Buying A Digital Piano

July 16th, 2010

Looking to buy a digital piano? Believe it or not, some people might compare buying a digital piano to buying a car. Just like car, you go out and visit a bunch of music shops, try out a bunch of digital pianos, and have a bunch of conflicting advice thrown at you by the sales associates. Not only that, but they will likely try to sell you additional components such as damper pedals, metronomes, piano stands, MIDI cables, and whatever else they could possibly include in their sales pitch.

Unfortunately, this is what many shoppers face when shopping for a good digital piano. While one digital piano dealer may recommend the Roland digital piano as the number one choice, another may actually recommend the Yamaha.

In essence, most digital piano shoppers generally don’t have sufficient knowledge or proper advice to make an informed decision when choosing a digital piano.

If you are in the market for a new digital piano, I will give you my truthful and honest assessment of which digital piano you should consider, including the strengths and weaknesses of each brand.

Yamaha

Yamaha is the most well-known and popular brand these days. More Yamahas are sold compared to any other brand. The product development and branding is outstanding, mainly due to the fact that Yamaha puts an extreme amount of effort into making their digital pianos (also commonly known as Clavinova) sound and feel just like a real acoustic piano. The extract the sound sample from their own Yamaha concert grand piano to use in their digital pianos.

Yamaha Rating: 9 out of 10.

Should You Buy A Yamaha? I say go for it. I own a Yamaha P-70 Digital Piano and love it. It’s completely worth the investment.

Casio

Previously known as the “mediocre” digital piano, Casio digital pianos have improved greatly over the years. In fact, such improvements have moved them up toward one of the best digital piano brands today. When it comes to saving money, you can’t beat the Casio brand. They are notoriously known for being the best value for money, normally priced between half and two thirds the price of Yamaha or Roland digital pianos. While the quality is not quite as good as Yamaha and Roland, they are a great cheap alternative.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Should You Buy A Casio? If you need to stick to a strict budget, Casio is a great choice. The offer a fantastic value for money. The Casio Privia digital piano range is a great choice if you don’t have a lot of space in your home to store it.

Roland

The Roland digital piano, another well-known brand, is built with outstanding quality and fantastic piano tones. Roland values their brand and has been known to resist reducing their prices if that meant that the quality of their pianos would be compromised. The sound sampling is taken from a Steinway concert grand piano.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Should You Buy A Roland? Absolutely. I suggest buying from the HP, F, or KR range.

Korg

Korg digital pianos are widely known for their high end keyboards as well as their stage pianos. They offer a bit of a limited range in terms of digital pianos, most of which offer functions that are comparable to the Casio digital pianos. They are reasonably priced, however the quality and sound is nowhere near comparable to that of the Yamaha, Roland, or Casio digital piano.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Should You Buy A Korg? I personally wouldn’t recommend it, however some people prefer the sound of the Korg over others.

So there you have it! You should be pretty well equipped with enough background information on the most popular digital pianos. Don’t forget to sit down and try the pianos as well. Take your time and ask questions. If you choose any of the brands as explained above, you will most likely be very satisfied with your purchase. Good luck!

Everything Piano | Piano Sheet Music

Yamaha

Casio

Roland

Korg

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