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I bought my first acoustic piano back in 1971, a Yamaha upright.

I bought a Yamaha C3 in 1990 (in the US) and brought that over here when I moved. I traded in that C3 about 14 or 15 years ago for a GranTouch, the predecessor of the AvantGrand.

There was nothing wrong per se with the C3, it was just a very loud piano. I had the piano quieted down but in a house with wooden floors the sound travels very well. With that piano in the living room it's not possible for anyone else to watch the TV or talk comfortably on the telephone.



Once you go AP you don't go back

I disagree.

"Once you get swap your acoustic for a digital, you won`t look back"

WHO will put that in the Piano Forum? No good me doin` it. They know me now . . .

ditto on both points with Dave. My steinie takes over the house when i play. i have it in too large of a room and i probably have it positioned wrong as the room and the wood floors really resonate. i even put custom sized foam baffling under the soundboard to quiet it down but she still sings like a 300 lb diva. i thought about moving it to a small study but then our friends couldn't come stare at the pictures of our family that sit on it and that would be such a shame.

so i hide in my little basement studio with my Vpiano and Ivory II and am quite content. Plus working with the technology i think helps my aging brain. its fun.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm an opera singer so I'm used to making lots of noise (and hubby is used to hiding somewhere else). When we moved to FL the room that was going to house the Petrof 9' had carpeting. We soon removed that and installed hardwood floors. Now the piano sounds so much nicer! I will once in a while turn to a DP for silent practice, but not usually. If I'm up, hubby is too, and he can put the TV on headphones if he wants to.

My VPC, which I love, will soon be relocated to my school, so unless I want to play on the MOX6 (and I'd never do that for a piano), I'll be making noise on my AP.

Music is meant to be noisy, otherwise it won't be heard. Then what use is it?

"Music is meant to be noisy, otherwise it won't be heard. Then what use is it? smile"

Pardon?

I once contacted Yamaha about the "noise gate" issue. They vehemently denied that a noise gate existed on the Avantgrand, and further confirmed that I should not have any problems running virtual instrument through its audio system. Based on all the comments I've read here, I believe it does exist, yet they've opted to deny it.

In other words, what's the point of making music if all you do is practice with headphones? It is meant to communicate emotion through sound. Sometimes you communicate with yourself, but really, it's best enjoyed when sharing with others. People who play exclusively on headphones really suffer the most as they tend to not be able to project their feelings. It takes some work to help them overcome this, but it starts by taking off the headphones.

If that means practicing at hours when others won't be disturbed, then do so. I'm just not a fan of the whole "not wanting to disturb family members" argument.

I'm not really missing anything its just that the CF6 is in the foyer and the wife and kids get $hitty with me if I go up and bash away on it. The C7 is in my studio but ..its ummmm got a lot of stuff kind of on top of it at the moment.

I'd be happy to take that off your hands and help you free up some space

Ha! Try telling my parents that when I was young - the Yamaha vertical I learnt on was (and still is) just a few feet away from the TV. When I practiced on it, and anyone wanted to watch the TV, they just turned the volume up until it all but drowned out the piano. Most of the time, to avoid my ears getting a battering, I just engaged the "practice pedal" on the piano which clamps a huge felt pad down across all the strings. I can barely hear what I'm playing, but at least whoever is watching the TV can watch in peace......

As for not being able to playing with feeling while practising with headphones, I have absolutely no trouble (BTW, my singing days in a choir were a long time ago) - in fact, when I subsequently play on an acoustic grand for an audience, I sometimes have to 'tone down' some of my 'emotional excesses' to avoid them thinking my playing is OTT. (They probably still do - there're some things I won't compromise on.... ).

I understand the argument. But pianos are seriously loud. Deafness may be a problem; you are sitting right next to it after all . . . . .

Not many years ago, every household virtually, had a piano. You could hear next door`s, they could hear you. Shrug. Never a problem . . .now you just hear the dog. Or the arguments. Or the strimmer/grinder/kids . . .or the emergency services/trains/busses. Can we live with silence?

It makes more sense to send it to somebody in the same country...ahem...hint hint...



