Choosing An Intermediate Digital Piano Buying Guide
There you have, folks! Note that this list is based on what we believe are the best intermediate digital pianos with fully weighted keys you can currently get.
In case you havent found the instrument that suits your needs in this article, Id like to provide some extra information that will hopefully help you find the right instrument.
Here are some of the main terms and aspects of the digital piano world that youll inevitably run into when doing your research.
KeysAction TypesTouch sensitivityPolyphonyModesLesson FunctionMIDI recorderAudio RecorderAccompaniment Transpose, Tuning USB type A USB type B
Modern acoustic pianos have 88 keys. Most keyboards and digital pianos have 88, 76, 73 or 61 keys.73 keys are enough to play most modern pieces. Some advanced pieces require a full set of 88 keys.
There are 3 most common types of actions:
1) Non-weighted most organs, synths and entry-level keyboards are not weighted.2) Semi-weighted common action for budget portable keyboards . Spring-loaded mechanism adds more resistance to the keys compared to the non-weighted action.3) Fully weighted is designed to replicate the action of a real piano. It uses small hammers attached to each key to recreate the mechanical movements found inside a real piano.
If your main goal is to play piano that youll definitely want a keyboard with hammer action keys.
Its not a big deal nowadays as almost any $150+ keyboard have touch-sensitive keys regardless of its action type.
Top 10 Best Digital Piano With Weighted Keys Of 2022 Reviews
Looking for the best digital piano with weighted keys?
Makes sense. There are plenty of benefits to electing to get a keyboard rather than an acoustic. However, if you are going to go the keyboard route, there are features that you need to look out for.
One of the most important of these features is weighted keys. However, it isnt enough to know that you want weighted keys. If that is your only criteria, you will be overwhelmed by the options.
You also need to be able to tell the good keyboards from the bad. To that end, we can be of help. Read on for a guide to the ten best keyboards with weighted keys!
Contents
What’s Not So Good About The Yamaha Np
Keys
While the touch sensitivity is great, the keys arent actually weighted. So unfortunately, you wont get the real piano experience with this model. If youre used to something bigger, you may find the keys too light and spongy. However, its perfect for a beginner pianist, aspiring to train their fingers before they graduate to a larger piano.
Features
While I understand this is supposed to be a serious practice instrument and not a toy, I cant help but feel that at this price point we should have more than 10 voices. The features on this piano are incredibly sparse – I suppose, however, this could be a good thing if you require focused, concentrated practice, without getting distracted by the bells and whistles of a fancier keyboard.
Also Check: Roland Rp 500 Digital Piano Bundle
What Is A Digital Piano
Simply put, a digital piano is a keyboard that replicates the feel and sound of an acoustic piano through digital sampling technology. Unlike a traditional keyboard, a digital piano has full-sized weighted keys and isn’t concerned with excessive banks of sounds but instead focuses on a few great piano voices.
Yamaha P125 Digital Piano
The Yamaha P125 is a compact, 88-key weighted digital piano that combines incredible piano performance with a user-friendly, minimalist design. P125 is loaded with features to give you an acoustic piano playing experience in a portable package. It produces the dynamic, high-quality sound and natural piano touch response youve come to expect from Yamaha digital pianos while maintaining a sleek and slim footprint.
Don’t Miss: How To Play Keyboard Piano
Sound Quality And Ease Of Operation
While you cannot expect earth shattering sound quality from a digital piano in this range, the Yamaha DGX-230 manages to do a pretty decent job. Through a professional sound setup, the samples sound pretty great and is comparable to more expensive digital pianos but the on-board speakers do feel like a bit of a let-down. It lacks punch in the mids and highs and can spoil the feel of a performance if your piece has strong bass lines as the bass can drown out the higher frequencies. This does make the auto-accompaniment a bit punchier but as a digital piano, the frequency response of the speakers are a failure.
The Yamaha DGX 230 is quite easy to use as it is primarily targeted towards beginners. It hardly takes a few hours to get acquainted with all the various features allowing you to concentrate on the actual playing without getting distracted by trying to remember where a certain feature is.
Compact Lightweight And Easy To Use Digital Piano
Just like Yamaha’s other P-series digital pianos, the P-45 digital piano sports a compact, lightweight, and contemporary design, giving you easy storage and effortless portability. And the Yamaha P-45 is easy to use too. With its simple, streamlined interface, all you do to call up a glorious-sounding concert grand piano is hit the, um, “Grand Piano” button. And calling up any other patch is just as easy. The P-45 digital piano features ten stunningly realistic instruments, including electric piano, organs, harpsichord, vibraphone, and more. The Yamaha P-45 is half-pedal capable with the optional FC3 pedal. A sustain footswitch and a music rest are included.
You May Like: Hey There Delilah Piano Chords
Yamaha P115 Review Best 88
The best full-size digital piano under 500 is best suitable for beginner through intermediate players because it best simulates the acoustic piano with its 88-key weighted keyboard. This best digital keyboard has authentic keys that are best suitable for performing live, and it also features a built-in recorder to best capture your songs as you play them. Plus, it best supports various music software so you can best upgrade your old music files.
