My youngest daughter is 11, and has expressed some interest in playing the piano. I’d like to get her a digital piano/keyboard, but I’d hate to plunk down $600 - $1000 if it’s just going to end up in her closet in a couple of weeks.
Is there a decent digital keyboard for say, around $200 that I can get her to see how she likes it? I’ve seen some online that have built in lesson plans, etc. but I’m just not sure of the quality. I’ve also read that some things are important when selecting a keyboard (weighted keys, etc.), but does it make that much of a difference for a true beginner?
IIRC, I got my Casio CDP-120 on sale for something like $349; normally it’s $449. It has weighted keys (which are that important) and sounds ok. Pretty basic. I’m told that keyboards hold value fairly well–by their nature, they’re not as subject to wear and tear as other instruments, so they just obsolesce.
ETA: Oh, it’s also worth getting a separate sustain pedal. The one that comes with the unit is a piece of crap; you want something that’s a) well-built and b) actually feels like a sustain pedal.
Opinions on this are all over the place, but I tend to be a purist and will say that all of those things are important especially for a true beginner – but only if you want that beginner to eventually be able to play acoustic pianos with any competence.
I highly recommend seeing if there is a piano store near you that does rentals: you can get a decent upright for $70-100/month, and at the place I’m renting from there was only a 6-month minimum (then it went to month-to-month). Rent a real piano for a few months, and see how your daughter feels about it.
Have a look at the Yamaha NP-11 and NP-31. They’re springy keys, not weighted. But they’re cheap, and have no distractions other than basic sounds like piano and harpsichord.
I got one for my son to start on, for exactly the same reasons as you. It’s been fine for practicing for his first term of lessons. Assuming he keeps it up I’ll replace it with a weighted keyboard soon.
All modern digital pianos are a midi keyboard coupled with a midi synth - cost is generally an indication of the quality of those components. A good weighted keybed will have an action that feels like the throw of a hammer, and give good dynamic range with a positive feel.
Hardware synth technology (specifically piano synthesis) has changed as technology has improved. Early attempts include the mellotron - a keyboard with 36 tape loops (one per note). Digital samplers were developed in the 70s, but memory was expensive, so hybrid and algorithmic synthesisers were cheaper and popular. This included the Yamaha DX7, which used Frequency Modulation to create complex, natural sounding sounds (but the piano was not great). My Roland Sound Canvas sc-155 was made in 1991 - it has a Pulse Code Modulation synthesiser that stores single cycle waveforms in a digital form and modifies it with digital filters and ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release). It sounds pretty crap, but was pretty good for the time. I still like it, because it is faster to turn on than a computer and is a tabletop device with full General MIDI compatibility (128 sounds) and 8 sliders to allow manual sound mixing (I have full range piano, lower register bass, mid register pad and upper hammond). Better synths and keyboards used proper samples - recorded piano sounds that get pitch shifted and volume adjusted as notes are played. The more samples and the better the quality of the recording, the better the sound. Specialised hardware was used to produce the sounds. This hardware was either built into the piano or connected as a MIDI module.
Computers had been used for synthesis for many years, but not in a realtime fashion. Realtime computer audio started with the SoundBlaster and similar - using FM synthesis initially, as well as digital file playback. As computing power increased, it became possible for computers to do realtime audio synthesis. The combination of a MIDI controller and a computer synthesiser gave a new tool in the musicians arsenal. There were a number of competing products in this space, but the real victor was the Steinberg Virtual Studio Technology - this was a standard that allowed developers to create compatible plugins that could be used in conforming hosts. The VST technology allowed two sorts of plugins - effects plugins that took audio in, processed it and played it out, and Virtual Instruments that take MIDI in and play audio out. These are integrated with Studio programs that record and process incoming audio (from multiple inputs) and MIDI.
Now, with powerful multicore processors and lots of RAM/Disk, amazing things are possible. The Sampler provided by Ableton Live is powerful and fast. But the samples are the key - the piano set was a 2Gb download. The drum set was the same size, and they sound great. A full orchestral sample set can be huge, and really good sample sets cost real money (but cheaper than a real orchestra).
But even with not spending much money, you can get great sounds. I have a VSTi called WusikStation which has a great set of piano samples, and it didn’t cost much. There are free and lowcost VST hosts (EnergyXT is a lowcost option). USB MIDI interfaces don’t cost much, and you can get a lot out of a moderate system - I use a 5 year old dual core laptop with 2Gb of ram and handle vocals, guitar and effects, and playing MIDI backing as well.
So don’t put it in the closet. Keep what ever you get out in the living room, with the music right there. Don’t pile laundry, mail, newspapers or anything else on it. The more it’s a central part of your home, the more likely it is to get played often.
It might be even better if you played it daily yourself; you don’t have to be great to be encouraging.