Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards OK, another "help me find a DP" thread

So I live in FL for most of the year, but spend Christmas and the summers in WI. This is where my DP comes in handy. I have a Roland FP-7, and while I've certainly gotten good use out of it, this past summer was the first time I played that exclusively over 3 months. With the classical music I play, it really affected my technique in a bad way. I'm dreading having to play every day on that thing again come this summer, so I'm looking to upgrade. And, heck, it's been 4 or 5 years, so things have come a long way since then.

Here are some requirements:
1) Needs to be a stage piano/slab style for portability
2) The action and responsiveness has to be top of the line - as close to acoustic as possible
3) I'd prefer to not have to use a VST for sounds. Not opposed to it, but every once in a while I have to take it to perform somewhere, and having to hook up to a computer is too much fuss for that. So, the onboard sounds need to be good too.

As far as price range, I'm willing to consider a bit more than what I paid for the FP-7 for the purposes of getting what I need, but under $5k is what I'm thinking. Of course, I will go and test out the best options before purchasing, but I want to know first what good choices are and not get sold on something by a salesperson who is trying to offload an old floor model of something.

The FP-7 is quite a good instrument, if a little dated. May I ask why you believe it is lacking?

As for alternatives, do you require built-in speakers?
The CP4 that was purchased by your church is certainly worth considering.

Kind regards,
James
x

The FP-7 action is quite good, what in particular do you find unsatisfactory about it? That information might help guide people's suggestions.

I ended up with a lot of tension issues from playing on it exclusively. It's fine for playing once in a while, or as a second piano in my studio, but to be working on technical issues in advanced classical pieces, I think the action was perhaps too jarring/clunky? Which is odd, because my Petrof has an extremely heavy action and that is why I went with the heavier Roland action.

On-board speakers would be nice, again for portability purposes, but I know they can also cause some troubles. With My FP-7 the on-board speakers always buzz around G4 and even making adjustments in the EQ doesn't resolve this.

I will definitely try out the CP4 - I was reading the reviews on this and I'm concerned about the stretching, so I'd like to have some others to compare it to.

I think that a hard bottoming is a common complaint for those who are dissatisfied with the higher end Roland actions. You might prefer the CP4 or one of its pair of predecessors, CP1 and CP5 (which have a slightly different feel than the CP4), which I think are in the same general feel category as the Roland, though possibly better in that bottoming respect.


As DPs go, the FP7 has a lighter action than most, I think one of the lightest. Maybe not as light as your Yamaha G3 grand, which, at least based on the one I played, has one of the lightest actions of any grand, but lighter than almost any other DP. If based on your Petrof experience (I've never played one) you might like an "even" heavier DP than your Roland, there are a number of other possibilities. I would check out the Kawai MP10, although it stretches the definition of portable. Lighter, and with speakers, there's the ES7, which I haven't had a chance to try yet, though I know the action is not the same as on the MP10. Kawais in general seem to have heavier than average actions in my experience (both their acoustics and digitals). They also have the VPC1 controller, but that lacks both speakers and built in sounds.

Yamaha also makes models with a heavier action than the CP models mentioned above, and that action has its fans as well. For models with speakers, they would be the P-155 and the (again, barely portable) CP-300. Without speakers, CP-33, CP40.

I'd also consider the Casio PX-350, triggering a VST from your computer, using its internal sound as a fallback for portable use.

If the DP action is giving you injuries I'd say get the lightest hammer action you can find - like Yamaha GHS. Unlike AP keys, DP keys don't change mechanical advantage (no escapement) so any remaining hammer energy comes right back at your fingers. Better hammer padding / lighter hammers are the only ways to minimize this backlash.

We just got a P105 and - while the horrific looping, and to a lesser extent the extreme stretching, grate my auditory nerves into cole slaw - at 27 lbs it's very portable and the speakers aren't bad. Sympathetic resonance is almost non-existent / inaudible, so your pedaling technique will likely suffer, but it's super inexpensive ($530 with padded bag - 1/10 of your budget) and the interface is simple. It also has line-outs.

You might also look at the Roland FP-4F - SN sound, some say the keys feel sluggish (though the entire FP-4 => FP-4F feature team should get the electric chair).

I'm thinking the smartest move is to invest minimally (low end / used) or stay out of the DP market entirely if you can until DP makers decide to enter the 20th (never mind the 21st) century. Whatever happened to boycotts?

If you won't need to rely on a DP as your primary instrument until summer, consider waiting to make a final decision until after the new product introductions at Winter NAMM. In the meantime, I would echo anotherscott's advice to audition the Kawai ES7 and MP10.

I found both those actions very much more comfortable to play on than the Roland FPs.

Kind regards,

Ben

I will definitely try the Kawai DPs. Thing is, time-wise I need to spend money before the end of the year for tax write-offs, and while that will help for next year, I'm pretty sure I will need to spend some money this year.
However, if there's the right DP for me then I can wait. Any rumors about products being introduced there that might fit the bill?

Unfortunately we almost never get useful rumors around here. These manufacturers are pretty tight-lipped. James hinted that there's a replacement MP6 in the works, but there are always replacement models in the works, so that's not really news since he didn't give any time frame.

Oh, and Roland came out (in japan) with some piano models featuring a new action (PHA4?) that resolves some of people's complaints about PHA3. I haven't seen any products featuring it over here and we haven't had any reviews either, so...

Boycotts can be a problem if you want to have something to enjoy before you die. ;-)

I understand where you're coming from with your suggestion, that if there are hand issues, look for the lightest hammer action board, but if his Petrof really is heavy, the weight per se might not be the issue at all. And really, are there any DPs with significantly lighter action than the FP-7/7F (which feel about the same apart from the finish)? Though as mentioned, he wouldn't be the first to complain about the hard bottoming, which is a different issue.

I imagine hard bottoming and hammer rebound could be confused / interact with each other.

Considering your situation, I'll add another vote for the Kawais. In many ways, the rather portable ES7 is a very nice board, and its action seemed, to me, one of the more easy-going on the market while it is very nicely controllable. In terms of sound preferences only you can decide, but the ES7 allows to customize the sound in several helpful ways.

For the MP10 there may be a successor in the making which might just be what you want.

The Yamaha P155, on the other hand, has a tighter action that may or may not be good for you, and again, I am not sure whether it offers substantial advantages over your FP7. But be sure to check out the Yamaha CP1/CP4/CP5 as well.

Off-topic, but for some reason I was under the impression that Morodiene is female.

Anyway, in my opinion the previous generation Yamaha CP1/CP5 are geared more towards electric piano playing, with a light (yet playable) action that is not terribly piano-like.

The Kawai MP10 is rather large, but still portable, and will arguably provide the most realistic acoustic piano simulation of any slab-type instrument on the market. The ES7 is certainly more portable, with a good action, sound, and built-in speakers.

The Casio instruments mention above are also worth considering.

As for new Kawai models in the pipeline, I'm afraid I cannot comment on instruments that have yet to be formally announced.

Kind regards,
James
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I think this is code for NAMM!

We shall have to see about our tax situation. If we have to spend a lot of money before the end of the year (rather than giving it to the feds), then I won't be able to wait.

I listened to clips of the Kawai MP10 and compared them to the Yamaha CP4. I really prefer the sound of the CP4, although the MP10 has 88-key sampling, which I prefer. The main reason I liked the CP4 sound better was because the hammer sound was less on softer notes and more on louder as it should be, whereas on the MP10 it sounded consistent no matter the volume.

If we can wait, though, I have no problem in doing so and seeing what comes out at NAMM.