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You know, I played on acoustic pianos for years before I finally saved up enough to get a top quality digital piano. The digital piano i bought is absolutely outstanding ( got a Roland RD-700SX), and, while the piano sounds are by far the most superior I've heard ( I tried a lot of kbs) I'm now wondering whether I should sell my Bechstein baby grand. She is a beauty, but she takes up a lot of space and is difficult when moving house etc. What do you guys think? Has digital got to the stage where they can serve as on par replacements for the real thing, or do you think digitals will always remain a shadow of the acoustic. Any opinions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions, similar experiences...whatever!

laz .... in my opinion the 'Superior Grand' through headphones (with the touch set to heavy and and a little EQ) is one of the most enjoyable digital piano experiences around at the moment.

The RD700sx action is also one of the best around IMO (PA-5).

Are you having any success getting the 'Superior Grand' or 'X-Ultimate' piano to sound good through speakers/monitors ?

Regards, Charles P.

laz,

Digitals won't replace acoustics. This year Someday they will, it's just a matter of technology and pricing. They're at the point where many listeners can't tell the difference unless they hear them side-by-side. Playing them, though, is a different matter. I've yet to try a digital that feels like the real thing.

Whether you should sell your acoustic depends on so many things it's hard for me to say. If you can't tell the difference between the two, might as well sell it. It's all a matter of what you do with it and why.

Personally, I'd only sell my Kawai grand if I must for economic reasons. No matter what other equipment I own.

-Hugo

I only own a digital (a Kawai CN 4), and I love it! Still, if I can afford it and my playing progresses, someday I might buy an acoustic -- an upright in the 5 to 10K price range. I think it would be neat to own both.

I have heard that, excluding grand pianos, digital pianos have outsold acoustic pianos in the last few years (I'd like confirmation on this). This makes sense to me, because I think you get more for your money with a digital -- and no tuning is ever required.

I believe that the digital piano (at least the "home version" and not "stage pianos") have certaitalinly eaten into the entry-level acoustic piano business! Now people have a choice, where 25 years ago there were no other choices.

I truly believe that the digital piano will absolutely NEVER eliminate acoustic pianos! There remains a certain feel, touch, warmth and vibration (amongst other things) that is absolutley NOT replaceable in the digital arena!

While digitals offer so much that an acoustic cannot accomplish, the acoustic piano offers those listed attributes that can not be duplicated digitally.

Just MHO!

Paul

I think it is a matter of time before digital pianos would completely replace the accoustic pianos.

People say the same thing about chess 10-15 years
ago - that a computer chess program can never replace human GM because certain human strategies
cannot be replicated by computers. Nowadays a top GM would be lucky to draw with a commercially available program like Fritz.(no need for a supercomputer like Deep Blue).

Just my opinion

Eventually the digitals will sound and feel more like acoustics than acoustics.

Maybe they'll be like the new Disney rides and even smell like acoustics.

Maybe they'll have built-in flat screen monitors that show movies of virtual hammers hitting virtual strings.

And by that time all possible songs will have been written so they'll need some new notes so we can write some more songs.

But, like chess, some people will still want to play the old way.

For the ultimate playing experience, a quality acoustic can, IMO, never be replaced. By quality I mean a top flight piano like a Bechstein, Steinway, Bluthner, Schimmel, Shigeru Kawai, Bosendorfer etc. etc. What I do think is, as someone else has already suggested, that the very best digitals (RD700sx, Yamaha P250, GEM Promega 2/3) might well prove a better option than the entry level acoustics, which often sound and feel completely disastisfying. When I was choosing my acoustic piano I tried the full range just for fun, even though I knew I was in the market for something better quality, and I must admit that I couldn't stand having to play the budget Kembles, Yamahas, Winchesters etc on a regular basis. (I'm not writing all Yamahas off BTW - I LOVE the S series grand).

