one for our church about 18 months ago and it feels and sounds great. Again, they are not cheap though - probably around £1500. I personally prefer it to the Clavinova, as the keys are weighted to make it seem more like an acoustic piano. Not sure whether it would connect to a computer - you'd need to ask.
If your daughter is likely to make music her thing and study it at university, they do like proficiency of around grade5/6 on piano, so you may consider it £1500 well spent. On the other hand, you may prefer something cheap and cheerful until you see how much use she makes of it.
If your daughter is likely to make music her thing and study it at university, they do like proficiency of around grade5/6 on piano, so you may consider it £1500 well spent. On the other hand, you may prefer something cheap and cheerful until you see how much use she makes of it.
Hi there
I have just bought the Yamaha YDP131 to use as a second instrument as I am working on some 2 piano repertoire with my duo partner Yamaha, and it has been a good investment. It's not comparable to my accoustic Steinway model V, but I can plug in my headphones and practise whilst the family are watching TV and pottering around, and also at more antisocial times of the day, and also it can be connected to my laptop (if only I knew what I was doing of course!) The sound and action are really not bad at all considering it came in at under £500. It's also very useful as a demonstrator in lessons instead of asking my pupils to get up from the piano all the time!
I have just bought the Yamaha YDP131 to use as a second instrument as I am working on some 2 piano repertoire with my duo partner Yamaha, and it has been a good investment. It's not comparable to my accoustic Steinway model V, but I can plug in my headphones and practise whilst the family are watching TV and pottering around, and also at more antisocial times of the day, and also it can be connected to my laptop (if only I knew what I was doing of course!) The sound and action are really not bad at all considering it came in at under £500. It's also very useful as a demonstrator in lessons instead of asking my pupils to get up from the piano all the time!
Thanks for all your help - I am still a bit undecided, but may go for the cheaper option of a Casio having read a few things on the internet. I can get a fun looking one for about £550 which to an oboe buying person is an absolute bargain.
Imlovinit gave a great link to a piano forum which I have been trawling through. I hadn't actually looked at Casio Previa pianos - anyone know if they are substantially better than say an AP 45 or a celviano digital piano.? Oh I am getting so muddled now with too much choice!
I used to play the piano, but I am useless now and I just had an old piano that came out of a pub! Thanks again for all your advice.
I used to play the piano, but I am useless now and I just had an old piano that came out of a pub! Thanks again for all your advice.
QUOTE(undercoat @ Jul 17 2008, 04:27 PM) 
Imlovinit gave a great link to a piano forum which I have been trawling through. I hadn't actually looked at Casio Previa pianos - anyone know if they are substantially better than say an AP 45 or a celviano digital piano.? Oh I am getting so muddled now with too much choice!
I used to play the piano, but I am useless now and I just had an old piano that came out of a pub! Thanks again for all your advice.
I have just bought a digital piano but it's made my Kawai. It seems very good and only cost £470 delivered and installed!
I have a Yamaha DGX 620, a full sized keyboard with weighted keys. and USB connection. I bought it in a stock clearance sale (a real bargain!), and it has met my needs very well (primarily accompanying students in their lessons).
Looks like they've now upgraded this model so that it is compatible with more realistic piano pedals - a feature which I would have welcomed!
It also has the ability to record up to 6 tracks per song, which may be handy for GCSE/A level composition work.
Overall, it is a great value keyboard, currently price at approx £455. However, it's not the most aesthetically pleasing keyboard on the market as it's a slightly dodgy wood/silver mix. So it certainly wouldn't look as nice as a clavinova in your living room!
See what you think here: Yamaha DGX 630... plus there's a more detailed specification here: DGX 630 features
Happy hunting!
Looks like they've now upgraded this model so that it is compatible with more realistic piano pedals - a feature which I would have welcomed!
It also has the ability to record up to 6 tracks per song, which may be handy for GCSE/A level composition work.
Overall, it is a great value keyboard, currently price at approx £455. However, it's not the most aesthetically pleasing keyboard on the market as it's a slightly dodgy wood/silver mix. So it certainly wouldn't look as nice as a clavinova in your living room!
See what you think here: Yamaha DGX 630... plus there's a more detailed specification here: DGX 630 features
Happy hunting!
QUOTE(a mum @ Jul 16 2008, 05:47 PM)
... she finds the lack of a 'real' piano a little limiting and we are looking to upgrade to a proper piano.
I wouldn't " upgrade". Keep the digital for silent practice, capturing improvisations, inputting midi to a computer, and for playing venues that don't have a (good enough) upright.
You don't need to spend 1500 pounds or more!
