I’ve been learning the piano for about a year now, with a Casio CDP-120. It’s not a bad keyboard, I suppose, but I’ve been longing for something a little bit better. Now that I’m moving to Columbus, it seems like the perfect time for an upgrade. There are two basic options here: 1) Rent an honest-to-god piano. This depends on how much space I’ve got in my apartment and how much it costs to rent one. (I’m not especially interested in owning one, as that strikes me as rather like owning a large, rather expensive pet that needs constant care and feeding.) 2) Get a new digital. I’m aiming for about a grand. Bells and whistles not terribly important–I’m interested in the action and sound, both of which I want to approximate The Real Deal as nearly as possible.
I personally play and really like my Yamaha Clavinova. The models change every couple of years, but there should be one around a thousand dollars. Good piano sound and pretty good key action as well. This is also a matter of taste, though. If you’re willing to go for a little less pretty, you might want to have a look at the line of stage pianos as well - mostly the same interior without the added exterior of the Clavinova series.
(How awesome - you could actually say you bought a grand piano… ;))
I’m curious: do most/some/any digital pianos have the ability to connect to a computer? I remember software from way back when that purported to teach keyboarding that way.
Yamaha does this. I bought a portable Grand for my neighbors son a dozen Christmases ago and I remember specifically that it had that feature. Along with the entire 88 keys.
I can’t imagine any modern keyboard not letting you hook it up to your computer. That’s been a standard feature for a long time. Even the cheap learner keyboards designed for kids have it.
And I for one recommend a Yamaha. It seems like Casio skimps on the sounds for some reason, and Roland keyboards have way too wide a touch response, meaning you have to play very carefully not to have some notes come out too quiet and others too loud. Yamaha’s response seems to actually mimic a real piano, even on the cheaper models.
My teacher also recommended a Yamaha, and the Clavinova (I think) that he’s got at the moment, while old and crappy in the grand scheme of things, still sounds better than my Casio. The sound is most of why I want to upgrade. (I’d also like a better action and more finesse on the touch response.)
I bought a digital piano a few months ago. I think it’s a Yamaha Arius. The sound is pretty good (I tried lots of them in the store) and the action feels good to me. The keys are a little loud, but that’s only a problem when I turn the volume way down. I do think it was more money than you are wanting to spend (maybe I spent 1500? I’m not certain), but the Yamahas were much better than the Casios in both sound and action at the particular store I went to. I play classical piano, if that matters, though I hadn’t played in years.