Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Buying New Digital Piano, need help

Hello people
I'm new on this forum and I'm here to ask you an important question.

Since I was 8 years old I always wanted to play piano,but sadly I couldn't (my parents were against it + they hadn't enough money to afford a good piano). Now I'm nearly going to the University and I really want to learn piano, especially because I'm a great Anime fan ! TehIshter motivated me to learn and begin practising in the music world.

My question is what would be the best piano for about €3.000,00 (can't get more money because I need the rest for my studies)
I'm looking now for the HP-507 from Roland wich is really amazing, but I don't know if there's any other better alternative. That's why I need your help. Can you suggest any other Digital Piano for the same price range ?
If yes can you explain me why , otherwhise would a HP507 also be a good choice ?

I'm from Belgium and the only retailer I know is piano Maene :
http://www.maene.be/en/content/pianos-maene.aspx

You can check their website to see what they've got (don't worry it's also an English site )

Thank you very much !

Best regards,
Derwishe

Derwishe,
You'll find a lot of people who adore Roland Pianos, and a lot of people who don't like them at all. For those who don't like them, some hate the sounds, while others don't like the action (the way the keyboard feels when you play it), and some don't like either the sounds or the action. The best way for you to know which camp you're in is to go and play the pianos for yourself. This can be a challenge if you're a beginner, but do the best you can...even if you're just playing random notes you can get a sense of how comfortable the keys feel when you play them, if the sounds are harsh or bright or mellow (depending on what you like). Play each key and listen to hear if anything sounds off (annoying) about a particular note to you. etc... If you know someone who plays, get them to go with you and have them play something for you on it. Try as many different keyboards in your price range as you can, you may find one just captures you. Do you have a teacher? If not, you might try finding a teacher first and get them to help you select your piano.

Also you have to decide how committed you are to learning the piano. It's hard. It's frustrating. It's not fun at all (playing is amazingly fun, but learning to play not so much . Maybe it might be a better idea to try to find something inexpensive until you're sure that you're going to stick with it. Once you know that you have found a lifelong passion, then upgrade to something a bit more robust (and expensive). Also, if you have the space, you might find that an acoustic upright falls in your price range, especially if you can find a good used one. It might be worth considering.

Warm Regards

I thank you fizikisto for your Help, I already had a piano when I was 10 or 11.
I can read sheets but I never learned to read piano sheets, that's the problem but I know that i'm going to stick with the piano that's why I want something good. I also thought about an Upright Piano, there are good Yamaha U3 piano's for about 3000-3500 (1986-1996) and fully restored. But the problem with an Upright is that i'm living in an Appartment and it's hard if you have stupid neighbours that hate music :p

Best Regards

that looks like a really nice one! I would also look at the Kawai CA65 or CA95 in that price range - I personally would spend less the 3000 euros if I was a beginner b/c your taste will likely change. Maybe even consider the Yamaha p-155 with stand and stool.

I tried out the new Roland 507 the other day at the store where I take lessons. I was very impressed! It had a much richer sound than the other Rolands and Yamahas they had in stock.

I guess I'm with mitzysman on each point. That's good advice.

If you believe you are going to stick with the piano, I think nothing bad to buy as good piano as you can afford from the beginning.
Roland 507 is a very good digital piano, with nice tone and responsiveness, and although it still cannot replicate acoustic, it will definitely give you better experience than less expensive digital pianos. (and my personal biased opinion I would only buy Rolands from digitals at this point :)).

If the noise is concern, you would hardly be able to practice much on an upright, having an upright and a digital can be a solution, but it is outside your budget, so a good digital could probably be your best option at this point.

Good luck with your search!

And as someone already recommended here, just try to play some keys randomly, you can stick with white keys for the purpose, it will give you some idea how the piano sounds and feels.
You may also want to bring your own couple of headphones for comparison, but nothing is wrong if you do not have a good one now.

The 505 might be better suited for you because it is much cheaper, and the advantages of the 507 over the 505 are more of value for experienced players who are very picky with some tiny details and for those who don´t have to worry about spending a lot of money. Even if I would have the money, I would not pay the extra price for the 507. Instead I would even consider a Roland DP 990 instead of the HP505. The DP 990 fits better into a student home and would open you the possibility to once carry it around. It´s not a stage piano, though, and will be some work. BUt it is possible. The HP you will for sure not move nowhere, once installed.