In my mind the main reason why quality acoustics will ALWAYS remain supreme is because of their imperfections as much as anything else. They react to changes in the atmosphere, they are responsive to the most subtle gradations of touch, and each instrument develops its own distinct character. I have played many many Steinway Ds and no two have ever been the same. The main stage one in the Bridgewater Hall is a very different instrument to the beautiful instrument in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, for example. It all depends on how its been played, tuned, regulated, voiced, and the atmosphere its lived in. That is something that digitals can never replicate.

I long for a more varied diet of pianos. It gets frustrating turning up at most performance spaces and finding a Steinway, wonderful though SOME of them are. I love it when I am surprised by a Schimmel, Bluthner or other alternative. Likewise, its great to play some of Andras Schiff's recordings and hear a Bosendorfer.
Its like the difference between CD and vinyl. CD is a great medium and some of the remasters of historic recordings have really benefitted from digital technology, but play something on a quality turntable and it somehow comes alive and leaps out of the speakers that little bit more.

Yes, the RD700SX, Yamaha P250 and GEM Promega are beautiful digital instruments, but I would really urge you not to lose that Bechstein - I think you will live to regret it.

As pianists we should be supporting the traditional piano building industry which has served us so wonderfully, and doing ourselves a huge favour - not by replacing acoustics with digitals, but by encouragin greater diversity and choice of instrument - in short, making Steinway realise that there is some pretty stiff competition out there. Hope this isn't too strong, but its one of my big issues.

No matter how realistic sounding digitals become (whatever that means), even the best digitals will always be very different instruments than their acoustic counterparts. I've performed on both for many years, and my approach to performing is different for a digital than an acoustic. My main gripe with digitals is that I can't easily locate the "soul" of the instrument, or if it even has that "soul" or "center" that I can control in an acoustic. It's about as freakish an experience as talking, but only hearing your voice amplified through speakers and not through your body (if that's even possible).

If I am performing acoustically (in an ensemble with other non-amplified instruments or singers), I almost always prefer whatever acoustic instrument is available, unless it's horribly defective. I never feel the proper balance when I am the only synthetic instrument in the mix.

WOW. Thanks for your very helpful replies everyone. Firstly, to Charles P, I've found that, as regards sound satisfaction on my 700SX, headphones are the best but connecting a STEREO pair of Roland CM-30 Cube monitors does the job pretty darn well. Note I say STEREO. When I bought the keyboard I bought only one CM-30 and was VERY disappointed by the sound. So the following week i went back and listened to the sound through two of them and it seemed to make a WORLD of difference. Now, I'm very happy with the sound. MatthewPiano and Pianomad, thanks for your honest replies about the sourcing the "soul" of an acoustic grand. I must admit it does make sense to me. i mean, if digitals are modelled after their top-class acoustic counterparts then surely the latter must always be regarded as the superior, after all when one says " this digital sound is VERY realistic" one is in effect holding it up to scrutiny as it compares to the real thing. Suffice it to say, you've all convinced to hang on to my Bechstein (and you thought this forum was merely for idle chit-chat)and sacrifice the space for a really beautiful instrument, albeit not portable.Thanks guys!

Oh, and one last thing i just thought of. Although the sound of a digital can be better than the entry-level acoustics, the feel isn't. I mean, when you get home after a really frustrating day and want to just take it out with a few Rachmaninoff passages, digitals just don't measure up (I'm scared I'd break mine).

I'd hang on to the acoustic (your Bechstein Baby Grand) and keep the new digital Roland RD-700sx alongside it.

Digital Pianos and Acoustic Pianos are two different beasts imo. Like comparing apples and oranges. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses. They play differently and sound differently. Each instrument has some area it can beat the other instrument on. Plus, when you have a vistor over to your place, you can have some fun jam sessions using both instruments.

If you can continue to own both; you have the best of all worlds really. Why choose one over another if you do not have to choose? The more tools the better. imo. jmo.

If you do wish to get rid of the Baby Grand you can send it over to my house as I have some space for it. LOL.

Enjoy your new keyboard and all it can offer in it's keyboard way. But don't forget to give the essential tlc to the baby. jma and jmo.