What Digital Piano Should I Buy?
Digital pianos are a great choice of instrument for piano students of all ages and abilities. They range wildly in functionality and different features, so choosing the right instrument for you is crucial. Read on to learn more about what makes digital pianos a good idea for a beginner piano student and what you need to know before shopping around.
Digital Paino Features
Action and Response
The first thing you need to keep in mind while looking for digital pianos is touch and sound. The most significant difference between digital pianos and their keyboard cousins is the general feel of the keys. Digital piano keys have resistance built-in that mimics the feel of a real piano. The keys feel like they have some weight to them and have what piano players call a good “response” to the keys.
Most importantly, the keys are often touch-sensitive. Touch sensitivity means that the digital piano can register subtle differences in velocity that determines the loudness of the key being played. With low budget keyboards, the keys are not touch-sensitive, and you are only able to change the loudness of turning a knob or pressing a button. This prevents a pianist from changing the loudness of the song while their playing. A digital piano fixes that problem by being touch-sensitive.
Additional Materials
Another significant aspect of looking for a digital piano is remembering the instrument is not all that is needed. Some pianos may be cheaper but will not come with a piano bench or a stand for the keyboard to rest on. You will have to factor those additional purchases into your final decision on which digital piano to buy. Here are some great options for a bench and stand if you need to buy them separately.
Our Digital Piano Picks
Alesis Recital Digital Piano
This digital piano is a full-sized, 88-key digital piano with semi-weighted keys. It also has an adjustable touch response to suit any style of playing. It comes with five voices and a couple of basic sound effect styles. It doesn’t have many ways to customize its sound, but it has the necessities: weighted and touch-sensitive keys.
This piano does come with any accessories, so you will need to purchase a piano bench and stand separately.
Yamaha P45
This Yamaha digital piano is also full-sized and has 88 keys. The main difference from the Alesis we mentioned is that this digital piano has fully weighted keys. This means it feels almost exactly like how a real piano would feel.
It also has double the number of voices and sounds it can produce at 10 voices. Yamaha does a great job of sampling real acoustic pianos and using them in their digital piano voices. There are also more playful functionalities like dual-mode that lets you combine two different voices simultaneously.
This piano also does not come with a stand or bench, so you will need to purchase those separately.
Yamaha YDP103
This Yamaha digital piano is also full-sized and has 88 keys. It has fully weighted keys precisely like an acoustic piano and has very precise and accurate touch-sensitivity. The Arius models are known for their authentic responsiveness while playing and are in the same line as what we use during piano lessons at Surf City Music School.
The number of functionalities these digital pianos offer is astounding and work with smart devices and computers. It also has three different pedals that perform various functions like a real acoustic piano. Best of all, the Yamaha YDP digital piano line comes with a sturdy and good looking stand and piano bench. They match and accent the digital piano itself really well and often look great in students’ homes.