Regarding the thread. I am firmly in the AP camp. It's so much more immediate, present and responsive than DPs, IMO. Even my modest 1960s U3 is streets ahead of any DP I've played. For me DPs are a means to an end - quiet practice when an AP would cause too many problems. I would kill for a grand piano - but I found out I'm going to be a dad this year so my dream of a grand piano died that day It'll be 20 years before I can do that - unless some generous soul throws me a bone.

Now that is odd. I find that my DP is much more present and responsive than the Steinway Grands I get to play. I go to a "Steinway School", so the pianos get regular maintenance. But they seem so mushy to me. Now having said that, I played on a smaller grand this week, and I thought it was the best acoustic experience I have had so far. I'm a novice so I really don't know what I am talking about, but I have not been enamored by the acoustic piano. Clearly I am missing something. I will keep trying.

I went from AP to DP. I never use headphones. I consider the sound of the N2 to be on par with being in a recording studio and playing an AP with headphones.

If I ever won money and could afford a bigger house, I'd buy a grand but would keep N2. I think I stay more focused practicing on it. Maybe cause it's in tune and there's no mechanical noises. Maybe cause it's more forgiving than a AP.

I used to own a Steinway K, which I assumed would be something I'd keep, but the action was still upright and once I tried N2, I was hooked. Happy to sacrifice true acoustic sound for grand action.

Steinways aren't the only kind of grand piano out there. Even if fully maintained, they may not be to your taste, and there's quite a difference between Hamburg and New York Steinways.

I think if you tried some other brans, perhaps Yamaha grands which are good and consistent, or Bosendorfer, Bechstein, Steingraber (the latter two I have yet to play), or any other number of high quality brands out there you may realize how varied they can be.

I just got a 1986 Yamaha U3 after about 5 years on digitals. Of course, at this point I am high as a kite on it and I can't imagine going back to a digital. However, I don't know whether or not that will change in the future. Since I had never owned an acoustic piano, I was always obsessed with what I was missing when I played digitals. Maybe once I play acoustics for a few years, I will become familiar with them and I will be better able to assess how digitals compare. My sense is that they still do not come close to even a modest upright, but they are getting significantly better every year. Maybe in ten years...

Don't get me wrong. I keep looking at used ones all the time. Our local Yamaha dealer was selling a 1965 Yamaha G1 for $4K - included two years maintenance and tuning; not the greatest piano but it would be a start for me (i think someone bought it recently). In any case, I have no room for one. I have to build an entry way into my basement (where I work and practice) so I can get a 6' Grand. I can't put one in the garage? Haha. At least that is my long term plan.

Well, just a word of warning: be very careful about purchasing a refurb acoustic piano. Have an independent technician check it out first. Some refurbs are done well, and some are done cheaply and getting your money back on it will be tough.

I think we are dealing too much in generalities when posters are saying AP as if it is one thing. That's like saying I prefer my 10 speed bike to my father's old, broken-down 1978 Celica. There are quite a few different levels of DP and that is equally true of APs. My wife has inherited a 1915 upright player piano which will not make much more than thud sounds when "played". Any cheap digital from WalMart is better than that. Before I bought my seven foot Mason-Hamlin BB grand piano, I tried all the top end digitals I could find. None of them sounded enough like a real piano and the touch was very disappointing, too. Now don't get me wrong, for recording jazz videos or silent practice, they are terrific, but I am still unable to find a model that I really love, so I don't own one. I actually paid less for my 10 year old semi-concert grand than I would have paid for some of the top digitals, so price doesn't automatically eliminate great pianos. Of course, they can also be bought for little or nothing used sometimes. It just takes a search and some luck.

I also love playing the organ, and all of the current decent organs are really just digital instruments and have some of the same issues as digital pianos: expensive to repair, limited lifespan unless you buy the top of the line which is continually supported by the factories with parts, very expensive, etc. So you see I am not against digital. I just think I will wait until the technology advances and prices become more appropriate. There is room for AP and DP and I will probably end up with both, as well as an organ.

Congratulations ... your pleasure (and pain) has commenced.

Whatever you do stay away from the business end during the labor. It's like watching your favorite pub burning down.