| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Digital Pianos - Sort of Urgent | |
| jazz jasper -- 07/12/2005, 17:05:26 -- #16447 | |
| i see...??!?!?! | |
| ziggysane -- 07/12/2005, 17:08:12 -- #16448 | |
| Now that I've posted yet another empty thread: I have finally saved up (for me at least) cash to buy a digital piano to replace the out of tune pianos in coffee houses and the casio I use for rock keyboard work and practicing when I have nothing else availible (more the former than the latter). However, I'm going out to get it on thursday which doesn't leave much time for you guys to respond. However, I wanted your opinions on what you all like for $1000 and under. I'm currently eyeing: Yamaha P60 Yamaha P90 Kurzweil SP76 Kurzweil SP88X Korg SP300 Anything else $1000 or less with 88 keys, fairly realistic action, and a good piano sound. Can you get patches to add on to digital pianos? (i.e. better organ sounds)? And if the sale is actually on Friday, do you think I could convince the guys at Sam Ash that paying cash on such an item in the upper-mid price range warrents giving me sale price a half day early? Opinions please. I value them. Danny | |
| ziggysane -- 07/12/2005, 18:15:44 -- #16449 | |
| K. The two Kurzweils have been eliminated until further notice unless someone can give me good reason not to. | |
| Mike -- 07/12/2005, 19:16:08 -- #16450 | |
| Buying on a schedule if you do not absolutely have to is a very bad idea. | |
| ziggysane -- 07/12/2005, 20:03:56 -- #16453 | |
| It's a difference of $200 or more if I don't catch the sale. For me, that'd be nice to have down the road. | |
| signal11 -- 07/12/2005, 20:19:01 -- #16454 | |
| Having played a variety of keyboards in a live setting (Yamaha S90, Kurzweil SP88, Roland Fantom), I have finally settled on using a Yamaha P-120 for gigging. The primary reason I went this route is that the P120 has on-board speakers that make it much easier for me to monitor my own playing (something which has been far more important than I ever thought it would when I started out). A used P120 is easily within your price range (I picked it up for $800 at Guitar Center). As for sales and stores, I have *always* been able to get lower prices on musical instruments simply by talking to the sales clerk. Just ask them "what's the best price you can offer me on this?" This has worked at every music store I've ever been to including major chains and mail order places (that *WILL* discount even lower than their published prices if you ask them). | |
| Dr. Whack -- 07/12/2005, 20:43:33 -- #16455 | |
| Yeah, you can find some great deals on used stuff that may give you more bang for your buck. Don't let those "buy right now to save money" tactics cause you to make a hasty purchase. Do your homework before you buy. | |
| 7 -- 07/12/2005, 22:18:50 -- #16456 | |
| You can negotiate like crazy with those guys, if you're willing to hard bargain with them (and spend all day there). Offer them a price of at least $200 less than what you're actually willing to pay. You'll be amazed at how much you can save with some old fashioned hard nosed horse trading. Be prepared to walk out of the store if you don't get your price. And when you do walk out, don't be surprised when you find the salesperson is hot on your heels following you out to the parking lot to drag you back into the store to accept your offer. As far as "sales" are concerned, those stores constantly have "sales". It's just a marketing trick. The suggestion about used gear is a good one too. Typically they buy the gear for 25% of what the advertise it for. You can really wheel and deal to get a super price on used gear. Just make sure they don't add an "as is" clause to the sales receipt. | |
| peterh -- 07/13/2005, 02:51:27 -- #16462 | |
| i've just bought a p120 for gigging purposes. I was originally going to get a p90, but checked out the range in the music shop. I decided on the 120 (although blowing my budget) because it had the speakers and i could lift it.(remember the fender rhodes ?) Having internal speakers is so convenient for practicing. It also had a handy split keyboard feature to allow you to place bass in the LH and piano in the RH. This is nice for when the bassist plays guitar. I thought that the rhodes impersonation was ok, but it doesn't have the same "bite". | |
| SolArt -- 07/13/2005, 03:08:42 -- #16463 | |
| What's your rush? Shop around! Play them all & compare the sound, feel, features, etc. You make like the sound of a cheaper one better. Read keyboard & music magazines. Remember, you won't turn into a pumpkin if you wait longer! | |
| piano paul -- 07/13/2005, 04:58:21 -- #16467 | |
