The Boards - What's your favorite Piano, acoustic or digital?

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Hey all,

This is something I've been wonder about for a while. What's your favorite type of piano, acoustic or digital, and of those two catigories, what brands do yo prefer?

Personally, I go for a really nice acoustic upright piano, or maybe a digital grand. The brand I really like for both is yamaha because of it's sound.

Your Thoughts?

DV

BTW, I'm not a real sticlar about certain brands. Again, I only ask for your opinion of you're willing to post it here. If not, no big deal.

DV

Hello, I like the acoustic piano. But I do think the digital piano is quite interesting, because of all the various options available. It's interesting to play around with, and see what a person could come up with.

acoustic , if you are looking for true sound. They can be different depending on the kind. A Gran Stineway is a beautiful thing to play, and some of the antique ones that have been restored are just lovely.
Not the brand, but older gran's.
Digital is simply that recordings of acoustic pianos. :) You can't tune the wood on them to sound a given way. They don't feel like the acoustic as far as playing goes.

I absolutely love the sound of a grand piano. Acoustic pianos are definitly my favorite by far but the digital one's are easier to move to and from gigs and you can get a variety of sounds in most of them.

Acoustic is the way to go if you want a real piano sound, a digital has sample piano sounds, but none of them can compare to a real piano. A steinway grand is a great piano. I got to play it once, and the for short time I was playing, I was temporarioy transported to music heaven. It's delicious musical ear candy.

I like the feel of a yamaha C series grand, and they really get to sounding amazing up around the C6. I like old Steinways before the 1960's when they made the action feel lumpy, but Baldwins have a very consistent action. Honorable mention goes to Kawai's KG and RX series, and the best I've ever played was a Schimmel signature series, but they're hard to come by.
As for digital, I like Roland's new key action with the escapement, and Yamaha has got something great with the AvantGrand. As for samples though, nothing beats Kurzweil's beastly piano samples for standing up in a mix, although they aren't extremely realistic.

I hear ya guys there. I personally love love love an acoustic piano. nothing beats it. I've got a yamaha upright in my room, and it's got a nice warm tone.

hi, my favourite piano is digital piano with sfx, sound effects.
on it i play television game show tunes.

I can see why, too. you just can get things like that from an actual acoustic piano, and, they're easier to record, too. but if you're a purrest like me when it comes to instruments, I'm all about the acoustics.

I used to be a snob about that stuff. Anymore? If I was gonna get me one and get back into it? I'd get a digital.
A regular piano = very large investment, you need to keep the house at a very regular temperature all the time, tune it regularly which is $100 a pop anymore, etc.
And if you buy the old ones, as I did, and then work professionally, you have to get the action regulated, etc.
My chops really ain't what they used to be, and I do mean really: not like you younger people say when you miss two practices either.
There is nothing like an acoustic piano, and that can be either good or bad.
But as to the digitals? It's not the 1980s anymore: the sounds are really pretty authentic, and the velocity controls technologies they employ let you extract an amazing amount of tone out of them. I got out of the industry before wavetable was really modularized the popular, though of course I played on rigs like the Roland FP-8 which had every key sampled.
Again, a few years ago, I was shocked at what I was able to do on a digital piano tonewise.
You'd definitely need to drop a chunk of change for your board and your cabinets / amplifier, but once you did, you don't have to tune it every 3 to 4 months.
That said, playing the grand my mother still has, that's a gem, even if I'm not that good anymore.

true that. I'd like to get a digital if I can. any suggestions?

I love the acoustic piano sounds on my board, but I really prefer to use the other electric piano sounds on it instead. Why try to immitate something that will most likely never be done perfectly? I consider myself a "synthesist" instead of a "pianist," so I usually prefer something electric over an acoustic instrument. Still, playing a really good piano is a beautiful thing and I jump at the chance to play one whenever it comes up. Anyway, I also own an old upright that I love to death. It's really not a great instrument, but it is still my favorite. I feel that boogie woogie is my greatest strength when the time comes to be a pianist, and I love the "honky tonk" sound of that old thing.

