Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards I want a lighter action than ES110, must be portable

I want a digital piano with a lighter action than the Kawai ES110 action, an action that behaves with that acoustic fly away keys response. And it must be under 30 lbs and have internal monitor speakers

Have you set the touch sensitivity to light? From what I've read, at this price point, the ES110 is the only board. What's your price point? Is this a joke? I've got my ES110 set to light touch, and have never experienced a faster, more expressive keybed, which echoes your review of it (which highly influenced my buying decision).

Kurzweil SP6. Oops, no speakers...

Some of the Casios are very light.

Even lighter than the ES110? Jeez... I don't know if acoustic pianos really would be THAT light...

The ancient upright that I played until the '90s is probably lighter than any digital I've ever played.

Lucky.

Have you tried a Yamaha P125? To me it was very light and comfortable to play fast trills and octaves on it.

I hated it. 😃 It was like there was no feedback from the piano.

He had a Casio PX-S1000 before and didn’t like it and replaced it with the Kawai ES-110.

What’s wrong with the Kawai?

Given your enthusiasm with ES110, about how light the action is, I am surprised you are looking for something even lighter. Would a semiweighted action fit? Like Studiologic Numa Compact 2?

Most acoustic pianos I've played (whether upright or grand) are lighter/quicker feeling than the vast majority of DPs.

I haven't played the ES110, but I'm pretty sure what you're looking for doesn't exist.

For a light feeling lightweight 88 with speakers, you might want to consider some older models. I still enjoy playing the old Casio Privias (the PX-x00 and PX-x10 series, I don't know bout the PX-x20 which I"ve never played), they feel lighter than their later models. Maybe they'd feel lighter than the ES-110. Get a model with audio in if you want to play a non-stock piano sound through its speakers.

Perhaps the honeymoon period is over?

Could you possibly get someone to just adjust the actual weight of the keys on your current ES110? It would be hard to find a DP with that light of action.

Why am I not surprised that there is a thread about this...


(IMO, the answer to a lighter action is the venerable Roland FP4.)

Given that ES110 is one of the lightest feeling keyboards on the market, I’m not sure there is lighter feeling piano that would fulfill all the requirements. Maybe it’s time to check non-weighted actions. I’ve been a long time opponent of synth actions but after owning the Yamaha MODX6 I realized they are not that bad at all. I occasionally use it for Rhodes and piano patches (well, admittedly I use it predominantly for synth sounds) and it’s more than OK. I remember in the past having difficulties to control dynamics, having notes that stick out, or notes that are too quiet on synth actions. Not on the MODX. Maybe it’s a matter of better velocity curve or something but it behaves great. Of course it’s not for classical music and it can’t replace the precision of a weighted action. But it’s surprisingly good.

Personally, I hate semi-weighted keyboards. They would like to emulate the "weight" of a real piano action but they fail miserably, and at the end of the day they are neither fish nor fowl. At touch they feel like toys, their linear response on the velocity usually is horrible, and you'll have to "craft" a customized velocity curve to get somehow a decent touch response (but after that you will lose dozens of velocity values). You feel the springs when press their keys (and after 2-3 years, when you play, you'll hear that noise similar to springs from an old mattress too, together with other plastic noises!). I prefer totally unweighted keyboards to them. At least good unweighted keyboards are honest and noiseless.

There are special circumstances here. Your response is a generic one and yes, we all agree semi-weighted is sh1t. However if you have followed rintincop, he has been seeking for the lightest possible digital piano because he has hand fatigue with even lighter-weighted digital pianos such as ES110. With that in mind, whether you hate semiweighted or not... well, we all hate them But if you are in need, then certain compromises are acceptable.

How about a Studiologic Numa Compact 2X? Only semi weighted, but the spring bounce back might be to your taste. I have one as a fast response for non piano sometimes, but for an 88 synth action it does do piano quite well. Never a replacement for a good weighted action for my taste, but it is light in ever aspect. It has internal speakers and USB audio.

I think that's the only keyboard that satisfies all the requirements and has a lighter keyboard than the ES110. I've never tried it but I've read customer reviews that also confirm what you say: it's very good for what it is.