Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Digital piano or Keyboard with the best piano sound

Hello everyone again!

I'm the guy who made the post about the Yamaha P-515 sound because I found it too much opaque/muffled... well, I decided to return it back and take more time to decide what can be the best choice for me.

I have been a Yamaha PSR S900 owner for 14 years and I absolutely love the vivid and sharp sound of the pianos in it.
During the years, I almost stopped using rhytms and the other voices except piano... that's why I think that I should go for a digital piano now. But the P-515 "issue" has warned me, so I am a bit confused now.

Unfortunately, there aren't good music instrument shops near my town, so I need to make also a big research on internet in order to understand what can be the best choice for me. I definitely need your help!

Here I'm making a little summary of the most important features for me:
- a good, vivid and sharp sound of piano. No matter of other voices (well, I'd also love some good strings, but it's not essential for me)
- good speakers
- portable (not too much heavy)
- with usb WAV recording available

Considering that I was a bit disappointed by the sound of the P-515 pianos, and considering that I prefer the "sharp" sounds like the piano of a Yamaha Psr S900, what kind of digital piano would you suggest me as an "upgrade" after 14 years of Psr S900?

My ideal budget is about 1.500-2.000€ max.

Thank you in advance!

You could so easily have replicated those sharp sounds on the 515. You can do that with any piano you get.

I've tried adjusting EQ and brightness but the more I tried to make the sound bright, the more it sounded "fake"
I've also tried several configuration I found online, but again, the sound got worse if I tried to change it too much from the factory preset

I really like the warm Yamaha sound...
I'm pretty sure, there are also bright piano sounds available in the P-515...
The according presets could have names like "Pop Piano", "Bright Piano" or "Rock Piano". And you could also use the virtual piano technician to make the sound brighter.

But if these sounds still to warm for you, then maybe you could be happier with Roland?

There is a comparison P-515 vs FP-90X:

I’d suggest Roland as a start if you feel the Yamaha p515 is muddy.

Ignoring budget or speakers (you can always add external speakers), for that bright “poppy” piano sound you can look at

- Korg Kross/Krome/Kronos
The more budget arranger keyboards such as Kross have less complex piano sounds (less resonances, less dynamic layers), on paper that sounds like taboo here but it sounds pretty good to me and it would give you that clean, consistent sound you are looking for.


- Roland Fantom8/RD2000
Particularly with the v-piano sound engine. Out of budget but arguably roland’s best sounding piano till date.

- Nord stage 3
Something about the piano sound that is an instant hit. Maybe it’s because it gives you that “Ferrari” vibes when you own one.

- Roland Fp90x
Particularly models with pure acoustic sound engine. Try with brillance +7 (bright) soundboard 3 (adds some “meat” to the sound), touch 40 (bright). Personally I find mellow Roland to have more character (-1, 3, 60).

Nord or Roland. Probably Nord.

Medeli SP201/SP201+ and its "Japanese Grand" might be close to the PSR-S900:

There's a number of "blind test" videos on YouTube that let you compare things like Yamaha/Casio/Roland/Korg etc. This was one of the reasons I chose Roland.

This video is really interesting, I find the sound piano of Roland slightly more vivid and bright, do you?
I'm gonna add this piano to the ones I'd like to try
Thanks!

That preview doesn't speak well of the Medeli, does it?
This thread is titled "Digital piano or Keyboard with the best piano sound".
But that Medeli sounds like a cheap keyboard imitation of not-a-piano.

"Best" is subjective. Who am I to decide what's best for someone? 😉

But yes, it's (apparently) not great by any means. They have the "German Grand" too, but it's less similar to "that Yamaha sound" in the PSR. And I guess there are the usual "dark" and "bright" variants of each plus a "Brilliance" knob for fine-tuning the EQ.

I didn't post it as a joke in any way. It's cheap. It's an upgrade (piano wise) from a PSR and the Japanese Grand is somewhat similar to "that Yamaha sound".

(And there's dedicated Medeli 201/+ topic for further discussion on this forum: http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2917095/new-stage-pianos-from-medeli.html)