Do Beginner Digital Pianos Come With Pedals
Acoustic pianos can feature up to three foot pedals, but only one of them is absolutely essential when starting out, and that’s the sustain or ‘damper’ pedal. For this reason, all of the pianos on our list offer a sustain pedal input, with a basic pedal or footswitch included in the purchase price. Some pianos even offer the opportunity to add an optional three-pedal board with metal footplates, as you’d find on an acoustic piano at a later point should you need one.
You May Like: How To Do Jingle Bells On Piano
What Are Weighted Keys
Basically, weighted keys are that when you press the keys, there is some resistance responding to your finger and you can feel some natural weight while pressing. Weighted action is a technique that is built to imitate the key action of an acoustic piano.
So, how does it work, and how does it make the sound?
In a real piano, there is a mechanical part built-in, including hammers, strings, and a lever system. The musical sound is produced by a hammer hitting the strings and then vibrates to create sound. The hammer is connected to a lever system that has weight and resistance. So thats why we can feel the keys are weighted when were playing the piano.
You may have played the keyboards before, normally the keys on a keyboard are very light and you can find its super easy to press the keys down.
But on a weighted digital piano, its different. If you dont press it properly, the piano wont generate sound due to the weighted action. Its an important way for you to practice finger strength. Additionally, compared with playing on a keyboard, playing on a digital piano with weighted keys gives you a way more realistic feel.
Plus, the quality of the key actions determines how authentic the keys are. It depends on what key action technique the manufacturers use.
Yamaha P515b 88 Key Advance Digital Piano W/ Weighted Keys And Smart Pianist App
With P-515, enjoy the exquisite beauty of the sought-after tones that the CFX and Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand pianos deliver.
Over 500 Voices means you have a wide selection of sounds to choose from, allowing you to create and perform in any musical genre.
Natural Wood X keyboards are created using unrivaled expertise that Yamaha has acquired through more than a century of crafting acoustic pianos. This expertise combines with cutting-edge digital technology for an authentic piano playing experience that only Yamaha can provide.
The elegant, yet compact and portable design makes the P-515 an attractive addition to your music-making space at home, and a reliable, eye-catching instrument to bring to the stage.
| Model: |
Read Also: Bohemian Rhapsody Sheet Music For Piano
Korg C1 Air Review Best Portable Lighted Top Digital Piano
The Korg C1 Air is hands down the best mini 88-key digital piano because it offers high-quality sounds and comes with a built-in speaker, which best allows you to best play music anywhere where theres no need for external speakers. Plus, this best digital keyboard comes with the best digital piano reviews that are best suitable for both beginners and more advanced players who want to upgrade their collection of instruments.
best rated digital pianos under 500
best cheap digital pianos
best 88 key weighted keys
best brands of digital pianos
best kids digital piano under 100
The piano is the most popular instrument in the world today, and there are even best apps for learning how to play this best instrument. If youre just starting out with the piano but you want to best upgrade your old sound library, then getting a new digital piano would be best suitable for your needs. Today, many people look for the best affordable keyboard since its more convenient to bring compared with acoustic ones. At first glance, they may look similar because both types of keyboards have 88 keys that are best designed to best simulate an acoustic one. But what really differentiates one from another is the best key action and best sound quality. Its best to check out the best digital piano under 500 if you want to compare different products with each other.
best 88 key weighted keys
best portable digital pianos
best-rated keyboards for beginners
best digital piano for kids
Other Beginner Digital Piano Features
Other common features you’ll find on a quality beginner digital piano include extra keyboard modes such as duo, dual, or split. Duo mode creates a four-octave keyboard at each end of the piano so that students and teachers can play together on the same instrument.
Aside from advances in sound generation, technology has enhanced the digital piano experience even further recently, with some models featuring Bluetooth MIDI/Audio capability.
Together with companion smartphone apps, these functions allow you to edit sounds remotely, stream music to play along with from your mobile device through the piano’s speakers, or record MIDI data of your performance for evaluation and editing. We’ve created this handy guide showing you how to connect your digital piano to a computer.
- Digital piano vs acoustic piano: what’s the difference?
Also Check: Howl At The Moon Dueling Pianos
Inexpensive Options For 88 Weighted Keys
First, lets discuss the cheaper option for those interested in an weighted, 88-key digital piano One such model is that of the Williams Allegro .
Williams Pianos is a lesser-known company, but they produce dependable machines that appeal to those that are not willing to drop huge stacks of cash on digital pianos.
The Allegro comes with a hammer action system that is not trademarked, but certainly gets the job done. The keys on the piano are all velocity sensitive, so the expression of your music will always come through, instead of the uniform velocity that you see on many a cheap digital piano.
The piano also comes with 8 dependable tones, a metronome, a two track recording system, and MIDI connectivity. All of this for around $300 is truly an amazing package.
