Digital piano

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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. But there are also high-end models, usually branded as stage pianos.

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 Arius (YDP) series
• 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. These pianos usually feature complex controls for adjustment of sounds and globally speaking produce the best e-Piano sounds while matching reproduction of grand piano sounds.

Typical examples:

• Casio PX 3
• Yamaha CP series, e.g. CP1, CP5, CP300
• Clavia Nord series
• Roland FP-7, RD-700, Roland V-Piano
• Korg SP250, Korg SV-1

Price range:

• 350 - 5500 Euros

(4) Ensemble pianos / digital pianos with arranger

These types include a built-in orchestra, i.e. add relatively sophisticated auto-accompaniment. They also support multi-track sequencing, editing features and usually feature a nice LCD display. Some models also can connect to the Internet.

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)
• Roland HPi series (although they rather could be labeled "educational" since the offer the best built-in educational support))
• Roland VIMA RK-300 (sold as multimedia entertainment machine since it can produce visual output, e.g. karaoke movies)
• Korg PA588 (compact, light weight)

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. Finally, most so-called "arranger keyboards" like the Yamaha Tyros line only have 61 keys and these are "light", i.e. don't have the heavy graded action of a piano. Few digitial pianos seem to have the features of high-end arranger keyboards. E.g. The Yamaha CVP 409 is based on the Tyros 3 (and not the latest Tyros 4 line). However, some arranger keyboards have more keys, e.g. 76 and feature so-called semi-weighted action. Some models of the Korg PA series are good examples.

(5) Digital grand pianos

Digital grand pianos can be very sophisticated, i.e. allow to adjust design of sounds and keyboard action. They may or may not include all the features of a good ensemble piano.

Examples:

• Yamaha CVP 409, Yamaha Avant Grand N3
• Roland RG and KR (accompaniment) series, Roland V-Grand

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.

Digital sheet music

Models with larger screens such as the Yamaha CVP 505 or 509 or the Roland HPi series allow to display sheet music and to interact with the learners actions.

For example, the Roland HPi-7F "digiscore" series is marketed in the following terms: “A large, flat-screen LCD is built into the music rest of each piano, providing “digital sheet music” and a variety of skill-building programs. DigiScore makes learning fun, and can even evaluate your performances and check your finger strength.” (HPi-7F, retrieved 18:54, 5 September 2011 (CEST)).

Links

Technical

• Digital piano (Wikipedia)
• know-your-keyboard-piano

Education

• Piano Education Page, read Getting the Most From The Piano Education Page in order to find contents like:
  • Digital Pianos and Piano Lessons by by John M. Zeigler (updated: 08/29/11 when last checked)
  • Piano and Music Software Reviews