Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Korg C1 Air vs Roland F-140R ?

Hi,

I want to buy a digital piano and learn how to play. I really want to be able to receive midi and audio from my iPad so I can practice while the family is sleeping and would rather not end up with a mixer, extra PSU, more wires etc.
This combined with my budget narrows the choices I have in quite a bit.

I tried out a Roland F-140R today and really liked it - it did everything I need and the price reasonable even if its a bit north of my original budget.
Anyways - as far as I can tell the Korg C1 Air is another contender - but I have yet to have a chance to play it.

Does anyone here have any hands on experience with the Korg C1 Air - and maybe also with the Roland F-140R ?

Are Korgs generally considered to be decent quality instruments in regards to action, sound and durability ?

Cheers

I suspect the overwhelming vote here will be for the Roland

However, I'd spent ages trying to like any Roland or Yamaha or Casio and eventually decided I could put up with any of them probably.
Then in another part of the store I saw the Korg C1 Air, tried it and instantly loved it. Felt just right, sounded beautiful, nice display too, which is unusual for the price. Even has the little headphone socket so you don't need an adaptor.
Headphone sound was superb.

Anyway, played it several times over a couple of months to be sure, and decided to buy.
At the last minute, on the final test in the store, I noticed that when the key cover is open, it projects a few inches past the vertical, so I'd need to put it a few inches away from the wall rather than flat up to the wall like I'd intended.

That became a deal breaker for me, and I've since looked round again, trying to like something else.
Then this morning I was trying the Casio Privia PX-870, willing myself to like it.
While I was playing Bach Prelude in C on it, a nice lady browsing the sheet music even smiled at me and said Very Nice

Then I stood up, sidled over to the Korg and sat down.
I'm buying it and going to stand it a few inches from the wall!!!!

What I'm saying, in a roundabout way, is I'd find a way to try it if I were you

Their stage pianos are well respected and I see no reason why the C1 Air should let me down.

Great post - than you !
I found a great place that has lots of Digital Pianos and had a chance to sit on my own for an hour or so with the C1 and F140 side by side.
C1 is indeed lovely but Bluetooth latency for audio is too high to make it usable for my purpose.

So F140 it will be. The built in speakers are surprisingly weak on the F140 but as luck would have it I have a set of decent monitor speakers that are currently not in use. The piano sounds were more different between the two than I had expected - can’t honestly say I prefer one over the other. The actual feeling of the keys seemed fine on both and quite similar. I found the F140 slightly more pleasant to actually play while the texture / finish of the Keys was nicer on ththe C1.

But I can totally see how one could fall in love with the C1 - truly a lovely piece of kit.

In a perfect world I would have the cab and speakers of the C1 with the keys and guts of the F140

Really looking forward to getting my hands on the thing and starting to learn !

Of course right after writing this I’m starting to second guess myself so I have arranged for a second session next week.

I’m wondering if the Bluetooth latency really matters while using learning software like flowkey. I don’t really know how often if ever it will make any difference. And on the plus side this makes for a completely wireless setup.

Sigh

Ended up with the F140 - will be picking it up within a few days.
Guess it's time for me to head over to the beginners forum and get my bearings on some teaching software :-)

F140 is now sitting in the trunk of my car. Can’t wait for evening to come so I’ll have a bit of peace and quiet to put it together and set it up

Well done! Hope you enjoy it

It is set up and I am very happy with it. Sat up all night practicing
Won’t be doing any more 3 hour sessions any time soon out of fear of injuring my beginners wrist, hands, back etc.

learnt a pretty little tune using an iPad app - figured it would be motivating to play actual music and I was right. Tonight I shall begin the long winded road of learning to read sheet music so I won’t be tied to an iPad forever.

So happy I did this - and thanks again from the good answers to my various questions.

Cheers

Best of luck

Congrats Morten - good luck with your new journey!

James
x

Congratulations!

A suggestion: have a look at the theory lessons on https://www.musictheory.net and their app for the iOS and Android (Tenuto). The reverse note and keyboard identification exercises may help you with reading music notation. There are many alternative apps but I find this one to be really good.

Thank you very much for your kind help - bookmarked for future reference.
I will start by going through all the beginners stuff on sheet music, cords, scales etc in Flowkey which I bought a 3 month subscription for - then I’ll probably want some sort of structured method of practicing. I have no idea what makes a good practice schedule for a beginner and I suspect it is quite subjective depending on individual goals.

I definitely want to end up being able to read music without resorting to apps - but am also inclined to learn some actual small pieces of music along the way to keep it fun.

First thing I did with Flowkey was learn a simplified version of “Morning Mood”. I love playing it and look forward to being able to learn the real piece some day.