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i've been looking around for decent digital piano's in my price range, and i've found the Studiologic SL-990XP 88-Key MIDI Controller for about 400$ and the Yamaha YPG-535 88-Key Portable Grand Piano Keyboard for about 500$.

http://keyboards-midi.musiciansfrie...-Weighted-MIDI-Controller?sku=708348#new

http://keyboards-midi.musiciansfrie...Y-PORTABLE-GRAND-KEYBOARD?sku=706175#new

Would ether of these be a good first piano for me? i dont really know what the difference between a digital piano and a controller, so im not sure if the Studiologic would just be wasted money or not. and i've looked at the px 120 but its not available in my area of canada until late august so i've decided to look elsewhere for something i can get sooner. Any thoughts or oppinions, or other models are greatly appreciated. Thanks

Does it have to be portable?
Would a PX-720, that is available in Canada, suit your needs.

If you want to learn how to play piano, you should avoid anything that does not have a weighted keyboard (weighted graded hammer action is even preferred). That disqualifies the YPG-535 imo.

A controller is basically hardware used to "control" a sound module, such as an external synth or a computer with sound generating software connected through the Midi interface or USB (or some other less usual interface).
A controller usually does not include any sound generation capacity by itself.

If you want something simple (1 device), a controller is not for you.

So to conclude, none of the 2 devices you are looking at will satisfy your needs for a decent digital piano - in my humble opinion - for the different reasons I wrote.

In that price range, I usully recommnd one of the Casio Privia series (e.g. PX-120, PX-320, etc.) These have a very nice piano action and sound, and would be fine for serious piano study. They're in your price range and widely available.

ok thank you for the advice. how do you think this digital piano would do:

http://keyboards-midi.musiciansfrie...core-88-Key-Digital-Piano?sku=700311#new

it says its got hammer action and is somewhat in my price range, thanks.

The Williams pianos are not generally highly regarded here. Someone recently bought one and he said that the cabinet was beautiful but the action was not very piano-like and was disappointing. For the money, you'd be better off with a Casio Privia or a low-end Yamaha (P85, P140, etc.) If you want a console-type piano, the Casio PX-800 or AP-200 are possibilities.

I prefer the Yamaha P-85 over the PX-120/PX-320. The keys on the PX-120 I tried at Guitar Center had a slightly strange finish, not very smooth and glossy, more rubber-like. Very odd. Also, there are complaints that the PX-120 piano samples have a slightly hissy quality, esp. over headphones. And I play mostly over headphones.

On the PX-320, I did not like the way the multi-samplling was done -- "plink, plink, plink, PLONK." Not very conducive to precise playing when it can only be one velocity layer or the other. From up close the PX-320 also seemed a bit flimsy to me in terms of build quality. I really wanted to buy another Casio that day, not least based on the mostly positive opinions about Casio DP's in these forums, but ended up with a Yamaha instead.

But I think you have to try some DP's yourself to be sure. A keyboard action you like is more important than the sound, because sooner or later you will probably want to use a software piano such as Pianoteq or TruePianos anyway. That said, I like the P-85 Grand Piano 1 voice. The speakers of the device are a bit underpowered however, so external speakers or headphones are a pretty much a requirement.

I went back to our local Yamaha dealer, avoiding the CVPs. The CLPs are okay, but I thought the P85 was nice for just piano playing. I didn't think the more expensive keyboards sounded any better on the grand piano sound (well not most of them)...it just doesn't have any other features. They had a "sale" price of $899.

Then I also liked the YDP 223 which has a few extra features for $1599.

They didn't have the P155 or P140 or YPG 635 so I couldn't compare.

There was a new model, the CLP-S308 which I though sounded wonderful and had loads of inputs and stuff, but not all the "unnecessary" extras...at least for me. SUpposedly goes for $4100. More than I've decided to spend, but it would be nice!

I also liked a new Cable and Nelson CN116 upright piano downstairs that was on sale for $3,000. Very tempting.

And finally a little Kohler & Campbell upright rental for $25 a month which was the only rental that sounded nice...sounded better than the Yamahas and didn't look half bad.

Next: off to the two adjacent counties to try out the Casio and Roland models, if they are in stock. On many sites, the Casio PX 320s are sold out.

I could be wrong here, but I believe that a "sale" price of $899 isn´t that great for the p85, which is a pretty basic model. I´d certainly check some other retailers to see how much they ask for it.
In addition to that, you seem to be looking in a pretty wide price range. And I also saw in your profile that you play the guitar. So it might be worth your wile buying something with a built-in recorder with a larger capacity. Like e.g. a 3-track recorder, which you find on the P155 (among others). You could record a couple of songs and then accompany yourself on the guitar.

Sorry, little correction. It is a 2 track-recorder, and it holds up to three songs. But the cool thing with the P155 is that you can directly store the songs you played onto an external USB-storage device, giving you virtually unlimited storage capacity.