Aout a year ago I paid 350 pounds on eBay for a second hand Yamaha P80 - complete with sustain pedal and Quik-Lok stand. It is for silent practice (so as not to drive my wife insane) and for playing away from home. The seller was very helpful. He had advertised "Buyer collect only" which I had not noticed, but even so he agreed to package it so I could arrange a Courier collection. It is well made, works perfectly, and has done (and continues to do) the job.
It would be a struggle if it was my only piano (preparing a Licentiate recital) because of the significant differences in feel to an acoustic piano, the incompletely modelled pedal action, and many clever things you can do through touch on an acoustic to get different sounds and effects that simply dont work on a digital. I bought a mid-range set of headphones for about 30 pounds but intend to replace them - for greater comfort - with something that completely encompasses the ear. I sometimes play it through a Peavey bass guitar practice amp - which seems to suit it quite well. (Sounds awful through a domestic Hi-Fi)
I have tried most of the Yamha P-range and a couple of Clavinolas and I can't tell any difference in touch or sound between any of them. I would expect that current models can only be better than mine.
It has done (and continues to do) its job very well. I have no complaints.
Several years ago I had a Fatar studio 1100 - which I stupidly sold (very stupid because I also had a flight case for it that would now be useful). It is a midi keyboard with progressively weighted action and aftertouch. Extremely highly specified, could be split into multiple regions, so very powerful and versatile - you can emulate an entire orchestra. That was bulkier and heavier than the Yamaha, but felt much more like a "real piano". Its biggest drawback was that it needed an external sound generator, so setting up was always very fiddly. Also I used an old twin-ocillator sound midi sound generator that produced a particularly weedy and unsatisfying "piano" tone - and that clouded my judgement of the keyboard itself.
However, the Yamaha is just plug and go, which is much more convenient - and if you want a more realistic sound you can still use a computer-based piano emulation instead of its built-in tones.
Aout a year ago I paid 350 pounds on eBay for a second hand Yamaha P80 - complete with sustain pedal and Quik-Lok stand. It is for silent practice (so as not to drive my wife insane) and for playing away from home. The seller was very helpful. He had advertised "Buyer collect only" which I had not noticed, but even so he agreed to package it so I could arrange a Courier collection. It is well made, works perfectly, and has done (and continues to do) the job.
It would be a struggle if it was my only piano (preparing a Licentiate recital) because of the significant differences in feel to an acoustic piano, the incompletely modelled pedal action, and many clever things you can do through touch on an acoustic to get different sounds and effects that simply dont work on a digital. I bought a mid-range set of headphones for about 30 pounds but intend to replace them - for greater comfort - with something that completely encompasses the ear. I sometimes play it through a Peavey bass guitar practice amp - which seems to suit it quite well. (Sounds awful through a domestic Hi-Fi)
I have tried most of the Yamha P-range and a couple of Clavinolas and I can't tell any difference in touch or sound between any of them. I would expect that current models can only be better than mine.
It has done (and continues to do) its job very well. I have no complaints.
Several years ago I had a Fatar studio 1100 - which I stupidly sold (very stupid because I also had a flight case for it that would now be useful). It is a midi keyboard with progressively weighted action and aftertouch. Extremely highly specified, could be split into multiple regions, so very powerful and versatile - you can emulate an entire orchestra. That was bulkier and heavier than the Yamaha, but felt much more like a "real piano". Its biggest drawback was that it needed an external sound generator, so setting up was always very fiddly. Also I used an old twin-ocillator sound midi sound generator that produced a particularly weedy and unsatisfying "piano" tone - and that clouded my judgement of the keyboard itself.
However, the Yamaha is just plug and go, which is much more convenient - and if you want a more realistic sound you can still use a computer-based piano emulation instead of its built-in tones.
Hi Everyone and thanks for your replies. That Yamaha DGX-630 looks good particularly as it can have the pedals for only £35.
Anyone know anything about Casios though? Or am I barking up the wrong tree with them? They just look nice that is all, and are so much cheaper than Yamahas.
Anyone know anything about Casios though? Or am I barking up the wrong tree with them? They just look nice that is all, and are so much cheaper than Yamahas.
QUOTE(undercoat @ Jul 16 2008, 04:16 PM)
Hi
I am sure this has been discussed before, so apologies for boring people! However, my daughter is grade 6 on the oboe and needs to learn the keyboard to some degree. She is probably never going to be a pianist, but she wants a piano and as she wants to do GCSE and A level Music I don't mind buying her one.
I have had a look at a Yamaha Clavinova and it seems very nice and would look quite nice in our living room. However whilst looking at it, I also saw a Casio digital piano, which was seriously cheaper than the Yamaha (but didn't look quite as nice). Now I know that the Yamaha is probably better, but are Casios okay? Bearing in mind that I am going to have to spend around £3500 on an oboe fairly soon, I am looking to cut corners where possible.
