Item — HN Reader

Nothing is the same, it's true, but for serious practise a digital can be better. The key response and weighting will be consistent (good luck getting that with an old instrument) and the tuning spot on.

I used to be a sceptic, but playing the latest digitals which acoustically model the soundboard, strings and action of a piano, the experience is very impressive. It genuinely does feel like playing the real thing, even if the sound comes through speakers. If I come to buy my own piano, I'd go digital.

2 comments

I'll have to try a new digital. Part of the problem is that they're a moving target. I am probably judging digitals by the standards of eight or even ten years ago, and that's a mistake.

Any recommendations for digital?

Yamaha. Even an older Yamaha will play well. The proof: try finding a used Yamaha. After watching Craigslist for months, we ended up buying one new for our son, who had been hacking away at a keyboard in the garage for a year, and put in another 6 months of lessons. We waited something like 3 months to get it because of parts shortages in Japan.

http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/piano#ChoosingaKeyboard

Also for parts and service down the road, I tell people to stick with Yamaha, Roland and Korg for < $1200 instruments. You're not likely to find a Kurzweil or Nord used in that price range. Casio's play pretty well, but they've only been making decent weighted key (hammer action) digitals for a few years.

Lots of info at that subreddit FAQ. Also this, about how Yamaha makes lots of models with Graded Hammer Action

http://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/x4mw3/need_an_advice_...

We have a Roland HP307, which is already a few years old. It's fantastic - every aspect is customizable, and the modelling is spot on - you can press notes down silently and the strings will resonate when you play other notes.

Get a good quality MIDI controller and use the plethora of awesome physical modelling software to generate any sounds you like. ZynSubAddFX is my personal favourite.