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Hi everyone,

i'm new to this forum and am quite impressed with the willingness of people to help ot and give advice. very glad i found it!

i need some advice. i am planning to buy a digital piano. i'm 24 and have finally decided to do something about one of my frustrations in life - to be able to play the piano! i consider myself a very musical person and have been singing as long as i can remember but i never had the opportunity to study the piano as a kid. but now i can so i will.

given that i'm a starter and i live in an apartment building, i've decided to buy a digital piano first and maybe invest on an acoustic one later when i can play reasonably well.

i went around last weekend looking for a digital piano. i was so excited but i ended going home very confused. everyone i talked to had a different opinion about which one i should buy. one said Yamaha is the best, another said it's Technics, another said i should just choose between Roland and Viscount. and because i don't really know how a good real acoustic piano sounds, they were all very convincing to me with reagrds to the brand they were trying to promote. in short, i ended up not buying anything and thought i should write in this forum first and see what you guys have to say.

here are my obseravtions (note that i have a very "inexperienced ear"):
Yamaha - sounds very good but a bit too "bright", seems more appropriate for more contemporary pieces than classical ones.

Technics - i really liked the sound of this (crisp and sharp) but one guy told me that they're not really good and they're more like toys. he appeared to know what he was talking about but i'm not sure...

Roland - i found the sound of this very romantic and mellow (in contrast to the Yamaha). i also got a comment from one person that said it's also like a toy and not really a serious digital piano.

Viscount - this is the brand that impressed me the most (or maybe had the best salesperson). it sounded really good. the only thing is i've never heard of this brand before which makes me a bit doubtful. it's supposed to be made in Italy.

if anyone of you can help me in arriving to a decision, that would be great! i know i should decide for myself at the end of the day but your opinions would really help me a lot. i really would like to start with my lessons asap.

i was basically looking at models in the same price range so there were not that many differences in terms of features. i was really only comparing the sound and feel of the keyboard.

Thanks for reading this and looking forward to your responses.

Dilbert
from The Netherlands

I was just in a store and the owner raved about Viscount - they're ahead of the field with R&D, doing new things with pipe organ technology for speakers, etc.

She said she could get us into a very good model (Andante) for maybe $1,600, but she didn't have one on the floor, but will in 2 days.

She gave me some literature to review so I can compare, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

What did you end up doing?

Here's what I know about Viscount. I've actually never played one (which kind of illustrates my point). I'm really not trying to sway you either way. I'd let your ears as well as your mind be the judge.

Viscount is an Italian company that's background is mostly in organs. Some time ago, they bought the Oberheim name and may have gained some technology with it. Oberheim, for the uninitiated, was one of the great names in analog synthesis. Great instruments. Great innovation. In fact, many of today's most advanced synthesizers go to great lengths to emulate some of the tonal character of early Oberheim keyboards. However, it's also important to note that the people that developed the Oberheim technology have long since moved on to other endeavors after the demise of the original Oberheim. Tom Oberheim started SeaSound which is now out of business. Others were involved in launching Line 6 which utilizes state-of-the-art acoustic modeling technology in guitar amplification (really great stuff!). In the professional music world, new Oberheim keyboards are rarely if ever used. I have never seen a Viscount piano used.
You can probably tell that I have a great amount of respect for those companies that consistently offer quality instruments. To me that would be Yamaha, Roland, Korg and to a lesser degree Technics. Personally, I prefer the Roland piano sounds (I own some Roland pro gear). But at a $1600 price point, I'd be inclined to go with my ear. It's going to be worth $1200 by the time you get to your car, and $900 a year from now. See what I mean?
Hope this helps.

I have never played a Viscount keyboard. But a friend told me that they were wonderful. Just his opinion, though. I personally like the SOUND of the Kurzweil keyboards best. However, I've had access to 5 PC 88s, and all of them developed noisy actions! I also have a Roland and a Yamaha keyboard. The Roland is my least fav. piano sound; but I LIKE the action. Just my $.02