Any advice most gratefully received - also I don't want a real piano as I want to "plug her in" with a headset and I would also like a USB socket so that she can connect to the computer.
Undercoat, I just bought a digital piano because I want to understand theory better. Having bought it I think it's got a beautiful tone (not that I've got anything to compare it with but nevertheless, I think it sounds lovely
). It's a portable digital piano (it looks like a keyboard but it isn't - see my thread about the difference!) and the whole lot - piano, adapter, sustain pedal, instrument stand and delivery - only cost about £220.
You can use headphones with it, and it has MIDI terminals, and using a USB-MIDI interface, you can connect to the computer. I haven't looked into this side of things because I haven't even learnt to play yet but it's good to have that capability.
It's also got all sorts of functions on it that I haven't even begun to explore yet. Like you can transpose the pitch, fine tune the pitch, add reverb, combine voices (it has 2 piano voices, 2 organ voices, strings and various others).
It's got touch sensitive keys and you can adjust the sensitivity. It has 76 keys, so not quite the full range but I'm sure it will be enough up to intermediate level and even beyond... this is what Mad Tom said about the compass:
QUOTE(Mad Tom @ Jul 18 2008, 09:44 AM)
I know I was the one that suggested you should look at a full-compass keyboard, but yours will nevertheless let you play everything Bach and Scarlatti wrote, most if not all of the works of Haydn and Mozart, and a very great deal of Beethoven, and even a lot of Chopin - including quite a few of the etudes - and later composers (including Scriabin Preludes!). Enough to keep you busy (and happy) for a year or two!
I'm so impressed with it. I haven't tried other digital pianos but this one does everything I want it to do and more. It's the Yamaha NP-30. Let me know if you want to know where I got it from because I bought it online, and it came the next day. I bought a bag to go with it as well, which is too big for the instrument but I didn't want it to get knocked around.
I think it's a fantastic instrument and tremendous value for money. If you're looking to save money on a piano so that you can spend it on your daughter's first instrument, I would really recommend this one. I'm so impressed with it that now I'm booked to have piano lessons to learn how to play it properly
(...must stop going on about it, but it's got me so excited
...)PS. Please don't just take my word for it though that it can do all the things I've mentioned because I haven't used most of the features to say for sure - to be on the safe side, please check with the retailer!
Just as an update - I actually bought a Yamaha DGX 630 and it arrived today! It is fabulous and my daughter has enjoyed playing it all day - we have had the grand piano, screeching tyres, screaming children, squeaky doors, guitars, saxophones and the list goes on and on and on!! She is already half way through my old Jibbedy F book as well, so all in all it has been quite a success. Luckily the neighbours are on holiday at the moment, so hopefully the novelty will have worn off a bit by the time they return.
(I have also enjoyed playing it - I am very very rusty, but surprisingly I am better than I thought I would be).
Thanks everyone for the input - I can't believe the fun we have had with this keyboard and all for only £450 - I am still saving for the £3500 oboe that she also needs!
(I have also enjoyed playing it - I am very very rusty, but surprisingly I am better than I thought I would be).
Thanks everyone for the input - I can't believe the fun we have had with this keyboard and all for only £450 - I am still saving for the £3500 oboe that she also needs!
QUOTE(undercoat @ Aug 20 2008, 09:47 PM)
Just as an update - I actually bought a Yamaha DGX 630 and it arrived today! It is fabulous and my daughter has enjoyed playing it all day - we have had the grand piano, screeching tyres, screaming children, squeaky doors, guitars, saxophones and the list goes on and on and on!! She is already half way through my old Jibbedy F book as well, so all in all it has been quite a success. Luckily the neighbours are on holiday at the moment, so hopefully the novelty will have worn off a bit by the time they return.
(I have also enjoyed playing it - I am very very rusty, but surprisingly I am better than I thought I would be).
Thanks everyone for the input - I can't believe the fun we have had with this keyboard and all for only £450 - I am still saving for the £3500 oboe that she also needs!
(I have also enjoyed playing it - I am very very rusty, but surprisingly I am better than I thought I would be).
Thanks everyone for the input - I can't believe the fun we have had with this keyboard and all for only £450 - I am still saving for the £3500 oboe that she also needs!
I'm not a big fan of digital pianos, but they can be useful for silent prep. and composition work with Finale or Sibelius. I have a Korg SB250 stage piano (around £450.00) and the grand paino sound is quite authentic, though in no way comparable to my Yamaha baby grand acoustic. I think Roland and Korg digital pianos have the edge on Yamaha ( digital species) mainly because of the archaic manner in which Yamaha sample their piano sounds in comparison to Korg and/or Roland.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.