Digital piano

Draft

A digital piano is a kind of electronic keyboard designed to feel and sound like a traditional piano. In addition, a digital piano can include many features that are found in various other electronic instruments such as:

• a MIDI interface and act as a so-called Midi controller;
• many sounds (including other types of keyboards, strings, guitars, horns, etc.);
• metronome and auto accompaniment with various levels of fingering (chord recognition) support;
• demonstration play-along features, recording, sequencing and play-back.

In this article we particularly will examine some of the features that can are interesting for piano and more general music education.

Features and kinds of digital pianos

(as of fall 2011 !)

A good digital piano should at least include the following function:

• A few good piano sounds either obtained by carefully sampling a real piano or by modeling a piano sound.
• Connectivity: MIDI, USB, iPAD, CD
• Multi-track squencing in various formats (including MIDI and WAV/MP3)
• Piano-like action, i.e. a weighted keyboard, some kind of grader hammer action and ivory-feel keys.

As of fall 2011, a decent enough digital piano costs about 800 Euros. The cheapest good "arranger" piano costs about 1200 Euros.

There exist several kinds of digital pianos, in particular:

(1) Compact e-pianos

Are lighter than upright e-pianos below. Most models are entry-level in terms of sound, keyboard quality and extra features.

Typical examples:

• Yamaha YDP series, Yamaha P95
• Casio PX-330
• Casio CDP series
• Kawai CL series
• Roland F-110

Price range:

• 200 - 2000 Euros

(2) Upright e-pianos

These look almost like real pianos but weight less, i.e. about 80kgs. Implement a variety of keyboard sounds. There exist both low-end and high end versions in terms of sound quality, keyboard action and extra features. Many of high-end versions also implement "arranger" and and auto-accompaniment features found in "ensemble pianos". The difference are a much small LCD screen, less control buttons and less features.

Typical examples:

• Yamaha CLP 4xx series, Yamaha CLP-295
• Kawai CA, CN and CS series
• Roland HP series, Roland RG-1, Roland LX-10

Price range:

• 450 - 6000 Euros

(3) Stage pianos

Have the same functions as upright high-end e-pianos but weight much less. They usually do not include accompaniment (rhythms), some don't have speakers, i.e. need an amplifier.

Typical examples:

• Casio PX 3
• Yamaha CP series, e.g. CP1, CP5, CP300
• Clavia Nord series
• Roland FP-7, RD-700, Roland V-Piano

Price range:

• 350 - 5500 Euros

(4) Ensemble pianos / digital pianos with arranger

Add relatively sophisticated auto-accompaniment and support for multi-track sequencing.

Typical examples:

• Yamaha CVP series: the CVP 509 is considered to be the best model in its class (around 7000 Euros)
• Kawai CP series
• Casio AP series: the CASIO AP-620 is considered to be the best price/perfomance model (around 1200 Euros)

Prince range:

• 450 to 10000 Euros

Some grand piano versions exist, e.g. the Yamaha CVP-409. See also upright e-pianos like the Roland HPI and Yamaha CLP series that do have some of the functionalities these "arranger" pianos have.

(5) Digital grand pianos

A variant of upright upright e-pianos are digital grand pianos like the expensive Yamaha Avant Grand N3 or the Roland V-Piano Grand can be very sophisticated, i.e. allow to adjust design of sounds and keyboard action.

Price range:

• 5000 to 20000 Euros

Educational features

Some of these features are not just educational, but can Many mid- and high-end ePianos will implement at least some of these functions.

Twin Piano Mode

Allows to split the keyboard into two equal sections, so that teacher and pupil can play along.

Built-in metronome

Should be adjustable

Spell out chords

Play a chord and see it either as letter code or sheet notation.

Recorder / Sequencer

Multi-track recorder for recording one's own play

MP3/CD player

Be able to play music in the background for playing along

Play along features

• Piano can read a midi file, display the sheet music and/or light keys to hit

MIDI Interface

• Piano can interact via midi cables or a USB key with a PC and interact with composition software.

Links

Technical

• Digital piano (Wikipedia)

Education

• Piano Education Page, e.g.
  • Digital Pianos and Piano Lessons by by John M. Zeigler (updated: 08/29/11 when last checked)
  • Piano and Music Software Reviews