I have had both, but I am not really a snob. I received a very nice basic Roland digital piano for my birthday about 15 years ago. I parted with it when we moved and my husband kept his promise to me to get an upright piano when we bought our house. It's a Yamaha (can't remember the series name). The ironic thing is that it was a middle-of-the-road price-wise but sounded better than some of the more expensive ones. Also, the thing I thought was amusing was the same piano in the store with a different colour finish sounded COMPLETELY different.

The thickness and style of the finish does totally change the sound. There is good physics behind that one: a satin finish is more flexible and allows the wood fibers and their cellulose to vibrate evenly. A lacquered or thicker finish will cause the vibrations to produce a lot more of a brittle or bright sound. Not at all strange to me.

I was just given a Casio HL 280 I think it was for Christmas. With my growing interest in audio editing and production, my mom thought it would be a great gift, so when my wife and I got to her place, there it was waiting for us. I have a ton of music in my head, but only a very very basic ability to express it. This keyboard however can be hooked up to my audio editing software to allow for editing. So I can fake being able to play music. One day I hope to learn for real. So far this one's a pretty good keyboard.

TBG, send me a pqn or a PM and I could give you some pointers... I'm not SO out of practice that I forget theory :)

right now I need to learn the basics. I get hand placement, but I still lack the coordination to follow through. I'm a hunt 'n pecker, but I know if I ever get the placements and chords figured out I could write some pretty great stuff.

it's all about practice, practice, and yet more practice when it comes to that. My advice is this: if you haven't taken any lessons, do so. You'll find that you'll be a much better player overall when you do. If you don't have the money for formal lessons, find some books that let you teach yourself and a fingering chart if you can. I'm a self-taught pianest myself, so I could also give you some tips on expression and how I use it when playing things.

I'd definately be interested in finding some tutorials if nothing else. I certainly don't have the money for actual lessons, but these days there are alternatives.

you might try
http://www.expertvillage.com,
http://www.youtube.com
or perhaps
http://google.com
You should get some material there.

Agreed with the practice practice practice. Scales, chords, exercises, you got to build up the muscles and coordination. Speaking as one who is embarrassingly out of chops now, and probably won't be getting back in shape in that area any time soon. It takes a lot of time and effort but it's well worth it.

I find it best to do major scales, then minor, then chromatic. Chords comes last. I do mainly major, minor and sevenths--major, minor and dominent, but diminished chords are beyond me, both hole and half.

I agree. It's not something I ever thought I'd want to get into. But I have just enough talent to know if I learned, I'd be able to make some awesome music. With audio editing software I could at least fake being able to play, but I'd much rather just be proficient at it for real.

I think that having an actual person to at least give you a few tips and pointers would be really helpful. I was pretty much self taught for seven years; I would just learn stuff by ear but I never read any books or stuff like that. When I started working with a piano instructor a few months ago, it was like a whole new thing for me. He had to get rid of all of my bad habits.

Yes, having someone around certainly helps. My wife used to play, so she's been teaching me a little here and there.

keep it up, guardian. Keep asking your wife to tips and pinters. Do you know your fingerings for major, minor and chromatic scales? If not, learn them. Ask your wife to sow them to you.

I know the basic finger positions. Minor chords are a bit difficult for me at the moment. But I'll get there. Knowing some of the terminology will also help.

Hmm. I could show you a bit over skype if you don't mind. I own a piao myself, so it wouldn't be too difficult to show you a few chords and terms.

Thank you for the offer. Unfortunately at the moment I don't have access to it. We need to get it shipped here to the island where I live. I'm hoping that won't take too long.

Hand position and fingerings have got to be learned right, or you will get stuck when you start trying to do complex passages.
Also, music theory is your friend. Without learning the underlying principles you will not be able to successfully compose beyond a very narrow set of styles. Just some thoughts.

You're right. Sounds like I have my work cut out for me.

that's what I'd say. before chords and terms and the like, learn the theory. It helps a lot.

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