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We have two Grand piano's and are looking for 2 digital pianos to add

The first one 1. Needs to have nice 'organ' sounds
2. Must be a console and nice looking in an auditorium
3. Needs to also have good piano sounds (rarely used)
4. Needs to have weighted keys

The second one 1. Needs to have nice 'instrumental' sounds
2. Must be a console and nice looking in an auditorium
3. Needs to also have good piano sounds (rarely used
4. Needs to have weighted keys


Priced under $10, 000.

Thank you

I would look at going a controller and a Mac-mini with MainStage for the organ and instrument sounds myself. If you want it to be a console make a cabinet.

Some options are:

Yamaha Clavinova CVP series models. Some are under 10k. All have many instrument sounds in addition to piano and also accompaniment styles and a usable UI for accessing all the sounds and features.



Some Yamaha Clavinova CLP models also have many non-piano sounds. Usually the more expensive ones have more. The CLP-785 looks more or less like an acoustic upright piano and the CLP-775 has the typical "front of a grand" look with the music rest on the top. The 775 is more limited in sounds. If a Yamaha mentions "XG voices" then that means a large palette of 480 instruments sounds, but they are kind of "additional extra" and the quality is what it is. Decent at least.




Often some church organs are included in the digital piano main sound set. Sometimes a "smaller" organ sound may be missing. Kawai has quite a nice palette in some models. An alternative to the "XG" is "GM2" (as in General MIDI level 2). It's also a standardized sound set with a few church (and other) organ sounds and is found in some models from many brands in addition to the main sound set. Sometimes it may exist only for MIDI file playback and other times the sounds are selectable for normal playing too.

Kawai also has the "upright" style CA99 and many other "front of a grand" models in the CA and CN series.




They have many sound samples e.g. on SoundCloud. Here's one playlist including samples of the organ sounds. (Not all found in all models.)

https://soundcloud.com/kawai-global/sets/harmonic-imaging-xl-audio-demos

Roland is of course worth looking at. Their LX series has upright looking pianos with powerful sound systems and the HP series models look similar to many of the Yamahas and Kawais. At least some models have over 300 various instrument sounds i.e. the main ones and then the GM2 sound set.




Casio's Celviano GP-510 would fall into the "looks nice in a church" category.



It's a decent digital piano with some additional sounds, but the total number is only 35 and many are piano sounds, so it may not have the ones you are after.

A slighty less known brand is Dexibell, but they've been around for many years already and have a lot of former staff from Roland's former European facilities. Currently their VIVO H10 and H5 models are the more "substantial looking" ones. There's a "somewhat of a grand" and a "somewhat of an upright" design but their designs don't really replicate their acoustic counterparts.




Dexibell is one of the rare digital pianos enabling uploading of additional sounds. (Another one is Nord with their stage focused pianos) Dexibell has a library of their own extra sounds and also so called "sound fonts" can be used and found from the internet. (Not limited to Dexibell's offering.)

They have sounds samples of the built-in sounds under "Demos" and the library of additional sounds on the right side of the product page:

https://www.dexibell.com/prodotto/vivo-h10/?lang=en

I think there's just one (albeit good) church organ sound so far, so it's quite limited.

Then of course with any of these models a potential problem is the maximum sound output from the built-in speakers. Is it enough for the space? That's one thing to remember.

And are the organ sounds actually any good. 😀

Just one tiny, itsy-bitsy critique on the “high-end” Dexibells (VIVO H10 etc…).

Why on earth would they use such a nice finish/design for the cabinet, but then cheapen the ‘area around the keys’, so that it looks like someone stuffed a cheap slab into a nice & shiny cabinet?

There’s a major disconnect here, design-wise, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

By "Weighted keys" you mean hammer action? Organs tend to have it, and "waterfall" key tips may be preferred (without the notch). And drawbars may be required?

Note that many digital pianos only look good when put against a wall. The backs often look like a cheap IKEA assemblies. Screws and cables, unfinished surfaces, sometimes not even painted in the same color as the front and sides.

There are some (rare and expensive) exceptions, for example Kawai CA99, Kawai NV5/NV5S, Kawai DG30, Yamaha N3/N3X.

Think about where the piano will be placed and check if that works well with the model of your choice.

About your criteria: I'd also look for audio line-out. It may be crucial to play in your setting, but not every model has that.

If organ and orchestral sounds are the primary concern over piano sounds, there would be many options among stage pianos. But as it must also come in cabinet style, the only model that fits the requirements is yamaha cvp line.

That is why I suggested looking at slab pianos.

Consider the Kawai NV5S, it's a hybrid so it has a keyboard action that's closer to an acoustic piano than most digitals. Since you have 2 grand pianos, it might be easier to switch back and forth. Unlike most digital cabinets it also looks nice from the back because it has a small soundboard instead of the usual black cardboard look. And it has a speaker system that might be adequate without connecting to a sound system.

Why do you want weighted keys for instruments that will be rarely used for pianos but generally play organ and instrumental sounds?

What type of organ sounds do you want (pipe organ, Hammond B3, etc)?

These are the really important questions. For the OP: one, by "organ" do you mean traditional church organ (i.e., pipe organ) sounds? If so, even the highest quality digital piano is practically useless, because the organ isn't the same instrument at all, and those sounds can't be played properly from a digital piano. If, on the other hand, you mean Hammond organ sounds (and similar), a few digital pianos or synths can replicate those well enough for use in the context of an ensemble (i.e., if it's for a praise band or the like, although a true hardcore Hammond organ player, like a traditional church organist, will want to have the two manuals and the pedalboard of a console Hammond).

And two, Sweelinck's question about the action is spot on. I occasionally try to play Hammond or orchestral samples through my Roland digital piano, and although the sounds are generally quite good, the playing experience is very disappointing. The hammer action is top-notch for simulating a grand piano for practice (which is the main reason I own a Roland FP series instrument), but for playing things like orchestral samples -- or organ & synth sounds -- I generally want a lighter action (I'm also an organist, so I'm used to going back and forth between different types of action for different things). Playing with hammer action keys in order to get lush string sounds feels like such a disconnect! Why a piano-like action for those sounds?