I have been playing a cheap Casio electric for a while now, and recently I got the opportunity to try a real Yamaha grand piano. It was awesome! the sound is much richer and it easier to distinguish the notes and the bass… I thought for most of my life I am bad with the bass because I barely enjoy it with the electric, but with the grad, the bass is so pleasurable!
So I have a couple of questions:
If the electric piano is just playing extrapolations of samples taken from a real piano, where can I find the software for a better sound to put into my existing piano? I tried some music programming, but the sound you hear happens after an annoying delay after you press the key on the e. piano and I can’t find a good piano sound.
What is a good model of an e. piano to get used for a close to grand sound? assume I can spend up to maybe $400-$500, unless if it is really incredible.
Are there models that will not have a noticeable delay when programming music?
What have you programmed to enhance normal playing?
Not a pianist and don’t know current prices, but I consider Casio keyboards as toys. Sounds to me like you want a pro-quality keyboard. Use your google fu to research this. Maybe a used one would be in your $$ range,
Id asked the mods to move this to Cafe Society. Pianists like pulykamell, pianodave, and DooWahDiddy are more likely to find it.
We got my son a $500 Yamaha. It had great-feeling (to him) touch dynamics, where they weighted the keys so they have a more realistic piano feel. Between that and solid sounds for piano, organ, etc, and he was set.
It’s not just the inbuilt sounds or digital sampling - you need good speakers, too. Casio built in speakers are crap.
I had to get add-on speakers for my e-piano but it was worth it. My late husband would sometime lament it would sound even better with better speakers.
My e-piano also has high-quality digital sampling of actual instruments for much of its sound range (some sort of software finessing is used for sounds outside of an instrument’s normal range if you’re emulating, say, a flute). Better sampling makes for better sound.
There should ‘ t be a delay. Does the Casio itself have a delay? Or how are you “music programming” it? What I do is just use a MIDI controller with a virtual piano instrument like True Pianos in my music software (I still just use Garage Band). There is no delay I can detect, except when I try to use a Bluetooth speaker.
As for the digital pianos, I really would recommend just going to a music store, if they still exist, and trying them out for yourself. This is such a personal choice. $500 is a little on the cheap side for something really good, but there should be a Yamaha in that price range that is acceptable. I myself don’t own any weighted key digital pianos as I’ve not really found anything I love in terms of feel in a price range I want to spend (which is around yours. I have a real piano for that. That said, the sounds themselves are prett amazing these days.)
Also, true pianos is only $69, and has a free trial, so feel free to download it and hook it up via MIDI to your Casio and see how you like the sounds.
Ooh, my first Bat-signal! Yeah, cheap Casios are pretty much toys; if you love Casio, though, try the Privia. They’re high-end and really do feel great.
I myself, though, am a Yamaha guy. I love how it can sound so beautiful and so rock ‘n’ roll at the same time, and feel that way too. I agree the only way to tell for sure is to go to a music store and jam for a while, see what feels good.
Not sure what you mean by programming, but as mentioned before, any keyboard with MIDI can hook up to a computer and you can use those sounds instead of the keyboard’s. For instance, for home-use I use my Yamaha MO8 because I like the feel, but I plug it into GarageBand and use the Steinway piano sound it comes with. It was $30 and you get tons of sounds, so if you’re a Mac user I highly recommend it. Obviously even nicer piano samples are available at higher prices.
OK , I was doing a little research, and it seems one you should have a look at for your general price range is the Yamaha P-115. New it’s around $600; I see a couple pre-owned ones on eBay for $500. The reviews on it are pretty uniformly positive.
Anyone who says “Casios suck” is basing their opinion on info that’s years out of date (or just along for the bandwagon).
At $4-500, a Casio PX-160 is pretty much the best/only option, with the Yamaha P-115 mentioned upthread being a comparable model, though a bit more expensive.
I’d also point out that not only are you comparing the quality of the samples to a real piano, but the quality of amplification. Even a much more detailed/expensive sampled instrument is going to sound a little muddy in the bass going through those tiny speakers built into your keyboard.
But at your price point, I typically recommend the Privia 160 (with the stand coming in at $550), or the Yamaha 115 if you want to go that way. It’s tough if you can’t touch/listen before buying, but both options are good.
My GF gave me a PX-160 for Christmas (why yes, she’s the bestest ) and I’m quite happy with it, very good sound and key feel; the keyboard itself comes with a sustain pedal, but I got the stand with a three pedal set.
The only thing I don’t like is how to change settings on it, they went way too minimalistic with the controls, basically it has a Function button that you press down and then use the piano keys to make selections of instruments, metronome, key sensitivity, etc, etc. Cumbersome and impossible to see at a glance how things have been set.
I hadn’t played for over 10 years, and I wasn’t any good back then; also my experience was with cheaper electronic keyboards with basic touch sensitivity but a completely different feel from an actual piano, so I’m pretty much starting from scratch with the new one.
I’m sure you know it already, but an electric piano is fine for practicing. It does not replace a real one, however. Every time I sit behind an acoustic piano, it takes me some time getting used to the richness of the sound that comes out. And the volume ! How the hell do you turn this beast down ?
But as far as I’m concerned, I have neither the money nor the space to own a real piano, so the P-115 is just what I need for the moment.
) and I’m quite happy with it, very good sound and key feel; the keyboard itself comes with a sustain pedal, but I got the stand with a three pedal set.