Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Cannot decide on a beginner keyboard

I have been wanting to learn piano for a really long time (I'm 23) and I am finally going to do it. I have been researching like crazy on which beginner piano to buy and I'm honestly burnt out on research. I have mostly looked at the Roland FP-10 and the Yamaha P-125 which I've heard good things about but I am just very unsure. I have heard about the roland and the key clicking which makes me nervous but the price, sound, and key action seem appealing. I like the sound of P-125 also. The roland also won't be available until the end of next month and I really want to get started soon. I honestly just don't know and would love any suggestions or advice (if you can recommend other keyboards that you prefer under $650 please do). Thank you!

The Casio Privia PX S1000 is worth considering. The Korg D1 is just over budget but has a very good key action for the price - more from the price tier up - but note it doesn’t have speakers so you need external ones and/or headphones. The Kawai ES110 is $50 more, but may sound and feel a bit better to you. If you can go somewhere and try them and see which one you like the sound and feel of best, that would be ideal, even as a beginner. If you want to buy blind I guess you can listen to them and watch some videos at least and take your pick (mine would probably be the Korg or Kawai). You’ll get some other opinions I’m sure!

If you liked the P-125 go ahead and get it. Nice beginner board. Don't over analyze this. Start your journey learning the piano

+1. Hard to go wrong with P-125 as a beginner DP.

First, stop doing research online. Go to a store and play the DPs you can find. And, buy one that you like the most.

Osho

+1.

No DP is perfect, the market is competitive, and the Yamaha P-125 (and equivalent Roland and Kawai and Casio models) are more than good enough to get you started.

It will be a few years (if you practice regularly, and have a teacher) before you can honestly say:

. . . "I'm at the limits of what this piano can do, I need something better."

In the range of $600, only Kawai and Yamaha are worth considering. The rest, you'll keep them in your basement forever (or a very long time till some silly person buys it from you).

If you're buying a cheap keyboard, buy something that you can quickly sell quickly if you decided to upgrade.

Casio, Korg, etc are not well known especially at the bottom line of digital pianos.

So you have only two options, Yamaha and Kawai unless you want to go really cheap, then Casio. Forget about the rest.

I'd expand your range of choices to include Casio. My first two pianos were Casio Privias, and, they were very reliable instruments. And, their sound was about on par with the others in that price range. And, I had no difficulty selling them when I upgraded to my Kawai VPC1.

Look around at all the online retailers. If any of them have Casio Privias whose three digit model numbers end in 50 or 60, or 80(I think), those are fairly modern models and are of good quality and features. My second Casio was the PX-760, and I got it as an "Open Box" item for $500 around 3 years ago. Some of the reputable on line sellers may still have deals like that.

Around the time I bought my PX-760, I also purchased a Yamaha P-105, which is a predecessor, by two generations, of the P-125 you are considering. I think it had the same keybed as the P-125. I did not like the P-105 as much as I liked my Casio Privia PX-760, and sold it without putting many miles on it. I liked the key action on the Casio more.

So, don't be afraid of Casio pianos. Many of us have had positive experiences with them.

And, as the others above have said, you will enjoy any of the pianos your are looking at. Don't waste too much time trying to make the perfect choice. At the beginner level, you will be happy with any of them.

I owned a PX-150. The action, although it had 3 sensors, was pure junk. It was so heavy that it was giving me sore fingers after playing it for a while. You don't want to invest in crappy heavy actions because you can't play accurately. Everything will sound forte and above.

Also, the modeling! A total crap by all means. You hit a note, and it triggers the notes in the neighborhood... The piano sounds also had very short sustains.

I bought it refurbished for 200 CDN. I wouldn't pay a penny more for PX-160 or any of its successors.

When I began almost three years ago (at 49, so you are young), I bought a DGX660, which has same action than P125 (GHS). Some months later, a friend, who is a professional piano tuner, came home and I asked him about that action and learning with it, compared with the acoustic ones. He played it and said that, in order to get a similar range (from pop to fff) I should spend quite a lot of money more than what the DGX was. He told me I could use it at least for 2-4 years (depending on how fast I progressed).