| ziggysane, I have some recent experience of hunting down a decent digital, so hopefully this might help you. I bought a Yamaha p120 about a month ago. It is brilliant. The action is superb, really. The sound is good, there is a nice half-pedalling effect which does work pretty well. The samples are multi-layered - 3 per key. This works well. The speakers are good for their size. I run the audio output through my hifi into some bass speakers I have, which brings the bass up to a better level. The onboard speakers are fine but they are what they are: 4 inch cones or something, so the bass is never going to be great, but they are useful, fast and accurate. I can't speak of kurzweil, roland, kawai etc as I didn't try them. The reviews I read pointed me towards Yamaha and I don't regret for a minute buying the p120. I tried the p90 first in the shop as well, but the samples are not multi-layered, the overall sound was not so good, even the keyboard didn't - to me - feel quite as realistic. I tried the p60 first, then tried the p120 and I was hooked straight away. It's a great instrument in my opinion. Everyone raves about the action on the yamahas. They seem to blow the competition away. If you want more info on any make and model, with user review, harmony-central is invaluable: http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/ SolArt is right, don't rush. Having said that, you'll probably be excited like I was and want to get something fairly quickly. Just read the reviews and go and have a play on a few models. I bet you'll come back with the p120... I got the p120-s actually - the same instrument but I prefered the colour. Good luck and make sure you drive a hard bargain. | |
| LoFi -- 07/13/2005, 07:21:40 -- #16474 | |
| I recently bought a stage piano - I decided to spend the (quite a lot) extra on a Roland RD700SX, as it's simply brilliant, but of the ones you list I was leaning towards the P90, for a great action and a decent piano sound. It *does* have a triple strike sample, with key-off and resonance samples (see here: http://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_europe/uk/10_musical_instruments/70_synthesizer/20_stage_pianos/10_stage_pianos/10_p_series/030_P90/index.html) - I'm pretty certain it's the same sample set as the P120 (The P60 does not have the multilayered sample). I can certainly see the value of built-in speakers for practice, however, where the P120 scores over the P90 (this wasn't an issue for me, as I live in a shared house, so nearly all practice is through headphones). FWIW, I really didn't like the Korgs I tried - the action seemed way off, but another board you might like to consider is the Roland RD170 - the action's not quite as good as the Yamahas, and the main piano isn't quite as good, but I preferred most of the other sounds, and there were more available. This is probably less interesting if you're only playing piano on it though. You should be able to get one pretty cheap, as the new RD300SX has pretty much replaced it. Oh, and Hi, everyone, I'm new here :) | |
| piano paul -- 07/13/2005, 10:48:44 -- #16487 | |
| Correction to my post: I tried the p60 first. Not the p90. I didn't try a p90 at all. As LoFi says the p90 DOES have multi-layered samples. It's the p60 that doesn't. It was the p60 I wasn't too keen on. Apologies for confusing matters... | |
| alhaynes -- 07/13/2005, 12:38:42 -- #16491 | |
| I have a P250 Yamaha (actually 2) that I like fine for what few gigs I do. I think the P120 is about the same a the P250. The only way I know of to get better or different sound is to USB it to a computer or other Midi box. This is how I use mine - I mix the P250 sound with a layer of Rhodes sound from the laptop. About the sale price - I'll bet you can get that price anytime you show them the money. If not Sam Ash, try Musician's Friend. | |
| ziggysane -- 07/13/2005, 17:08:26 -- #16500 | |
| Took a stop by the store today. Leaning towards the Yamaha P90 at the moment because it's a full 88, I like the action, and the piano really shimmers. The P60 was nice but dull and had no room for adjustment while the P120 wasn't even in stock (and a little out of my range at the moment anyway.) To add, we've had a Yamaha grand in my house for about 6 years and I like it a lot (apples and oranges, i know.) Tried the Kurzweils and the Korgs but I gotta say, the Yamaha was the best to play for me personally. Is that sound reasoning? | |
| Scot -- 07/13/2005, 17:42:05 -- #16502 | |
| I really enjoy the S90 not only because the it feels great and has a wonderful triple velocity grand piano sample, but it has great electric piano sounds of which I use quite often when I'm gigging. Does not have built in monitors, which would be nice, but I would never buy an instrument just because it has or does not have built in monitors. I recently purchased a couple Yamaha MS101 to be used as personal monitors that work really well. | |
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