I have to keep it real, however, and that means the truth is most people arent feeling Williams Pianos. And if youre one of those people, you may want to try another affordable option. If so, Id recommend the Yamaha P-115. .
The predecessor to the P-115, the Yamaha P-105 had previously been one of best selling options on the market for years, and provided a lot of what a young beginning piano player would need to get up and running.
The 14 voices housed on the machine are backed by 192 notes of polyphony , along with 14 demo songs . This is certainly one of the best options available on the market, and if you shop well, you should be able to find it for roughly $600 brand new.
The Best 76 Key Weighted Digital Keyboard
I was so tempted to recommend the P121, as its the only properly weighted keyboard here, but I just cant recommend it over the P-125. Theyre in a similar price range but the P-125 has a full 88 note keyboard that youll never outgrow. I cant recommend the P-121 over the P-125, unless there is a highly specific reason you need 73 keys rather than 88.
Don’t Miss: Giornos Theme Piano Sheet Music
Korg D1 Review Best Portable Weighted Key Digital Piano
If youre looking for a portable option that still delivers great-sounding notes, then the Korg D1 best budget digital piano would be best suited for your needs. Although this is best known as one of the cheapest options available in the market today, it best simulates the acoustic piano with its best-weighted keyboard, which is best suitable for both beginners and more advanced players.
Yamaha P45 Vs P71 Whats The Difference
You might be wondering why Im using the P45/P71 phrase interchangeably. Its because the two pianos are identical.
The launch of this P series by Yamaha caused a lot of confusion among buyers. The Yamaha P45 looks identical to the Yamaha P71, although they are sold at different prices and by other retailers. The P45 is slightly more expensive than its P71 counterpart, so why did Yamaha release two seemingly identical pianos with different names?
The only difference I could spot was that the Yamaha P71 is sold exclusively by Amazon at a lower price. At the same time, the P45 is a generic model that you can buy at several retailers. Suppose you prefer buying your digital piano at a physical shop. In that case, the P45 will be easier to find in retail stores. The Yamaha P71 has special offers and bundles on accessories, so youre likely getting more for less compared to the P45.
The bottom line is that they are both entry-level suitable for beginners through to intermediary players. A close analysis of the two pianos reveals that the two digital pianos have the exact functions and features. So picking either model has no advantage save for price and type of accessories.
Now that we are clear that Im talking about the same piano, Ill start my discussion about the design.
Recommended Reading: How To Play Clair De Lune On Piano
Authentic Acoustic Piano Playability And Half
With an 88-key piano action, the GH3 keyboard reproduces the touch of an acoustic piano, from a naturally heavy feel in the lower key to a lighter touch in the upper octaves. The GH3 keyboard provides a grand piano-style response and feel, allowing rapid note repetition and authentic expressive control. Moreover, theres a half-damper feature that authentically replicates the damper action on a grand piano, providing rich expressive variation.
Yamaha Dgx 230 Review
Yamaha is a brand that is known to make affordable entry-level musical instruments that offers excellent bang for the buck. The Yamaha DGX 230 fits that mould perfectly. In this review well take a look at this 76-key digital piano that is targeted mainly at the budget-conscious beginner to early intermediate players.
Read Also: Welcome To The Internet Piano
Lack Of A Full Size Keyboard
This probably goes without saying, but if youre an aspiring classical concert pianist, the 76 key models are not for you. If you require a keyboard with 88 keys, because youre playing music that spans the full length of the keyboard, youll need to purchase an 88 key model. Otherwise, youre going to be dissatisfied.
Song Recording And Playback
If you wanted to record your performances, the DGX-670 comes with a multi-track recorder, which is a big upgrade if youre coming from typical digital pianos that only include a 1- to 2-track recorder.
On the DGX-670, you can record up to 3 keyboard tracks, and also the style tracks which cover the accompaniment rhythms and instrumentals. Despite having 16 total tracks to work with, the styles and rhythms apparently occupy the remaining 13 slots, so you cant record your own custom parts.
The recordings are saved as MIDI, which enables you to modify the recordings after the fact, such as through muting and rerecording specific parts. You can then save the recorded songs onto an external USB drive for storage.
Since the DGX-670 comes with a score-view, you can also see your recordings in the form of a musical score. While this is novel, I can definitely imagine some cool use cases where a teacher shares custom scores with their students.
You can also bounce your songs out as audio , which is a nice feature if you dont want the hassle of connecting the DGX-670 to a DAW.
You May Like: Kanye West Runaway Piano Notes
Yamaha Ypg535 Review Best Beginner 88
If youre just starting to learn how to play the best instrument in the world, then the best digital piano for kids would be best suited for your needs. The Yamaha YPG535 best budget keyboard is not only affordable, but it can best simulate an acoustic piano with its best-weighted keys and triple sensors. Plus, the built-in speakers of this best keyboard offer a big sound thats also best suitable for playing music using other instruments like the guitar or drums.
