rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Arthur Pewtey) (05/10/85)
> 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. > glassner@unc decvax!mcnc!unc!glassner A good in between choice is the Yamaha PF10 or PF15. The PF15 has a remarkably good weighted piano touch, and feels very good. The sounds vary in quality, but there are good piano programs on there, plus (if memory serves) clavinet, vibes, and harpsichord. Comes with small built-in speakers, or it can be used with an amplifier/headphone. 88 keys. Price: $1700 at reasonable stores. The PF10 is basically the same machine with a smaller keyboard that is touch sensitive but NOT weighted, and the price is about $1000. I've been intending to get one (PF15) but I haven't yet. Reason: despite a resaonable sound and a very good touch, it still doesn't feel to me like I'm playing a piano, since the feeling of actually playing an acoustic piano combines feeling the resonances of the wooden frame as the strings vibrate, and while the electronic piano may come very close to accurately simulating the actual waveform and sound of a piano, I've found for me that no matter how close the sound (or even the keyboard feel) gets to complete emulation, it doesn't FEEL like I'm playing a piano. It's either wait until my parents move and I get a place in which I can keep their piano (a Sohmer parlor grand) or make do with an imitation. Do other players feel the same way when they play electronic instruments simulating acoustical ones? I've found that even when I've got a fairly good Hammond B3 sound on my Prophet, it still doesn't feel to me like the real thing, sometimes just because the keys aren't hard and squared off like on my old Hammond. -- Life is complex. It has real and imaginary parts. Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr
li63sgy@sdcc7.UUCP (glenn little) (05/13/85)
In article <969@pyuxd.UUCP>, rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Arthur Pewtey) writes: > > I've been intending to get one (PF15) but I haven't yet. Reason: despite a > resaonable sound and a very good touch, it still doesn't feel to me like I'm > playing a piano, since the feeling of actually playing an acoustic piano > combines feeling the resonances of the wooden frame as the strings vibrate, > and while the electronic piano may come very close to accurately simulating > the actual waveform and sound of a piano, I've found for me that no matter how > close the sound (or even the keyboard feel) gets to complete emulation, it > doesn't FEEL like I'm playing a piano. It's either wait until my parents move > and I get a place in which I can keep their piano (a Sohmer parlor grand) or > make do with an imitation. > > Do other players feel the same way when they play electronic instruments > simulating acoustical ones? I've found that even when I've got a fairly > good Hammond B3 sound on my Prophet, it still doesn't feel to me like the > real thing, sometimes just because the keys aren't hard and squared off like > on my old Hammond. YES! I have slowly come to this conclusion over the last few years. At first, it seemed that I just couldn't play "right" when playing on some synthesizers, but when I played the Yamaha electric grand, (which sounds close, but still not exactly like an acoustic piano) I suddenly felt Expressive. It actually felt good to play that thing, compared to the electronic instruments! It is only a guess, but I have a strong gut feeling that the feedback I get through the vibrating keys, though subtle, is still extremely important to playing expressively, at least for me. It is like a crutch that I seem to need. Further, I have noticed that when playing on some of the electronic instruments, I actually get a feeling of fatigue, and when I switch over to a piano (electric grand, real grand) I lose that feeling. (This is all in a music store, where I go from one instrument to another.) One other thing I have noticed, is that these effects seem to lessen somewhat when the keyboard I am playing is turned up loud, and there is a lot of power in the bass. Possibly because the strong bass vibrates the keys to an extent that I can feel? Or because the smaller expressive differences are lost in the high volume? I am glad somebody brought this up. I was beginning to wonder just how much truth there really was to my feelings. Glenn Little