Digital Piano Buying Guide
Features of digital piano
The history of digital piano dated back in the 1980s. The majority of digital piano are manufactured by the Japanese and the American. The digital piano is different from the electronic keyboard in many ways; its action is much like the piano action, and the keys are weighted. The price of a digital piano can range from a few hundred to fifteen thousands. One can also find digital piano in upright or grand shaped just like a regular acoustic piano. A few of the famous brands are Yamaha Clavinova, Suzuki, Roland, Kawai, Kurzweil etc.
My favorite brand is the Yamaha Clavinova. I own a Clavinova CVP series, it not only provides many sound features with
accompaniment as well as the capabilities to record into diskette. Many of the newer digital piano possess MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) capabilities which allows the digital piano to be connected to a computer that have a sound card.
The advantages of using digital piano
1. Less costly than acoustic piano (there are some that are quite costly).
2. Maintenance free (you save money by not having to tune it)
3. Light and handy (this feature is especially beneficial to those that live in apartment.
4. Comes with headphone plug-in (reduce the noise interference).
5. Provides many accompaniments and different features which can enhance learning abilities for younger generations.
(I start my younger students with a clavinova because it comes with built in metronome as well as many attractive features such as recording abilities).
The disadvantages of using digital piano
1. The major disadvantage is no doubt the inabilities to duplicate the touch and the tones of a regular acoustic piano. Even if the technology is advanced nowadays, none of the present digital piano can imitate a real action of acoustic piano.
Note: Yamaha and Kawai now sell hybrid digital acoustic piano. These are regular acoustic pianos with real actions that can be
disconnected from the acoustic sound and connected with the digital sound on demand. This type of piano may very well be the wave of the future.
2. Digital piano provides many wonderful features and are affordable for beginners, it is however an insufficient instrument to acquire advanced piano techniques and skills. The so-called weighted keys are not so responsive and therefore create a delay in playing which are detrimental in virtuoso piano playing.
The digital piano is not recommended for intermediate or advanced pianist who wants to build techniques..
What to look for?
If you are shopping for a digital piano, do not mainly look for price. Feel and touch the weighted keys as well as checking out the many features of it. A MIDI abilities with diskette recording is essential in modern world.
Summary:
Digital piano has its strong and weak points. Depends on your purchasing criteria, it may very well be a worthy investment!
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