Exactly at 2 years time I bought an acoustic (Yamaha U3H) and 6 months later, a Kawai VPC1 controller. This setup is heaven for me, but for sure the DGX would still be perfectly fine. But, at 51 then, I decided it was time for an acoustic. You are not in such a hurry.

So, summing up, get any of the commented DPs and enjoy the trip!

If resale is the only concern, then possibly Kawai is risky as well - the Yamahas are likely to be the easiest to sell. It’s a shame though, since I don’t think they make the best entry level DPs (they may even be the worst of the main brands at this level).

Isn’t the Yamaha GHS action even heavier though, both by measuring static weight and subjectively? The Tri-sensor Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard II, as well as being a mouthful, is also considered a lighter action.

With Kawai, I guess it depends on how available the brand is in the region. Generally speaking, and it doesn't have the impression of Casio.



My ex PX-150 had a much heavier action compared to P-115 (older model of P-125). And as I said, the worst part was the short sustain and resonance simulation. If I was pressing a key, while holding the pedal down, it was triggering the immediate few notes left and right.

I ended up using Salamander Grand in Sforzando almost all the time.

The faith/purpose of a cheap keyboard is to be sold after being unused/used!

Yamaha GDX series, P-125 (the same with Kawai) are keyboards that will go on sale for obvious reasons. So if I'm going to waste money, I'd minimize it by just buying P-125 instead of GDX that has a load of useless and low-quality features. With P-125 you get half-decent piano sound, with GDX all you get is crap. Lower quality sound set and a basic arranger capabilities. Why would you buy something like this? For a decor?

The P-125 is superbly light - that's actually it's main selling point.

My measurements of my P-125:

Ivory keys

A0 to G1 = 52 g
A1 to F2 = 51 g
G2 to B4 = 48 g
C4 to F4 = 46 g
G4 to S6 = 45 g
E6 to C8 = 44 g

Ebony keys

Bass = 57 g
Treble = 54 g

That's the only small flaw with the P-125 key action weighting: the ivory keys don't have the same weight gradation as the ebony keys - there is 3 grams spread across the ebony keys versus 8 grams spread across the ivory keys. On an acoustic piano the weight of ivory and ebony keys are in sync.

Definitely compare the P-125 to the Casio and Korg. Also I think only the P-125 and Korg support USB Audio, I don't believe the Casios do.

When I came to this in your opening post, I stopped reading.

This is enough. I know the keyboard action on the Yamaha P-125 is of a sufficient quality so that if you "like" the sound .... that is all I need to know.

As you indicated ... you have done enough researching and are tired of it ... as you should be.

Enough is enough.

Try not to turn this into a physics research project.

The Yamaha P-125 is a good choice for you.

Go get it.

Heavier than what?The GHS action is like "air guitar" for the piano. It doesn't get any lighter.

This.

That.

Thank you all for your input!! I really appreciate it! (:

The Casio PX160 action (tri-sensor yada yada). My mistake - I think I was thinking of the Yamaha GH3 action, GHS is clearly a light action.

My PX-350 has the same action as the PX-150, and a similar tone generator.

I never had a problem with the weight of the action. I've checked the MIDI output from the keyboard, and it covers a good range of velocity. I can run ppp-FFF using Pianoteq. I like the Casio action better than the Yamaha "GHS" DP's that I tried.

. . . There's a lot of subjectivity in judging actions.

There's no "modeling" on the PX-150/PX-350 sound generator - it's sample-based. I never had a problem with triggering adjacent notes. If Abdol is talking about what happens when you raise the dampers, and strike a key:

. . . acoustic pianos also get "dirty" when you do that.

"Short sustain" -- yes, that's a problem. It was the reason I started using Pianoteq. But other DP's of that era (and price) had the same problem.