I recently concluded (based on personal observations)that the Roland HPs seem to be targeted to players who have frequently access to a grand piano as well, and want/need their DP at home to nicely simulate also the details of a grand piano (hammer noise mixed dominantly into the high notes, for instance). All sounds are pronounced from the perspective of the player, not the audience. The keys are not as heavy as many players know them and therefore many claim them to be too soft. But the very good grand pianos feature such softer keys than the upright pianos have them.
The Kawai appears to target players who want to compare their DP at home with an upright piano. The keys are feeling heavier, as upright keys usually feel heavier as well. Therefore the Kawai might in general prepare you better for a switch to an acoustic piano. (I personally would prefer this over my 505, but I do not like the very bright sound of the Kawais)
The Yamaha is closer to the Kawai than to the Roland and in my opinion features the best user interface to access all the functions of a digital piano comfortably.

I recommend you to compare the Roland HP-505 with the Kawai CA 65 and Yamaha 470, and then also touch the Casio PX 350 and a Korg SP 250, to confirm that this would not already be enough for your present needs. You can still update in the future, when you already know by yourself without other people's help what you need and want .

Thank I'll check the CA 65 and the CLP 470 . I willa lso ask my friend do bring his PX 350

Hello Derwishe, After reading all post and recomendations, you really need to check out the Kawai ES7. I have one and love it. It seems like it would fit your needs perfectly; perfect size for your apartment, amazing sound, realistic AP action, many feature, great specs, price under $2,000US, ideal for beginner up to pro, etc, etc. It's very high end and moderately priced. Try to play one if you can before you buy anything.

http://www.kawaius.com/main_links/digital/ES7/es7.html

demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ggXx9pArmo

demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD6XvOXrkMk

demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WnkFpJXA34

I have to agree on the advice to look at the Kawai ES7. I don't think you can do better for the money.

I would suggest getting the furniture stand but not the 3-pedal unit for it. Just use the single pedal that comes with it. I found that the 3-pedal unit attaches a little to close to the front of the piano and it made it uncomfortable for me to use.

Of course, that is only my experience with the pedal. If others have a different experience, so be it. I just want to help you not make the same mistake that I did in ordering it. The single pedal works just fine and you can put it just where you feel comfortable with it.

The CA-65 is a good choice in that price range. I tried the Roland HP-505 the other day but couldn't get over the noisier key action, the thuds were a little too loud for my tastes. Your mileage may vary.

Thank you guys for your replies! I'm going with a friend (who plays piano) to different piano shops this saturday.
I will look for the CA65 & CA95 , HP 505-507 and the CLP 470.

Enjoy the test session. You really can't go wrong with any of those.

Yes, enjoy your session and please let us know what you think about these great pianos.

I went today to the Shop and finally ordered the Roland hp505 !! I also tried the others but didn't like it too much and the difference between the 505 and 507 seemed to me like there's only a difference with the extra amp and the size, but it feels exactly the same.

I'll get it tommorow if everything is ok!

~Excited~

There is an apparently relatively noisier, very resonant, low frequency kind of hollow thump to the Roland PHAIII keyboard as mounted in the HP series which takes some getting used to...the Kawai RM3 keyboard as mounted in the CA65 seems quieter to my ears.

Derwishe! You will love it!
To get the best out of it, according to my experience:
- set the resonance parameters instead of the default value = 5 to better 7 or 8, and cabinet even to 10

when playing with the speakers:
- you might want to place it 16 cm from the wall, it will even "sing"
- rise brilliance to 10 and ambience to 5, but if playing with headphones deactivate the brilliance and keep ambience low (1 or 2)

Just my personal experience.
Enjoy!

Thank you Marco M , i've recieved it right now just a sec ago
Thanks for your setting advice,but i want to know how to adjust the touch I saw on the other topics that de HP 505 has 5 levels of touch adjustement, I wanna learn on it but it kinda heavy (it's not really a problem but if it could be lighter it would be even better)

best regards

Congratulations on your new piano, Derwishe. Have lots of fun playing it and post your impressions once you get to know it better.