glassner@unc.UUCP (Andrew S. Glassner) (05/06/85)
This question may extend a bit beyond the bounds of this newsgroup, but this seems a good place to start... I would like to purchase an apartment piano this summer. Although I would like to get an honest-to-goodness piano, a real acoustic piano is no good for me here. If I'm going to get a keyboard instrument it'll have to be of the portable/quiet type. There are certainly polyphonic synthesizers available, but I'm more interested in something that is as close to a piano as I can get, in sound and key action. I'm willing to spend up to about $2000 max for the instrument (excluding amp, headphones, whatever). Holding Back The Dam #1: The Fender Rhodes A very nice instrument, but it's not as close to a piano in sound and action as I want. Holding Back The Dam #2: The Amazing Kurzweil Thing Too expensive. Yes, maybe there's something cheap to be released some day, but I want to spend my money this summer. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. -- -Andrew Andrew Glassner glassner@unc decvax!mcnc!unc!glassner
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/07/85)
> Holding Back The Dam #1: The Fender Rhodes > A very nice instrument, but it's not as close to a > piano in sound and action as I want. I'll let you have mine real cheap. The Yamaha electric grands are closer but still not great. If you've really got the bucks, try the KAWAI. Suggestions: Yamaha PF15 electric piano, doesn't feel too bad. Full 88 key reasonably small piano. Buy some nice synthesizer and one of the ROLAND 88 key midi controller. You won't find a nicer keyboard on something electronic (well, short of the Kurzweil at least). Too which you can apply a DX-7, Roland Super-Jupiter, or whatever MIDI synth strikes your fancy. Roland even makes a keyboardless MIDI electronic piano box. -Ron
clelau@watrose.UUCP (Eric Lau) (05/08/85)
I was looking for the same thing a couple of years ago and did some shopping around. There wasn't too much available back then. I purchased a Roland HP400 (I got it from Hong Kong for about $1200 Canadian. It retails for about $2000 here in Canada now.) It has six voices, 3 piano, harpsichord, vibraphone, and electric piano. It is 12-voice polyphonic which is better than most synths but still noticable when playing arpeggios with the damper down. I guess my only complaint is about the keyboard. While it is velocity-sensitive, it isn't weighted so it has an "organ"-feel to it. It takes a bit of getting used to when switching from it to a real acoustic piano. The sound quality is acceptable except for low bass notes for some of the voices but that is true for most electronic pianos I've tried. A nice touch is a brilliance control which improves the sound of some of the voices. And it does have MIDI in and out (Key Info. only they say). A little while after I bought the Roland, Yamaha came out with it's own line of electronic pianos, I think they're called CP something or other. They cost a bit more but the keyboard has a much better feel. I only fooled around on one for a while but the sound was the same or better than the Roland, I thought anyway. You'll have to compare to see which one you like better. Anyway, those are two electronic pianos that I'm familiar. There are others out there I'm sure, though.
clelau@wateng.UUCP (Eric Lau) (05/08/85)
Oh yeah, about the Roland. It weighs about 50 lbs (without stand) so it's sort of portable but I wouldn't want to move it around too much, not without help anyway.
vrsyrotiuk@watrose.UUCP (Violet R. Syrotiuk) (05/08/85)
I'm looking for an electric piano myself. The Roland HP400, mentioned in another article, has been updated to the HP440 (I think that's the number). Anyway, it has a weighted keyboard that felt quite nice and I was surprised with how it sounded with headphones. Check it out.
roger@rtech.ARPA (Roger Rohrbach) (05/11/85)
> I would like to purchase an apartment piano this summer. > Although I would like to get an honest-to-goodness piano, > a real acoustic piano is no good for me here. If I'm going > to get a keyboard instrument it'll have to be of the > portable/quiet type. There are certainly polyphonic > synthesizers available, but I'm more interested in something > that is as close to a piano as I can get, in sound and key > action. I'm willing to spend up to about $2000 max for the > instrument (excluding amp, headphones, whatever). > > -Andrew Andrew Glassner > glassner@unc decvax!mcnc!unc!glassner I would suggest taking a look at the Yamaha PF-15. It has 88 keys, weighted action, & velocity-sensitive dynamics. There are three "piano" voices, three "electic piano", vibes, two harpsichords, and a clavichord voice. I'm purchasing one next Saturday, for similar reasons. It's a really nice piano for the price (I'm paying $1495). Roger Rohrbach roger@rtech decvax!mtxinu!rtech!roger
peterb@pbear.UUCP (05/14/85)
Its a problem that you adjust to. I had trouble adjusting to my Mirage's
piano since it does not have weighted keys, but in time I got used to it.
Now a regular piano feels weird. Also it took me a while to get used to
playing tubular bells on a keyboard rather than actually using a hammer and
bell stand...
Peter Barada
{ihnp4!inmet | harvard!ima}!pbear!peterbrlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Arthur Pewtey) (05/17/85)
> > I would like to purchase an apartment piano this summer. > > I would suggest taking a look at the Yamaha PF-15. It > has 88 keys, weighted action, & velocity-sensitive dynamics. > There are three "piano" voices, three "electic piano", vibes, > two harpsichords, and a clavichord voice. I'm purchasing one > next Saturday, for similar reasons. It's a really nice piano > for the price (I'm paying $1495). > > Roger Rohrbach The price of the PF15 (and PF10) have indeed gone down (at Sam Ash, $875 for PF10, and $1450 as above for PF15). I went back to Ash (Paramus NJ) to check both out, and the PF10 doesn't really feel that bad without the weighted keys. (It is a shorter keyboard.) However, after trying the Ensoniq Mirage (as someone else here suggested), the piano sound was so good that, despite the lack of weighted keys and a keyboard length of only 5 octaves, well, next time I go to the store I'm going to be wearing two pairs of socks, so that I'll still be wearing a pair after the first pair have been knocked off. This machine really has some incredible sounds available. And to think I was saving for a house... -- "Wait a minute. '*WE*' decided??? *MY* best interests????" Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr